As per the Amanta Chandramana calendar, today is the fifth day of the second fortnight of the month of Sravana (Sravana Krishna Panchami). Devi is said to be fond of the Panchami Tithi, and this has coincided with a Tuesday in Sravana Masa, making it a very auspicious day. And, as schools start their year tomorrow, I have performed Saraswati Puja to ask for the blessings of Devi as I enter the last year of my school. I hope others will also take advantage of this day, worship Devi, and become recipients of her grace.

As a kid, I was a huge believer of Lord Vishnu in his Govinda form. I have been to Thirupathi and many other Vishnu temples alongwith family and always prayed and believed in his magic. Apart from just the regular temple visits and home poojas (puja), my family wasn’t very religious/spiritual. I did not grow up hearing many God tales/stories amd definitely did not know the Mahabharatham until I was in my 20s

However, when I was around 10-12 years of age, I had fear about an exam and prayed so much the previous night that I ended up visualizing myself falling in the feet of Govinda and praying. I prayed from my bed, as I was trying to sleep but the fear of the exam kept haunting me. So when I visualized myself falling in God’s feet I went into that position on my bed.

At that moment, with my eyes still closed and head lifted up, I saw Govinda had become so tall, that his head was piercing through my roof and to the top of the world. I looked around and saw the whole universe as what I knew at that age, and automatically cried. I was very scared of that visual and never spoke about it to anyone ever.

Then in my 20s when I heard the Vishwaroopam incident from Mahabharata, I could relate to some parts of it wondering if this is what I experienced but the visuals of what I saw was still frightening so never shared it again.

Recently I came across this image in Instagram (attached here), a very less scary version of what I saw in my prayer. Now I am curious why I had that experience? Is this a sign or a blessing? How could my brain imagine it without knowing about such a possibility?

Narasimha is the fourth avatar of Lord Vishnu, appearing in a man-lion form to protect Prahlada and defeat the demon king Hiranyakashipu. In traditional depictions, Narasimha can appear fierce and powerful, reflecting the destruction of evil and the protection of devotees. His form represents divine intervention when righteousness is threatened.

Lakshmi Narasimha is a form of Narasimha depicted together with Goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu's consort. Lakshmi is commonly shown seated beside Narasimha or on his lap. Her presence changes the character of the depiction from one focused primarily on divine fury and protection to one emphasizing compassion, peace, prosperity, and divine grace.

The main difference, therefore, is not that they are different avatars, but the aspect being represented. Narasimha can emphasize his fierce protective power, while Lakshmi Narasimha emphasizes Narasimha accompanied by Lakshmi in a more peaceful and auspicious form. Both represent the same divine Narasimha avatar, but their iconography and devotional emphasis differ.

I think I’ve seen some of the happiest cows at Isha. 🐄❤️

Every time I visit the ashram, I make it a point to visit the gaushala. There is something so deeply satisfying about simply standing there and watching the cows..so relaxed, peaceful, and so well cared for.

Today, when I saw this video, it took me straight back to last year, when I visited the Isha gaushala.

I remember seeing these special laddoos being prepared for the cows...with so much love and care. Maine bhi ek apne haath par rakh kar ek cow ko khilaya tha. 🥹❤️ It was my first time doing it, and they even patiently taught me the right way to offer it.

It may seem like a small moment, but I still remember how it felt.

There was something beautiful about seeing animals being cared for not merely as animals, but with such attention, affection and dignity.

I hope we get to see more and more places where this kind of love and care extends to cows...and to all animals. 🌿🐄❤️

Sometimes, all it takes is watching a peaceful animal to remind us of what gentleness looks like.

I've been thinking a lot about Rama and Lakshmana's relationship lately, and I'd love to know more about how close they actually were in the Valmiki Ramayana.

We usually hear about Lakshmana's devotion to Rama, but I'm curious about the other side of it too — how does Rama feel about Lakshmana? Are there moments where Rama openly expresses his love or attachment to him?

I'd especially love to know about their relationship during the exile and the events in Lanka, and how Rama reacts when Lakshmana is in danger.

If you know any really touching or significant passages, please share them! Exact Kanda/Sarga/verse references would be great too.

I'm mainly looking for the Valmiki Ramayana, rather than later retellings. I'm just curious to see what the original text actually says about their bond.

Same as the title.

Having experienced significant trauma due to multiple SA incidents as a teen. I was managing life quite well till my early 20s.

Now after almost at the end of my late 20s, old trauma has been resurfacing (not sure why) but I am struggling with this lately. I love reading the philosophies of Krishna and genuinely believe in them because they have helped me to navigate difficulties in life.

I wanted to know if there are any philosophies in Hinduism about overcoming such trauma by Krishna or other sources?

Would greatly appreciate any help.

Edit: I want to clarify that I am not looking to bypass medical treatment or therapy by using religious philosophies as an alternative. I just wanted to know if there are any particular philosophies related to trauma. Thank you guys ✨

This is not to be offensive in any way but sometimes I wonder, these mantras we chant are in a ancient language which most of us can’t understand, unless you’ve been fortunate enough to have it taught to you. (And realistically, I don’t have time to learn Sanskrit). I say these mantras out of memory but don’t really know what I’m saying. My parents don’t know either. They just say “it’s what we’ve been taught, we don’t question it.” Sometimes I wonder if we are really achieving anything by praying when we have no idea what we’re saying. Yes, there are translations out there but I can’t seem to memorise the meanings for every prayer I know. E.g. Om Jai Jagadish Hare. I know the chorus meaning, glory to the god of the universe. (Please correct me if I’m wrong, this is the translation I saw online). The rest, I’ve no idea, but I know the words.

I know people say Sanskrit is powerful etc etc. but is it really, when you don’t know what you’re truly saying?! I believe it only is for those that understand the language.
The only mantras I do now are the ones that say Gods names because I know what I’m saying there.

It’s like reading a 1000 page book but not understanding the story at all. The only thing you understand is the blurb (simplified translation).

Now the question before us is this. There can not be any growth without liberty. Our ancestors freed religious thought—we have a wonderful religion, but they put a heavy chain on the feet of society, and our society is, shortly to speak, horrid diabolical. In the West, society always had freedom, and look at them; on the other hand, look at their religion.

Liberty is the first condition of growth. Just as man must have liberty to think and speak, so he must have [liberty] to eat and dress, and marry, and in every other thing, so long he does not injure others.

We have a foolish talk against material civilization. The grapes are sour. Even taking all that foolishness for granted. In all India, there are, say, a hundred thousand really spiritual men and women. Now, for the spiritualization of these, 300 million must be sunk in savagery and starvation! Why should any starve? Why was it possible for the Hindus to have been conquered by the Mahomedans? It was ignorance of material civilization—gun powder and cannon.

Material civilization is necessary; nay, even luxury, to create work for the poor. Bread! Bread! I do not believe in a God who can not give me bread here, giving me eternal bliss in heaven, pooh!! India is to be raised, the poor are to be fed, education is to be spread, and the priests must receive such a kick as will make them fall into the Atlantic Ocean after cutting a hundred thousand somersaults—Brahmins, Sannyasis, and all. No priestcraft, no social tyranny! More bread, more opportunity for everybody.

Our young fools make meetings to get more power from the English. They laugh. None deserves liberty who is not ready to give liberty. Suppose the English give over to you all the power—why, the Rajputs will get up and rob everybody and only bribe the priests to hold the people down while they will cut their throats. Slaves want power to make slaves.

Now, this is to be brought about slowly, and only insisting in the religion and giving liberty to society. Sift off the priestcraft from the old religion, and you find the best religion in the world. Do you understand me? Can you make a European society with India’s religion? I believe it is possible and must be.

source: Letter by Swami Vivekananda to Alasinga Perumal from New York on 19th November, 1894 https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_4/writings_prose/to_my_brave_boys.htm

I had placed a picture of Shiva on my altar and offered water under the moon and two days after I was walking into my workplace (I work in a factory making copper fittings) and I walked up to a snake at my machine I work at. Could this be a message from Shiva? I have never had this happen before at my workplace and I’ve worked there 7 years. It was just a garter snake and not poisonous. Someone had taken it outside.

Namaste 🙏

I’d like to share a live performance from a 24-hour Peace Meditation in Budapest.

We performed Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu, and during the piece it flowed into a Hungarian prayer for peace, “Adj békét, Uram” — “Give Us Peace, O Lord.”

What moved me most was hearing these two traditions meet so naturally. Different languages, different cultural backgrounds, but essentially the same intention: peace, well-being and freedom for all beings.

The audience sang with us beautifully, and at a certain point it felt less like a concert and more like one shared prayer.

I’d be very interested in how this feels to people here, especially those familiar with kirtan, mantra practice or bhakti traditions.

🙏 Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings everywhere be happy and free.

I'm not an atheist, and I do believe in God. I also genuinely want to develop a stronger desire to do bhakti/devotion, but I'm struggling with the actual motivation and consistency.

The strange part is that my inner mind wants to do it, but when the opportunity actually comes, I feel lazy, tired, or completely uninterested.

Like For example...

My parents ask me to come to a temple, and my immediate reaction is that I don't want to go.

They ask me to read a stotra, and my mind immediately feels lazy or resistant.

Sometimes I think about doing bhakti on my own and genuinely feel like I should develop this habit.

But when it is actually time to do it, I feel like doing anything else instead.

I don't dislike God or have a problem with religion. The resistance is more like laziness, lack of interest in the moment, or lack of inner discipline.

Afterwards, I sometimes regret not doing it and wish I had participated.

I don't want to force myself into performing rituals mechanically just because my parents tell me to. I want to genuinely develop the इच्छा or desire you can say to do bhakti, so that I naturally want to pray, visit temples, read stotras, etc.

For people who have gone through something similar:

How did you develop the genuine desire to do bhakti?

Did you start with very small practices? Did you change how you approached prayer? Did you learn more about the meaning behind the stotras? Or is this simply something that develops through discipline first and devotion comes later?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who believed in God but initially felt lazy/resistant toward bhakti and eventually developed a stronger connection with it.

Lord Shiva says that everyone considers the cremation ground to be an impure place. But how can a place be impure if it is the very place where a body made of the five elements attains liberation? How can the place where a body composed of the five elements returns to its ultimate state be considered impure?

But then another question arises: Why is cremation practiced in Hinduism? Why are bodies burned on a funeral pyre, while many other cultures traditionally bury their dead?

One logical explanation people often give is that burial practices developed according to geography. For example, in the Middle East, where there were fewer trees and less firewood, people buried their dead. In extremely cold regions, burial was more practical because of the environment. And in India, where wood was more readily available, people began cremating the dead.

But this explanation doesn't completely hold up when we look at India itself. Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have enormous amounts of snow and extremely cold climates. Rajasthan has vast deserts. Yet, traditionally, the fundamental practice remained the same: the body was to be cremated.

Perhaps the ancient Rishis had understood something much deeper about the cycle of birth and death—something about how this cycle actually operates.

Let me give you an example.

Newton explained gravity as a force: the Earth exerts a gravitational force on us, and the Sun exerts a gravitational force on the Earth.

Then Albert Einstein gave us a completely different picture. He explained that gravity isn't simply a conventional force pulling everything downward. Instead, mass and energy curve the fabric of spacetime, and objects move through this curved spacetime.

Think of it like a depression or a curve in the fabric of spacetime. Objects naturally move along that curved geometry.

Now consider a star.

Most of the time, nuclear reactions are taking place inside a star. These reactions are what produce the enormous amounts of energy, light, and heat that stars emit—our Sun being the most obvious example.

But what happens when those nuclear reactions eventually stop?

The forces supporting the star can no longer counteract gravitational collapse. The star begins collapsing further and further. Under certain conditions, this collapse can ultimately lead to a singularity—a state where matter is compressed to an incredibly small region.

In a philosophical interpretation, one might compare this idea to what ancient sages described as a Shiva Bindu—a single point.

As the star collapses, most of its original structure is no longer preserved in the same form. A massive amount of matter and energy can be expelled outward through catastrophic stellar processes, while the remaining core can collapse into an extremely compact object.

In the case of a sufficiently massive star, this can result in a black hole.

And now notice the parallel.

When a human being dies, the consciousness is believed to leave the physical body. Once that consciousness is no longer associated with the body, the body itself is no longer the person. It is simply the physical remains—the five elements that temporarily came together to form a human body.

This is where cremation takes on another meaning.

The body is returned to the elements from which it came.

But there is an interesting question.

A black hole, as we understand it, has an immense gravitational field. It seems as though everything that crosses its event horizon disappears from our observable universe.

Yet the ancient Rishis said something remarkably different about consciousness: that the soul does not simply disappear after leaving one body. Instead, it moves on and takes another body.

At first glance, this idea may seem difficult to reconcile with the concept of a black hole.

But modern theoretical physics has raised fascinating questions about what ultimately happens to information and matter associated with black holes. Some speculative models have explored ideas involving black holes, white holes, quantum states, and even connections to other regions or universes.

In some theoretical scenarios, a black hole could potentially be connected to a white hole, with matter or information emerging elsewhere. These ideas remain speculative and are not established scientific facts.

But philosophically, the parallel is fascinating: what appears to be an end may actually be a transformation.

The death of one form could become the beginning of another.

And perhaps this is what makes the ancient idea of the cycle of birth and death so profound.

The Rishis repeatedly reminded us that the entire material world is Maya—transient and impermanent.

Everything we collect, everything we possess, and everything we believe will give us permanent happiness will eventually change or disappear.

Nothing in this physical world remains forever.

Perhaps the real lesson of death is not simply that everything ends.

It is that everything changes form.

And what we call an ending may simply be another beginning.

Hi guys, I found this Ganesh at goodwill and decided to take him to put on my new mandir. I noticed he has a chip in the cushion he is sitting on…should I not have him on my mandir because of this? The chip is only on the cushion.

I am a convert to Hinduism and am still learning traditions. Because of local rules, i would not be able to submerge him in a river or bury him.

Do you guys think he is suitable for worship?

Thank you

Namaste everyone!

I wish to do a 7 day sankalp of hanuman ji.

I am not sure about the procedure though. Today is tuesday so I want to start from today.

Am I supposed to chant it 7 times daily and then 108 mala of Raam Naam?

How to take the sankalpa?

I suppose you are supposed to fill a copper mug with water and put a coin and 3 laung in it and then take some water in your hand while telling baba about your wish and sankalpa and then drink the water in your hand and start the chalisa? What to do with the water in the copper vessel with the coin in it? Do I need to keep it like that for 7 whole days and drink it afterwards?

Celibacy, no nonveg food are a norm and that's okay

But In my family we put onion in almost everything so would that be an issue?

This is a serious question I want an answer to. Please help me find it.

I want to know how to find God within myself.

"Find God within yourself" is some much repeated and common wisdom and many scriptures in Sanatan also propagate this idea.

But what is the procress to do it?

How do I actually find God within myself? Do I visualise the God I worship during meditation, in this case, Lord Shiva, and then somehow try and wait to finally find him residing within me?

And what does finding God within yourself mean anyway?

Does it mean finding His ansh or image within our soul? But what does that even mean or how does it even look like?

Also, we can't even find our soul itself and there is no conclusive evidence for the existence of either soul or God. It's all make-belief propagated through childhood conditioning and the culture one grows up in.

Then how do I even attempt something like this?

It looks good to read and listen to but this piece of wisdom is very impractical with no definite way to actually implement and achieve it.

I am looking for serious, actual help here. If anyone can genuinely help me regarding this, it would be much appreciated.

"श्रीमद्‌ भगवद्‌गीता यथारूप 18.30

प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये ।

बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥ १८.३० ॥

Translation

हे पृथापुत्र! वह बुद्धि सतोगुणी है, जिसके द्वारा मनुष्य यह जानता है कि क्या करणीय है और क्या नहीं है, किस्से डरना चाहिए और किस्से नहीं, क्या बाँधने वाला है और क्या मुक्ति देने वाला है |

I’m planning to chant the Hanuman Chalisa 108 times and wanted to know if there are any specific things I should do before starting, while chanting, or after completing it.

Are there any traditional practices, rules, preparations, or things I should keep in mind? Also, how do people usually manage chanting it 108 times without losing count or becoming physically exhausted?

I’d appreciate advice from people who have actually done this or regularly practice it.

So I'm from a Marwari/Rajasthani family, but we've been living in Maharashtra for a long time. We've been bringing Ganpati Bappa home and celebrating Ganeshotsav for years.

Recently, a pandit told my father that Ganpati is basically a festival for Maharashtrians, and that Marwaris shouldn't really be bringing Ganpati home.

His explanation was that Ganpati comes to Maharashtra for these 10-ish days to bless Maharashtrians, which is why Maharashtrians celebrate Ganeshotsav.

Because of this, my father is saying this will be our last year celebrating Ganpati.

I'm honestly confused because I always thought Ganesh Chaturthi was a Hindu festival and not something restricted to a particular community.

So is there actually anything in the Puranas/Shastras that says Ganeshotsav is specifically for Maharashtrians?

Like, is there a story saying Ganpati comes specifically to Maharashtra during these days? Or is the whole "Ganpati = Maharashtra" thing mainly because Maharashtra developed such a huge cultural tradition around the festival?

Also, are there any restrictions on a Marwari/Rajasthani family bringing Ganpati home?

I'm not trying to disrespect the pandit or start some Maharashtra vs Rajasthan debate 😂. I genuinely want to know what the scriptures/traditional sources actually say.

If anyone knows the relevant passages from the Ganesh Purana, Mudgala Purana, Skanda Purana, etc., please share them. I'd much rather see an actual source than just hearsay.

Because honestly, I'd really like to continue bringing Bappa home if there's no actual religious reason we shouldn't. 🙏

Ganpati Bappa Morya! ❤️

As Odia communities around the world continue this tradition, Khudurukuni Osha carries the timeless spirit of Odisha beyond its homeland.

Khudurukuni Osha, also known as Bhalukuni Osha and Dhenki Osha, is a traditional Odia folk festival dedicated to Goddess Maa Mangala.

Observed especially by unmarried Odia girls and young women, it is a heartfelt prayer for the long life, health, safety and prosperity of their brothers.

🌼 The Tapoi Story:

The festival is deeply connected with the touching legendary tale of Tapoi, the beloved sister of seven Sadhaba Pua (merchant brothers). Her suffering, unwavering faith and devotion to Maa Mangala form the emotional heart of this tradition.

"For me, it was Rama. A human being. Unaware of his true actual identity (before Brahma revealed to him, after Ravana's death, that he's the avatar of Narayana himself).

He carried all human emotions and dilemmas.

Despite being the best archer in the world (yet to this date), he had no arrogance, no ego.

His nature was very calm and pure. His innocence was of a child.

He had no bias for anyone and treated everyone equally to his best capability, being a human.

Rama is a peak human being for me."