Gita-God-Hinduism

ॐ राजाधि राजाय प्रसह्य साहिने नमो वयं वैश्रवणाय कुर्महे समे कामान् काम कामाय मह्यम् कामेश्वरो वैश्रवणो दधातु कुबेराय वैश्रवणाय महाराजाय नमः ||    ॐ — Invoking the OmkAra, the universal cosmic sound that pervades the universe. राजाधि-राजाय - to the king of kings प्रसह्य साहिने - to the all powerful, mighty one, the one who conquers everything/everyone. नमः वयम् - we bow to / offer salutations to  वैश्रवणाय - to the Vaiśravaṇa, Kubera, the lord of all worldly desires and wealth  Kubera is the son of Viśravas and Iḍaviḍā; one with a deformed body having three legs and eight teeth. He is married to Yakṣī, the daughter of the Dānava Mura. As an especial friend of Śiva he is called Śiva-sakhā. His capital Alakā on the Himālaya mountain is mentioned also in the Ṛgveda (Wisdomlib.org)   He satisfies three key desires - putresha (desire for offspring), vittesha (desire for wealth) and lokaisha (desire for name, fame, and recognition)  कुर्महे - we invoke, we pr...

 Look at this beautiful statement from the Chandogya Upanishad:  एष म आत्मान्तर्हृदयेऽणीयान्व्रीहेर्वा यवाद्वा सर्षपाद्वा श्यामाकाद्वा श्यामाकतण्डुलाद्वैष म आत्मान्तर्हृदये ज्यायान्पृथिव्या ज्यायानन्तरिक्षाज्ज्यायान्दिवो ज्यायानेभ्यो लोकेभ्यः ॥ ३.१४.३ ॥ eṣa ma ātmāntarhṛdaye'ṇīyānvrīhervā yavādvā sarṣapādvā śyāmākādvā śyāmākataṇḍulādvaiṣa ma ātmāntarhṛdaye jyāyānpṛthivyā jyāyānantarikṣājjyāyāndivo jyāyānebhyo lokebhyaḥ || 3.14.3 || एष म आत्मान्तर्हृदये - this "aatma" at the core, in my heart अणीयान्व्रीहे वा यवात् वा सर्षपात् वा श्यामाकात् वा श्यामाक-तण्डुलात् — it is smaller than a grain of rice or a mustard seed or a millet or the husk of a millet.  एष म आत्मान्तर्हृदये - this consciousness within me, in my heart  ज्यायान् पृथिव्याḥ— greater than the earth ज्यायान् अन्तरिक्षात् — greater than the sky/atmosphere ज्यायान् दिवः — greater than the heavens ज्यायान् एभ्यः लोकेभ्यः — greater than all these worlds that we experience  The self / spirit / consciousness ...

दुर्गा सूक्तम् ॐ ॥ जा॒तवे॑दसे सुनवाम॒ सोम॑ मरातीय॒तो निद॑हाति॒ वेदः॑ । स नः॑ पर्ष॒दति॑ दु॒र्गाणि॒ विश्वा॑ ना॒वेव॒ सिन्धु॑-न्दुरि॒ता-ऽत्य॒ग्निः ॥ ॐ ॥ Om - the cosmic sound that connects and pervades the three worlds! जा॒तवे॑दसे – jAtavEdas is primarily agni! "! All the primary deties are liked to "agni", for example Krishna talks about jaTharavEda, durga is the mAya, Shiva is the Rudra rupa, all of them represent the agni in various forms! jAtavEdas is defined in many ways!   जातवेदाः कस्मात् जातानि वेद, जातानि वै नं विदुः (one aspect that every thing that is born knows) जाते जाते विद्यते इति वा - He who knows all that is born; He is witness from the time a jiva is born till he is dies  जातवित्तो वा जातधनो - one who possesses knowledge of all that is born and one who possesses all created wealth जातविद्यो वा जातप्रज्ञानो यत्तज्जातः पशूनविन्दतेति तज्जात- वेदसो जातवेदस्त्वमिति ब्राह्मणम् - he is the knower of all that is born ( jāta-vidya ), or the possessor o...

 Hare Krishna! During a recent Sri Vishnusaharanamam Class, I had a beautiful conversation with two kids (not mentioning their names.  I asked if they knew what "dhyAnam" meant. They initially said they do but realized they probably do not, and they humbly confessed "we do not know".  I asked them "can you visualize French Fries". They chuckled "what, French Fries? Why?" 😁 I insisted that they visualize French fries because they can relate to it. They smiled and imagined French fries. I asked to how it looks. They described it "it is in a small box, sticks of potato coming out of it, and there is a ketchup in front of it that they dip and put it in their mouth". Their eyes sparkled.  This is dhyAnam - bringing an object into our attention through descriptions so that we can internalize it.  Similarly, there is a beautiful description of Sri Vishnu in the form of dhyAnam. When we meditate upon that by understanding the meaning then Sri ...

ಜೋಗದ ಸಿರಿ ಬೆಳಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ   :  ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ: ಕೆ. ಎಸ್. ನಿಸಾರ್ ಅಹಮದ್ ಜೋಗದ ಸಿರಿ ಬೆಳಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ತುಂಗೆಯ ತೆನೆ ಬಳುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಸಹ್ಯಾದ್ರಿಯ ಲೋಹದದಿರ ಉತ್ತುಂಗದ ನಿಲುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ನಿತ್ಯ ಹರಿದ್ವರ್ಣವನದ ತೇಗ ಗಂಧ ತರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಿತ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ, ತಾಯಿ, ನಿತ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ನಿನಗೆ… ಇತಿಹಾಸದ ಹಿಮದಲ್ಲಿನ ಸಿಂಹಾಸನ ಮಾಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ಗತ ಸಾಹಸ ಸಾರುತಿರುವ ಶಾಸನಗಳ ಸಾಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಓಲೆ ಗರಿಯ ಸಿರಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ದೇಗುಲಗಳ ಭಿತ್ತಿಗಳಲಿ ನಿತ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ತಾಯಿ, ನಿತ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ನಿನಗೆ…. ಹಲವೆನ್ನದ ಹಿರಿಮೆಯೆ, ಕುಲವೆನ್ನದ ಗರಿಮೆಯೆ, ಸದ್ವಿಕಾಸಶೀಲ ನುಡಿಯ ಲೋಕಾವೃತ ಸೀಮೆಯೆ, ಈ ವತ್ಸರ ನಿರ್ಮತ್ಸರ ಮನದುದಾರ ಮಹಿಮೆಯೆ ನಿತ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ, ತಾಯಿ, ನಿತ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ನಿನಗೆ… ಜೋಗದ ಸಿರಿ ಬೆಳಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ:  ಜೋಗದ “ಸಿರಿ ಬೆಳಕು”, ಶ್ರೀಮಂತ ಪ್ರಕಾಶ ಎಲ್ಲರನ್ನೂ ಆಕರ್ಶಿಸಿ, ಕರ್ನಾಟಕವನ್ನ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ದಗೊಳಿಸಿದೆ ಅದರಿಂದ ಹೊಮ್ಮುತ್ತಿರುವ ಬೇಳಕು ಎಲ್ಲೆಡೆ ಹರಡಿದೆ. ತುಂಗೆಯ ತೆನೆ ಬಳುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ : ತುಂಗಾ ನದಿಯ ತುದಿಗಳ ತಿರುಗುವಿಕೆಯ ಚೈತನ್ಯದಿಂದ ನಲಿಯುತ್ತಿರುದರಿಂದ. ಎಲ್ಲೆಡೆ ದಾನ್ಯಗಳ ರಾಷಿಯನ್ನು ಹುಟ್ಟುಹಾಕುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಳೆ ತಾಯಿ. ತನ್ನ ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಕಾಪಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಳೆ ತಾಯಿ. ಸಹ್ಯಾದ್ರಿಯ ಲೋಹದದಿರ ಉತ್ತುಂಗದ ನಿಲುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ : ಸಹ್ಯಾದ್ರಿಯ (ಲೋಹಗಳಂತೆ ಬೆಳೆದಿರುವ) ಮಹತ್ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳ ಸಮೃದ್ದ ಲೋಹ (metals) ಅದಿರುಗಳ (ores) ಕೊಡುವಿಕೆಯಿಂದ/ಕೂಡುವಿಕೆಯಿಂದ...

श्यामलादण्डकम् - Shyamala Dandakam – Manikya Veena shyAmala dandakam is an unparalleled composition of Mahākavi Kalidasa on mother Durga, in a literary style called dandakam. It is written in praise of divine mother describing Her form and Her nature.  shyAmala means "the dark colored". Even pepper is called shyAmala. In her glorious form, mother durga manifests as 3-eyed, 8-armed, dark colored, seated on lotus and carrying veena and likened to Mother Saraswati. She is referred to by various names such as mAtangi, mantrini, and is non different from Sri Lalitha tripurasundari. She is the presiding deity of speech, music, dance, and other art forms. She is considered to be the Tantric form of Sarasvati, the goddess of music and learning. Like Sarasvati, Matangi governs speech, music, knowledge and the arts. Her worship is prescribed to acquire supernatural powers, especially gaining control over enemies, attracting people to oneself, acquiring mastery over the arts and gaining...