Kali_Upasaka

The formula to remember Rahu Kala is Mother Saw Father Wearing That Turban So. Starts Monday and lasts for 1.30 hrs every day. Mother - Monday Saw - Saturday Father - Friday Wearing - Wednesday That - Thursday Turban - Tuesday So - Sunday Start Monday - 7.30 A.M to 9.00 A.M Saturday - 9.00 A.M to 10.30 A.M Friday - 10.30 A.M to 12.00 noon Wednesday - 12.00 A.M to 1.30 P.M Thursday - 1.30 P.M to 3.00 P.M Tuesday - 3.00 P.M to 4.30 P.M Sunday - 4.30 P.M to 6.00 P.M Remember the formula and That Rahu Kala lasts for 1.30 hrs every day.

ॐ पार्वति पतये हर हर हर महादेवः । गजाननं भूत गणादि सेवितम् कपित्थ जन्बूफल सार भक्षणम् । ऊमासुतं शोक विनाश कारकम् नमामि विघ्नेश्वर पादपंकजम् । This is the Sanskrit text. The second line ends with भक्षितम् instead of भक्षणम् in the Sanskrit texts. The fourth line ends with कारणम् instaed of कारकम् in the Sanskrit texts. I am not discussing the implications here.

The question arises is who is sane and who is not. My children consider me crazy to be posting on the internet. In their view I should be going to the club, play tennis, have a couple of pegs, meet friends and chat. They point out the days long past when I was doing it. There are many who would consider all of us nuts to be discussing Siddhas on the net. So the question of sanity is relative.

Please post Hindi in Devanagari Unicode. Or in English. Even for a native Hindi speaker like me Hinglish is difficult. Thank you.

Knowledge of Brahman from the internet? I find that there one too many view points floating around the net. Nothing is ever deleted. Sometimes I am surprised/shocked when a number of my posts in other forums from 2001 onwards are seen in this forum. I have changed my views. (and the name) But the posts remain unchanged. Yes. We do get a lot of information. I have learnt a lot from this forum. But for this to become knowledge, I have to understand and assimilate. Just my point of view.

I was going through you post again. Are you doing meditation on Chandi mantra. This should not be done without a proper Guru who can guide you when you have experiences. These are not standard and varies from person to person. Everyone has experiences. The Guru interprets it and shows you the proper way. Please stop doing meditation on Chandi. Recite the Chandi mantra if you are interested in spiritual advancement. Since you have problems it may be better if you stop reciting the mantra also. Siddha Kunjika Stotram is for mantra siddhi. "mantra siddhim kurushva me." Not for the uninitiated. These are only short term palliatives for getting over your present problems. After that get a proper Guru. You can also seek Swami Sathyananda Saraswati's guidance straightaway.

None of the Siddhas I have known or heard of belonged to any cult. They were not bothered about anyone. None of them cultivated any following. Tell me how do individuals who have cut themselves off from humanity become cults? Anyway it does not matter to me or the real Siddhas at all what you call them.

The entire Chandi Path is considered a mantra. Since you do not have a Guru recite only the four sthudhis. 1st, 4th, 5th and 11th chapter. and also Durga Saptha Sloki (found in the beginning of any Chandi path book). MAA is called Dusswapna Nasini. Chandi path is recited to overcome such problems. Be rest assured that your bad experience is not because of Chandi Path. Stop reciting the entire Chandi Path and recite only the Saptha Sloki Durga and 5th chapter studhi to start with. The four Studhis are considered as some the most beautiful compositions in Sanskrit.

कल्लुम्

The entire Upanishads are devoted to examining the question of understanding Brahman. The article is quite exhaustive. All the Sages have spent a life time trying to understand Brahman.

The story on the web site is from M.A. Sherring's book about Banares. Historians and reserch scholars do a lot of research, many of them motivated by the urge to prove something. Political motivations also. They get their work published. But that does not mean it is an incontrovertible fact. I saw a book recently in which the author has tried to prove that Durga is a Vaishnavite deity who evolved from Radha. He has based it on one single sculpture in south India. Interesting read. That is what I would say. Again we have books which claim that Tamilians conquered Polynesia and how Hinduism was the religion of the Aztecs and Incas. Theories abound. Like Erich Von Daniken's books. These are theories. That is all.

Aurangazeb also destroyed the ancient Bindu Madhav temple which was the highest spot in Kasi and constructed a mosque in its place. But then the temples of Banares have been destroyed by all Muslim invaders. This article gives a brief history of Banares. http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/concepts/kasi.asp We find in history instances where a particular Muslim ruler patronized a temple and then later destroyed it. A lot of research has been done about this. Many of these are not known outside the academic circles. The main cause of the destruction of the temple was not religion but the wealth accumulated by the temples. It is the legendary wealth of the Somanath and Bajreswari temples which led to Muslim marauders coming from Afghanistan. The local Muslim rulers also had another reason. Temples were the meeting place of the people. When a group of people hostile to the ruler gathered, they could plot against the ruler. This could be called political reason. It is a combination of religious, economic and political factors. In the case of Aurangzeb, he inherited a bankrupt state. Shahjahan had spent huge amount of money in constructing monuments. Aurangzeb also stripped most of the gold covering of Delhi and Agra forts. Again Aurangzeb got the most popular Sufi saint of that time murdered because he thought he could lead an uprising. Aurangzeb had killed his brothers, imprisoned his father to ascend the throne. It is our country's misfortune that Dara Shikoh the brother of Aurangzeb who was Shahjahan's favorite son , and the heir apparent did not become the ruler. Dara Shikoh completed his translation of fifty-two Upanishads in 1657, two years before he was executed. http://www.boloji.com/perspective/327.htm

That web site is confusing between Brahman and Brahma. Please go through this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman

Talking about Kashi temple, did any one wonder why Rani Ahilya Bayi Holkar ( who constructed the present temple) did not demolish the mosque and construct the temple in its original place? The Mahrattas were ruling Kashi at that time. The nominal King was the King of Kashi who was a Hindu. It is because she was a devout Hindu who went by the Sasthras. The Sasthras lay down clearly where a temple can be constructed. Once a mosque is constructed in a place, it becomes polluted and no temple can be constructed in that place. That is the reason why the temple was constructed in a nearby site. BTW the Mahrattas constructed the Annapurna temple also. Though the rulers were Mahrattas, the real power was with the Peshvas who were Brahmins. Rani Ahilya Bayi Holkar also constructed a new temple at Somnath.

I learnt Hindu Philosophies and religion in college from text books. Even the idea of Nirguna Brahman was not an acceptable proposition, because I believe in a personal God and Bhakthi. Over the years what I have learnt is that there are very few Hindus who believe in Nirguna Brahman. Even Advaita Vedanta has been modified after Sankara's period to include Saguna Brahman. About Sankara's Maya theory, I do not think there is any Hindu who really believes in it. Except table top philosophers and may be forum posters. And some songs. In real life. No one does. It is a Maya or Myth. We live in a real world.

Sakya Muni Buddha was primarily opposed to the sacrificial religion of the Karma Kanda of the Vedas. This is Purva Mimansa. There is a chapter in the Dhamma Pada about Brahmanas. Buddhist philosophy is called Nasthika because it does not believe in the supremacy of the Vedas. Asthikas are people who believe in the supremacy of the Vedas. Nasthikas are people who do not believe in the supremacy of the Vedas. So Jainism and Buddhism are Nasthika philosophies. The term atheist is not relevant here. That is why even Purva Mimansa and Sankhya which do not believe in a supreme god are called Asthika philosophies. Buddha's teachings have a lot in common with the Upanishadic teachings. Now the question is who influenced whom? Hinduism has grown by absorbing good ideas from all religions. Ahimsa was originally a Jain idea. It is always represented that Adi Sankaracharya was responsible for the decline of Buddhism. In a way he was. Because he popularized the Upanishadic thoughts. But the credit for engaging the Buddhists in debates goes to Kumarila Bhatta. He defended Purva Mimansa against Buddhist ideas. Later of Adi Sankaracharya debated the Purva Mimansa scholars like Mandana Mishra (a disciple of Kumarila Bhatta) and defeated them. It is also worthwhile remembering that some religious teachers have accused Adi Sankaracharya of borrowing the idea of Nirguna Brahman from the Buddhists. Buddhism became popular among the common people because 1. The texts were in Pali which was the common man's language. 2. They wrote everything down unlike the Vedas. Everyone had access to these texts. Buddhismdeclined when Puranas and Itihasas bacame popular. What is called the Puranic/Itihasic period of Hinduism. The Puranas/Itihasas could be understood by the common man and many of them were also translated to local languages. And then we had Bards who went from village to village singing these poems and explaining them to the common man. Thus Hinduism nullified the initial advantages of Buddhism. It is sad that most of the followers of Adi Sankaracharya in India today are basically followers of Purva Mimansa, which Adi Sankaracharya opposed during his entire life time. The Hindu Dharmasasthras follow Purva Mimansa.

That was an excellent quote posted by Narasingh. Our purpose here is to refute the statements put forward by smiley's brother and also present the Vaishnava point of view. Some people have posted that 1. Vaishnavism is not Hinduism and Hinduism does not exist. 2. Christianity and Vaishnavism are the same. Unfortunately these would not wash with smiley's brother. He has classified Vaishnavism as Hinduism and also that Christianity is different from Vaishnavism. The above arguments would not be sufficient. Again there is some talk about Yoga/Advaita and other systems in Hinduism. I have been asked often about the prevalence of animal sacrifices in Hinduism. There is no point in denying that. My reply is always that it is not part of my tradition. We can not/should not attempt to defend the practices of all the sampradhayas/traditions. We defend only the traditions we believe in. I do not think the Catholics will defend the "speaking in tongues" and other practices of the Pentecostal people. http://atheism.about.com/od/pentecostalism/a/Superstitious.htm I think we have made excellent progress in replying to the wild allegations. I had posted earlier that we should reply point by point. But now I realize the problems in that. So let us stick to presenting the Vaishnavite point of view.

I have sent you a P.M.

Buddha_as_an_Avatar_of_Vishnu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_as_an_Avatar_of_Vishnu A quote from the article The article has quoted a reference to a Lecture 1974 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada "Because people were addicted so much in violence, in killing the animals, therefore Buddha philosophy was needed"' Shall we move on then with the reply by Narasingh.

The practice of Japa and Meditation actually reduces the hormonal imbalance. But even Japa/Meditation has to be done with the help of a Guru. If you are thinking of doing 4 to 5 hours or more of Japa/Meditation on a daily basis you should consult your Guru. The duration has to be increased gradually. You should post this question in the Devi Mandir group. Swamiji will give you the right directions.

According to some Vaishnavite schools Bagavan Buddha is an Avatar of Vishnu. I think it is worthwhile reading what Bagavan Buddha said about Brahmanas in Dhamma Pada which is a collection of Buddha's sayings. You can read the entire text here. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.26.than.html

Pravati seems to be a Bengali/Orissan variation of Parvati. Most of the google search results are personal names of Bengalis. There are no results from any Hindu web site. Bangla (Bengali) has got rules for pronunciation which may change the word from its Sanskrit equivalent. Though the written word may be the same as the Sanskrit equivalent, it is pronounced differently in colloquial Bangla. Other names which are pronounced differently are Lakshmi, Rukmani, Vishwanath. But normally the name does not change while writing. Pravati seems to be an exception. It could be a regional variation as I have not heard this so far. Paarvati is the correct name. The term comes from Parvat ( mountain). Parvati means daughter of the mountain. (mountain king). She is also called Himavati, daughter of Himavan. (Himalayas).

Kautilya or Chanakya's original name was Vishnu Gupta. He was a Brahmin.

The Pancaratra tradition is still very much alive in Tamil Nadu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pa%C3%B1caratra The pancaratra texts of Tamil Nadu do not seem to presribe any esoteric practice. We know that Maa Bhairavi Brahmani made Sri Ramakrishna go through esoteric rituals. I have not read any of the Vaishnava tantra texts like Lakshmi tantra. May be there are other texts which have not been published. Most likely it was only a Guru/shishya sampradhaya whose texts have been lost. It is good not to reveal your spiritual leanings even in temples. A tantrik performing a ritual in a temple will not be liked by the Priests of the temple. And the common man will fall at your feet expecting you to solve all his problems. You are even afraid of wearing the traditional red/saffron. Once Swami Chinamayananda (Chinmaya Mission) remarked "People come to me and ask me to keep my hand on their head. They believe this would solve all their problems. If my hands have that kind of power, would I not be keeping them permanently on my own head."

Narasingh, Your essay is good, not that I am qualified to judge. I think it is a good idea of Smileys to post it in a blog. You could have moderated coments. If any of our members wants to add something he can post as a comment. Please ensure that the comments are moderated to prevent vandalism.