ShegavichaRana

can also be offered for one's own spiritual upliftment, in fact, it is advised by the saints that a spiritual aspirant should pray regularly. Prayer is also offered to purify one's mind so that the worldly desires creep less and less in the mind. It can never be bad to pray!!!

fantastic to say the least!!!

till tears rolled down my cheeks! This is a superb joke!!

I laughed heartily! You must be married to enjoy it!!!

Much less is written about the saints and more is written about the kings and politicians. In the due course of time, politicians are forgotten and saints are remembered. Exactly, same thing has happened about Jesus Christ. He must be a supreme saint.

This is exactly how, it has been described in Garud Purana, the journey of the soul, with the subtle body (Sukshma Sharira) towards Yamaraja, accompanied by Yamaduta. There is no difference, the pain, the agony, the wounds inflicted etc., ditto, it has been elaborately described. Now I am surprised, that our scriptures have given us the complete knowledge about the soul and its journey to and away form the earth. The details of Garuda Purana are applicable to everyone irrespective of their faith.

The technique of hypnosis is used by the psychiatrists to dig out the deep memories that could be causing distress to the person. Since a common man, being deep into the body-consciousness, can tell about the memories of and related to the humans, and nothing more than that. The so-called technique of trying to find out the memories of the past birth by using technique (also called regression) is not accepted by anybody.

The analysis is OK. The crux of the situation is to always 'feel' that you are not the body but an eternl Spirit Soul. That does not come easily! To reach there, is to become a saint. To reach there where there is no return, is very difficult. I think the desires play the spoilsport.

Many of us could have worn those those dinosaurs bodies then!!! Are the scriptures meant for guiding us towards final emancipation or salvation or teaching us about chemistry, physics, palaeontology, geology etc.? Only those matters that were immediatley connected with human life, devlopement are discussed with the particular focus on the spiritual progress of the humans. I have also heard that there is a mention about the Foot and Mouth desease of the cows and a remedy for the same in Vedas, but it becomes quite obvious, as tending of cows and the milk products were abundantly used then. When one is making a transition through, Bandha, Mumukshu, Sadhaka and Sidhdha these stages, only during the initial stages one gets lot many doubts. But they slowly melt away by steady devotion. Many of us are going through those initial stages right now.

Even at the time of her marriage, she had kept the idol of Lord Krishna near her. Right after the marriage she declared to her husband, Rana Bhoaj, that she would not be able to play the true role of a wife as she had been already married to Lord Krishna! He was really supportive of her, but her in-laws were against her for she refused to worship their family deity, Goddess Durga (Shakti) and refused to partake the meat offered to Her as Prasadam. There was bitter enemity between Muslims and Rajputs then. For hours together, Meera used to talk to Lord, in solitude and write her poetry, sing and dance to please her Lord. All these things were looked with scorn by the royal family. Her sister-in-law Udabai used to fuel the quarrels by poisoning Bhoj's ears by all sorts of slander about Meera, which was obviously false as Meera was oblivious to the outside world. Her world revolved around Lord Krishna alone. One day, emperor Akbar and Tansen visited disguised as mendicants and Akbar present her a diamond necklace, which she refused to touch, finally Akbar decoarted the idol of Lord with the necklace. Bhoj was out of his head when, he learnt that Akbar had visited Meera (she was not aware that Akbar had visited her). When Bhoj died of wounds in the war, his younger brother took over the reins of the kingdom. Thereafter all the hell broke loose. Meera had to undergo untold sufferings at the hands of her brother-in-law. But she bore it patiently keeping her devotional fervour intact. When she learnt that her brother-in-law wished that she would better committed suicide for the sake of the honour of their family. She willingly went to the river to drown herself, but Lord stopped her there and advised her to go to Vrindavana. She left for Vrindavana and stayed there in the company of Sadhus. With a band of Sadhus she happily came to Dwarika, where her Lord resided. Then there was no looking back. With her departure, the kingdom suffered calamities after calamities, and the king became helpless. The brahmins at his court told that, the calamities were the result of driving a pious saint like Meera away after torture. He forcefully sent them to Dwarika to fetch her back. The brahmins met her at Dwarika and requested her to return, which she refused. However, they persisted and threatened her that they would undertake fast-unto-death, if she refused to return. She told them that she would convey her decision on the following day at the entrance of the temple. That night, Meera went to the temple with a fervant request to Lord for not sending her back away from Him. Just then, she merged in Him completely. Next day morning, the brahmins saw her clothes were lying near the entrance. Meera's story ended like this. Rajputs never allowed others to know the sufferings she underwent neither recognised her as a great saint. But it was the Lord's way. Through her poetry all her sufferings came to the light! If not Rajputs, the rest of the world acknowledge her as the devotee of the higest order!

under whichever name. Suicide is the incorrect use of the free will that Lord Krishna has given us. Our life span is decided by the Karma of the past birth. Until, the allotted life span is not completed, another material body is not available to us, as suicide forces the soul to quit the body. Thus, the soul wanders without any body in the form of ghosts trying to fulfill its desires. At the allotted end of the life span it gets a new body, but the suicide beig against the will of the God, there is severe punishment to the person, in the subsequent birth. As for Sati custom, many things have been written wrongly by uninformed people. Sati in Puranik period was undertaken by women with their own free will and none forced them. Those who committed Sati of their own free will and who were truly dedicated to their husbands reached Vaikuntha (ref: story of Kantimati). However, in subsequent times, Sati custom degraded as it was forced on young widows, who never wanted to die. All in all, Hinduism never supports suicide.

the soulful bhajans of Meerabai !!!

I would prefer lyrics in Hindi. There was a time, I could not get over hangover of Meera from my mind for days together.Possibly, every possible site on Meera I must have surfed. Thanks in advance.

Frankly speaking, I was somewhat shocked to read your post. You are blaming Lord Krishna, the all-powerful and compassionate God for your bad hair-cut, a most trivial and forgetful event in life. Have you never faced challenging situations in your life so far? like, major or minor accidents, ill health, failures in endevours, financila losses, insults and humiliations etc. etc. Who saved you during those terrible situations? You know the answer. Think deeper and stop blaming Lord for your flippant behaviour. 20 years later, you might be a bald person, are you going to blame Krishna for your bald pate? This human body God has given us is to reach him by devotion and not for decoration!

are never allowed to forget their castes, even after conversion. The worst part of all this is, when a lower caste converted Christian dies, he/she is buried is 'separate' area meant for that particular community and away from the others. Now, this is really the limit!

is to do Shraddha ceremony for the departed soul, with the help of a Vedic scholar, who knows procedures as well as mantras to be chanted. This ceremony is done on a grand scale on the first anniversery on the exact day (Tithi, as per the Hindu calendar and according to the usual calendar). On this day, the Vedic scholar not only gives oblations for the departed soul but even does Pindadanam. This is the correct procedure. After Pindadanam, all the invited brahmins are first fed, then offered Dakshina and thereafter, the family members partake the remaining food as prasadam. Anybody can do anyone's Shraddha, without the precondition that the departed soul and the doer must have any blood relation. It is said in GarudaPurana that, the water and food offered during oblation gives the departed soul water and food when Yamadootas are dragging them towards Yamaloka. If Shraddha is done every year on the same day the departed soul never lacks food and water, in whichever yoni (body) it might reside. You can do the Shraddha for the departed soul as per the above procedure.

I am not sure about the wording of the following couplet. Can anyone help me with that and its purport and location? "Dhyan Moolam Gurormurty | Puja Moolam Gurorpadam || Mantra Moolam Gurorvakyam | Moksha Moolam Gurukrupa || Please inform me whether the wording is correct or not. waiting for your response.

keeps his caste (or Race) in the heart of the hearts, whether others (sometimes even him/herself) like it or not. The reason is different than what you have pointed out. Every age such differences would be there in one form or the other. The real reason is our identification with our bodies and egotism. Until we do sufficient spiritual Sadhana, we will not be able to get over such man-made designations.

Vanamaliji, you are truly devoted to Lord Krishna. So what, if someone calls you as a poor imitator or Meerabai or someone else? You have never claimed from the rooftops that you are her equal or greater. At the most I can say is that, the intensity of your devotion has suddenly increased to the extent that you could not hide your feelings for the Lord. There is nothing offensive in it. Meerabai was hated by one and all, during her lifetime, in fact the torture inflicted on her well known. Finally she had to leave the palace go to Dwaraka via Vrindavana. I also read somewhere that, most of the Rajputs even today, refuse to accept her as a great Vaishnava saint. That is one aspect. The fact remains that, from Lata Mangeshkar to MS everyone has sung her bhajans. So do not bother about what others speak of you and your devotion. Continue trading your path of devotion with utmost sincereity, that is all God wants.

"In other words, anybody who worships god is a vaishnava, irrespective of whether they call it Krishna. That is just one of the names of the Almighty, not the ONLY name. Don't be stuck with names and forms, try to go beyond and see the truth." Sure we would. Why don't you preach this philosophy to the "other group" too, who are offending the religious feelings of ours by critising our mode of worship? These people do not read any of our scriptures or the teachings of our saints/vaishnavas, then how can they critise our method of devotional service to God? And funnily, every time they do so, they get fitting replies too from other forum members, but still they continue to do it. Isn't that surprising?

I am looking for a verse which I know only partially and its purport. The verse goes something like this, "AddhyatmaSntaro Brahmo S navrutah sarvadehinam | sarvadehinam aham aatma --- Yatha bhuteni bhuteshu | Bahirant swatan tatha |" This is from Hamsgita which is from the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Can someone tell the correct verse, its location, purport to me, at the earliest?

Before he became a true devotee of Lord Krishna, he was in love with the son of a merchant (baniya), whose leftovers he used to eat. Once, he overheard brahmins talking to each other saying that, one should be devoted to Lord Krishna the way, Ras Khan is devoted to baniya's son. Upon hearing this, a change came over Ras Khan, who quit everything and went to Vridavan and remained there permanently. One more version says that, while he was going for Mecca with others, somone described the beauty of Lord Krishna, and he dropped the plans of going to Mecca and remained in Vrindavan for ever.But the bhajans written by him are very famous.

When I could not find answer to the question, I considered myself to be very dumb. When I scrolled down to find the answer, I was shocked to know that one has be to be a psycopath to know the answer. I thanked God for making me dumb!

In a famous boom "Ramayana" by none other than Chakravarthy Rajagopalachari who was a spiritual companion of Mahatma Gandhi and a scholar, who was well versed in Sanskrit and English, the author has clearly stated that Rama ate meat and has also mentioned that people shivered at the very concept of Rama eating meat, which was a custom prevalent in those days. He also stated that he had Valmiki and Kambar Ramayana as two main books from where he had taken all the information. Many of my Vaishnava friend said that, it was the Rigveda period, when meat eating was quite a common thing. Though, personally I am still unable to accept it.

Most of the times, the person who posts here, (mostly) tries to prove is point, some way or the other, and feels let down, when his point of view is rejected or contradicted by others. All these are the signs of a tremendous EGO in us. Unless this EGO is eliminated from our minds, there is no hope of getting Self-realisation inspite of several thousands of posts. Whenever I read any part of the BhagavadGita, I immediately feel, that, most of us are unable to bring those words of God into actual practice. Sometimes I feel we have no hope!