Ramayana - The spiritual side

Though Ramayana is history, it is also an eternal phenomenon happening all the time.

Ra means radiance, Ma means myself. Rama means ‘the light inside me’. 

Rama was born to Dasharath and Kousalya. Dasharath means ‘Ten Chariots’. The ten chariots symbolize  the five organs of perception (the five senses) and five organs of knowledge and action (For instance: reproduction, legs, hands and so on). Kousalya means ‘skill’.

 Ayodhya means ‘a society in which there is no violence’. If you skillfully observe what goes on inside the body, light dawns inside you. That is meditation. You need some skill to relax the tension. Then you start expanding.

Devi/shakti lives in lemon?

It is said devi/energy/shakti lives in lemon. Lemon is associated with Mother Divine whose job is to destroy rakshasas. Lemon sustains life and destroys enemies, that is, harmful toxins, viruses, bacteria in our body.

330 million Gods?

The Vedas refer to not millions of deities but 33 supreme deities.

33 crore Gods?

A popular but unfounded belief has been spread that Hindus have 33 crore gods. It is a misunderstanding of the Vedic concept of the State, and hence a misinterpretation of the word koti. 

33 divinities are mentioned in the Yajur-veda, Atharva-veda, Satapatha-brahmana, and in several other Vedic and later texts. The number thirty-three occurs with reference to divinities in the Parsi scriptures of Avesta as well.The expression trayastrimsa deva is found in the list of classes of gods in Sanskrit Buddhist texts like the Divyavadana and Suvarnaprabhasa-sutra.

The word koti in 'trayastrimsati koti' does not mean the number '33 crore' or '330 million'. Here koti means 'supreme', pre-eminent, excellent, that is, the 33 'supreme' divinities.

Ohh Bhagavad Gita, but...

1. Is it some kind of preaching?

Well, its just Krishna and Arjuna talking to each other. The reader is the third person. Aren't you curious what they were up to?

Shivaji Maharaj

Shivaji Maharaj (1630 - 1680)

“Shivaji is one of the greatest national saviours who emancipated our society and our Hindu dharma when they were faced with the threat of total destruction. He was a peerless hero, a pious and God-fearing king and verily a manifestation of all the virtues of a born leader of men described in our ancient scriptures. He also embodied the deathless spirit of our land and stood as the light of hope for our future.”
- Swami Vivekananda

He inspired and united the masses to fight the tyranny of unjust rulers, by inculcating a sense of pride and nationality in them. Shivaji Maharaj successfully built, led and marshalled his forces to cope and overcome several major enemy invasions of his territories.

Pooja - That which is born out of fullness

Sri Sri performing Puja

The ancient sages brought sacredness in every celebration, so that you don't lose the focus in the hustle-bustle of the activity. Observing rituals and religious practices (called Puja) is simply showing  one's gratitude to the Divine. This brings depth to the celebration.

These practices, along with promoting spiritual values and harmony in the family and society, have a scientific foundation as well. Unfortunately today people do not have access to this understanding and the value systems and traditions are lost as a result.

The Sun God

Sun - The centre of solar system

The fact that the sun is the centre of solar system was also known to us from ancient times.This was much before the discovery of this fact by the Europeans. The Bharatiya culture has always been knowledge-centred.