Purana means stories or histories of ancient times. There are several subject matters in the puranas and they are classified into five sections. Their five sections are history, cosmology, secondary creation, genealogy of kings, and…
Not A Feature Of This World
To understand the meanings of liberation and immortality one must first agree on a common point and from there we shall proceed with the explanation. First of all, the body is temporary and the soul…
Shiva: The Auspicious One And His Glories
Shiva is one of the three main deities in Hindu religion. He is the personification of the mode of ignorance, although he is transcendental to the modes of nature. Followers of Lord Shiva are called…
The Powerful Devious Demons And Their Exploits
The sage Kashyapa had two wives, Diti and Aditi. From Diti the demons were born and from Aditi came the demigods. The demons also follow the Vedic ways of life under the guidance of their…
Offending Devotees – The Mad Elephant Offense
The Yamuna is a major tributary of the Ganga in northern India. Actually it is the main tributary. It is around 1400 kilometers long and therefore it is the longest tributary of the Ganga. According…
The Demigods And The Heavenly Enjoyments
Even in this world most of the believers in God lament and pray to God when they are in trouble and they forget to worship Him when they are living comfortably. The mentality is the…
The Health Of Household Life
We normally refer to the events of the Srimad Bhagavatam when it comes to instructing ourselves about householder life. There are examples like Kardama Muni and Devahuti, Kashyapa and Aditi, the Pandavas and Draupadi and…
The Sacrifices Of The Different Ages
God is not understood through mere words. It takes time: lifetimes and millenniums of practice. Some may get discouraged but only the sincere practitioners go to God. By sincere we mean no duplicity and no…
The River That Gives Liberation To The Soul
The Ganges, or Ganga, is a major river flowing through India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The 2,510 kilometer river has its source in the Himalayas at a place called Gangotri. The streams are fed by melting…
The Six Goswamis: The Embodiments Of Spiritual Perfection
The Six Goswamis of Vrindavan were the people who revived Vrindavan. Rupa and Sanatana were direct disciples of Sri Chaitanya and they compiled literatures based on the teachings they received from Him. The other goswamis…
The Spiritual Quest For Liberation
Kumbh Mela is a spiritual event that occurs four times every twelve years in four diffferent locations: Allahabad (Prayag), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. After twelve years there is a Maha Kumbha Mela that takes plce…
Vaishnava Sarvabhauma – Jagannath Das Babaji And His Teachings
Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj was an associate of Thakur Bhaktivinoda. He was well-known and very much respected among the vaishnava community. As such he became known as “Vaishnava Sarvabhauma”. He spent a lot of…
Prayer Beads: Medium For Vibrating Transcendental Sound
Prayer beads, known as japa mala by the Hindus and by yoga practitioners around the world, are used to keep count of the repetitions of prayers or mantras. The mala consists of a certain number…
Reality And Illusion: Modern And Vedic Living
In the words of the Lord, everything that is connected to Him is real whereas things acting independently of Him are unreal. Modern culture is also of the same nature since people are working independently…
Prayers Of Queen Kunti – Words Of Divine Inspiration
The prayers of Queen Kunti are very significant and well loved by the devotees of Krishna. These heartfelt prayers were offered when the Lord mounted His chariot and was about to depart for His magnificent…
Ramayana: Victory of Virtue Over Vice
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki and an important part of the Hindu canon. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven cantos and tells the story of Rama,…
Ratha Yatra: The Festival Of Celestial Carts
Ratha yatra is the celebration of when Lord Krishna (Lord Jagannatha) left Dvaraka and attended a religious function in the holy pilgrimage site, Kuruksetra, around 5,000 years ago. He was traveling on a big opulent…
Vaastu: The Vedic Science Of Construction
Vaastu is traditionally used in India for town planning and architecture. Vaastu comes from the Vedic literature and is found in the Atharvaveda. Vaastu is also known as Sthapathya Veda. It attracts good health conditions,…
“What Is Reincarnation?” A Hindu Perspective
Reincarnation is the belief that when one dies, one’s body decomposes, but the soul travels to another body. It is a belief that one has lived before and will live again in another body after…
Chaitanya Charitamrita: The Biography Of The Golden Avatar
The Chaitanya Charitamrita is one of the three main biographies detailing the pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the incarnation of Krishna as a devotee, and revivor of the Gaudiya Vaishnava culture. It was composed by…
Srimad Bhagavatam: The Activities of The Ten Incarnations
The Srimad Bhagavatam, or the Bhagavad Puran, is considered the main Puranic text of Vedic literature. Its main focus is on the process of bhakti yoga (loving devotion to the Supreme Lord) in which Krishna…
Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God
The Bhagavad Gita, The Song of God, is a conversation from the Mahabharata, comprising of 700 verses and 18 chapters. It is the essence of Vedic knowledge and one of the most important Upanisads, The…
Vedic Math Ancient Sutras – Basic Mental Math
The latest research in Vedic Math suggests that there are sixteen ancient Vedic Sutras which have been expanded upon by an additional thirteen sub-Sutras or math corollaries. A brief discussion on each of these is…
Mental Math and Vedic Math In Modern Times
In our modern age of computers and calculators, a lot of people have practically stopped developing skills of mental arithmetic and mental math. What school child hasn’t asked, “Why do I need to learn that?…
Bhagavat Gita And The Philosophy of Reincarnation
Millions of people all over the world are finally taking interest in the Bhagavat Gita. In this article, we shall take a closer look at the recent, enlivened edition titled “Bhagavad Gita As It Is”…
The Disappearance of Krishna
When Krishna was there in Vrindavan as a child he killed many demons. Then he went to Mathura and killed many demons. When he was in Dwaraka he killed many demons and then in the…
Hinduism, Karma and the Law of Attraction
The law of attraction has been around for centuries, however, only recently has it come into the eye oif the world through the book and DVD ‘The Secret’. Once known only ny successful business men…
Need to Revive Preaching in the UK
Two recent articles posted on Dandavats, “Tory Leader to visit Hindu temple” and “20,000 to celebrate Diwali in a blaze of lights,” highlight the urgent need for a revival of preaching. The United Kingdom, especially…
Israeli Folk Dance Reminds Me of Krishna’s Rasa Dance
Some acquaintances of mine recently told me about how wonderful it was to go to what is known as the “Israeli folk dance” at the local synagogue where people of all ages get involved with…
Diwali At Governor’s Mansion in Utah, Arizona
Saturday evening Vaibhavi and I attended the second annual Diwali celebration and dinner (vegetarian) in the Governor’s mansion. This year Dinesh was present with Kalpana, Governor Jon Huntsman and First Lady Mary Kaye (radiant in…
Story About the Passing of New Vrindavan Cow, Vraja
“I don’t think people realize just how gentle, considerate, and intelligent these huge beasts are. They need our protection and our love and in return, they will give their very life, their total dedication in…
Meditation: The Power Of Doing Nothing
Meditation is not well understood. If it were, it would be practiced with the same regularity with which people take care of the other elements of their lives. In this brief article, I hope to…