Tat Tvam Asi | तत्त्वमसि

"The Hindu culture is the life-breath of Hindustan. It is therefore clear that if Hindustan is to be protected, we should first nourish the Hindu culture. If the Hindu culture perishes in Hindustan itself, and if the Hindu society ceases to exist, it will be hardly be appropriate to refer to the mere geographical entity that remains as Hindustan. Mere geographical lumps do not make a nation.   The entire society should be in such a vigilant and organised condition that no one would dare to cast an evil eye on any of our points of honor.   Strength, it should be remembered, comes only through organisation. It is therefore the duty of every Hindu to do his best to consolidate the Hindu society. The Sangh is carrying out this supreme task.  The present fate of the country cannot be changed unless lakhs of young men dedicate their entire lifetime for that cause. To mould the minds of our youth towards that end is the supreme aim of the Sangh." - Dr. Keshav Baliram H...

To identify man with a mere bundle of material desires is to equate him with an animal. If man is just an animal, why should he lead an amicable and ordered life? All that can be said is that human beings do not prey upon one another like animals, simply because if X wants to devour Y, some Z will try to devour X. Thus, to prevent themselves from being mutually destroyed, some sort of arrangement had to be arrived at. But it cannot explain why the will to sacrifice for others, the spirit of comradeship in misery, should at all rise in the mind of man. But all through the history of mankind we come across such persons who have sacrificed their lives for others willingly, lovingly and smilingly. There is the story of Dadhichi in our ancient literature who volunteered to offer his bones to be made into a weapon to destroy the demon Vrittasura . He was a seer living in the forest. As an individual he desired nothing. Then, what made him to sacrifice himself ? Let us take an instance of...

From a talk with Dr. Saifuddin Jeelany, a noted Muslim Scholar, February 1971: Jeelany : We know that both Hindus and Muslims have a vast amount of goodwill for each other. In spite of this, occasional frictions of varying magnitudes do occur. What steps, in your opinion, should be taken to minimize or altogether stop these? Guruji : One of the causes of these frictions is the Cow. I do not know why the Muslims should go on harping upon their so-called right to slaughter the cow. They need not. As a matter of fact, it is not their religious injunction. That was only a way of spiting the Hindu in the old days. Why should it continue now? Can we not share each other's festivals? Our most popular festival which brings various strata of society together is the Holi. Suppose in this Holi festival a Muslim is sprinkled with a little colored water, do you think that the injunctions of the Koran are violated? Why not regard it as a social affair? The Hindus have been taking part in variou...

From a talk with Dr. Saifuddin Jeelany, a noted Muslim Scholar, February 1971:  Jeelany : Materialism in general and communism in particular threaten to engulf our country. Don't you think that Hindus and Muslims, as believers in God, should act as a united bulwark against these dangers? Guruji : This is almost the very question which was put to me some time ago by a gentleman from Kashmir. I think his name is Nazir Ali. He is a good man. I met him at Aligarh, He said to me that this threat of godlessness in the guise of communism is overtaking us all and we, who believe in God, should get together and meet that threat. I said, "I perfectly agree with you but the difficulty is that we have, as it were, broken the image of God and each one has got his own piece. So what is to be done? You think of God in one particular way. The Christian thinks in another. The Buddhist says there is no God; there is only Nirvaana. The Jain will say it is Shoonya. Then so many of us will say t...

A small story from the life of His Holiness Shri Chandrasekhara Bharati Swamiji, one of the previous Shankaracharyas of the Shringeri Math:  Once, an American approached him to be converted to Hinduism. Swamiji asked him the reason. The American replied that he was not satisfied with Christianity, that it left his spiritual longing unquenched. The Acharya asked him : "Have you honestly practiced Christianity? Try it first. If it does not satisfy you, then come to me". That is our attitude. Ours is a non-proselytizing Dharma. In almost all cases, proselytization is motivated by political or some such gain. We reject it. We say : This is the plain Truth; if you choose, follow it. Namaste! [Source:  golwalkarguruji.org ,  Images from Google]

From a clear knowledge of the Bhagavad-Gita all the goals of human existence become fulfilled. Bhagavad- Gita is the manifest quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedic scriptures. - Adi Sankara Few facts about the Gita:  a part of the Mahabharata (Hindu epic) advises from Lord Krishna to Arjuna at Kurukshetra (in modern day Haryana, India) in BC 3140 [exact, no approximation] influenced people all over the world taught in global universities  does not ask one to believe in God, unlike other holy texts  considered as the fundamental scripture of Hindu Dharma {Gita for Hindus, Bible for Christians} about 700 verses (slokas) in 18 chapters

Disciple: Once a great man said that a God who is pleased when we pray and displeased when we don’t, doesn’t exist. Guru (laughing): Many great men have said this. Disciple: I feel that people are often being misguided. I think meditation is needed more than prayer. If only a few plants flower, would we praise the gardener (religion)? Guru: There is no God as such, who pleases when you pray and not when you don’t. We don’t have any such Gods (smiling). But does that mean you should not pray? When you pray, do upasana , meditate, sing bhajans and kirtans , etc. you attain Chittha - shuddhi (purity of mind). And when your mind becomes pure, your self-consciousness grows, naturally enabling you to feel Eeswara-anugraha (immortal bliss). This is how we perceive God. So, prayer is mandatory. There are people who think dhyana  (meditation) is everything. Sitting in Padmasana and closing your eyes is not meditation. Meditation is not something that you should do; it's that whic...

Disciple: Our Shastras say that Eeswara (God) is formless and that Eeswara will never take birth. Guru: Yes. Disciple: Then who are our Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Maa Parvati and others? Guru: They are Devatas (deities). All of them are deities. Through them, we seek Eeswara (God). We perceive our deities with three gunas (qualities) – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas - and three vyavaharas (behaviours) – Srushti, Sthiti and Samhaara . Yaska Maharshi, in his Nirukta says: महाभाग्यात् देवताय एकात्मा बहुधा स्तुयते | एकस्यात्मनो अन्ये देव: प्रत्यंगानि भवन्ति || Mahabhagyad-devataya eka atma bahudha stuyate | ekasya atmano anye devah pratyangani bhavanti || [From the greatness of the Deity, the one Soul is celebrated in many ways. The different gods are all members of the one Soul. ] Remember, aspire for attaining the ultimate through Devatas .  Hari Om! ॐ Chidanandam ॐ 

Disciple: How can I make a positive change in others? Guru: Realize that you cannot change anyone in this world. If you are thinking that you can change someone, you’re wrong. I can only change one person in this world – me. Be it by advice, scorn, teaching or punishment, I cannot change anyone else in this world. If you believe the opposite, time will teach you. The only person you can change is you. So, brace yourself! Accept the good from everyone. Change yourself! The second verse from the Eleventh Anuvaka of Taittiriya Upanishad says: यान्यनवद्यानि कर्माणि | तानि सेवितव्यानि | नो इतराणि | यान्यस्माकं सुचरितानि | तानि त्वयोपास्यानि | नो इतराणि || २ ||  Yani anavadyani karmani | tani sevitavyani | no itarani |  Yani asmakam sucharitani | tani tvayopasyani | no itarani || 2 || [As you gain more freedom, you also have more responsibilities. You will be responsible for the consequences of your actions. Only noble and virtuous actions should be followed and not ...

Russian Hindus...

A Vaishnav Marriage in Russia:

Disciple: In a Q&A session with an eminent Muslim scholar, I came to hear the following argument: In the Bhavishyapurana, there are references that after 4000 years, a man named Muhammed would come and he should be given due respect and reverence. Is this true? What is Guru’s take on this? Guru: The fundamental basis of the Sanatana-Dharma-Shastra is the Vedas. Vedas have 4 parts [Samhitas, Aranyakas, Brahmanas and Upanishads], 6 Angas [Shiksha, Kalpa, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Jyotisha and Chandas] and 5 Upavedas [Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, Sthapathya-veda, Gandharva-veda and Arthashastra]. Since the complex concepts in the Vedas are unfathomable for common people, they have been explained with the help of stories (in ‘Puranas’) and biographies (in ‘Itihasas’/epics). Hence, the Vedas and their allied scriptures are considered as the primary sciences and the Itihasa-Puranas as secondary. Now, among the Puranas, the 18 Maha-puranas command primary status. The Bhavishya-purana in questio...

The Bhagavad Gita never asks you to ‘believe’ or to ‘be a believer’. Gita asks you to “criticize” it and thereby, to understand and absorb the knowledge presented within. That single fact in itself differentiates it from other holy books and makes it incomparable. Instead of deceiving you to ‘believe’ in a God, Gita asks you to search for the divine by yourself. The endeavor ‘should’ be out of one’s own will, ‘never’ subject to compulsion. That’s why you don’t find a person who was ‘compelled’ to read the Gita. The desire should come from within. We are not claiming that the other holy books are wrong, nor are we questioning their existence. The point we make is that all ‘beliefs’ are rooted in ignorance. All beliefs are blind. When you board a plane, you ‘believe’ that the pilot knows how to fly it. You believe. Wasn't that belief blind? Same is the case with all beliefs. This ignorance leads human lives into darkness and misery. The Gita exists in order to unite the human...

On the very first day of the war, Duryodhana went to his mother Gandhari for her blessings. Keeping her palm on his forehead, the words Gandhari uttered were not विजयी भव:  [vijayee bhava] may you win but यतो धर्मस्ततो जयः [yato dharmastato jaya ] may dharma win Despite hearing the stories of her sons being killed one by one, and that of Duryodhana nearing a defeat, her words never changed, not even once during those 18 long days of war. Though his mother never blessed 'him' to win, Duryodhana too never left for battle without her blessings. Such pious mothers who  insist that may dharma win,  despite knowing their blessings would win the world for their sons and the ideal sons who never refuse to bow to such mothers, are the true children of Bharat Mata.  Hari Om!

Questions: 1. Do Hindus have a religion? A. Yes, the eternal, immortal and universal Sanatana Dharma (same as Hindu Dharma). 2. Who established Hinduism? A. God, the Almighty – “Sat-chit-ananda-swarupa”. 3. Is there a single holy book for Hindus? A. Yes, the Vedas – the source of all worldly knowledge. No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism, and no religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and the low in such a fashion as Hinduism.                                            - Swami  Vivekananda ( on 20 August 1893 in a letter to  Alasinga Perumal ). Now, let’s see a few important Hindu scriptures: Vedas (4) - The first and the foremost. There are 4 Vedas:  Rigveda Yajurveda Samaveda Atharvaveda Each Veda is divided on two bases:  ...

Following the Kurukshetra war, Tarpan Vidhi (rites of passage) were performed for all the dead heroes. Kunti then requested her remaining five sons to perform the rites for Karna as well. When they protested, saying he was a charioteer, she revealed the truth of his birth. The brothers were shocked to find that they had committed fratricide. Karna’s sons too had been killed by the Pandavas. Yudhishtira, the eldest, born to the Lord of Dharma, in particular, was furious with his mother and laid a curse upon all women that they should never thereafter be able to keep a secret. The great Mahabharata!