Hindu Prayer Book

Namaste, I just came across this prayer book and thought it might help a few of my readers. I know it’ll help me 🙂 Hindu Prayer Book in English View more documents from Shashi Joshi  

Hindu scriptures

Scriptures     The Vedas are the HolyScriptures of Hinduism. Literally Veda means knowledge or wisdom.Because the Rishis or sages had the Vedas channelled to them whilst in deep meditative states, they have been described as apaurusheya, i.e., not created by any human agency. These Vedas are four: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda. Out of …

Stages of hindu life

STAGES OF HINDU LIFE In Vedic times, the span of a normal human life was averaged to be eighty-four years, with four sections of twenty-one years each. The first twenty-one years is known as the “Brahmacharya ashram”, the stage of youth or learning, which requires a certain discipline, guidance and purity to gain the knowledge …

Forms of worship

Forms of Worship Hindu ritual is divided into three types: (1) daily rituals called nitya; (2) specific rituals, called naimittika; and (3) personal rituals, called kamya. These three religious activities, nitya, naimittika, and kamya, are accomplished through three types of ritual. These rituals are yajna, (involving a sacrificial fire); puja (devotional offerings, usually flowers); and …

Hindu Goals

Based on the principle of progressive evolution of the soul. Doctrine of four ends forms the basis of individual and social life of a Hindu. Dharma Good moral and ethical practices according to the scriptures. Includes all duties, individual, social and religious Artha (Wealth): One must earn enough order to raise a family and maintain …

Mother Lakshmi

Mother Lakshmi arose out of the sea of milk, the primordial cosmic ocean, bearing a red lotus in her hand.  Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (creator, preserver and destroyer respectively)- wanted to have her for themself. Shiva’s claim was refused for he had already claimed the Moon, Brahma had Saraswati, so Vishnu claimed her and she …

Visiting a Hindu Temple

This is the post, in hindsight, I should have written first. So you’ve been toying with the idea of visiting a Hindu temple but haven’t got up the nerve yet. Hopefully after reading this you’ll feel a little more at ease and much more likely to visit a temple real soon. To begin with: Attire- …

Lord Shiva

He represents the aspect of God that continuously dissolves and recreates the universe. Lord Shiva is often misconstrued as being the destroyer this is misleading as what he is doing is fixing a broken universe in preparation for its renewal. Goddess Parvathi  is the wife/consort of Lord Shiva. They have two sons Ganesha and Kartikeya. …

Sri RadhaKrishna

Sri RadhaKrishna Before I begin I must say that Lord Krishna is my Ishta Devata and so I have more than a a soft spot for Sri Radha Krishna. Oh and if you read only one Holy Hindu book make it the Bhagavad Gita, a guidebook on how to conduct your life. Lord Krishna is …

Lord Ganesha

Lord Ganesha Lord Ganesha is the most widely worshiped Hindu God. Lord Ganesha is the remover of all obstacles. He is the Lord of the followers (Ganas) and therefore called Ganesha or Ganapati.He has a human body with the head of an elephant. The eldest son of Lord Shiva is also known as Vinayak ( …