India! Her Glorious Spiritual Heritage!!

Bhava Shankara Deshika me Sharanam! Around the beginning of the middle ages (1,500 years back), India was witnessing a near collapse of the glorious and ancient Vedic civilisation. The utility of the Vedas was reduced to just performance of a wide range of rituals with the narrow objective of fulfillment of desires - in other words only the Karma Kanda portion was being practiced. The magnificent Jnana Kanda portion (the Upanishads ) - the cream and actual essence of the Vedas which deals with solutions for the ultimate mysteries, was completely overlooked and almost forgotten.  Buddhism and Jainism took birth as a reaction against the excess emphasis on rituals. However in their opposition to Karma Kanda, they made the great mistake of outright rejection of the Vedas. In this way, they were devoid of the most beautiful message of the Upanishads - Oneness of Consciousness - the source of Infinite Bliss and Wisdom. One of the fundamental principles of Buddhism is that there ...

Tat Tvam Asi Upanishads are the cream and essence of the Vedas. Since they are part of the end-portion of the Vedas, they are also called Vedanta. Upanishads are  greatest of all the scientific and philosophical works.  They deal with deepest mysteries of the Universe: What is creation? What is God - the unimaginably brilliant intelligence behind of this incredibly complex creation? What is the relationship of individual souls with the Supreme Lord? What is life and What is death? Upanishads show the way for individual souls to be freed from the never-ending demands of the body & mind, and to be able to achieve the state of unconditional happiness. The path shown by the Upanishads is perfectly scientific - everyone is open to question the teachings thoroughly before accepting them. There is no punishment for not accepting the teachings.  The teachings are thoroughly practical - the striving soul is to put in tremendous self-effort in reachi...

Jai Jai Ramakrishna Hari Bhakta Tukaram (also known as Sant Tukaram Maharaj) was an extraordinary saint in 17th-century Maharashtra. He is among the foremost of the saints of the Varkari devotional tradition. He composed close to 4,500 devotional poems, called Abhangs. He also popularized community-oriented worship with Kirtans. His Abhang songs were devoted to Lord Vitthala of Pandharpur. Lord Vitthala is the form by which Sri Krishna is worshipped in Maharashtra. The other names for the Lord are Panduranga, Vithoba and Pandharinatha. Bhakta Tukaram was born in the  year 1608 at a village called Dehu in Poona district of Maharashtra. His family deity was Lord Vithoba of Pandharpur. The Lord pulled Tukaram towards Himself by putting him through severe misfortunes. He lost his parents at the age of 17. His sister-in-law also died about this time, and his elder brother renounced the world seeking salvation. Debtors would not repay whatever was due to him, and creditor...