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...

Sri Gurubhyo Namah Out of several scores of men, some with sufficient stock of good Karma once in a while get a call from the Beyond. They then look up to the heavens for answers to the eternal questions - What is the mystery behind life & death? Who is the One with such a gigantic intellect for having designed such an enormously complex creation? What is my relationship with the Lord of all?.... Among several scores of such men, very few with huge stock of good Karma get to start "The Quest". They set out in search of a Guru - the human embodiment of all that is sacred, holy, all-knowing and all-loving. In other words, the Guru is considered God in human form. Once a man has recognized his Guru, he surrenders whole-heartedly to the Guru, serves him lovingly,  learns the deep mysteries from him, and ultimately realizes the Supreme Truth himself. Among the many precious jewels on the crown of Bharat Mata, the most brilliant is this holy Guru-Shishya tradition, whi...

Om Arunachaleshwaraya Namah Lord Shiva, the infinite ocean of Sat-Chit-Ananda, out of great compassion for His devotees, took up the form of Arunachala! Words fail to describe the glories of the holiest of all mountains! While Kailash is the home of Lord Shiva, Arunachala is He Himself! Arunachala literally translates as Red Mountain, and He derives this name from His fiery origin as an infinite column of fire - the form Lord Shiva took in the beginning of creation. He later cooled down in the present form. Hence Arunachala is also known as Agni Lingam. To commemorate this celestial event, every year a grand festival known as Karthigai Deepam is celebrated with great pomp and gaiety here. A huge lamp is lit atop Arunachala. It is kept alight for 9 full days by thousands of devotees carrying ghee on their heads and making the steep and tough journey to the top. This holy mountain is located in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. The Tamil name for Arunachala is Annamalaiy...