Pusalar's Story

Pusalar lived about a thousand years ago in Tamilnadu, South India. He was one of 63 Tamil Saivite saints. These 63 saints are affectionately called nayanars. Each of the nayanars earned their sainthood by leading an examplary life of devotion to God. The story of Pusalar nayanar’s life is an inspiring one that teaches some of the essential truths and practices of Hinduism.

Pusalar was a simple and humble man. He was a priest who attended to a small shrine in his village–Thirunindraoor. He also worked in paddy fields for a simple wage of food and lodging, that was a simple hut by the paddy fields. He lived alone. He spent the day working in the fields until the sun became too hot to work under. After that he would spend his time singing devotional hyms to God and in meditation under his favourite illupai tree by the padi fields. People rarely visited him. He would usually be in his hut by himself except for the occasional trip to the village township to buy some supplies.

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Hindu Stories Content

In Hinduism we have a huge treasure chest when it comes to myths, legends, biographies and parables. Take for instance the Mahabharata, which is recognized as the world's longest epic. Within the Mahabharata alone you can find hundred's of stories that relate to everything from moral conduct, warrior ethics to examples of true devotion, sacrifice and life's important values. In the middle of this mighty epic there is the Hindu Scripture the Bhagavad Gita. Then there are the legends of God that are enshrined in the Puranas of each sect, like the Shiva Puranas or the Vishnu Puranas. The biographies of Hindu saints and gurus, ancient and contemporary, are also sources of inspiring stories that amplifiy truths enshrined in Hindu beliefs and provide life examples of Hindu virtuous conduct. Hindu parables that come from the Pancha Tantra is among the favourite litearature of Hindu children, was written over 2,000 years ago. The stories in this section will come from these sources and more.

Stories are great vehicle for teaching Hinduism without preaching. But for the teaching to be effective we must learn to draw whatever lessons we can from the stories. Thus each story  in the growing list below is proceeded with an article on the lessons that can be drawn from each story. These stories are written so that parents or teachers can tell or read them to children. Some of these stories are also referenced in some of the lessons in the other topics. So you will find links to the stories appearing in different lessons because they provide amplification of the beliefs or examples of conduct disscussed in those lessons.

There is no particular organization for this list of stories at the moment. But as the list of stories grows, they will be organized in some form. For now you can go through the short summary below the title of the stories to choose stories you would like to read.

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God (Part 3 of 3)

 

2.8 God: Part Three

The Final Conclusions: Introduction

God’s presence is tangible. As a person to relate to, or as the divine powers of love and pure energy that sustains our existence, God is an experiential reality for some and one that can be for everyone. It is the goal of the Hindu religion to take its devotees beyond intellectual faith in God to a faith in God based on personal experience. 

To this end, Hinduism is replete with practices, such as different styles of personal worship and meditations that a devotee can learn and practice. However Hinduism does not force upon its followers that they must realize God or even have the desire to know God in this very lifetime. Hindu teachings reveal that the spiritual evolution of the soul occurs over many lifetimes, and that the desire for the experience of God is a desire that develops from the very core of our soul as part of a natural process. So if you are Hindu and have no desire whatsoever to know God, don't worry, it doesn’t mean that you are not a good Hindu or anything like that. If, for now, all Hinduism is to you is a means of providing you with a structure for an ethical or cultured life then so be it; because one day, perhaps in another lifetime, you will suddenly begin to yearn to see God or want to feel His or Her presence as if your life depended on it. In the meantime we can at least prepare ourselves by gaining more knowledge about the path leading to God and nurture faith in God.

The path to ‘knowing God,’ begins with clearing misconceptions we may have about God. The previous two lessons of this series examined how it is that in Hinduism, though there are many forms of God, we believe in one Supreme Godhead. The lessons explored The Three Aspects of God. These three Aspects explain the variety of experiences we may have of God and how having these experiences relate to the salvation of our soul. Part three, contains the concluding part of our exploration of God’s nature. 

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God (Part 2 of 3)

  

2.4 God: Part Two–Introduction

We will continue our exploration of God’s nature in Part Two of this chapter. In Part One, it was explained that in Hinduism our wise gurus have thought us that there are three unique Aspects of God. The Aspects of God are Paramatma, Parashakti and Parabrahman. We learnt that Paramatma is the Personal God who creates, loves and cares for His creation. We also learnt that Paramatma can take on various human-like or animal-like forms to communicate or relate to His or Her devotees. In Part Two we will explore God’s nature as Parashakti and Parabrahman. The experience of these two Aspects of God, are crucial achievements in our spiritual evolution toward moksha.

In this part about God you will find the sanskrit word samadhi appearing quite often. Samadhi is the term for two meditative states that are related to Parashakti and Parabrahman that are the goals of yoga practice. The states of samadhi occur when the awareness of the meditator, becomes so attuned to God consciousness that the meditator's awareness merges in undifferentiated union with God. When a meditator achieves the state of samadhi, he realizes his unity or oneness with God and the process of enlightenment begins to take hold in his life. 

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God (Part 1 of 3)

 

2.1 God: Part One–Introduction

Have you ever experienced or realized God? 

Perhaps you are thinking that this is a question that is above you. Perhaps you believe in God and have faith in God's existence. Whether you have had a personal direct experience of God–well, isn't that the realm of prophets or a select few lucky people on Earth? If this is what you think, than I have good news for you. 

The goal of Hinduism is to guide its followers to have personal experiences of God. Such experiences of God Realization, which is also known as enlightenment or samadhi in yogic circles are the precursor to achiveing salvation, which in Hinduism is moksha. Moksha is freedom for our soul from having to undergo the continuous cycle of reincarnation on Earth, thus enjoying eternal life in the heavens. This is the destiny of all souls on earth, yours and mine included.

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Hindu Philosophy Chapters

 

Hindu Philosophy Chapters Content

 

To understand Hinduism one must start with its philosophy. Hindu philosophy is the source of all its practices. Even basic knowledge of Hindu philosophy will shed a deeper light in the understanding Hindu practices such as meditation, hatha yoga, puja and Hindu culture. 

For instance, hatha yoga, the Hindu system of exercise is very mainstream. People all over the world are learning it mainly for its benefits of reducing stress and other health benefits that have been researched and promoted by the medical profession. However these benefits are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. When you learn Hindu philosophy you will find out that Hatha Yoga was devised essentially as a preparation for deep and profound meditation. It is an important practice in the path of God-Realization and enlightenment. The health benefits are by-products of the practice and not the ultimate goal.Armed with this knowledge, if you are interested in pursuing deeper aspects of meditative practices such as achieving God-Realization, you might look for a yoga master who is also a spiritual guru. Then you will be able to learn a richer, deeper and more subtle level of the pracitce that you would otherwise have missed if you learned Yoga from a master thought to think of it only as physical exercise. This applies to all aspects of Hindu culture. The study of its philosophy makes the practice of Hinduism to a deeper and more profound level of experience.

This presentation of Hindu philosophy is divided into 12 chapters listed below. These chapters will provide a general overview of Hinduism. Keeping in mind that Hinduism is actually a collection of sectarian cultures, these chapters draw on the common beliefs and practices of the 4 main Hindu Sects. The subtle differences in Hindu philosophy among the main Hindu sects are addressed in the final chapter.

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Hindu Lessons Homepage

 

Welcome to the Hindu Lessons Homepage 

This is the master directory for all of My Hindu Page’s knowledgebank. The lessons in these pages are grouped into a list of topics. Each topic contains lesson chapters or articles. Currently the the topic in construction are Hindu Philosophy, Stories, Insights into Hinduism and the Glossary. More topics will be published in time. Please check this page for updates. Below you will find a short description of what you can find in each topic.

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