This guided meditation is based on Pusalar’s story. When parents or teachers teach children this meditation, the parent or the teacher should instruct the children on what to do mentally as they sit in meditation. This meditation can be done in the temple or in the home shrine after ceremonial prayers. If you are doing this meditation in a children’s class, then it would be good to start with devotional hymns or songs to get everyone into a sublime mood.
Click Here to Learn the Steps of this Guided Meditation
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Questions on Hindu Philosophy
• 9 Common Questions on Hinduism
• 5 Unique Questions on Hinduism
• Apostasy in Hinduism?
• Questions About God
• Questions About The Vedas
• Questions About Hindu History
• 5 Unique Questions on Hinduism
• Apostasy in Hinduism?
• Questions About God
• Questions About The Vedas
• Questions About Hindu History
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Welcome to Hindu New Year 5111 Virodhin
Between Mid March and Mid April, different ethnic communities celebrate their New Years. For instance on March 29th the ethnics of Karnataka, Andhra Pradhesh, Sindhi and Maharashtra celebrate their New Years. The Telugu and Kannada people call it Ugadhi, whille Marathis call it Gudi Padwa. On April 13th or April 14th, the Tamils celebrate Puthandu, Malayalees, Vishu, Punjabis Vaishaki and Bengalis Bohaag Bihu. These vary new year days however share a common origin, which is Astrological.
In the Hindu Astrological system, Jyothisha, April 13/14 in the Gregorian (Western) calendar is the day when the Sun will have come full circle around the 12 zodiacs and restart the cycle in the traditional zodiac number one, that is Mesha, or Aries.
The differing dates among the different Indian Hindu communities reflect legends or important historical events of the community, such as the day God began His cycle of creation or the coronation day of an influential King of the community.
As with all new years, the Hindu New Year is a time of review and renewal. Traditionally households will spring clean their homes, wear new clothes and attend the temple at the crack of dawn for special prayers.
In the Hindu Astrological system, Jyothisha, April 13/14 in the Gregorian (Western) calendar is the day when the Sun will have come full circle around the 12 zodiacs and restart the cycle in the traditional zodiac number one, that is Mesha, or Aries.
The differing dates among the different Indian Hindu communities reflect legends or important historical events of the community, such as the day God began His cycle of creation or the coronation day of an influential King of the community.
As with all new years, the Hindu New Year is a time of review and renewal. Traditionally households will spring clean their homes, wear new clothes and attend the temple at the crack of dawn for special prayers.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Starving for Peace
Fasting for Peace
Fasting, as a spiritual practice is common among Hindus. Many Hindus fast weekly or as an observance during certain festivals. It is also a common practice to forsake meals as non-confrontational or non-violent protest against injustice or cruelty. Mahatma Gandhi for instance fasted numerous times during his campaign for an independent India, though not to protest the British government, but instead as atonement whenever his followers became violent in their campaigns. A couple of times he fasted almost to the brink of death, and only ended his fasts when his followers renounced violence.
Early this year a group of eight Tamil youth in America, touched by the tragedy befalling innocent civilians in Sri Lanka, decided that they had to do something. They called themselves, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and came up with a campaign to fast 10,000 meals collectively as act of solidarity for all those suffering in the Sri Lankan conflict.
Fasting, as a spiritual practice is common among Hindus. Many Hindus fast weekly or as an observance during certain festivals. It is also a common practice to forsake meals as non-confrontational or non-violent protest against injustice or cruelty. Mahatma Gandhi for instance fasted numerous times during his campaign for an independent India, though not to protest the British government, but instead as atonement whenever his followers became violent in their campaigns. A couple of times he fasted almost to the brink of death, and only ended his fasts when his followers renounced violence.
Early this year a group of eight Tamil youth in America, touched by the tragedy befalling innocent civilians in Sri Lanka, decided that they had to do something. They called themselves, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and came up with a campaign to fast 10,000 meals collectively as act of solidarity for all those suffering in the Sri Lankan conflict.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Q & A: What is Deja Vu, and Why Does it Occur
Shyamini Questions:
Situation: You go trough life each day as it is.. somehow, sometimes during conversations had, you feel like you've already heard about a certain piece of news or information or story before this that's just been revealed when in truth, nobody has breathed a single word about it to you before this... not even the media! When you tell the others around you that you've heard about it before this or that the particular info is on the stale side, they give you a weird look and try to overlook this matter. This situation has occurred numerous times in my life. Sometimes i feel weird all around. Sometimes... just plain freaked out. In other words, its like we are having a conversation about a certain topic (that isn't necessarily covered by the media of course!) when suddenly, i feel like i've heard this particular conversation before. Word by word you feel like you're replaying the conversation for real...
Question: What does the above situation signify?
: How does 1 know if he/she is a reborn soul?
: How do you interpret dreams?
After my initial response, Shyamini replied asking for clarification on some of my answers. Her further questions are below. My posted response below will cover all the questions.
Shyamini Queries further:
Moving on to the questions I asked earlier. For the 1st one, u said it was dejavu and that 'we are able to see our near future based on karmas currently sprouting and prepare mentally for them'.
My question(s) this time is:
- How are we able to do so?
- What role does the karma play in this?
As for the third question i posted earlier, you wrote that 'Spiritual advice is that you don't linger on dreams and instead concern yourself with normal life'.
My next question is this:
-How can you just concern yourself with normal life, when you know some of these dreams replays itself from time to time?
- What if these 'dreams' involve real life people you know?
Click here to read the response
Situation: You go trough life each day as it is.. somehow, sometimes during conversations had, you feel like you've already heard about a certain piece of news or information or story before this that's just been revealed when in truth, nobody has breathed a single word about it to you before this... not even the media! When you tell the others around you that you've heard about it before this or that the particular info is on the stale side, they give you a weird look and try to overlook this matter. This situation has occurred numerous times in my life. Sometimes i feel weird all around. Sometimes... just plain freaked out. In other words, its like we are having a conversation about a certain topic (that isn't necessarily covered by the media of course!) when suddenly, i feel like i've heard this particular conversation before. Word by word you feel like you're replaying the conversation for real...
Question: What does the above situation signify?
: How does 1 know if he/she is a reborn soul?
: How do you interpret dreams?
After my initial response, Shyamini replied asking for clarification on some of my answers. Her further questions are below. My posted response below will cover all the questions.
Shyamini Queries further:
Moving on to the questions I asked earlier. For the 1st one, u said it was dejavu and that 'we are able to see our near future based on karmas currently sprouting and prepare mentally for them'.
My question(s) this time is:
- How are we able to do so?
- What role does the karma play in this?
As for the third question i posted earlier, you wrote that 'Spiritual advice is that you don't linger on dreams and instead concern yourself with normal life'.
My next question is this:
-How can you just concern yourself with normal life, when you know some of these dreams replays itself from time to time?
- What if these 'dreams' involve real life people you know?
Click here to read the response
Sunday, March 22, 2009
My Hindu Colouring Book
Hindu Children's Corner Content
My Hindu Colouring Book
My Hindu Colouring Book contains 47 panes of pictures for colouring covering Hindu subjects:
• Hindu God's, Mahadevas and Symbols
• Saint Auvaiyar's Aathi Soodhi Advice
• Puja Items
• Worship At Home
• Hindu Culture
• Musical Instruments
• Hindu Temple and
• Hindu Saints
The 47 panes are presented in 10 printable A4 sized pdf documents. Click here or on the title to go to My Hindu Colouring Book's download page.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Apostasy in Hinduism?
Apostasy in Hinduism?
Recently a student from a college approached MyHinduPage to present the Hindu view of apostasy. It will be part of a research paper which deals with the interpretation of apostasy in different religions. Below are the questions and my reply to them.
1) Who/ What do you consider an apostate?
The concept of apostasy is not existent in Hinduism. I must note that Hinduism is not a religion. It is actually a family of different persuasions or sects that share similarities in belief and origin that have been grouped under the umbrella called Hinduism.
However, even among the sects of Hinduism there is no such thing as apostasy. A Hindu may change his or her sectarian views as one wishes, and formally enter one sect or another without need for excommunication or a declaration of apostasy.
The reason there is no such thing as apostasy in Hinduism is because of the belief that there is One Supreme God who is the God of all religions. Despite what people of other religions think, Hindus belief that we are all praying to the same God, Who appears in different forms. Therefore, even if one gives up Hindu practices and enters another religion, say Christianity, it does not mean that that person is 'leaving' God. He is still considered faithful to God, but simply worshipping and believing in God in a way more intune with his or her nature.
If there is anything remotely close to apostasy in Hinduism, it would be the recognition of atheism. Hinduism acknowledges atheistic beliefs as part of the spiritual evolution of the soul. Because of this, Hinduism recognizes atheism as a path of life. Yet a person may still continue following all the practices of Hinduism, even temple worship from a strictly cultural point of view, but maintain an atheistic point of view. However even in such a grey scenario of apostasy, excommunication is not necessary.
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