14. गायत्री उपस्थानम् सूर्य प्रार्थना  Here, after the जप is concluded, the साधक formally send गायत्री देवी back to Her abode. उपस्थान means उपासना.  प्रात: संध्या (Standing position)मध्यान्न संध्या (Standing position)सायं संध्या (Standing position)ओ-म्मि॒त्रस्य॑ च॒र्​षणी॒ धृत॒ श्रवो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ सान॒ सिम् । स॒त्य-ञ्चि॒त्रश्र॑ वस्तमम् । मि॒त्रो जनान्॑ यातयति प्रजा॒न-न्मि॒त्रो दा॑धार पृथि॒वी मु॒तद्याम् । मि॒त्रः कृ॒ष्टी रनि॑मिषा॒-ऽभि च॑ष्टे स॒त्याय॑ ह॒व्य-ङ्घृ॒तव॑द्विधेम । प्रसमि॑त्त्र॒ … Continue reading Sandhyavandanam – Uttaranga (Gayatri Upasthanam and concluding Mantras) (Part 6)

9. श्री गायत्री महामन्त्र जप Names of जप are गायत्री and सावित्री. This मंत्र occurs in all the three वेद (ऋग्वेद, यजुर्वेद and सामवेद) with slight स्वर difference. Source is ऋग्वेद only and others have borrowed.  Morning108 timesFace east in a standing position (for ब्रह्मचारी) and standing/ sitting position for a गृहस्थ. Further, the hand used for counting must be located near navel Noon32 timesFace east in a standing or sitting position – … Continue reading Sandhyavandanam – Uttaranga (Main Gayatri Japa and Mudras) (Part 5)

उत्तराङ्ग Now we enter उत्तराङ्ग and this part is also known as गायत्री जप:. Ideally, this कर्म should be done at a secluded or sacred place where mind is at peace. Choose a sacred place at home.  गायत्री आवाहनम् We now enter into मंत्र that is also referred to as गायत्री हृदय.  ओमित्येकाक्ष॑र-म्ब्र॒ह्म । अग्निर्देवता ब्रह्म॑ इत्या॒र्​षम् । … Continue reading Sandhyavandanam – Uttaranga (Invoking Gayatri) (Part 4)

अर्घ्य प्रदानम् From here onwards is the critical part of this कर्म. If जल is not available, take anything as a replacement (like Earth) and offered this as अर्घ्य to the सूर्य. All three parts viz प्रणव (viz ॐ), व्याहृति (viz भूर्भुवः सुव:) and गायत्री (viz तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि | धियो यो न प्रचोदयाSत ) are chanted here. Start with a सङ्कल्प to … Continue reading Sandhyavandanam – Purvanga (preparatory Karma – Arghyam, Tarpanam) etc (Part 3)

General comments Below कर्म is given as aligned to कृष्ण यजुर्वेद method undertaken in the Telugu land. It is common to find minor variations as taught by the respective गुरुs to the disciples. Please therefore be guided by your respective गुरु as you go through the content below. Second, the commentary is based on the … Continue reading Sandhyavandanam – Purvanga (preparatory Karma upto Arghyam) (Part 2)

What is the idea behind a सप्ताह? सप्ताह or a week has seven days and this cycle of seven days keeps getting repeated all our life. Does the idea of seven days have any meaning within the धर्म परम्परा? Like many numbers, apart from the time period allotted for a week, seven as a number also signifies सप्त  कुण्डलिनी (मूलाधार, स्वाधिष्ठान, मणिपुर, अनाहत, विशुद्ध, आज्ञ and सहस्रार), seven rays of … Continue reading Structure of a week as per Sanatana Dharma

This has been a one year project. And the outcome of this one year effort is to put together a bunch of videos that collectively define Hinduism in a manner that is far more precise than what most of us are exposed to. And the precision of this definition is not from an academic lens … Continue reading Defining Hinduism precisely

ॐ श्री गुरुभ्यो नम: There is a duality in the expression of life – this fascinating idea keeps coming in the शास्त्र (वेद as well as पुराण) again and again. One representation of this duality is the अर्धनारीश्वर and the other is the विग्रह of विष्णु with लक्ष्मी in His वक्षस्थल. Even the नाम kept … Continue reading Vishnu and Lakshmi are inseparable – Vishnu Purana

The धर्म ecosystem is elaborate and there are lots of ideas or word ecosystem contained within itself. How does then a person remember all these ideas in order to anchor their existence to a life of धर्म? The ancient पुराण and इतिहास literature has various श्लोक contained within them where the ideas of धर्म are … Continue reading Remembering Dharma variables using numbers

How does one experience oneself and the world when one attains their innate core identity? The idea of oneness is often difficult to understand given that all of us experience life as a duality (or a plurality). विवेकचूडामणि is a प्रकरण शास्त्र composed by श्री आदि शंकराचार्य in which a गुरु explains the true nature of reality … Continue reading Nature of experience in the state of Moksha

People interested in deeper ideas about योग are often asked to refer to पतंजलि योगसूत्र. And there are various books written by Swamijs like Swami Vivekananda or Swami Krishnananda and there are books written by academicians like Edwin Bryant. And of course, there are videos on Youtube where one comes across videos by various kinds … Continue reading Simplified overview of Yogasutra using lens of Sanatana Dharma

People who chant ललिता‌ सहस्रनाम will be familiar with the following श्लोक: पराशक्ति‌ परानिष्ठा प्रज्ञानघन रूपिणी । माध्वीपानालसा मत्ता मातृका वर्णरूपिणी ।। What does मातृका mean? We may have often heard that संस्कृत अक्षर are themselves expression of the Divine and संस्कृत is therefore referred to as देवता भाषा. It is often said by elders … Continue reading Matrika – Mystical ideas behind Samskrita Varnamala

Historicity of पुराण/ इतिहास texts are often questioned by kids/ adults. Some of the event in these texts seem credible while others incredible. The intent behind this question is that in case they are true, one may take them seriously but if untrue, one may ignore them or at best, treat them as works of … Continue reading Are events in पुराण/ इतिहास real or imaginary?

ॐ श्री गुरुभ्यो नम: You are a साधक. You have lived life engaging with ideas of सनातन धर्म. These ideas came to you from your parents, family, books and/ or some Gurus you have encountered. You value the knowledge systems of सनातन धर्म. And while you have not become a ज्ञानी and remain a साधक at the current stage of your life, you … Continue reading Explaining Hinduism to a curious and deep-thinking 15 to 30-year old person

We often come across two words - "Independence" and "Freedom". Most of the time, these words are used interchangeably. If I have to use Hindi equivalent, I will use आत्मनिर्भरता or स्वतन्त्रता for independence and मुक्ति or मोक्ष for freedom. When we read about freedom struggle literature or read articles by intellectuals worried about excessive … Continue reading Independence vs Freedom

Bhaskar: वासुदेवेन्द्रयोगीन्द्रं नत्वा ज्ञानप्रदम् गुरुम् | मुमुक्षूणाम् हितार्थाय तत्वबोधोSभिधीयते || Having saluted श्रीवासुदेव the इंद्र along योगी, the गुरू who is the bestower of ज्ञान of the Truth (तत्व), the तत्वबोध is expounded for the seekers of liberation (मुमुक्षत्वम्) साधनाचतुष्टय सम्पन्नाधिकारिणां मोक्षसाधनभूतं तत्वविवेक प्रकारं वक्ष्याम: | For those who are endowed with four-fold qualifications (साधनाचतुष्टयम्), … Continue reading तत्वबोध – Tattvabodha by Adi Shankara (text and commentary)

This blog is a reflection of my personal opinion based on my reading of the types of Hindus that we see in modern India and the world. Ancient India had classified Hindus into various categories from time to time. If one uses दर्शन as the basis for categorization, classification will take the form of अद्वैत, … Continue reading Types of Hindus in the 21st Century

The परमात्मा or primal reality manifests the universe. The देवता are the energies or forces that enable the universe to be kept in order or in balance. These energies or forces are numerous and they operate outside in the external universe as well as internally within life forms. The Upanishads proclaim, as an example, that … Continue reading Dhyana Shloka of Devatas in Sanskrit

न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यंपुरुषोऽश्नुते । न  च सन्न्यसनादेव सिद्धिंसमधिगच्छति ॥३.४॥ A person (पुरुषः) does not (न) gain (अश्नुते) the state of actionless-ness (नैष्कर्म्यम्) by the non-performance (अनारम्भात्) of activities (कर्मणाम्). Nor does (नच) the person attain (समधिगच्छति) सिद्धि (liberation) out of mere (एव) renunciation(सन्न्यसनात्). Many unusual lines comes up in Chapter 3 of the श्रीमद्भगवत्गीता – the above is one of … Continue reading Karma and Dharma – Outgrowing Swabhava and moving to Swadharma

The numerous ancient Indian texts – वेद, पुराण, etc refer to देव. In today’s world, the first source a young Indian is exposed to which is the अमर चित्र कथा where one does come across the images of देव who seem like human beings only except that they seem to possess certain supernatural powers. So … Continue reading Understanding the Devatas / देव व्यवस्था – a basic level overview

वर्ण संस्कार is a four-fold spiritual categorization of universe as per the वेद. As is commonly understood, there are four वर्ण specified ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, वैश्य & शूद्र. Following paper attempts to throw some light on this topic for a better understanding of these terms. At the start however, I will admit that this topic is … Continue reading Understanding वर्ण संस्कार (Varna Samskara)

How should a 20 year old Hindu understand Hinduism? Inspired by the idea of Unity in Hinduism triggered by Rajiv Malhotra 1        Background As a 20 year old, many questions on Hinduism end up coming into the mind of a boy/ girl brought up in a Hindu household. If brought up in a good Hindu environment, … Continue reading Hinduism’s Tree of Unity in Diversity – the Core of Sanatana Dharma

Following Breaking India, Being Different and Indra’s Net, Rajiv Malhotra has come out with a new book titled “Battle for Sanskrit”. This book is written primarily for practicing Hindus as well as those Hindus who though ignorant believe that there is some value in their traditions that is worth preserving. Through this book, Rajiv attempts … Continue reading The Battle for Sanskrit – A Book Review

Inspired by the talks of Sri Sri Sri Samaveda Shanmuka Sharma & Swami Nityananda as well as writings of Sri Rajiv Malhotra, Swami Krishnananda and Swami Ranganathananda (and many others) This article is a long and a serious journey for the readers. People steeped in the world-view acquired from the modern education of our country … Continue reading Source of India’s pride – Adhyatmic Seeking

कामसूत्र is a fascinating book that must be read by as many people as possible. People generally have a certain impression about the book without reading it. While the topic of physical intimacy is a key part of this book taking about 30% of the space, there are many other aspects hidden there that are … Continue reading Kamasutra (कामसूत्र) – 64 Arts