Sunday, January 9, 2011

Getting started - Where to start ?!

What are commandments of Hunduism. There are Raja, Gnana, Karma, Bhakthi yogas ( Will discuss more on these as I read more about these)

Raja Yoga states 8 stages and it is supposed to be easiest
yama > niyama > asana > pranayama > pratyahara > dharana > dhyana > samadhi

Pranayama – Is basically control of breath (There is lot to it to explain and too big in my blog for the context). Breath has unique meaning underneath. If we take Past, Present and Future - Breath is the ultimate representation of Present. Hence Pranayama is a technique to maintain our concentration in present not being worried about Past or Future. Sages has pointed that one of key methods to develop Sankalpam(Will power) is to utilizing the present to the fullest and not worrying about past and future. We need to learn from past and have vision towards future but not worry to extent of impacting present thus spoiling future past and impacting future! Sankalpam has quoted by sages is the ingredient in making man successful and to sustain it. Sankalpam is the one which bring man victorius through diversities time and again.

In telugu(or Sanskrit) present is called Varthamana Kalam. Varthamanam also means message. Message from us to world or from Almighty to us ?

May god give me enough sankalpam to sustain my journey through thick and thin.

Five aspects of Hinduism is Dharma, Ardha, Kama and Moksha. Kama towards gaining Ardha should be bound by Dharma to attain Moska. Though it is small sentence there is lot to understand…
What is Dharma ! Is it different from Nyayam(Correct), Satyam(Truth), Chattam(Law). Understanding Dharma it self is huge task as there no straight answer. To know where to find answer lets see what all scriptures are there in Hinduism (I know)

4 Vedas, 108 Upanishads, Puranas, Epics( Maha Bharatham, Ramayanam, Bhagavad gita, Bhagavatham) Manu Smrithi, Sastras (Ardha,Yoga, Kama )…..

Upanishads are stories explaining the crux of Vedas. Puranas are to explain Gods and their unique attributes, Manu Smirthi is written summarize various principles of Hinduism. Ardha sastra written by Kautilya how king should rule his kingdome and its various nitty gritis. These are writen in various periods of time.

Bhagavatham: Dharma has four legs Shaucham, Satyam, Daya and Tapas. Kali yoga(Current period and last leg) has only sathyam left rest all are not there. That is the Kali Yuga property. It is also said that Dharma changes every secong and satyam does not. As Dharma is aligned to Role. As role changes Dharma changes but Truth remain same. So Satyam in Mahabharatam is same to all parties but Bheeshma(Noble Person) fights for Duryodhana(Incorrect side) because of his Dharma ?

Manu Smriti: Dharma needs Patience (dhriti), forgiveness (kshama), piety or self control (dama), honesty (asteya), sanctity (shauch), control of senses (indraiya-nigrah), reason (dhi), knowledge or learning (vidya), truthfulness (satya) and absence of anger (krodha).

to be continued.............

Preface ?

Recently brought few books on India to show my daughter pictures of it. Common thread of all books on India is One of the oldest civilizations, its past riches, Aryan advent, They brought rich knowledge Vedas and Sanskrit, Numerous invasions, Freedom.

This has been a quite a debate for years - I donot want to dive in and describe about, could go numeruous pages, on racial bias of historians. Primarily to defeat the India by depriving of its rich culture to some nomads from Europe or wherever, which inspite of political surrender did not even deter for its superior and rich culture. Invasions for centureies could not achieve and hence started this version of hi"STORY".

Still wanted to point few Facts. Aryans supposedly entered 1500-1200 BCE. Aryans brought Vedas from foriegn land.
. Why there are no glimpses of homelands for aryans beyond INDIA ?
. No Statment of invasion in any Vedas which is said to be written by aryans later
. Saraswati river archieologically dried around 1900BCE and Rig Veda stats about it and based on it , it is dated as 3000 B.CE
. Harappa coins showing OM, Swastika etc symbols which are omnipresent in Vedas and Epics


"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. -Eleanor Roosevelt"

So not to bog down by these irritants and discuss on events or people lets discuss ideas and principles behing Indian (Hindu) culture. Qwest has always been What are the core duties of HINDU.

Hinduism scripts are vast and tough to decipher by common man. I think it is designed to be that way so that numerous invasions could rob the riches (material) but not the source of it. Invaders too could not decipher the source of the wealth and maturity of the Individuals in India and thier frsutration is shown in destroying these scripts. Scripts are created to be understood by only those who attain some level of maturity (Spirtually).

Lets get into Ideas not dwelling into events and people again :-)