I am a member of some online groups discussing Hinduism.
In such groups, sometimes I find some half baked "scholars" who claim
that they know everything in Hinduism.
Such "scholars" falsely assert that only the Vedas are true, the others
like the Puranas and Itihasas are just fiction.
Accounting for distortions and misinterpretations that might have crept
into them along the millennia through which Hindu works have existed, we
can definitely say that they are not just a "bunch of lies".
I can go on giving examples proving the authenticity of such wonderful works,
but I will just give one-this one convinced me long long back that the Puranas
are indeed true.
Near Chennai in Tamilnadu, there is a place called Thirukazhukukundram
(also known as Thirukazukundram) having a Siva temple. The Devaaram (an
ancient Tamil text) ... Read More  

I am obviously referring to the Hindu religion.
However, it's not the tolerance that politicians call secularism, that is referred to here.
Here we will see why different and even contrasting ways of worship are accepted in
Hinduism, and why there is no Visa issued to hell if you dont't follow a particular form of worship!

People have different behaviours, and vastly varying thought processes. In such a situation, enforcing one way of worship on a person is bound to create frustration. So, we have 3 versions of worship-Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga.

Consider the following (highly simplistic) concept of God:
1. Performing actions (rituals,etc) that will help everyone is good.
2. Knowledge is good. By gaining knowledge, mankind benefits.
3. God is good and will protect us.
Belief in the above 3 are the Karma, Jnana and Bhakti ... Read More  

Fire is worshipped as Agni, the energy that is needed for civilisation to flourish.
Fire is perhaps the most important discovery by the caveman. So, it is natural that fire is worshipped. Excavations at places where ancient civilisations flourished have shown that fire worship was indeed very prevalent. However, among presently common religions, very few worship fire, and we are one of them.

In the Puja Room, we have the Deepam. Here, the burning wick signifies our ego, which disappears slowly in the holy fire of divinity.
In Read More  

Om Ganeshaaya Namah

This post was posted in Rituals & its meaning and was tagged with Ganesha, Symbolism

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Our journey has just begun. We are in a rapid expansion mode and you can expect many signficant developments from our side in the days to come. Many temples from all over India will be added to our network soon. We are also in contact with some of the most respected Vedic scholars and priests who will guide us for the performance of more advanced homams for special purposes, apart from the popular homams which are now listed on our website. We are also exploring some cutting edge technologies which will make your experience at Parihara.com smoother and more satisfying. But more on this later, it is too early to to talk about it now. The stores section on our website is another place to watch out for, there are many exciting goodies being designed by our design team. Do subscribe to our Twitter Updat... Read More