Sanatan Archive

The Arthashastra is so much a part of modern Indian vocabulary on politics, economics, and society that it is hard to imagine that this was a book unknown to the English-speaking world until an old manuscript was discovered in 1904. It was translated and presented to the world by R. Shamasastry of the Mysore Oriental Research Institute in Sanskrit, in 1909, and in English in 1915.

Hinduism is a diverse tradition and very different from other monolithic religions. In the monolithic sense, it is defined by The Four Pillars. Faith (sraddha) is individualistic whereas religion (dharma) is collective, and so Hindus are encouraged to explore their faith, which is why there are more Hindu scriptures and textual opinions on spirituality than any other religion. There isn’t a single scriptural or spiritual authority to define matters of the faith for Hindus, unlike in some other religions with a central pontiff.

It was Mahapralaya—the night of Brahma when nothing existed. There was neither night nor day, no light or darkness, neither joy nor sorrow. All animate and inanimate creation had merged into the infinite essence. There was neither sun, nor moon, nor planets. The whole firmament was one complete void, pulsating with life.

In the bewildering galaxy of gods of the Hindu pantheon, Lord Shiva stands out as one of the oldest and best-loved. He is as old as the Indian culture, perhaps even older. At the time of the cosmic dawn, before the creation of man, he appeared as the divine archer, pointing with his arrow to the unrevealed Absolute. The world is his hunting ground. The universe resounds with his presence. He is both sound and echo. He is intangible vibration as well as an infinitesimal substance. He is the rustling of the withered leaves and the glossy green of the newborn grass. He is the ferryman who ferries us from life to death, but he is also the liberator from death to immortality. He has innumerable faces and eleven forms as described in the Vedas. The sky and the seasons vibrate with his intensity and power. He grips, supports, releases, and liberates. He is both the disease and the destroyer of the disease. He is food, the giver of food, and the process of eating. His divine majesty and power are depicted through symbolic, yet highly realistic descriptions of an awe-inspiring figure, far, distant, and cold in his remote Himalayan fastness as well as close, kind, and loving, a living, throbbing symbol of the Divine.

Most people are perplexed about the Vedas. Very few have read them, and those who have found them difficult to understand. They can’t make sense of its many divinities, sacrifices, rituals, riddles, and paradoxes.

Brihadeeshwara Temple (Peruvudaiyar Kovil) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in Thanjavur in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is also known as Periya Kovil, RajaRajeswara Temple and Rajarajesvaram.

‘Valor and Dharma’ are two of a kind for Naga Sadhus. They have been warrior saints and taken on numerous conflicts against Islamic thieves and after that British, in this manner shielded Hindus and temples. Who is curious about the valor of the Naga Sadhus shielding Gokul from the Afghans drove by Sardar Khan?

The DMK government in Tamil Nadu has been boasting that they have recovered temple lands worth Rs.2600 crore and even launched a book giving details about it. Temple activists have refuted these claims and accused the DMK government of glossing over the facts in a perceived attempt to be accepted as a pro-Hindu party.

No country in the world demonstrates such enduring reverence for the Great Mother Goddess, as does India. The Goddess is celebrated in every form, aspect, and quality, through music, art, ritual, mantra, and meditation.

IT  WAS August  22,  1907.  Nearly a  thousand delegates from different countries had gathered at Stuttgart for the Second International Socialist Congress. In the course of its deliberations, a woman delegate rose to speak, a lovely lady, of fairish complexion and large dark eyes, dressed in an exotic flowing garment with an exquisite border of delicate embroidery, its edge draped demurely over her head.