Category: ancient cultures
-
Vastu Purusha Mandala with 9×9 grid
Honoring Vastu Purusha is a part of Puja rituals. A grid design of 3×3 or 9×9 cells is normally used as the Vastu Purusha Mandala in these rituals. Vastu Purusha is the Deva who rules dwellings or residences. What is the logic behind the idea of a ruler of dwellings? How is the Mandala used for…
-
Who is the Devi of Capitalism?
Wealth is an essential commodity in any society! Everyone seeks it for comfort and security. In brief, the capitalists have been right. However, there is an ugly face to capitalism. In other words, there is an ugly face to wealth itself. The Vedic texts remind us of a succinct distinction between two means to wealth. Lakshmi devi represents…
-
Matrika Symbolism
Consonants are an important aspect of human speech. Certainly, we can not imagine a human language without consonants. The ancient Rishis revered the power of consonants through the symbolism of Matrikas. There are seven Matrikas one for each group of consonants. In summary, a consonant appears in a group according to the position of the…
-
Agasthiyar’s Tattuvam-300
Sri Sri Ravishankar gave me an assignment, sometimes back to translate certain works of Agasthiyar and Bhogar both of who belong to the Siddhar tradition. Until then I did not realize the importance of ancient Tamil texts as a treasure house of integrated Indic knowledge. Siddhars and Munis had continued spiritual quest in the mountains…
-
The reality of Shadow Planets
How can a shadow be a planet? Can shadow qualify to be an object? What is the logic behind the part snake, part human representations of Rahu (Earth’s shadow) and Ketu (Moon’s shadow)? The Sanskrit word Graha is very unique. Its English equivalent, namely planet, is however inadequate. Graha is a reference to a holder…
-
Guru Tradition flourished in Dravidian lands
Tamil tradition recognizes Sage Agastya to be an important Siddha. In addition, stories and astronomy point to Agastya’s antiquity. Agastya’s Tamil works better survived the ravages of time than his works in Sanskrit. Therefore, his Tamil works can provide better clues about the ancient link between the North and South than the presently available Vedic…
-
Connection between Primordial Prakriti and Plasma
Reviewing several mantras is necessary to grasp a specific scientific idea hidden in the Vedas. For example. The Hiranya Garbha Suktam adds a level of detail to an essential concept in the Nasadiya Suktam. Firstly, the Nasadiya Suktam suggests that the Devas may have appeared during the diversity phase in creation. Secondly, the Suktam leaves…
-
Leafness of a Leaf per Yajur Veda
While researching for my book “Beyond Space and Beyond Matter”, I came across the approach of understanding words from constituent letters. Each letter in Sanskrit has a meaning. I hadn’t paid much attention to this fact until Sri Sri Ravishankar, my Guru, mentioned it to me. Every letter from the Devanagari letter “ka” is a representation of the…
-
Power Paradox and Asuras
Dacher Kelter, psychology professor at the University of California Berkeley has written the book Power Paradox. In this book he outlines parallels between behaviors he has seen in research labs and corporate America. The book is is an eye opener to those who believe in gaining power through force. Dacher shows that our power is granted…
-
Directionally qualified Hell in the Vedas
Religions around the world present a gory view of Hell. In contrast, the idea of Naraka hell was more meaningful in an earlier ear. There are four pits of hell according to the Vedas (in the Aruna Prasna Mantras). They are each assigned to the directions Southeast, Southwest, Northeast and Northwest. Secondly, they relate to…