Agni is the most important, the most universal of the Vedic gods. In the physical world he is the general devourer and enjoyer. He is also the purifier; when he devours and enjoys then also he purifies. He is the fire that prepares and perfects; he is also the fire that assimilates and the heat of energy that forms. He is the heat of life and creates the sap, the rasa in things, the essence of their substantial being and the essence of their delight. He is equally the Will in

Agni is the mediator between the Earth and the atmosphere and the gateway to the other devas. Agni gives Indra his vitality and power for his lightning bolt (vajra). This strength enables Indra to slay any obstacles or beings which are guarding or have stolen the Soma. Sometimes Soma is deified and sometimes Soma is the juice contained within a vessel - typically a plant that is pressed with stones to extract the Somarasa. By kindling Agni, one has the power of Indra who retr

कस्ते॑ मा॒तरं॑ वि॒धवा॑मचक्रच्छ॒युं कस्त्वाम॑जिघांस॒च्चर॑न्तम् । कस्ते॑ दे॒वो अधि॑ मार्डी॒क आ॑सी॒द्यत्प्राक्षि॑णाः पि॒तरं॑ पाद॒गृह्य॑ ॥ ४.०१८.१२ kaste̍ mā̱tara̍ṃ vi̱dhavā̍macakraccha̱yuṃ kastvāma̍jighāṃsa̱ccara̍ntam . kaste̍ de̱vo adhi̍ mārḍī̱ka ā̍sī̱dyatprākṣi̍ṇāḥ pi̱tara̍ṃ pāda̱gṛhya̍ .. 4.018.12 "Who made thy mother a widow? Who has sought to slay the sleeping and the waking? What god has been more gracious than you since you slew the father having seized him by his foot?!"

On Skambha the fervour rests, the worlds and Holy Law repose on him. Skambha, I clearly know that all of thee are set within Indra! On Indra Fervour rests, on him the worlds and Holy law (Rita) recline. Indra, I clearly know as all established in Skambha. Be reverence paid to him, that highest Brahman, whose base is Earth, his belly Air, who made the sky to be his head. Homage to highest Brahman, him whose eye is Surya and the Moon is mind, who grew young and new again, him w

The Romans practiced a utilitarian worship. They did not worship the deities out of love. Their worship was targeted towards obtaining some form of material wealth from the deities. Their religion hence has materialistic and ritualistic attitudes. Their supreme God is called Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The name Jupiter is derived from Sanskrit words Djaus-pitar or Diu-pitar which mean “father of heaven” and “father of light”. They worship Janus before beginning anything. The wor

The suovetaurilia was one of the most sacred and traditional rites of Roman religion: the sacrifice of a pig (sus), a sheep (ovis) and a bull (taurus) to the deity Mars to bless and purify land . It has been said to be derived from the Sautramani yagna. Sautramani-yajna - a particular sacrifice in honor of Indra which is described in the Yajur Veda. It is said that by performing this yajna, one obtains a place in the heavenly planets. This yagna is also said to be associated

Of the 21 nityakarmas, there are Seven Soma Yagyas The Vedas have listed around 400 yagyas of which Agnihotra is obligatory. There are 21 nityakarmas only Agnihotra and Aupasana are performed twice at dawn and dusk. The rest have allotted time frame over the entire span of a year. If a yagya is complicated then it performed less number of times and the complex ones once in a lifetime. Of the 21, the first seven are cooked sacrifices or ‘pakayagyas’ , the second seven are obla

Somayaga is the yadnya performed using the Somalata. It has sixteen Ritvikas. (Those who perform Yagya by taking Dakshina are called Ritvik) There are further clarifications of sixteen Ritvikas of the Som Yaga into four types : 1. Adhvaryu Gan, 2. Brahma Gan, 3. Hotrigan and 4. Ugdata Gan. Each of these ganas has four different Ritviks under them whose names are also differently upheld. 1- Adhvaryugana:- (1) Adhvaryu (2) Pratiprashtata (3) Neshta and (4) Unneta. 2- Brahmagana

The Rig Veda Mantra Samhitä has 1024 Sūktās assigned to 10 Mandalas. Each Sūkta has several manträs or poetic metric verses, usually about ten on an average. The total number of manträs in RVS is 10,512. Every mantra is in Vedic Sanskrit (Nirukta). A mantra is not an intellectual composition. It was revealed to a rishi, usually through hearing; the rishi was in a state of deep concentration (samadhi) during the receiving of the revelation. Every mantra is one of the several m

The total number of mantra-verses dedicated to Soma is about 1200; this number includes all the mantras in the Mandala 9 with 114 Sūktās or 1108 verses. To understand the nature and function of Soma, one has to study all these 1200 mantras in some detail. The scholars in the past have taken short cuts in this study. There is a creeper by the name of Somalata which was used in the rituals of the Vedic age called as yadnya. Specifically, the Soma creeper was crushed and its jui

Before beginning let us clear one thing that lord Sharabha has been killed by lord gandabherunda Narasiṁha in many Kalpas and in some Kalpas, Hari may have been killed by Sharabha, therefore they say, Hari Anant Hari Katha Anantha. Both the scenarios are possible as per Hari's wish. As he's only the karta (diet) and he's only the bhokta (enjoyer). Killing of Sharabha by Lord Narasimha: तो युध्यमानौ तु तदा चिरेण बलवत्तरौ। न शमं जग्मतुर्देवौ नृसिंहशरभाकृती ॥ ततः क्रुद्धो महाकाय

1. The teacher of “Shravana bhakti” is “Maharaj Parikshit”. 2. The Acharya of “Kirtan” is “Shri Shukdev paramahamsa”. 3. The Acharya of “Smarana Bhakti” is “Prahlad maharaj”. 4. The Acharya of “Paad Sevan” is “Shri Lakshmi ”. 5. The Acharya of “Pooja Archana” is “chakravarti Samrat Prithu”. 6. The Acharya of “Vandan Bhakti” is “Shri Akrur Ji”. 7. The Acharya of “Dasya Bhakti” is “Shri Hanuman”. 8. The Acharya of “Sakhya Bhakti” is “Arjun”. 9. The Acharya of “atma nivedana” (s

Lord Narasimha is the Son in law & the lord of the Chenchu clan of the Nallamala forests near Ahobilam. When lord Mahavishnu took the Narasiṁha Avatar, goddess Laxmi was born as Chenchu Laxmi on the Chenchu tribe. When the lord was in Ahobilam, they both fell in love, married and spent a lot of happy time with the Chenchu clan. The time was so good for the lord that he didn't want to go back to vaikuntha after his avatar karya was over on bhu loka. Today also lord Narasimha a

वृहद नृसिंह उपासना कल्पस्य चतुर्थ पटले नारद प्रल्हाद संवादे नृसिंह बीजाक्षर मन्त्र प्राणायामनिरूपणे नारदस्य वचनांतर्गत: मासात्संल्लक्षणंप्राप्य षण्मासेपवनाभवः त्रिकालेसिद्धिमाप्नोति प्राणायामेन चतुर्विंशति सदाभ्यासीवशीभूत्वा पवनंजनयेत्पुमान् षण्मासाभ्यंतरेसिद्धि रितियोगार्थनिर्णयः प्राणायामात्परंनास्ति पापराशिक्षयायच सर्वपापक्षयेयाते किंनसिध्यतिभूतले॥ प्राणायामंविना तात कुत्रसिद्धोभवेन्नरः॥ सर्वसिद्धिक्रियासारं प्राणायामंपरंस्मृतम्॥ vṛhada nṛsiṃha upāsanā kalpasya caturtha p

In the Puranas, Ganesha has a brother who has several well known names such as Skanda, Kumāra (the child), Kumaraswamy, Subramanya, Shanmugha (the six-faced one) and others. Is there a Vedic counterpart to this deity? The answer is yes. This aspect is mentioned by Sri Aurobindo and is discussed in great detail by Sri Kapali Sastry (KS), (Collected Works, Vol. 1, pp. 84-88). The counterpart of Skanda in Veda is Agni. "But the Puranic story of Skanda, Kumāra, the Child, closely

This description of the Skanda yaga from the dhūrta kalpa of atharva veda pariśiṣṭha is for educational purposes only. We have signalled towards the mantras and the kriyas to be used in the yaga procedure with: The mention of relevant truncated verses from the Vedas to be used for officiating purposes of the kriyas and brief direction towards the kriya itself One compulsorily needs to undergo atharvavediya upanayan to conduct this yaga. Or one must get dikshita from a atharv

The divine knowledge given by Indra is not meant to come in one step or at any one moment like the experience of samadhi in some individuals. The seers get this knowledge step by step. As stated in RV (1.10.1), "O Indra, the seers of the mantra (1), rise and attain thee as if they are climbing a ladder (2)." (1.10.1) brahmaṇastva shatakrata (1), udvamshamiva yemire (2), (1.10.1) ब्रह्मार्णस्त्वा शतक्रत उद्वंशर्मिव येमिरे ।। In (1.10.11), Indra is described as one 'who makes a

aurva uvāca: athātaḥ śṛṇu rājendra śakotthānaṁ dhvajotsavam | yat kṛtvā nṛpatir yāti na kadācit parābhavam || " O !! Esteemed ruler, allow me to enlighten you about the śakradhvajothāna festival, where raising the flagstaff in the honor of Devendra occurs. Performing this ritual ensures that a king will never encounter a defeat." ravau haristhe dvādaśyāṁ śravaṇena viḍaujasam | ārādhayen napaḥ samyak sarva vighnopaśāntaye || To eliminate obstacles, the king should appease Indr

We have heard of terms like dhyana, upasana and meditation. One requires to clarify the meanings before embarking on understanding of Vidyas. Dhyana means meditation, while upasana is used to signify a long and continued meditation. 'Upasanas' also stand for 'Brahmavidyas'. As Ramanuja says Upanishad itself describes (for e.g.) Madhu vidya as Brahma vidyā. Vidyas are the practical side of the teachings of upanishads; vidyas are not to be taken as conveying just knowledge, but

अग्निश्च म इन्द्रश्च मे सोमश्च म इन्द्रश्च मे सविता च म इन्द्रश्च मे सरस्वती च म इन्द्रश्च मे पूषा च म इन्द्रश्च मे बृहस्पतिश्च म इन्द्रश्च मे मित्रश्च म इन्द्रश्च मे वरुणश्च म इन्द्रश्च मे त्वष्टा च म इन्द्रश्च मे धाता च म इन्द्रश्च मे विष्णुश्च म इन्द्रश्च मेऽश्विनौ च म इन्द्रश्च मे मरुतश्च म इन्द्रश्च मे विश्वे च मे देवा इन्द्रश्च मे पृथिवी च म इन्द्रश्च मेऽन्तरिक्षं च म इन्द्रश्च मे द्यौश्च म इन्द्रश्च मे दिशश्च म इन्द्रश्च मे मूर्धा च म इन्द्रश्च मे प्रजापतिश्च म इन्द्रश