I'm a Saraswati devotee, she is my ishta and I love Her.

My parents do not approve of my religion, my mother especially and I was not able to set up my altar (my altar is in a wooden box with swans on it in which I hide my other items related to worship, such as my two malas, incense and more) and make the offerings I wanted yesterday because my mom was home and would've punished me and would've probably confiscated my altar. It broke my heart.

My parents are not home today however, so I was wondering it would still be acceptable to celebrate after I come home from school, even though it's February 3rd now, so the festival is technically over.

I mean, i still see people posting things relating to the festival.

Is there any story where Angaaraka(Bhauma/Mangala/Kuja/Mars planet) harm Rohini in any way? I've heard this phrase in a retelling of Ramayana to describe Sita

Hello! I want to put this in my mantra playlist to play daily but what is the meaning of the other phrases Anuradha is saying? I only know the meaning behind "Om Namah Shivaya" ... thank you kindly to anyone that answers :)

Aaj roommates ke sath hamne pooja ki. Hope each and everyone of you are able to attain what you wish for this year🙏🏼

Hello everyone, I'll just get straight to the point.

I am currently a male, around 20 years of age, and for the past 7 years, I have been basically going through a hellish time.

Up to when I was 12 years old, my life was ordinary, I still had struggles but they were quite basic ( basically tryharding academics) and I had some close friends. But at the age of 13, I had to go to a new school for secondary school education. From there, everything went downhill. I lost my old friends almost immediately after a few months after some arguments, and I made some retarded decisions in my new school that got me quite hated and bullied. It was basically my fault as I was slightly annoying, but I basically had no friends for the whole year, and my academics went downhill as well. The next year seemed to be getting better, (still no friends but academics was going on track), then I got hit with mental illness issues (related to psychosis and delusions), of which the details I won't get into, but it made my life unbearable. I had to seek professional psychiatric, but it did not really help much. Then the next two years were basically nearly the same, but not as bad. Eventually I went to college and I finally made some friends, but I did not really click with them so eventually we fell out as well after a few months. In that same year, I had a major exam, my mental illness had still not subsided and I was lonely the whole time. Fortunately, the main exams went decently,(although the previous exams went badly despite lots of effort) but my mental condition worsened. I tried going out alone to various parks for walks but it did not help at all. I tried learning new things like learning to code( C++), but I was still extremely miserable. This year I am going to university, with my mental health condition worsening( I suffer some episodes almost everyday), have no friends, I practically suffer every day without any distraction to numb my pain. I am kind of summarising everything here, I go through more challenges than this, but this a rough overview.

I eventually got back into Hinduism for a while, I do understand that prayers won't work immediately, and that I have to continuously do them for uncertain periods of time before they take effect. I am interested to know what type of prayers I should do in relation to my current set of problems. Sorry if I use any wrong terminology as I am not a religious person. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Tomorrow I must be at something very important for my major in school. The problem is that today I am suffering from illness. If i miss a day of work It threatens to throw my entire monthly budget, and I insist I go to school tomorrow. I wore a mask today to help prevent the spread of illness, but I could hardly breathe or keep up with the work asked of me. I guess I ask for blessings of health. I ask for prayers that I get better. I can’t do another day of illness again, but due to my circumstances I must go. I don’t know if that’s selfish of me to ask? I’d appreciate anything you could do to help me out. I ask to be fine enough to ve able to tackle tomorrow. Thankyou. To mods: If this doesn’t fit the sub I’m sorry.

We have been staying on rent in India for the last 10 years post marriage and since last 4 years our landlords have ben asking us to vacate the homes. SO we have been changing homes every year for the last 4 years and dont know the real reason. Is there any astrological reasoning behind it?

#astrokanu #basantpanchami #vedicastrology #vedic

Namaste It is very much known that Vedas are eternal and the most ancient(As told by Sri Mahaperiyava, the language of Vedas is Vedic Sanaskrit or Chandas) . But when the Rishis had experience of the Vedic verses there was no Sanskrit or any pther language as to speak of, so how are the meaning of various Vedic verses deciphered as there was no language or grammatical understand. Since language is man made abd Vedas are eternal it must be that Vedas came befkre language so how did Rishis understand their meaning ?

A humble art made by me with Maa saraswati's grace.

Forgive my mistakes if any🙏.

Hi, I am a born Canadian half Indian woman. My family is from Kerala and speak Malayalam. I was raised in Christianity but departed myself from it years ago. I’m also an artist and one of my goals in my artwork has been trying to decolonize my culture. And the thing I run into is decolonized Kerala culture is very based in Hinduism. And because of my upbringing I’ve been kinda conditioned to view Hinduism in a negative light. Even if I have found the stories interesting it felt rlly wrong to learn them (Christian religious guilt). I wanted to just have some guidance from real people on where to start. There’s so much history it’s kinda overwhelming. Any feedback and suggestions I find helpful

i'm a young adult (F), i grew up in a pretty open gujarati hindu household, where religion was never rigid—there were always many ways to god through hinduism. was born and raised in the states, but believe in the power of our traditions and culture for more than just religion but also as expressions of the human experience. i definitely had strong opinions about certain sects of hinduism and their valuation on things other than personal growth from religion, but other than that, i am pretty open to most things. i like to focus on what stories/figures represent in relation to human nature and what we can learn from them.

i don’t consider myself religious, but rather someone who examines religion from a somewhat scientific perspective, kind of like in advaita. but lately, i’ve had questions that have made my belief a little shakier. i’ve spent a lot of my young adult years studying the gita, trying to understand religion from the roots up, and the more i learn, the more i wonder.

religion is not one-sided. how can i think that the ways of living that developed in india are the one true path? i know no hindu, not even shri krsna himself, has claimed this, but it still makes me feel like religion is a social construct. hinduism, in many ways, is a philosophy, but even then, the need for an image of god is something common across most religions.

ever since i was little, i’ve had a deep calling to krsna, and i still often feel overcome with emotions when it comes to bhagwan. but i struggle with the idea that the purpose of creation is to find our way back. why would god create a universe at all? and i know this is a question as old as time, but is god truly a creator? or is he a part of his own creation too? if i look at hinduism from a scientific perspective—if the universe naturally came to be through the big bang or some other theory—then what is the point of life? sure, everything is cyclic, and even scientifically, we come from atoms and return to them. but the idea that our souls are part of divinity and we are just finding our way back through moksh? that doesn’t make sense to me. because if god is pained by our separation from him too, then why separate at all? why create pain and suffering for your own children? why create a world where suffering even exists?

and another thing—i used to think that hinduism being one of the only religions that truly reveres women was a beautiful argument. but as i grow older, i feel like religion itself is inherently patriarchal. why are our goddesses only revered as mothers? we refer to all goddesses as "maa." motherhood is a deeply meaningful experience, but why is that the primary value of a woman? can these women not be revered for their existence alone, as powerful individuals with the ability to give life but also so much more? i think we have some amazing female perspectives in our stories, but at the same time, i find certain spots where i feel kind of stuck in a loop of being disappointed in how it was approached. it doesn't help that a lot of the time, these injustices occurred while bhagwan himself was present on earth. i know the mistreatment of women is considered a sin and god often punishes this overall, but why was society so misogynistic even after bhagwan reestablishes dharma? is this simply a product of human nature, or was it always kind of set up to be this way? even though there are many progressive qualities of the vedic times, like education, swayamvar, etc. i feel that women never really held the same place in society as men in an equal fashion. please correct me if i am wrong here, or if we see this differently. i really would like to hear a woman's perspective on this.

i’d love to hear from anyone who has struggled with similar thoughts. have you found a way to be at peace with these questions?

Hi all! I would like to delve deeper into scriptures, namely the Upanishads, Astavakra Geeta and Yog Sutra. I would like to have a good English translation with simple explanations. Thank you 🙏🏽

Looking for peoples opinions on where to draw the line with shaucha and how much to worry about cleanliness in today’s society?

I have a presentation in my religion’s class, and the theme I have is the “castesystem”, but for some reason the internet has no good sources. I have to link the presentation into Hinduism, so there’s many slides where I’d like to tell/explain how the hierarchy has changed from what Hinduism intended it to be and what it has become today.

Is there anyone who could explain it a bit better if you’re able to? (Also, English isn’t my first language so please refrain from using hard words)

I’m sorry if mentioning the castes is offensive or if I’ve said something wrong, I’ll delete this post if so. It would mean the world if someone could answer. Apologies in advance again if this is seen as rude!

whatever we call a personal "I" is just ego which is dead with death. What remains is our real self in which rebirth and death is happening so say we have collectively xyz personality someone may come with same lvl of understanding and personality which can develop same ego and hence a rebirth of your ego. But when you die it will be over for you (nothing) bcz u are just your memory (or say mind).

The idea of subtle body i think is contradictory (What i think is was used to tell us abt the smallest thought of what we call us ) not only logically or with science but reincarnation itself . Like Who are you punishing for sins? Isn't it also unfair for someone to not have access to knowledge (any) for that matter only bcz he did something even he dont know did. A person born in poverty will ofc be driven to sins but did he did anything wrong as per him "What he is now".

Namaste I have heard that Sri Adi Shankaracharya as well Sri Madhavacharya had got vision of Lord Veda Vyas. So is there any other saint of 18th, 19th or 20th century or any recent saint who met with Lord Veda Vyas or got a vision of him Thank you

So a couple of days ago one of my friends who knew I was struggling with my faith invited me to attend one of the Islamic sermons that my school hosted every Friday, I’m not Muslim and I don’t intend on converting as I was born Hindu and I will probably not change my religion. They were telling the story on one of the prophets and how he lost everything but still kept his faith. Personally after that sermon I went into researching the Gita and its teachings and found verses very similar to that story. I started to read more into the Gita and I found so many more verses that spoke to me. And I genuinely would like to continue being a devotee to Krsna.

The thing that confuses me is how unwelcome ive felt for finally practicing my faith. As apparently me not doing puja as often as my mom or whomever does it denounces my status as a Hindu..? I’ve always been the type of person to practice in private as I feel safer doing so. As since I grew up in the United States I’ve always felt disconnected from my culture. I learned how to speak Hindi, learned the stories of Arjun and Krsna through those kids cartoons when I was younger. But I’m currently in gray area which is basically me questioning if people such as my mom have even read the teachings that Krsna preaches.

Is this a normal thing to feel or am I just confused?

I'm asking this because I live in a university now and here nobody's celebrating this auspicious day, instead people are doing the usual 'Sunday Night' nonsense like smoking, drinking and clubbing. Coming from a traditional family I'm weirded out and feeling rather lonely. What are the ethics of this behaviour?

What does the lyrics of Bhole Charaniy Aradhana Mean especially these lines:

हड़ताळ मृदंग हुहुकट हाकट धाकट धीकट नाद धरे… द्रह द्राह दीदीकट विकट दोकट फट्ट फरंगत फैर फरे… धधडे नग धोम धधाकट धिकट

HELP! I'M HAVING AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS.

I don't even know how to express my frustration.

ESSAY WARNING. (but I beg you to please read it).

I don't even know how to start...

The universe just doesn’t make any sense to me. We, as humans, are on a tiny rock floating in an endless space. Why does life even exist? How did atoms come together to form cells, and how did these cells eventually give rise to the complex organisms we are today? Even more mind-boggling is the sheer diversity of life—yet only one form of life, us humans, seems to have developed self-consciousness. Why is that?

But if we’re all just made of atoms, where does our consciousness come from?

My main concern isn't the mystery of how consciousness arises...why it even exists in the first place?

Science has been able to (to an extent) tell how life has formed but not why.

These may seem like basic questions...but to me these questions are just fascinating and terrifying at the same time. That's the issue, for most, these questions tend to be fascinating, but I just feel weird and terrified to a little extent.

I also think about the human nature—

people are so complex, so unpredictable. You can never truly know someone’s intentions.

Who’s the shepherd, and who’s the wolf? Many people act out of greed (at the cost of others), in ways that seem morally questionable.

Why is it that only some people have a natural moral compass, (and many don't and hence this cruel world)?

I find myself asking—are people just a product of their environment? Is it because of early exposure to illicit content or media? Or is there something more to human behavior that we don’t understand? The way people behave...whether for good or ill—feels as mysterious as the universe itself.

But at the same time...leaders manage to mitigate mass populations and make them go on useless wars.

As someone who has been in certain positions of power, I do know the feeling of being able to order people to do what you want. The positions I have held are actually petty. (I'm talking about being a Class Monitor, NCC Commander, Head Boy etc). Petty...but still they gave me a satisfaction.

So what level of satisfaction do the actual world leaders who decide the fate of millions must have had? But yes? why does one want to feel powerful?

Yet again, this greed for power has what made 99% of the history and brought human civilization up to this point...for better or for worse...that depends on which country you live right now, what benefits you are enjoying because of the efforts of your ancestors or what price you are paying...because of the sins for your ancestors.

Either way...war looks like such a big bloody nonsense to me. The violence I see around me...people fighting for land, which when compared to universe, is smaller than smallness itself. Yes I do understand that a war starts because of complex reasons...but in the end, what's the result? Death and destruction.

Why don’t more people seem to consider how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things? This universe is so vast. Why can’t people just let go of their egos and not harm others?

And then there's religion (I'm not an atheist),

but the way people hold such firm, unshakable faith in something they’ve never seen, is both beautiful and perplexing.

Some people simply accept their existence, recite their prayers, and live with the belief that leading a virtuous life will secure them a place in an afterlife.

And yes if God does exist then why? Why this big damn universe?

If he doesn't exist, then also why did this universe just form itself for no reason and why did we get a consciousness and sentience ?

Was it all...JUST RANDOM?

Maybe all the questions I mentioned above have been answered philosophically or to an extent scientifically.

But the fact that one question has many answers is just frustrating (like how you have different theories on origin of universe in various religious text. Different philosophical answers for the meaning and purpose of life).

All these questions scramble my head. And I can't let go of these questions.

As I walk through the corridors of my school,

I see people around me—laughing, gossiping, falling in and out of love, sometimes even crying over trivial things. It makes me wonder if they ever ask themselves these kinds of questions. And if they do, does it even bother them? I guess we can never really know.

Because I myself act like a gentleman (yes a teenage boy in India can behave himself).

People who've known me for a long time think that I'm just a decent guy who never gets into useless trouble (which is far from true).

I have also gotten into fights...clashes with school authorities...embarrassing moments.

At the same time I have also had simple pleasures of life like the spending time with nature, spending time with my companions, chasing girls, staying up late night to complete projects and winning some competitions etc.

In short, I am also 'look' like I'm leading a normal life.

But I'm just not able to accept the duality with in myself...

How can I question existence so deeply while also participating in a life that seems so ordinary, so mundane?

If I don't want a normal life, what do I want?

I don’t know if I can survive in this world with this mindset, but I also don’t know how to change it.

I'm just tired. Yes. It may sound absurd. But I am tired of thinking. But I can't give up on it.

I don’t want to live, but I don’t want to die either. I just don’t want to exist.

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For context I have read Bhagavad Gita, and few works of Swami Vivekananda.
I'm still in high school (long duration timings)...so I don't get much time to study any philosophy books.
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If you have actually read everything I wrote...I am really thankful to you.

Have you ever thought like this? I believe you have. If so, then have you been able to grow out of that gloomy feeling of have an existential crisis? If so, PLEASE ADVICE ME. ENLIGHTEN ME.
HOW DO I GROW OUT OF THIS FEELING?

TRUST ME, YOU WOULD ACTUALLY MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN MY INSIGNIFICANT LIFE IF YOU GIVE AN INSIGHTFUL RESPONSE AND CLEAR MY DELUSIONS.

THANK YOU.