Podcasts about rig veda

Politics shift, bodies age, relationships break—we see the surface, the temporary illusion. Yogis look deeper to see the eternal reality behind it all. In this episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore how sacred texts—the Bhagavad Gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the Rig Veda, and the New Testament—urge us to fix our vision on the eternal. From pearls resting on a hidden thread to the saints' constant gaze toward the divine, these traditions all point to the same truth: what's real can't always be seen with the eyes - so look deeper though the eyes of knowledge.  Key Highlights: •⁠  ⁠Pearls and clouds—what the sages say about what really holds life together •⁠  ⁠The world is a stereogram - keep staring into it and eventually the vision pops •⁠  ⁠Kaustubha's near bike-lane road rage (he almost lost it.) •⁠  ⁠How bhakti can awaken even in a materially entangled life (yes, there's hope for all of us)

Politics shift, bodies age, relationships break—we see the surface, the temporary illusion. Yogis look deeper to see the eternal reality behind it all. In this episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore how sacred texts—the Bhagavad Gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the Rig Veda, and the New Testament—urge us to fix our vision on the eternal. From pearls resting on a hidden thread to the saints' constant gaze toward the divine, these traditions all point to the same truth: what's real can't always be seen with the eyes - so look deeper though the eyes of knowledge.  Key Highlights: •⁠  ⁠Pearls and clouds—what the sages say about what really holds life together •⁠  ⁠The world is a stereogram - keep staring into it and eventually the vision pops •⁠  ⁠Kaustubha's near bike-lane road rage (he almost lost it.) •⁠  ⁠How bhakti can awaken even in a materially entangled life (yes, there's hope for all of us)

Bright on Buddhism Episode 112 - What is the first moral precept of Buddhism? What is its significance? How have interpretations of it changed over time?Resources: Dundas, Paul (2002) [1992]. The Jains (Second ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-26605-5.; Fitzgerald, James L., ed. (2004). The Mahabharata. Vol. 7. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-25250-7.; Laidlaw, James (1995). Riches and Renunciation: Religion, economy, and society among the Jains. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-828031-9.; Sarao, Karam Tej S. (1989). The Origin and Nature of Ancient Indian Buddhism. New Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers.; Schmidt, Hanns Peter (1968). "The Origin of Ahimsa". Mélanges d'Indianisme à la mémoire de Louis Renou. Paris: Boccard.; Sethia, Tara (2004). Ahiṃsā, Anekānta and Jainism. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-2036-4.; Tähtinen, Unto (1964). Non-violence as an ethical principle: with particular reference to the views of Mahatma Gandhi. Turku: Turun Yliopisto. OCLC 4288274.; Tähtinen, Unto (1976). Ahiṃsā: non-violence in Indian tradition. London: Rider. ISBN 0-09-123340-2.; Talageri, Shrikant (2000). The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis. India: AdityaPrakashan. ISBN 81-7742-010-0.; Talageri (2010). Rigveda and the Avesta: The Final Evidence. India.; Wiley, Kristi L. (2006). "Ahimsa and Compassion in Jainism". In Peter Flügel (ed.). Studies in Jaina History and Culture. London.; Winternitz, Moriz (1993). History of Indian Literature: Buddhist & Jain Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0265-0.; Alarid, Leanne Fiftal; Wang, Hsiao-Ming (2001), "Mercy and Punishment: Buddhism and the Death Penalty", Social Justice, 28 (1 (83)): 231–47, JSTOR 29768067; Bodhi, Bhikkhu (2005), "In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon", Simon and Schuster; Edelglass, William (2013), "Buddhist Ethics and Western Moral Philosophy" (PDF), in Emmanuel, Steven M. (ed.), A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (1st ed.), Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 476–90, ISBN 978-0-470-65877-2, archived from the original (PDF) on March 16, 2015; Harvey, Peter (2000), An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues (PDF), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-511-07584-1, archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-12, retrieved 2018-11-29; Horigan, D.P. (1996), "Of Compassion and Capital Punishment: A Buddhist Perspective on the Death Penalty", American Journal of Jurisprudence, 41: 271–288, doi:10.1093/ajj/41.1.271; Kaza, Stephanie (2000), "Overcoming the Grip of Consumerism", Buddhist-Christian Studies, 20: 23–42, doi:10.1353/bcs.2000.0013, JSTOR 1390317, S2CID 1625439; Keown, Damien (2003), A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-157917-2; Keown, Damien (2012), "Are There Human Rights in Buddhism?", in Husted, Wayne R.; Keown, Damien; Prebish, Charles S. (eds.), Buddhism and Human Rights, Routledge, pp. 15–42, ISBN 978-1-136-60310-5; Keown, Damien (2013), "Buddhism and Biomedical Issues" (PDF), in Emmanuel, Steven M. (ed.), A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (1st ed.), Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 613–30, ISBN 978-0-470-65877-2, archived from the original (PDF) on March 16, 2015; Keown, Damien (2016a), "Buddhism and Abortion: Is There a 'Middle Way'?", in Keown, Damien (ed.), Buddhism and Abortion, Macmillan Press, pp. 199–218, doi:10.1007/978-1-349-14178-4, ISBN 978-1-349-14178-4; Keown, Damien (2016b), Buddhism and Bioethics, Springer Nature, ISBN 978-1-349-23981-8Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com.Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-HostProven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Vous connaissez la Gayatri Mantra ? Mais vous en ignorez le sens ? Saviez vous qu'il s'agit d'un mantra qui apparaît dans le Rig Veda, ces "textes" révélés aux Rishis il y a plus de 2500 ans ? POur en savoir plus, écoutez ce nouvel épiosde du podcast Au Fil du Yoga. Et si ce n'est déjà fait un petit like sur votre appli lui permettrait d'être plus diffusé ! Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Continuation of the series Through the Visionary Lens. In this episode, we explore one of the oldest and most profound insights from the Rig Veda, attributed to the sage Dhirgatamas: Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti—"The truth is one, but is expressed in many ways."What is truth? Is it absolute or relative? Through the lens of this ancient wisdom, we uncover the nature of Sat—a singular, timeless reality that underlies all existence. Beyond ideology and division, all truths arise from this unified field. No single perspective holds a monopoly on truth, yet all seekers, across time and tradition, are drawn toward it.Join Anand Ji as we dive deep into this timeless Vedic insight and its relevance in our ever-evolving world.For more wisdom, knowledge and integrative teachings visit :www.sattvaconnect.com sattvayogaacademy.comwww.instagram.com/theanandmehrotra/#truth #AnandMehrotra #mantra #meditation #yoga #rigveda #self-realisation #awakening  #wisdom #consciousness #mind #intelligence #growth #unity #sattvayogaacademy   #sattvaconnect #knowledge

These aren't just ancient tales—they're spiritual vehicles designed to purify, elevate, and awaken the soul. In this episode, we uncover the influence of the yoga of spiritual sound and how simply hearing these divine narrations carries the power to cleanse the heart of karmic burdens, transcend intellectual boundaries, and infuse life with profound auspiciousness. We also explore the very first verse of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.1), where Vyāsadeva boldly connects the dots between the timeless truths of the Upaniṣads, the Rig Veda, and the Vedānta-sūtra, revealing that the ultimate source described in them all is none other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa—the personal, all-pervading Absolute Truth. Key Highlights: ✨ Why hearing sacred texts isn't just informational—it's transformational ✨ The potency of hearing divine pastimes to free the soul from suffering ✨ How Vyāsadeva establishes Kṛṣṇa as the heart of Vedic wisdom ✨ The secret to making any moment or ceremony deeply auspicious Step beyond intellectual curiosity and into the transformative realm of sacred sound.

These aren't just ancient tales—they're spiritual vehicles designed to purify, elevate, and awaken the soul. In this episode, we uncover the influence of the yoga of spiritual sound and how simply hearing these divine narrations carries the power to cleanse the heart of karmic burdens, transcend intellectual boundaries, and infuse life with profound auspiciousness. We also explore the very first verse of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.1), where Vyāsadeva boldly connects the dots between the timeless truths of the Upaniṣads, the Rig Veda, and the Vedānta-sūtra, revealing that the ultimate source described in them all is none other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa—the personal, all-pervading Absolute Truth. Key Highlights: ✨ Why hearing sacred texts isn't just informational—it's transformational ✨ The potency of hearing divine pastimes to free the soul from suffering ✨ How Vyāsadeva establishes Kṛṣṇa as the heart of Vedic wisdom ✨ The secret to making any moment or ceremony deeply auspicious Step beyond intellectual curiosity and into the transformative realm of sacred sound.

pWotD Episode 2776: India Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 327,180 views on Saturday, 7 December 2024 our article of the day is India.India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country in the world by area and the most populous country. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia.Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity. Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By at least 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest. Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the Rigveda. Preserved by an oral tradition that was resolutely vigilant, the Rigveda records the dawning of Hinduism in India. The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions. By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism, and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity. Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin. Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity, but also marked by the declining status of women, and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief. The Middle kingdoms exported the Indian influences, and religions of Hinduism and Buddhism to the Southeast Asia.In the early mediaeval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts. Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains, eventually founding the Delhi Sultanate and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of mediaeval Islam. Under the Rajaraja I and his son Rajendra I, the Cholas of south India became the greatest Indian state of its era, and also led to the apex of Indian influence in Southeast Asia. In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India. In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion. The Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace, leaving a legacy of luminous architecture. Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy but also consolidating its sovereignty. British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly, but technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and public life took root. A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule. In 1947, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions, a Hindu-majority dominion of India and a Muslim-majority dominion of Pakistan, amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration.India has been a federal republic since 1950, governed through a democratic parliamentary system, and has been the world's most populous democracy since the time of its independence in 1947. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society. India's nominal per capita income increased from US$64 annually in 1951 to US$2,601 in 2022, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. During the same time, its population grew from 361 million to almost 1.4 billion, and India became the most populous country in 2023. From being a comparatively destitute country in 1951, India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class. India has a space programme with several planned or completed extraterrestrial missions. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture. India has substantially reduced its rate of poverty, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality. India is a nuclear-weapon state, which ranks high in military expenditure. It has disputes over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th century. Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender inequality, child malnutrition, and rising levels of air pollution. India's land is megadiverse, with four biodiversity hotspots. Its forest cover comprises 21.7% of its area. India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's culture, is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, in protected habitats.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:00 UTC on Sunday, 8 December 2024.For the full current version of the article, see India on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Kajal.

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One could easily spend a lifetime exploring Vedic literature and still barely scratch the surface in terms of the wisdom that's available to us. Between the four Vedas, Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda, the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, the six schools of Vedic philosophy, and countless other written and oral texts or translations, there's no shortage of avenues to explore.And even if you could absorb them all in a lifetime, you'd probably need to reread them to understand them from a more evolved point of view.  Fortunately, the Vedic worldview is that all this wisdom is experiential, and we can shortcut the process of attaining wisdom through “knowledge of the Knower.” Thom provides an example of this in this assessment of Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga, a subset of The Yoga Sutras. Thom clarifies that the piecemeal approach of trying to check off the eight limbs through our actions in order to attain the state of Yoga, is a misguided approach to take, and that practicing Vedic Meditation provides an express route that accelerates our personal evolution.Episode Highlights:[00:45] The Yoga Sutras[02:36] Ashta Anga[03:44] Yoga - Unification[06:27] Samadhi[07:39] The Simultaneous Arrival of Balance[09:57] 1. Yama and Its Five Qualities[13:21] Outcomes vs Causes[15:05] 2. Niyama and Its Five Observances[20:18] 3. Asana - The Sequential Elaboration of Limbs[23:32] Asana for Transcendence[24:51] 4. Pranayama - Administration of Breath[27:00] 5. Pratyahara - Inward Intentionality[29:31] Reversing Habits of the Senses[32:05] 6. Dharana - Inward Movement[33:41] 7. Dhyana - Arriving at the Subtlest Layer of Thought[35:14] 8. Samadhi - Being Knows Itself[36:50] Samadhi Affects Yama[39:50] Spontaneous Self-Sufficiency[41:34] Samadhi Affects Niyama[45:09] Samadhi Affects All Other Limbs[46:56] A Process of Verification and ValidationUseful Linksinfo@thomknoles.com https://thomknoles.com/https://www.instagram.com/thethomknoleshttps://www.facebook.com/thethomknoleshttps://www.youtube.com/c/thomknoleshttps://thomknoles.com/ask-thom-anything/

My heart reaches out to the millions of displaced citizens in our struggling world, and to the thousands of families in my long years' home and hearth in Asheville, North Carolina who are suffering from the wrath of Hurrricane Helene.  Aminsa- where there is no otherness, only the loving act of mutual kindness- is more needed now than ever.  May we remeber the sancitity of Earth, her food and water, from which our mins and bodies are created. A Vedic prayer from Rig Veda for the Sacred Water:ईशाना वार्याणां क्षयन्तीश्चर्षणीनाम् ।अपो याचामि भेषजम् ॥५॥O Water, may the auspicious divinity which is desired be present in you when we drink (water).May the auspiciousness which supports you, flow to us.Support the showMay Peace Be Your Journey~www.mayatiwari.comwww.facebook.com/mayatiwariahimsa.Buzzsprout.com

“One cannot speak this way without having been well-trained in the Rig Veda, memorized the Yajur Veda, and thoroughly understood the Sama Veda.” (Lord Rama speaking to Lakshmana about Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kand, 3.28)

We often think of composers as solitary geniuses, scribbling away at their masterpieces, working alone. But this isn't always the case. Gustav Holst, most famous for composing The Planets, struggled all his life with neuritis, a condition that made his arms feel like “jelly overcharged with electricity.” It was frequently impossible for him to play or even write, so, to bring his vision of our solar system to life, he needed help. This week, Donald Macleod charts Holst's interplanetary expedition and discovers the unsung heroes who placed him amongst the stars.Music Featured: The Planets, Op 32 Toccata, H 153 Symphony in F Major, Op 8, H 47 “The Cotswolds” (2nd mvt, Elegy, Molto adagio & 3rd mvt, Scherzo, Presto - Allegretto) Sita, Op 23, H 89 (Interlude) The Mystic Trumpeter, Op 18 Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Op 26 (3rd Group, H99) The Hymn of Jesus, Op37 / H 140 (Hymn II, Hymn III, Hymn IV) 5 Partsongs, Op 12, H 61 St Paul's Suite, Op 29, No 2 Ballet music from 'The Perfect Fool' H150 (Op 39) Sāvitri, Op 25 (I - VI) Ode to Death, Op 38, H 144 Suite No 2 for Military Band in F major, Op 28 No 2, H106 Choral Symphony, Op 41 (2nd mvt, Song and Bacchanal) Scherzo for Orchestra, H192 Hammersmith - Prelude and Scherzo, H178, Op 52 Egdon Heath Op 47 (1st mvt, Adagio - Poco Allegro - Andante maestoso) Brook Green Suite The Planets, Op 32 (Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity) arr. for two pianosPresented by Donald Macleod Produced by Alice McKee for BBC Audio Wales & WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Gustav Holst (1874-1934) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022sj0 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

“One cannot speak this way without having been well-trained in the Rig Veda, memorized the Yajur Veda, and thoroughly understood the Sama Veda.” (Lord Rama speaking to Lakshmana about Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kand, 3.28)

The Indo-European language family, encompassing languages like Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and Proto-Indo-European, traces its origins to a complex interplay of migrations and cultural exchanges. The Anatolian branch, traditionally thought to have entered the region from Thrace, is supported by recent genetic findings in Bulgaria, revealing steppe ancestry similar to Sredny Stog as early as 4500 BC. This ancestry suggests that Anatolian may have developed from related groups in the region, potentially emerging from a dialect or sister language to Proto-Indo-European. The Hittite language, a member of the Anatolian branch, shows minimal connection to steppe ancestry, and this is also seen in other instances such as the Etruscans, who spoke a non-Indo-European language despite having a significant steppe genetic component. The historical spread of Indo-European languages is often linked to the influence of power and prestige rather than merely the number of speakers. In some cases, Indo-European languages became dominant as ruling elites imposed their languages over local populations, integrating with them while maintaining their linguistic and cultural identities. Contemporary theories face challenges, particularly regarding Indo-Iranian languages. The notion that Proto-Indo-Europeans migrated into Iran and subsequently into India contradicts evidence of high steppe ancestry among Indo-Iranians. The Rig Veda, for instance, describes migrating Indo-Iranians with physical traits distinct from the native Dravidians, undermining theories that suggest a late acquisition of steppe ancestry in India. The Yamnaya culture, a key player in this linguistic evolution, represents a fusion of steppe hunter-gatherers from the Pontic-Caspian region with Caucasian groups, resulting from aggressive expansion rather than peaceful integration. This complex interaction formed a cultural and linguistic unit that spread across Europe and Asia, shaping the diverse Indo-European languages we recognize today. Here are the earlier forms of the word "wheel" in Old Persian, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit:‎ ‎1. **Old Persian**:

In this episode, we grapple with the limitations of translation and the ethics of Western examination of other people's religions. Covering controversies involving the Indologists Max Müller (1823-1900) and Wendy Doniger (b. 1940), Rose explores the how the Sanskrit word Aryan became linked to the worst kind of racists, learns that fringe reactionary groups filing lawsuits to ban books aren't just an American thing, and squeezes in a reference to Miller's Crossing (Coen Brothers, 1990),Want to read our transcript? In addition to providing an accessible version of the show for people with hearing impairments, it also includes links and the list of references used to create this episode—ideal if you want to learn more about the issues we talk about or find our social media links. Click here to head to our website and read the transcript now.Don't forget to leave a rating and review, and share us with your friends! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Rig Veda (c. 1400-1500 BCE) is a massive collection of 1,028 hymns written by ancient people living in northwestern India, and it forms part of the foundation of Hindu faith. The hymns span myths, philosophy, spirituality, love, grief, and practical tips for making an incredibly powerful hallucinogenic drink. In this episode, Rose investigates some of the major themes in the Rig Veda and compares some of the themes in it to myths from other traditions.PLEASE NOTE: This episode describes some scenes of human and animal sacrifice. If you're squeamish, take care. Want to read the transcript or see the references Rose used to write this episode? Visit our website. You can also follow us on Bluesky, Instagram, or Facebook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Rigveda, a collection of hymns written in the Sanskrit language more than 3,000 years ago, is the oldest religious text in the Hindu tradition. It's also an incredible window onto life at the dawn of the Iron Age in South Asia.Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge. And check out Patrick's new podcast The Pursuit of Dadliness! It's all about “Dad Culture,” and Patrick will interview some fascinating guests about everything from tall wooden ships to smoked meats to comfortable sneakers to history, sports, culture, and politics. https://bit.ly/PWtPoDListen to new episodes 1 week early, to exclusive seasons 1 and 2, and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistorySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ayurveda is often defined as “the science of life, but this definition is somewhat simplistic, and doesn't fully describe the origin and intent of the word.In this episode, in answer to a listener's question, Thom gives a deeper explanation of the subject, including its origins and a fuller description of its meaning.This question and answer sets the stage nicely for the follow up contribution from a listener, which is effectively a display of both Ayurveda and self-referral in action.No matter what your level of understanding of Ayurveda is currently, this episode is sure to deepen your appreciation for it.Episode Highlights:[00:45] Q- Can You Describe Ayurveda from the Sanskrit Perspective?[01:01] A - Knowledge has Organizing Power[02:50] Apaurasheya - Without and Author[05:06] Veda Vyasa Categorizing the Vedas[07:03] The Four Vedas and Their Significance[08:56] Ayurveda: A Subordinate Veda of Rig Veda[10:53] Breathing and Longevity in Ayurveda[12:35] Ayurveda's Goal: Maximizing Joy in Relevant Longevity[14:25] Q - Seeking Vedic Guidance on My Journey to Wellness[16:38] A - The Rishi in You[18:37] Autodidact of Veda[20:17] Learn from a Vedic Master to Accelerate ProgressUseful Linksinfo@thomknoles.com https://thomknoles.com/https://www.instagram.com/thethomknoleshttps://www.facebook.com/thethomknoleshttps://www.youtube.com/c/thomknoleshttps://thomknoles.com/ask-thom-anything/

Yoga is a group of physical, mental, energetic and spiritual practices which originated in ancient India, aim to still the mind and reduce human suffering (Duḥkha). Yoga can even include sexual energy in its practices. Yoga-like practices were first mentioned in the ancient Hindu text known as Rigveda. Yoga is referred to in a number of the Upanishads.The first known appearance of the word "yoga" with the same meaning as the modern term is in the Katha Upanishad, which was probably composed between the fifth and third centuries BCE. The Bhagavad Gita describes yoga as “skill in action.” It has to do with the raising of consciousness, the discovery of dysfunctional thoughts and perceptions, the reduction of suffering, and the discovery of inner peace. One of the keys to healthy aging, peace of mind and terrific sexuality for men is yoga, partly as it aids in maintaining muscle strength, flexibility and balance. Join Dr. John in an arousing conversation with Thomas Gloor, a yoga teacher for men. He has taught for several decades and his wisdom is inspiring. Some topics covered include:The difference between the energetic body and the physical body.Tantric yoga and sexuality.The difference between orgasm and ejaculation.Transforming emotional energy into spiritual energy.If you like what you've heard at The Evolved Caveman podcast, support us by subscribing, leaving reviews on Apple podcasts. Every review helps to get the message out! Please share the podcast with friends and colleagues.Follow Dr. John Schinnerer on| Instagram | Instagram.com/@TheEvolvedCaveman| Facebook | Facebook.com/Anger.Management.Expert| Twitter | Twitter.com/@JohnSchin| LinkedIn | Linkedin.com/in/DrJohnSchinnererOr join the email list by visiting: GuideToSelf.comPlease visit our YouTube channel and remember to Like & Subscribe!https://www.youtube.com/user/jschinnerer

Most powerful mantra to remove negativity Mantras are ancient sound vibrations that are believed to have spiritual and transformative qualities. While individual experiences with mantras may vary, and their effectiveness can be influenced by personal beliefs and practices, some people find chanting specific mantras to be helpful in promoting positive energy and dispelling negativity. One such mantra that is often recommended for removing negativity is the "Gayatri Mantra." The Gayatri Mantra is a revered Vedic mantra from the Rigveda, and it is considered a universal prayer. The Gayatri Mantra: Om Bhur Bhuvaḥ Swaḥ Tat Savitur Vareṇyaṃ Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo Yo Naḥ Prachodayāt Om Bhur Bhuvaḥ Swaḥ Tat Savitur Vareṇyaṃ Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo Yo Naḥ Prachodayāt --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nilnia/support

Title: Purifying Spiritual Practices with Om Tat Sat17th Chapter: verses 23, 24, 25, 26, 2723rd verse: “In the Vedic literature, specifically the Upanishads, it is stated that “Om Tat Sat” constitutes the essence of all vedic literature. It represents the triple designation of Brahman. These three words are behind the origin and creation of the Brahmanas, Vedas and Yajnas.”Om represents the vedas. The entire vedic literature can be condensed into Om. All the vedas are an attempt to describe Brahman which can only be experienced. At the empirical level, Brahman is denoted with Om. Om represents the highest spiritual awareness, the highest wisdom, the highest existence, the highest consciousness and the highest blissfulness.Sri Ramakrishna said that the highest level of experience cannot be explained. It is a deeply felt experience whose language is silence. Below silence is Om, which is the first audible, verbal symbol of the divine. When we elaborate Om, we get Gayatri. When we elaborate Gayatri, we get Upanishads. Below the Upanishads, there are many mythological books. All these books are meant to take us beyond books. The highest experience is beyond all these books.Dharmaśāstra says: “All Vedas are founded on Pranava (Om). It takes you away from the transmigratory cycle of Samsara. It is the essence and totality of all verbal presentations. Any mantra without Om becomes meaningless.”Every mantra is preceded by Om. It is because the mantra becomes sacred when associated with Om.Omkara is not a letter symbol. It is a sound symbol comprised of three sounds A-U-M. It is pronounced with an elongated vowel sound. “A” represents the totality of waking state experiences. “U” represents the totality of dream state experiences. “M” represents the totality of deep sleep experiences. Together, they represent all our experiences, as we cannot have any experience outside of these three states.“A” is pronounced with an open mouth. “U” is pronounced with the mouth half open. “M” is pronounced with the mouth closed. We cannot pronounce anything which does not belong to these three categories. And, since everything in the world has a verbal counterpart, A-U-M represents everything in this world.“Tat” stands for the totality of existence. It also indicates Brahman. In the mayavakya “Tat-tvam-asi” -which means “The spiritual truth that you are seeking is non-different from yourself - “Tat” indicates Brahman.“Sat” is explained in the 26th verse. It is used to denote the Absolute Reality. It also represents goodness, auspiciousness and steadiness in dana, tapah and yajna.Why is the utterance of “Om Tat Sat” important? It is difficult for normal human beings to perform their spiritual practices with perfection. With the utterance of “Om Tat Sat”, when we perform any act - Yajna, dana and tapah – they become purified. They become auspicious and spiritually meritorious.For full effect, “Om Tat Sat” should be uttered with a sense of sanctity and sacredness and with full awareness. Mantras gather potency because they have been recited by spiritual seekers and sages for thousands of years. They help us realize the spiritual truth when we recite them with full concentration on the meaning of the mantra.24th verse: “Therefore, one should practice dana, tapah and yajna by uttering Om. When you do so, the activity becomes purified.”Yajna refers to any noble, unselfish deed that is done with a sense of sanctity and sacredness and as an offering to God. Dana refers to any act of compassion, kindness and charity meant to help others. Tapah means austerity, activities that we do with the mind and senses focused on a single purpose.25th verse: “When we perform dana, tapah and yajna with the utterance of Tat, it means we are performing that duty without expecting any fruits in return. We offer the activity and its fruits to the all-pervading divine reality.”“Tat” means Brahman, the all-pervading divine reality. When we perform dana, tapah and yajna with a sattvic attitude, and offer our activity and its fruits to Brahman, the activity is purified.When we offer our activity to the all-pervading reality that is present in everyone and everything, the activity is purified. In fact, this is the essence of the Brahma-Yajna-Mantra in the 24th verse of the 4th chapter. With the imagery of a Vedic ritual (Yajna), this verse says: “the process of offering, what we offer, the one who offers, into what it is offered, the act of performing the ritual, the goal to be reached – everything is Brahman.”There is nothing in this world, but Brahman. The Brahma-Yajna-Mantra brings the spiritual unity of existence to every thought, word and deed, including eating food. There should be no line of demarcation between our secular and spiritual life. Every secular act should be spiritualized.We should live life like the mantra in Rigveda which means: “Let every thought become a meditation, let every word become a mantra, let every action become an act of worship, let every travel become a pilgrimage, let every movement become a circumambulation around the deity, and let the whole life become an offering to God.”26th verse: “Sat indicates the Absolute Reality which is all-pervading, immortal, good for humanity and which sustains us. Sat means sat-bhāve “with the intention of essential goodness and nobility”, sādhu-bhāve “with auspicious intention” and praśhaste karmaṇi “Inspired by the an inner call and the Atman within”.Divinity is present in all of us. However, in some people it does not manifest because of the effect of past samskaras. At some point, people feel an inner call to do something good for humanity. This call is inspired by the Atman within. When we do something inspired by this inner call, we feel inner joy and contentment.We can be a good human being without affirming our faith in God. Swami Vivekananda said: “Live life in a way that even if you do not accept God, God will accept you.”27th verse: “When we think of the Absolute Reality through the utterance of Sat, it brings an element of steadiness to the activity and becomes a blessing to humanity. Steadiness comes from the Absolute Reality which is eternal and unchanging.”Tapah should be done with a sattvic attitude where the mans and the goals are in harmony. Success becomes a liability if tapah is done with improper means.

Listen to the prayer to river goddess Dā́nu! (By Björn Ekdahl) Few things are as Indo-European as Dā́nu. She is one of the oldest Indo-European deities there is. In fact, the term Danu or Danava (plural of Danu) appears to form the very substratum of Indo-European identity per se. Note how Homer continuously refers to his 'Greek' people as Danaans in the Iliad and Odyssey. Those who know the Celtic mythology know that Tuatha Dé Danann (the people/tribe of Danu) is what the Celts called the original mythical race they were children of. The construction Don- or Dan- is an extremely common name of rivers all over Europe. We have giant rivers like Danube (Donau in German and Scandinavian), Don, Donets, Dniepr, Dnjestr and Dysna. Several rivers in Britain called Don. We have the city of Donetsk, we have the whole country of Denmark (Danmark in Danish) and the nationality Dane. And so it comes as no surprise that the Vedic river goddess is called Dānu in Rig Veda, that the Brythonic had goddess Don, the Romans called the god of river Danube Danuvius, that the Irish had Danan/Danu, mother goddess of the Tuatha dé Danann and so on and so on. Dā́nu is the mother of primordial waters – a goddess of rivers, all holy waters and of fertility. The giver of life and of fertility to the land. This is why all Indo-European pagan peoples worshiped by rivers and gave votive offerings in rivers and springs, for fertility and health. Dā́nu is holy water personified. Listen to this prayer while contemplating your own roots and identity!

It is a strange thing to think of death as nutritious, that death can make living things into the elemental stuff of life. But as summer's verdant life begins to succumb to an inevitable end, as death transforms the landscape, the strangeness of that thought recedes, becoming something full of sense and meaning.This is especially true as I walk through a local woodland and beneath my feet are the remains of arboreal death - humus, that dark organic matter that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays. When leaf litter and animals remains decompose, they break down into their most basic chemical elements…elements that are nutritious to life.This breaking down of living things, particularly as autumn transitions into winter on my Northern island, inspired this episode of Mythos, which will focus on primordial giant stories - myths in which a giant is sacrificed in order to become the building blocks of creation.The first is a Norse Myth, details of which can be found in the Prose and Poetic Eddas. The Prose Edda was written in 13th century Iceland and is considered the fullest and most detailed source of Norse Mythology. Drawing upon a variety of sources, the Prose Edda also references an older source - a collection of poems known as the Poetic Edda.The second story is from the Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit Hymns, one of the four sacred Hindu texts known as the vedas.Music:https://www.youtube.com/@ebanisteria.musicalehttps://www.youtube.com/@GeethanjaliClassicalMusichttps://www.youtube.com/@Nordicvibrations7979

Don't look at the signs. Look at the One who is sending them. You only look for signs when you have forgotten,  when you're not feeling God's presence, when you don't think He's (t)here. Every sign, every number, every rainbow, every butterfly, every bird, every license plate, every song, every billboard,  is (t)here to remind you that He's (t)here. Look at Him. I Love You I Am You nik To claim your free gift, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me at nikki@curlynikki.com!  Join us on Patreon to support the show, and tune into and participate in live video Q&As with me!  Support the show राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम "All that are naked he covers, all that are sick he heals, the blind man sees, the cripple walks." - Hymn LXVIII Soma "We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the Light the god's discovered. Now what may an enemy's malice do to harm us? What, O Immortal, can mortal man's deception do?" - Rig Veda 8.48.3 "The all seeing one, the luminous one, who sustains all, comes from the purifier to his native seat within us making a sound." - Rig Veda 9.37.2

https://www.shrivedabharathi.in/resources/Documents/Rig%20Veda%20(%20PDFDrive%20).pdf https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/RigVeda.pdf https://archive.org/details/rigvedacomplete gOd is a volcAno and she is comin for the pope and his cukks... sound is consciousness...truth is silence...why does your heart beat? #2023 #art #music #movies #poetry #poem #photooftheday #volcano #news #money #food #weather #climate #monkeys #horse #puppy #fyp #love #instagood #onelove #eyes #getyoked #horsie #gotmilk #book #shecomin #getready

It's Friday the 13th and for whatever reason that date has a lot of superstition and fear associated with it. None of it has to do with Vedic Astrology, but because we are talking about important dates, I want to address this here. I'll share some of the origins of the superstition around the date. With that out of the way, lets talk about something that is generally considered inauspicious in the Vedic tradition, and that is the day of the eclipse. Here is what the Rig Veda (c. 1750BCE) says about eclipses: “When the moon lighted by the sun affects the sun with the darkness of its shadow, when it is in line with the sun and earth, then the person who does not know his area feels confused during the eclipse and the regions too appear confusing. Similarly, O sun, light of the spirit, when the veil of darkness covers knowledge and awareness of the spirit, then the ignorant man feels confused, and the world too appears different, that is, the material appears as ultimate reality and the spirit is eclipsed. He makes no distinction between body and soul.” - Rig Veda 5.40.5 The eclipses happen every 6 months and mark a turning point in the year, a new turn in the story of your life. It can be helpful to go back to April 20th to May 5th of this year to reflect on what you were going through then, what has evolved from that, and explore what the next evolution is that's happening now over the next 4 weeks. Sat, Oct 14 - New Moon / Eclipse in Chittra + Opportunities for new beginnings and creative endeavors. + Potential for fresh insights and inventive thinking. + A chance to make a significant impact through creative expression. - Risk of impulsive decisions or lack of follow-through. - Tendency to overidealize situations, leading to disappointment. - Potential for conflicts related to creative differences. Tue, Oct 17 - Venus in Purvaphalguni (13 Days) Tue, Oct 17 - Sun in Libra (30 Days) Wed, Oct 18 - Mercury in Libra (19 Days) Sun, Oct 22 - Mercury in Swati (8 Days) - Free Weekly Horoscopes⁠⁠: http://www.quietmindastrology.com/freehoroscopes ⁠⁠Free Vedic Birth Chart & Training⁠⁠: http://www.quietmindastrology.com/freebirthchart ⁠Follow on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: http://www.instagram.com/quietmindastrology ⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠: http://www.quietmindastrology.com/youtube ⁠Schedule a Life Alignment Reading⁠⁠⁠⁠: http://www.quietmindastrology.com/reading ⁠Enroll in Vedic Astrology 101⁠: http://www.quietmindastrology.com/101 ⁠Free Monthly Review Prcoess: http://www.quietmindastrology.com/monthlyreview Mentorship Waitlist: http://www.quietmindastrology.com/mentorship Keywords: nakshatras, grahas (planets), rashi (zodiac signs), bhavas (houses), mahadasha, antardasha, jyotish (astrology), yoga (planetary combinations), doshas (afflictions), kundali (birth chart), transits, retrograde, aspects, dasha system, remedies, mantras. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Rahu, Ketu.

Even when I'm chanting the Name, I'm hearing God first (and simultaneously),  I'm hearing (t)His Silence first,  I'm hearing the Real Name, first-- this Name that can't be pronounced, the Sound that is more pronounced than everything else, the One that is called the Secret Language,  (y)Our Secret Remedy.  "Listening to This Sound, the Yogi overcomes all obstacles and feels blissful." - Nada Bindu Upanishad I Love You I Am You nik  To claim your free gift, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me at nikki@curlynikki.com!  Join us on Patreon to support the show, and tune into and participate in live video Q&As with me!  Support the show राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम Remember the sound of a door in your house closing. Remember the sound of your phone ringing. Remember the sound of your car starting. Remember the sound of a dog barking. Remember the sound of laughter from a baby. Remember the sound of surf at the ocean. Remember the sound of a loved one's voice. Remember a special sound from your childhood. - Baird Hersey, The Practice of Nada Yoga "There are four levels of speech, the spiritually wise know them all. Three are secret. Mortals use the fourth." - Rig Veda 1.164.45. "Never remain without His Presence, without His Name." - Anandamayi Ma "Teach me to feel that Thou art the power behind all wealth, and the value within all things. Finding Thee first, I will find everything else in Thee." - Paramahansa Yogananda Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” - John 4 13-14

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि। धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात॥ Aum Bhur Bhuvah Svah Tat Savitur Varenyam Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo Yo nah Prachodayat The Gayatri mantra is a sacred verse from the Rigveda, one of the oldest texts in Hinduism. The Gayatri mantra's meaning: "Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Light (the Sun). May he stimulate our understanding." Chanting the Gayatri mantra is believed to help focus the mind, increase spiritual wisdom, and bring about a sense of inner peace and enlightenment. It's often recited during meditation or as a daily spiritual practice in Hinduism. Additionally, it is considered a universal prayer, not limited to any particular religion, and is valued for its ability to promote spiritual growth and understanding. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nilnia/support

India developed one of the most advanced astronomies of any of the ancient cultures, even rivaling European astronomy in its accuracy by the 18th century. We look at how the geography of India influenced its history and then turn briefly to the little we know about the astronomy of the Harappan Civilization. Finally we end with the astronomy of the Rigveda.

Los enigmáticos y misteriosos Vimanas, transportes descritos en importantes y antiguos textos del hinduismo, como el Rig-Veda o el Ramayana.  Descritos como naves voladoras con utilidad para transportar seres humanos y combatir. Veloces, imponentes e inmensas fortalezas que pudieron nunca haber existido, o que quizás siguen esperando latentes en algún lugar del planeta, como por ejemplo… el desierto de Afganistán. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Outdoors, Brews, & BBQ - let's have a beer and chat about Nature and Mead.Mead Bees Bees produce 10 - 200 pounds of honey a year.Made from honey, mead is perhaps the world's first intentionally fermented beverage. It's not a beer which is (grain-based) and it's not a wine (fruit-based): mead is its own thing, a millennia-old merrymaker that can be rustic and simple or delicate and refined. Making mead at home is easy—easier than making beer.Mead, also called hydromel, particularly when low in alcohol content, its an alcoholic beveragemade by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops.The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining characteristic of meadIt may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling; dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.The term honey wine is sometimes used as a synonym for mead.Evidence of mead begins to show up in the archaeological record more clearly, with pottery vessels from northern China dating from at least 7000 BCE The earliest surviving written record of mead is possibly the soma mentioned in the hymns of the Rigveda, one of the sacred books of the historical Vedic religion and later Hinduism dated around 1700–1100 BCE.Beers Schmoojee Strawberry Colada Sour - Fruited | 5.7% ABVImprint Beer Co.Hatfield, PATasting NotesIt tastes like a strawberry smoothie took a tropical vacation, met an alluring piña colada at a tiki bar, the two fell madly in love, and the next thing you know - bam! Cabana babies with sumptuous berries 'n cream upfront, tangy nectar in the middle, and cool coconut at the close.Juicy, Thick, Sweet, Fruity, Tropical, Cocktail InspiredDr. Lupulin 3x Imperial IPA | 11.3% ABVRevision Brewing CompanySparks, NVTasting NotesThis U.S. Open Beer Championships Gold Medal winner delivers flavors of dank kush, overripe cantaloupe, tangy grapefruit, and tropical mango - - and also clocks in at 11.3% ABV!Citrusy, DankAphrodisia Batch 27Mead - Pyment | 13% ABVSuperstition MeaderyPrescott, AZRich notes of treacly honey swirl into tannic pops of red grape. Sophisticated whispers of oaky barrel char peek through on the backend, adding sublime depth to the finish.Sweet, Complex, Boozy

Mary Oliver wrote that "empathy is a kind of seeing, and it involves imagination as well as vision."The word "empathy" has origins in Greek "Empatheia" and the root "pathos," which means "feeling." It was first introduced to the English language in the early 20th century as a translation of the German word "Einfühlung," which means "feeling into." The term was initially used in the context of aesthetics and art appreciation.Over time, the concept of empathy has evolved to encompass a broader range of psychosocial processes associated with 1) affective empathy (experiencing or sharing the emotions of another) and/or 2) cognitive empathy (understanding the perspective of another). Empathy is a crucial component of emotional intelligence and the development of meaningful relationships.The opposite of empathy is apathy or the lack of feeling. So as a virtue, empathy can be the foundation for generating compassion and a motivating energy for prosocial behavior. However, it could also be argued that the value of empathy is unstable on its own and may need to be balanced with rationality and discernment in order to navigate between the extremes of excessive empathy and calloused indifference. Otherwise, the drawbacks involve our susceptibility to emotional exploitation as targets of manipulative marketing or weaponized empathy. There is also the risk of empathy distorting facts as evidenced by proximity bias (preference for those close in distance or likeness) and other modes of selective empathy, short-term focus, and the prioritization of identifiable individuals (stories) over large groups or abstract statistics. These limitations have inspired the effective altruisim movement which aims to update our evolutionary empathy instincts to match the often complex modern social problems.Additionally, unbound empathy can lead to distress and burnout. Preoccupation with the feelings of others can result in decision paralysis or the hindering of our ability to respond timely and skillfully. When a river floods its own banks, it turns turbulent and loses the balance that sustained its nourishing flow; or like the tides of the sea, we naturally require a cycle of rising and retreating.Ultimately, empathy's true spiritual power reorients to our recurring theme of kindness and discovering our underlying circulation with totality. Feeling into oneness. It is an elegant common cornerstone among most major religions. At the heart of their moral philosophy, the empathic aphorisms enshrine the same message in colorful ways. Beyond "The Golden Rule," other verses include "the whole world is a family" in the Rigveda, "all beings are Buddha nature" in the Lotus Sutra, and "be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle," attributed to Philo of Alexandria.This episode explores the ends of empathy in all its bittersweetness.(Music “To New Beginnings” by Bing Satellites)

Please be aware the stories, theories, re-enactments and language in this podcast are of an adult nature and can be considered disturbing, frightening and in some cases even offensive.  Listener Discretion is therefore advised.  Welcome heathens welcome to the world of the weird and unexplained.  I'm your host, Nicole Delacroix and together, we will be investigating stories about the things that go bump in the night, frighteningly imagined creatures, supernatural beings and even some unsolved mysteries but I promise all sorts of weirdness.  So, sit back, grab your favorite drink, and prepare to be transported to today's dark Enigma....  And on today's Dark enigma well, I got a very lengthy email from a listener that boiled down to why don't we ever discuss the beautiful mythology of the Indian Subcontinent… whelp, guess what. I heard you, so today's story is from the Indian Myths and Legends; let's hope I do them justice!  So, with that said, we will still be playing our drinking game and as you know, the drinking game is only for those of us that are at home and have nowhere else to go tonight.  The choice of libation, as always my darlings, is yours, so choose your poison accordingly… Alright, now for the game part how about every time I say Gods that will be a single shot and every time I say Demons, that will be a double shot.  Now that the business end is out of the way we can jump headfirst into today's dark enigma… so don your best Sari or Lungi preferably in bright and invigorating colors and, let's dive into today's offering of  Demons Giants and Fairies from Indian Myth and Legends The gods are the Suras and the demons the Asuras or “non-gods”. This distinction, however, did not obtain in the early Vedic period. Originally the deities, and especially Varuna and Mitra, were called Asuras, but in the later part of the Rigveda the term is applied chiefly to the enemies of the gods. In the Atharvaveda, as in subsequent Epic literature, the Asuras are simply demons and giants and goblins.

Hello, and welcome to Methods of Contemplation A text lost and forgotten for over a thousand years, 'Thunder, Perfect Mind' was rediscovered in the early 20th century in the collection known as the Nag Hammadi Codices. An unapologetic lance to the heart of dualism, Thunder speaks in the neuter and masculine. But overwhelmingly it speaks with the feminine voice to express the peak of non-dual wisdom, mirroring the deepest layers of the Rig Veda and the thundering speech of Vak. Such a rarity makes this text a gem close to my heart. Connect with me on instagram @methodsofcontemplation Work with me one-on-one: https://calendly.com/methodsofcontemplation/spiritual-direction --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/methods/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/methods/support

Today on the Oh-My-Geekers podcast, Zeek introduces you to a composer whose music has been forgotten, yet has influenced the most significant musical pieces of the modern era. Meet Gustav Holst, who inspired the movie soundtracks of John Williams and Hans Zimmer. The music in this episode includes: Chopin Mazurka No. 5 in B-Flat Major, Op. 7/1, B.61: No.1 in B-Flat Major Performed by Louis Lortie   Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps, K15: I. Introduction Performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30, TfV 176: I. Also Sprach Zarathustra. Sonnenaufgang Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra   R. Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV86b: Hojotoho! Heiaha! (Remastered 2022) Performed by the Vienna Philharmonic R. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 3: III. Moderato pesante Performed by Sir Mark Elder, Hallé   G. Holst: Hymns from the Rig Veda, H90, Op. 24: II. Hymn to the Waters Performed by the Toronto Children's Chorus  G. Holst: St Paul's Suite, H118, Op. 29/2: IV. Finale (The Dargason). Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra  G. Holst: The Planets, H125, Op. 32: I. Mars Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra   J. Williams: Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope: Imperial Attack The Return Home Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra  H. Zimmer: Gladiator: The Battle Performed by the Lyndhurst Orchestra --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/oh-my-geekers/message

Nelumbo nucifera, or the sacred lotus, is a plant that grows in flood plains, rivers, and deltas. Their seeds can remain dormant for years and when floods come along, blossom into a colony of plants and flowers. Some of the oldest seeds can be found in China, where they're known to represent longevity. No surprise, given their level of nitrition and connection to the waters that irrigated crops by then. They also grow in far away lands, all the way to India and out to Australia. The flower is sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism, and further back in ancient Egypt. Padmasana is a Sanskrit term meaning lotus, or Padma, and Asana, or posture. The Pashupati seal from the Indus Valley civilization shows a diety in what's widely considered the first documented yoga pose, from around 2,500 BCE. 2,700 years later (give or take a century), the Hindu author and mystic Patanjali wrote a work referred to as the Yoga Sutras. Here he outlined the original asanas, or sitting yoga poses. The Rig Veda, from around 1,500 BCE, is the oldest currently known Vedic text. It is also the first to use the word “yoga”. It describes songs, rituals, and mantras the Brahmans of the day used - as well as the Padma. Further Vedic texts explore how the lotus grew out of Lord Vishnu with Brahma in the center. He created the Universe out of lotus petals. Lakshmi went on to grow out of a lotus from Vishnu as well. It was only natural that humans would attempt to align their own meditation practices with the beautiful meditatios of the lotus. By the 300s, art and coins showed people in the lotus position. It was described in texts that survive from the 8th century. Over the centuries contradictions in texts were clarified in a period known as Classical Yoga, then Tantra and and Hatha Yoga were developed and codified in the Post-Classical Yoga age, and as empires grew and India became a part of the British empire, Yoga began to travel to the west in the late 1800s. By 1893, Swami Vivekananda gave lectures at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago.  More practicioners meant more systems of yoga. Yogendra brought asanas to the United States in 1919, as more Indians migrated to the United States. Babaji's kriya yoga arrived in Boston in 1920. Then, as we've discussed in previous episodes, the United States tightened immigration in the 1920s and people had to go to India to get more training. Theos Bernard's Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience brought some of that knowledge home when he came back in 1947. Indra Devi opened a yoga studio in Hollywood and wrote books for housewives. She brought a whole system, or branch home. Walt and Magana Baptiste opened a studio in San Francisco. Swamis began to come to the US and more schools were opened. Richard Hittleman began to teach yoga in New York and began to teach on television in 1961. He was one of the first to seperate the religious aspect from the health benefits. By 1965, the immigration quotas were removed and a wave of teachers came to the US to teach yoga. The Beatles went to India in 1966 and 1968, and for many Transcendental Meditation took root, which has now grown to over a thousand training centers and over 40,000 teachers. Swamis opened meditation centers, institutes, started magazines, and even magazines. Yoga became so big that Rupert Holmes even poked fun of it in his song “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” in 1979. Yoga had become part of the counter-culture, and the generation that followed represented a backlash of sorts. A common theme of the rise of personal computers is that the early pioneers were a part of that counter-culture. Mitch Kapor graduated high school in 1967, just in time to be one of the best examples of that. Kapor built his own calculator in as a kid before going to camp to get his first exposure to programming on a Bendix. His high school got one of the 1620 IBM minicomputers and he got the bug. He went off to Yale at 16 and learned to program in APL and then found Computer Lib by Ted Nelson and learned BASIC. Then he discovered the Apple II.  Kapor did some programming for $5 per hour as a consultant, started the first east coast Apple User Group, and did some work around town. There are generations of people who did and do this kind of consulting, although now the rates are far higher. He met a grad student through the user group named Eric Rosenfeld who was working on his dissertation and needed some help programming, so Kapor wrote a little tool that took the idea of statistical analysis from the Time Shared Reactive Online Library, or TROLL, and ported it to the microcomputer, which he called Tiny Troll.  Then he enrolled in the MBA program at MIT. He got a chance to see VisiCalc and meet Bob Frankston and Dan Bricklin, who introduced him to the team at Personal Software. Personal Software was founded by Dan Fylstra and Peter Jennings when they published Microchips for the KIM-1 computer. That led to ports for the 1977 Trinity of the Commodore PET, Apple II, and TRS-80 and by then they had taken Bricklin and Franston's VisiCalc to market. VisiCalc was the killer app for those early PCs and helped make the Apple II successful. Personal Software brought Kapor on, as well as Bill Coleman of BEA Systems and Electronic Arts cofounder Rich Mellon. Today, software developers get around 70 percent royalties to publish software on app stores but at the time, fees were closer to 8 percent, a model pulled from book royalties. Much of the rest went to production of the box and disks, the sales and marketing, and support. Kapor was to write a product that could work with VisiCalc. By then Rosenfeld was off to the world of corporate finance so Kapor moved to Silicon Valley, learned how to run a startup, moved back east in 1979, and released VisiPlot and VisiTrend in 1981. He made over half a million dollars in the first six months in royalties.  By then, he bought out Rosenfeld's shares in what he was doing, hired Jonathan Sachs, who had been at MIT earlier, where he wrote the STOIC programming language, and then went to work at Data General. Sachs worked on spreadsheet ideas at Data General with a manager there, John Henderson, but after they left Data General, and the partnership fell apart, he worked with Kapor instead. They knew that for software to be fast, it needed to be written in a lower level language, so they picked the Intel 8088 assembly language given that C wasn't fast enough yet. The IBM PC came in 1981 and everything changed. Mitch Kapor and Jonathan Sachs started Lotus in 1982. Sachs got to work on what would become Lotus 1-2-3. Kapor turned out to be a great marketer and product manager. He listened to what customers said in focus groups. He pushed to make things simpler and use less jargon. They released a new spreadsheet tool in 1983 and it worked flawlessly on the IBM PC and while Microsoft had Multiplan and VisCalc was the incumbent spreadsheet program, Lotus quickly took market share from then and SuperCalc. Conceptually it looked similar to VisiCalc. They used the letter A for the first column, B for the second, etc. That has now become a standard in spreadsheets. They used the number 1 for the first row, the number 2 for the second. That too is now a standard. They added a split screen, also now a standard. They added macros, with branching if-then logic. They added different video modes, which could give color and bitmapping. They added an underlined letter so users could pull up a menu and quickly select the item they wanted once they had those orders memorized, now a standard in most menuing systems. They added the ability to add bar charts, pie charts, and line charts. One could even spread their sheet across multiple monitors like in a magazine. They refined how fields are calculated and took advantage of the larger amounts of memory to make Lotus far faster than anything else on the market. They went to Comdex towards the end of the year and introduced Lotus 1-2-3 to the world. The software could be used as a spreadsheet, but the 2 and 3 referred to graphics and database management. They did $900,000 in orders there before they went home. They couldn't even keep up with the duplication of disks. Comdex was still invitation only. It became so popular that it was used to test for IBM compatibility by clone makers and where VisiCalc became the app that helped propel the Apple II to success, Lotus 1-2-3 became the app that helped propel the IBM PC to success. Lotus was rewarded with $53 million in sales for 1983 and $156 million in 1984. Mitch Kapor found himself. They quickly scaled from less than 20 to 750 employees. They brought in Freada Klein who got her PhD to be the Head of Employee Relations and charged her with making them the most progressive employer around. After her success at Lotus, she left to start her own company and later married. Sachs left the company in 1985 and moved on to focus solely on graphics software. He still responds to requests on the phpBB forum at dl-c.com. They ran TV commercials. They released a suite of Mac apps they called Lotus Jazz. More television commercials. Jazz didn't go anywhere and only sold 20,000 copies. Meanwhile, Microsoft released Excel for the Mac, which sold ten times as many. Some blamed the lack os sales on the stringent copy protection. Others blamed the lack of memory to do cool stuff. Others blamed the high price. It was the first major setback for the young company.  After a meteoric rise, Kapor left the company in 1986, at about the height of their success. He  replaced himself with Jim Manzi. Manzi pushed the company into network applications. These would become the center of the market but were just catching on and didn't prove to be a profitable venture just yet. A defensive posture rather than expanding into an adjacent market would have made sense, at least if anyone knew how aggressive Microsoft was about to get it would have.  Manzi was far more concerned about the millions of illegal copies of the software in the market than innovation though. As we turned the page to the 1990s, Lotus had moved to a product built in C and introduced the ability to use graphical components in the software but not wouldn't be ported to the new Windows operating system until 1991 for Windows 3. By then there were plenty of competitors, including Quattro Pro and while Microsoft Excel began on the Mac, it had been a showcase of cool new features a windowing operating system could provide an application since released for Windows in 1987. Especially what they called 3d charts and tabbed spreadsheets. There was no catching up to Microsoft by then and sales steadily declined. By then, Lotus released Lotus Agenda, an information manager that could be used for time management, project management, and as a database. Kapor was a great product manager so it stands to reason he would build a great product to manage products. Agenda never found commercial success though, so was later open sourced under a GPL license. Bill Gross wrote Magellan there before he left to found GoTo.com, which was renamed to Overture and pioneered the idea of paid search advertising, which was acquired by Yahoo!. Magellan cataloged the internal drive and so became a search engine for that. It sold half a million copies and should have been profitable but was cancelled in 1990. They also released a word processor called Manuscript in 1986, which never gained traction and that was cancelled in 1989, just when a suite of office automation apps needed to be more cohesive.  Ray Ozzie had been hired at Software Arts to work on VisiCalc and then helped Lotus get Symphony out the door. Symphony shipped in 1984 and expanded from a spreadsheet to add on text with the DOC word processor, and charts with the GRAPH graphics program, FORM for a table management solution, and COM for communications. Ozzie dutifully shipped what he was hired to work on but had a deal that he could build a company when they were done that would design software that Lotus would then sell. A match made in heaven as Ozzie worked on PLATO and borrowed the ideas of PLATO Notes, a collaboration tool developed at the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana  to build what he called Lotus Notes.  PLATO was more more than productivity. It was a community that spanned decades and Control Data Corporation had failed to take it to the mass corporate market. Ozzie took the best parts for a company and built it in isolation from the rest of Lotus. They finally released it as Lotus Notes in 1989. It was a huge success and Lotus bought Iris in 1994. Yet they never found commercial success with other socket-based client server programs and IBM acquired Lotus in 1995. That product is now known as Domino, the name of the Notes 4 server, released in 1996. Ozzie went on to build a company called Groove Networks, which was acquired by Microsoft, who appointed him one of their Chief Technology Officers. When Bill Gates left Microsoft, Ozzie took the position of Chief Software Architect he vacated. He and Dave Cutler went on to work on a project called Red Dog, which evolved into what we now know as Microsoft Azure.  Few would have guessed that Ozzie and Kapor's handshake agreement on Notes could have become a real product. Not only could people not understand the concept of collaboration and productivity on a network in the late 1980s but the type of deal hadn't been done. But Kapor by then realized that larger companies had a hard time shipping net-new software properly. Sometimes those projects are best done in isolation. And all the better if the parties involved are financially motivated with shares like Kapor wanted in Personal Software in the 1970s before he wrote Lotus 1-2-3. VisiCalc had sold about a million copies but that would cease production the same year Excel was released. Lotus hung on longer than most who competed with Microsoft on any beachhead they blitzkrieged. Microsoft released Exchange Server in 1996 and Notes had a few good years before Exchange moved in to become the standard in that market. Excel began on the Mac but took the market from Lotus eventually, after Charles Simonyi stepped in to help make the product great.  Along the way, the Lotus ecosystem created other companies, just as they were born in the Visi ecosystem. Symantec became what we now call a “portfolio” company in 1985 when they introduced NoteIt, a natural language processing tool used to annotate docs in Lotus 1-2-3. But Bill Gates mentioned Lotus by name multiple times as a competitor in his Internet Tidal Wave memo in 1995. He mentioned specific features, like how they could do secure internet browsing and that they had a web publisher tool - Microsoft's own FrontPage was released in 1995 as well. He mentioned an internet directory project with Novell and AT&T. Active Directory was released a few years later in 1999, after Jim Allchin had come in to help shepherd LAN Manager. Notes itself survived into the modern era, but by 2004 Blackberry released their Exchange connector before they released the Lotus Domino connector. That's never a good sign. Some of the history of Lotus is covered in Scott Rosenberg's 2008 book, Dreaming in Code. Others are documented here and there in other places. Still others are lost to time. Kapor went on to invest in UUNET, which became a huge early internet service provider. He invested in Real Networks, who launched the first streaming media service on the Internet. He invested in the creators of Second Life. He never seemed vindictive with Microsoft but after AOL acquired Netscape and Microsoft won the first browser war, he became the founding chair of the Mozilla Foundation and so helped bring Firefox to market. By 2006, Firefox took 10 percent of the market and went on to be a dominant force in browsers. Kapor has also sat on boards and acted as an angel investor for startups ever since leaving the company he founded. He also flew to Wyoming in 1990 after he read a post on The WELL from John Perry Barlow. Barlow was one of the great thinkers of the early Internet. They worked with Sun Microsystems and GNU Debugging Cypherpunk John Gilmore to found the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF. The EFF has since been the nonprofit who leads the fight for “digital privacy, free speech, and innovation.” So not everything is about business.    

15th Chapter: Verses 8, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20The 15th chapter discusses the idea of immanence, transcendence and omnipresence of the Absolute Reality. The Absolute Reality is beyond verbalization and description – it can only be experienced.15th verse: “This divine principle is present as the indweller in every living being in this world. It manifests as memory, knowledge, ignorance, and forgetfulness. It is the one that is described and explored in all scriptures. It is the one to be known.”16th verse: “There are two kinds of beings in this world: First, is ksharah, which is the perishable. Second, is aksharah, which is imperishable. Ksharah is this phenomenal world, which comes and goes. Aksharah is the jivatma, present as the indweller in all beings, and is imperishable.”The anvil is installed on the ground and does not move. On top of it, metal pieces are hammered and shaped. Metal pieces undergo change – the anvil doesn't. The jivatma is like the anvil and does not change – it assumes new bodies from birth to birth.The 8th verse of the 15th chapter discusses transmigration of the soul. It says: “When this body is destroyed, the soul within is not destroyed. It leaves the body behind and acquires a new body taking with it the senses and the mind, just like the wind carries the scent away with it.”We are born with the baggage of past samskaras (tendencies) – we cannot disown them. We collect these tendencies in our Antahkarana through actions involving the senses and the mind. When the body is cremated, the physical senses are gone, but the Antahkarana is retained. It accompanies the jivatma when it takes a new body.We come out of the wheel of samsara – birth, old age, death, rebirth – when we dehypnotize ourselves into knowing that we are not this body, and we realize our true identity as Atman.17th verse: “Purushottama is the supreme divine truth that is immanent, omnipresent and transcendental. It is distinct and different from both the phenomenal world and the jivatma.”The jivatma is the supreme Atman manifesting through this body, in combination with the Antahkarana and past samskaras. When we remove the samskaras and the antahkarana from the jivatma, what remains is Purushottama – the supreme divine truth. To get back into our true identity is to realize that we are Purushottama.In the Ashtavakra Samhita, there is a verse: “In the ocean, there are so many waves. Without any effort, by the characteristics of the ocean, waves come and go. They emerge by their own nature and then they disappear. The ocean is not distinct from the waves. The waves cannot exist without the ocean. But the ocean can exist without the waves.”Similarly, in this Purushottama, the entire phenomenon of creation, dissolution and re-emergence of the world happens. Purushottama is like the ocean, and the phenomenal world is like the waves.Purushottama is all pervading and is immanent in everything. It is present in all three states of consciousness – waking, dream sleep and deep sleep states. At the same time, it is transcendental.The 17th verse emphasizes the spiritual oneness of existence. The whole creation is one spiritual family. We should maintain the harmony of nature and not deviate from the principles of Satyam, Ritm and Dharma.Satyam means truth. A person will not deviate from the path of harmony if he practices truthfulness and feels content.Ritm is the central principle of inherent harmony that exists in nature.Dharma refers to the ethical and moral principles through which one practices Satyam. For example, it is immoral to pollute the earth and therefore against Dharma.18th verse: “I am the Absolute Reality, the Purushottama, which is present everywhere.”19th verse: “A person who is free from delusion, who has understood this supreme divine truth through spiritual practices, he becomes the knower of everything - he knows the essence of all knowledge.”Shankaracharya explains this verse by reminding us of the inverted Ashvattha tree from the first verse. Roots represent the origin or the source. If the branches declare their independence from the root, the tree collapses. Similarly, a person who thinks that he is the body-mind-complex and forgets his connection to the Atman, he is deluded. The one who is not deluded, maintains his connection to the root – he understands that whatever he does, is powered by the Atman. Every action is an act of worship for him. For him, the line of demarcation between secular and spiritual disappears.To him, his entire life is a divine act. He lives his life like the mantra in Rigveda which means: “Let every thought become a meditation, let every word become a mantra, let every action become an act of worship, let every travel become a pilgrimage, let every movement become a circumambulation around the deity, and let the whole life become an offering to God.”20th verse: “I have now talked to you about this secret knowledge, which requires higher intuitive power to grasp.”To summarize, the purpose of the 15th chapter is to understand the true nature of Purushottama, and the impermanence of this material world.

Title: Expressions of the Divine15th Chapter: Verses 12, 13, 14, 1512th12th verse: “There is one all-pervading, immanent, omnipresent, and supreme divine reality which is the Atman. This Atman is the divine light that is present in every being. The light that is in the sun, in the moon and in the fire – that light is nothing but the light of the Atman.”Our creativity and our ability to think and work are all expressions of this divine principle. Just as electricity manifests in different ways depending on the gadget it powers, similarly, our skills are like outer shells that manifest this divine principle.In whatever profession one may be, if that person reaches a level of human excellence – that perfection is a spark of the divinity within him.Wherever we find a super abundance of serenity, spiritual wisdom, intuitive power and human qualities such as sacrifice – all these are expressions of the divine.We can manifest this divinity through spiritual practices such as Yama and Niyama in Vedanta or Ashtanga Yoga in Buddhism. Then our mind becomes pure and reflects this divinity in more effulgence like a pure mirror.Lord Krishna says: “This light comes from Me.” “Me” here does not refer to Lord Krishna as a human being. It refers to Atman.13th verse: “This divine principle, which enters the earth, enlivens everything. When we look around in nature, we see trees, mountains, valleys, water, plants, food grains – these are all expressions of the divine.”Nature is not meant for our exploitation. We are all visitors on this mother earth. Vedic mantras emphasize harmony and balance of nature. Let the earth, clouds, skies, plants, trees and the entire cosmos remain pure, undisturbed, and in perpetual peace and harmony.Satyam means truth. A person will not deviate from the path of harmony if he practices truthfulness and feels content.Ritm is the central principle of inherent harmony that exists in nature.Dharma refers to the ethical and moral principles through which one practices Satyam. For example, it is immoral to pollute the earth and therefore against Dharma.14th verse: “It is this divine principle that resides in every being, eats and digests the food, and nourishes the body.”There are four types of food referred to in this verse – food that we chew, that we drink, that we swallow and foods such as ice-cream that belong to the first three categories. The divine principle manifests as the digestive faculty in the human body.Even the act of preparing and eating food is divine. Every secular activity can be given a spiritual orientation – as we evolve spiritually, the line of demarcation between secular and spiritual disappears.We can think of our entire life as a divine act. There is a mantra in Rigveda which means: “Let every thought become a meditation, let every word become a mantra, let every action become an act of worship, let every travel become a pilgrimage, let every movement become a circumambulation around the deity, and let the whole life become an offering to God.”15th verse: “This divine principle is present as the indweller in every living being in this world. It manifests as memory, knowledge, ignorance and forgetfulness.”The ability to forget and to be blissfully unaware in ignorance is also a gift from God. Without the ability to forget no one can live in this world.The highest advaitic experience cannot be explained. It can only be experienced. The mahavakya “Aham Brahmasmi” – as an expression is not non-dualistic; it represents only the penultimate state; in its experience dimension it is non-dualistic.The language of duality is verbosity; the language of the infinite non-dual experience is silence. The role of the scriptures is to remove the wrong notions that are in our mind.

In this episode, Joe interviews Priyanka Wali, MD: board-certified practicing physician in Internal Medicine, MAPS-trained psychedelic facilitator, comedian, and co-host (with Sean Hayes of "Will & Grace" fame) of the HypochondriActor podcast, where they discuss interesting medical issues in a funny (and hopefully uplifting) way.  She talks about recognizing and protecting the humanity of healthcare professionals, and how medical school is creating a cycle of hurt people trying to help other hurt people. She believes we need to become more holistic, especially in embracing Indigenous ways of thinking, as their frameworks may be the only way to explain phenomena with which Western science can't come to terms.   They talk a lot about ancient psychedelic use: the use of a soma described in the Rigveda; Egyptian culture and mushrooms observed in statues; Plato; the work of Brian Muraresku and Graham Hancock; and Vedic chants, Kashmiri Bhajans, and how singing (especially in a group) can be especially healing to the nervous system. And as Wali experienced first-hand the Kashmiri Pandit genocide of 1990, she discusses how much colonialism has changed cultures, and how much our cycles of oppression relate to our collective inability to experience pain and fear.   They discuss the psychological impact of living through major catastrophes; the special and hard-to-describe feeling of returning to your home (especially in a world changed by colonization and constant conflict); the sad case of Ignaz Semmelweis and hand washing; ghosts of Japan's 2011 tsunami, the concept of ‘future primitive,' and more. www.psychedelicstoday.com

In this episode, Erik Rostad discusses book 4 from his list of 200 Great Books  – The Rig Veda. Show Notes Guidebook: The Hindus by Wendy Doniger Translator: Wendy Doniger Video about Hinduism Enheduana Podcast Episode The Great Books Reading List 2023 Reading List Reading Resources Books of Titans Website   The post The Rig Veda appeared first on Books of Titans.

In this special 100th episode, the 2Gs, our gourmands and geeks, Sadaf and Archit, are spreading some love with ghee. Together, they explore: What did Ibn-e-Batuta find out about ghee in India? Are there health benefits to consuming ghee? What is Bilona ghee? What do the texts of Ayurveda, Rigveda and other Indian mythologies say about ghee? How is ghee used in Hindu rituals? What are the scientific properties of ghee? Sit back, enjoy this century-worthy effort and make some laddus while our 2Gs churn out this conversation. Important links to geek out more Article: The Untold Story of Indian Ghee by Aditya Raghavan Article: Ghee: A Short Consideration from an Ayurvedic Perspective Book: Essential Ayurveda by Shubhra Krishan Video: How many litre milk are used to make 1kg Bilona ghee? Video: Top 5 reasons to eat ghee everyday by Dr. Hansaji Yogendra Book: Foods that Changed History: How Foods Shaped Civilization from the Ancient World to the Present by Christopher Cumo You can follow Sadaf Hussain & Archit Puri on their Instagram handle Sadaf Hussain: @sadaf_hussain  Archit Puri: @thehustlingglutton Subscribe & listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Gaana, Amazon Music or any other podcast app. Do follow IVM Podcasts on social media. We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and statements expressed in the episodes of the shows hosted on the IVM Podcasts network are solely those of the individual participants, hosts, and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of IVM Podcasts or its management. IVM Podcasts does not endorse or assume responsibility for any content, claims, or representations made by the participants during the shows. This includes, but is not limited to, the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information provided. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. IVM Podcasts is not liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages arising out of or in connection with the use or dissemination of the content featured in the shows. Listener discretion is advised.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode Chris reviews a selection of the most ancient creation stories known to man, from the Hindu text--The Rig Veda. He compares and contrasts with the Zoroastrian myth we looked at last week, which is equally ancient, but he doesn't stop there. He also offers comparisons in the Scandinavian Edda's and as far afield as ancient China. We then wrap up with what makes the Hindu accounts unique...and (spoiler alert)...it's the very same thing that leads to the Upanishads...a profound commandment to contemplate the great mystery behind all experience. Enjoy ;)

In this English webinar with La Grace Center we read some passages from Savitri that reveal Glory of the Divine Mother. The questions asked were:1. Does surrender build a home for the Mother2. The opening in Rigveda explained3. Whom does Satyavan represent in Savitri.

Michael explores the line from the Rig-Veda that he chose as the epigraph to The Inner Tradition of Yoga. (The recording is cut short, but we thought it was still worth a listen.) Recorded on October 9, 2008.

In this episode, we discuss further concepts related to Hinduism. We present some more fundamental concepts in addition to those covered in Episode-1 that are important to an understanding of Hinduism. A knowledge of the basic framework will help us raise confident young Hindus.Show Notes0:03 Recap of Episode 1 and notes2:36: Linear vs Cyclical Concept of Time5:44: Seekers vs Believers10:01: Ashramas of Life15:09: Oneness and Divine Presence in Everything21:13: The Hindu RitualsSubscribers are requested to look for The Hindu Parenting notification emails for new podcasts/posts in their email promotions/spam tab and personally move these into the main inbox. Thereafter all posts will be delivered to their main inbox. Thank you!For questions that you'd like us to address, please use the form below:Hindu Parenting QuestionsFor comments and suggestions, please use the comments tab or write to us at contact@hinduparenting.orgPlease note that questions will not be answered on email.Transcript[0:03] Rekha: Namaste. Welcome to another edition of the Hindu parenting podcast. Today Shalini and I will outline for you part 2 of “What it means to be a Hindu”. Before we start that, let's just make a couple of clarifications. The first point is, we discussed that a Hindu temple is also called a mandira, or a devalaya, which translates to the home of the deity. So this is a very important concept for us to know. Because in most faiths, the place of worship is a place that people congregate in and perhaps hear a sermon and get together to pray. But in Hinduism, that temple is the home of the deity. This is something that kids need to know. The second point is about the purusharthas. It is to be understood that artha and kama are the primary purusharthas that we deal with in today's world; artha meaning the desire for power and wealth/money, kama being the desire for pleasure. Artha, and kama always go together, and they are to be bounded by the principle called dharma. So these are just a couple of things that I wanted to clarify. Shalini any more points?[1:27] Shalini: I think there are a couple more things that I wanted to say. One, that what we are discussing here are topics which are not in any order of importance, nor are they in any chronological order, we are just discussing them as they come to us. Okay, then the other point that I wanted to say was that it is important to discuss these concepts, because these form the philosophical basis for Hinduism, and we believe that starting with this is just like starting to construct a house. When you construct a house, you always build the foundations first, and then only you build the superstructure. So the foundation is what actually stays below the ground, is a bit unglamorous, but it's a stable base, without which you cannot build a superstructure. So what we are discussing here is akin to discussing the foundations of Hinduism, which will then lead us to topics of everyday concern and everyday value for all of us to help us navigate everyday life. So I think these two things, was something that I wanted to say. So Rekha, I think we can just start now and we will delve into the concepts one by one, the ones which we have lined up for today. [2:36] Rekha: Today, let's start with something that most kids will find very fascinating. This is the concept of time. Time, as we commonly understand today is linear in nature, I mean, time by itself has no specific principle. It's just the way that we look at it. So the way we understand it today is fully linear, which means it has a past, present and future which does not repeat over and over again. But looking back, it's very intuitive to know that what we observe in nature is cyclical all the time: the seasons repeat, the phases of Moon repeat, day and night repeats. So, this is something that was noticed in most or almost all ancient cultures, including in Hinduism. So the Hindu conception of time is cyclical, it is also known as the kala chakra, chakra meaning a wheel. So we often refer to it as the Wheel of Time. So it starts with the srishti which the Western mind understands as creation, but we refer to it as srishti. It starts with srishti, then there is sustenance of the srishti and it ends with something called the pralaya. And then this cycle of time repeats over and over again. And time is divided into large and small units, large units, like the kalpa, the manvantaras, and the yugas, the chatur yugas are something that you find a reference to…the yugas in almost all the literature of Hinduism, like the puranas and the itihasas; they all refer to this cyclic dimension of time. So this is something that is a fascinating study by itself and is definitely of great interest to everybody. So Shalini, anything more you'd like to add to this? [4:37] Shalini: Well, perhaps we can look at it as you know, best elaborated with an example. So if you look at the the cycle of a plant, it grows from the seed. So the seed carries all the lifeforce, it grows from the seed, it becomes a plant, it becomes a tree, it flowers, it fruits, and then it sort of decays and goes back into the ground in the seed form. So the lifeforce is then again, coming back through a new seed. Similarly for us, we conceptualize time also in the same fashion. So there is potent form in the form of a single unity, there is an expansion and then again there's a contraction and then starts the cycle all over again. So, I think, yeah, it summarizes what we think about how time operates. So, moving on, I think we should look at the concept of Hindus being seekers rather than believers. So how would we go about explaining that Rekha? [5:44] Rekha: Most faiths mandate some sort of a belief system. This is where Hinduism is quite different from everything else that we know. Here the importance… there's a lot of importance is given to seeking and finding your answers, which means that the dichotomy of religion versus science is not something that Hinduism is very concerned about, because there is a natural inclination to seeking here and this is actually beautifully brought out in the oldest scripture, which is called the Rig Veda. And there is the Nasadiya Sukta in the 10th Mandala of the Rig Veda, which discusses how srishti came to be, you know… from where… how has this srishti happened? What happened before that, what was life? When did life start and what happened at the earliest time of srishti. “So who can say what happened then; do the gods themselves know what happened; does the person, or the entity who created this srishti know what happened? Or how this whole beautiful universe came about? Does he know or maybe even he does not know!”This is the ending of the Nasadiya Sukta. So you can right away see from this, that there is no mandate, there is nothing that HAS to be believed. And if you do not believe that you cannot function as a Hindu. We are open to scientifically seeking answers. [7:17] Shalini: So this experience, I think is wonderful, yeah, that is correct. Because this, the Nasadiya Sukta is, I think, very, very profound, you know, and I think culture, which tells people to believe, will never write words like this, because they are all words of a seeker, you know, when you're even saying “even he knows, or maybe does not know” which means you are questioning even the divine as a creator. That can come only from a culture of seeking, not from a culture of believing. I think, also, there's another facet, which helps us understand that we are a culture of seekers. For the longest time, I think, until the 15th century, or something like that, somewhere in the middle, middle ages, it was believed by most of the West that the earth is flat. However, our oldest description of the Earth is as a spherical entity, not a flat entity. So we have always known that the earth or any of the planetary bodies are more or less spherical in shape, you know, and not flat. So this, I think, also comes from a lot of seeking, questioning and demanding answers and looking for them, which testifies to our culture being one of seeking rather than believing, don't you agree? [8:37] Rekha: Absolutely. And we all know what happened to Copernicus and Galileo; such stories of persecution for differences from the accepted viewpoint are almost not heard of at all in Hindu history or culture. We have a system of… we have had, which is sadly not so well known now, but we have had a system of open debates. And there are many famous debates that are examples of, you know, questioning, seeking, of this entire spirit that our culture is defined by. So yes, this is something I think we should all be proud of.[9:23] Shalini: …And our art of debating where scholars debated on practically every issue under the sun. So we have always been a culture of questioning and seeking answers rather than blind belief. Though, ironically, we are called as a culture that is, you know, into blind beliefs, superstition and the like, which I think is not at all warranted, given the long history of debate and discussion and, you know, seeking that has happened in this civilization. [10:01] Rekha: This is a great point. Absolutely and we all need to understand this and also make sure our kids understand it. So that anything that is thrown at them can be answered you know. Kids need to have an understanding of what our culture is, what it was all about, because a lot of it is not understood today. And many Hindus today like to describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. So we will examine this towards the end of the program when we come to rituals. But before that, let's talk about ashramas. The Hindu is familiar, most Hindus are familiar with the ashrama system, or at least the names that are given to the four stages of life. First being the Brahmacharya which covers student life. Brahmacharya just means seeking or proceeding in the direction of finding Brahman. So this refers to specifically the student part of life where young children and adolescents are encouraged to study and to build up skills that will then serve them well for the next phase of life, which is called Grihasta, gruha meaning home. So Grihasta refers to the phase of life that we all are in. It is the householder phase of life where you have kids, and you are responsible for the older generation, the younger generation, the responsibilities are high, and this is supposed to form the backbone of society. So this is considered the most important ashrama of the four ashramas in Hinduism.The third one is the Vanaprastha, which is common among older people whose children have grown up. They've handed over their responsibilities to their children, and they're slowly detaching themselves from the worldly life and moving into a secluded forest dwelling life where they then begin to focus on their own internal sadhana. The fourth ashrama is called sannyasa, which is of very little relevance today, I think, with hardly anybody reaching that stage. But what's interesting is that all the four ashramas that have been conceptualized so long ago, are pretty much unchanged. And, you know, this is what you see in the world around you today, the student life and then the householder, and then slowly detaching yourself from responsibilities, which, again, is a bit of a gray area today. Any comments on that Shalini? [12:43] Shalini: Yeah, I think, today, vanaprastha does not have the same significance as in older times. I think because the concept of Hindu seeking moksha, has somehow taken a backseat. Now, vanaprastha, I think, was designed because every Hindu in older times was expected to strive to attain moksha. So vanaprastha was supposed to be sort of the preparing ground for the seeking, seeking answers from within. And sannyasa was the stage where one actually reached or attempted to reach the divine. And this was true for everybody. But I think, over time, these two stages of life have become a little more diluted, and perhaps not possible for everybody. But we do think that, you know, if people are inclined to do this, we could do with some upping of the spiritual quotient of current society, you know, so, if there are people who are keen to pursue the path of moksha, they should actually follow the vanaprastha and sannyasa stages. It would be nice if some people started to adopt these two stages more seriously. [14:08] Rekha: Shalini I think here, perhaps, you know, in ancient times itself, people have thought about the friction between the older generation and the younger generation. And so when the older generation hands off responsibilities to the adult children, and you know, detaches from worldly life, it is a kind of green signal for the current grihastas to take over and that lessens conflict also, in many ways. [14:41] Shalini: That's absolutely true. Yeah, I think our our ancestors actually, you know, conceptualized things after a lot of deliberation, and there was nothing offhand or random about any of the things that Hinduism stands for. Yeah. So I think we shall move on.[15:04] Rekha: and talk about the divine presence in everything?[15:09] Shalini: Yes, yes, we shall do that. So Hindu thought, believes that everyone and everything is absolutely divine. So we consider that all of srishti is a manifestation of the One single, divine essence, you know, and this encompasses not just animate, but inanimate objects too. So, the difference being in the levels of consciousness that an inanimate object has, and that which a living being or an animate entity has. Also, even in the animate world, there is levels of consciousness from lower to higher, and at present man is the highest form that is there. However, Hinduism does not, does not say that evolution stops with man. We think that it is also possible to go higher, and that's why we have the concept of moksha. So that is, I think, where we conceptualize everything as divine. And we also understand that it's not easy to reach this, or transcend ourselves - that it's not an easy task. And therefore, we have multiplicity of paths to attain this. We believe that all paths essentially lead to the One divine, and this is often repeated, you know, the statement from our Upanishads, Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti, which means that multiple paths lead to the same goal. So, we do believe in that, but there might be something that we want to probably dissect over here and say that while all paths do ultimately lead to the One, it is also important that the paths have to be in consonance with dharma. Adharmic paths need not necessarily lead to the One goal. So any any further things that you'd like to add Rekha?[17:12] Rekha: No, I like the point that you mentioned, that adharmic paths and dharmic paths do have a difference. And in modern times, the average Hindu is quite confused about this. So, this is something that we will be addressing, especially while teaching kids because it's a beautiful concept in itself, but the way we apply it, you know, has to be very carefully thought out. When when we talk about the divine presence in everything, this is a good point of time to mention that the Hindu view of nature, no the way we respect every tattva or element in nature, rivers are given the form of river goddesses you know, there is there are many elements in nature that we treat as sacred. And it all boils down to this feeling of a divine presence in every one and everything, I think this is a principle that animates our existence and you know, it is carried down into everything that a Hindu does or thinks in daily life. So, yes, this is absolutely important principle to know. [18:34] Shalini: And perhaps, I think, making nature and it's tattvas all divine, prevents us from messing around with nature too much. We know that imbalance created in nature or of any element will mean that whole of srishti will have to bear consequences. So, this very, very tight bond between cause and effect, I think deters us from exploiting nature ruthlessly, no? Or at least until until recent times, this kept us from degrading nature, like we see happening elsewhere, Considering that probably the landmass that we call India has had the highest dense density of population for all times, we have been one of the least polluters, least rapacious in terms of exploiting the environment till recent times, and that could not have happened if we did not imbue the sacred element with nature. So, I think that's very important that associating sacredness with anything acts as a natural deterrent to exploitation.[20:07] Rekha: This is beautiful. And at some point, it gives kids a great deal of perspective, to know that this is not true of just Hinduism but of many original ancient cultures in the world. We are the only surviving ancient culture really, but this principle of finding the sacred in every element of nature, has been around for a long time. And if you look at many ancient cultures, you see this all across the board, and it's something that maybe I'm sure kids will find fascinating to explore on their own, to come up with examples. [20:53] Shalini: Yeah, sure, sure. So now let's move on to rituals, because all that we have discussed so far, are the concepts and now we'll see how they come into our life on a practical level. So, Rekha, please explain to us about rituals and their significance, [21:13] Rekha: The much maligned ritual of Hinduism! It's interesting that rituals have a very important place in Hinduism, and of late Hindus have become a little bit defensive about this, because we have lost a lot of the understanding of the basics behind rituals. Rituals are mainly performative. And of all the concepts that we have discussed, you know, some of the principles that of Hinduism that we have discussed so far, all of them flow down into our everyday life as the Hindu ritual. A Hindu ritual is very aesthetic, it's beautiful to look at, think of the Ganga Aarti you know, something, it engages all your senses, it has a special function of its own. A ritual in everyday life is gives you a sense of predictability, of discipline. And to that extent, small rituals keep children really grounded and on the right path, I would say, because, interestingly, recent studies in Harvard Business Review have referred to the power of ritual. Of course, they were not talking about the Hindu ritual, they were talking about a sense of ritual created, new rituals being created. And modern life has learned to think of Friday night popcorn and movie as the ritual too. But when we as a culture have so many rituals that are of specific significance of you know, which ties to our culture, and which bring out its essence, which have been going on for 1000s and 1000s of years, and which we know are also tied to seasons, and are good for us in so many ways, then we would really be foolish to throw that away and adopt something very new, because I think it's been proven that ritual is very good for the human brain right now. So I think this is the Hindu ritual that is so important for us to follow and not just throw it away. [23:31] Shalini: Yeah, that is absolutely true. So we have really come to almost close to despising any sort of ritual, especially when connected to Hinduism. It's all brushed off as being backward, being not at all in touch, in tune with the times. But it's really much maligned. I agree completely. So I think we have discussed some of the main concepts and there might be more and we might delve into other concepts in some future episodes if we feel the need. We hope that you have all liked to listen to us, have been able to get some takeaways from our conversation. Please do come back for another edition in about a fortnight's time. [24:30] Rekha: And I just a quick thing here. Yes, yes. I think while raising children, we need to keep all these principles, because a lot of things we will be talking about specifically, even current events. When you think about looking at them through a Hindu lens, these are the principles that we will be referring to again and again. So it really helps us as parents to keep these in the back of our minds. And when kids are on on the defensive as Hindu kids, you know very often in the world today, they don't know what they have to say, you know, what they can say in answer to some of the things thrown at them. So, a well conceived worldview exists. And just keeping this in your mind will help you to help children see what it means to be a Hindu and also to answer the questions that they are often faced with in today's world. So this is a small point I wanted to make. [25:40] Shalini: Yeah, so in the next episode, we will be covering the festival of Sankranti. So we look forward to having you all with us one more time in a fortnight, and there's nothing more currently. So, we will say Namaste and see you in a fortnight. Get full access to Hindu Parenting at hinduparenting.substack.com/subscribe

The Kurukshetra War (Sanskrit: कुरुक्षेत्र युद्ध ), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Mahabharata (Sanskrit: महाभारत ). The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura. The war laid the foundation for the Bhagavad Gita.The historicity of the war remains the subject of scholarly discussion. The Battle of the Ten Kings, mentioned in the Rigveda, may have formed the core of the Kurukshetra war's story. The war was greatly expanded and modified in the Mahabharata's account, which makes it dubious.[4] Attempts have been made to assign a historical date to the Kurukshetra war, with research suggesting c. 1000 BCE. However, popular tradition claims that the war marks the transition to the Kali Yuga, dating it to c. 3102 BCE.The war took place in Kurukshetra.[6] Despite only spanning eighteen days, the war takes more than a quarter of the Mahabharata. The narrative describes individual battles, deaths of various heroes on both sides, war diplomacy, meetings and discussions among characters, military formations, and weapons used. The chapters dealing with the war are considered among the oldest in the Mahabharata.Hello. My name is Bibhu Dev Misra. I am a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kolkata, and have been working as an Information Technology consultant for more than 15 years. I spent a number of years working in the UK and the US, for various multinational organizations, including the World Bank and the United Nations, before returning back to India.I am now settled in Kolkata with my family, and working on a start-up venture. My primary passion, however, is exploring and writing about the mysteries of the past. Over the past decade and a half, I have read the works of a number of writers - Graham Hancock, Michael Cremo, Adrian Snodgrass, Joseph Campbell, Walter Cruttenden, Subhash Kak, David Frawley, to name just a few - and have been inspired by their researches to seek answers to a large body of mysterious knowledge left behind by our ancestors in the form of sacred texts, inexplicable artifacts, awe-inspiring architecture, cryptic symbols, and fantastic myths and legends. I traveled to many ancient sites around the world in order to gain a first hand experience of these remarkable places. For the past few years I have been writing articles on various topics of interest to me and publishing them on my blog. Some of these articles have been published in different magazines and websites such as the New Dawn, Science to Sage, Nexus, Viewzone, Graham Hancock's website, Esamskriti, Waking Times, and others.I would like to thank the readers of my articles, and I hope that you will continue to support me and show interest in my work. I greatly appreciate the feedback and comments left on my blog by the readers, and I try my best to respond to everyone. I am currently researching on large number of inter-related topics, and for the foreseeable future, I shall continue writing articles, and if possible books, to share my thoughts, findings and observations. In addition to reading, travel, and writing my other interests are music, sports, and photography. I have added a new section in my blog where I share my travel photographs along with my thoughts and observations, and I hope this will appeal to the readers.https://www.bibhudevmisra.com/

Greetings! Today we have the talented duo of Johnny Angel and Kenneth Leonard who will patiently present questions to callers that cause deep thinking about how to determine what is true.First caller is Ernie from CA who has proof of Jesus. It is because the Bible, which has always been true, talks about giants and we can find fossils of giants all over the world. Then there is Nimrod, who is why we have continents and the earth no longer has Pangea. Where is the connection between all this and god? When is it time to believe something is true? Why is the Bible a reliable source of truth? How do you know what Jesus said about anything? Did you know that the Rig Veda has been around longer than the Bible? Next caller is Sasha from OR who is exploring Reiki and Astrology as spiritual practices. Love is when you are operating through your heart chakra. How do you define spirituality, the concept of love, chakras, and energy? Can these things be measured by any kind of scientific instruments? Why is the medical industry not making money off of Reiki? How do you tell the difference between feeling the effects of these things and something your brain is doing? What is the experimental design for proving these claims? How do you know something exists other than tradition?Mark from MS no longer believes some of the things in the bible such as the original sin, 6,000 year old earth, and the flood, but still considers himself a Christian. He believes in a creator but it should not be taught in schools. Why are you still a Christian? What does it mean for someone to be a Christian? If you don't believe in original sin, what is the purpose of the crucifixion and resurrection? Why do you believe he died in front of his disciples? Is there independent extra-biblical evidence for this? What tools are we using to arrive at our conclusions? Drew from WA would like to know how to respond to friends when they get offended from being told that god isn't real. We say that we don't believe that god exists and ask for evidence. You want to produce a conversation, not a confrontation. If friends are using slurs or hurtful terms, you do not need to hang out with them. Look at some of Anthony Magnabosco's work and Street Epistemology for ideas on how to address this. You do not owe anyone an explanation of who you are. Aelora in OR has a question about advice heard from witches on TikTok that is inducing abortion by taking different herbs. People who have taken this advice ended up in the hospital or dying. They want to know about this in light of Roe Vs. Wade. This is one of the effects that magical thinking has on the mind. There are people that are science educators who listen for this kind of stuff and make response videos. Look for doctors on TikTok such as MD Aware, that address this and tag them so that it can be effectively dealt with.That is it for the show! Keep up the good work and support of our essential workers. See you next week!

Jahan Khamsehzadeh is the author of the book The Psilocybin Connection: Psychedelics, the Transformation of Consciousness.   Help us fight censorship! Get immediate access to exclusive and censorship free content by donation or free by becoming a member here  

Four thousand years ago, the sprawling cities of the Indus Valley Civilization dominated much of South Asia; a millennium after that, however, the cities were in ruins, and new migrants ultimately deriving their ancestry from the Eurasian steppe had established themselves throughout much of the region. These new arrivals have become known as Indo-Aryans, and they left behind some of the earliest writing in an Indo-European language - the texts of the Rigveda.Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge Listen to new episodes 1 week early, to exclusive seasons 1 and 2, and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistory.Please support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.