Krishna Playing Flute

Krishna Playing Flute

Once, Lord Krishna asked his devotees what they would like to become in his hands. Some said the lotus, some the conch, some the chakra and so on, but no one mentioned the flute. Krishna advised them to become his flute. In his discourse to his devotees, he said that in the human personality structure, as in the flute, there are 8 main spots: The five organs of perception, mind, intellect, and ego. If you get rid of your ego and become like a hollow reed flute, then the Lord will come to you, pick you up, put his lips and breathe through you and out of the hollowness of your heart, the captivating melody will emerge for all creations to enjoy. But if you will continue your attitude of dislike, hatred and jealousy, the Lord will distance himself from you, since you will be useless for his purpose.
The Hindu God Krishna is traditionally considered a master of the Bansuri or Flute. Krishna is seen as a complete manifestation of the divine consciousness, and to be in his presence is considered to be the greatest boon a person could ever wish for. In his company, wisdom, compassion, love, self realisation and innate talents all rise to the surface, as the divine God you see on the outside is just a mere reflection of the divinity residing within us all.

Krishna is said to not only guide us towards the source of our higher nature, but actually take us there himself in an elegant and effortless manner. Any barriers or obstacles we face to reaching our spiritual goals are completely removed by Krishna himself. Grace can only flow through Krishna’s flute, as there is nothing inside its body to prevent his will from coming through.

 As human beings, we too can experience this same grace, by removing our egos and small-minded concepts, so we too become hollow and empty vehicles.

Seven Snake Headed Shiva

Snake Headed Shiva

Lord Shiva represents the aspect of the Supreme Being (Brahman of the Upanishads) that continuously dissolves to recreate in the cyclic process of creation, preservation, dissolution and recreation of the universe. As stated earlier, Lord Shiva is the third member of the Hindu Trinity, the other two being Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu.

Owing to His cosmic activity of dissolution and recreation, the words destroyer and destruction have been erroneously associated with Lord Shiva. This difficulty arises when people fail to grasp the true significance of His cosmic role. The creation sustains itself by a delicate balance between the opposing forces of good and evil. When this balance is disturbed and sustenance of life becomes impossible, Lord Shiva dissolves the universe for creation of the next cycle so that the unliberated souls will have another opportunity to liberate themselves from bondage with the physical world. Thus, Lord Shiva protects the souls from pain and suffering that would be caused by a dysfunctional universe. In analogous cyclic processes, winter is essential for spring to appear and the night is necessary for the morning to follow. To further illustrate, a goldsmith does not destroy gold when he melts old irreparable golden jewelry to create beautiful new ornaments.

Lord Shiva is the Lord of mercy and compassion. He protects devotees from evil forces such as lust, greed, and anger. He grants boons, bestows grace and awakens wisdom in His devotees. The symbolism discussed below includes major symbols that are common to all pictures and images of Shiva venerated by Hindus. Since the tasks of Lord Shiva are numerous, He cannot be symbolized in one form. For this reason the images of Shiva vary significantly in their symbolism.

 Ganga, symbolically represented on the head of the Lord by a female (Mother Ganga) with a jet of water emanating from her mouth and falling on the ground, signifies that the Lord destroys sin, removes ignorance, and bestows knowledge, purity and peace on the devotees.

Lord Shiva, also called Tryambaka Deva (literally, "three-eyed Lord"), is depicted as having three eyes: the sun is His right eye, the moon the left eye and fire the third eye. The two eyes on the right and left indicate His activity in the physical world. The third eye in the center of the forehead symbolizes spiritual knowledge and power, and is thus called the eye of wisdom or knowledge. Like fire, the powerful gaze of Shiva's third eye annihilates evil, and thus the evil-doers fear his third eye.

 A snake (Vasuki Naga) is shown curled three times around the neck of the Lord and is looking towards His right side. The three coils of the snake symbolize the past, present and future - time in cycles. The Lord wearing the curled snake like an ornament signifies that creation proceeds in cycles and is time dependent, but the Lord Himself transcends time. The right side of the body symbolizes the human activities based upon knowledge, reason and logic. The snake looking towards the right side of the Lord signifies that the Lord's eternal laws of reason and justice preserve natural order in the universe.

Handmade Om

Om/ AUM

In the Sanskrit tradition, this sound is called "Anahata Nada," the "Unstruck Sound." Literally, this means "the sound that is not made by two things striking together." The point of this particular distinction is that all ordinary audible sounds are made by at least two elements: bow and string; drum and stick; two vocal cords; two lips against the mouthpiece of the trumpet; the double reed of the oboe; waves against the shore; wind against the leaves. All sounds within our range of hearing are created by things visible or invisible, striking each other or vibrating together, creating pulsing waves of air molecules which our ears and brain interpret as sound.
There is harmony, peace and bliss in this simple but deeply philosophical sound. By vibrating the sacred syllable Om, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Ultimate Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the highest state of "stateless" eternity, states the Bhagavad Gita.
Om provides a dualistic viewpoint. On one hand, it projects the mind beyond the immediate to what is abstract and inexpressible. On the other hand, it makes the absolute more tangible and comprehensive. It encompasses all potentialities and possibilities; it is everything that was, is, or can yet be. It is omnipotent and likewise remains undefined.
 Pious presence cleanses the system off the negative energies around. Brass statues of Gods placed at just the right places can be breather of positive yang energies and source of inspiration when required the most. Moreover, these beautifully sculpted god statues are perfect decorations for interiors that define elegant simplicity.

Lord Kartikeya

Lord Kartikeya

Murugan or Kartikeya (also called Subramanya, Subramani, Muruga, Karthikeyan, Shanmughan and Shanmukha) is the Hindu god of war, victory, wisdom and love. He is Commander of the gods. Son of the lord Shiva and Parvati, his brother is Ganesha and his wives are Valli and Deivayanai.

Murugan is worshiped primarily in areas with Tamil influences, especially South India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore and Reunion Island. His six most important shrines in India are the Arupadaiveedu temples, located in Tamil Nadu. In Sri Lanka, Hindus as well as Buddhists revere the sacred historical Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna and Katirkāmam Temple (also known as "Katharagama Devalaya" in Sinhala) situated deep south. Indians in Malaysia also pray to Lord Murugan at the Batu Caves and various temples where Thaipusam is celebrated with grandeur.

 It is said that a true devotee of this shrine never loses any battles in his life. Kartikeya carries on one hand a spear and his other hand is always blessing devotees. His vehicle is a peacock, a pious bird that grips with its feet a serpent, which symbolizes the ego and desires of people. The peacock represents the destroyer of harmful habits and the conqueror of sensual desires. The symbolism of Kartikeya thus points to the ways and means of reaching perfection in life.

Sitting Ganesha & its Benefits

Sitting Ganesha & its Benefits

 Lord Ganesha occupies a place of distinction in the Hindu pantheon." Ganesha or Vignaharta shows humanity its goal not only with his teachings, but also his physical appearance.

There is a deeper meaning to the form of Lord Ganesha that can be understood when we dwell a little on the symbolism. To contemplate on the formless and transcendental essence, some of us need an idol that can be seen and worshipped. Thus the idol represents an ideal, a medium for us to get in touch with our spirituality. So let's take a look at Ganesha's symbolic representation in our scriptures and what they mean to us.

 Our ancient seers or rishis discovered a basic unity or harmony underlying all of life and its forms despite the apparent chaos Life has three stages of evolution, according to Vedantic thought: Birth, growth and death - the trinity, a continuous chain taking place again and again, with progress achieved in each scale of evolution. And one supreme power controls and guides this.

His name is invoked before starting any new venture. He is called Vighneswara, the lord who is the remover obstacles. He is also called Ganapati, the leader of Shiva's servants or ganas Vinayaka, the supreme leader. He is the master of knowledge or vidya, and the champion of worldly achievement, avidya.

 Ganesha is depicted generally in a seated pose. It signifies that in him the mind and intellect are totally integrated. The entire world is at his feet, waiting for his command. The pose also resembles that first primeval cosmic sound in Sanskrit – OM – the beginning of creation itself. He has a bulky body, symbolic of the entire cosmos.  This big belly symbolizes space. The mastermind has to digest all experiences of life. The snake around his expansive waist is like a girdle. It symbolises energy in all forms.

 "In Hindu mythological literature Ganesha is described as having a human form with an elephant's head. An elephant's head on a human body indicates supreme wisdom. The two main steps of spiritual education are sravana, which means listening to the eternal truths of Vedanta and manana, which is reflection upon those truths. And the large ears and head of Ganesha indicate that He has acquired spiritual wisdom through both the steps.
ganesha represents, "The perfect wisdom of a fully realised vedantin a follower, or student of Vedanta. He is the highest and the best that has ever been given in our scriptures". Ganesha has an important position because he is invoked not only by Hindus at the beginning of any work, but even the other gods in the Hindu pantheon pray to him, according to the puranas.