KAMLAWATI KACHRU Smt. Kamlawati Kachru was born in a pious family at Srinagar during the year 1905. Her birth name was Radha. Since her father was died at her young age, she helped her mother in her household chores. Mata Kachru was a pious soul who concentrated her full attention in spirituality and meditation. Kamlawati used to be in a Samadhi state at an Ashram in a village in Anantnag, and she made Swami Govind Kaul as her Guru, and become his successor. Kamalawati was very much advanced in her kriya yoga and used to sing Bhakti songs on Mata Durga Devi.…
Author: hinduscriptures
HOLY MARKS OF HINDUS In general, Hindus used to apply the holy marks in their foreheads. They are applying it as a part of expressing their bhakti on the almighty, and to show their strong faith and belief in Hinduism. Mostly Hindus used to apply the sacred ash (VIBUTI) in their foreheads. Among the Brahmins, the Iyer community people would use to apply the holy ash, whereas Iyengar community people would apply Thirumann (NAMAM) in their forehead as part of their dedication on Lord Vishnu. The Madhwa community people would usually apply sandal paste in their foreheads, and they are…
RELIGIOUS CONVERSION Religious conversion is the adoption of another religion by certain people, by excluding themselves from their parent religion. Thus “religious conversion” would mean the abandoning of their original religion, and following the principles and practices of another religion. People may convert to a different religion due to their likes in the belief of another religion. But in general, religious conversion is not good, since all the religions teaches us to follow only good things in our life, and the aim of all the religions is to focus the people on spirituality, in order to attain goodness in their life.…
SARANGAPANI Sarangapani was a famous composer of Carnatic music and he lived during the 17th century AD, and he was born and brought up in a village in Andhra Pradesh. He was a famous Carnatic singer and used to sing songs during dance performances. Sarangapani was served in the court of kings, and had contributed a lot in the field of Carnatic music. Sarangapani was fluent in regional languages, and he used to sing melodious songs on Lord Krishna, in the Venugopalaswamy Temple, Karvetinagaram. He was praised by the rich and the poor for his good talents in music field, and he was considered as one of…
SWAMI SYAMANAND Swami Syamanandji was born in Srinagar in a pious Kashmiri Hindu family. His birth name was Somnath. Since, he lost his father at his young age he took all the responsibilities of his family on his shoulders, and looked after the family in a proper manner. Once in the forest he met a holy saint, who transformed his life and due to that he has become a holy man. He stopped eating non vegetarian food, and also stopped his bad habits. He used to get up early in the morning and perform puja at the Shiva temple and…
ACHARYA RAMLOCHAN CHARAN INTRODUCTION Acharya Ramlochan Saran (1889 –1971) was born in Darbhanga, Bihar was a Hindi writer and publisher. He started a publishing agency, and published magazines such as Balak Magazine, Himalaya and Honhar. He also published books on Mahatma Gandhi in both Hindi and English. He translated the work “RAMCHARITRAMANAS” written by the famous saint and Ram Devotee Tulsidas, an avatar of Sage Valmiki. He also encouraged many other Hindi writers and taught simple ways to write books. He was appreciated by Mahatma Gandhi, for his wonderful works, and was also appreciated by the then Indian politicians. Ramlochan was honoured by the kings of Darbhanga, and he was suitably rewarded by them. Ramlochan…
SWAMI BODHANANDA SARASWATI INTRODUCTION Swami Bodhananda Saraswati was born in the year 1948, and he is spiritual saint and he taught the importance of meditation, Yoga and Vedanta to various classes of people. He is the Founder of the Sambodh Foundation and the Bodhananda Foundation in India and in abroad. His publications cover Bhagavad Gita and other Indian divine texts. He develops management theories and combines it with spiritual aspects. WORKS The Gita and Management. Management and yoga concepts. Happiness Unlimited. Hindu Spiritual Laws. Indian Management and Leadership. A Divine Conversation with Lord Krishna. Hindu Dharma for the Twenty-first Century. He was…
SWAMI PURNANANDA INTRODUCTION Sri Purnananda founded the Ramakrishna Purnananda Mutt at Asansol, West Bengal in the year 1964 to spread the Bhakti spirit of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna throughout the world. He also repaired and renovated ancient Hindu temples out of the contributions received from the Donors. Sri Purnannada was born in Murshidabad, West Bengal in the year 1936 in a pious Hindu Bengali family. His birth name was Dalim Mukharjee. He received training in Divine subjects under the great Naga Baba, and he has become a saint through the guidance of Swami Sukhatmananda, who was one of the holy disciples…
SWAMI SHANTANANDA PURI MAHARAJ INTRODUCTION Swami Shantananda Puri Maharaj (1928-2014) was a great saint and a Vedic scholar who lived his life as per the teachings of Sri Adisankara. At his young age, he met Paramacharya of Kanchi, and received blessings from him. And when he was working in the government department, he studied the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and due to that, he was deeply observed in spirituality. In the year 1957, Swamiji met his Guru Sri Purushottamanada Puri Maharaj, who lived in Himalayas, and got good spiritual knowledge from him. As per the orders of his guru,…
SANT MAT INTRODUCTION Sant Mat was a spiritual movement started in India during the 13th century AD. Sant means saint, and the meaning for Sant Mat means “teachings of the great saints”. Through the teachings of the saints, a movement was formed, and the saints who are the followers of the Sant Mat are apart from caste, creed, gender and religion, and they are very affectionate with the people. Sants are originated from the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The sants are considered as the holy saviours who have been sent by the god, for maintaining peace and prosperity in the world through…
DALIT SAINTS OF HINDUISM INTRODUCTION The Dalit is a certain section of Hindu society usually termed as a “lower” caste, and there are many famous saints hailed from Dalit community. Some of the famous Dalit Hindu saints are Ravidas, Kabir, Namdev, Chokha Mela, and Mata Kanhopatra, etc. Ravidas was the guru of saint Meerabai, Queen of Chittor, and also to royal kings. He was worshipped by the Brahmins saints also, and they used to bow before the great saint Sant Ravidas, who is considered as an incarnation of Lord Ravi, another name of Lord Surya Bhagavan. Many Dalit saints, due to their noble works, and great super natural powers, were treated similar…
SRI BALAMURUGANADIMAI INTRODUCTION During March 20, 1968, the priest at the Ratnagiri Hill Temple, Vellore, decided to stop doing the morning puja, since he didn’t get his salary for the last few months. At that time, a young man, one Mr.Satchidanandam went into the temple for his usual morning worship, and he was shocked when he found the temple lamps are not lit, and also fresh flowers had not been adorned to the deities. After knowing about the condition of the poor priest, he got pity on him, and due to that he stood before the Deity and began to pray.…
PITHUKULI MURUGADAS INTRODUCTION Pithukuli Murugadas (1920-2015) was a devotional singer, freedom fighter, writer and a music composer. His birth name was Balasubramanian. He was a great devotee of Lord Muruga from his young age onwards, and hence he was given the title Murugadas, which means servant of Lord Muruga. And since he was mad in devoting Lord Muruga, he was called as “Pithukuli Murugadas”. He travelled throughout India and abroad and wrote and sung beautiful songs on Lord Krishna and Muruga, and won good recognition among the devotional music song lovers. Murugadas was born in Coimbatore in the year 1920,…
SARASWATHI AMMAL INTRODUCTION Saraswathi Ammal was born in the year 1937 in Triplicane, Chennai. Her husband was a retired bank employee and he had expired in the year 2004. She is having two children. Her son is working in a private concern as an Accountant, and he is a sincere devotee of Guru Raghavendra Swamigal, and during his free time, he is writing spiritual articles in the devotional websites. Her daughter was married and settled at Bangalore, and her husband was retired from a private concern, and they are having one son, who is working in a software company at…
SRI KACHIYAPPA SIVACHARIYAR INTRODUCTION Kanda Puranam is the Tamil version of the Sanskrit version Skanda Purana. It was written by the great saint Sri Kachiyappa Sivachariyar at Kumara Kottam at Kanchipuram. He lived during the 10th century AD at Kanchipuram. He was a Shaivite saint, and at his young age itself, he was deeply interested in spirituality, and studied the sacred Shaivite texts. Once, he had a dream, and in that, Lord Muruga had appeared, and asked him to translate the Sanskrit version of Kanda Puranam in Tamil language. After waking up from the bed, Sivachariyar’s mind was filled with…
GANGAMBIKA INTRODUCTION Gangambika(14th century AD) was a princess and a poet of the Vijayanagara Empire at the present day Karnataka. She was the wife of Kumara Kampana, the noble son of the Vijayanagara king Bukka Raya. Gangambika wrote the details about the victory of her husband, over the Muslims in Madurai in the form of a poem, which was known as Madhura Vijayam. She was an admirer of the famous Telugu poet Sri Tikkana. Gangambika gave her husband a powerful sword and asked him to fight with the Muslim king, in order to safeguard the Madurai kingdom from attacks, and also to protect the famous “Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple”.…
JASOBANTA DASA INTRODUCTION Jasobanta Dasa (15th century AD) was a poet, saint and an ardent devotee of Jagannath, a form of Lord Krishna. He was one of the famous poets in Odisha, and his popular work Prema Bhakti Brahma Gita, was appreciated by the then kings of Odisha. He was born in a village in the present day Odisha. Due to his spiritual interest, he visited Puri and met Sri Chaitanya, and both of them sang songs in front of the deity of Lord Jagannath at Puri Jagannath Temple. His main disciple was Sudarshan Das. It is believed, that due to his sincere…
SARALA DAS INTRODUCTION Sarala Dasa was a 15th-century poet and a saint of Odisha. His famous three works are: Mahabharata, Ramayana and Mata Chandi Purana. His birth name was Siddheswara. The life history of Sarala Dasa is found in ancient texts. He was born at Jagatsinghpur District, Odisha. Sarala Dasa had gained knowledge through self-education, and he was an ardent devotee of Mata Sarala, goddess of wisdom, and she is a form of Mata Shakti Devi. He was called by the people as Sarala Dasa, since he considers himself as a servant of goddess Sarala Devi. During his young age, once while Siddheswara was working in his father’s…
DINAKRUSHNA DAS INTRODUCTION Dinakrushna Das (1650 – 1710) was a famous poet of Odisha, and he was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. He has dedicated his famous poem “Rasakallola”, to Lord Krishna. He was born at Munutunia in Balasore district, Odisha in the year 1650. In his famous work ‘Rasakallola’, he wonderfully describes the Divine Love between Radha and Krishna, and he was a sincere devotee of Lord Jagannath of Puri. Dinakrushna Dasa is a divine Odisha poet and he lived during the time of the then kings of Odisha Sri Mukunda Deva and Divyasingha Deva. He spent most of his life in Puri. He…
KESHAV PANDIT INTRODUCTION Keshav Pandit (17th century AD) also called as Keshav Swami lived during the time of Chhatrapati Shivaji, and he served as a chief priest to Sri Shivaji, and he was a Sanskrit scholar and a famous poet during his period. He was considered as a friend of Shivaji, and used to participate in his family functions. Keshav Pandit used to accompany Shivaji during his visits to temples, and acted as an adviser to him. Keshav Pandit has written poems in praise of Mata Bhavani and he has written about the life history of Sri Shivaji. It is believed that Keshav Pandit…