Durga Maa – The power of the Supreme

Durga Maa (Mother) Durga symbolizes the power of the Supreme.Durga – the goddess of power and strength, is perhaps the most important goddess of the Hindus.Maa Durga Goddess Durga is considered the Mother of the Universe.

रक्षांसि यत्रोग्रविषाश्च नागा यत्रारयो दस्युबलानि यत्र |
दावानलो यत्र तथाब्धिमध्ये तत्र स्थिता त्वं परिपासि विश्वम् ||

The Great Tower Temples of Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India

The Great Tower Temples of Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India are dedicated to “Shringa Rishi” who is the chief deity of Banjar valley, Kullu District, Himchal Pradesh. The temple of Shringa Rishi is situated at village Bagi.This tower temple of Chaini is the tallest standing structure of its kind in the entire Western Himalayas.This tower survived the devastating 1905 Kangra earthquake. It is believed that this temple was built around the 17th Century by a local King Dhadhu and that’s why this temple is locally known as Dhadhiya Kothi as well. The tower temple stands on a plinth, which is almost 15 meters deep, and is made of locally available stone and deodar wood.

The Sanyasi

            
The renowned Vedic scholar, Rajbali Pandey, in his outstanding work, Socio-Religious Study of the Hindu Sacraments”, while discussing the funeral Samskaras of the ascetics, makes a significant remark, “But after the transition of Hinduism from Vedism or Brahmanism to Puranism and Tantraism, Sanyasa came to be regarded as Kalivarjya. Though Shankaracharya broke this prohibition by his example, Sanyasa never became popular in Hinduism again. The modern Sadhus belong to different sects, following Jnaanamaarga or Bhaktimaarga, and they cannot be properly called Sanyasins.”

Sadhana – Spiritual Evolution

               

For those who want to seriously practice kriyas, it is time to formulate a specific sadhana. Sadhana means “endeavoring to obtain a particular result.” The result kriyabans seek is accelerated spiritual evolution. Sadhana becomes a powerful method to achieve this result. There are three important aspects of sadhana: choice, commitment and aspiration. The first stage of sadhana is to choose a practice. Even the most simple sadhana will be challenging to the newcomer. Consider the sadhana of lighting a candle every night, then immediately blowing it out. Nothing more or nothing less. Do this for ninety days. You will observe the mind coming up with every reason why you shouldn’t do it and every excuse why you missed a few (or many) nights. Yet by accepting it as a sadhana, you make a choice to do it and it becomes a spiritual practice.

Indian scriptures

Hinduism has its origins in such remote past that it cannot be traced to any one individual. Some scholars believe that Hinduism must have existed even in circa 10000 B.C. and that the earliest of the Hindu scriptures – The Rig Veda – was composed well before 6500 B.C. The word “Hinduism” is not to be found anywhere in the scriptures, and the term “Hindu” was introduced by foreigners who referred to people living across the River Indus or Sindhu, in the north of India, around which the Vedic religion is believed to have originated.