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Shankaracharya’s name stands out very prominently in so far as Hindu religion is concerned. Before the advent of Shankaracharya, Buddhism had a strong hold in India. Shankaracharya propagated the Hindu-Veda Dharma or Vedanta. Hence he was known as the World Teacher or Jagad Guru. Shankara was born in very poor family 1400 year ago in South India in a village

Guru Nanak ji was a poet singer who founded Sikhism and was the first of the ten gurus of Sikhs. He was born in 1469 in Talwandi, Punjab (in present day Pakistan). He preached that there was one God. He was able to remove many objectionable religious practices. Both Hindus and Muslims came under the influence of his teachings and

Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824 – 1883) was an important Hindu religious scholar born in Gujarat, India. He was known as the founder of Arya Samaj. He was a sanayasi from his boyhood. Throughout his life, he preached against many Hindu traditions, which he felt were dogmatic and oppressive. These included traditions like child marriage, caste by birth, exclusion of females

Continuing with our 2007 topic of “Great Religious Leaders and Philosophers of India”, this month, we will cover teachings of one of influential religious leader of Nineteenth century, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. He fought against ritualism and superstition that was wide spread and all pervasive in India . As such, all of our religious leaders addressed various aspects of religion, spiritualism

We will start the year with Swami Vivekananda, the Valiant monk who proclaimed in America the greatness of Hinduism and of Indian culture at a time when the west regarded India as a land of Barbarians . The beloved disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, he was the great thinker and mighty man of action. Swami Vivekananda was born on 12th

Samadhi is the final state of meditation in yoga. Samadhi means “to bring together, to merge.” In this state of Samadhi the body and senses are at rest, as if asleep, yet the mind and reason are alert, as if awake; one goes beyond consciousness. It is final experience in which yogi attains to a state of perfection. The achievement

Dhyaan is the seventh limb of yoga. When mind is fully engaged on a particular thought or idea without interruption, it is said to be in Dhyaan. In this state person forgets its surroundings, his body or anything that is connected with him. During meditation mind should be fixed on the work of God. Fix thoughts on Gayatri Mantra together

Dharana means withdrawing your mind from outside objects and fixing it on an idea or image. In concentration all the rays of mind are collected and fixed on a center or an idea. No painter, sculptor, musician, sportsman, or student can hope to succeed if his mind is not engaged in the task on hand. So, in yoga also, concentration

Self-control – the fifth limb of Yoga What is Pratyahara Pratyahara means disengagement of the senses from their objects of attachment. Every sense has objects of natural inclination. These natural inclinations if not controlled can be quite distracting. For example, any pleasing – or annoying – sound can easily divert the attention of a person from whatever he or she