Durga : Take No Prisoners

At one time, Durga was worshipped all the way from India to Rome. While she has been forgotten in today's Christian and Muslim cultures, she is still the great warrior goddesses of Hinduism.

You can recognize Durga immediately because she's always shown riding on or standing beside a lion or tiger. She holds a host of weapons in her many hands. Often she's pictured attacking a buffalo demon named Mahisha. Look at her face : You'll notice that even in the thick of battle she always appears completely calm. 

Getting God Back

Sitting in the forest Parvati, who had been Sati in her previous life, swore she would not let her mind shift away from the lotus feet of Lord Shiva for even an instant until he appeared before her. "If my mind should waver, may I lose him forever!" she vowed. So there she sat through monsoon rains, elephant stampedes, and just about every other form of botheration you can picture. Parvati kept her mind fixed on God alone.

Then one day, she heard a small child screaming in terror. Immediately she jumped up and raced to help. But there wasn't any child. Instead Shiva materialized in front of her. " You promised you wouldn't let anything distract you from meditating on me"! Shiva complained. " I created this illusion to test you". And then he smiled. " Just now you showed that you give up even what you want most in the world, union with me, to help the helpless. I see now that you really are fit to be my wife"!

Shiva and Parvati are living happily ever after at their mountain retreat in Tibet. But Parvati has shown us the way back to God : continual loving meditation on his divine form, and self-sacrificing service to our fellow humanity.

God the Widower

How did Shiva become a widower?

In ages past, the seer Daksha insulted Shiva by not inviting him to a party. All the other gods and goddesses were invited. But Daksha didn't care for Shiva because he was a bum. He didn't have a job and didn't dress up; he just lived naked in the mountains meditating.Shiva's wife, Sati, was so upset at the slight that she committed suicide, jumping into a fire.

Shiva lost it completely. He carried his wife's body around his arms, weeping and wailing. Vishnu couldn't allow this to continue, so he kept throwing his whirling discuss at Sati's body, chopping off different parts which fell to earth. Every place a bit of goddess's body landed is now a major pilgrimage spot for Shaktas. Eventually Shiva calmed down and disappeared into the mountains to spend the rest of the cosmic cycle in meditation.

My guru explained that many eons ago, the cosmic soul was united with the universal spirit, just as Sati was married to Shiva. But then the world soul immolated itself, leaping into the ever -burning fire of energy from which the material worlds are made. The cosmic soul was then sliced into many different pieces, like you, for example, and me. How can the soul return to her divine lord, the Supreme Spirit?

Parvati : Divine Wife and Mother

Parvati is the dark-colored wife of the god Shiva, and the mother of the deities Ganesha and Skanda.

According to the legend, Parvati was a young girl raised in the Himalayas who did years of intense austerities in order to win Shiva as her husband. She sat down in the forest and swore not to budge until Shiva materialized and asked her to marry him. This was a tall order because Shiva was a widower who had no desire to remarry.

Hindu God's Gallery

Lakshmi : Showers of Gold

The goddesses of wealth never lacks for devotees, as I'm sure you can imagine! Lakshmi is wrapped in a beautiful red sari. Showers of coins stream from two of her hands, signifying the material blessings that pour out of her. These include not only prosperity but health and a joyful, harmonious family life. Her two other hands hold lotuses, reminding us that her greatest boons are not material but gifts of the spirit. These are the only blessings of lasting value.

Lakshmi is so well loved because of her extremely kind nature. Her husband, Vishnu, administers justice, but Lakshmi is incapable of punishing anyone. She is so softhearted that if you find yourself in trouble with Vishnu, you can run to Lakshmi and ask her to help out. She'll do everything she can to get Vishnu to ease up on you. In this respect, she's much like Mary, mother of Jesus, in Roman Catholicism. She intercedes for you with God.

In times of crisis, Vishnu incarnates on earth in human form. In Hinduism, you can't have God without the Goddess. So wherever he shows up, you can count on Lakshmi turning up too. When came as Rama, Lakshmi came as his wife Sita. When Vishnu manifested as Krishna, Lakshmi came as his wife, Rukmini. Male and female must work together harmoniously in order for universal balance to be maintained. 

Saraswati : The Hindu Muse

The Greeks had their muses, goddesses who inspired music and poetry, drama and science. In Hinduism, this role is filled by Saraswati, perhaps the oldest goddesses in the world who is still widely worshipped. The Veda never tires of praising her.

Artists and scientists have long noted that some of their greatest works or intellectual insights seemed to mysteriously appear fully formed in their minds. Beatle Paul Mc Cartney reports that he finds heard the melody for "yesterday", one of the most popular songs of all time, in a dream. To Hindus, these are gifts from Saraswati,the divine muse.

Hindu musicians chant Saraswati and prostrate before their musical instruments before beginning a concert. Children pray to Sarasvati for help with their schoolwork. Speakers invite her to "dance on their tongues" before giving a lecture.

Sarasvati is always dressed in white, the color of pure illumination. In one of her four hands she holds a book, showing her command over an intellectual knowledge. Another hand holds a rosary, since she is also the source of all spiritual knowledge. Her two remaining hands holds a vina, an Indian instrument that looks like a sitar. This means that she is the source of the sound vibrations or primeval waves of energy that form the universe.

Sarasvati is the wife of Brahma the Creator. While Brahma's worship has all but vanished from Hinduism, Sarasvati is still worshipped every Hindu town and village. She is the inner source of creative intelligence, wisdom, and artistic inspiration. 

Shakti : Feminine Power

There is a widespread belief in the West that women are inherently "passive" and men are naturally "active" To the Hindu mind, this belief is clearly nonsense. In the Hindu tradition, active power is always thought of as feminine while passive stability is masculine. Hindu know that women get just as much of the work done in the world as men do, if not more. And what male warrior is as fierce and furious as a mother protecting her young?

The sanskrit word for power or energy is shakti. Shakti is also the generic name for the Goddesses, so her worshippers are called Shaktas. No male deity can accomplish anything without his Shakti, his female consort. She is his strength and power of accomplishment. Some goddesses are married. Others are independent feminine powers of limitless intelligence and capacity. 

Meet the Hindu Goddesses

In ancient times, the Goddess was worshipped throughout the planet Over the last two thousand years, male-dominated religions have stamped out the worship of the feminine face of spirit everywhere in the world. Everywhere, that is, except India. The Hindu tradition is the one world religion where the Goddess is still honored on a massive scale.

Nirguna Brahman, the Supreme Reality in Hinduism, transcends gender. But when the Divine Being takes form, It assumes both male and female attributes. In fact, to many Hindus, since the Divine gave birth to us out of its own being nurtures us like a Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions maintain. Instead, we are part of her.

I'd like to introduce you to some of the most popular goddesses in Hinduism. If you travel in India, or visit a typical Hindu home, you'll find images of the Mother of the Universe everywhere. To fully appreciate Hinduism, you must understand that the Goddess is alive and well in Hindu culture. 

The Meaning in the Myth

According to the Hindu tradition, the true light is the Inner Sun, the presence of divine being within us. Sanjna is the soul (her name means "the one with knowledge") who at the dawn of time fled form her consort, whose supreme light was too much for her to assimilate. She escaped down into the material world in the form of a horse (horses represent prana, or life energy in Hinduism). When spirit impregnates the life force, the Ashvins or celestial wisdom and healing power are born.

The Inner Sun yogis experience in deep meditation is only a fraction of a fraction of the light of the Supreme Reality. The Lord of the Universe moderates his brilliance to a level the meditator can withstand. By merging in that inner light, the soul begins its journey home its true mate, the Lord of Light. 

The Sun's Difficult Marriage

Surya's wife, Sanjna, however, was not happy with her husband. He was so bright she couldn't bear to look at his face! So she ran away, leaving a substitute who looked exactly like her. Surya eventually became suspicious and went looking for his wife. She took the form of a stallion, chased her, and impregnated her by breathing on her. Their sons were twin horsemen called Ashvins.

When Sanjna confessed that she couldn't stand his intense brightness, Surya had his radiance surgically whittled down to a fraction of its original intensity, and the couple lived happily ever after. 

Surya : The Divine Sun

You don't have to visit an Indian temple to see one of the Hinduism's most respected gods. He goes galloping over your head in his shinning chariot every day of the year. If you'd ever spent a night freezing in the cold winters of northern India, you'd definitely understand why Lord Surya's appearance over the  northern horizon each morning is so welcome!

Surya, the Sun, is the source of prana, life energy, in our world system. His total selflessness, pouring forth his blessings to all beings day in and day out, without expectation of any reward in return, is the perfect example of true sainthood.    

Murugan : The Spear of God

Shiva is immensely popular in South India. So is Vishnu, called Mal ("the Great One") by Tamil-speaking Indians. He is spectacularly handsome and courageous, not to mention a great dancer! His priests, called Velans, launch into a frenzied dance in an attempt to connect with the god and channel his wisdom and power.

Murugan is usually shown carrying his favorite weapon, a death-dealing spear. He is quick to protect his devotees and generous in granting boons.

As northern and southern Indian cultures amalgamated over the millennia, Murugan became increasingly identified with Skanda, the six-headed warrior son of Shiva. Skanda has six head because as an infant he was nursed by six surrogate mothers, the six brightest stars of the Pleiades. The constellation Pleiades is called Krittika in sanskrit, so Skanda is widely known as Kartikeya.

Skanda and Murugan are both shown riding peacocks. The connection between virile young men strutting their stuff and male peacocks flaunting their feathers is obvious to the Hindu imagination. 

Moving Mountains

During the battle with Ravana's demonic troops, Rama's brother Lakshman was seriously injured. Unless he could get a particular medicinal herb from a faraway mountain, the local physician explained, he would not be able to save Lakshman's life.

Seeing Rama's grief, Hanuman instantly raced to the mountain, covering huge distances in single leaps and bounds. But once he got there, Hanuman realized he had no idea which of the many herbs growing on the mountain was the one the doctor needed. So he picked up the entire mountain and brought it back to the battlefield! Lakshman's life was saved and Rama clasped Hanuman in a famous embrace of gratitude. Hanuman teaches us that when loving and serving God is the focus of our lives, the impossible becomes possible. 

Now when you enter a Hindu home and see a picture of a monkey carrying a mountain, you'll know what it means. 

God's Army

Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, was at a loss when he had to attack the military stronghold of Lanka to rescue his wife Sita. Alone in the jungle with his brother, he didn't stand much of a chance against Lanka's powerful king Ravana. Then Hanuman joined the team along with a makeshift army of monkeys and bears. Keeping the image of his beloved Rama in his heart, Hanuman was able to leap across to strait between India and Sri Lanka to carry a message to Sita, imprisoned in Ravana's fortress. 

Hanuman : Monkeying Around

If you step into a Hindu home, odds are high you'll find an image of Hanuman, the monkey god. He has the head and tail of a rhesus monkey, and the body of a man. Sometimes you'll see him ripping open his chest to reveal Rama and Sita-God and Goddess-residing in his heart.

It's impossible to exaggerate how much Hindus love this passionate, energetic monkey. In fact, it's a crime to kill a monkey in India. Monkeys are considered sacred due to their association with Hanuman! 

How Ganesha Lost His Head

Many ages ago, Shiva's wife Parvati asked her young son, Ganesha to guard the door to the house while she took a bath inside. As fate would have it, Shiva came home from a long meditation retreat just as this moment. He'd been gone so long he wasn't aware of his wife had had a child and that Ganesha was his son. And Ganesha had never seen Shiva before and didn't realize he was his dead.

Shiva was extremely irritated at the young boy who wouldn't let him into his own house. He tried to push Ganesha aside but the boy incredibly strong. Finally Shiva cut off the boy's head and called out to Parvati, "Honey, I'm home!"

The goddess was beside herself when she saw that her husband had just killed their son. Realizing his mistake, Shiva ran up and down the mountain looking for Ganesha's head. It was long gone! Seeing the Divine Mother's grief, an elephant standing nearby volunteered its own head, which Shiva quickly cut off and replaced on his son's  body, restoring Ganesha to life.

The story is about self-sacrifice. When we sacrifice our selfishness and egotism is service of the divine, as both Ganesha and the elephant did, we gain wisdom and immortality. And, like Lord Ganesha today who helps everyone who appeals to him, we gain the ability to be of service to all beings everywhere. 

The God with a Trunk

Ganesha is the portly with an elephant's head. Elephants are not rare sight in many parts of India. Hindus appreciate them for their high intelligence, extraordinary strength, and exceptional devotion to each other and to their human peers. Elephants will not abandon a friend in trouble but will risk their lives to save those they care about.

Ganesha is the remover of obstacles. After all, if you are lost in thick jungle, just follow an elephant. Wherever it happens to walk becomes a path you can easily follow. Ganesha has very large ears so that he can hear everyone's prayers. He has a huge belly because he contains the entire universe inside himself. His wisdom, strength, and compassion are indomitable.

You'll often see a small mouse darting around Ganesha's feet. Like cowboys riding ponies and Carlifornians riding their SUVs, Ganesha goes for a ride on his mouse. Gurus explain that the mouse is the human mind, always scurrying here and there, nibbling at this and that. The mouse doesn't realize that riding on its back there's an elephant with unimaginable strength, wisdom and power. Just so, the mind is often oblivious to the limitless light and power of spirit that "rides around" within its inner recesses.

Throughout history, many Hindus have been illiterate. Their gurus used memorable images like an elephant headed god astride a mouse to teach unforgettable lessons about the nature of the Supreme Being.

Skanda Purana

Skanda Mahapuranam is the largest of all the Puranas. Contains eighty eight thousand and one hundred shlokas (stanzas). Has seven parts-Maheswar, Vaishnava, Brahma, kashi, Avanti, Nagar and Prabhasa. Purana got its name from Skand (kartikeya) the son of Lord Shiva. Birth of Skand; its reason and effects constitute the main theme. Kartikeya was the commander of the gods army and had killed the demon Tarkasura.

Ganesha : The Elephant-Headed God

At Hindu temples throughout the world, priests regularly bring the images of the gods in their temples something to eat and drink. Usually the deities don't actually touch the food. They just bless it and leave it for us humans to chow down. But on September 21,1995, Lord Ganesha drank the milk. Within hours, the news was all over India. Hindus rushed to the temples or their shrine rooms at home to offer their statues of Ganesha a pitcher of milk.

That evening the Milk Miracle was broadcast all over the world on the international news. Camera crews converged on Hindu temples from India to Africa to Canada and filmed the milk actually dematerializing in front of murtis of Ganesha. Thousands of observers, Hindu and non-Hindu alike, who actually watched the milk disappear, described the experience to reporters.

Ganesha has always been known for his delightful sense of humor. On that fall day in 1995 it's possible he gently reminded people everywhere that the ultimate purpose of life lies not in serving themselves but in Serving God. And that day he wanted to be served milk!

The Mark of Shiva

Many statues of Shiva show him in human form. Some of them show Shiva's right side as male, and left side as female. This is to male the point visually that God and Goddess are absolutely equivalent, and that male and female are equal. The Supreme Being has both masculine and feminine aspects, whether you see them as pure consciousness and its power, or spirit and matter, or justice and mercy.

Everywhere you travel in India you will also see Shiva worshipped in the form of a linga,a conical or egg-shaped stone, resting in a base called a yoni. Linga means "the mark of Shiva". While almost all Hindu murtis are shaped into some form, such as a male or a female deity, the linga alone remains unsculpted. This is because it stands for God beyond form, pure consciousness itself.

In one famous story from the Puranas, Brahma and Vishnu stumbled upon a pillar of blazing light. Brahma flew upward to try to find the top of the light. Vishnu dug downward, looking for its base. Though they traveled for ages, neither could find the beginning or end of the linga of light. The light of pure awareness is infinite, the Purana is saying. Hinduism's yogis take the great meditator Shiva as their ideal and devote their lives to merging in His light.

Skanda Sashti

Skanda Sashti kavasam or kanda Sashti kavasam is a song composed in Tamil by Devaraya swamigal on Lord Muruga. Lord Muruga also known as Lord Kartikeya was a son of Lord Shiva. The Tamil language, which is among the oldest languages spoken in the world, consists of many ancient hymns in praise of deities and Skanda Sashti kavasam occupies a prominent stature among them. Tamil language boasts of a rich and extensive literature and dates back to times when European languages other than perhaps Latin and Greek didn't exist. It is a rare and valuable treasure intended to help day-to-day life. In kanda sashti kavasam the author prays to Lord Muruga to Shower His grace. It is said that regular chanting of this song causes all the predicaments of life to be resolved. also as come in this spiritual song a person who he cants the full song 36 times a day will be bestowed with all kinds of wealth.

Sashti is the day the Lord Subramanya defeated the demon soorapadman. When the devas couldn't tolerate the evil doings of this demon, they approached the younger son of Lord Shiva and Parvati for his assistance. He fought soorapadman. for six days, at the end of which the Lord vanquished the asura. He threw his weapon at him and soorapadman was split into two halves. One half became a peacock, which he took as his vaahana. The other became a cock and was transformed into his flag.

The devas, who were tormented by soorapadman, rejoiced-they praised the Lord and prayed to him for six days. Devotees usually narrate the Skanda Sashti kavacham during this period. Whoever fasts for these six days of Muruga steadfastly, it is said that they would get the blessings of {Lord Murugan}. Those who are unable to fast for a whole day for a six-day duration, can eat just one meal during this period.

Drinking the Poison

Many eons ago the gods and demons, who are always at each other's throats, for once decided to cooperate. They had learned that if they worked together they could churn the nectar of immortality out of the Ocean of Milk. Well, everyone wants to be immortal! So they stuck the great mountain Meru in the ocean, wrapped the serpent Vasuki around it, and started churning. For thousands of years the gods pulled on one end of Vasuki, and the demons pulled on the other end.

texts, the gods are the stars above the celestial equator and the demons are the stars below it. Over thousands of years the stars of the lower hemisphere push some of the stars of the upper hemisphere out of the sky. Then the upper stars push their way back. This apparent motion of the stars is due to the wobble of the Earth's axis. The Veda to this cycle many times.

Many amazing things congealed out of the churning ocean- magical jewels and horses, that kind of the stuff. The nectar of immortality finally came oozing out, but so did a poison so virulent it had the power to destroy the entire world. The gods and demons fought over the nectar but, with Vishnu's help, the pure-hearted gods won the battle and drank the ambrosia of immortality.

But what to do about the searing poison? Only the god Shiva was powerful enough to solve the problem. He swallowed the poison through his yoga power held it in his throat. This way it couldn't enter the rest of his system and do any damage. That's why you'll see Shiva's throat stained dark in paintings of him.

Hindu holy men and women explain that at one level, this is the story of the yogic process. When you "churn" the prana or life energy up and down Mount Meru, the spine, all kinds of wonderful things appear in your consciousness. The nectar of illuminated awareness eventually shows up, but so does all the poison in your subconscious. Some yogis advise that you not even try to deal with all that inner poison because it will tear you to pieces. Instead being who is far more capable of dealing with powerful negative energy than you are.

Shiva : Lord of the Yogis

If Vishnu is the most popular god in Hinduism, Shiva runs a close second. You won't be able to miss Shiva if you run into him ! He's the naked one sitting on a tiger skin with snakes wrapped around his arms. His body is smeared with ashes.

Shiva is naked because he is the stark reality, pure consciousness itself. He sits in meditation rather than holding down a job because Absolute Being makes no effort at all, yet due to its mere existence, all of time and space unfolds. He is covered with ashes because after the entire universe has blown away into cosmic dust, he alone remains.

You will also often see beautiful South Indian statues of Shiva dancing gracefully within a halo of flames. This represents the end of the present cycle of time when Shiva will annihilate the universe, reabsorbing all existence into his pure awareness. (After some eons, of course, Brahma the Creator will reincarnate in the vast expanse of Shiva's consciousness and start the whole cosmic process all over again!)

The Supreme Identity

Many of the stories about the Hindu gods are charmingly anthropomorphic, but it's a mistake to take them too literally. The myths point to a higher reality, as the Hindu guru will explain.

The Vishnu Purana describes who Vishnu reality is. The cosmic waters are Vishnu's body. From this the universe is made, the Earth, the stars, the many dimensions of the reality, everything that is and ever will be. He exists in all forms but he is not material. Rather he is intelligence itself. Nothing exists outside him. As the Vishnu Purana puts it, " He who knows Vishnu as the unchanging, eternal, universal reality, enters into the Supreme Lord, and becomes one with that preeminent deity".

Vishnu : The Loving Protector

Vishnu is the most popular god in India. Brahma pretty much retired when he finished creating the world. Shiva is just sitting around in meditation till the day when he's supposed to destroy the universe. So for now, according to his devotees, Vishnu is in charge.

Vishnu maintains law and order in the universe. This sometimes entails getting down and dirty. So from time to time when things get particularly out of hand down here on planet Earth, Vishnu takes on a human body- or whatever other from works best for him under the circumstances- and sets things straight. Rama and Krishna, the heroes of the Ramayana and Mahabharata whom you've already met in Chapter 5, " The People's Religion", were human incarnations of Vishnu.

I'll devote most of Chapter 14, " Avatars : Gods in Human Form", to telling you about Vishnu's adventures in his various incarnations. Vishnu preserves the world by ensuring that divine law, including the law of karma, continues to act in the world. He is the great hero, the supreme champion, because you can count on his aid when you are acting for the benefit of the world, as Arjuna counted on Krishna during the war in the Mahabharata.

The World Axis

The Vishnu Purana tells the story of Dhurva, the son of a Hindu king and one of his courtesans. One day Dhurva ran to sit in his dad's lap but the king pushed him away. He preferred to pick up his eldest son instead, who was the legitimate heir to the throne.

Dhurva was heartbroken and ran to his mother's arms. She explained that due to good deeds performed in previous lives, Dhurva's half brother had earned the right to sit on the throne with his father. Rather than crying, Dhurva should do his best to earn good karma, too, so he could enjoy similar stature in a future life. 

Little Dhurva was still very upset. He ran away into the forest to do penance, so he could earn enough merit to sit on the highest throne in the world. There he met a wandering sage who explained that Vishnu is our real father. He initiated Dhurva in Vishnu's sacred mantra, " Om Vasudevaya Namaha!" (It means " With loving reverence, I bow to Lord Vishnu!") 

Dhurva repeated the mantra with such innocent sincerity that Vishnu's heart melted like butter, and he lifted the little boy up into his own lap on the highest throne in the world. You can see Dhruva yourself on a clear right. He is sitting on top of the world exist as the North Star. All the other starts were so moved by his innocent devotion that to this day they circle around Dhruva to express their admiration.

Four Hands for God

You can tell you're looking at Vishnu when you see a very handsome blue-skinned Hindu god with four arms. His dark blue color suggests that his nature is as infinite as the sky. Circling one of the fingers is a shining discus that, hurled through the air martial arts style, slices the enemies of goodness and righteousness in two. That discus also represents the spinning universe, which circles his finger like a toy.

In another hand, Vishnu wields a golden baton. He uses this to flatten our egos when we get too big for our britches. A third hand holds a conch, which is a large sea shell Hindus use like a one-note trumpet. This represents Om, the primordial sound from which universe manifested.

Vishnu's last hand holds a lotus, the symbol of purity in Hinduism. A lotus is a beautiful, delicate flower that grows in muddy ponds. Its roots extend down to the mud but the exquisite blossoms float above the water. Just so, our innermost spiritual nature is not polluted by our problems and desires and negative thoughts here in the material world. It floats above in a world of divine illumination.

Vishnu : The Loving Protector

Vishnu is the most popular god in India. Brahma pretty much retired when he finished creating the world. Shiva is just sitting around in meditation till the day when he's supposed to destroy the universe. So for now, according to his devotees, Vishnu is in charge.

Vishnu maintains law and order in the universe. This sometimes entails getting down and dirty. So from time to time, when he things get particularly out of hand down here on planet Earth, Vishnu takes on a human body-or whether other from works best for him under the circumstances -and sets things straight. Rama and Krishna, the he roses of the Ramayana and Mahabratha whom you've already met in Chapter 5, " The People's Religion", were human incarnations of Vishnu.

I'll devote most in Chapter 14, " Avatars : Gods in Human Form ", to telling you about Vishnu's adventures in his various incarnations. Vishnu preserves the world by ensuring that divine law, including the law of karma, continues to act in the world. He is the great hero, the supreme champion, because you can count on his aid when you are acting for the benefit of the world, as Arjuna counted on Krishna during the war in the Mahabharata.

Wish all the Indian's in the World

Happy Deepavali to all of you.

How Deepavali is Celebrated in Malaysia

Malaysia as a country is well known for its diversity. Among diverse culture of Malaysia, Diwali is celebrated in Malaysia by people of all races inhabiting there, Far away in another part of the world, even though Diwali Festival is not celebrated with all that pomp and gaiety, for Indians it is still a time to take a trip back memory lane and enjoy the festival days and spent back home in India celebrating the grand occasion.

It is time to invite the Malays and Chinese to their houses. Its a public holiday in Malaysia and time to visit and pay homage to the elders. However crackers are banned in Malaysia.

What is Deepavali

For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. For Jains, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BCE.

Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama, along with Sita and Lakshmana, from his 14-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas and by bursting fire crackers.

Brahma : The Neglected Creator

Christianity has its Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hinduism also has a triune God, called trimurti, " God in three forms". These forms are Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Protector, and Shiva the Destroyer or Liberator.

Hindus believe that if they can visit the main temples of each of these three deities, all their wishes will be fulfilled. Brahma's temple is in eastern Rajastan. At Vishnu's main temple in Gaya in the state of Bihar, you can actually see his footprint in a black rock. Shiva's main center is in Vishvanath temple in the holy city of Benaras.

In the West, God the Father, " maker of heaven and earth", is our principle deity. While we have innumerable houses of worship to him, in all of India there are only four temples to Lord Brahma, the Creator! It wasn't always this way. Judging from the ancient Puranas, Brahma was once immensely popular in India. Then he made a mistake he's paying for this day.

According to legend, Brahma fell in love with his own daughter and tried to make love to her. Incest is a serious crime in India, and Brahma could not be allowed to set such a poor example for humanity. So Shiva the Destroyer cut off one of Brahma's five heads and sent him home to bed without his supper.

Now in Hinduism even the weirdest-sounding myths often turns out to have profound significance. Hindu teachers explain that Brahma was the creative spirit who found significance. Hindu teachers explain that Brahma was the creative spirit who fell in love with its daughter, matter. When spirit entered matter the whole world process began. But spirit lost part of itself when this happened. It lost its awareness of its true nature. So here we sit, all we children of Brahma, most of us completely unaware of our divine nature.

Curiously, in the Jewish and Christian Gnostic traditions, god the creator winds up in the doghouse, much like Brahma. The Gnostics were angry at yahweh for "trapping" their souls in the material realm. And for pretending to be the only true God when there were other Gods far more powerful than he was!Christian Gnostics believed Jesus' beloved Father was not the creator god of the Old Testament, but a God of light from a much higher dimension of reality, more like the Hindu god Vishnu.

Meet the Hindu Gods

When you travel through India, you'll find the Hindu gods and goddesses everywhere. Their images are tacked to the walls in groceries and sari shops. Small shrines to them are set up in every Hindu home and in most Hindu business. Even the big Indian lorries, " goods carriages" as they're called over there, are decorated with smiling divine faces.

Hinduism has hundreds of gods. It's time for you to meet the most popular.

The Guru Within

Because the human guru represents the divine, he or she is highly honored in Hindu society. The intensity of the devotion many Hindus feel toward their guru is extraordinary. A parent's commitment to a child is for one lifetime. But a guru promises to work with a disciple for as many lifetimes as necessary until the disciple attains God-realization. This is an extraordinary bond.

The guru's job is to introduce you to the guru within. When Ramakrishna touched Naren's forehead, he put him in touch with his own inner guidance. With the guru's grace, Naren Datta (a.k.a. Swami Vivekananda) was able to change the world.

God and the Guru

There is a very special form of God recognized in Hinduism. That is the guru.

Just as a murti is a physical from through which the power and grace of the divine can manifest, a guru is a human form through which divine wisdom and compassion can flow. As my own gurus took pains to clarify, the person isn't really the guru. No more than a tree trunk painted to look like Jagannath is actually the Lord of the world.

During a conference call in which he was simultaneously speaking to many of his disciples at a dozens sites around the world, a swami I studied with explained that considering a person to be the guru is like mistaking the telephone for the person who's calling. In fact there is one divine teacher, called Ishvara or the Supreme Lord, who speaks through innumerable human gurus just as the swami was speaking over multiple phone lines! The real source of truth and spiritual liberation is divinity itself.

The Devil in God

In Hinduism, ignorance-not the devil-is the root of evil. Only self-conscious entitles can be evil,deliberately choosing to do harm to others or to themselves. When a human being, or some other fully conscious entity, fails to recognize that everything is interconnected, that we are all one, that harming another one is literally harming oneself, then that person is acting out of ignorance of the underlying universal reality.

What Christians called evil is called avidya in Sanskrit, which means "lack of knowledge". In mystical states, beginning-level saints first experience the literal unity of all being. They come out of the experience transformed. As Anasuya Devi, the late housewife saint of Jillellamudi, expressed after she became mystically identified with the Mother of the Universe, " I am not anything that you are not. It doesn't appear to me that I am greater than you. The Goddess doesn't exist separately anywhere. You are all the Goddess", Acting from this living realization of primal unity, the saints act for the welfare of all creation. Ignorance has been removed. The choice to commit evil is no longer available in the living light of spirit.

So, in a sense, you could say that God is the ultimate source of evil, because God granted us the free choice between wholesome and unhelpful acts. But God also set the law karma into place, ensuring that all of us eventually learn our lesson ! In Hindu cosmology, the universe is really a universe for souls, and overcoming the evil in ourselves, and learning to deal effectively yet compassionately with the evil in others, is a graduate-level course.

Good and Evil Duke It out

Christian texts describe a battle between angles and demons that won't end until Judgment Day, when God finally puts the Devil down for once and for all. Hinduism also frequently refers to the continual struggle between the devas (divine beings) and asuras (demons) but the significance is very different.

There are stories of devas like Indra behaving badly and the occasional asura like Prahlada who behaves like an angle. Devas and asuras represent different grades of consciousness. Devas are selfless and serviceful-most of the time, anyway. Asuras are selfish and materialistic-though some of them manage to get their act together. The battle between the forces of egotism and selfless love goes on forever, in all world systems where free will- the ability to choose between right and wrong -is a factor. But Hindus do not believe in evil as something that exists as a living malevolent force embodied in a Satan.

The Spirit in The Tree

All of nature is sacred to the Hindu. Some locations seen especially spiritually potent. A river. uniquely shaped rock. A particularly beautiful tree.

If you travel through the Indian countryside, you will run across many makeshift "people's shrines". Trees in particular are often for community worship. You'll find gifts to the tree's sacred spirit left scared spirit left scattered by its roots. Some of these are offerings of thanksgiving for a healing or other blessing the deity associated with the tree has granted.

The Cities have their people's shrines, too. It's not unusual to be walking down a street or alley even in the busiest urban area and suddenly stumble across a little shrine, complete with pocket-size murtis and heartfelt offerings.

" Idol Worship" : Worshipping an Ideal

Let's shift our perspective from the inconceivable reality to the more user-friendly version of God, Saguna Brahman.

" What I am is utterly beyond the capacity of your mind to conceive", the Goddess tells us in the Tripura Rahasya. "Therefore, worship Me in whatever form appeals to you. I promise, in that very from I will come to you". As you can see, compared to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God, the Hindu Goddess has a very liberal  policy!

To the Hindu, Kali and Krishna are forms in which the divine appears. Yahweh and Jesus Christ are, too. There's no need to convert anyone because the Supreme One is working through " whatever form appeals to you" to help you grow spiritually.

Perhaps the Hindu form of God most poorly understood in the West is the image in the temple, pejoratively called an "idol" by members of monotheistic faiths. From early childhood, my Lutheran  Sunday school teachers assured me that the Hindus are primitive and superstitious-and it's our job to " save" them- because they "worship" idols".

Lets' get this straight right here, right now. Hindus do not worship idols. Hindus worship God.

Breathing Statues

Still, the Hindu murtis are not just statues. When an image is installed in a temple, the priest performs a special rite called prana pratishtha. Prana is life energy or breath. Pratishtha means "establish". During ceremony, the living deity is invited to enter the image, to take the statue as one of his or her bodies. The priest breathes onto the image, establishing living energy there, and the statue comes to life.

Once prana pratishtha has been accomplished, the image of the deity is no longer a pretty piece of furniture. From now on, until the life force is formally removed by a priest, the statue is considered as much alive as any other person in the room. Food is brought to the deity throughout the day. The deity is washed and dressed in clean clothes daily, and is fanned and presented with income and tasty desserts. It's treated as an honored guest. Devotees carefully watch what they say, even what they think, in the deity's presence, so as not to cause offense.

Visiting the deity's form in a temple or- as almost all Hindus do- keeping an image of the deity in their own home is a valuable way to practice the presence of God. But it's not just presented. What the statue is formally brought to life, a tiny fraction of the total awareness of the real deity actually takes up residence in a statue. A fraction of infinity is still infinity. So through the awakened image the devotee makes contact with the whole of divine being.

God on Parade

Anyone who's spent some time in India has seen God out parading. On special festival days, Hindus take the murti out of the temple and parade it through town. If the murti is too large or unwieldy to take for a ride, a special substitute image goes instead.

The substitute is just as good as the real thing because during a special ceremony, the priest transfers the living presence of God from the main murti in the temple into the smaller portal one. After all, it's the living presence of God or the Goddess that Hindus worship, not the physical "idol".

The most famous divine parade happens every June or July (the exact date varies from year to year depending on the lunar calendar) in Puri in the state of Orissa. The murtis from the world-famous Jagannath Temple are loaded onto huge carts to be dragged through town. The murtis are of Lord Jagannath (the name means the Lord of the world), his brother Balbhadra , and his sister Subhadra. Lord Jagannath's cart is the 14 meters high and 10 meters square. It has 16 wheels, each more than two meters in diameter. The carts are so heavy it takes over 4,000 strong men to pull them. Getting them rolling is a real chore. And stopping them once they start moving is, too! The English world "juggernaut" came from British observers who watched this procession.

The three murtis are among the best loved in India. You may be interested to know that every decade or the two murtis are destroyed and new ones fashioned from three trunks replace them. Let me make my point again : It is not the "idol" itself that is worshipped but the divine presence in it.

Divine Outlets

The "real" God or Goddess is beyond from, existing everywhere at once. It is the "real" deity to whom the devotee offers worship. The "real" source of electricity is the power plant. But you don't go to the power plant to get your electricity. You just stick your plug in an outlet in the wall. Because "living" electricity flows through the outlet, that outlet needs to be treated with respect. You don't just casually stick your fingers into it.

In the Hindu tradition, murtis are outlet for divine grace. The priest hooks up the system and divine energy starts to flow. Since time immemorial, Hindus have energized their spiritual lives using empowered images of divinity.

Speaking from my personal experience, I can report that occasionally a murti is so "juiced up" , it's as if a force surrounds it. You step within several yards of the statue and suddenly feel as if you're walking into a wall of pulsing energy. My guess is that is an objective rather than purely subjective phenomenon because usually everyone walking toward the murti feels the energy field at the same point.