​We know that Lord Rama (also written as Ram) had a very tough life-path. Even though he was God incarnate, his life on earth was full of strife and challenges. He finds a very loving, beautiful wife only to first have her abducted and then when he is frees her and bring her home, he has to again send her away to follow his duty as a righteous king!

At an apparent level, it does not seem like the life of a ‘hero’. But when we really study his life, he is a true hero, because thru all the challenges that come his way, he shows us how to face them with faith, righteous behavior, and true dignity. That is the reason why Lord Rama is considered as an example of an ‘ideal man’. Even though he faces myriads of challenges, he continues to walk his life-path, his reason for incarnating on this earth.

Something to think about... in general and particularly, as we approach his day of incarnation (Rama Navami) … what are some of the challenges that you are facing in your life that is making you question your life-path and purpose?

If you are sure that, that is what you are here on earth for, then pray to Lord Rama and ask for his blessings, strength, and support so you too can face your fears and challenges and continue to walk on your life-path. And ofcourse, if you doubt or wonder about your life-path then still you can pray to him and ask for his guidance and insight, so that you will obtain the needed clarity of life-purpose.

Lord Rama who signifies the Sun, helps to light our life and our path. He can bring us clarity of vision and purpose. He can also help us to face our fears and muster up the needed courage to face our challenges and do the tough tasks while walking our life-path and fulfilling the purpose why we were born on this earth.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Rama Navami… Jai Shree Ram…

Categories:
Festival Celebrations,   Gods And Deities,   and   Vedic Bytes  
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Keywords and Tags:
#RamNavami #RamaNavami #JaiShreeRam #JaiShreeRama #BirthofRam #RamJanmaBhoomi #RamaTheIdealMan #ChaitraNavaratri #RamandSita​ #HinduFestival #LordRam #LordRama 

Are you facing a problem in your life, where you need to muster up more courage to face it? If you need courage and valor in your life, then seek help from the Vedic Divine Archetype of Skanda. Lord Skanda is known by many other names as well, such as Kumara, Murugan and Subrahmanya. He is typically addressed to as “The God of War”.​

Learn more about Lord Skanda and how his blessings can bring more vitality into your way of living…

Contemplate on   the Vedic Divine Archetype, to better 'tune into' their energetic presence and to get more in-sync (in resonance) with their energy- in turn will bring their goodness (their blessings) into your life.

​Lord Skanda can help you with addressing any challenging issues in your life. He can help you to better deal with inimical situations and people in your life. 

​Lord Skanda is the first son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. He is considered as the god of warfare, who leads the divine army against all opposition (usually from the demon asuras). He exhibits the quality of standing up for what is fair and just.

​Categories: 
Vedic Archetypes     and   Gods And Deities

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Ganesh is one of the widely known Hindu deities. This joyously happy and extremely benevolent elephant-faced God is revered and cherished not just by Hindus but also by many people of other spiritual faiths.

All Hindu deities represent cosmic energies that are part of the Divine Universal Energy or the Supreme God-head. 

In this regard, Ganesh represents the energy that is capable of removing obstacles and obstructions. Due to this, he is revered and paid obeisance before starting any auspicious or important work. His blessings are sought before starting travel to ensure safe, smooth journey and successful completion of work.

​According to mythology, Ganesh is the second son of the deities- Shiva and Parvati. Here the concept of ‘son’ is used to indicate the product or an effective outcome. 

Shiva represents the Male Cosmic energy principle of our form-created world and Parvati (who is another representation of Shakti), is the Female Cosmic energy principle.  Both these primal Male and Female cosmic energy principles are responsible for creating our form world.

The energy of this action of creation (kinetic or action energy) is their first son- Karthikeya.  Thus Shiva and Shakti together create this form-world as we know.

​Their second son is Ganesh. Thus his energy is of prime importance in this created (manifested) world and he is considered as a ruling-leader of the masses. It is due to this leadership position that Ganesh is revered before starting any important task. He is considered as the prime energy of importance in our material world for special occasions as well as day to day existence.

This Ganesh energy is called by many names to address his various abilities and qualities- as a Leader of the Masses, he is called Ganaraj or Ganapati) and as a Remover of Obstacles; he is called Vighnaharta .

Ganesh’s two consorts are Buddhi (Intellect) and Siddhi (Accomplishment). Typically his consort Buddhi is also addressed as Riddhi which is Abundance or Affluence.  This is to indicate that the energy of Ganesh is the governing energy behind intelligence, abundance, affluence and accomplishment.

​Joyous benevolent Ganesh is revered by millions worldwide across many cultures and countries. He comes to the aid of anyone who requests through prayers for help and guidance. It could be in the form of daily prayers or to ask for obstructions & obstacles to be cleared before starting a special venture or before starting on a journey for its successful completion. 

As the ruling energy- i.e. the Leader of the Masses- Ganapati is always willing to help and benefit anyone who seeks his guidance.

Categories:
Gods And Deities

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#Ganesh #Hindu #God #Ganesha #Hindu #Vedic #VedicWisdom #GaneshSymbolism #Vighnaharta #Vinayaka #SiddhiVinayak #tantricformofGanesh #TantricGanesha #TantricGanesh #Ganapati #ascension #consciousness

A little bit ago, I wrote about how visiting the crystal caves in Slovenia, gave me some deep insights and understanding into life’s creative processes. If you have not read that article, then you can read it here. 

Kali- the fierce Goddess is usually associated with primal female energy. Though the word Kali indicates time, which Ma Kali represents as the very first of the ten wisdom goddesses (Dasha Mahavidyas), what needs to be understood is that Kali also means “that which is carefully measured out”. 

Any work of creation is accomplished by the conglomeration of carefully measured out smaller bits (of work, of efforts, of actions and so on) and this is what Ma Kali represents. 

It can be our inner self or our outer self. If we want to create a successful life, we need to work with and harness the power of this very first, very powerful and the primal female energy of space and time- Ma Kali. She can help us on our soul journey…

As the Festival of Nine Nights- Navratri begins, let us make a firm resolve (Sankalp) and renew our commitment to walking this path of conscious and aware living.

To learn more about Ma Kali:

• Kali Energy (who is Kali?)
• ​Mantras of Kali: How and Why to pray to Ma Kali
• Significance of Ma Kali's Arms
• ​Why is Kali Dancing?
• Kali Bija Mantra

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Also, mull over Ma Kali’s qualities and blessings and see how you can bring her presence, grace and blessings into your life.

Categories:
Festival Celebrations  and   Gods And Deities
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Keywords and Tags:
#mothergoddessfestival #hindufestival #navaratri #Shakti #WisdomofShakti #Navratri #KaliSadhana #PrayingtoKali #festivalofninenights #Kali #DurgaPuja #Durga  

Happy Hartalika and a wonderful joyous Ganesh Chaturthi everyone!  :-)
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As we walk our path on this spiritual journey, it is even more important to understand the lessons and wisdom of Ganesh. He is supposed to be honored before venturing on any new endeavor and probably the most important endeavor we ever take in our life, is our decision to find the Divine-  to find our  "real self".

​You may want to watch Who is Ganesh? to learn more about this wonderful and kind deity who is always willing to hear our woes and help in removing our sorrows and obstructions! 

Ganesh Symbolism and Meaning is a nice short video explaining the Vedic symbolism in why Ganesh has been attributed the form that he has- which is with an elephant face and a human body.

Categories:
Festival Celebrations,   Gods And Deities

​Keywords and Tags:
​#GaneshChaturthi2020  #GaneshChaturthi  #HappyGaneshChaturthi  #GaneshFestival #HinduFestivalsofGanesh #MaitreyiParadigm  #WisdomofGanesh

Uchchhishta Ganapati, which is the tantric form of Lord Ganesh, is typically worshipped by those following vamachara, which is the left-handed tantric traditions. 
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Uchchhishta Ganapati is usually shown darker in complexion. Sometimes he is shown with a reddish hue or having a blue color. One of the key features that is observed in his form- is that Uchchhishta Ganapati is mostly shown with his consort sitting on his lap.

This is where there are some contradictory symbolisms!! There is certain school of thought which indicates that this tantric form of Lord Ganesh, i.e. Uchchhishta Ganapati is one of those rare instances where Shakti is depicted as his consort. 

Note: For those of you who may not be very familiar, Lord Ganesh is considered as the second child of Lord Shiva and Goddess Shakti.

Irrespective of this viewpoint, Uchchhishta Ganapati is always shown with a naked consort, who is seated on his left lap. The god is generally depicted with four arms and holds a pasha, an ankusha and a laddoo or a modak (a sweet confection), while the fourth arm hugs the nude goddess around her hip. His consort typically holds a lotus or another flower with her left hand while touching the lingam (phallus of Lord Ganapati) with her right hand.  Similarly, the tip of Ganapati’s trunk touches the yoni (vagina) of the goddess.

It needs to be mentioned that as with many of the left-handed tantric rituals, there are not many authoritative scriptural references. And there are also many contradictions in the accepted imagery and iconic symbolism of Uchchhishta Ganapati.
 
You can read about the symbolism that is involved in this erotic imagery:
How Ascension is depicted in the Tantric traditions- The Divine Union (yoga) of the Male & Female Energy Principles

​#Ganesh #Hindu #God #Ganesha #Hindu #Vedic #VedicWisdom #GaneshSymbolism #Vighnaharta #Vinayaka #SiddhiVinayak #tantricformofGanesh #TantricGanesha #TantricGanesh #Uchchhishta #lefthandedtantra #vamachara #tantra #Ganapati #ascension #consciousness

Lord Ganesh is probably the most known and widely loved of all the Hindu deities… and rightly so, as he is the form, who removes any and all obstacles from our path and blesses us with wisdom and success, among other amazing blessings.
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But like all other deities, there is a tantric form of Lord Ganesh. He is called as the Uchchhishta Ganapati. Uchchhishta Ganapati is the primary deity of the Uchchhishta Ganapatya sect, one of six major schools of the Ganapatyas.

This tantric form of Lord Ganesh, i.e. Uchchhishta Ganapati is typically worshipped by those following vamachara, which is the left-handed tantric traditions. Uchchhishta Ganapati is one of the thirty-two forms of Lord Ganesh.

The word- Uchchhishta, refers to the food left over at the end of a ritual. In the tantric connotation, Uchchhishta is the food kept in the mouth and so is now mixed and ‘contaminated' with saliva. Typically, in the traditional viewpoint, such food would be considered impure and so would not be allowed. 

But this is accepted in the left-handed tantric rituals, which utilizes forbidden ways to seek The Divine.
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Uchchhishta Ganapati is usually shown to be of a darker complexion- sometimes with a reddish hue. True to typical tantric color symbolism, Uchchhishta Ganapati is also depicted in blue color.  

You read in detail about the tantric form of Uchchhishta Ganapati:

​Form and representation of Uchchhishta Ganapati- the Tantric form of Lord Ganesh

​#Ganesh #Hindu #God #Ganesha #Hindu #Vedic #VedicWisdom #GaneshSymbolism #Vighnaharta #Vinayaka #SiddhiVinayak #tantricformofGanesh #TantricGanesha #TantricGanesh #Uchchhishta #lefthandedtantra #vamachara #tantra #Ganapati #ascension #consciousness