Gift Sets

Building work was in progress. Huge rocks and stones loaded on to creaking carts were being dragged up the hill where the fort was being built, the sun was high. It was almost noon. The backs of the laborers glistened with sweat and perspiration trickled down their brows. Shivaji, king of the Marathas stood there…

III.7 1. Then Uddalaka Aruni questioned him. ‘Yajnavalkya,’ he said, ‘we were living among the Madras, in the house of Patancala Kapya, studying the sacrifice. He had a wife who was possessed by a gandharva. We asked the gandharva, “Who are you?” He said, “Kabandha Atharvana.” He asked Patancala Kapya and us students of the…

Linga worship has an ancient past which goes beyond the geopolitical boundaries of any single nation. Traces of linga worship have been found in Mayan, Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Indus valley civilisations. The linga, which emanates life and light, can be associated with the Egyptian hermaphrodite. In 1925, O.A. Wall drew a reference which says that…

Yudhishthira, the eldest of the five Pandavas princes, was born to Kunti by the grace of Yama. His actions were free from passion and prejudice. He came to be considered the very embodiment of Dharma and was respectfully referred to as Dharmaraja.Yama, the awe-inspiring God of Death, is also revered as the Lord of Justice….

The Panchatantra, written by a great Hindi scholar Vishnu Sharma, is perhaps the best-known collection of tales from ancient India. There are several versions of it. One of them, by Vasubhaga Bhatta is lost. Fortunately the Panchatantram, in Kannada, by Durgasimha (12th Century) is available. It contains over twenty tales not found in Vishnu Sharma?s…

451. Sarvadarshee ? “All-knower.” As He is the pure Consciousness in all living creatures, all knowledge in all beings is illumined by Him. Just as the sun is “the eye of the universe,” so the Consciousness is the Illuminator of everything. 452. Vimuktaatmaa ? ?The ever-liberated Self.” The Supreme, though He expresses Himself through the…