Kanchipuram in North Tamil Nadu is a great seat of religion, culture and education. It is hailed as “Nagareshu Kanchi”, the best among cities. The principal deity of Kanchipuram is Kamakshi and the deities of all the shrines in Kanchipuram face her temple. The Linga which is believed to be made of sand by Goddess Parvathi herself…

Tiruchirappali or Trichy, as it is called now, is at the geographical centre of the state ofTamilnadu and is a great pilgrim centre. Here is situated the temple dedicated to Lord Jambukeshwara and Goddess Akhilandeshwari. A forest of Jambu trees existed near a tank here and Lord Shiva is said to have manifested under one of the t…

Arunachala is one of the oldest and most sacred of India’s holy places. Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the Sage of Arunachala, declared it to be the heart of the earth, the spiritual centre of the world. Arunachala is called Tiruvannamalai, the hill which cannot be reached, in Tamil. The Shiva linga here is a manifestation of fire…

This is the only panchabhoota kshetra outside Tamil Nadu state. Situate in Andhra Pradesh near Tirupati, Kalahasti is one of the most sacred Shaivite shrines. The vayu linga is housed in a vast temple that abounds in sculptural wealth adjacent to the hill on the banks of the river Swarnamukhi. In the inner sanctum, there is a lam…

The confluence of great art, vibrant religion and esoteric philosophy; the meeting point of great artists, poets, sages and the Gods; Chidambaram is the only place on earth that can boast of all this and more. It is one of the very rare shrines where Shiva can be worshipped in human form in the inner sanctum itself and where the …

Savithaagni / Sadaakshari Mantram  MOST IMPORTANT MANTRA. This mahamatra is the combination of Mruthyanjaya mantram, Gayathri mantram and Durga Suktham... This Mahamatra is very useful and effective, when chanted for 108 times a day for 16 days continuously for the welfare of others who are totally bedridden for some unknow…

Panchakshara is a Mahamantra which is composed of five letters, Namassivaya. A Mantra is that which removes all obstacles and miseries of one who reflects on it and bestows eternal bliss and immortality. Panchakshara is the best among seven crores of Mantras. There are seven Skandhas in Yajurveda. There is Rudradhyayi in the cent…

Varalakshmi Vratam is an important pooja performed by many women in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and some parts of Tamil Nadu, and women who worship Goddess Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth) situated in many parts of the world. The Hindu festival going by the name 'Vara Lakshmi Vrata' is celebrated on the last F…

n the Sivapurana it has been told that once Sanatkumara was traveling in an aircraft and happened to see sage Parasara, practicing austerities (tapas ) on the banks of the river Saraswathi. Sanatkumara stopped by and asked the latter the reason for being at such a lonely place. Sage Parasara replied that having done his ordained …

Dark Mother! Always gliding near with soft feet, Have none chanted for Thee a chant of fullest welcome? Walt Whitman. IT may have been that the fore-fathers saw it in the mountains. Or it may have been elsewhere. Somewhere it came to the Hindu mind that the beauty of snow peaks and moonlight, and standing water, was different…

Tattvas are parts or principles or aspects of nature. Their presence or absence, combination and permutation play an important role in the creation of the diversity of worlds, their objects and beings, individual bodies, limbs and organs. In short their aggregation and segregation constitute the building blocks of the whole mate…

Sivalinga literally means the body of Siva. Next to the symbol of AUM, it is perhaps the most potent, powerful and popular symbol in entire Hinduism. In almost all the Siva temples, worship is generally made to Sivalingas only. Very rarely we come across his images in the sanctum sanctorum of any Siva temple. A Sivalinga is usual…

Siva means the auspicious. That auspicious quality comes from his being present in the  macrocosm as well as in the microcosm as the purifier, liberator and sustainer. By His mere presence, the world comes to life and so also the body. The body is pure as long as He is present in the body and when He departs it becomes impure. He…

In the Eighth Chapter of the unpublished Sammohana Tantra, it is said that Shamkara manifested on earth in the form of Shamkaracarya, in order to root out Buddhism from India. It compares his disciples and himself to the five Mahapreta (who form the couch on which the Mother of the Worlds rests), and identifies his maths with the…

Shakti is the dynamic power of Siva through which he manifests the worlds and their myriad objects and beings. Monistic schools of Saivism believe that shakti is inseparable from Siva just as heat from fire, light from the sun, night from the sky or a reflection from the mirror. They also believe that Siva is both the efficient a…