All Questions

Brahamanas (at least orthodox followers) are expected to follow a ton of daily achara & anushtana, for e.g. Anushtana: Get up during brahma muhurta Do Pratah-Sandhya before sun-rise Do Ijyai (...

The Satadhusani is a work by the Sri Vaishnava Acharya Vedanta Desikan consisting of 100 refutations of Adi Shankaracharya's philosophy of Advaita. One chapter of the work is devoted to refuting the ...

When we say that a person is in deep meditation then what exactly do we mean: Is the person still aware of what is going around him, like he can hear the various sounds be it anything? He is not ...

In the Skanda Purana, Prabhasa kanda, chapter 19 there is a list of incarnations of Vishnu. It mentions an avatar to kill the asuras in the 21st dwapara yuga. Verse 79-80: It was in the twenty-...

Lord Hanuman, as we know is an ardent devotee of Lord Rama (Lord Vishnu's incarnation). But at the same time He is said to be Lord Shiva's incarnation. So is Hanuman worship more associated with ...

According to hinduism life span of every individual human depends on his respiratory breaths?

What is the history of brahmana diet? Brahmins are generally vegetarians but there are some exceptions to it such as Pancha-Gauda Brahmans, Kashmiri Brahmans, and Oriya Brahmins? So why is there so ...

I am unable to narrow it down to Sankhya or yoga or something else?

Uttamam swArjitam vittam madhyamam putrArjitam adhamam bhrAtru jAyAdi stree vittam adhamAdhamam Meaning: One's own income/wealth is the best to live on, it is moderate to live on son's income, ...

This question quotes the Sanskrit grammarian Yāska as saying he didn't know the meaning of some 400 words of the Vedas. Is this still the case with modern translations of Vedas?

The Alwars (also spelled Azhwars) are a group of 12 ancient Vaishnava saints who lived in Tamil Nadu and are famous for their poetry in praise of Vishnu. One of the Alwars was Thirumangai Alwar, aka ...

I searched a lot while trying to find answer to What was the lifestyle of Gaudapada? ; Though I couldn't find an answer worthy to post. I read couple of research papers and some pages of a very useful ...

According to Advaita Vedanta, things like caste, gotra, etc, will cease to exist after realization. But when Adi Shankara met a Chandala in Varanasi, he asked the Chandala to move away from his path. ...

I'm a grade teacher, who is going to introduce astronomy to 12 year olds. I want them to have a phenomenalogical understanding of the subject. From there I want to present the models in existence. In ...

Where is the stress should fall? nAchiket nachIket nachikEt

Sri Vasudev Sarvabhouma, Kavi Karnapur, Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatana, Sri Srijiva Goswami, Sri Baladev Vidyabhushana --none of them accepted any link between Madhva sect and the Gaudiya Vaishnava sect.(...

How are the slokas in Skanda Purana divided? Suppose Ramayana is divided into Kandas, which are further divided into sargas etc..

In our Vedas/ Upanishads, Vishnu/Narayana, Shiva/Rudra and Uma/Devi are all names of the Supreme Godhead. They same holds for different Puranas also. Why does then Vyasadeva declare the Shaiva Mata ...

According to Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna was siddha in 18 bhavas.Can anybody mention what are these 18 bhavas according to our scriptures?

Since Shiva resides in Kailasa (which is on Earth I think), does he have avataras? For example, is his test of Arjuna, where he blesses him with the Pasupata-astra considered an avatara?

If I am learning something like learning physics or chemistry or maths means who is learning? Is it Atman or my brain? If Atman means why can't it (Atman) realize after death that I belong to this ...

I can’t really remember. But I read somewhere where he says to keep telling yourself “Aham Brahmasmi”....and other mahavakyas until it becomes the living reality

(Other similar questions on this site don't have proper answer with scriptural reference. The Wikipedia answer doesn't cite sources, also don't think it's accurate, because Gita 'rudranam sankaras ...

If you see all marriage mantras or mantras to praise God written only in Sanskrit, why can't those mantras still not getting converted to local languages like hindi, telugu, tamil, malayalam etc so ...

I heard that Balinese Hindus always include non-vegetarian in their diet including pork and beef. Is this true?

Vishnu can be called by name श्रिहान. It is not present in Vishnu Sahasranamam. Which scripture contains the name and what is the actual meaning of it?

I have already cited an alleged quote from Mahabharata that has not been authenticated. This quote is cited on this website in another post. All inauthentic material cited at HSE diminishes its ...

In garbha upanishad it says, the colors are basically of seven types viz., white, red, black, smoky gray, yellow and golden white.” What are these seven types? How these are categories in 7 types?

I have read that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa would often teach devotion to less advanced disciples but would only teach Advaita to Vivekananda. Did Vivekananda worship any personal deity?

Please let me know the source of shloka Raghavo Vijayam Dadyad mama sitapatih prabhuh I want to know from where this mantra has been picked

Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva are the names of Pandavas. Pandu is the father of Pandavas. Kunti is mother of Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna. Madri is mother of Nakula and Sahadeva....

Swami Vivekananda was born on 12 January 1863. Does the time of birth is mentioned anywhere?

Do the scriptures mention about sleeping postures and mattresses?

It is a sin for a human to kill other humans, animals, etc. But what about celestial beings? Is it a sin for a human to kill innocent Rakshasas, Asuras, Pisachas, and Nagas? Like can humans commit ...

It curdled my stomach to see the Wiki article on Hiranyaksha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiranyaksha Once, Hiranyaksha assaulted the defenseless Mother Earth and pulled her deep into the cosmic ...

In other words, as an approximate sphere going round the Sun with other planets some closer to the Sun and some further away? Whether this modern view of the Solar System exists in scripture has not ...

Every Tretha yuga contains Rama and Ravana. Similarly every Dwapara yuga has Krishna. Is there any mention of multiple Narakasura across different mahayugas?

The Asuras and Rakshasas have a knack for destroying the Earth, the Vedic civilization, and the members of the 4 castes. Do the armies of the Asuras and Rakshasas form alliances with the Mleccha ...

What are all the incidents mentioned in the scriptures where Asuras have tried to destroy the Earth? I know of three: Bali's sister's attempt to annihilate the Earth, Hiranyaksha's submersion of ...

Just like the Devas have their own army under the command of Kartikeya, and Shiva has his army of Bhuta Ganas, Vishnu has his own army in Vaikuntha under the command of Vishvaksena, who is a nitya ...

It is recorded in the Puranas and Itihasas that Krishna and Shiva destroyed some cities, like Kashi and Tripura respectively, with astras and other celestial weapons. My question is, has any Asura (...

The quote “since the fifth century B.C., every known royal family has come from a non-Kshatriya caste” is attributed to KM Panikkar. What evidence would support or refute this claim? This question ...

In the Mahabharata, Krishna destroyed the city Kashi with his Sudarshana Chakra. Is the use of Brahmastras and other celestial Astras, akin to weapons of mass destruction, to destroy entire cities ...

If a man kills an innocent man he kills the whole mankind . And if a man saves an innocent man he saves the whole mankind. Why such things not written in geeta

After the Rajasuya by Yudhistira, Duryodhana also tries to perform it with the help of Karna. What is the intention of Duryodhana in performing Rajasuya? Is it mentioned in Mahabharata?

The dhyana-mantra of Dakshina-Kali quoted in Tantra-saara says that She is holding Kharga in Her upper left hand, chinna-munda in lower left hand, abhaya-mudra in upper right hand and vara mudra in ...

According to Sri Ramanujacharya, 'pasupati-mata' is non-adorable as it is against the Vedas: "pasupati-matasya vedavirodhaad asaamanjyasyaad cha anaadaraniyaa iti uchyate" (Ref: Mahaprabhu Sri ...

Why are the Vishnu Silas found from Gandaki river called 'Salagrama' Silas?

As explained in this answer, Vidura left his mortal body and entered Yudhishthira’s Possessed of great intelligence, he then (by his Yoga-power) entered the body of Yudhishthira, limb by limb. ...

My ancestors were Brahmins but they were forced to be Muslims, so I am a born Muslim but I already converted to Hinduism and I'm a pure vegetarian and I have knowledge of Vedas and Mahabharata. So can ...