Hindu Deities & their meanings

gayatri1.jpg


Actually there is a distinction between the gayatri meter and the gayatri mantra

Regardless of the numerous gayatris given by vedic authority, the central one, common to all schools is the brahma gayatri

BG 10.35: Of the hymns in the Sāma Veda I am the Bṛhat-sāma, and of poetry I am the Gāyatrī. Of months I am Mārgaśīrṣa [November-December], and of seasons I am flower-bearing spring.

Like the gayatri meter there are 16 108 different meters (according to the Chandas anyway - presently only a handful remain) - I read on Wikipedia (don't know if its true) that the theme song for battle star galactica is an abbreviated form of the gayatri meter ......

The gayatri mantra is a specific mantra - it is chanted by lots of different people, sometimes even school kids in morning parade in India, (even a few indian influenced western musicians bring out some versions of the gayatri mantra from time to time) - but according to the vedas it is a silent meditation performed by those that have undergone brahminical initiation at the three junctions of the day (one hour before sunrise, at midday and twilight)

The problem is that the gayatri is meant for spiritually advanced persons and thus it is not advocated as a general means for the conditioned soul to come to the platform of spiritual emancipation - in other words understanding what the gayatri mantra "means" is not so straight forward as reading a translation or someone's commentary on it or even studying sanskrit. Its kind of like having access to a compressed file but not being able to decompress it, because the (brahma) gayatri mantra is completely non-different from god, and unlike the maha-mantra it doesn't bestow benedictions without considerations of qualifications

http://www.iskcon.com/basics/mahamantra.html

There are prayers in glorification of Mother Gayatri on
http://www.gayatri.info/Bhajans/EnglisChalisa.html
 
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lightgigantic said:
The goddess of fortune personally comes to that place where fools are not worshiped, where grains are carefully stocked, and where there are no quarrels between husband and wife.
(Canakya Pandit - famous logician)
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Sounds a great deal like "God helps him who helps himself".

Little Johnny was working in his garden when this Old Lady came by and told him he should Thank God for all the wonderful plants, flowers and vegtables. But Little Johnny replied "Oh, yeah... well, before I showed up, God only had a Weed Patch."
 
Another name for the goddess of fortune is Cancala.

from SB 3.15.21 Purport

It is also stated here that in the Vaikuṇṭha planets the goddesses of fortune are faultless. Generally the goddess of fortune does not remain steadily in one place. Her name is Cañcalā, which means "one who is not steady." We find, therefore, that a man who is very rich may become the poorest of the poor. Another example is Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa took away Lakṣmī, Sītājī, to his kingdom, and instead of being happy by the grace of Lakṣmī, his family and his kingdom were vanquished. Thus Lakṣmī in the house of Rāvaṇa is Cañcalā, or unsteady. Men of Rāvaṇa's class want Lakṣmī only, without her husband, Nārāyaṇa; therefore they become unsteady due to Lakṣmījī. Materialistic persons find fault on the part of Lakṣmī, but in Vaikuṇṭha Lakṣmījī is fixed in the service of the Lord. In spite of her being the goddess of fortune, she cannot be happy without the grace of the Lord. Even the goddess of fortune needs the Lord's grace in order to be happy, yet in the material world even Brahmā, the highest created being, seeks the favor of Lakṣmī for happiness.

Therefore another name for Vishnu is Srinath (Sri - goddess of fortune - Natha - protector or husband)
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Mukunda Mala Stotra
SÜTRA 28-29. O Srinätha, Näräyana, Väsudeva, divine Krsna, O kind friend of Your devotees! O Cakrapäni, Padmanäbha, Acyuta, Kaitabhäri, Räma, Padmäksa, Hari, Muräri! O Ananta, Vaikuntha, Mukunda, Krsna, Govinda, Dämodara, Mädhava! Although all people can address You, still they remain silent. Just see how eager they are for their own peril!
 
Leo Volont said:
Sounds a great deal like "God helps him who helps himself".

Little Johnny was working in his garden when this Old Lady came by and told him he should Thank God for all the wonderful plants, flowers and vegtables. But Little Johnny replied "Oh, yeah... well, before I showed up, God only had a Weed Patch."
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BG 10.10: To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.

yes, surrender to god doesn't innvolve sitting on your brains
:)
 
Controversial in some circles (mainly those that consider scripture to be mundane) but Buddha is also an incarnation of vishnu

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(from gita govinda - prayers glorifying incarnations of vishnu)
9
nindasi yajna-vidher ahaha shruti-jatam
sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam
keshava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Buddha! All glories to You! O Buddha of compassionate heart, you decry the slaughtering of poor animals performed according to the rules of Vedic sacrifice

lots of links here
http://www.salagram.net/Buddha-dev.html

tried to nut this one out on sciforums here
http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?p=1182601#post1182601
 
http://www.templenet.com/

A resource giving information on the temples of India

This temple is a very famous one in Mumbai. Every Monday people from all over Mumbai walk barefoot early morning or late late night (after 1 am) to this temple. They have a delicious prasad (sweet offering).

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The Siddhi Vinayak temple at Prabhadevi in Mumbai is a well visited one attracting thousands all through the year.

The Temple: The known history of the temple dates back to early nineteenth century. This temple has been renovated thoroughly in the late 1900s in order to accomodate the needs of the surging crowds of devotees that throng the temple during festive occasions.

The sanctum here houses a small mandapam enshrining Siddhi Vinayak. The inner roof of the sanctum is plated with gold, and the wooden doors to the sanctum are carved with images of Ashta Vinayak.

Siddhi Vinayak: Most icons of Ganapati depict the elephant faced God with his trunk curled towards his left. Siddhi Vinayak in Mumbai, Siddhi Vinayak at Siddhatek in Maharashtra as well as Karpaka Vinayakar at Pillayarpatti in Tamilnadu are depicted with a trunk pointing to the right (Valampuri).

Ganapati here is depicted with four arms bearing a lotus, an axe, modakas and a garland of beads, flanked by his consorts Siddhi and Riddhi.

Festivals: Hundreds of thousands of devotees throng the temple, especially during Angaraki and Sankashti Chaturti days, when there is a continuous stream of visitors for as long as a 24 hour period.
 
hindu lesser gods

the leseer gods are all expressions of the formless overall nameless creator god in hinduism i have been studying it a little over the last month or so its interesting,
 
EmptyForceOfChi said:
the leseer gods are all expressions of the formless overall nameless creator god in hinduism i have been studying it a little over the last month or so its interesting,
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actually there are different dialecticss within the vedic writings - some say that the formless brahman is supreme ( a view popularized by the british who, for the sake of forming a simplified historical continuum of the culture of india- and thus make it appear subservient to christianity - , relied exclusively on the scriptural commentaries of sankacharya) while others say that the personal form of visnu is the basis of brahman - the last view can be supported by the bhagavad-gita

BG 14.36 And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness.

The result of this mixing of dialects is that on a popular level people tend to recognize the unique position of visnu and on an academic level it is advocated that the formless brahman is the ultimate

more info here
 
UltiTruth said:
BTW, the term "brahman" isn't commonly used much in India.
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Thats right - it is mostly used by those who are religious scholars or erudite practioners - most religious people don't really read that much scripture and in this regard hindus are the same as any other division of faith .... perhaps even more competitive -lol

samcdkey said:
Yes most Indians use the term Bhagwan instead.

Is that right?
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Bhagavan (many times the a is silent and the v turns into a w, hence bhagwan) means the possessor of 6 opulences

Bhagavan means who possesses these six opulences in full: all riches, all strength, all influence, all wisdom, all beauty, all renunciation.
(Visnu Purana 6.5.47)

Actually the word bhagavan is reserved for god, however there are occasions where the term is also used to indicate a pure devotee of god, since on account of a pure devotee's dearness to god, whatever god possesses is possessed by them also (And of course it is more often used by unscrupulous persons to take advantage of people's lack of philosophical grounding in the vedas to pass themselves off as incarnations of god etc)
 
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Siddhi Vinayak is superior to Vishnu. Vinayak means 'no one above him". Narayana is the Supreme. Shiva is the the Ultimate God. Krishna has no parallel and the Greatest. Without Vishnu there is no Brahman. Sakthi is above all. Let me find out if anyone is left out.
 
everneo said:
Siddhi Vinayak is superior to Vishnu. Vinayak means 'no one above him". Narayana is the Supreme. Shiva is the the Ultimate God. Krishna has no parallel and the Greatest. Without Vishnu there is no Brahman. Sakthi is above all. Let me find out if anyone is left out.
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you seem to have compiled a list of personalities who possess greater merit than humans - but to examine the existing hierarchical systems requires a bit more closer scrutiny by scriptures

for instance regarding ganapati

Brahma-samhita 5.50
I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, whose lotus feet are always held by Ganesa upon the pair of tumuli protruding from his elephant head in order to obtain power for his function of destroying all the obstacles on the path of progress of the three worlds.
PURPORT
The power of destroying all obstacles to mundane prosperity has been delegated to Ganesa who is the object of worship to those who are eligible to worship him. He has obtained a rank among the five gods as Brahmä possessing mundane quality. The self-same Ganesa is a god in possession of delegated power by infusion of the divine power. All his glory rests entirely on the grace of Govinda.

I could bring up other slokas regarding siva and durga (I assume taht is who you are referencing by sakti), but here's one that catches it all

Brahma-samhita 5.43
Lowest of all is located Devi-dhama [mundane world], next above it is Mahesa-dhäma [abode of Mahesa]; above Mahesa-dhäma is placed Hari-dhäma [abode of Hari] and above them all is located Krsna's own realm named Goloka. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, who has allotted their respective authorities to the rulers of those graded realms.

 
Is the Brahma-samhita a separate document or part of the Bhagavatam Purana?

Shaivites, for instance, do not consider Vishnu to be Supreme. Instead, if you read the Shiva Purana and the Shiva Agamas, Vishnu and all the other Gods bow to the Shiva. And if you read the Shakti Purana, Vishnu, Shiva and all the other Gods bow to Shakti and her other forms.

In Hinduism, God is considering transcendent (impersonal) and immanent (personal), so it is no surprise that in each Purana, each sage had his favorite deity who he placed above the rest. To establish a heirarchy is almost impossible.

Read the Upanishads and you will find that Brahman is not even that transcendent, and instead, acts like a God himself (formless, cannot be sensed or known, but only experienced). According to the Upanishads, it explicitly states that Brahman is the source of all the Gods and makes no exception for Vishnu or any other Gods.

The Bhagavad Gita was written much later than the Upanishads and most likely by a Vaishnavite, who grew up being taught that Vishnu was the highest, and thus incorporated it into the scripture.
 
LG,

If i quote shivapurana or devi mahatmiyam or skandapurana you would realize that all the puranas/samhitas including bhavad purana/brahma-smhita emphasise only their favourite deities are supreme. There is no point in finding who is supreme, anyway. besides, it is rather divisive argument.
 
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