Few days back Nag Panchami was celebrated so I thought I should add the information about this festival. Nag Panchami is an important all-India festival and is celebrated on the fifth day of the moonlit-fortnight in the month of Shravan (July /August). This is the time when serpents invariably come out of their holes that get inundated with rain-water to seek shelter in gardens and many times in houses. As such they pose a great danger to man. May be therefore, snakes are worshiped on this day. Right from the times when mankind started acquiring some sort of culture, Sun and Snake have been invoked with prayers and ritual worship in most of the countries. In India even before the Vedic times, the tradition of snake-worship was in vogue.
Here are some of the links which talk about this festival in detail.
- http://www.bawarchi.com/festivals/nagpanchami.html
- http://www.aryabhatt.com/fast_fair_festival/Festivals/Nag%20Panchami.htm
The word Puja came from the Dhathu “Puj”, which means to worship, to honor, to welcome. The root of the word Puja is “Yaja” Deva Poojaayaam” means the service or activities that one cannot avoid from doing to propitiate or please God. Every country, state, religion, caste, family and even individual has its/their/his/her own belief and ways of performing Puja. Whatever may be the method or system or practice that one adopts or follows, there are, as per Hindu scriptures 4, 5 (Panchopachar), 8, 10 (Dasopachar), 13, 16 (Shodashopachar), 24, 32, 64 or 108 types of Upacharas or activities or services to propitiate God.
The daily worship generally consists of sixteen phases or items according to a conventional practice usually referred to as Shodasopachara Puja. These sixteen items are not always necessarily the same throughout. They differ from occasion to occasion and may be from place to place or person to person. But a common sequence popularly
followed by majority of the devotees is as follows:
- Avahanam – Invocation
- Asanam- Offering a seat
- Padyam- Water for washing the feet
- Arghyam- Water for washing the hands
- Achamaneeyam- A few drops of water for sipping
- Snanam- Bathing with water, milk or honey
- Vastram- Garments to cover the body
- Yajnopaveetam- The sacred thread placed across the left shoulder and the right bottom part of the trunk
- Gandham- Sandal paste
- Pushpam- Flower or flowers
- Dhoopam- Burning incense for fragrance and to intensify the feelings of devotion
- Deepam- Lighting to remove darkness, symbolizes enlightenment
- Naivedyam- Food for nourishment
- Tamboolam- Betel leaves with nut and other ingredients, a condiment that signifies completion of a meal.
- Neerajanam- Offering of camphor enkindled to have a better look of the Supreme both within and without
- Atma Pradakshina Namaskaram- Prostration before the Lord as a mark of self-surrender after making a parikrama.
Ref: Sai Vichaar Newsletter (www.saibaba.org weekly newsletter).
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This website is devoted to introducing westerners to teachers from different Indian religious traditions. It consists of pictures and short life-stories of charismatic seekers, saints, teachers, and gurus from the 19th and 20th centuries who trace their religious origins to India.
In addition, references will be given to help the reader learn more about these individuals.
Link: www.om-guru.com
This is a very good site and has a lot of information about spirituality. There are many pages containing the information about many saints, like Tukdoji Maharaj, Gulabrao Mahara, Sai Baba of Shirdi, Gajanan Maharaj of Shegao etc.
This site also has Knowledge section which covers the topics like Advices from saints, Guru, Guru Kripa, Story of soul etc.
This is a very active site and has lot of interesting and informative sections.
Link: www.sugway.com
While browsing I found this nice website which is created with a mission propagating Dharma. This site is useful for those who have no direct access to Telugu Books. Even though the name says that it is a Telugu web site but has a good amount of content in English.
This site has sections for book review, audio downloads for many slokas and a section containing the information about the great devotees of god.
Link: http://www.telugubhakti.com
Link to the information about great devotees: http://www.telugubhakti.com/telugupages/Monthly/Bhaktas/Bhaktas.htm
A very good site which has lot information about India. I like the Biographies section which has the biographies of lot of great Indians including Saints, Poets, Kings and Queens, Leaders, Social Reformers, Scientists and Philosophers etc.
Apart from the biographies section this site provides information about Indian culture and art, freedom movement, latest happenings etc.
Link: http://www.freeindia.org
This blog is created to discuss the information about spirituality including exploring the information about the great spiritual personalities, their teachings, books and many other things.
