Happy Gurupournima!

धन्य धन्य सद्गुरुसंगति । कोणा वर्णवे तियेची महती । आठवितां एकेक तयांच्या उक्ती । निजस्फूर्ति उचंबळे ।। प्रेमें करितां ईश्वरार्चन । गुरुसेवा गुरुपूजन । होईल गुरूगम्य संपादन । इतर साधन तें फोल ।। विक्षेप आणि आवरण । तेणे हा भवमार्ग संकीर्ण । गुरुवाक्य दीपकिरण । निर्विघ्न मार्गदर्शक ।। गुरु प्रत्यक्ष ईश्वर । ब्रह्मा विष्णू महेश्वर । गुरुचि वस्तुतः परमेश्वर । ब्रह्म परात्पर गुरुराय ।। गुरु जननी गुरु पिता । गुरु त्राता देव कोपतां । गुरु कोपतां कोणी न त्राता । सदा सर्वदा जाणावें ।। गुरु दर्शक प्रवृत्तीचा । तीर्थव्रत निवृत्तीचा । धर्माधर्म विरक्तीचा । वेदश्रुतीचा प्रवक्ता ।। उघडुनि बुद्धीचे डोळे । संत दाविती निजरूप-सोहळे । पुरविता भक्तीचे डोहळे । अति कोवळे कारुणिक ।। तेणें विषयवासना मावळे । निद्रेंतही ज्ञानचि चावळे । विवेक वैराग्य फळ जावळें । कृपाबळें हातीं ये ।। जाहलिया सत्समागम । संतसेवा संतप्रेम । स्वयें भक्तकामकल्पद्रुप । सर्व श्रम निवारी ।। सदा असावें सत्परायण । कराव्या संतकथा श्रवण । वंदावें संतांचे चरण । पापक्षालन होईल ।। 
                                   - साईसत्चरित - अध्याय १८

Wishing you all a very happy Gurupournima. 

*Per Indian culture Guru plays a very important role in individuals successful journey of life to safely cross the sea of samsara. Worldly life is full of confusion arising out of clashes because of differences among people. It creates confusion and destroys the peace of mind. It is only through company of Sadguru, who are full of compassion, that one can find direction to the life and ultimately reach the goal of achieving uninterrupted peace of mind. Sadguru's words are like beacon lights that help navigate successfully through the difficult journey of human life. Sadguru himself is a form of God. They say that Sadguru's grace can save his disciples even from the wrath of Gods, and on the contrary if Sadguru's grace is lacking then even Gods cannot help. Meditating of Sadguru's lotus feet, devotedly following his instructions, repeatedly reading his stories and ever remaining in his company is the guaranteed path to remove all sins and to achieve all purusharthas i.e. four main goals of the life namely - dharma (virtues), artha (wealth), kama (fulfillment of all desires) and moksha (attainment of bliss).

*This is not a translation of above extract from Saisatcharit but thoughts based on it.

About Vedas - Part III

As mentioned in previous articles, Veda (four Vedas together) is a main scripture and other scriptures are its limbs. We covered in previous article, Puranas, which is considered as magnifying glass of Vedas.

In this article we are attempting to provide information about another limb of Vedas - Dharmashastra.

Every individual has so many responsibilities towards his family and society. While executing all responsibilities how one can follow a routine that can help to live principles of Vedas. Though Vedas contain lofty principles and Puranas elaborate on them they do not prescribe orderly way of doing things in daily routine so that one can achieve what is stated in Vedas. This is what Dharmashastras do. They prescribe an orderly way of doing things regarding household and personal matters. They were written by sages from their memories (smruti) of Vedas. That's why the text of Dharmashastra comes from smrutis, for example Manusmruti i.e. written by Manu from his memory of Vedas. These shastras were written by sages such as Manu, Yaajnavalkya, Parasara and others. They are all based on Vedas and hence we find least discrepancies in them. These are known as Nibandana (conditional) Granthas. They were written according to the country, time and people.

These Dhamashastras describe forty samskaras prescribed for every human being. Some of these samskaras are to be performed by parents e.g. garbhadhana, namakarana, upanayana etc and after vivah (marriage) samskara most of remaining major samskaras are to be performed by individual during grihastha (householder) phase of life. 

Dharmashastras also have branches, for example Darshana Grantha. They are 12 in numbers and

differentiated into Aastika Darshan and Nastika Darshan. These include 4 on Buddhism and 1 on Jainism. Nastika Granthas are also known as Charvaka (those who speak sweetly). Those who do not accept the existence of God and Veda are known as Nastikas whereas those who accept the existence are known as Aastikas.

Saankhya Shastra includes text on Saankhya and Yoga. Text on Nyaya and Vaisheshika are generally known as Tarka Shastra. Mimansa and Vedanta texts are known as Mimansa Shastra. The above texts were scripted by Aastikas. Jains, Buddhists and Charvaka granthas were scripted by Nastikas and they are known as Nastik Shadadarshana. The texts written by Aastikas are known as Aastika Shadadarshana. The 12 texts mentioned are known as Philosophical texts.

Besides these there are infinite number of other texts (Shastras) which enumerate the details such as  –

1. Developments (Constructions) of villages and towns
2. Construction of temples
3. Shilpa-shastra i.e. construction of Statues, idols etc
4. Those which explain the details regarding idol prana-pratishtha, worship of idols and methods of performing Poojas and festivals. These texts can be classified as
• Shiva-agama
• Vaishnava-agama
• Shakta-agama

There are thousands of other texts dealing in sculpture, law and experiences of great sages during their spiritual path and the method by which they achieved their successes etc. Almost all texts are in Sanskrit language.

We attempted to provide this information based on our limited knowledge. Apologies for omissions and mistakes.

About Vedas Part II

In this part we are providing information about Puranas, which is considered upanga (limb) of Veda.

Maharshi Vyasa is the author of Puranas. He had a divine power to see through past, present and future. With the help of this power he could perform gigantic works such as collating Vedas, writing 18 maha-puranas etc.

Puranas are considered as magnifying glasses of Vedas. They elaborate on principles from Vedas through stories. It is much easier for a person to grasp the principle through an example and which is what Puranas do. They contain numerous stories that exemplify principles from Vedas. They are in the form of prose, poetry and dialog. This helps all people to understand the principles of Vedas even when they are not well versed with it. People of all faiths can gain knowledge from Puranas necessary for leading contented life and attaining ultimate goal of achieving eternal bliss.


Pura means "from the past". Purana are the books that describe what happened in the past. At the same time they main contain predictions about the future as well.

Every purana has five characteristic features (lakshanas) - 1. sarga (creation of cosmos), 2. prati-sarga (expansion of cosmos through each eon), 3. vamsa (lineage of living creatures starting with Brahma and his children), 4. manvantara (describing ages of 14 Manus, forefathers of mankind through 1000 chaturyugas) and 5. vamsanucharita (genealogy of the rulers of the nation including the solar and lunar dynasties).

The main puranas are 18 in number. Each purana eulogizes a particular deity. The 18 puranas are - Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, Narada Purana, Markandeya Purana, Visnu Purana, Shiva Purana, Bhagwata Purana, Agni Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Brahma-Vaivarta Purana, Linga Purana, Varaha Purana, Skanda Mahapurana, Vamana Purana, Kurma Purana, Matsya Purana, Garuda Purana and Brahmanda Purana. Besides these, there are also upa-puranas and sthala puranas (stories pertaining to particular place i.e. sthala) 


As mentioned above, Puranas elaborate on principles from Vedas. Overall, through the stories, Puranas give answers/explanations to questions/topics such as

1. What are the methods to be followed so that every individual can achieve all four goals of life namely - dharma (virtue), artha (wealth), kama (fulfillment of desires) and moksha (liberation from sorrow and attainment of eternal bliss). Accounts of individuals who were able to achieve all four goals.
2. How the universe was formed?
3. What are the different worlds (lokas) and the descriptions of people living there?
4. Individual jiva's journey through different worlds and how the jiva attains mukti.
5. The names of rivers, seas, hills, oceans, mountains during different times and their names
6. When the Pralaya will happen (dooms day)?
7. How the world will be destroyed during Pralaya? and how it will be recreated again.
8. How during some Pralaya, a part of the world will be destroyed
9. The names of species that lived in each yuga.
10. and so on....

As mentioned above, there are also sthala puranas also known as kshetra puranas. These were written by Maharshis and Sages who performed penance at particular place. Due to their Tapascharya (penance) and grace of Lord, the places became Tirtha kshetra, Poonya kshetra and Poonya nadi etc. 


In upcoming parts we will provide information about upangas such as Dharmashastra, Mimamsa etc.

Through our limited knowledge, we have attempted to provide a summary of Puranas as far as we can. References were taken from the lectures of His Highness Shri Shankaracharya of Kanchi published in a Tamil Spiritual magazine. Apologies for any mistakes or omissions in conveying the information.