Archive

Raikva, the poor unknown cart-driver, appears in Chapter IV of the Chandogya Upanishad of Muktika canon where it is learnt that he knew That which was knowable and needed to be known, he knew That from which all this had originated. Along with Uddalaka, Prachinshala, Budila, Sarkarakshaya and Indradyumna, who respectively held earth, heaven, water, space and air to be the substrata of all things, and many others, Raikva was one of the leading Cosmological and Psychological philosophers of the Upanishads....

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Sanskrit pronunciation: [ɽaːmɐkr̩ʂɳɐ pɐɽɐmɐɦɐ̃sɐ]; Bengali pronunciation: [ramˌkriʃno ˈpɔromˌɦɔŋʃo] (listen), Ramkṛiṣṇo Pôromôhongśo, 18 Feb 1836 – 16 August 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya, was an Indian Hindu mystic and religious leader in 19th-century Bengal. Ramakrishna drew from several religious approaches, including devotion toward the Goddess Kali and observance of elements from Tantra, Bhakti, Vaishnava, and Advaita Vedanta, as well as dalliances with Christianity and Islam. He held that the world’s various religious traditions represented “so many paths to reach one and the same goal....

Ramananda (IAST: Rāmānanda) was a 14th-century Vaishnava devotional poet saint, who lived in the Gangetic basin of northern India. The Hindu tradition recognizes him as the founder of the Ramanandi Sampradaya, the largest monastic Hindu renunciant community in modern times. Born in a Brahman family, Saint Ramananda for the most part of his life lived in the holy city of Varanasi. His year of birth or death are uncertain, but historical evidence suggests he was one of the earliest saints and a pioneering figure of the Bhakti movement as it rapidly grew in North India, sometime between the 14th and mid 15th century during its Islamic rule period....

Ramanuja or Ramanujacharya (c. 1017–1137 CE; IAST: Rāmānujā; [ɽaːmaːnʊdʑɐ]) was an Indian philosopher, Hindu theologian, social reformer, and one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism. His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.Ramanuja’s guru was Yādava Prakāśa, a scholar who was a part of the more ancient Advaita Vedānta monastic tradition. Sri Vaishnava tradition holds that Ramanuja disagreed with his guru and the non-dualistic Advaita Vedānta, and instead followed in the footsteps of Tamil Alvārs tradition, the scholars Nāthamuni and Yamunāchārya....

Sadhak Rāmprasād Sen (Bengali: রামপ্রসাদ সেন; c. 1718 or c. 1723 – c. 1775) was a Hindu Shakta poet and saint of eighteenth century Bengal. His bhakti poems, known as Ramprasadi, are still popular in Bengal—they are usually addressed to the Hindu goddess Kali and written in Bengali. Stories of Ramprasad’s life typically include legends and myths mixed with biographical details.It is said that, Ramprasad was born into a Bengali Vaidya family, and showed an inclination towards poetry from an early age....

Samarth Ramdas (c. 1608 - c. 1681), also known as Sant (saint) Ramdas or Ramdas Swami or simply Ramdas was an Indian Marathi Hindu saint, philosopher, poet, writer and spiritual master. He was a devotee of the Hindu deities Rama and Hanuman.

Srimanta Sankardev (; Assamese pronunciation: [sɹimɔntɔ xɔŋkɔɹdew]; 1449–1568) was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath; a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, dancer, actor, musician, artist social-religious reformer and a figure of importance in the cultural and religious history of Assam, India. He is widely credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of music (Borgeet), theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona), dance (Sattriya), literary language (Brajavali). Besides, he has left an extensive literary oeuvre of trans-created scriptures (Bhagavat of Sankardev), poetry and theological works written in Sanskrit, Assamese and Brajavali....

Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती, IAST: Sarasvatī) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is a part of the tridevi of Saraswati, along with Lakshmi and Parvati.The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a goddess is in the Rigveda. She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic period through modern times of Hindu traditions. She is generally shown to have four arms, holding a book, a rosary, a water pot and a musical instrument called Veena....

Satyakama Jabala also known as Sathyakāmā Jabali is a boy, and later a Vedic sage, who first appears in Chapter IV of the ancient Vedic text, the Chandogya Upanishad. As a boy, he enquires about his father from his mother. His mother Jabala, tells him that she went about her household job in her youth, and did not know his lineage is . As a boy, eager for knowledge, he goes to the sage Haridrumata Gautama, requesting the sage’s permission to live in his school for Brahmacharya....

Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj (1888–1936) was a guru in the Inchagiri Sampradaya founded by his guru Bhausaheb Maharaj, a branch of the Navnath Sampradaya, the ‘Nine Masters’ tradition in India. His disciples included Nath teachers Nisargadatta Maharaj, Ranjit Maharaj, Kaadsiddheshwar, and Ganapatrao Maharaj Kannur.

Siddheshwar also known as Siddharameshwar and Siddharama was one among the five acharya (“saint”) of the Lingayat faith. Siddheshwar was a great contributor to Lingayat sampradaya of Hinduism. He was a great mystic and a Kannada poet who was a part of Basavanna’s Lingayat revolution during the 12th century. His philosophy was one of service to mankind, the path of karmayoga. Siddarama was instrumental in saving the vachana literature from destruction....

Sivananda Saraswati (or Swami Sivananda; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963) was a yoga guru, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of Vedanta. Sivananda was born Kuppuswami in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He studied medicine and served in British Malaya as a physician for several years before taking up monasticism. He lived most of his life near Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh. He was the founder of the Divine Life Society (DLS) in 1936, Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy (1948) and author of over 200 books on yoga, Vedanta, and a variety of subjects....

Biography Sri Yukteswar Giri (also written Sriyuktesvara, Sri Yukteshwar) (Devanagari: श्रीयुक्तेश्वर गिरि ) (10 May 1855 – 9 March 1936) is the monastic name of Priya Nath Karar (also spelled as Priya Nath Karada and Preonath Karar), an Indian monk and yogi, and the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda and Swami Satyananda Giri. Born in Serampore, West Bengal, Sri Yukteswar was a Kriya yogi, a Jyotisha (Vedic astrologer), a scholar of the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, an educator, author, and astronomer....

Sripadaraya or Lakshminarayana Tirtha (c.1422 - c.1480) was a Dvaita philosopher, scholar, composer and the pontiff of the Madhvacharya mutt at Mulbagal. He is widely considered as the founder of Haridasa movement along with Narahari Tirtha. His songs and hymns, written under the nom-de-plume of Ranga Vitthala, contain the distillation of Dvaita principles infused with mysticism and humanism. He is also credited with the invention of the suladi musical structure and composed 133 of them along with several kirtanas....

Swaminarayan (IAST: Svāmīnārāyaṇa, 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi and ascetic around whom the Swaminarayan Sampradaya developed, and whose life and teachings brought a revival of central Hindu practices of dharma, ahimsa and brahmacarya. He is believed by followers to be a manifestation of God.Swaminarayan was born Ghanshyam Pande in Chhapaiya, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1781. In 1792, he began a 7-year pilgrimage across India at the age of 11 years, adopting the name Nilkanth Varni....