Question Was Ravana actually a villain? Or was he a devotee of Lord Vishnu? Answer Was Ravana actually a villain? Yes, he was. If by villain we mean someone who trades the path of unrighteousness then Ravana was nothing less than a villain: जप जोग बिरागा तप मख भागा श्रवन सुनइ दससीसा। आपुनु उठि धावइ रहै न पावइ धरि सब घालइ खीसा।। अस भ्रष्ट अचारा भा संसारा धर्म सुनिअ नहि काना।...
Question Why is the concept of Divine judgement not given much importance in Hinduism? Answer "But this concept is conspicuously absent in Hinduism" Nothing is farther from the truth. The Garuda Purana describes in great detail how Yama the god of death judges each soul based on Chitragupta's listing of the person's good deeds and bad deeds: The sinful man cries when he hears the mingled wails of "Oh, Oh," and having heard his cry, those who walk about in the city of Yama....
Question Can women be priestesses? Answer Right from the Vedic times till this date, women are not prohibited from learning vedas. There have been many women purohits (priests who have expertise in rituals outside of temples) in the past and present. However we rarely encounter women pujaris (temple priests) because of the following physiological and sociological reasons: Puja should be done only with Sattva dominant body and mind During the menstruation period, there is "...
Question Are there any temples for Matsya, Kurma, and Varaha avatars? Answer Yes, there are temples for all three. Matsya Most temples to Matsya are in South India. First of all, there is the Vedanarayana Swami Temple in Nagalapuram, a village in Andhra Pradesh. Matsya is called Vedanarayana because he rescued the Vedas after the demon Hayagrivasura stole them from Brahma. You can see Matsya on the exterior of the temple (taken from here):...
Question Why did Krishna steal the Gopikas clothes from the tree when they were bathing in the little river? Answer It was just a pastime of Lord Shri Krishna to test and teach the gopis a lesson. The gopis loved Shri Krishna very much and desiring to obtain Him as their husband they performed Kātyāyanī (one from of maa Durga) vrat for a month. On the final day of the vrat finishing their puja, the gopis went to Yamuna for bathing:...
Question What happened to the Vanara Sena after the Ramayana? Answer This excerpt from the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana describes the fate of various Vanaras. When Rama was told by Yama the god of death that his time on Earth was over, he prepared to depart the Earth by going into the Sarayu river. And when Sugriva heard about this, he put Vali's son Angada in charge of the Vanara kingdom of Kishkindha and then he and a bunch of other Vanaras went to Ayodhya to join Rama in departing the Earth:...
Question Why is God’s name used for people? Answer One of the primary reasons is the sin destroying effects the Lord's names. The inspiration for doing this can be linked to the story of Ajamila as described in the Bhagavatam: Ajamila was a pious brahmana. But once he saw a prostitute engaged with a man in the forest and since then he got infatuated. He fell down from his religious activities and went so low as to marry the prostitute herself....
Question How is animal or human sacrifice justified? Answer Śrīla Prabhupāda has mentioned this as vedic sacrifice bali-dāna (kālī-pūjā or durgā-pūjā), in which a goat or other prescribed animal is slaughtered in a ritual performed for the demigoddess Kālī (Durgā) and its flesh consumed afterwards. This sacrifice, he says, is recommended in the tāmasika Purāṇas, Vedic literatures aimed at the gradual reformation and elevation of persons from the lowest levels of human consciousness....
Question Do the Vedas prohibit idol worship? Answer The verse you are referring to is as below: andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'sambhūtim upāsate tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ This is present in the Isha Upanishad or the Shukla Yajur Veda chapter forty. But to say that this verse prohibits idol worship would be incorrect. All that it says is, those who worship only the asambhuta (which has not originated) and those who worship only the sambhuta (which has originated) enter into darkness....
Question Where is the Saraswati river according to Hindu scriptures? Answer Yes the location is mentioned at multiple places in the holy books. According to various Hindu scriptures it originated in the Himalayas and ran a full course through the modern states of Haryana, Rajasthan and the adjoining region of Pakistan till it emptied itself into the ocean at Prabhas Patan in Gujarat. I shall share with you all the details I could gather but let us first see what the oldest text Rigveda has to say about its location:...
Question Do methods of worship change according to yugas? Answer Yes, you've heard correctly. As the four Yugas progress, the world becomes more and more evil. But as a way to help people deal with all the evil that surrounds them, in later Yugas it becomes easier and easier to obtain great benefits from even small religious activity. Here is how Vyasa describes the benefits of the Kali Yuga in the Vishnu Purana:...
Question What is the story behind Kumbhakarna’s sleep? Answer Kumbhakarna was cursed by Lord Brahma. This story is told by Vibhisana to Lord Rama in this chapter of Yuddha Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana. In summary what happens is: Kumbhakarna soon after his birth begins to eat thousands of living creatures. Lord Indra was reported about this matter and he goes to punish Kumbhakarna. Kumbhakarna plucks tusk of Airavata and strikes in the chest of Indra with it....
Question Is Hinduism religious philosophy mono-theistic (Paratma) or bi-theistic (Prakriti and Purush)? Answer Hinduism is a religion that compromises of many schools of thought among which there are six prominent philosophical systems that try to assert the nature and reality of our existence. The Prakruti and Purusha concept of our existence belongs to the Samkhya school of thought. As per Samkhya philosophy there is no God (a supreme ruling deity) who created the universe....
Question Why did Bhishma fight with Lord Parashurama? Answer Bhishma recounts the story in the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, but first some background. Bhishma was the son of Shantanu, king of Hastinapura, and the goddess Ganga. But Ganga abandoned Shantanu, and Shantanu later fell in love with a woman named Satyavati. But Satyavati's (adopted) father Matsyagandha, the chief of a fisherman tribe, wouldn't consent to the marriage, because he was afraid that Bhishma and his descendants would rule Hastinapura rather than Satyavati's children....
Question What is the story of the “Sudarśana Chakra”? Answer The Sudarshana Chakra was created by the divine architect Vishwakarma. As I discuss in this answer, Vishwakarma's daughter Sanjana married Surya the sun god. But she couldn't withstand his brilliance, so she ran away to the Earth. Eventually Surya found her, and he told Vishwakarma to reduce his brilliance so that Sanjana would be able to be around him. So Vishwakarma reduced Surya's brilliance an eighth, and then fashioned that excess brilliance into various weapons including the Sudarshana Chakra, as described in the Vishnu Purana:...