Q&A

Question Why did Rukmini stop Lord Krishna from eating beaten rice given by Sudama a second time? Answer The story is described in this chapter of the Srimad Bhagavatam: Being the direct witness in the hearts of all living beings, Lord Kṛṣṇa fully understood why Sudāmā had come to see Him. Thus He thought, “In the past My friend has never worshiped Me out of a desire for material opulence, but now he comes to Me to satisfy his chaste and devoted wife....

Question How do I explain akasha (sky - one of the Panchamahabhuta) to a scholar? Answer I am giving excerpts from 'The Serpent Power' by Sir John Woodroffe on the Bhutas including Akasa. Sir John compares Akasa with ether but I will remove those parts from the excerpt posted here: The Indian theory [says] that ...scientific or ponderable matter does not permanently exist, but says that there are certain motions or forces (five in number) which produce solid matter, and which are ultimately reducible to Akasa....

Question Did Indian music originate from the Samaveda? Answer Yes, Indian Music originated from the Sama Veda. This is a very prominent view of many, and is accepted by everyone who learns Carnatic Music. The Rig Veda and Yajur Veda mainly use only three notes which correspond to modern Shadja, Rishabha and Nishada, with the occasional Gandhara svara. But the Samaveda is sung with all seven svaras (which include in addition to the above four, Madhyama, Panchama and Dhaivata)....

Question Are there any strong evidence that Hinduism religion is an ancient one? Answer Through out the world, every where, whenever researchers,archaeologists find shiva lingam from earth, they reach to the decision that hindu people may lived here before some time. Shiva lingam is found from Omsk city Russia, Africa, Afghanistan, Ireland, Greece, Mongolia, Siberia, Vatican Rome, Vietnam,Itly, Petra Jordan, Sri lanka, India,Nepal,Mexico,Cambodia etc. <- Search on internet about their photos taken from archeologists....

Question Reference to the 7 chakras in Hinduism Answer There are seven chakras in a Human body as Yoga and Tantra prescribes. These are: Sahasrara (सहस्रार्) Agya (आज्ञा) Vishuddi (विशुध्दि) Anahata (अनाहत) Manipura (मणिपुर) Swadhisthana (स्वाधिशतान) Muladhara (मूलाधार) Chakras are supposed to be mystic power centres in human body along the spine. Kundalini Shakti (often called Serpent Power) is dormant in a normal human and has to be awakened to reach ultimate consciousness....

Question What are different types of sins? Answer The question seems simple, but it's a bit broad because there are hundreds of sins mentioned in our scriptures. There are so many kinds of sins mentioned in our scriptures that categorizing them would be difficult. Generally, a sin is committed when the prescribed laws of the sages are violated either by mind, body or speech: varṇāśramaviruddhaṃ ca karma kurvanti ye narāḥ...

Question What are hymns chanted for abhishekam? Answer First of all there is a Panchayatan (formation for offering puja), in this we perform Abhishek to the Aaradhya (main) god for which we are offering puja. There are following possibilities for Aradhya and other god's Any Male God(Except Shiva) we use Purusha Sukta Lord Narayana(Vishnu) and all his 24 avatar's we use Vishnu Sukta (notice we can also use Purusha Sukta instead) each 11 times for Abhishek....

Question Should we consider ISKCON devotees as Hindus or not? Answer This needs an examination of the meaning of the word Hindu. A few questions already exist about what the term 'Hindu' means. Legally in India, anyone who does not follow Abrahamic faiths are Hindus. That includes Jains, Sikhs & Buddhists too. Similarly ISKCON would also fall under the category of legal Hindu. If one were to see if ISKCON would fall under theological Hinduism, it would since their main deity is Krishna who is a 'Hindu' deity....

Question What is the significance of breaking a coconut in Hindu rituals? Answer Can't find any reliable citations for this, but I have mostly heard about this from my parents and elders. Coconut breaking is a symbolic act of submitting oneself completely to the almighty. Before starting anything good/big (ex: foundation stone of buildings, buying a new car etc), coconuts are offered. Coconut is also known as "Sriphal", or Gods fruit....

Question What scripture does the sacred thread mantra come from? Answer I don't know if there's an earlier source, or if there are any scriptures elucidating what prajāpateryat sahajaṃ refers to, but the verse is found in Pāraskara Gṛhyasūtra 2.2.11. Note: “The question: What scripture does the sacred thread mantra come from?” is licensed by Stack Exchange Inc (https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/); user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA.

Question Can sins be transferred? Answer Karma refers to the reward or fruit of action. When one commits a good deed, it is returned back to him/her. When one commits a bad deed(sin), it is also returned back. Can it be transferred to someone else? There are accounts of saints taking on the sicknesses (or bad karma) of others in order to relieve them of their misery throughout history. But this is done voluntarily by the saint, rather than by the disciple....

Question Time travel in Hindu scripture Answer In Bhagavata Purana and some other Puranas, there is mention of a king named Muchukunda who also experienced a similar effect. He went to join the battle for the gods as their commander but by the time he was free to return, all his family and relatives were extinct being swept away by this effect of relative time (SB - 10.51.18). Update This answer is based on the verse from Bhagavata as it describes the story a bit more than the other Puranas....

Question Do the same avatars repeat in each chaturyuga? Answer This might give you an idea of how yugas are divided. As far as same thing getting repeated every chaturyug ,i do not reckon any mention of that but in Devadutta Patanaik book "SITA" Yum comes Ayodhya to take Lord Ram life but he couldn't enter as Hanuman is guarding the gates of Ayodhya. Lord Ram knew about this, so to distracts Hanuman from guarding the gate he drops his ring in river and ask Hanuman to fetch it....

Question Does Science contradict Hinduism? How to deal with scientific discoveries that don’t line up with Vedas? Answer Hinduism is an intrinsically scientific religion. The Vedas themselves accurately describe very complicated geometric concepts including six-dimensional spaces, distances between celestial bodies, and using changing skylines to measure time, just to name a few examples ("Vedic Geometry Course" Dr. S. K. Kapoor). If you follow the Dhashavataram carefully, you will see that it perfectly mirrors the evolution of life on Earth as well as the emergence of increased social structure (and eventual decline) among humans....

Question Is Balarama an Avatar of Vishnu or Adiseshan (or both)? Answer The reason that Balarama is called an incarnation (avatara) of Vishnu is that the serpent Adiseshan is himself a form of Vishnu. Here is how Balarama's birth is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam: When Kamsa had killed six of the children born from Devakî, the seventh one, a plenary expansion of Vishnu who was celebrated with the name Ananta, therefore [was born] as an embryo in the womb of Devakî ....