Gods and Goddesses of Nainital

I posted this in my other blog at http://someitemshave.blogspot.com but later realized that it is an appropriate post for this blog. Therefore I am posting it again here. Theists believe that God exists. My view of God is that Infinite power that sustains the universe and that everything that we can observe in the universe is a part of Him. His consciousness runs through everything - all life forms, the earth, stones, sky, trees, the sun, stars and everything else besides. As distinct from inanimate objects life forms posses a free will as well as their independent and distinct desires that are unique to each individual, different from each other and different from the desires of God. As a being becomes more and more spiritual there is a greater unity with the desires of the Universal consciousness and a greater divinity. Besides God some religious humans have also worshiped other divine beings or gods from ancient times and every civilized part of the world has their own fav...

A view of the plains  from the road to Haidakhan NOTE: Some Modern Yoga practitioners have given the name Kriya Yoga to a different set of practices than its original meaning. Although these latter practices are perhaps beneficial, the author does not know much about them but is thoroughly aware about the original practices.  It may be noted that there is no mention of Kriya Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita and that its first recorded mention is in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Kriya yoga as advocated by Babaji conforms to its original unmodified definition as expounded by Patanjali. Modern students of yoga must become clear about the differences in order to avoid confusion or misdirection.  For more on this see a separate blog post at :  http://ashokmalhotra.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/truth-about-yoga/ I n an older post “Who was Baba Haidakhan” you may learn more about this holy personality of the Nainital Himalayan region of India. You will find that pos...

I just discovered a wondeful link that shows pictures of many of Nainital's Churches, Temples, Mosques etc. It is:- http://www.nainitaltourism.com/religious_places_nainital.html I was tempted to copy some of the pictures for this blog but desisted because those pictures are probabaly copyright protected. The Churches of Nainital are some of the most beautiful ones in Nainital and the Virgin Mother is an important a form of the Mother Goddess here.

On reading the posts of this blog the reader may get a little confused as to the origin of Naini Devi- the Goddess of Nainital. She is interpreted by some as the ancient Goddess Nana, others as Naina Devi the consort of lord Shiva, by many as Nanda Devi the mountain Goddess of Kumaon; some regard her as Kali or the Goddess Durga. It does not really matter in what particular interpretation you hold the Goddess because they are all the reincarnations or interpretations of the same original mother Goddess. The Hindus believe that God is infinite and with a form beyond comprehension. However in order to direct ones attention, the formless infinite God of the universe may be represented by a finite interpretation. The finite image may be male as the Lord Shiva or female as a mother Goddess. In reality the infinite God is beyond this human sexual distinction. In Hindu mythology the two aspects male and female are regarded as two parts of the same infinite power. The infinite God can al...