Gods and Goddesses of Nainital

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homa_(ritual)#/media/File:(A)_Hindu_puja,_yajna,_yagna,_Havanam_in_progress.jpg B abaji was a mystic who appeared in the Nainital Himalayas between 1970 and 1984. Many believe that he was a divine being that appears repeatedly in human body since times immemorial in the Himalayas with his appearance at Haidakhan being the most recent one. While his origins must remain a mystery, there is no doubt that he added much peace, happiness and beauty in the lives of all he touched and that his life and works were magical. Haidakhan is also spelt Hairakhan because the actual consonant sound used in the word in local language does not exist in English. It is actually something that is a bit like a mix of an R and a D sound. Like many other modern Gurus, Babaji did not accumulate any wealth or luxuries, did not ask anyone to change his religion or become his exclusive follower and devotee but rather encouraged all to remain free in hear...

Currently it seems that a debate is on in USA if yoga is something religious or not. May I contribute my two cents to the debate seeing that there are articles by me on the net on yoga and for yoga teachers e.g. what is yoga, Entropy yoga and in this blog on Kriya Yoga? The simple and clear answer is that there are many different types of yoga. Some are religious and some are not. The one being advocated in the USA presently and by the Lady Obama and President Obama is not religious. It is a yoga that involves primarily physical exercises and/or breathing exercises and such yogas that may go by the name of hatha yoga, pranayama as well as numerous modern names are not religious. However a yoga that involves physical exercises that includes a posture called Surya Namaskar involves worshipping the sun and it is a religious yoga. The kriya yoga described in another post in this blog is a religious yoga but it is ecumenical and universal and does not belong to any specifi...