Gods and Goddesses of Nainital

    Simplicity Babaji, the famous mystical appearance of Nainital who spoke very little did speak of simplicity. This picture attempts to explain simplicity

Gifts of Love

I t was early eighties. I was then an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Delhi. I had rented an apartment a few kilometers away from IIT, at a place known as Masjid Moth (DDA Flats). There was accommodation on campus but with two infant daughters and a live in full time Nanny to boot, available accommodation on campus was a bit too compact for our needs. I lived in this apartment from approximately the middle of 1981 to the middle of 1984.  During this period I had an unusual spiritual encounter. I do not recall the exact date when the encounter took place but the incident itself is crystal clear in my mind. Babaji: Message from the Himalayas , by  Maria Gabriele Wosien , G. Reichel Verlag ( 1990), https://www.amazon.com/Babaji-Himalayas-Maria-Gabriele-Wosien/dp/3926388145/ At the time my wife with nanny and children were away. I was alone at home. It was morning, some time after breakfast ...

Image from Munnar Munnar Mountains Just as Nainital is an example of the beauty of Mother Earth in North India, it appears that Munnar is an example of how beautiful mother earth can be in Kerala, South India. Both places were highly appreciated by the British when they ruled India and were developed as summer capitals in North and South respectively. Unfortunately we Indians have not yet got around to contributing enough attention and effort towards preserving and enhancing the beauty of our Mother the Earth yet and have permitted unscruplous developments in places like Nainital. Perhaps we have been much too busy with fighting our poverty or our petty caste squabbles or too seeped in human greed to appreciate beauty as it should be. If we do not rectify, Mother earth will just move away elsewhere, like any loving mother who is not given the respect she deserves,  for she has many homes in our endless universe. Beauty is a representation of the divine just as much as Lov...

A Comprehensive view of Mother Goddess as known in South, East and Himalayan Asia Jai Mata Ki (Praise the Mother Goddess) While it is a purpose of every life form to evolve to yet higher states and eventually attain God and become a part of Him, some godly beings, (known as bodhisattvas in Buddhism, and angels in Christianity)  choose to remain as created beings in the universe in service of Universal Consciousness and out of compassion for others, and in order to assist the latter in their evolutionary journeys towards enlightenment. One significant thing that is paradoxical to outsiders is that while Hindu philosophy upholds monotheism and a single Almighty in the Universe, many Hindus (although not all sects) also follow the worship of numerous gods and goddesses. The reality is that since the Almighty is formless and infinite, any finite divine portion of the Almighty may be personified as a facet or personification of the Infinite Lord and that is the ...

Temple of goddesses Tara and tarani in Orissa, India Goddesses manifest the female side of divinity inherent in the universe. Although all goddesses represent the same universal force, they have been worshipped in various avatars and forms by humans. Some of these avatars although bearing different names bear a close relationship to each other whereas there are also some cases where different goddesses bear the same name. One such example is that of the lovely and gentle, yet powerful goddess Sunanda of Kumaon. There is also a goddess by the same name in Bangladesh but that goddess is in fact a modification of the name Sugandha that is an avatar of goddess Parvati, who also takes on the fearful avatars of Kali when the occasion calls for it, rather than goddess Sunanda. The Goddess Parvati and Goddess Nanda are regarded by many as different appearances of Parvati. Hence, the goddess Sunanda of Bangladesh may be regarded as another form of goddess Nanda rather than g...

Nanda Devi and Sunanda Devi I t was described in the last post that the goddesses Nanda and Sunanda occur together in mythology and worship. Nanda goddess means the Bliss giving goddess whereas Sunanda means the good bliss giving goddess. One may wonder why the prefix good is added to Sunanda when in fact Nanda is the more active and senior goddess. The reason is perhaps that Nanda Devi also takes on fearful avatars in mythology when she goes about conquering evil demons and at such times adding good is not necessary. Goddess Nanda Devi has been regarded  variously as a human representation of the Great Mother Goddess and even as that of Mother Earth. Goddess Sunanda has appeared in mythology and  history from time to time as the companion goddess or sister of this goddess. In nature the Nanda Devi mountain, one of the highest in the Himalayas is regarded as a sacred and majestic representation of the Great Goddess on Earth. It is a twin peak mountain in which th...