Gods and Goddesses of Nainital

  A Boat Race on Nainital Lake B oat races on the Nainital Lake are celebrated events of Nainital for more than a century now. Here is an old classical photo of one shared by a friend Harish Bhatt on Facebook. It was originally a black and white picture but has been retouched with digital color by this blogger. Nainital is best described as a blue lake surrounded by lush green hills of oaks and pine and undergrowth of ferns and sweet wild flowers with mountain springs and snow covered peaks, the abode of the goddess Naini Mata when not resting in the snow white peaks of Nanda Devi with her sister Sunanda Devi. May Nainital be protected from the ravages of human lust and greed, may the goddess not be compelled again to wash the town and its people into the lake once again as she did more than a hundred years ago but instead grant them heavenly peace, contentment and tranquility filled with beauty, and may Nainital forever remain the place from where a cry f...

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cannabis_ruderalis_%28wild_marijuana,_habitus%29.jpg Although cannabis is presently an IILEGAL substance in India, around much of Nainital district as well as adjoining districts of Tehri Garwhal and   Almora, wild cannabis of a good variety grows freely as a wild herb. For millenniums the herb was used by local persons and herbalists for many purposes from medicinal to meditation and from recreational to a relaxant. Then somewhere far away in USA in 1930’s it was made illegal. It is said although not proven that it was because of commercial interests of Du Pont that had come up with new fiber nylon and that another produced from hemp a taller variety of the plant was a competition.  In the ensuing years, other far more powerful commercial interests from the legal and illegal drug industries appear to have developed to keep it illegal. So powerful were these interests that it seems even research was made near ...

The lake in Nainital town, there are several more in the surrounding Nainital District. Jai Naini Mata ki     Scroll down to towards the end of the post for the recipe of drink A n ancient highly revered Sanskrit book, the Rig Veda describes the powerful Soma drink obtained from the god amongst plants called Soma. This plant appears to have become extinct from the Himalayas some three thousand years ago perhaps due to over harvesting, grazing and ancient climate change around the time the ancient Saraswati River began to disappear from the Indus valley. Ever since then many attempts have been made to search for it and many proposals of alternative substances made, several narcotic, intoxicating or psychedelic. But the heavenly Soma was none of these. It was neither intoxicating nor psychedelic but made warriors alert and strong for battle and others full of happiness, wisdom and poetry. The best thing is that compounds in the drink appear to retard or stop aging ...

Naini Mata, Goddess of Nainital A new edition of the book – Naini Mata, Goddess of Nainital -  is available with amazon and several other outlets. This book describes the spiritual philosophy surrounding the Mother Goddess of Nainital from a modern scientific perspective. This wonderful little book describes the philosophy surrounding the goddess of Nainital, a beautiful district in the Himalayas. The book explains the spiritual philosophy behind the worship of the Mother Goddess as well as much other Himalayan spirituality from a modern perspective. This book is as scientific as it is spiritual. The book includes a highly thought provoking section on creation that is backed by modern scientific findings, especially the origin of humans on earth and their relationship with gods and goddesses. The book is available in both print and kindle electronic versions. The latter can be downloaded in minutes. The book is an excellent introduction to the spiritual philosophy emana...

The Lion by Amit K. Dand Since ancient times the Lion has been a constant companion of the goddess, Jai Mata ki, across various cultures of the world, including at Nainital. Here is a lovely shot of one by Amit K. Dand. You can find many other lovely photos by him at https://twitter.com/psphot1

A View of the little Naini Mata Temple on the banks of the Naini Lake   O ne thing that has surprised International spiritual philosophers about Hindu practices and beliefs is that while on the one hand it has one of the most ancient and evolved systems of philosophy, on the other hand, it also displays very many poor practices. The answer lies in the fact that Hinduism has never been as organized as some of the other major religions of the world. It permits much freedom of belief and practices. It has a vast landscape of varied cultures into which many immigrants of the old world came and settled with varied customs and beliefs. What is seen as Hinduism now is a collections of beliefs and practices since ancient times, some highly evolved and some not so. Individual Hindus choose the portion of these beliefs that is in agreement with their own faith and inclinations, no doubt influenced by the beliefs and practices of the families and regions to which they belon...

Boating in a boat with or without sails is an exhilrating experience in the Nainital Lake. The image here is an edited version of an image shared on facebook by https://www.facebook.com/Nainital