Podcast
Questions and Answers
What is the core concept of Sanatana dharma according to the Vedas?
What is the core concept of Sanatana dharma according to the Vedas?
- The worship of multiple gods
- The recognition of Reality as One and many (correct)
- The idolization of symbols
- The belief in the existence of a single supreme being
What is the purpose of Īśvara-symbols in Sanatana dharma?
What is the purpose of Īśvara-symbols in Sanatana dharma?
- To confuse and mislead followers
- To worship different deities
- To create distinctions between material and spiritual worlds
- To represent subtle truths and maintain cultural heritage (correct)
What is the significance of the choice of deity in Sanatana dharma?
What is the significance of the choice of deity in Sanatana dharma?
- It is the individual worshipper's freedom (correct)
- It is determined by the priests
- It is based on the deity's power
- It is a compulsory aspect of the religion
Why did the Colonial Rulers prohibit Idol Worship?
Why did the Colonial Rulers prohibit Idol Worship?
What is the consequence of the west's misunderstanding of Sanatana dharma symbology?
What is the consequence of the west's misunderstanding of Sanatana dharma symbology?
What is the outcome of the lack of proper awareness and understanding of India's nation, traditions, and history?
What is the outcome of the lack of proper awareness and understanding of India's nation, traditions, and history?
What is the significance of the Īśvara-symbols in Sanatana dharma?
What is the significance of the Īśvara-symbols in Sanatana dharma?
What is the term for the deity dear to the worshipper in Sanatana dharma?
What is the term for the deity dear to the worshipper in Sanatana dharma?
What does the snakes worn by Siva symbolize?
What does the snakes worn by Siva symbolize?
What does the musical instrument in Goddess Saraswati's hands represent?
What does the musical instrument in Goddess Saraswati's hands represent?
What is the symbolic meaning of the milky ocean in the story of Goddess Lakshmi?
What is the symbolic meaning of the milky ocean in the story of Goddess Lakshmi?
What is the significance of Goddess Parvati being Annapurneswari?
What is the significance of Goddess Parvati being Annapurneswari?
What does the sacred ash on Siva's body represent?
What does the sacred ash on Siva's body represent?
What is the characteristic of the Devas in Hindu mythology?
What is the characteristic of the Devas in Hindu mythology?
What is the significance of Siva's dance in the aspect of Nataraja?
What is the significance of Siva's dance in the aspect of Nataraja?
What is the general significance of Goddess Saraswati in Hinduism?
What is the general significance of Goddess Saraswati in Hinduism?
What is the symbolic representation of Brahma's four faces?
What is the symbolic representation of Brahma's four faces?
What is the significance of Vishnu's reclination on the thousand-headed Ananta serpent?
What is the significance of Vishnu's reclination on the thousand-headed Ananta serpent?
What is the symbolic representation of Vishnu's blue hue?
What is the symbolic representation of Vishnu's blue hue?
Who is the deity of knowledge, wedded to Brahma?
Who is the deity of knowledge, wedded to Brahma?
What is the symbolic representation of Siva's half-closed eyes?
What is the symbolic representation of Siva's half-closed eyes?
What is the significance of Siva's third eye?
What is the significance of Siva's third eye?
Who is the deity of prosperity, wedded to Vishnu?
Who is the deity of prosperity, wedded to Vishnu?
What is the symbolic representation of the milky ocean on which Vishnu resides?
What is the symbolic representation of the milky ocean on which Vishnu resides?
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Study Notes
Nataraja
- Nataraja's meagre attire contrasts with the rugged Himalayan landscape, suggesting detachment.
- His dance represents the rhythmic activity of vibrant cosmic phenomena.
- The snakes he wears symbolize the life forces that merge in the absolute.
- The sacred ash he smears on his body signifies the purest and ultimate state of materiality.
Goddess Saraswati
- Saraswati is the deity of knowledge and arts.
- The texts she holds represent the four Vedas.
- The musical instrument in her hands indicates the melodious dimensions of a life that has attained perfection.
- Her seated posture on the lotus shows her firm establishment in pure knowledge.
Goddess Lakshmi
- Lakshmi represents infinite riches and prosperity, not just material, but also ethical and moral.
- Lakshmi was obtained from churning the milky ocean, symbolizing the acquisition of spiritual knowledge.
- The milky ocean represents the ocean of the mind, a repository of good and bad, which yields negativities and then riches.
Goddess Parvati
- Parvati is the epitome of intelligence that discriminates between good and bad, and real and unreal.
- She is also Annapurneswari, the bestower of food, where food represents sense-objects.
The Devas
- The Devas are spiritually evolved humans, or celestial beings.
- The Vedas maintain that Reality is One, and the One also exists as the many.
Sanatana Dharma
- Sanatana Dharma is not a polytheistic religion, nor is it theistic.
- It is not even a religion, but a unique system.
- The allegation of polytheism is a consequence of the west's misunderstanding of Sanatana Dharma symbology.
Symbols and Idol Worship
- Symbols are gross representations of subtle truths, serving as a language that articulates the verbally inarticulable.
- Īśvara-symbols are links between worlds, material and spiritual, inner and outer, lower and higher, gross and subtle.
- The art of Īśvara-symbolism was gifted to us by the Self-realised sages.
Brahma
- Brahma's four faces represent the four Vedas, the totality of cosmic knowledge.
- Brahma is wedded to Saraswati, the deity of knowledge, symbolizing the creative force wedded to the knowledge of how to create.
Vishnu
- Vishnu symbolizes the all-pervading reality, infinite in nature, as his blue hue suggests.
- His reclination on the thousand-headed Ananta serpent speaks for mastery over endless ego-desires.
- He is wedded to Lakshmi, the deity of all forms of prosperity.
Siva
- Siva, seated in the stable Padmasana posture, personifies the unruffled absolute state, beyond birth and death, and time and space.
- His half-closed eyes suggest perception of inside as well as outside, and absorption in inner harmony while involved in outer activity.
- His third eye represents the extra insight of intuition.
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