Vedic Talks

Vedas are the fundamentals on which the sanatana dharma is based on. Vedas are also known as Sruthi or Amnaya. Sruthi means that which is heard. In the ancient times, the vedas which originated by itself (swayambhu) let themselves to be heard by the rishis who were doing penance. Thus, even those rishis are not the authors of the vedas.  There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas (mantras), the Aranyakas (rituals), the Brahmanas (commentaries), and the Upanishads (philosophy).  In the olden days, the vedas were transmitted through oral tradition unlike the present days in which there are written manuscripts. Intonations are very important while reciting the vedas as different tones may attribute different meanings to the same mantra. The upward, downward and median tones (swaras) are termed udaaatta, anudaatta and swaritha respectively. To elucidate ...

The author of Sri Krishna Karnamrutham is Bilva Mangala. He belonged to a place called Mukkutalai, originally mukti-sthalam, in kerala. He came to be known as Leela Shuka. Leelasuka belonged to a saivite family by tradition. But he became a devotee of Krishna. Hence he refers to his traditional background by saying that he wears the feet of Lord Siva on his head. He belongs to the tradition of great devotees of Krishna of Kerala such as Narayana Bhattatiri, the author of Sri NarayaNeeyam, Poonthaanam and Vasudeva Namboodiri and other great scholars of Dasama skhandham of Srimad Bhagavatham. In his early life, he was very fond of a Deva Daasi by the name Chintamani. She teased him once about his scholarship in Vyaakaranam, Naatakam and Alankaara Saastram and told him that if he had one thousandth of the affection for Bhagavaan, he would easily save his life. That was the turning point for Bilva Mangala. He thanked Lord Krishna for showing the true destiny of his life. You can downlo...

To bring word-for-word transliterations of Sanskrit classics is the motto of Giirvaani. This website attempts to bring long-forgotten lane of Sanskrit Classics to the modern audience. It is an ongoing work and some of the translations are yet to be completed. The contents include the following works. Valmiki Ramayanam - One of the 2 greatest epic poems of India Gita Govindam - A beautiful romantic poem by Jayadeva Raghuvamsham - An epic poem by Kalidasa Harivamsham - A sequel of Mahabharata Bharatasavitri - Mahabharata in a nutshell Ritusamharam - A medley of seasons by poet Kalidasa Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnayam - Elucidation of Mahabharata by Madhvacharya Sri Krishna Karnamrutham - A beautiful and delectable praises of Lord Krishna by Sri Leela Shuka of Kerala a.k.a Bilwa Mangala Swami  Link: http://www.giirvaani.net/

laghuvaalmIkIyam is Valmiki's Ramayana abridged in Sanskrit by Sri. G.S.S.Murthy. He studied Sanskrit during his student days under Vidwan H. V. Narayana Sastry and Vidwan N. Ramaswamy Iyengar. After retirement from service he has devoted most of his time to studies in Sanskrit classics and literature. This abridged version is long enough to preserve most of the beauty of the original but is short enough to attract the modern day reader. The author describes the technique he used to abridge the original Ramayana as "the cut and paste technique", in which portions of continuous text of the original are removed and the remaining re-pasted to form a seamless narration as true to the original. At some places, where this technique was not found to be suitable a few bridging words, phrases, and stanzas have been added which are not in the original. Link: http://www.geocities.com/goruratreya/

Thanks to sfauthor for giving me the link to Yogavidya website. You can download the original Yoga books in PDF format for free. You can choose to buy printed version if you wish. The available ebooks are the following. Bhagavad Gita Gheranda Samhita Hatha Yoga Pradipika Shiva Samhita Link: http://www.yogavidya.com/

The Mahabharata is one of the two most important epics of ancient India. The title may be translated as the great tale of the Bharata dynasty. Authored by sage Veda Vyasa, The Mahabharata, comprising more than 90,000 couplets, usually of 32 syllables, is the longest single poem in world literature. The epic is an important part of the Hindu history and is supposed to be all inclusive. In other words; what is found in Mahabharata may be found elsewhere, but what is not found there will not be found elsewhere. Bhagavad Gita, which is the single most sacred text of Hindu culture is itself a part of Mahabharata. You can read the original sanskrit version in Devanagiri and Western scripts along with its english translation at internet sacred texts archive (link given below). The Ganguli English translation is cross-linked on a book-by-book basis with the Sanskrit text. Link: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm

Sanskrit Documents website (link given at the bottom) is a compilation of Sanskrit Documents in Devanagari display and transliteration format. In addition to the sanskrit texts, you will find here various tools for learning Sanskrit such as the Online Sanskrit Dictionary, Sanskrit Tutorials, Sanskrit Pronunciation guides, and software for learning Sanskrit and producing documents in Devanagari and Roman formats, and much more. I could even find an archive of Sanskrit news in All India Radio which you can listen to sharpen your sanskrit listening and understanding skills. You can generate display in Devanagari or other scripts using the web-interface. There is even a resource for sanskrit tattoos! For the sanskrit scholars, there is a long list of Sanskrit documents available elsewhere, hundreds of scanned books, and audio files on the internet which you can access from the site. If you have time to spare, please consider volunteering to proofread the texts. You may join the email-based...

Tantra , tantricism or tantrism is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of shakti and shiva. Contrary to the western association to sex, Tantra deals primarily with spiritual practices and ritual forms of worship, which aim at liberation from ignorance and rebirth.Tantras deal with popular aspects of the religion, such as spells, rituals, and symbols. Usually, Tantras are dialogues between Śiva and the Goddess. Those scriptures where Shiva answers the questions are called agama and where Parvati answers, it is a nigama . The object of the rituals is to awaken kundalini energy and to attain liberation in the spiritual sense. The purpose of tantra is to integrate all aspects of life and is a realm where numerous varieties of ancient scinces blend. You can find the well known art of pranayama, mantra, yantra, yoga, astrology, ayurveda etc in a nice blend. At Shiva Shakti Mandalam website...

The Bhagavad Gita a.k.a. Song of God is the most condensed work in Hindu philosophy. The poem forms the part of the Indian epic the Mahabharata . Lord Krishna symbolizes the paramatma (God) advising Arjuna who symbolizes the ordinary human (atma). The sermon takes place in the middle of the Kurukshetra battlefield. Krishna is at first in his form as mortal ally and charioteer of Arjuna. The Pandava hero has suddenly been overcome by questions about the mass killing that the battle will entail. Krishna answers that he must follow his proper social role or dharma. It is also an example of an ideal Guru (Teacher) and Sishya (student) relationship. I still remember that a preacher in India comparing the whole scene of Gitopadesa to a human body. The chariot symbolizes the human body, the five horses are the indriyas (senses) . The charioteer (Krishna) is the soul (immortal) and the passenger, Arjuna represents the human mind. " Governing sense, mind and intellect, intent on liberatio...

Stothras in Sanskrit means hymns in praise of God and Rathna means gems. So the word stothra rathna is used to express the meaning of gems among the praise of God. Sanskrit was the lingua franca of the intellectuals in ancient India. Most of these hymns were composed by great sages and saints in the language of Sanskrit. To truly appreciate the beauty of a hymn and to chant it with purest devotion, it is imperative to know its meaning. But in these modern times when an average man is supposed to learn the language of his livelihood i.e. English, even mother tongue and not to mention cultural languages like Sanskrit is not spoken with confidence. Hence the need to translate these ancient gems to English and to bring them to masses. Thanks to Sri. P R Ramachander a famous retired scientist, whose Bhageeratha prayatna has resulted in the translation of more than 350 Stothra Ratnas. He has published 150 papers and 4 books and has interests in Astrology and horoscopes, Historical studies,...

Ramayana is an ancient epic poem in Sanskrit depicting the journey (ayana) of Lord Rama. It is a smriti (from memory) consisting of 24,000 verses in seven books, and 500 cantos (kaṇḍas). It narrates the journey of Virtue (Rama) to annihilate vice (Ravana). Lord Rama is depicted as an ideal person a common man is advised to adopt his virtues. This epic is attributed to Sage Valmiki and is supposed to have been written somewhere around 400 BCE and 200 CE. The epic has the following parts. 1. Bala Kanda ( Book of Youth) [77 chapters] (birth and training of the princes and their marriage) 2. Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) [119 chapters] (life in Ayodhya as a prince after marriage to Sita) 3. Aranya Kanda (Book of Forest ) [75 chapters] (life in exile) 4. Kishkindha Kanda (The Empire of Holy Monkeys) [67 chapters] (life in the kingdom of Vanaras on their search for Seetha) 5. Sundara Kanda ( Book of Beauty ) [68 chapters] (Hanuman's journey to Lanka and his mee...

Melputhoor Narayana Bhattathiri was born in 1560 was born in Thirunavaya near the northern banks of the river Bharathappuzha in Kerala. He had mastered from his guru Achyuta Pisharody, Rigveda, Sanskrit grammar and ancient Indian logic by age 16th. He was afflicted with chronic rheumatism and was advised by Ezhuthachan (father of Malayalam language) to dedicate a work to Lord Guruvaayoorappan. He had completed the work in 100 days by submitting one cantos (of 10 verses, called "Dasakam" in Sanskrit) before Guruvayoorappan on each day with each one of them ending with a prayer for a cure for his illness. On the 10th day, he became completely cured of his disease. His work describes Bhakti tradition of India and portrays the life of Sri Krishna. This beautiful work in Sanskrit is bought to the public via the medium of internet by A. Sanatkumar and Lalitha Sanatkumar. The website was inspired by the setting of the complete Narayaneeyam to music by his mother Shrimathi Seethal...

Sri Tripura Rahasya is an ancient work in Sanskrit. It was considered by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi as one of the greatest works that expounded advaita philosophy. Some scholars however call this system the Taantri or the Saakta, and point out some apparent differences between this and Advaita Vedanta. This system teaches that the Supreme Reality is no other than Abstract Intelligence. "Intelligence" signifies Self-luminosity and 'Abstraction' denotes its unlimited nature. Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi often often quoted from it and regretted that it was not available in English. As a consequence Sri Munagala Venkataramaiah (now Swami Ramanananda Saraswathi) took up the work of translation in 1936 as another labour of love, adding just one more English translation to his already extensive store. The origin of this work is as follows. Mahaadeva (Lord Siva) originally taught the Highest Truth to Vishnu who in turn taught Brahma in the Celestial regions. Later Vishnu in...

Srimad Bhagavatam is a sacred collection of stories especially for the Vaishnavites. The book, arranged in twelve so-called cantos, comprises 335 chapters with about 18000 verses. It is that collection of stories which stresses the prime importance of the maintaining aspect of God personified by the transcendental form of Lord Vishnu. The writer of this book is Krishna Dvaipâyana Vyâsadeva, also called Bâdarâyana. He compiled the Vedas, also known as s'ruti, containing the basic wisdom, the mantras for the rituals and the hymns. He as well wtote the Mahâbhârata. Vyâsa also wrote the rest of the eighteen purânas as well as the Brahma-sûtra, his masterpiece on the Absolute Truth. This book, and it's culture, was brought to the West by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupâda. Together with his pupils. He realized a verse by verse commented series of books covering the entire Bhâgavatam. This site offers not all these commentaries but does offer the basic translation of the verses ...

I was searching for an online source for the daily recital of stotras and veda mantras since I could not get them from local bookstores. Study Sanskrit, read Sanskrit texts, listen to Vedic pundits chant, or read Sanksrit humor. http://sanskrit.safire.com/ contains a wide variety of Sanskrit texts and stotras in the pdf format, which you can view or print for your personal use. Most of the texts are in Devanagari script and some are with English translation. Bhagavad-Gita, Devi Mahatmyam, all of the sahasranama stotras, and several other texts are also encoded in transliteration. The site is maintained by Mr. Dale Steinhauser. If you would like to show your appreciation for all the work and dedication which has gone into the website, please consider donating. The site is dedicated to His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.