Vedic Talks

Mike Myers is the Canadian entertainer known for characters as Austin Powers, Shrek and Wayne Campbell. The Love Guru, his latest film, was nominated for seven dishonours. It took home trophies for worst picture, worst actor and worst screenplay. Sri. Rajan Zed said that The Love Guru "appears to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus" and uses sacred terms frivolously. He also said that "If Myers visited a Hindu temple, paid his obeisance, expressed remorse, and promised not to denigrate Hinduism in his future movies, Hindus would not only absolve him but might also pray for his success in his future ventures." It is not that the movie is meant for the purpose of denigrating Hinduism, but the fact that for most Westerners, movies like this might be the introduction to the great culture of India. Hence the movies have a responsibility to portray the Indian culture appropriately. There should be a balance between artistic freedom and responsibility to convey the truth...

The True History and the Religion of India is a concise encyclopedia of authentic Hinduism. It reveals the true theme of Indian scriptures and describes the history of India and the religion of India of more than 155 trillion years. This online book aims to reveal the hidden evidences of the workings of the British regime and how the Indian history and culture was misinterpreted. All the issues of all the scriptures and the Puranas have been precisely described and concisely incorporated in this book with scriptural, logical and scientific evidences. The author, His Divinity Swami Prakashanand Saraswati (Shree Swamiji) is a teacher of Raganuga Bhakti (divine-love-consciousness) since 1972. He is the founder of the “International Society of Divine Love” and “Barsana Dham” in the USA, and the “International Society of Divine Love” and “Rangeeli Mahal Pratishthan” in India. Link: http://www.thetruehistoryandthereligionofindia.org/

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...

The sprawling Rs.200-crore pink sandstone cultural complex in New Delhi is spread over 100 acres and showcases the grandeur of Indian history, art, culture and values. It was built in only five years through the blessings of HDH Pramukh Swami Maharaj of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) and the efforts of 11,000 artisans and BAPS volunteers and was inaugurated on 6 November, 2005. Dr. Prasanth R Krishna who is a scientist at a renowned S.Korean Institute has posted an elaborate experience of the Akshardham complex in his blog. Link: http://prrasanth.blogspot.com/2007/08/garden-of-india-bharat-upvan-through.html

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/

The Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) is a socio-spiritual organization. The organization's website offers Hindu tithi calendar to your calendar program - Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Sunbird and Google Calendar. You can select and download the Calendar with Nom, Ekadashi, Punam, Festivals and Tithis. Any calendar programs that support .ics files will be able to use this calendar. Link: http://www.swaminarayan.org/calendar/export_calendar.php

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/