Devi Mandir

Temple of Divine Mother

Shree Maa on Energy and Consciousness

“If we love God with unconditional love, God teaches us in such a beautiful way. If we take one step towards God, God takes 10 steps towards us. Is it not beautiful? This is a delightful article about God’s unconditional love. …read more
 

Story of Brahma Calling Yoga Nidra

~~OM~~ And now remember that Brahma was sitting in the lotus in Vishnu’s navel. Vishnu was asleep. And Too much and Too little said, “Hey, that looks like a nice place to sit. Get off of that lotus.” And Brahma said, “Hey, This is my lotus, I’m the creator of existence, give me a break!” […]

Story of Markandeya Muni

~~OM~~ “As the son of Mrikanda, Markandeya, found imperishable life, may we be reunited with life and blessed with a hundred autumns.” Remember the story of Mrikanda Rishi? He was an old ascetic doing tapasya for many years. He called upon Shiva, and finally Shiva gave him darshan. Shiva said, “What do you want?” And […]

Story of Gautam Muni and Ahalya Devi

~~OM~~ So remember the story of Ahalya – Indra looked down from heaven and saw, Ahalya, who was the wife of Gautam Muni, who’s the most beautiful of all the women, and suddenly he desired to enjoy with her. And he watched for some time. And one morning early in the morning when the Rishi […]

Story of the Farmer and the Pundit

~~OM~~

There is the story of the farmer who heard the pundit discoursing on Gita in Sanskrit. The farmer was sitting in the back of the temple crying and crying, and the pundit went on and on and on, as pundits do. And at the end of his discourse, the hall was emptied, everyone went home, and the farmer was still sitting there crying and crying and crying.

And the pundit went up to the farmer and said, “Hey farmer, you’re obviously not a Sanskrit scholar, you probably didn’t understand a word that I said, how come you are crying?” And the farmer replied, “Your absolutely right Punditji. I didn’t understand one word that you said, but as you were speaking I saw Krishna standing on the chariot delivering the same discourse to Arjuna, and I couldn’t hold back my tears because the sight was so beautiful.”

Why Ring the Bell During Worship?

Q: Why does the Shanti mantra bring so much noise both inside and outside? Like ringing a bell during the Shanti mantra. A: You know, Dilip, the bell is despised by all ashuras! They can’t stand the noise! In fact, I want to make such a racket that I can’t even hear the ashuras calling […]

Story of How Ravana Kidnapped Sita

~~OM~~ So remember when Ravana wanted to steal away Sita – He had Marich assume the form of a golden deer and walked the deer to the ashram. Sita said, “Ram look at that golden deer, I’ve never seen anything like that, please get that deer for me.” And Ram said, “I think this looks […]

The Seven Levels of Meaning of Sanskrit

~~OM~~

Every syllable of Sanskrit has seven levels of meanings:

  1. vach artha ⇒ dictionary meaning
  2. bhava artha ⇒ meaning according to an attitude of awareness
  3. guru artha ⇒ meaning according to your guru
  4. darshan shashtra artha ⇒ meaning according to your school of philosophy
  5. sampradaya artha ⇒ meaning according to your tribe of sadhus
  6. svadaya artha ⇒ meaning according to your own level of realization
  7. gupta artha ⇒ hidden meaning

The Power of Purification

~~OM~~ Q: The pure and impure reside in all objects. This sounds more like an acceptance of qualities of impurity. Why purify ourselves in sadhana instead of accepting the impure within us? A: The recognition of purity and impurity as inherent in all objects is the understanding and acceptance of Supreme Divinity made manifest. However […]

Contents of Devi Gita

~~OM~~ Shaktis leave Shiva and Vishnu and Brahma requests his sons to perform tapasya Daksha’s Enmity with Shiva and the 108 Shakti Pithas Parvati’s boon to the Gods and Himalaya’s questions The forms of Maya in the Gross Body, Subtle Body, and Causal Body The Manifestation of Maya Shakti, and Darshan of Her Universal form […]

Story of Gautam Muni and the Pot

~~OM~~ I’m going to tell you a story about a time where there was a great drought in all of India. Everyone was wanting for water. Except for Gautam Muni. Gautam Muni was worshipping Gayatri Devi and he had established a pot. And every day he would chant the mantras, and while every day the […]