Indica Today- Shastraas & Indic Knowledge

  Dharma ? Is it complicated to explain? Is it a simple concept? What is “the dharma”? How to define it? It’s said to be full and empty, nothing and everything, unqualified, unformed, unknowable, all knowing, formless, above and beyond, integral to, all-in-all, in everyone, also nonexistent, a non-identity, unfathomable. Dharma is everything; it is nothing; the one and the many, simultaneously. Is Dharma a difficult concept to define? A myriad complexity that is everything, everywhere, all at once… and nowhere. All knowledge, all wisdom, and tangible consciousness, alive, intangible, aware and filled with light and unqualified love and reflecting back qualities of wisdom. Is that Dharma? What is Dharma? Considering how central the concept of Dharma is to the belief systems of billions of people on planet Earth, it is startling how few Americans actually know what Dharma means. I conducted an unofficial poll sporadically over the last thirty years, and asked dozen’s of Americans “Wh...

  Veda , from the root “vid” to know, refers to Knowledge in the highest sense as direct perception of the Eternal and Infinite Consciousness called Brahman. Brahman is present as the Atman or inner Self of all beings at an individual level. The practice of Vedic knowledge is Yoga , meaning integration and unification. Knowledge of our true nature as pure consciousness beyond all limitations of time and space naturally brings us Yoga or harmony and oneness with all. Veda is knowledge and Yoga is its practice . It is that simple. They are two sides of the same truth. Yoga not only leads us to Veda, but also expresses it. Veda embodies itself through Yoga as its manifestation. Paths of Yoga There are three primary traditional paths of Yoga. First is  Jnana Yoga  or the Yoga of Knowledge, which is the Yoga of Veda as the way of inner wisdom. It is the path of Self-knowledge, Self-realization and the unity of our inner most Self with all, the Universal Being, gained through m...

  The Indian Saura-mata (or the Hindu sect of the Sun) is an amalgam of two distinct layers [ 1]: 1) The endogenous layer of solar deities going back to the Veda and 2) The neo-morphic layer of Iranic origin which was transferred to India as a result of contact with Zoroastrians and to an extent, non-Zoroastrian Iranians from a period spanning the beginning of the common era to the around the 6 th  -7 th  centuries of the common era. While primarily an āstika tradition, the later period of the nāstika traditions of the Bauddha-s and to some degree, the Jaina-s also developed reflexes of the Saura system. Among Bauddha-s, the earlier manifestation crystallized around the goddess Marīcī whose roots as a warrior goddess lay in the Saura pantheon. In the later phase, the high-point of the Vajrayāna tradition, in the form of Kālacakra also incorporated several Saura elements. Vedic Sun Worship Tradition The Veda, like other Indo-European traditions, preserves a strong elemen...