Hoorray!

॥ श्री रामचन्द्र कृपालु ॥ श्रीरामचन्द्र कृपालु भजु मन हरण भवभय दारुणम् नवकञ्ज लोचन , कञ्जमुख कर कञ्जपद कञ्जारुणम् ॥ १ ॥ कंदर्प अगणित अमित छबि नव नील नीरज सुन्दरम् । पटपीत मानहुं तड़ित रूचि - शुची नौमि जनक सुतावरम् ॥ २ ॥ भजु दीन बन्धु दिनेश दानव दैत्यवंशनिकन्दनम् । रघुनन्द आनंदकंद कोशल चन्द दशरथ नन्दनम् ॥ ३ ॥ सिर मुकुट कुण्डल तिलक चारु उदारु अङ्ग विभूषणम् । आजानुभुज शर चापधर सङ्ग्राम - जित - खर दूषणम् ॥ ४ ॥ इति वदति तुलसीदास शङ्कर शेष मुनि मनरञ्जनम् । मम हृदयकञ्ज निवास कुरु कामादि खलदलगञ्जनम् ॥ ५ ॥ मनु जाहीं राचेउ मिलिहि सो बरु सहज सुन्दर साँवरो । करुना निधान सुजान सीलु सनेहु जानत रावरो ॥ ६ ॥ एही भांति गोरी असीस सुनी सिय सहित हिय हरषीं अली । तुलसी भावानिह पूजी पुनि - पुनि मुदित मन मंदिर चली गोस्वामी तुलसीदास Fortunate I am, to be born in this land! Fortunate I am, to immerse myself in Bhakti, and in the thought of Īśvara . And how c...

अगजानन पद्मार्कम् गजाननम् अहर्निशम्। अनेकदन्तम् भक्तानाम् एकदन्तम् उपास्महे॥ agajānana padmārkam gajānanam aharniśam| anekadantam bhaktānām ekadantam upāsmahe||   What a beautiful verse to behold and listen! I heard it first when this verse was suggested as an invocation for our magazine Yuva Bharati by my brother a couple of years ago. (Yup! I promptly posted it on facebook - even social networks have been permeated by spirituality :-D) A couple of months back, I had the good fortune to sit at the feet of Swami Dayananda Saraswati and learn this same verse - how to say it and its meaning. Recollecting that experience from memory, I'll try to share the beauty and the brilliance of this verse here. ānana means face. Gajānana is the Lord who has the face of an elephant or gaja . On seeing the face of Gajānana , the face of Agaja , daughter of the king among mountains ( aga) , Himavan or Parvata , one who is called Himavati or Parvati , lightens up. This is so natura...

The first time I came across the phrase "Spiritual, but not religious" was as an option for "Religion" when I signed up for Orkut. And I have found this phrase to be quite intriguing since then. As I started adding friends to my profile, I found many of them opting for this option. I doubt if they understood the meaning of this phrase properly. I am trying to understand this phrase too. Like jeans, pizza, coke, google, nuclear weapons, credit cards, gene modification, pollution, communism etc, this is an idea imported from the west. The two operating concepts here are "Religion" and "Spirituality" . And only if we understand what these two concepts really mean, can we understand the phrase "Spiritual, but not religious". When I think of religion these are what spring up in my mind - dogmas & doctrines, rituals & sacrifices, rules & restrictions, faiths & beliefs. These are considered as essential aspects of a rel...