Thank you for blessing us with your presence during our navarathri puja.

Subscribing to your blog has brought spiritual enlightenment into my life. I have been reading your blog for a long time now but I have always been afraid to respond.

Thank you for explaining the importance of Pitar Paksh and Navarathri. I did not know that Mother Durga had four children.

We are so thankful to Master for sending you to South Africa.

Pranams
Natasha (Newcastle)
S A

Dear Arnab
Jai Sri Thakur!
Thanks for your lively interest on the topic. I have published under that slide show post a short report on the Hinduism Conference sent by a student-devotee Reantha Pillay. She has recounted the other 6 points and also the gist from Talks from other learned panel of speakers.
I hope this helps you.
With love
Swami Vimokshananda

Respected Maharaj
Pronam
Thanks a lot for sharing me the link. I read the other six there and it is indeed a nice article. Thanks once again for the effort that you are putting to circulate the words of Thakur, Ma and Swami jee which is helping a lot to devotees like me.
Please keep writing Maharaj, we really enjoy reading your articles, experiences and practical teachings.
Take care.
Regards,
Arnab Lahiri

Aum Namo Narayanaya

Ganesh Chaturti is the largest hindu festival in Goa. It was great. We even had college holidays. I once again visited the Prabujis in Margao. It was a beautiful family event and I ate lunch with them after Aarti. The Ganesh Festival is even bigger than Diwali. There were Large Statues and fireworks, and Rishal and I visited temples as well. There is so much Prasadh in Goa. I had laddus as well. The Ganesh Festival was a great experience.

Jai Sri Ramakrishna

I have being reading the blog very frequently and find it most interesting and spiritually enriching. Reading the articles is like listening to maharaj speak to us in person. Thank you maharaj for blessing us recently with maharaj’s visit. We are eagerly awaiting the next visit that is during navarathri. i hope it is not rude to question maharaj but maharaj mentioned in your speech in Glencoe that there were 8 salient points but only mentioned 6. Could maharaj pls let me know the other two. Thanking maharaj most sincerely,

Pranams
Meena
Ladysmith, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Dear Meena
Aum Namo Narayanaya!
Indeed a nice query! I understand how keenly you followed the discussion that was held at Hinduism Conference, Glencoe. Thanks!

Why I could not complete the 7th and 8th points was my realising that time was running out. You might have known that I was given 30 mts and when I came to the 6th point I was already run over by 10 mts. If I proceed, I felt that I would be only intruding into others’ time which cannot be justified in a Conference. It was not a discourse venue of an ashram where a little extension of time may not matter much. Hope you appreciate this.

Now, the 7th point : Vandana – salutation

You know there are various methods in which we greet each other and the methods actually vary with the status of the persons whome we salute. Joining the palms is a normal posture. Then kneeling down or bending hip etc. While standing before God in any form whether a photo or statue, one should do the ’salutation’ by doing ’sashtanga pranam’. Sashtanga means sashta + anga ( eight parts).
The individual prostrates before the deity or the symbol in which he is invoking the divine. This prostration is done with all the major eight limbs touching the ground. The major eight limbs are the forehead, the mouth, the hands, the chest, the abdomen, the thighs, the feet and the mind.
You know how our dear Master used to bow down even to visitors at Dakshineshwar. This procedure of vandana gives a spiritual direction to our mind that God exists everywhere and each individual is divine so everyone should be given due dignity.

The next item 8th : Atma-nivedana self-surrender
This need not be explained much as you know well how surrender of one’s actions and one’s will at the feet of the Lord removes all kinds of worries. Sri Ramakrishna never prided himself with all that he obtained. He would think and act according to the Will of Mother Kali.

Hope this is suffice. With prayers
Swami Vimokshananda

It is with utmost interest that I read Swamijees’s wonderful articles. I am deeply thankful to Swamijee for sharing these most interesting incidents. With the stress of studying and great concern about our future, these posts bring hope and solace in these trying times. There are no words to describe my gratitude to our revered Swamijee. Many of my friends at Wits University are also showing interest in Swamijee’s blog. I hope to meet Swamijee at the Upcoming Vedanta Retreat at Johannesburg.

Pranam Partab
Wits University

Please accept my Pranam.

I happened to read story of Tribal girl given in your experiences. An inspiring story told with lots of feelings. May we all find the ways to reach out beyond ourselves and experience living out of our own body and the small / narrow worlds that we have created around us.

I stay in Delhi but presently visiting Trivandrum on official work. It is a state (kerala) which does not rejoice in change. But it is interesting to see that people of Kerala have started celebrating Vinayaka Chaturthi. I did get to see Modaks in one of the sweet shop. Lord Ganesha is spreading his charm all over.

I liked Ganesha embracing linga. Will you have more pictures of this? Please send to me, if possible.

Jai Maa

Rachna

What more to say! You please keep up posting like this. It’s all by Lord’s wish that we are working (all by His mere wish). When Lord Himself let us know, we come to know. Likewise, when Lord Himself wants to illumine our hearts, He does so through His chosen icon (in this case the little girl, who is none but Mother Earth).

It takes immense good luck to hear about God
To see Him is better
And even to converse with Him like friends, one of our own is indeed the best.

Jai Sri Thakur! Jai Sri Maa! Jai Swamiji!

With Best Regards,
Subhadip (Noida), Uttar Pradesh,
India