Sacred Revelations: Christ and Krishna

Both Krishna and Christ appeared on earth to help us evolve spiritually. The Supreme, though unborn and undying, reveals itself in human form to help us overcome the illusions of ignorance and self-centredness, of hatred and cruelty, through love and compassion. There are interesting similarities in the life and precepts of Krishna and Christ. Kansa and Herod - one the king of Mathura, the other, of Palestine - were forewarned that they would die at the hands of a child yet to be born. So, they went about slaughtering newborns.

Read more here: » Christ and Krishna: Sacred Revelations - Christ and Krishna

Hindu - Zulu Tradition - Many Similarities

There are some striking similarities between the African and Indian cultures.

In both Hindu and Zulu cultures religion and culture have become inseparable. You cannot talk of culture without implying religion; and you can't talk of religion amongst the Zulus and the Hindus without implying culture.

Read more here: » Hinduism vs Zulu: Hindu - Zulu Tradition - Many Similarities

Afterife - Life After Death

An encyclopedia of different cultures mythology  around afterlife, including : Adiri, Ama-No-Hashidate: , Asamando, Asgard, Astral Plane, Avalon, Bralgu, Chalmecacivati, Ching Tu, Chinvato Peretav, Dilum, Djanna, Elysium, Fortunate Isle, Gwenved, Happy Hunting Ground, Hawaiki, Inkolwe, Isle of the Blest, Kevala, Khun-Lun, Ki-Agpga-Pod, Kotluwalawa, Land of the Moon, Lewu Liau, Limbo, Mizumu, Moksha, Mormon Heaven, Mount Kailasa, Mount Meru , New Age Afterlife, New Jerusalem, Nirvana, Otherworld, Sheol, Summerland, Tain, Tamoanchan, The Pole Star, Tlalocan, Tum and Valhalla.

Read more here: » Afterlife: Encyclopedia of Afterlife Mythology in Different Cultures

Hinduism vs Christianity: Hindu beliefs compared with Christian beliefs

Read more here: » Hinduism vs Christianity: Hindu beliefs compared with Christian beliefs

Oneness: Rise Above Dogma, Realise The Truth

When I pass by the neighbourhood mosque, I bow my head in respect just as I do when I pass by the temple. The mullah's call to the faithful turns me towards prayer and God. I go through the same upsurge of emotions when I visit a church or gurdwara. When I bow my head in humility to Christ and the Guru Granth Sahib, I see in them my beloved Lord Krishna. Similarly, when I hear the Buddhist chant: ''Buddham Sharanam Gachchhami'', it continues to reverberate within me for long after, giving me the same sense of peace I experience when I say my usual prayers.

Read more here: » Oneness: Rise Above Dogma, Realise The Truth

New Global Order and Oneness Principle

Thirty years ago the historian Arnold Toynbee and Daisaku Ikeda, head of the Japanese Buddhist Soka Gokkai International, discussed at length various pertinent issues, trying to discern the future direction that our world must take if it is to survive these "times of the end".

Toynbee remarks, "...The question of mankind's future religion arises because all the current religions have proved unsatisfactory... A future religion that is to bring into being, and to keep in being, a new civilisation will have to be one that will enable mankind to contend with, and to overcome, the evils that are serious present threats to human survival."

Read more here: » Oneness Principle: New Global Order and Oneness Principle

Relevance of Buddhism In the New Century

In the 20th century great changes took place as a result of experiments and developments in a broad range of human activities, in economics, politics, and science. The past hundred years' experiences have made us appreciate the importance of freedom, and the significant contributions of individual and private enterprise in improving the economy. We also began to recognise the importance of putting a stop to the production and proliferation of weapons of tremendous destructive power.

By The Dalai Lama

Read more here: » Buddhism: Relevance of Buddhism In the New Century

Compassion: Cultivating Positive Emotions

All major traditions in the world agree that negative emotions cause both physical and mental suffering. To be happy and free of suffering we need to cultivate positive attributes like compassion, generosity and loving-kindness. Buddhism acknowledges that outer circumstances are often beyond our control.

Read more here: » Compassion: Cultivating Positive Emotions

The sages who gave us the ancient Vedic mantras and hymns were evolved beings who had either attained or come very close to a state of pure consciousness. In their meditations they heard perfect words and sounds - sublime mantras, sacred wisdom arising from within. They passed this sacred wisdom on to their disciples by singing it.

In those days all the scriptures were sung, and the rishis and sages understood that chanting the sacred word was an offering to God for the well-being of the earth and all its creatures. They knew that the human voice chanting sacred mantras has healing power and that these pure sounds actually replenish the universe, create harmony, and keep the universe healthy.

(See also: Chanting , God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Chanting: The Healing Powers Of Ancient Chants  

According to ancient Mayan beliefs the Cosmos was made up by Nine Underworlds. This fundamental idea was expressed very powerfully through their most important pyramids, the Pyramid of the Plumed Serpent in Chichen-Itza, the Pyramid of the Jaguar in Tikal and the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque, which were all built with Nine different stories.

Read more here: » Mayan Calendar: The Pyramid of Consciousness

Since the dawn of human time people have described certain places as being holy or magical, as having a concentrated power or presence of spirit. Ancient legends, historical records and contemporary reports tell of extraordinary, even miraculous happenings at these places. It is a curious fact, however, that these sacred sites, so significant to human culture are so little known beyond their own religious traditions. Of enormous importance, they have received only limited attention from social anthropologists, cultural geographers and religious historians. Why this remarkable omission of awareness and understanding?

Read more here: » Sacred Sites and Sacred Places: Pilgrimage and the lure of sacred sites

Over the decades much discussion has focussed on finding the exact correlation between the Mayan Long Count and the Gregorian calendar. Most researchers in the field have now come to agree that the so-called GMT correlation, placing the beginning of the Long Count 4 Ahau 8 Cumku on the Julian day 584 283, August 11, 3114 BC, is correct. This means by consequence that it will end on December 21, 2012 and most, such as Jose Arguelles, John Jenkins and Terence McKenna, who have taken an interest in the calendar of the Maya, have endorsed this date as the end of the current cycle.

Read more here: » Mayan Calendar: Why the Creation Cycles do not end December 21, 2012, but October 28, 2011

The New Age movement is hardly novel! Its philosophy is rooted in ancient traditions, often based on mystical experiences, each within a different context.

Part I of II, written by Michael Rogge

Read more here: » New Age Spirituality: The roots of the New Age Movement Ð Part I

From the ancient times, music is something that has put people, in touch with their inner most feelings. Different kind of music works upon different emotions of an individual, and releases the various incomplete emotions leading towards a total healing of body and mind.

Read more here: » Spiritual Healing: Bhakthi Sankeertan - Healing through music

Art is a collaboration between God and man, raising him to the exclusive band of creators and taking him deeply within and around his handiwork. It is a unique result of a unique temperament with its beauty derived from mutable disconcern of his environment. Leela Ganapathy, retired Professor of Arts, share her vivid knowledge about the Indian Arts and Dance are recognised as a bridge between the divine and our day to day life and our society.

Read more here: » Spiritual Dance: Dance in Spiritual Indian Art

In India we find the oldest continually operating pilgrimage tradition in the entire world. The practice of pilgrimage in India is so deeply embedded in the cultural psyche and the number of pilgrimage sites is so large that the entire subcontinent may actually be regarded as one grand and continuous sacred space. Martin Gray spent the last 20 years visiting more than thousand sacred sites around the world and he guides us to some of the sacred sites of India.

Read more here: » Sacred Places: Sacred Sites, places and temples in India

The first time I noticed conflicting ritual elements was when I was invited as a guest to attend another Coven's esbat celebration. When the time came to 'invoke the Watchtowers' (a ritual salutation to the four directions), I was amazed to learn that this group associated the element of Earth with the North. My own Coven equated North with Air. How odd, I thought. Where'd they get that? The High Priestess told me it had been copied out of a number of published sources. Further, she said she had never seen it listed any other way. I raced home and began tearing books from my own library shelves. And sure enough! Practically every book I consulted gave the following assoications as standard: North = Earth, East = Air, South = Fire, West = Water.

Then where the heck did I get the idea that Air belonged in the North?

Read more here: » Paganism: RE-THINKING THE WATCHTOWERS or 13 Reasons Air Should Be In The North

The Native American Sweat Lodge, Temazcal, is an ancient practice from the native indians of America; a sacred ritual for Healing and Purification. Participants at the Oneness Festival will be able to experience this very powerful ritual both at day time, and, when it is as most powerful, at night time.

Read more here: » Sweat Lodge: Temazcal I/III - The Traditional Mexican Sweat Bath

Long before modern science came up with the idea of the Big Bang, India’s Sphota Vada said just what the Big Bang model says - that creation was born of one initial explosion.

Swami Vivekananda sums up the Indian Sphota Vada thus : “ Brahman first manifested itself as Sound, and then as Form. Sensible universe is the Form behind which stands the eternal inexpressible Sphota , the essential eternal material of all ideas or names. Sphota , the manifester as Logos or Word, is the power through which the Lord creates the universe. The Lord first becomes conditioned as the Sphota and then evolves himself as the more concrete sensible universe. In other words, Sphota is the fore- father of all ideas, it is their common basis and even the essence. If all the peculiarities which distinguish one word from another is removed, then what remains would be the Sphota.’’

(See also: Big Bang Theory , God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Big Bang Theory: Big Bang Theory In Ancient India  

Jainism is an ancient religion, more ancient than what most of us are given to believe. Although a lot of people associate Jainism with Lord Mahavira as its founder but nothing can be further from truth. Lord Mahavira was not the founder of Jainism but the last of the 24 Tirthankaras . It is very difficult to envisage and visualise how old and ancient this religion is because the period between the coming to earth of each of the Tirthankaras was yugas or eons.

Read more here: » Jainism: A Way To Cleanse

Hindu view on Science, Knowledge and Education

Hindu scriptures recognize two types of knowledge: the lower knowledge and the higher knowledge. Knowledge of the rites and rituals and scholarly study of scriptures is considered to be lower knowledge, while higher knowledge is the knowledge of Atman and Brahman gained through personal experience or self realization. Of the two, the Higher Knowledge alone is true, because it liberates the individuals from the cycle of births and deaths.

Read more here: » Hinduism and Science:Hindu view on Science, Knowledge and Education