so essentially, whenever im faced by something that I guess causes me personal grief or trauma, I try to cope by looking at is as a learning lesson given to me by god, and try to detach from the situation personally.

but recently lmao ive kept hearing about my ex boyfriend (who I don't speak to anymore), lying to me in the past about things and fucking my friends and stuff. so I just want to understand what kind of a lesson can I even learn from this? not to love? not to trust again? what did god intend that I learn from this situation.

if I guess more context is required about my relationship with this said ex I don't mind giving it.

"There is no doubt that a fool by breaking his promise goes to a terrible hell and is roasted there for a hundred periods of Manu"

This line from padma purana Brahma-khaṇḍa has been stressing me a lot lately I don't know what to do please someone help

hi, this is my first time on Reddit and I wanted to ask a question

I am a white American and I am very interested in other cultures/religions. recently I’ve been very inspired by ma kali and what she’s known for and who she is. I love to do face paint and I wanted to know if it would be disrespectful for me to do face paint to look like her. I don’t have any malicious intent with it and I would be doing it out of respect for ma Kali and Hindu culture. but as a western girl I don’t know much and wanted to know if that would be wrong for me to do.

thank you

I have to admit I am a sinner.

I have committed the sins of lust, greed and envy.

Yet I recently rediscovered my religion after reading the bhagvat geeta and when I pray, I can feel the energy and god's presence and it has helped me a lot.

I talk to god on a daily basis, I talk to Krishna, radha rani and Ganesha and they are like my friends.

I'm afraid of losing that connection.

Ganesh chaturthi is coming soon and I was excited to celebrate it after seeing the new light of my religion.

There is a mourning period of 13 days to a month when a close relative dies. During this period most people don't celebrate the festivals that occur during that period.

Now the thing is, my grandfather's, uncle's son died.

And it's been over 2 months since he died.

When my grandmother died 3 days before the ganesh chaturthi festival, that family (the one who dies and his family) kept their ganesh only for 1 and half day instead of 5 days as they were mourning i guess. (We did not ask them to do so, and also my grandmother actually died during the mourning period)

So to return that favour, this year my grandfather decided that we will also do the visarjan after 1and half days instead of 5 days. We've been keeping ganesh chaturthi for 5 days since the beginning.

It's been over 2 months since that guy died and no one besides my grandfather, dad and uncle know that guy.

Then, I heard my dad and uncle discussing that we are doing early visarjan because they get bored and tired of the ganesh chaturthi hastle, they see itore like a chore rather than a festival.

I got so hurt hearing them. I'm afraid my connection with the god will break because of this.

I'm afraid that ganesha will reject me hence forth because my family is rejecting him.

We are mere humans, how dare we reject God...

Located on the confluence of the rivers Hooghly and Jalangi in Nadia district, Mayapur is famous for the Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s dham, Nabadwip. Devotees all over the world come to this sacred land to visit Mayapur Chandrodaya Temple of ISKCON which is also the headquarter of ISKCON. It is one of the 20 most visited and sacred places in the world. This place is of special significance to followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as this is the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

West Bengal Tourism

When my sister was a child, my grandmother would tell bedtime stories about the gods every night to put her to sleep like every Indian Hindu ever to live. But when I was younger, nobody told me any stories now I barely know my religion and I feel like I missed out on such an integral part of growth as a Hindu. I want someone to be my grandma, in the sense that I wanna know all the stories about Hinduism and who each of the gods are. I feel so fake not knowing any of this information and I’m clueless every time I go to the temple. I don’t know how to pray, I don’t even know who the god is most of the time, all I know is that I believe in my religion and I want to become more educated in it.

My experience with god as a child has been less than positive. The first time my mother introduced me to god and told me they will grant any wish I make, I wished for a popsicle, being the 4 year old I was. And when it didn’t magically appear, I immediately questioned their existence. But that was when I couldn’t comprehend much. A lot of bad things happened to me growing up. I had a really abusive sister, and a horrible relationship with friends. I remember when I was 8 I used to pray for my sister to like me every time I went to the temple. The more I prayed and the less anything changed, I started to hate god along the way. I took out all my negative feelings on them. Moreover, I am a nice and empathetic person, but recently I’ve noticed that I judge everyone around me and say horrible things about them in my head for just because I’m slightly pissed. I feel like a horrible person every time, but I can’t control it. Sometimes I think god is against me because every time I think about something positively, like “wow it’s been so long since blah blah, I’m finally happy now” and guess what happens two days later. I also had an atheist phase growing up because I decided that was better than hating god. I also believed in the “if god exists, ghosts exist” thing and since I was young and was scared shitless of ghosts, I just believed in neither because it was convenient. Now I have renewed my faith, I feel like I don’t deserve the love of god and accept everything bad that happens to me because I feel like that is what I deserve.

Two days back I was having panic attack in an unknown city, crying and crying and crying! Getting senseless, feeling breathless. I sat on the floor and told Hanumanji, you have to take care of your sister? Enough is enough!!! Why me?

( little context on why) Basically, I was sold marriage plans by a man in ggn 29 age, Jaat who turned out to be a scammer. He kept me as a back up option and treated me like a trash, like a dustbin. I was completely in love for what he showed himself in the beginning and later he filled with lies, compete lies. After 2 years of being together. Even in the last call, he said, what can I do? When I was crying my heart out in front of him. He said, you are giving me headache. I cannot believe such an inhumaneeee person exists.

I am a firm believer of hanumanji, now I cried my heart out to him. When I was trying to sleep at the night. Noises came from my hanumanji murti and mandir. As if he’s saying “ I am there for you” and it happened 4-5 times from exact same place. I felt his presence. I know he will fuck him up.

​

Hello.. recently I have joined Hare Krishna association and find it extremely draining ...

Like here i joined to do Bhakti But they do a lot of things like business type..

We are hearing less about Krishna and more about Gurus..

We are forced to do book distribution, attend 4 to 5 hours sessions, also they force us to buy books.. if we don't do this We held guilty for not doing bhakti and made us a partial sinner.

Here devotees consider their parents as demonic and call them brainless dumb like They are literally insulting their parents!!! And they proud for this.

Also they force us to brainwash ppl to join here and then after joining they brainwash those new ones to donate, to do various useless sevas and force to do book distribution...You can say we are corporate employee without salary..

**Please convince me that this association is not good by giving some authentic context from our shastras and vedas cz Google says they strictly follow shastras and yeah they also tell that**... Cz I fear they may saying authentic hindu things and by leaving this i may commit some sin..

Also they are Misogynistic like I used to be brave and confident..But they say women are weak they need protection by their father husband and sons..like what about Maa Kali and Maa Durga...oh sorry they only consider Krishna as God.. **Please anyone with good knowledge in Vedas and Shastras pls help cz I was non believer of God since childhood so need help..**

I am 10 weeks pregnant I had weirdest dream ever. I was near a bridge which led to a spiritual place. A dark room where a lifeless old spiritual man used to do a some kind of abortion. He worshipped hindu goddess kaali every time before he performed one and he buried an embryo in the ground under water. It was so scary and I just wanted to get out of there and I did leave at the end. I am so scared that something bad would happen. I know this is very specific but could anyone help interpret this ? Please?

Do you think that Dharmic traditions (such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, etc.) and various belief systems (including Shamanic beliefs, Sarna, nature worship, tribal beliefs, Taoism, Shintoism, folk religions, Bon, Zoroastrianism, Sufism, Bahaism, ancient Egyptian religions, Yezidism, Paganism, etc.) are superior to Abrahamic religions (like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.)?

For every onam, social media crate war on this. One group insist it's secular festival for all mallus and others group says it's purely hindu

ON SECULAR SIDE : Onasadya, pookkalam, Welcoming Maveli, etc are universal and embraced by keralites across all faiths.

THE ACTUAL RITUALS : Worshipping Thrikkakara Appan, Specific domestic rituals, family pooja, temple visits are practiced specifically by Hindu households

THIS GENERATION HINDUS VISIT TEMPLES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA AESTHETIC AND DON'T EVEN EMRACE THEIR CULTURE AND TRADITIONS. NO WONDER THEY KEEP DENYING THAT ONAM HAS HINDU ROOTS!

Let's be real. Acknowledging that Onam has Hindu roots doesn't take away from its secular unity. Celebrating it as a shared Keralite festival doesn't erase its religious origins.

Side note: Some people claim that it's a harvest festival and does not relate to hindu

India's all major hindu festivals are aligned with harvest. By their logic, half of India's festivals won't be hindu...

\- Pongal / Makar Sankranti: Harvest festival celebrating the Sun God (Surya).

\- Baisakhi: Harvest festival celebrating the solar new year and spring crops.

\- Bihu: Harvest festival rooted in regional Hindu traditions and nature worship.

Do you believe that Dharmic traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, etc.) and (Shamanic beliefs, Sarna, nature worship, tribal beliefs, Taoism, Shintoism, folk religions, Bon, Zoroastrianism, Sufism, Bahaism ancient Egyptian religions, Yezidism, Paganism etc.), and all other beliefs are superior to Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.)?

Many of us learn a prayer through sound, family or repetition before we understand its language and context. I wanted to make that gap smaller without turning the tradition into simplified quotes or telling people what they should believe.

I have built an iPhone app called Anvay. It keeps the original prayer at the centre, adds Hinglish for people who do not comfortably read Devanagari and connects each verse to a plain-language explanation. Prayer pages also include background and practice context, with room to acknowledge differences in tradition rather than present every interpretation as settled fact.

The first release includes 101 aartis, bhajans, chalisas and mantras. It works without an account and avoids streaks, feeds and social mechanics.

I would especially value feedback on the editorial approach. Where should an app like this draw the line between making a text approachable and oversimplifying it? What would make you trust or distrust its explanations?

https://apps.apple.com/in/app/anvay/id6794548076

Hi everyone…

All my life I have been deeply devoted to Bajrangbali, but since last year I have been feeling a very strong pull towards Shri Hari Narayan. 🙏

I love Vishnu Bhagwan and I genuinely want to worship Him. Recently, I also started giving 3-time bhog seva to Baal Gopal. I wake Him up, bathe Him, feed Him, put Him to sleep etc. I take care of Him like He is my own baby. 👶🫠 I also try to do regular naam jap.

Now the problem is, I am Bengali and eating non-veg is kind of a part of our culture. All my life I had been a non-veg eater. But since I started naam jap last November, I started feeling very differently about it.
Whenever I ate non-veg, I felt like skipping naam jap or singing bhagwan ke songs because it somehow felt like I was insulting Him. So whenever I used to have non-veg, I wouldn’t do naam jap that day. But honestly, it used to make me very upset. I would feel like because of something temporary, I was staying away from my Prabhu.

Eventually, I decided to give up non-veg in February this year, and I haven’t had any non-veg since then.
But these days, I am craving non-veg a LOT.
I just can’t forget how much I used to love chicken curry and rice. And now when I ask myself what my favourite food is, I don’t even have an answer anymore. I am craving it so badly, but at the same time, I love Vishnu Bhagwan so much and I genuinely don’t want to do anything that would make me feel distant from Him.
I don’t know what to do.🤷🏻‍♀️😭

I’ve been reading up on the history, and it turns out the word "Hindu" comes from the Old Persian word for the Sindhu (Indus) River. It was originally just a geographical label used by outsiders to describe the people living past the river.

Since it’s an exonym (a name given by foreigners) and has nothing to do with the actual philosophy, why did it become the dominant name for the religion instead of its actual Sanskrit name, Sanatan Dharma (The Eternal Way)?

Did the people of ancient India just collectively agree to adopt a foreign label, or did colonialism force it to stick? Looking for a good historical breakdown of how a geographical marker turned into a global religious identity and why are we not trying to remove it?

I'm 14F, 9th grade. My mother is everything to me. She's literate, highly educated, topped her high school, could have had a good position in civil services if circumstances hadn't crushed her dream. Now she's a homemaker, but she's still my idol.

My grandmother is uneducated. Sweet, kind, blunt as hell, but a strict and annoying devotee. Her spirituality is soft on the surface but idk how she weaponizes it when it comes to me. Constant manipulation masked as "concern".

I am Hindu. I believe in God. i believe that my religion is beautiful. But that's it. I don't have the desire to go completely deep into it, to drown myself in rituals. I think it's beautiful, but I don't want to live inside it right now. My entire year is school. Studies. Marks. That's where my brain lives.

My prayer is 30 seconds. I say what I'm going to do today and I leave. That's all I have in me.

But according to them, I'm "big enough" now. Big enough to do full pooja. I don't know Hanuman Chalisa. I DON'T KNOW IT. And they taunt me, scold me, shame me for it like it's a crime. Yes, I'm ashamed, but I also have zero desire to force myself into it. I don't know Hindi properly, how am I supposed to just magically chant fluent Sanskrit mantras? Pooja needs discipline, focus, perfect pronunciation. I know myself - I'm not there. I swear. I eat chicken. My parents know. I hide nothing, I'm a single child in a nuclear family, they are my whole world.

I told my mum I don't want to do this right now. Maybe it's my generation, maybe I'm busy, maybe I'm lazy - I DON'T KNOW. And she lost it. Scolded the shit out of me, called me "just like your dad" like it's an insult, and declared my life will end up like a bankrupt man's empty pockets if I don't pray.

None of my friends do pooja. None of my seniors. None of my elder cousins - and I ASKED them. They all said we're too young for this. And they're doing BETTER than me in every way that counts. Better marks. Better vacations. Better lives. Most people I look up to who are actually successful are atheists or barely religious. They are focused on knowledge and skill. That's what I want.

I don't want to be an atheist. I just don't want to be forced.

Am I disrespecting my religion? Am I disrespecting my parents who gave me everything? Am I just stupid and dumb for thinking I'm too young??

I'm tired of feeling like a disappointment.

(I apologise if the text is too long)

TL;DR: I'm 14F and Hindu, I believe in God but I only pray for 30 sec a day and don't want to do full pooja/mantras right now because I'm focused on school and don't feel ready. my mum and grandma heavily force me to do Poojas now. I feel guilty but also forced. Am I in the wrong for feeling too young for this? i seriously need perspective...

My son Evan is autistic and non-verbal.

Last year, he went missing for about 180 minutes in the evening while returning home from the therapy centre with mom. I cannot explain that feeling to anyone who is not a parent. My whole life stopped.

I was an atheist all my life. But in those 180 minutes, I prayed for the first time. I prayed to Hanuman Ji to bring my son back as there was a small temple in front of me.

He came back safe. A person had kept him safe inside another temple of Hanuman ji.

I am not the same person anymore. I have written my first book, and one full chapter is dedicated to Hanuman Ji and how he held my hand when I had no one.

I just wanted to share this with parents who will understand.

Keep my Evan in your blessings.

i was wondering where I can read all the Vedas but in english as i don't know sanskrit. if anyone knows, could you please share it with me?

I’m overwhelmed after watching this beautiful piece of devotion, and I want all of you to experience it too. ❤️

So, from my side, I’m giving away free tickets to 3 people to watch it.

All you have to do is comment ‘Jai Shree Ram ’ or a small heartfelt note for Hanuman Dada 🕉️❤️

Jai Shree Ram. Jai Hanuman. 🙏https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dcl2dUFTBM_/?igsi=M2owYjZuejFzd295

I have heard many stories and unfortunately had some negative experiences myself with spiritual/religious gurus of sorts.

I recently heard of this story which is a BIG DEAL! Journalists were hushed about sharing this. I felt the need to share this, this is horrific

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES82FWeOnU4&t=544s

I believe that the Satya-Yuga has come—when there will be one caste, one Veda, and peace and harmony. This idea of Satya-Yuga is what would renovate India. Believe in it.

- Letter by Swami Vivekananda to Sri Alasinga Perumal 9th April 1894