Sanatan links : connect to root

Sri Adi Shankaracharya (CE 788—820), one of the pillars of Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism), continues to inspire intellectuals and sages, though he lived more than a thousand years ago. The four Mathas that he founded in Sringeri (Karnataka), Dwaraka (Gujarat), Puri (Orissa) and Jyotirmath (Uttarakhand) in India are eminent centers of knowledge and authority in Hindu tradition. Some of the most important of Shankaracharya's works are his commentaries on the Brahmasutras - Brahmasutrabhashya - considered the core of Shankara's perspective on Advaita, and Bhaja Govindam written in praise of Govinda or Lord Krishna - a Sanskrit devotional poem that forms the center of the Bhakti movement and also epitomizes his Advaita Vedanta philosophy. In addition, Vivekachudamani, B...

A documentary " Ram Mandir: Adalat aur Aastha " is published for Ramjanmbhumi's history. All evidences lead to the temple. Watch following in Hindi , English version of the documentary  is also available . This blog covered Ramjanmbhumi in previous posts , all the posts can be read from this link .

Dr. Yashwant Pathak , International Coordinator, ICCS, USA ( http://iccsus.org/ ) talks on  comparative study of various ancient traditions & cultures in remote areas of north-eastern parts of India, American Indian, South American traditions as Inca,Mayan and the African continent. Dr. Pathak is presently the Associate Dean in College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida ( http://is.gd/oo7HYd ). The finding are surprising, all the ancient traditions have numerous similarity with Sanatan Dharma. Please watch this interesting talk at below video. ICCS's  Research Activities  1. Preparing exhaustive bibliography of different cultures. 2. Translating important texts of different cultures. 3. Comparative studies of different cultures regarding their Philosophy, Religion, Society, Literature, History, Music and Fine Arts. 4. Arranging guest lectures, seminars, informal discussions, etc. 5. Publication of research journals.

One more link about cultural and Sanatan Dhama's influence in pan-Asia. One can find heritage of Sanatan Dharma in Asian countries very easily. This french author(s) given more focus on Ganesh worshiping and found it is very much prevailing in Asia. You can read his article Ganesh in South-East Asia . Author(s) summed up as "Ganesh worship has been disseminated in nearly all the Far-East Asia countries. More or less numerous representations of this god are known in the following countries :Afghanistan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Japan, etc." I had posted a blog earlier about Sanatan Dharamic influence in the same region which was called Suvarnabhumi in past, you can read Sanatan Dharma's influence throughout Asia and Sanatan legacy in S- E Asia! .

Unlike fire-based weapons of current era, in ancient India or Bharat ( भारत ), weapons   were of many kinds. Weapons were called Astra ( अस्त्र ) in Samskrtam. As you may have seen in Ramayana ( रामायण ) and Mahabharata ( महा भारत ), there were various types of astras made of fire ( Agni ), rain ( Varuna ) and wind ( Vayu ). In addition, there were astras made out of venom ( Naga ), intense light ( Surya ), lightening ( Vajra ) and mountains ( Parvata ). Typically, each of these astras was named after a Deity. As an example, fire based astras had Agni or god of fire as the Deity. In addition to these Deity-based astras, trimurtis (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) had their own more powerful astras . Lord Vishnu’s astra was Narayanaastra . It fires a powerful tirade of millions of deadly missiles simultaneously. The intensity of the shower increases with increase in resistance. The only way of defense towards this missile, wa...

Professor Rajesh Rao have done extensive research to decipher Indus Script. His research paper was published in IEEE with subject "Probabilistic methods for analyzing sequences are providing new insights into the 4,000-year-old undeciphered script of the Indus civilization". He also rebutted claims of Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat, and Michael Witzel that "the Indus valley civilization was illiterate and that Indus writing was a collection of political or religious symbols". His paper to debunk above thesis from Witzel can be read here . Following is his excellent talk on the research at TED.

Philip Goldberg author of book American Veda talks about : How Vedic culture got introduced to west , and its positive outcome. Listen to this presentation for historical account of Sanatan Dharma prasar in USA and west.   Philip Goldberg is a spiritual counselor, public speaker, and author or coauthor of numerous books. His latest publication is American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West. Here is LA Times review  on his book American Veda.