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Got to read three amazing articles to make our Durga Puja special: Divine Mother Everywhere - Recall During Durga Puja http://living.oneindia.in/yoga-spirituality/anecdotes/2010/divine-mother-durga-puja-141010.html Durga Puja - The Manifestation Of Durga http://living.oneindia.in/yoga-spirituality/faith-mysticism/2010/durga-puja-the-manifestation-of-durga-141010.html Navaratri Worship of The Divine Mother And Significance http://living.oneindia.in/yoga-spirituality/faith-mysticism/2010/navaratri-worship-divine-mother-081010.html

In those days I was studying in the 12th. I and another cousin (brother) used to stay in the same room. It was winter at that time. One morning, while he was heating bathing water with an electrical heating rod, we had a discussion about the device. I said that I would check if the water was hot by touching it while power was on. He asked me not to do so otherwise I would get an electric shock. I had read about the heating effect of current and I said that I believed there should not be actual currents running in the water but it was the rod which was heated and conducted heat to the water. When he didn’t agree, I said that I would demonstrate it. I went ahead and touched the water. He didn’t stop me from doing so. When I touched the water I didn’t get any shock. He was surprised and checked the heater. And he said, “Rahul, God saved your life. The plug was not fitted well.” Later on, I realised that I had a near miss. I don’t know what would have happened if I really touched the water...

This is part of the article titled “THE PARIS CONGRESS OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS“. The Congress of the History of Religions at Paris was like the Congress of Orientalists which is convened from time to time and at which European scholars, versed in Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic, and other Oriental languages, meet; only the antiquarianism of Christianity was added to this Paris Congress. From Asia only three Japanese Pandits were present at the Congress. From India there was the Swami Vivekananda. The conviction of many of the Sanskrit scholars of the West is that the Vedic religion is the outcome of the worship of the fire, the sun, and other awe-inspiring objects of natural phenomena. Swami Vivekananda was invited by the Paris Congress to contradict this conviction, and he promised to read a paper on the subject. But he could not keep his promise on account of ill health, and with difficulty was only able to be personally present at the Congress, where he was most warmly received by all th...

Sister Nivedita describes Lord Shiva in the most beautiful manner I have ever read: The Story of Siva, the Great God IN wild and lonely places, at any time, one may chance on the Great God, for such are His most favoured haunts. Once seen, there is no mistaking Him. Yet He has no look of being rich or powerful. His skin is covered with white wood-ashes. His clothing is but the religious wanderer's yellow cloth. The coils of matted hair are piled high on the top of His head. In one hand He carries the begging-bowl, and in the other His tall staff, crowned with the trident. And sometimes He goes from door to door at midday, asking alms. High amongst the Himalayas tower the great snow -mountains, and here, on the still, cold heights, is Siva throned. Silent nay, rapt in silence does He sit there, absorbed and lost in one eternal meditation. When the new moon shines over the mountain-tops, standing above the brow of the Great God, it appears to worshipping souls as if the light shone t...