Indian Carnatic in Western Classical Rendition

Cross cultural renditions of South Indian Classical / Carnatic and Western Classical are a rarity. In the 1980's composer and music writer Illayaraja experimented with it, though like the work of contemporary A. R. Rahman they depended heavily on synths. No doubt the cost of getting a full Western Classical ensemble easily dwarfs the small crews required to get a South Indian Classical gig going which is why this effort by Shweta Mohan and Navneeth Sundar is of note. The rendition of Chinnanchiru Kiliye as a Mother's Day tribute on Youtube is well worth a listen. Please click here to go to this Youtube Page which I have also added to HinduSearchEngine.com to come up in Indian Classical music searches. Kudos to Swetha Mohan and Navneeth Sundar who have promised that there is more to come.

Hinduism and the Environment–a good summary

Hindu teachings have a lot of wisdom to inspire the environmental movement, however there isn't a website dedicated to Hinduism's perspective on care for the environment. You can find some very brief summaries here and there but by and large the environmental movement has so far glanced over the possible support Hindu spiritual leaders can provide the battered green concerns of the world. Hindu teachings go very well with sustainable living since the general creed of Hindus connect humans, nature and God as a whole. Experiencing Divinity through nature is a spiritual goal for Hindu mystics, many of whom teach the  reverence of nature and non-wastage of her bounty. There are two webpages I have highlighted in HinduSearchEngine.com that give basic summaries of the Hindu perspective on environmental care: the first is from www.environment.Gen.tr . This page also provides a link to the Bhumi project, a Hindu based international environmental movement meant to spur environmental action amongst Hindus through religious establishments. The other page from www.treehugger.com gives a better academic summary of Hindu teachings related to environmental care, but it is in bad need of editing for language errors; however it does the job in providing a starting point for research that is otherwise hard to come by on the web.

Comparing Vastu and Feng Shui

Vastu and Feng Shui are respective Indian and Chinese architectural traditions. Of these two ancient building codes Feng Shui has become universally popular. In comparison Vastu is less known even among ethnic Indians until recently. There are more websites on Vastu consultancy now then just a few years ago, needless to say the web is replete with websites on Feng Shui. In looking for websites on Vastu that is not ubiquitous Wikipedia, the dearth of information still glares from the screen. Most websites are astrology-numerology-vastu generic sites with a few Indian engineering-vastu consultation firms website. However About.com has created simple pages on understanding Vastu by comparing its similarity and differences to Feng Shui. It is a good site to understand the origins and basics of both these traditions and even gives a few home organizing tips by juxtaposing advice from  both traditions. Click here to get to About.com's article comparing Vastu with Feng Shui.

Learn Vedanta Online

Swami Parthasarthy is arguably among the most popular proponent of Vedanta of this century. Vedanta and Ashtanga Yoga are the most studied and wide reaching philosophies of Hinduism. Of the two Vedanta can be said to be the intellectual basis of yogic practices. People never seem to tire of Vedanta philosophy, especially since its intellectual base has allowed for an amazing variety of abstraction from its core scriptures which are the Aranyakas and Upanishads of the Vedas. There are many schools of Vedanta and of them the most widely taught and discussed is Sri Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta of which the Swami is a proponent. His website Vedanta World is a simple website with comprehensive collection of resources for Vedanta seekers to start their discovery. Of note are the YouTube video clips of Swami's talks, especially the ones on the application of Vedantic perspectives to daily life issues.

Chakras on Chakras.net is Among the Best

Aspiring mystics thirst for esoteric knowledge of the chakras and kundalini. Esoteric mystical knowledge like these carry a mysterious aura and is often considered closely guarded secrets of accomplished spiritual gurus who are willing to impart them to only the most deserving disciples. If you are thinking that Chakras.net is a place to uncover these secret knowledge, a free for all...well, not quite....but it is never the less a great site with some of the best dissertations on the functions of these chakras. It is quite informative and detail on the actions of each chakra as mind-body organs, their spiritual symbology and its significance and mythical stories connected to them. It does not give you technical instructions on stimulating these chakras into action with technical pranayama or yoga instructions, though it does name the practices. Kudos to the creators of this site for their diligence in creating this very friendly, easy to navigate site that looks inviting with its large font, simple formatting and easy navigability. The site also has other information on other important philosophies pertaining to yoga–Tattvas and Gunas, Panchakosha-the five bodies, karma, shatsmapatti-the six treasures, etc. 

Want to know more about Nyaya - Vaisheshika?

Nyaya and Vaisheshika are two foundational philosophical schools of Hinduism. They were developed in the antiquated time of the Vedic Age between 3000 to 2000 years ago. Often overlooked in the study of Hinduism these two logic based philosophies were key to the development of Hindu cosmology and in understanding the spiritual connection between God and nature. Of the two Nyaya is less concerned about explaining natural phenomenon and delves more into qualifying methods of logic, whereas Vaisheshika which uses of the logic and analytical methods of Nyaya examines and postulates on the workings of nature. Vaisheshika came up with a number of theories on the workings of Nature, most notably the Theory of the Anu. This theory that is accepted universally by Hindu philosophers of yore explains that nature is created by infinitesimal and indestructible substance called the anu. The anu organizes itself into coalitions to form the different substances, including giving them physical and chemical properties. Vaisheshika goes on to investigate reactions between elements and substances which came up with theories that eventually led to the development of Ayurvedic sciences. If you are interested in learning about Nyaya-Vaisheshika philosophies there is a webpage that provides the most friendly exposition of these delicate and intricate logic schools. It is pdf document titled: Nyaya-Vaisheshika: The Indian Tradition of Physics by Roopa Hulikal Narayan. It is published on Cornell University Library's website: arXiv.org. If you would like to read the document please click here.