Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

In Hindu mythology, Radha is the principal love of Krishna's life. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, and the Gita Govinda, for example, she is depicted as his paramour but in other Vaishnava traditions of Hinduism, Radha is, in fact, regarded as a primary deity. She is often worshipped as an avatar of Goddess Lakshmi. Radha is almost always depicted alongside Krishna who spent a great deal of time and his youth in the company of cow-herd girls called gopis. As they frolicked in the village of Vrindavan, Radha is said to be one of the gopis with whom Krishna played during his childhood. For many, her importance exceeds that of even Krishna as she is considered to be his original Shakti. The other gopis, it is believed, are her maidservants. In the Padma Purana it is said that there were a total of 18,000 gopis amongst whom 108 were the most prominent. Out of these 108, eight were considered still more important and amongst these eight, two had special positions - Chandravali and Radhara...

Of the 10 recognised incarnations of Lord Vishnu , legend has it that nine have already appeared before us. Let us have a look at these various avatars. The first one of these takes the form of Matsya or fish . Hindu mythology believes that the world is subject to a cycle of periodical destruction. It was during one such cycle that the four Vedas were submerged beneath the water. In order for Brahma to carry on with his work of creation, the Vedas were a must as they were manuals of instruction. Vishnu was commanded to recover these books and to do so, he took the form of a fish. In his next incarnation, Vishnu takes the form of a tortoise, Kachyup or Kurma that took the newly created, trembling earth upon its back to give it some form of stability. The third incarnation is that of Varaha or boar . Taking this form, Vishnu is supposed to have descended into the water and drawn up the earth with the help of his huge tusks. Narasimha is Vishnu’s fourth incarnation. This form of a hal...

The central and major deity of the Hindu Trinity, Vishnu the Preserver , is said to be all-powerful, all knowing and all pervading. The two most commonly seen representations of Vishnu show him either sleeping comfortably in the coils of Shesh Nag , the king of the serpents , as he floats on the waves of the ocean or as standing on the waves. In his four hands he holds his chief attributes: The conch , symbolic of the five elements; the discus; the lotus and the mace which is a symbol of primeval knowledge. Now let us take a closer look at what exactly these four attributes really symbolise. As mentioned above the conch is a sign of the five elements which are water, fire, air, earth and sky. The discus or wheel, which is called the Sudarshan Chakra has six spokes and represents the limitless control the God has over all the seasons. It is also a weapon that dismembers evil. The lotus referred to as Padma is a symbol of purity and represents the birth of creation while the mace is rep...