Gayatri mantra is considered as the most important and sacred among all mantras in Hindu rituals. The material and spiritual benefits that it bestows are immense.  It is believed one of the oldest mantra which has also been chronicled in Rigveda. Its origin is attributed to the creator of the universe Lord Brahma.

The matra consists of the prefix om bhur bhuvah suvah, which appears in Yajurveda and the verse 3.62.10 of Rigveda. It is also the name of the goddess who is considered the personification of this mantra. Chanting of Gayatri mantra helps to increase the spiritual growth and wisdom. Deva savitur is invoked in this mantra, so it is also called savitur. Savitur is associated with sun or Surya dev.

Meaning of the mantra- om- Brahma
Bhur-embodiment of vital spiritual energy
Bhuvah- eliminates the sufferings
Svah- embodies happiness
Tat- the Supreme Being Om
Savitur-bright and luminous like the sun
Varenyam-best or most exalted
Bhargo-destroyer of sins
Devasya-divine
Dhimahi-may imbibe
Dhiyo-intellect
Yo-who
Nah-our
Prachodayat-may inspire

It is a prayer to the divine the creator of universe, the essence of our life existence, who removes all our sorrows and grants happiness. The brilliance which may purify us and guide us on the right path.

Chanting of Gayatri mantra helps students to increase learning capacity and concentration. It helps as the mantra begins with Om that has a calming effect on the mind.

It is recommended that while chanting Gayatri mantra you should use a Rudraksha Mala. It is recommended to chant 3 rudraksha malas each in the morning and evening. Before recite this mantra the person should be in a comfortable seating position and must wear clean clothes.

The supreme Lord Shiva has many symbols and one of them is moon on his head. There is a story about this in our mythology. Daksha’s twenty seven daughters were married to the God Chandra. One of the Chandra’s wives named Rohini loved more than his other wives. So the other wives of moon complained their father for this. Daksha warned his son in law to devote himself equally to all wives. But Chandra didn’t listen any warning of Daksha. Daksha thereupon cursed the moon that he would gradually fade away.

After this moon started losing its luminescence every day and he didn’t know what to do. It got afraid and with the advice of Brahma, Chandra went to prabhasa tirtha and made a linga on the bank of the river saraswati. There he prayed Lord Shiva for six months. At the end Shiva appeared before Chandra and granted him a boon. Then Chandra explained about his problem.

Then Shiva answered Daksha’s curse couldn’t be entirely ignored. He said during Krishnapaksha you will wane. In shuklapaksha you will wax, it is the solution for this problem. Chandra become very happy and took refuge in lord Shiva. Lord Shiva wore the moon crescent on his head making him grow for 15 days and decay for 15 days periodically.

The linga to which Chandra prayed is Somnath, the first of jyotirlingas. The legend said that the somnath is the first temple which was built by Chandra dev himself. So Somnath means the protector of moon god.

• The crescent moon symbolizes that he has controlled the mind perfectly.
• The crescent moon on Shiva’s head looks like an ornament. The waxing and waning phenomenon of the moon indicates the time cycle through which creation evolves from the beginning to end. Since the lord is the eternal reality but he is beyond time.

A person feels different types of emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, nervousness, anxiety etc. In everyday life we feel such type of positive and negative emotions. The negative emotions are very hard and sad to deal with, but these are a part like the positive ones. So it is very important to handle the negativity for better life.

In this article we are showing some methods to handle negative emotions.

1- It is very important to stop noticing how the emotion affects your behavior. In your sad time you may listen sad music, crying or sleeping on the bed. On the other hand it is same in positive emotions. You may sing, dance, smile or feeling excited. So it is very necessary to recognize your behaviour.

2- Emotions never stick around always. It lasts for some period. When we are good, it doesn’t mean we are good always or when we are bad, we aren’t bad always. Like that when we feel something negative, make sure to mind that it won’t last forever, just like physical pain. This is also right in positive emotions. It isn’t necessary to remind every day.

3- Don’t blame yourself or anyone for emotions, just try to find its root and solve it. Whatever it is, it may be something huge like death of a friend or family member, try to identify. If it is more than one, find all the causes of emotions.

4- You must accept your emotion. You may be love or hate it . You never change it. You have to live with it.  So it is very important to accept it. You are feeling whatever you are supposed to feel. That will be sure helping you.

5- If you are feeling negative emotions, there may be a reason for it. Take the steps for handling it and move on. But don’t ignore it. Flea it in your brain and you can retrieve any useful information.

6- Exercise and relaxations lowers the stress and allow you to cope better with negative emotions.

But if we allow our emotions to swing us around widely, we all end up our relationship. We have to control and handle it for our future positive emotions.

To honor the elephant headed God Ganesha’s birthday, Hindus celebrate the 10 day festival “Ganesh chaturthi”. He is known as the god of beginnings because he is honored at the beginning of every Hindu ritual programmes. Ganesha is known by 108 names, but widely known as Ganapati or Vinayaka.

There are two different stories in history about the birth of Lord Ganesha. It is said that devi Parvati created ganesha from the dirt of her body when having a bath. Then she told him to guard her door while she finishes her bath. At that time lord Shiva want to enter into the cave, but ganesha didn’t know him and stopped him to enter. Then angry Shiva severed the Ganesha’s head. Parvati was enraged and ganesha will live again by the promise of Lord Shiva. Shiva fixed the elephant’s head on the child and brought him back to his life.

Another story tells that Lord Shiva and Parvati created ganesha with the request of all devatas, to be a obstacle creator in the path of demons. The Vighnahartaa always help devas. So Ganesha chaturthi is celebrated all over India during the month of Bhadra. It is the mid August or mid September and last 10 days ending on the day of Ananta chaturdashi. Maharashtra is famous for the ganesha festival. It was first celebrated by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja.

A clay model of Ganapati is made before the ganesha chaturthi. The idols size available from 3\4th inch to 25 feet tall. The main prasad in this festival is modak offered to lord ganesha. During this festival many pandals are decorated and the Vinayaka is worshiped for 10 days. The four most important rituals done in the festival. They are pranapratishhtha, shhodashopachara- 16 forms of paying tribute to ganesha, uttarpuja and Ganesh visarjan. On the 11th day of this festival his procession is accompanied with dancing and then the idol is immersed in flowing water.
As ganesha is considered as “Buddhi Pradayaka”, it is a very important festival for students. They worship the lord to illumine their mind.