Home to one of the ancient civilizations of the world, India is also the birthplace of a dizzying array of gods worshipped by millions of Hindus living in India and across the globe. Over the centuries many of these gods rose to power and became the object of utmost devotion, only to fall from grace and lose their standing. These deities shared a peculiar trait: they were never perfect. In this multivolume series entitled, The Galaxy of Hindu Gods, Sach takes you on an extended journey to meet with the gods and share their tales with you. Among the multitude of deities, the most ancient are the Vedic gods, which include luminaries like Indra, Surya, Varuna, Agni, and others. Today a minor deity, the Vedic Indra was once the ruler of the three worlds who, under the influence of a mysterious power drink, fought with the demons and vanquished them. His reign did not last long. His comrades Surya and Varuna also had their glory days but were overthrown by other gods of the pantheon. Yet, after thousands of years, gods like Indra, Surya, and Varuna are still household names and honored in Hindu rituals and traditions. If you know little or nothing about Hindu mythology, this is your ideal starting point where you will meet the overwhelming array of Hindu gods and learn about their wonderful stories.

"Gods, Sages and Kings presents a remarkable accumulation of evidence pointing to the existence of a common spiritual culture in the ancient world from which present civilization may be more of a decline than an advance. The book is based upon new interpretation of the ancient Vedic teachings of India, and brings out many new insights from this unique source often neglected and misinterpreted in the West. In addition, it dicussses recent archaeological discoveries in India whose implications are now only beginning to emerge."--Publisher.

These four Vedas comprise a highly developed religious system - the Rig, Sama, Atharva, and Yajur Vedas. Through the worship of the demigods, or the Vedic gods, these Vedas were primarily intended to encourage the satisfaction of material desires. Thus, the Vedas clearly explain how to perform the required worship and sacrifices or rituals to these devas (demigods) to receive the blessings required to increase one's power and position or reach the heavens in the future or for other purposes. The point is that the devas participate and affect all universal management and activities, including the weather or who is blessed with certain opulence, such as riches, beautiful spouses, large families, good health, etc. A person could worship Agni to gain power, Durgadevi to obtain good fortune, Indra to have a healthy sexual life, or Vasus to earn money. Karma-kanda is the section of the Vedas that many consider the most essential part of Vedic teachings. Thus, people will be able to live a good life and enjoy a decent existence. Of course, various actions, or karmas, are motivated by our aspirations to achieve specific results. Several sections in the Vedas deal with Karma-Kanda. Although this is not the complete understanding of the karma-kanda segment, which provides rituals for purifying our minds and actions in pursuit of our desires, and not limiting ourselves to only acquiring everything that one needs from the demigods. One's habits and thoughts become purified when one has faith and steadiness in the performance of the ritual. As one becomes pure and free of those desires, one gradually acquires one's needs and assuages one's desires. When we purify our consciousness, we can achieve a higher level of spiritual activity. The karma-kanda rituals had this higher purpose. Unless one recognizes this, one misses the point and remains attached to ways to satisfy material desires, which will keep one in earthly existence.

Over a decade of dedicated research! Over a year of writing and editing! With the blessings and guidance of a swami, a babaji, and a Sanskrit scholar, Vic DiCara presents you the world's most definitive, simple and completely awesome explanation of the mythology and meaning within the 27 stars of ancient Indian astrology! If you are an astrologer or a fan of astrology, you will be transformed by Vic's radically clear and straightforward explanations of Sanskrit, Vedic mythology, and mastery of intuitive symbolism. If you are a lover of India and her culture, you will delight in these deep revelations and rare expositions of familiar gods like Vishnu, not-so-familiar gods like Varuna, and nearly forgotten gods like Ajaikapat. If you are a spiritual seeker, you will discover the origin of the universe, the meaning of life, and essential clues in the eternal quest for the "fountain of youth." The 160 pages of this book are abundantly replete with exact references and footnotes to satisfy the scholars among you. The book is dripping with dramatic storytelling, filled with philosophy as clear and deep as a Himalayan lake, and precisely presents the perfectly useful astrological symbolism of the divine stars. * * "If there is anything Vedic and spiritual about Hindu astrology, then this is the book that can teach us about it. Vic leads us into the wonderful depths of Vedic wisdom by relating the myths connected with each of the 27 lunar mansions and their deities. Using this approach, this book goes considerably deeper than other Jyotish textbooks I have seen. Warmly recommended, even to non-astrologers! Can we hope for follow-up book about the Hindu planetary deities?" - Dieter Koch, Indologist and Archaeoastronomer Co-creator of the Swiss Ephemeris "Vic DiCara's exploration and definitive research on the lunar mansions brings the primordial zodiac alive with the rich symbolism and sacred stories of Indian lore. We often forget that the basis of Vedic astrology will always be the mystical mythology associated with Jyotish, the science of light. Mr. DiCara's brilliant text illuminates our path home to the divine through his deep understanding and the blessings of the gods and goddesses of ancient India" - Dennis M. Harness, Ph.D. Psychologist, Writer and Vedic Astrologer "27 Stars, 27 Gods is a fantastically deep book about the fixed stars of Vedic astrology. It is well written and well researched, and is a clear and enjoyable read! I highly recommend it for everyone from astrologers to yogis and everyone in between." - Juliana Swanson, RN ACVA Teacher, Jyotish Visharada & Kovid More than a journey through the outer universe of astrological stars, 27 Stars 27 Gods is a journey through the driving forces of the subconscious inner universe. By helping us identify these influences Vic DiCara helps us understand ourselves better and progress more smoothly on our life's journey. 27 Stars 27 Gods can be a reference book in the hands of an experienced astrologer, but it is also a self improvement tool for any reader interested in exploring life in depth. It presents symbols, mythology, ancient storytelling and divine lila in language that immediately catches one's interest and speaks to us like a friend - never prescriptive, but always revealing our opportunities. Let me congratulate Vic on this unique book. Unlike most books in the spiritual market, this is not at all a copy of a copy of a copy. It is an outstanding new addition to our knowledge, written with an inspired pen of intensity and wit. - Sripad Sacinandana Swami Vaishnava Guru & Sanyassi

This elegantly written book introduces a new perspective on Indic religious history by rethinking the role of mantra in Vedic ritual. In Bringing the Gods to Mind, Laurie Patton takes a new look at mantra as "performed poetry" and in five case studies draws a portrait of early Indian sacrifice that moves beyond the well-worn categories of "magic" and "magico-religious" thought in Vedic sacrifice. Treating Vedic mantra as a sophisticated form of artistic composition, she develops the idea of metonymy, or associational thought, as a major motivator for the use of mantra in sacrificial performance. Filling a long-standing gap in our understanding, her book provides a history of the Indian interpretive imagination and a study of the mental creativity and hermeneutic sophistication of Vedic religion.

Pixar animator and Academy Award–nominated director Sanjay Patel (Sanjay’s Super Team) brings to life Hinduism’s most important gods and goddesses—and one sacred stone—in fun, full-color illustrations, each accompanied by a short, lively profile. The Little Book of Hindu Deities is chock-full of monsters, demons, noble warriors, and divine divas. Find out why Ganesha has an elephant’s head (his father cut his off!); why Kali, the goddess of time, is known as the “Black One” (she’s a bit goth); and what “Hare Krishna” really means. “Throw another ingredient in the American spirituality blender. Pop culture is veering into Hinduism.”—USA Today

Religion is the opium of the people, said Karl Marx many centuries ago. For more than a billion people living in India and abroad, Hinduism is the religion and a way of life. In this multi-award winning book, Swami Achuthananda cracks open the opium poppy pods, analyzes the causes for euphoria, and comes away with a deeper understanding of the people and their religion. *** Winner 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (Religious Non-fiction) *** This is a comprehensive book on Hinduism. It tells you why Hindus do the things they do - and don't. Written in a casual style, the book guides you through the fundamentals of the religion. It then goes further and debunks a number of long-standing myths, some of them coming from the academia (of all places). While most books shy away from contentious issues, this book plunges headlong by taking on controversies, like the Aryan Invasion Theory, idol worship, RISA scholarship and many more. In fact one-third of the book is just on controversies that you rarely find in any other literature. Other Awards: *** Finalist - 2014 Pacific Book Awards (Religion) *** *** Bronze - 2014 IPPY Award - (Religion) ***

Hinduism has two major roots. The more familiar is the religion brought to South Asia in the second millennium BCE by speakers of Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. Another, more enigmatic, root is the Indus civilization of the third millennium BCE, which left behind exquisitely carved seals and thousands of short inscriptions in a long-forgotten pictographic script. Discovered in the valley of the Indus River in the early 1920s, the Indus civilization had a population estimated at one million people, in more than 1000 settlements, several of which were cities of some 50,000 inhabitants. With an area of nearly a million square kilometers, the Indus civilization was more extensive than the contemporaneous urban cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Yet, after almost a century of excavation and research the Indus civilization remains little understood. How might we decipher the Indus inscriptions? What language did the Indus people speak? What deities did they worship? Asko Parpola has spent fifty years researching the roots of Hinduism to answer these fundamental questions, which have been debated with increasing animosity since the rise of Hindu nationalist politics in the 1980s. In this pioneering book, he traces the archaeological route of the Indo-Iranian languages from the Aryan homeland north of the Black Sea to Central, West, and South Asia. His new ideas on the formation of the Vedic literature and rites and the great Hindu epics hinge on the profound impact that the invention of the horse-drawn chariot had on Indo-Aryan religion. Parpola's comprehensive assessment of the Indus language and religion is based on all available textual, linguistic and archaeological evidence, including West Asian sources and the Indus script. The results affirm cultural and religious continuity to the present day and, among many other things, shed new light on the prehistory of the key Hindu goddess Durga and her Tantric cult.

The present Dictionary is a practical exercise in word-compilation to facilitate the study of Sanskrit language. Based on Webster`s complete English dictionary it includes general terms of all sciences and such technical terms as could be duly represented by Sanskrit equivalents actually existing in that language. Besides the general vocabulary quotations from the works of famous authors have been inserted to render the connotation of a word easily intelligible. It is also designed to help scholars translate any passage from English into Sanskrit.