The Jai Jais Blog

The most ancient sacred texts of the Hindu religion are written in Sanskrit and called the Vedas.

Hinduism does not just have one sacred book but several scriptures. The Vedas scriptures guide Hindus in their daily life. They also help to preserve the religious dimensions of family and society. Hindus have developed their system of worship and beliefs from the scriptures.

There are two main categories of the Hindu scriptures:

Shruti-"That which is heard", consists of the four Vedas and Upanishads scriptures.

Smriti-"That which is remembered", composed of traditional texts, including the Dharma Shastras (legal and ethical texts), the Puranas, and the folk/historical legends known as the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Let's find out more The Jai Jais way.

Hinduism, the world’s third largest religion, is often considered a polytheistic faith, as the religion does not advocate the worship of one particular deity. However, the Hindu belief system includes a complex structure of deities that is not easily categorised.

Hinduism includes an abundance of deities, each one representing a certain aspect of the Supreme Absolute, which is known as Brahma, because they are all manifestations of the same divine spirit. There are deities represented in the family, the community, and the region of the country. There are deities recognised in the plants, the stars, the rivers, the mountains and the planets. We worship the divine in the form that each individual belief system supports, which are suitable and inspiring to the individual. Hindu Dharma recognises the divine is infinite. That embraces all creation, all of the worlds and something beyond. We honour the divine which is intimate to ourselves. Let's find out more in our blog.

Different cultures and philosophies around the world have defined the “5 elements” of life. The system of five elements are found in Vedas, especially Ayurveda, the ‘Pancha Mahabhuta’, or “five great elements”, of Hinduism. The entire cosmic creation begins from the point of the Pancha Mahabhuta.

There are 5 elements in this universe:

Akash-Space

Vayu-Air

Fire-Agni

Jal-Water

Earth-Prithvi

Interestingly these 5 elements have got an interesting relationship to five senses. Find out more about the elements The Jai Jais way

Light is one of the oldest and most meaningful symbols, found in cultures and religions worldwide. Deepawali, Deepavali, or Diwali is the biggest and the brightest of all Hindu festivals. It is the festival of lights: deep means "light" and avali "a row" to become "a row of lights." The Festival of Lights, is the most popular Hindu festival of good overcoming evil. The triumph of light over darkness is celebrated with Divas, lamps and fireworks. Diwali is composed of five days, each with its own story. 

On 24^th October 2020, Hindus will be celebrating its most popular festivals- Durga Ashtmi and Maha Navmi pooja. Usually, Maha Navami pooja is celebrated on the next day of Durga Ashtami. However, this year, the two festivals are occurring on the same day. “Ashtami” and “Navmi” mean the eighth and the ninth day of Navratri that is dedicated to Goddess Durga.

How Is It Celebrated?

‘Maha Navmi’ pooja is considered to hold so much value that the worship on this day is equivalent to all the nine days of  ‘Navratri’. Traditionally every state in India has different and unique ways to celebrate the festival but what remains common is the worship of the mighty Goddess Durga.

Arti, (Hindi “the ceremony of lights”) Sanskrit “Aratrika”, in Hindu rituals is the offering of lighted divas before an image of a god or goddesses. In performing the ritual the worshiper circles the diva in a clockwise direction while chanting a prayer or singing a hymn. Aarti is one of the most frequently observed parts of both temple and home pooja. The god or goddess is honoured by the lighted ghee (clarified butter) or camphor and is protected by the invocation of the deities of the directions of the compass.