According to the scriptures, a Hindu marriage is indissoluble in life. Marriage is sacrosanct, for the Hindus believe that marriage is not only a means of continuing the family but also a way of repaying one's debt to the ancestors. Nevertheless, polygamy was rampantly practiced in ancient Hindu society.

In India, most people tend to equate Hindu marriage with arranged marriage. Even today, love marriage is indicted by orthodox Hindus and priests. This is mainly because such a wedlock usually defies the barriers of caste, creed and age.

Polygamy is not for Hindus. It is banned by the law of the land. Interestingly, when it was found that an increasing number of Hindu men have been showing a propensity to convert to Islam whenever they wanted a second wife, the Indian Supreme Court plugged this legal loophole for all potential Hindu bigamists. In a historic ruling, on May 5, 2000, the apex court said that if it is found that a newly converted Muslim has embraced the faith only to embrace another wife or two, he should be prosecuted under the Hindu Marriage Act and the Indian Penal Code. Thus, bigamy for all Hindus, was ultimately outlawed. Read more

Women of the Vedic period (c 1500-1200 BCE), were epitomes of intellectual and spiritual attainments. The Vedas have volumes to say about these women, who both complemented and supplemented their male partners.

Myriad hymns of the Vedic era bear testimony to the wisdom of contemporary women and names of 27 women-seers emerge from them. But most of them are mere abstractions except for a few, such as Ghosha, Lopamudra, Sulabha Maitreyi, and Gargi, who are some of the most significant female figures of the Vedic period. Read more

QUICK POLL: Do You Chant?

• Yes, regularly
• Only occasionally
• No, I never chant

Food plays an important role in Hindu rituals, and the food offered to the gods is called "prasada." The Sanskrit word "prasada" means "mercy," or the divine grace of God.

Shiva is 'shakti' or power, Shiva is the destroyer, the most powerful god of the Hindu pantheon and one of the godheads in the Hindu Trinity. Known by many names - Mahadeva, Mahayogi, Pashupati, Nataraja, Bhairava, Vishwanath, Bhava, Bhole Nath - Lord Shiva is perhaps the most complex of Hindu deities. Hindus recognize this by putting his shrine in the temple separate from those of other deities.

He is also often portrayed as the supreme ascetic with a passive and composed disposition. Sometimes he is depicted riding a bull called Nandi decked in garlands. Although a very complicated deity, Shiva is one of the most fascinating of Hindu gods... Read more

In Hinduism, the whole creation is seen as the dynamic game of the Trinity of Gods: Brahma - the creator, Vishnu - the sustainer, and Shiva - the destroyer. Brahma is the creator of the universe and of all beings, as depicted in the Hindu cosmology. The Vedas, the oldest and the holiest of Hindu scriptures, are attributed to Brahma, and thus Brahma is regarded as the father of dharma. He is not to be confused with Brahman which is a general term for the Supreme Being or Almighty God.

("Awaiting On You All" - from the Beatles album All Things Must Pass)

Forty years ago, in 1969, the Beatles, perhaps the most popular music group of all time, produced a hit single, "The Hare Krishna Mantra", performed by George Harrison and the devotees of the Radha-Krishna Temple, London. And the Hare Krishna chant became a household word in many parts of the world.

Behind all this was the vital force called Swami Prabhupada. Aubrey Menen in his book The Mystics, notes: "Prabhupada presented them [Americans] with a way of life of an Arcadian simplicity. It is no wonder that he found followers. He opened his mission on the Lower East Side in New York in an empty shop, fitted with nothing but mats on the floor. One of his earliest disciples, with the swami's permission has recorded an incident. Two or three were gathered together to listen to the swami, when an old grey Bowery drunk entered. He carried a pack of paper hand-towels and a roll of toilet paper..." Read more

We must approach opposed feelings, such as success and failure, or happiness and misery with a sense of equanimity. In a state of equanimity, one has neither the feeling of attachment with success and the resulting feeling of hope and joy, nor that of aversion to failure and the opposed feeling of despair and misery. The concept of equanimity corresponds to the "(dynamic) state of equilibrium" used in physical sciences, when the tendency for change in opposed directions is nearly balanced. Read on to find out why and how to balance your emotions.