Scriptures (Mindmap)

Hanuman

He is one of the most popular gods of Hinduism today. He is generally shown as standing reverentially or sitting devotedly at the feet of Rama, sitting alone and cross legged in a meditative posture, flying in the air carrying a  mountain or standing tall with a mace on his shoulders or by his side.

 He is shown as cheerful (prasannanjaneya), ferocious (Veeranjaneya) meditating (dhayananjaneya) or in a mood of devotion (bhaktanjaneya).

Describing Lord Vishnu

Vishnu resides in the milky waters of Vaikunth on a bed made of the coils of the the thousand hooded great serpent, Adishesha of infinite dimensions. Goddess Lakshmi, his consort attend upon him. Symbolically the ocean stands for bliss and consciousness, the serpent for time, diversity, desire and illusion, and the goddess Lakshmi for the material things and powers of the creation.

The color of Vishnu is the color of a dark blue cloud. It is the color of the sky, denoting his cosmic dimensions and his connection with the Vedic gods of rain and thunder and his relationship with the earth. He is usually depicted with one face, four arms, usually in a standing posture or in a resting posture. He wears a necklace made of the famous Kaustubha gem that rests on his left chest and another garland of flowers and gems by name Vaijayanti.

His four arms hold sankha (a conch), chakra (discus), gada (mace) and padma(lotus) respectively. The conch stands for the five elements, the sound of AUM, salagrama, goddess Lakshmi, the waters, purity and perfection. The discus is the terrible weapon of Vishnu which he used to destroy the evil and protect the righteous. It symbolically represents the light bearing sun, which illuminates and removes darkness. It also stands for higher consciousness which destroys all illusions. The mace represent the power of knowledge while the lotus symbolizes beauty, harmony, purity, water element, creation and self realization.

The definition of Vishnu and Narayana

Vishnu means the giver and provider of things. The Vedas describe him as the god of three strides, upholder of law and giver of boons. In course of time he became Narayana, which literally means, the dweller of waters and dweller of human beings. The word nara means both water(naram) and human (nara).

Atma or Soul

Our individual soul is the immortal and spiritual body of light that animates life and reincarnates again and again until all necessary karmas are created and resolved and its essential unity with God is fully realized.""Our soul body was created in the image and likeness of the Primal Soul, but it differs from the Primal Soul in that it is immature. While[God] is unevolutionary perfection, we are in the process of evolving."

The Soul and Its Illusion

Atman or the soul is in reality identical with Paramatman or the Oversoul, which is One, Infinite and Eternal. The soul is, in fact, beyond the gross, subtle and mental worlds, but experiences itself as being limited owing to its identification with the Sharira or gross body, Prana or the subtle body (which is the vehicle of desires and vital forces), and Manas or the mental body(which is the seat of the mind). The soul in its transcendental state is One— Formless, Eternal and Infinite—and yet identifies itself with the phenomenal world of forms, which are many and finite and destructible. This is Maya or the cosmic illusion. The soul and its illusion.

Manava Dharma Shastra - (Ancient Hindu Code of Conduct for Domestic, Social, and Religious Life)

Traditionally accepted as one of the supplementary arms of the Vedas, Laws of Manu or Manava Dharma Shastra is one of the standard books in the Hindu canon, and a basic text for all gurus to base their teachings on. This 'revealed scripture' comprises 2684 verses, divided into twelve chapters presenting the norms of domestic, social, and religious life in India (circa 500 BC) under the Brahmin influence, and is fundamental to the understanding of ancient Indian society

.

The ancient Vedic society had a structured social order where the Brahmins were esteemed as a highest and the most revered sect and assigned the holy task of acquiring ancient knowledge and learning. The teachers of each Vedic schools composed manuals in Sanskrit, known as 'sutras', pertaining to their respective schools for the guidance of their pupils, which were highly venerated by the Brahmins and memorized by each Brahmin student.

The most common of these were the 'Grihya-sutras', dealing with domestic ceremonies, and the 'Dharma-sutras', treating of the sacred customs and laws. These extremely complicated bulk of ancient rules and regulations, customs, laws and rites were gradually enlarged in scope, written aphoristically and set to musical cadence and systematically arranged to constitute the 'Dharma-shastras'. Of these the most ancient and most famous is the Laws of Manu, the Manava Dharma-shastra, a 'Dharma-sutra' belonging to the ancient Manava Vedic school.

This article was taken from (http://hinduism.about.com/od/scripturesepics/a/laws_of_manu.htm)