There is a long list, @Terese, of new sampradayas arising due to a saint's dissatisfaction with the way things are going. Some love Krishna above all, hence the Gaudiya Vaishnavas, some love Radha above all as She is believed to be the one who pleases even Krishna, some love Balaji, some love...
Som googling later and She could also be Periachi Amman but I doubt it. It is likely a regional variation of Bagalamukhi Ma, but I swear I have see it also do you are not alone.
So you 'encourage' her to live a lie if turned out she was gay? Way to increase her risk of suicide and mental/physical abuse. Way to tacitly encourage such things too.
What does Ma care if a person is attracted to the same sex? They can still fulfill Dharma with an appropriate partner.
This is a bit unorthodox but the gopas, the gopis husbands, likely experienced their own rasa lila with Krishna. It does not get mention, probably, because it was seen simply as normal for boys/young men/men in general to be close. These men are not hurt because how can they begrudge their...
While I enjoy hearing what you have to say, @Shantanu, I gotta say... maybe we should just have a thread called 'Shantanu's beliegs' where you quote other threads and explain how you see it? Because I'm pretty sure you're the only one in this forum who believes these things. Many of us do...
Durga is Kali, Kali is Durga, because they are both forms taken by Ma. She takes these forms for Her own amusement and for our upliftment. There is no real difference between the two except that Kali has a fiercer image that Durga and represents unbridled Shakti whereas Durga represents Shakti...
Because we are such a vast and all encompassing umbrella of traditions there is no right or wrong way to practice bhakti (devotion). If you want to offer flowers, you can, if you want to offer food, you can. Commonly it is believed, however, that you should not try the food that you are offering...
A sticky question I was asked only in Friday was this; 'how can you practice a religion if you don't understand the language?'. To which I responded with 'majority of Catholics don't understand Latin, ancient Aramaic or ancient Greek but they're still Christians'.
Just because a person doesn't...
Shri Nataraja does not just dance to destroy. Nataraja dances the cosmos into existence and in the end dances it into destruction; He is an amazing analogue for existence itself; always, always moving, each movement becoming another movement and another from that.
Music and dance are so...
It is less that they are incomplete - each form that our Amma takes is Herself - and more that that Parvati is Amma in conjunction with Shiva, She is Herself without any special functions. Lakshmi is the form Ma takes to empower us and bring to us spiritual wealth, Sarasvati is the form She...
Sadly @Viraja is probably right. If the priest is very dedicated then it's unlikely that he will care but it is always a bit of a tight rope situation.
Me personally I just seem to scream 'gay' to everyone who meets me, probably even to the priests at my own temple! (Which I have not been going...
Just a humble devotee's thoughts:
It is said that of all the forms of Devi that She takes within the Trimurti (Sarasvati: Brahma's Shakti, Lakshmi; Visnu's Shakti and Parvati; Shiva's Shakti) that Parvati is the full incarnation or form while Lakshmi and Sarasvati are partial expansions. We can...