Jahnava Nitai Das

It is written in sanskrit and says "namaste". namah - "obeisances", te - "to you"

Red sand stone is often used in Orissa. In South they use a black stone, but I don't know the name.

Please post a photo if you have one. Thank you.

this is a test, please ignore.

testing.............

The present Rig Veda consists of 10,600 verses, whereas the Puranas state there are 1 crore verses. Thus the Vedas are 95% lost in modern times.

The Vedas are 95% lost. What we have left are the remnants.

I would just like to add one name to the list, that is Jaya Radhe Dasi, who passed away in the first few years of the forum. I think all the old timers know her. A very nice devotee and disciple of Prabhupada.

Please email it to me: bvashram {at} gmail {dot} com. I think many would be interested in that, so maybe I can send it to our email newsletter list. I think I saw that in BTG 10 years ago. I tore it out and kept it in a box somewhere, where it is still sitting.

Thanks to you as well. You were there from day one and have participated more than anyone else.

Here is a great website. It's the "care for cows" goshala website based in Vrindavan. They take care of injured, sick and abandoned cows from the streets of Vrindavan (the land of Lord Krishna). I have visited their goshala, and it is one of the greatest things I have seen. They really take care of these abandoned cows for life. Some of the cows come with very serious injuries from car accidents or attacks from wild dogs, but they treat them with modern medical equipment to help them recover, and then they maintain them for their entire lives. Home | Care for Cows in Vrindavan You can download their latest newsletters (in PDF format) here: http://careforcows.org/downloads/newsletters_0

Here is a website I came across today that provides some simple lessons to teach yourself to play the Bengali clay Mridanga: Forum ‎(Mridanga, the drum)‎

Sometime on August 8th we will be switching the forums to read only mode, which means it will no longer be possible to post new replies or new threads. After a month we will review the status, but it is likely that the forums will not be reopening after this. Thank you to everyone who has participated here over the years, and especially to those of you who have been here from the beginning (10 years ago). If you want to maintain contact with any of the other posters, please contact them by PM within the next few days to get their email IDs, so that you can continue communicating with them.

Agastya is definitely a siddha rishi, but don't let what some newspaper writes make you doubt him. Nowadays they write anything they like to get readers. They make up deities, like half hanuman/half ganesh in Madhya Kailash temple. Every week they need to come up with something spectacular to impress the readers, so they resort to making up all sorts of stories.

Do as you like. In South Indian temples 108 Shankha abhishekam is common in Shiva temples. Everyone should follow their sampradaya. For example, you can see here a temple in Madurai advertising 108 Shankhabhishekam for Pradosham puja to Lord Shiva: /message/11434 You can also see Thirukkadavur Shiva temple near Kumbhakonam, where Markandeya Rishi performed Shankhabhishekam to Lord Shiva, and a Shankha Mandapam still exists there to commemorate the history: http://www.indianetzone.com/5/tirukkadavur_temple.htm