Unanswered Questions
402 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Who is the Samaveda-singing Brahmin incarnation of Vishnu prophesied in the Skanda Purana?
As I discuss in this question, one of the early movements that was important in the development of Vaishnavism was the ancient Pancharatra movement, whose sacred texts consisted of detailed procedures ...
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17
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708
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What is the story of Brahma forgetting his knowledge after teaching Indra?
The Rahasyatraya Sara is a work by the Sri Vaishnava Acharya Vedanta Desikan, concerning the meaning of the Rahasya Traya or three secrets of the Sri Vaishnava sect (of which I'm a member). (One of ...
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15
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What scriptures describe Vishnu marrying a rebirth of the golden Sita statue?
I'm currently visiting India, and I just went to my Mom's Kula Devata, the Veeraraghava Perumal Vishnu Temple in Thiruvallore. Many things have happened in this location over the ages, including ...
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14
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What are the different Vaishnava interpretations on the nature of Lord Vishnu's physical form?
I understand that Lord Vishnu's body is aprakrita, composed of sat-chit-ananda, but is it understood to have a physical reality? i.e. four arms, two legs, one head, two eyes, five fingered hands, ie, ...
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13
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2
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What scriptures describe Sadashiva carrying Vishnu in Vishnu's abode of Paramapadam?
As I discuss in this question, the Sri Vaishnava sect (of which I am a member) places great importance on the Divya Desams, the 108 sacred places of Vishnu which are mentioned in the poems of the ...
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13
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1
answer
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Do any scriptures apart fom Sabarimala Sthala Purana foretell the birth of Ayyappa?
One of the most popular religious destinations in the world is the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala; it gets far more visitors per year than Tirupati and the Vatican combined! The story of the temple ...
CommunityBot
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13
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1
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Which sage will learn the Vishnu Purana at the end of the Kali Yuga?
The sage Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa (or Vyasa for short) is generally viewed as the author of the 18 Puranas. But actually the sage Parashara, Vyasa's father, authored two of them, the Vishnu ...
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12
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1
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809
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What is the story of Vishnu incarnating as a mango tree in the Dandaka forest?
The Sri Vaishnava sect has two sub-sects, Thenkalai and Vadakalai. Vadakalais follow the teachings of Vedanta Desikan, whereas Thenkalais follow the teachings of Pillai Lokacharya. My question is ...
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11
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666
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Timelines for 12 major battles between the Devas and Danavas
Many Puranas talk about 12 major battles between the Danavas and Devas. As per Brahmanda Purana (3rd Canto, Ch 72), they are as follows:
Lord Narasimha fighting the Danavas
Lord Vamana binding the ...
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11
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0
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561
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What surviving works of the Rudra Sampradayam are there before Vallabhacharya?
As I discuss in my question here, Vishnu is said to have taught the principles of Vaishnavism to four disciples: Lakshmi, Brahma, Shiva and Sanatkumara. And in turn they started the four main ...
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10
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827
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What is the story of Prahlada being held hostage by the gods?
Most people only know the childhood of Prahlada, who was rescued from his from Hiranyakashipu by Vishnu's incarnation. What is less well-known, however, Prahlada's adulthood. As king of the Asuras, ...
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10
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What scriptures describe Shwetadvipa being underground with gates at Tirupati and other places?
In Hindu cosmology, the Earth is said to have seven Dvipas or islands. Many people (myself included) believe that the seven Dvipas refer to the seven continents, which is why Hindu rituals in India ...
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10
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Are all incarnations of Vishnu born at moonrise?
In Vedic astrology, the sidereal zodaic, the band of stars surrounding the Sun's apparent path in the sky, is divided into 12 equal Rashis or zodiac signs. A person's Janma Rashi is the zodiac sign ...
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9
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1k
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What is the story of Indra being turned into an elephant by Saraswati?
I'm currently visiting India, and I just went to the Varadaraja Perumal Vishnu temple in Kanchipuram. It's such an important temple that Sri Vaishnavas refer to it simply as "Perumal Koil" or "the ...
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9
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What is the story of Arjuna's previous birth sage Nara fighting with the Gandiva bow?
In the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata, Shiva disguises himself as a hunter and fights with Arjuna. Finally Shiva reveals himself, and tells Arjuna about Arjuna's past birth as the sage Nara:
Thou ...
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