Namaste from Florida!

[NandiniBhakti]

Hello everyone! I've just joined yesterday.

Happy to be here. I've been looking for a Hinduism forum for a long time. I was surprised to only find ones that are sites from the U.K (or abandoned forums that no one has posted in for a long time). I thought that if I joined anyway it would be strange because the issues over there are different that the issues here.

I have a question. Does anyone here speak Hindi? I don't. I know a little bit (I was surprised how much I picked up watching Bollywood films). Anyone like to help me?

Namaste!

[satay]

namaste NandiniBhakti,
Welcome to HDF. Great to have you here. I do not think we have anyone as young as you on our forums so you get the title of the youngest member of HDF! :)

What kind of help do you need in Hindi and why do you want to learn it? Just curious...

[NandiniBhakti]

Thank you! No one here is as young as 15? Aw, I feel lonely.
I need any type of help. I can recognize some words and get the idea of a conversation. But I need help with the structure of words and sentences. I'll start by saying: Mujhe kuch hindi ati hai. Is that right? Hai means is, right?
I want to learn Hindi because I hope to travel to India someday and I think that knowing one of their languages is the proper thing to do. I would be embarrassed to assume every person speaks English. Most may speak English, but I want to show respect. Besides, it's a beautiful language and I'd like to understand the music I listen to more.

[Agnideva]

Namaste Nandini,

Welcome :). I'm quite impressed that you're already pursuing study into Hindu Dharma at your age, and studying Hindi too! Yes, hai means is in the third person singular, and are in the second person (tu) familiar. May I ask how you picked the login NandiniBhakti?

OM Shanti,
A.

[NandiniBhakti]

Namaste Agnideva.

You are? Most people are not very impressed. Haha. Oh, about my name. It's not my Hindu name, because I'm still trying to decide on one based on my nakshatra (uttaraphalguni nakshatra). So as a username I took the name of the main character from my favorite Bollywood movie, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and I added Bhakti because it's devotion (is it devotion or devotee? I can't remember)...so I thought it was nice.

How did you come up with yours? I like it. Agni is probably one of the first gods I heard of, besides Ganesh (he was the first). I have noticed that Agni doesn't get much attention other than in marriage ceremonies.

[Agnideva]

Namaste Nandini,

So as a username I took the name of the main character from my favorite Bollywood movie, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and I added Bhakti because it's devotion (is it devotion or devotee? I can't remember)...so I thought it was nice.
Nandini is a beautiful name. It's a name of Divine Mother Durga, I believe. There's also a story of a cow named Nandini who can grant any wish if you ask sincerely. Yes, Bhakti = devotion. Devotee would be bhakta (male) or bhaktini (female).


How did you come up with yours? I like it. Agni is probably one of the first gods I heard of, besides Ganesh (he was the first). I have noticed that Agni doesn't get much attention other than in marriage ceremonies.
Hehe :) ... yeah, Agni is a Deva first mentioned in the Veda, the first word in the Rigveda, actually. Agni is sort of the go-in-between. He mediates between our world and the world of the Devas. He takes up our prayers and brings down blessings. You see Agni in vedic fire rituals, and also in temple ceremonials especially in the arati ritual. At home alters too, we light an oil lamp at least once a day for prayer. So, you could say Agni is everywhere in Hindu Dharma ;).

OM Shanti,
A.

[NandiniBhakti]

Oh yeah!! That is where I first heard Agni's name. I had started to read the Rigveda. So, does it mean that whenever you light aarti, Agni's presence is actually in the fire?

[satay]

So, does it mean that whenever you light aarti, Agni's presence is actually in the fire?

The word fire translated to hindi means 'Agni'. it is a direct translation. The light in the diya while doing aarti is Agni i.e. fire.

[NandiniBhakti]

Wow, that is interesting.

[Agnideva]

Wow, that is interesting.

Yep, what Satay said :). Now you know why we wave our hands over the aarti to receive the blessing after puja.

[saidevo]

Namaste Nandini.

Welcome to HDF.



That is where I first heard Agni's name. I had started to read the Rigveda. So, does it mean that whenever you light aarti, Agni's presence is actually in the fire?


Here are some more spiritual connotations of the term agni.

-- The Sanskrit term agni and the Latin ignis (from which term came the English 'ignite') are cognates.

-- Agni is worshipped in a three-fold form: as fire on the earth, as lightening (electricity) in its subtler form and as the sun (light) in its spritual form.

-- Agni is also the presiding deity of the southeast direction. This is the reason in a Hindu house, the kitchen is placed in the southeast corner of the house. The furnace is place in the southeast corner of the kitchen.

-- In Hindu art, Agni is represented as a two-faced God (the two faces signify his destructive and beneficient qualities), with black eyes and a smoky hair, three legs (represent his three forms?), seven arms (maybe the seven colors of sunlight), riding a ram (the sacrificial animal). One of his names is sapta jihva meaning 'seven tongues'.

-- Agni as a god is the main witness in the Hindu marriage ceremonies. In other ceremonies that involve lighting a fire, he is the link or messenger or the go-between who takes the offers to the gods. In a Hindu puja room, he is the light of the oil lamp and the Arti that lights up the inner eye to have a darshan of the God, albeit momentarily.

-- Agni is the the biological fire in Ayurveda, that governs digestion, metabolism and the immune system. He is the fiery nature of the human soul and the cosmic spirit. He is the inherent force that unites the atoms of the universe. He is the purest of the elements.

[NandiniBhakti]

Wow.
Hey, wasn't Kali first mentioned as being on one of Agni's seven tongues? I can't remember exactly but it had something to do with Kali and one of Agni's tongues.

[NandiniBhakti]

Yep, what Satay said :). Now you know why we wave our hands over the aarti to receive the blessing after puja.

Oh!! Thank you!