Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
I had a very interesting comment from littleindian that made me think. A lot of littleindian‘s comments are thought provoking. Littleindian was questioning whether my seeking approval from Satguru Bodhinatha to change my vow of vegetarianism to allow eggs was sacrificing individual thought.
This leads to a more general question. Hinduism has always allowed freedom of thought. Hinduism acknowledges that there are many ways and paths. In his book “Am I a Hindu“, Ed Viswanatham expresses this very clearly:
Within Hinduism you can argue on any subject. You can even make statements like “There is no Krishna or Rama” and still be a Hindu … In Hinduism one will seldom come across a statement starting ‘Thou shalt not.’ … you will find it to be filled with all kind of ideas.
Yet Hinduism also has the concept of the Guru, the spiritual preceptor , the God realised master who will lead his (or sometimes her) followers to God. The Guru is the ultimate authority. How can we reconcile this with the freedom of ideas? Continue reading
My wife received a painted leaf in an ebay order, which is shown in the picture on the left. After some research I confirmed that this is a picture of Shiva and Parvati, and found that it is painted on a skeleton leaf from a 
Western Hindu 