Friday, 14 August 2026
आपका सनातन · Your Sanatan

Sanatan Katha

The reading room of Apna Sanatan. Aartis chanted at twilight, stotrams older than memory, the festivals we live by.

Aaj ke liye · आज के लिये

It's Friday. For Lakshmi.

Each weekday in Sanatan dharma is offered to a deity. Lakshmi (लक्ष्मी) is whom we read for today.

Lakshmi
Today

लक्ष्मी

Lakshmi

Mantra · मंत्र

ॐ श्रीं महालक्ष्म्यै नमः

Om Shreem Mahalakshmyai Namaha

How to honour today

  • Light a diya at sunset — Lakshmi enters where there is light
  • Recite the Kanakadhara Stotram or the Sri Suktam
  • Clean the home, especially the entrance — she does not stay where there is clutter
Tyohaar aur Vrat · त्यौहार और व्रत

The calendar ahead

Festivals, vrats, and observances on the immediate horizon. Read about each before it arrives.

Hariyali Teej
Coming up

Hariyali Teej

···

Monsoon festival celebrating the reunion of Shiva & Parvati.

Sab Kuch · सब कुछ

The reading room

8 of 80 shown. Filter from the masthead above.

Raksha Bandhan 2026: 27 or 28 August? The Tithi, the Bhadra, and the Muhurat

Festival Story

Raksha Bandhan 2026: 27 or 28 August? The Tithi, the Bhadra, and the Muhurat

The Shravan Purnima tithi straddles two dates in 2026, which is why you are seeing both 27 and 28 August. The festival is on Friday 28 August, and for once Bhadra clears before sunrise.

Apna Sanatan·8 Aug 2026

Surya Grahan 12 August 2026: Will It Be Visible in India, and Does Sutak Apply?
Pick

Editorial

Surya Grahan 12 August 2026: Will It Be Visible in India, and Does Sutak Apply?

A total solar eclipse falls on 12 August 2026, on Shravan Amavasya. It will not be visible anywhere in India — which means, by the classical rule itself, no sutak applies here. Here is what the shastra actually says.

Pandit Suresh Shastri·8 Aug 2026

Editorial

The Three Gunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas

Why is the mind clear one day and clouded the next? The three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas, are a practical map of your inner weather, and how to tend it.

Swami Dhyananda·6 Jun 2026

The Four Purusharthas: The Aims of a Human Life

Editorial

The Four Purusharthas: The Aims of a Human Life

Sanatan dharma affirms wealth and pleasure, not only duty and liberation. The four purusharthas, dharma, artha, kama and moksha, and why their order makes a whole life.

Swami Dhyananda·6 Jun 2026

Markandeya: The Boy Who Conquered Death

Story

Markandeya: The Boy Who Conquered Death

Destined to die at sixteen, a boy clung to the Shiva linga and would not let go. The story of Markandeya, how Shiva became the conqueror of death, and the mantra it gave us.

Pandit Suresh Shastri·6 Jun 2026

Bhagiratha and the Descent of the Ganga

Story

Bhagiratha and the Descent of the Ganga

The Ganga came down from heaven because one man would not give up across generations. Bhagiratha's resolve, Shiva catching the river in his hair, and why the Ganga is a mother.

Vikram Thakur·6 Jun 2026

Sanatani Directory · सनातनी निर्देशिका

Temples, ashrams, yatras

Reading is one half. Going is the other. The places, paths, and people of Sanatan, gathered slowly and verified by hand.

Yatra · यात्रा

Plan a pilgrimage

Char Dham, Jyotirlinga circuit, Vrindavan parikrama, Kumbh, Sabarimala. Curated yatras with verified logistics. Slow over scale, honest over slick.

Char DhamJyotirlingaShakti PeethsKumbh 2027Vrindavan
Kashi

Tirtha

काशी

Kashi

Vishwanath, Annapurna, Kal Bhairav

Vrindavan

Tirtha

वृंदावन

Vrindavan

Banke Bihari, ISKCON, Radha Raman

Tirupati

Tirtha

तिरुपति

Tirupati

Balaji, Padmavati

Char Dham

Tirtha

चार धाम

Char Dham

Badri, Kedar, Gangotri, Yamunotri

Directory listings expand weekly. Submit a temple you know, an ashram you stayed at, a baba whose work matters.

सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः

May all beings be happy. May all beings be free from illness.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad