View allAll Photos Tagged Devotion
Last night to end the Navarathri celebrations, TFA hosted a beautiful durga procession and bathed the place and everyone in kunkumam - quite an electrifying moment
Photographed by
Visithra
visithra(@)gmail.com
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Philippine Good Friday Traditions
A flagellant walks through the hot streets, barefoot and bloodied. When he reaches the neighborhood church, he falls on the street in cruciform and offers his suffering as penance.
After a few minutes, he gets up and continues his self flagellation toward the next church.
In my room.
Four RAW images merged in Photomatix and tonemapped in both that and QTPFSGUI. Merged and retouched in the GIMP.
This small Book of Hours is especially interesting for its profusion of humorous drolleries. Humans, animals, and hybrids are featured in the margins of each page of the book. The artists rendered in small scenes a variety of actions, like cooking, playing game, climbing, fishing, making music or moving the bodies in a dance. These drolleries amuse the faithful during his prayers, while showing scenes that work as metaphors of the soul fighting the vices. The original female owner seems to have been established in the diocese of Cambrai, judging from the use of the Office of the Dead. Several provenance episodes are evidenced by the book in the signatures on the leaves at the beginning and end of the manuscript. A priest in the sixteenth century wrote a message in code on fol. 1v asking to return to him the book if lost. Members of the ducal house of Savoy owned this book of prayer in the seventeenth century, as evidenced by the gilt armorial shield of Charles Emmanuel II (1634-75), duke of Savoy, stamped on the covers.
To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.
Second weekend of the annual Heritage event. It seems wrong to call it a weekend as it now compromises two weekends and many meedweek events too.
And scanning the events, there were some in Canterbury, so we decide to head to the city for a wander: jools would go shopping while I would go and do some snapping.
Of course there is always shopping first. Off to Tesco to fill the car, then fill the fridge and larder. I am away for three days, nearly four, so not much needed on top of some ready meals for Jools. Still came to seventy quid, mind.
A tub of cheese footballs did fall into the trolley, which helped.
Back home for breakfast of fruit and more coffee, and then off to Canterbury, parking near St Augustine's Abbey, walking to the centre via a subway. We parted, Jools went to Body Shop and a couple of other shops, while I walked down High Street, past the Eastbridge Hospital, Westgate Tower, Canterbury West station to St Dunstan's.
I could say I walked straight there, but I had a quarter of an hour to play with, so when I walked past a pasty shop, I went in for a coffee, and although wasn't really hungry, I did have a pasty anyway.
Once fed and watered, I walk on, up the hill past the station, and on the left was the church, the door already open despite it being only five to nine.
I went in, and found I had the church to myself.
Last time I was here, the Roper Chapel was being renovated and so I couldn't get inside. Important as it is in the chapel that the head of Thomas Moor, beheaded on Tower Hill on orders of Henry VIII. The windows of the chapel have several representation of him and scenes from his life. I snap them all.
I go round with the wide angle lens, now the church is fully open again.
That done, I walk back down into the centre heading for Eastbridge Hospital.
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Dedicated to a former Archbishop of Canterbury, St Dunstan's stands outside the city walls. There is structural evidence of the Norman period, but most of the church is fourteenth century. The west tower dates from this time and is very oddly proportioned - about twice the height that its width can really cope with. The south chapel is constructed of brick and was completed in the early sixteenth century. It contains monuments to the More family and is the burial place of St. Thomas More's head, - brought here by his daughter after his execution. The family home stood opposite the church where its brick gateway may still be seen. There are two twentieth-century windows of note in the chapel, by Lawrence Lee and John Hayward.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Canterbury+2
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ST. DUNSTAN's, NEAR CANTERBURY,
LIES the next parish eastward from that of St. Michael, Harbledowne, by which only it is separated from that of Thanington, before described. It makes a part of the suburbs of the city of Canterbury on the western side of it, and is so called from the saint, to which the church is dedicated.
THIS PARISH adjoins eastward to that of Holy Cross, Westgate, about midway between the city gate and St. Dunstan's church. The street is built on each side of the high London road. It is unpaved, but very broad and sightly, and the houses are, many of them, though small, very neat and modern. On the north side of it is the gaol, for the eastern division of the county, but it is a gaol only for felons, and prisoners under the jurisdiction of the justices, and not for debtors, the sheriff of the county taking no cognizance of it. The antient Place-house of the Ropers stands opposite the church, at the west end of the street, the antient seat is said to have stood at some distance behind the present house and gateway, which are situated close to the side of the street, these having been only the inferior offices belonging to it. They have been for many years past converted into a dwelling and public brew-house, and are now tenanted by John Abbot, esq. who resides in it. A little further, on the opposite side of the way, at St. Dunstan's cross, there is a good new-built house, the property, and late the residence of John Baker, esq. but it is now occupied by colonel Smith, of the royal artillery. Here the road divides, that towards the south-west leading to London, along which this parish extends near a quarter of a mile, where the lands in it are exceedingly fertile, and planted with hops. The other road runs strait forward from the cross up St. Thomas's hill, (fn. 1) and so over Bleane common, at the beginning of which this parish ends, towards Whitstaple. The street of St. Dunstan's contains about two hundred houses, and near one thousand inhabitants. There is a synagogue belonging to the Jews, who inhabit mostly together in the eastern part of this parish, and in the part of Westgate adjoining to it, and with some few others in the different parts of Canterbury, are said to amount to near four hundred. They have a burying-ground in this parish, near the entrance of the Whitstaple road from St. Dunstan's cross; and there is another belonging to the Quakers near it.
There was a gallows for the public execution of criminals, on St. Thomas's hill; two of whom were executed here in 1698, and the like in 1700 and 1702, as appears by the parish register.
A fair is held in St. Dunstan's street on the Monday se'nnight after the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula.
THE MANOR OF WESTGATE, belonging to the archbishop, claims over the whole of this parish, in which there are only two houses deserving of a particular description, one of which is
THE PLACE-HOUSE, or St. Dunstan's place, situated near the church, on the north side of the London road. It is noted for having been the antient and most early residence in this county of the family of Roper, (fn. 2) whose burial place was afterwards in this church of St. Dunstan's; one of whom, William Roper, or Rosper, as the name was then sometimes spelt, resided here in king Henry III.'s reign, and was a great benefactor to St. Martin's priory, in Dover. John Roper, his descendant, was resident both here and at Swaycliffe, and was one of the surveyors of the customs of the cinque ports, under king Henry VII. whose son John Roper was sheriff in the 12th year of king Henry VIII. and was afterwards attorney-general and prothonotary of the court of king's bench; and having inherited from his mother Margery, daughter and coheir of John Tattersall, the manor of Wellhall, in Eltham, resided mostly at the mansion of it. He died in 1524, leaving two sons, William and Christopher, the latter of whom was seated at Linsted, from whom the Ropers, lords Teynham and Dacre, are descended. William Roper, the eldest son, whose lands were disgavelled by the act of the second and third of king Edward VI. was of Wellhall, and succeeded his father likewise in this antient family seat at St. Dunstan's, from which time they resided constantly at Wellhall, and in this family this estate continued down to Edward Roper, esq. of Wellhall, whose daughter, and at length sole surviving heir Elizabeth, having married Edward Henshaw, esq. of Hampshire, entitled her husband to it, among other estates. He left three daughters his coheirs, but on his death it came by the entail of it, into the possession of William Strickland, esq. who had married Catherine, the eldest of them, and on his death, s.p. in 1788, it devolved by the same entail to Sir Edward Dering, bart. son of Sir Edward Dering, by his wife Elizabeth, the other sister, and to Sir Rowland Wynne, bart. son of Sir Rowland Wynne, who had married the youngest sister; and their two sons of the same names are at this time the joint proprietors of this house, and the rest of the antient possessions of the family of Roper, in this parish and its neighbourhood.
ST. THOMAS'S HILL, is the other seat remaining to be noticed, which takes its name from the hill on which it is situated, on the road to Whitstaple, about half a mile from St. Dunstan's church. It was for many years in the possession of the family of Roberts, for Mr. William Roberts resided here in the reign of Philip and Mary, and died possessed of it in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth, and, as appears by the parish register, was buried in this church. And in his descendants, (from one of whom descended likewise the Roberts's of Harbledowne) this seat continued down to Mr. Drayton Roberts, who died possessed of it in 1738, leaving one sole daughter and heir Mary, who carried it in marriage to Mr. Jacob Sawkins, gent. of Liminge, whom she survived, and afterwards sold it to her late father's brother, Mr. Edward Roberts, who left his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Denew, esq. surviving, to whom he deviled this seat, which she afterwards alienated to Charles Webb, esq. who rebuilt it, and resided at it till his death in 1786, leaving his wife Sarah, daughter of Mr. Heaver, surviving, who now, by her husband's will, is entitled to it, and resides here.
Charities.
THOMAS STRENSHAM, by deed in 1584, gave certain houses and lands; the produce to be applied to the comforting of poor householders of this parish, clothing their children, or setting them to service. Which premises are vested in ten feoffees, and are of the annual produce of 17l. 11s. 8d.
THOMAS MANERINGE, by will in 1692, gave to two poor men of this parish, the yearly sum of 6s. 8d. to be paid to them at Easter, out of an estate in Broad-street, in Canterbury, now vested in Mr. Hammond.
The poor constantly relieved are about forty-five, casually thirty.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of the same.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Dunstan, is large and handsome, consisting of two isles, two chancels at the east end, and a small one on the north side, near the west end. At the south-west corner is a tower steeple, in which there is a clock and a peal of six bells. This church is well pewed, and very neatly kept. In it is a monument and a burial place for the Rondeau's, the first of whom was a refugee in England for the Protestant religion; their arms, Azure, on a fess wavy, three burts, in base a star of many points, or; not far from which are memorials for several of this family, and for the Alkins. A small monument for Charles Webb, esq. of St. Thomas's hill, colonel of foot, obt. 1786, arms, Quarterly, gules, a cross between four birds, or; and paly, gules, and or, impaling gules, a plain cross argent, a label of three points, azure. In the north, or high chancel there are several memorials for the family of Scranton. Underneath, near the north side, is a large vault, wherein many of the family of Roberts are deposited. The altar cloth is very curious, made seemingly before the reformation, having on it several figures of cherubs, and in the middle a crucifix, with the figure of Christ on it; all elegantly wrought in needle-work embossed with gold, not unlikely by one of the ladies of the Roper family. The south chancel is called the Roper chancel, in a vault underneath which many of this family are deposited, and being full, it has been closed up. Against the south wall are two tombs of Bethersden marble, one of them partly within an arch in the wall, probably that of the founder of this chancel; over the other is a banner, of the arms of Roper, mostly torn off, and a helmet, and surcoat, with the arms of More on it, Argent, a chevron ermine, between three moor cocks, sable. Against a pillar is a handsome monument for Thomas Roper, esq. grandson of Sir Thomas More, by his daughter Margaret, obt. 1597; above are the arms of Roper, with quarterings. In the east window are some small remains of painted glass. Somner gives several inscriptions remaining in his time, for the Ropers, one of which is for William Roper, esq. son and heir of John Roper, esq. and for Margaret his wife, daughter of Sir Thomas More, lord chancellor. His monument is that with the banner over it, against the south wall. In a hollow in the wall of the vault underneath, having an iron grate before it, next to the coffin of the above Margaret, there is still remaining a scull, being that of Sir Thomas More; for after he was beheaded, anno 1535, though his body was permitted to be buried, first in the church of St. Peter in the Tower, and afterwards in Chelsea church, where it now lies, yet his head was set on a pole on London bridge, and was afterwards privily bought by his daughter Margaret, and for some time preserved by her in a leaden box, with much devotion, and placed in this vault, when she died, near her coffin. In the south isle are memorials for the Heatons, of St. Thomas's hill. The cover to the font is of a pyramidical shape, curiously carved in wood, in the gothic taste. On the north side of this church is a small chapel, now made use of as a vestry room, founded by Henry de Canterbury, the king's chaplain, in 1330, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, in which he established a perpetual chantry, which he committed to the care of the hospital of the poor priests in Canterbury, who were to find the chaplain. And it remained in this state till the dissolution of such endowments, in king Edward VI.'s reign.
The chancel or chapel above-mentioned, belonging to the Ropers, was founded by John Roper, esq. as appears by patent 4th Henry IV. for two chaplains to sing mass in it, at the altar of St. Nicholas, for the souls of such of the family as were deceased, and the welfare of such as were living; each of which chaplains had eight pounds per annum allowed to them by him and his heirs, besides a house for their habitation, adjoining to the mansion-house of the family in this parish, on the west side of it; which house is still remaining, and is made use of as part of the mansion.
This church was part of the antient possessions of St. Gregory's priory, in Canterbury, founded by archbishop Lanfranc; and archbishop Hubert, in king Richard I.'s reign, confirmed the same, among the rest of the possessions of it. (fn. 3) After which, the church, with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the priory till the dissolution of it, in king Henry VIII.'s reign, when coming into the king's hands, it was granted, with the scite and most of the possessions of the priory, that same year, in exchange, to the archbishop. Since which the whole of the premises above-mentioned, in which this parsonage was included, have been demised by the several archbishops in one great beneficial lease. George Gipps, esq. of Harbledowne, is the present lessee of it, as part of St. Gregories priory, under the archbishop. It is now of the value of only five pounds per annum.
Archbishop Walter Reynolds, in 1322, endowed the vicarage of this church, then appropriated to the priory of St. Gregory, decreeing, that the vicar of it should receive, for the maintenance of himself and his family, all small tithes, oblations, and other profits of every kind, the tithes of sheaves of every sort of corn growing in the fields only excepted, which he allotted to the religious in the name of the rectory, who should acknowledge all burthens, ordinary as well as extraordinary, of the chancel, books, and ornaments, as far as they were accustomed to belong to the rectors of places. (fn. 4) After which, on a representation to archbishop Stratford, that the above endowment was by no means sufficient for his support, the value of the vicarage amounting to only four marcs yearly, the archbishop's commissary assigned to the vicars, beyond the endowment above-mentioned, the house of the vicarage, which the vicars were wont of old to inhabit, and also the pension of two marcs sterling, to be paid yearly by the religious, in augmentation of the portion so assigned to him. And he decreed, that the vicar, in future should serve the church in divine rites, and should provide tapers, lights, and bread and wine for the celebration of masses; and should support the burthens of the church, estimated at four marcs for the moiety, in all payments whatsoever of tenths and other extraordinary impositions; and that the religious should rebuild and repair the chancel of the church, and find books, vestments, and ornaments, belonging to the rectors of places, all which the archbishop approved, and confirmed in 1342. (fn. 5)
In the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, the vicarage was valued at four pounds, being one of those small benefices, which, on account of their slender income, were not taxed to the tenth. It is valued in the king's books at five pounds, and is now of the clear yearly certified value of eighteen pounds. In 1588 it was valued at twenty pounds, communicants one hundred and fifty-six. In 1640 it was valued at forty pounds, the like number of communicants.
Archbishop Juxon, in 1661, augmented the vicarages and curacies late belonging to St. Gregory's priory, and then of the patronage of the see of Canterbury, with the yearly sum of two hundred and ten pounds, out of the great tithes of the several parsonages; but this of St. Dunstan's, probably from the inefficient value of the parsonage for that purpose, did not receive any part of it.
Archbishop Tenison gave to the governors of queen Anne's bounty, which he confirmed by his will in 1715, the sum of two hundred pounds, to the augmentation of this vicarage, to which the governors added two hundred pounds more for the same purpose. It is now of the annual value of about fifty pounds.
There have been no remains of the vicarage-house for a long time.
¶THE CITY AND COUNTY OF THE CITY OF CANTERBURY lies the next adjoining to St. Dunstan's parish eastward, a district which was once accounted a hundred of itself, and within the jurisdiction of the justices of the county of Kent, and it continued so till it was made a county, and separate jurisdiction of itself, by king Edward the IVth in his first year, a copious description of it, as well as of the priory of Christ-church, and the cathedral, with an account of the archbishops, and the other members belonging to them, will be given in a separate volume at the conclusion of this history.
The 2020 Holi Adventure with Paramahamsa Vishwananda was infused with devotion as it took place in Vrindavan, India, and the ashram of the Shree Giridhar Dham. Fortunately, it was held just before the onset of big changes in the world due to the Coronavirus, so a large number of devotees from all over the world were able to experience the joyous festival of colours known as ‘Holi’ and visit many of the sacred sites where Lord Krishna’s lilas took place.
During this time, new deities were installed at the ashram, too: Panduranga, Rukmini, and a unique Hanuman/Garuda.
A truly memorable trip for everyone in so many ways!
paramahamsavishwananda.com
bhaktimarga.org
Repleksyon sa Ebanghelyo Ngayon
Datapuwa’t dumarating ang oras, at ngayon nga, na sasambahin ng mga tunay na mananamba ang Ama sa espiritu at katotohanan: sapagka’t hinahanap ng Ama ang mga gayon na maging mananamba sa kaniya. Ang Dios ay Espiritu: at ang mga sa kaniya’y nagsisisamba ay kinakailangang magsisamba sa espiritu at sa katotohanan.
Juan 4:23-24
Mga Kaunawaan sa Talata Ngayong Araw…
Mula sa mga salita ng Panginoon, makikita natin na nais ng Diyos na lumapit tayo sa Kanya at sumamba sa Kanya nang may matapat na puso. Ang Diyos ay walang pakialam kung ang ating mga panalangin ay mahaba o maikli, o kung ang ating mga salita ay kaaya-aya na pakinggan; may pakialam lamang Siya kung nananalangin ba tayo o hindi ng may taimtim na puso. Kaya, dapat na tayo ay puro at bukas na manalangin sa Diyos, na nagsasabi ng taos-puso at tapat na mga salita sa Kanya; bukod pa rito, dapat nating matapat na aminin ang ating mga pagkakamali at pagkakasala sa Diyos at tunay na magsisi, na ginagarantiyahan na hindi na natin muling gagawin ang mga pagkakamaling ito. Halimbawa, ang panalangin ng pagsisisi ni David ay taos-puso. Sa kanyang sumunod na mga taon, ang kanyang mga tagapag-alaga ay pumili ng isang batang babae upang magpainit sa kanyang kama, ngunit si David ay hindi nakipagtalik sa kanya. Bilang karagdagan, kapag nakatagpo tayo ng mga sitwasyon, hindi natin dapat purihin ang Diyos sa salita lamang, ngunit dapat nating hanapin at pag-isipan ang mga bagay na ito upang maunawaan ang kalooban ng Diyos at sa gayon ay maibigay ang ating taimtim na papuri sa Diyos. Gawin ang panalangin ni Job bilang isang halimbawa. Sa gitna ng mga pagsubok, sa pamamagitan ng pagninilay at pagsasaliksik, sa huli ay sinabi ni Job, “Si Jehova ang nagbigay, at si Jehova ang nagalis; purihin ang pangalan ni Jehova”(Job 1:21). Ang nasabing papuri at gayong panalangin ay taos-puso at tinanggap ng Diyos. Tanging kung mananalangin tayo nang naaayon sa kalooban ng Diyos ay makakakuha tayo ng Kanyang tugon, at liliwanagan tayo at papatnubayan tayo ng Diyos sapagkat nakikita Niya ang ating puso.
Basahin ang mas marami pang mga artikulo tungkol sa panalangin upang mahanap ang tamang paraan ng panalangin upang makinig ang Diyos sa inyong mga panalangin.
Image Source: The Church of Almighty God
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The stupa in Bodnath is very important for many bouddhist, Tamang, Tibetan, or from a different tribe. They come here and turn around the stupa, again and again, always clockwise. It's called Kora. Kora may be performed while spinning prayer wheels, chanting mantra, counting mala, or repeatedly prostrating oneself, like this lady on the photo.
"A man can’t plow a field by turning it over in his mind."
- old Welsh saying
~~~
"A man can’t plow a field just by thinking about it, he must go out to the field and get to work. Yet if he is fully present to the work and acts with mindfulness and loving attention — that is, if he brings his whole self along — then even as he turns over the rich soil beneath his plow, he turns it over in his mind and heart as well. The act of tilling the soil becomes an act of tilling the soul."
- from "Turning the Soil of Soul: Ritual as Celebration"
~~~
At first, I only wanted to find some small thing that represented the meaning of "devotion" in my life. Devotion gives me a sense of empowerment, a sense of connection and gratitude that keeps me going. But then I asked myself: what is it that empowers my devotion? What helps me to "do devotion better"?
Just yesterday, I finished a piece on ritual as celebration that has gone up over on the Patheos CUUPS blog, Nature's Path. In my life, learning and curiosity empower my acts of devotion. Knowledge shapes my practice as a I search and research for those threads that weave us into the world.
My Word of the Day altar is set up on the windowsill next to my desk, and there on my desk was a perfect example: Catherine Bell's Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. When we see the diversity available to us, we're empowered to explore beyond the simple forms that we've inherited by default.
#UULent #empower #devotion #meditation #spirituality #ritual
Hanuman receives here the ring to return with to Sri Rama as a proof that he had found the abducted Sita-devi
Aruna Mohanty
Devotion, perseverance and commitment have placed Aruna Mohanty as the finest among Odissi dancers of her generation. Nurtured under the able guidance of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, Aruna especially excels in the abhinaya aspect of Odissi. She has been a student and Secretary of Orissa Dance Academy. Her unique skill and versatility make her the recipient of many awards and accolades, including the Mahari Award 1997, Sanjukta Panigrahi Memorial National Award 2001, Fellowship by Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, and an award for her contribution to the field of Odissi Dance, from the Utkal University, orissa. Apart from dance, Aruna has also established herself as an excellent choreographer. Some of the items in her repertoire include the dance ballet “Shrusti O Pralay”, “Varsha Abhisara”, “Shravan Kumar”, “Samrat Kharavela” , “Kanchi Abhijan”, “Krupanidhana” & “Krushna Saranam”, etc. Widely traveled to countries like Canada, USA, South America and some of the European countries, she is the advisor-member of Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. Currently she is conferred for the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year -2010 by the Govt. of India. And Govt. of Orissa has appointed her to be the Vice-President of State Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Concept Note
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Gatha Odissi - from the temple to the stage
History is not scripted; it gets created over the ages. It transforms itself according to the tides of life and times. Therefore, from the point of view of the present, how does one view the entire panorama of Odissi Dance, which has traveled through an arduous journey of nearly two thousand years?
After the sunrise, comes the dark hour of the sunset. But the rhythmic foot falls of Odissi dance, however, continue to reverberate from within the dark corridors of history.
Around the middle of Ninteenth century a new resolve paves the way for the resurrection of the flagging traditions of Odissi Dance. The danseuse damsels break out of their stony incarnation from temple-walls and metamorphose into life. In this hour of revival, the great Gurus of our times create a whole new grammar of Odissi. The genesis of Mangalacharan, Pallavi, Sthayi, Abhinaya and Moksha, which form the superstructures of Odissi, spring up from the sub-structures of the allied art forms and folk forms of Odisha such as Mahari, Gotipua, Sakhi Nata, Raasa and Leela.
Through brief narrations and symbolic images Odisha Dance Academy spins the story of transformation and resurgence of Odissi Dance spanning from the Jagannath Temple of Puri right up to the contemporary stage.
Conceptualized by - Guru Aruna Mohanty
Kedar Mishra
Music composition - Guru Bijay Kumar Jena
Rhythm composition - Guru Dhaneswar Swain
Guru Bijay Kumar Barik
Musicians :
Mardala - Guru Ddhaneswar Swain
Guru Bijaya Kumar Bari
Vocal - Harapriya Swain
Nazia Alam
Rupak Kumar Parida
Violin - Ramesh Chandra Das
Flute - Srinibash Satpathy
Sitar - Swapneswar Chakravorty
Dance Choreography- Guru Aruna Mohanty
Dancers :
Odissi Dance : Ramesh Ch. Jena, Madhusmita Mohanty, Yudhisthir Nayak, Pabitra Ku. Pradhan, Sridutta Bhol, Janhabi Behera, Pankaj Ku. Pradhan, Pravat Ku. Swain, Arupa Gayatri Panda , Prashant Ku. Behera, Bijan Ku. Palei , Pragati Das & Rudra Prashad Swain.
Gotipua Dance : Sriram Chahatray, Suryakanta Samantaray,Arupananda Pradhan, Santosh Biswal & Rama Pradhan
This book of hours was written in Dutch in the fifteenth century for the use of Utrecht. The Hours of the Virgin and of the Cross are accompanied here by the Dutch translation of Henry Suso's "Cursus aeternae sapientiae," a text that was particularly popular for private devotion in the Netherlands. Once owned by the English collector Lord Amherst, the manuscript is exceptional for its extensive illumination. Webs of foliage cover every margin, most sprouting medallions containing flora and fauna. The divisions in the text are marked by twenty richly painted full-page miniatures, often accompanied by related marginalia. Further illumination in the form of historiated and foliate initials marks minor breaks in the text, and the overall effect is a visual feast for the reader.
To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.
www.holyspiritspeaks.org/on-quieting-your-heart-before-go...
Pondering the words of God and praying over the words of God at the same time as eating and drinking the actual words of God—this is the first step to being at peace before God. If you can be truly at peace before God, then the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit will be with you.
All spiritual life is achieved by relying on being quiet before God. In praying you must be quiet before God before you can be moved by the Holy Spirit. By being quiet before God when you eat and drink God’s words you can be enlightened and illuminated and be able to achieve truly understanding God’s words. In your usual meditation and fellowship, and when you are drawing close to God with your heart, only when you are quiet before God can you have genuine closeness to God, genuine understanding of God’s love and God’s work, and true thoughtfulness toward God’s intentions. The more you are usually able to be quiet before God the more you can be illuminated, and the more you are able to understand your own corrupt disposition, what you lack, what you should enter, what function you should serve, and where you have defects. All these are achieved by relying on being quiet before God. If you truly reach some depth in being quiet before God, you can touch some mysteries in the spirit, touch on what God at present wants to do on you, touch on deeper understanding of God’s words, and touch on the essence of God’s words, on the substance of God’s words, on the being of God’s words, and you can see the path of practice more thoroughly and more accurately. If you cannot be quiet in your spirit to a certain depth, you will just be somewhat moved by the Holy Spirit, inside you will feel strength, and some enjoyment and peace, but you will not touch anything deeper. I have said before, if one does not use all their strength, it will be difficult for them to hear My voice or see My face. This refers to achieving depth in being quiet before God, not to external effort. A person who can truly be quiet before God is able to free themselves from all worldly ties and can achieve being occupied by God. All people who are unable to be quiet before God are assuredly dissolute and unrestrained. All who are able to be quiet before God are people who are pious before God, people who yearn for God. It is only people who are quiet before God who pay attention to life, pay attention to fellowship in spirit, who thirst for God’s words, and who pursue the truth. All those who pay no attention to being quiet before God, who do not practice being quiet before God are vain people who are completely attached to the world, who are without life; even if they say they believe in God they are just paying lip-service. Those God ultimately perfects and completes are people who can be quiet before God. Therefore, people who are quiet before God are people graced with great blessings. People who during the day take little time to eat and drink God’s words, who are completely preoccupied with external affairs, and do not pay attention to life entry are all hypocrites with no prospect of developing in the future. It is those who can be quiet before God and genuinely commune with God who are God’s people.
from "On Quieting Your Heart Before God"
This Book of Hours was created ca. 1400-1415 in either Flanders or Artois. There are twenty-three miniatures, six historiated initials, and drolleries, the latter found mainly on pages with historiated initials. The Hours of the Virgin are connected to the collegiate church of St. Pierre in Lille, as evinced by the hymn "Ueni Creator" at Lauds and None, as well as the antiphon "Cum iocunditate" at Compline. The book also contains an Office of the Dead that corresponds to Premostratensian use, and a Prayer to Christ that contains an introductory attribution to Friar Bertrant, priest and cardinal at an unidentified foundation dedicated to St. Cecilia. Additionally, the Suffrages are interpolated throughout the Hours of the Virgin from Lauds to Compline.
To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.
ca. 1914 - ca. 1918
Soldier smoking a pipe and reading a letter. Inset of woman u.r. Verse printed beneath image: Darling, my heart beats fast for you ...
Visit our catalogue to download a hi-res copy or find out more about this image: handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/16600
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Little India, Singapore
Thaipusam (Tamil: தைப்பூசம், Taippūcam ?) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February). It is celebrated not only in countries where the Tamil community constitutes a majority, but also in countries where Tamil communities are smaller, such as Singapore and Malaysia.The festival is also referred to as Thaipooyam or Thaippooyam (Malayalam: തൈപ്പൂയം, Taippūyaṁ ?). The word Thaipusam is derived from the month name Thai and Pusam, which refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel "spear" so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadam.
Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting approx-48 days before Thaipusam. Kavadi-bearers have to perform elaborate ceremonies at the time of assuming the kavadi and at the time of offering it to Murugan. The kavadi-bearer observes celibacy and take only pure, Satvik food, once a day, while continuously thinking of God.
On the day of the festival, devotees will shave their heads and undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). At its simplest this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers is also common.
The simplest kavadi is a semicircular decorated canopy supported by a wooden rod that is carried on the shoulders, to the temple. In addition, some have a small spear through their tongue, or a spear through the cheeks. The spear pierced through his tongue or cheeks reminds him constantly of Lord Murugan. It also prevents him from speaking and gives great power of endurance. Other types of kavadi involve hooks stuck into the back and either pulled by another walking behind or being hung from a decorated bullock cart or more recently a tractor, with the point of incisions of the hooks varying the level of pain. The greater the pain the more god-earned merit.
This small Book of Hours is especially interesting for its profusion of humorous drolleries. Humans, animals, and hybrids are featured in the margins of each page of the book. The artists rendered in small scenes a variety of actions, like cooking, playing game, climbing, fishing, making music or moving the bodies in a dance. These drolleries amuse the faithful during his prayers, while showing scenes that work as metaphors of the soul fighting the vices. The original female owner seems to have been established in the diocese of Cambrai, judging from the use of the Office of the Dead. Several provenance episodes are evidenced by the book in the signatures on the leaves at the beginning and end of the manuscript. A priest in the sixteenth century wrote a message in code on fol. 1v asking to return to him the book if lost. Members of the ducal house of Savoy owned this book of prayer in the seventeenth century, as evidenced by the gilt armorial shield of Charles Emmanuel II (1634-75), duke of Savoy, stamped on the covers.
To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.
Some considered the colored version too Red.
I like the "grainy" look, so I decided not to denoise it.
@Frankfurt Cathedral
I loved these luminescent red candles against the background of celestial blue. And the gathering of saints, who are present to us through the icons.
If to pray, then better - in Holy Land! In Jerusalem the prayers most rapidly reach our Lord...
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Russian Orthodox Easter will come tomorrow!
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P.S.
BTW, according Russian Orthodox tradition, the head must be always covered with scarf, when You are entering the church!
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I.
"To frame our mind for even resurrection..."
-Aleksandr Blok
II.
"....................................
And all earthly at once will be thrown
In the bottomless gulf of the dark,
And above it will slowly grow
Silence - seven bright hues in the arc.
And the tune, so youthful and sole,
In the silence will gently wake up –
Lulled by life, strings of beautiful soul,
That is strained like a beautiful harp."
-Aleksandr Blok
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PHOTO:
taken in Russian Church of Holy Trinity, Jerusalem, Israel.
Just a repost (and remake) of this Photo
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Created with fd's Flickr Toys.