WONDERFUL MAKER ~ Jeremy Camp

 

You spread out the skies over empty space

Said, "let there be light"

To a dark and formless world

Your light was born

 

You spread out your arms over empty hearts

Said, "let there be light"

To a dark and hopeless world

Your son was born

You made the world and saw that it was good

You sent your only son, for you are good

 

What a wonderful maker

What a wonderful saviour

How majestic your whispers

And how humble your love

With a strength like no other

And the heart of a father

How majestic your whispers

What a wonderful God

 

No eye has fully seen how beautiful the cross

And we have only heard the faintest whispers

Of how great you are

 

you made the world and saw that it was good

you sent your only son for you are good

what a wonderful maker

what a wonderful saviour

how majestic your whispers

how humble your love

with a strength like no other

and the heart of a father

how majestic your whispers

 

what a wonderful God you made the world

and saw that it was good

you sent your only son for you are good

what a wonderful maker

what a wonderful saviour

how majestic your whispers

how humble your love

with the strength like no other

and the heart of a father

how majestic your whispers

what a wonderful God

how majestic your whispers

what a wonderful God

  

Global inequality is growing, with half the world’s wealth now in the hands of just 1% of the population, according to a new report.Each of the remaining 383m adults – 8% of the population – has wealth of more than $100,000. This number includes about 34m US dollar millionaires. About 123,800 individuals of these have more than $50m, and nearly 45,000 have more than $100m. There is overwhelming agreement among economists that the Second World War was responsible for decisively ending the Great Depression. When asked why the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are failing to make the same impact today, they often claim that the current conflicts are simply too small to be economically significant.

 

There is, of course, much irony here. No one argues that World War II, with its genocide, tens of millions of combatant casualties, and wholesale destruction of cities and regions, was good for humanity. But the improved American economy of the late 1940s seems to illustrate the benefits of large-scale government stimulus. This conundrum may be causing some to wonder how we could capture the good without the bad.

 

If one believes that government spending can create economic growth, then the answer should be simple: let's have a huge pretend war that rivals the Second World War in size. However, this time, let's not kill anyone.

 

Most economists believe that massive federal government spending on tanks, uniforms, bullets, and battleships used in World War II, as well the jobs created to actually wage the War, finally put to an end the paralyzing "deflationary trap" that had existed since the Crash of 1929. Many further argue that war spending succeeded where the much smaller New Deal programs of the 1930s had fallen short.

 

The numbers were indeed staggering. From 1940 to 1944, federal spending shot up more than six times from just $9.5 billion to $72 billion. This increase led to a corresponding $75 billion expansion of US nominal GDP, from $101 billion in 1940 to $175 billion by 1944. In other words, the war effort caused US GDP to increase close to 75% in just four years!

 

The War also wiped out the country's chronic unemployment problems. In 1940, eleven years after the Crash, unemployment was still at a stubbornly high 8.1%. By 1944, the figure had dropped to less than 1%. The fresh influx of government spending and deployment of working-age men overseas drew women into the workforce in unprecedented numbers, thereby greatly expanding economic output. In addition, government spending on wartime technology produced a great many breakthroughs that impacted consumer goods production for decades.

 

So, why not have the United States declare a fake war on Russia (a grudge match that is, after all, long overdue)? Both countries could immediately order full employment and revitalize their respective manufacturing sectors. Instead of live munitions, we could build all varieties of paint guns, water balloons, and stink bombs.

 

Once new armies have been drafted and properly outfitted with harmless weaponry, our two countries could stage exciting war games. Perhaps the US could mount an amphibious invasion of Kamchatka (just like in Risk!). As far as the destruction goes, let's just bring in Pixar and James Cameron. With limitless funds from Washington, these Hollywood magicians could surely produce simulated mayhem more spectacular than Pearl Harbor or D-Day. The spectacle could be televised- with advertising revenue going straight to the government.

 

The competition could be extended so that the winner of the pseudo-conflict could challenge another country to an all-out fake war. I'm sure France or Italy wouldn't mind putting a few notches in the 'win' column. The stimulus could be never-ending.

 

If the US can't find any willing international partners, we could always re-create the Civil War. Missed the Monitor vs. the Merrimack the first time? No worries, we'll do it again!

 

But to repeat the impact of World War II today would require a truly massive effort. Replicating the six-fold increase in the federal budget that was seen in the early 1940s would result in a nearly $20 trillion budget today. That equates to $67,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. Surely, the tremendous GDP growth created by such spending would make short work of the so-called Great Recession. The big question is how to pay for it. To a degree that will surprise many, the US funded its World War II effort largely by raising taxes and tapping into Americans' personal savings. Both of those avenues are nowhere near as promising today as they were in 1941. Current tax burdens are now much higher than they were before the War, so raising taxes today would be much more difficult. The "Victory Tax" of 1942 sharply raised income tax rates and allowed, for the first time in our nation's history, taxes to be withheld directly from paychecks. The hikes were originally intended to be temporary but have, of course, far outlasted their purpose. It would be unlikely that Americans would accept higher taxes today to fund a real war, let alone a pretend one. That leaves savings, which was the War's primary source of funding. During the War, Americans purchased approximately $186 billion worth of war bonds, accounting for nearly three quarters of total federal spending from 1941-1945. Today, we don't have the savings to pay for our current spending, let alone any significant expansions. Even if we could convince the Chinese to loan us a large chunk of the $20 trillion (on top of the $1 trillion we already owe them), how could we ever pay them back? If all of this seems absurd, that's because it is. War is a great way to destroy things, but it's a terrible way to grow an economy. What is often overlooked is that war creates hardship, and not just for those who endure the violence. Yes, US production increased during the Second World War, but very little of that was of use to anyone but soldiers. Consumers can't use a bomber to take a family vacation. The goal of an economy is to raise living standards. During the War, as productive output was diverted to the front, consumer goods were rationed back home and living standards fell. While it's easy to see the numerical results of wartime spending, it is much harder to see the civilian cutbacks that enabled it. The truth is that we cannot spend our way out of our current crisis, no matter how great a spectacle we create. Even if we spent on infrastructure rather than war, we would still have no means to fund it, and there would still be no guarantee that the economy would grow as a result. What we need is more savings, more free enterprise, more production, and a return of American competitiveness in the global economy. Yes, we need Rosie the Riveter - but this time she has to work in the private sector making things that don't explode. To do this, we need less government spending, not more.

The existing literature identifies natural resource wealth as a major determinant of civil war. The dominant causal link is that resources provide finance and motive (the “looting rebels” model). Others see natural resources as causing “political Dutch disease,” which in turn weakens state capacity (the “state capacity” model). In the looting rebels model, resource wealth first increases, but then decreases the risk for civil war as very large wealth enables governments to constrain rebels, whereas in the state capacity model, large resource wealth is unambiguously related to higher risk of war. This research note uses a new dataset on natural resource rents that are disaggregated as mineral and energy rents for addressing the resources-conflict relationship. We find that neither a dummy variable for major oil exporters nor our resource rents variables predict civil war onset with a 1000-battle-death threshold coded by Fearon and Laitin (2003) Fearon, J. D. and Laitin, D. D. 2003. Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war. American Political Science Review, 97(1): 1–16.

[Crossref], in the period after 1970 for which rents data are available. However, using a lower threshold of 25 battle deaths, we find that energy wealth, but not mineral wealth, increases the risk for civil war onset. We find no evidence for a nonlinear relationship between either type of resources and civil war onset. The results tentatively support theories built around state capacity models and provide evidence against the looting rebels model of civil war onset.

 

www.businessinsider.com/lets-pretend-to-have-another-seco...

 

A considerable body of poetical work has been attributed to Saint Kabir. And while two of his disciples, Bhāgodās and Dharmadās, did write much of it down, "...there is also much that must have passed, with expected changes and distortions, from mouth to mouth, as part of a well-established oral tradition."

 

In that Place There Is No Happiness or Unhappiness,

No Truth or Untruth

Neither Sin Nor Virtue.

There Is No Day or Night, No Moon or Sun,

There Is Radiance Without Light.

 

There Is No Knowledge or Meditation

No Repetition of Mantra or Austerities,

Neither Speech Coming From Vedas or Books.

Doing, Not-Doing, Holding, Leaving

All These Are All Lost Too In This Place.

 

No Home, No Homeless, Neither Outside or Inside,

Micro and Macrocosm Are Non-Existent.

Five Elemental Constituents and the Trinity Are Both Not There

Witnessing Un-struck Shabad Sound is Also Not There.

 

No Root or Flower, Neither Branch or Seed,

Without a Tree Fruits are Adorning,

Primordial Om Sound, Breath-Synchronized Soham,

This and That - All Are Absent, The Breath Too Unknown

 

Where the Beloved Is There is Utterly Nothing

Says Kabir I Have Come To Realize.

Whoever Sees My Indicative Sign

Will Accomplish the Goal of Liberation.

Kabir

What is seen is not the Truth

What is cannot be said

Trust comes not without seeing

Nor understanding without words

The wise comprehends with knowledge

To the ignorant it is but a wonder

Some worship the formless God

Some worship His various forms

In what way He is beyond these attributes

Only the Knower knows

That music cannot be written

How can then be the notes

Says Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion

Kabir

There is a common trunk that carries energy from the EARTH TO COSMOS? a kind of Milky Way, fruit of the mammary tits of a sacred cow. The link between the body of light and the physical body is a silver rope invisible from mortals. It would be necessary to die first to be reborn in a spiritual World. The attachment to material values divides us and the World War is the result of an oversized human ego. Thus, we must digest our reptilian impulses to live detached from the roots of evil and once again become a sacred fruit of the Tree of Life.In this early spring, he seems happy to be in Paris. It was there that, in 2006, his career took a truly international turn. For the Nuit blanche, Subodh Gupta had been invited to produce a work: "Very Hungry God". This monumental skull of gleaming kitchen utensils was shown at Saint-Bernard church in the Goutte-d'Or district, where the battle of the undocumented had taken place ten years earlier. Struck by this paradoxical image of prosperity and death, François Pinault immediately bought the sculpture, then installed it in front of his Venetian foundation, at the Palazzo Grassi. This skull became one of the most famous vanities of contemporary art with the one Damien Hirst made in diamonds a year later.Born in a village in northern India, marked in his childhood by the presence of a theatre company and by film screenings where his mother took him, Subodh Gupta experienced a meteoric rise. First trained in figurative painting, he put this technique aside to make videos and assemblages of objects, often kitchen utensils, which have been his signature for about ten years. This is the case of "People Tree", a giant tree created especially to be presented in one of the Mint's courses. Subodh Gupta has a sense of sharing and loves to cook. It is for him an essential reference: he compares willingly the kneading of a bread dough and the artistic gesture. His works also tell the story of travel and exile, like his boat overflowing with metal amphorae and evoking the fate of migrants.

 

He is interested in the cosmos and the philosopher's stone, a mysterious substance known to turn lead into gold.

Faced with success, we had to produce a lot. The size of his workshops kept increasing every year to accommodate more assistants - he said he sometimes made less good pieces. So, for some time now, his work has taken a more meditative turn. He is interested in the cosmos and the philosopher's stone, a mysterious substance reputed to turn lead into gold, cure diseases, prolong human life... He also returned to painting. Through works, often colossal, installed in 18th century salons, the exhibition shows how far we have come.

Subodh Gupta spent a week working in the Mint's workshops to make a medal himself. The exchanges seem to have been spontaneous with the engravers, in this place which is one of the oldest factories in Paris. It was as an alchemist that he thought about his project: the idea came to him to associate the preciousness of spices with that of metal by placing the key ingredients of a good curry, garam masala, on modelling clay. The assembly will be scanned and pressed onto a metal disc. A reminder that in Vasco da Gama's time.

 

fr.pressfrom.com/actualite/culture/-95491-subodh-gupta-un...

 

While often Gupta, an artist based in New Delhi, uses form and content emanating from an Indian milieu as initial points of reference, these works are far from nostalgic, nativist or even culturally specific. They serve instead as universally relatable ruminations on the physical, the metaphysical, and their interconnections.

, In This Vessel Lies the Philosopher’s Stone, is a citation from the writings of the Indian poet Kabīr, from the 15th century, who is one of India’s most celebrated mystics and venerated by Hindus and Muslims alike.

 

Kabīr identifies a humble vessel, a trope for the human body, to be the carrier of everything – the earth, the universe, and the divine. Subodh Gupta’s most recent works are a meditative exploration of both the literal and metaphorical implications of these verses. The quotidian pantry has long been Gupta’s artistic realm where he finds material and meaning. But rather than expressing earthly horrors and delights, he has moved into capturing the cosmic in the everyday, resulting in a body of work that is simultaneously minimalist and exaggerated. For Gupta, the steam that escapes a boiling kettle suggests a new galaxy emerging, the sparks that scatter out of a wood stove appear to represent the birth of new stars, and the metallic banging of a hammer crushing aluminum suggests the celestial big bang. As the domestic is superimposed on the cosmic, astrophysical wonders are minimized to the mundane, and mundane earthly objects out into inter-stellar awe.

 

he phrase paaras or paarasmani, mentioned in the verses by Kabir, refers to an oddly universal mythological object that is able to transmute ordinary materials into precious metals or imbue them with extraordinary powers. The western equivalent to this mystical gem is known as the philosopher’s stone. The power of the philosopher’s stone is uncannily similar to an artist’s power to elevate an ordinary object into a prized possession, simply by rendering it in an artwork. Subodh Gupta’s work is particularly analogous to this alchemical act of transmutation and this is evident throughout his works, most literally perhaps in the work titled Only One Gold, which shows a humble potato seemingly transformed into a lump of gold.

 

www.itsliquid.com/subodh-gupta-in-this-vessel-lies-the-ph...

you spread out the skies..over empty space...said let there be light...to a dark and formless world Your son was born....

Empty your mind, be formless, be shapeless, like water

Almighty God Uses His Word to Save Man - "The Main Purpose of God's work in the Flesh" (Music Video)

 

www.holyspiritspeaks.org/videos/the-main-purpose-of-gods-...

 

1. God comes into flesh for the main purpose to make man see God’s practical deeds. He realizes the formless Spirit in the flesh so that man can touch and see Him. In this way, people made complete by Him can be those who live out Him. They are ones who are gained by Him, and ones who are after His heart.

 

2. If God only spoke utterances from the heavens and didn’t practically come to earth, man would never know God. They would just convey God’s deeds with hollow theories, but would never have God’s words as reality. God comes to earth to set an example and serve as a model for those He will gain. In this way, man can come to know God, touch God, and see God in a practical way. And only in this way can he truly be gained by God. God comes to earth to set an example and serve as a model for those He will gain. In this way, man can come to know God, touch God, and see God in a practical way. And only in this way can he truly be gained by God. And only in this way can he truly be gained by God.

 

from “You Ought to Know That the Practical God Is God Himself” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

 

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building 6 east, school of architecture and building engineering, university of bath, england 1982-1988.

architects: the smithsons, peter and alison smithson (1923-2003 & 1928-1993).

 

the smithsons are not easy to follow. there is no signature style, themes are repeated and developed rather than form or materials; from their study of early modernism, they had brought back the openness, the undecidedness of what modern architecture was. four buildings in bath, all part of the university, form a strange epilogue to their career which otherwise effectively ended in the early seventies with the infamous robin hood gardens in london, a troubled corbusian concrete colossus which today is about to be demolished.

 

following the money or lack of it, there can be little doubt that the oil crisis also played a significant role in ruining the career of the smithsons, and that the optimism which had allowed institutions to take chances with architects like them in the sixties was all but lost the following decade. that the promises of modernism were not met made room for postmodern critique, but unlike james stirling the smithsons did not return to the scene all dressed up for the next party. they stayed true to the discourse of team X, one that always sought to extend what modernism could be, viewing modernism as the freedom to do the right thing under the circumstances rather than a style or a rulebook to be followed.

 

in that regard, the university of bath was the perfect place for the smithsons to return to construction. the university had been developed in the 1960's as a megastructure, featuring a large plinth for pedestrian traffic, raised six meters above ground and connecting the various departments. this allowed for a high density with short walking distances, for vehicular traffic and services to be hidden away under the plinth, and for easy future expansion. as such, all ideals the smithsons had promoted or investigated through their own projects.

 

yet the university, constructed with CLASP (not a VD, but a 1950's system for the prefabrication of schools) was also a rather drab affair, its raised plinth creating an uncertain relationship to the surrounding landscape and, not least, to the arriving students. in short, its undeniable rationality translated into a perceived hostility.

 

in answer, the smithson's offered buildings of complex geometry as opposed to orthogonal, natural materials as opposed to concrete - you'll recognize the bath stone from previous photos - and in the case of building 6 east, the main entrance to the campus was integrated into the building - part street, part stairs, much as you would expect to find it in italian vernacular architecture.

 

and indeed as had happened for le corbusier more than half a century earlier, the smithsons had found new inspiration in the mediterranean of old. but where the swiss had discovered the poetry of precise shapes revealed by light, the smithsons found a strange formlessness in structures that had survived for centuries, adapting to different times, needs and functions. they called it conglomerate ordering, signifying an architecture which grew entirely from within and over time, though I suspect the resulting sculptural exterior, whether in italian villages or here in the school of architecture and building engineering, was not unwelcome.

 

much as I miss the tautness and the classical sense of proportions in the earlier works - and building 6 east is strikingly inelegant in my eyes - the real trouble lies elsewhere, namely in its two separate systems of circulation. lending the route into the university the weight of a building by combining the two was a brilliant move. it also gave the building a very modern feel for a 1982 project, and despite the somewhat romantic architecture on show here, we can see why rem koolhaas named team X a major influence. I would go as far as to say that building 6 east has a younger sibling in copenhagen, BIG's latest housing project in which access plays much the same role by much the same means. the two buildings even share their willful formlessness.

 

but where BIG's project uses its promenade architecturale to challenge the isolation of the individual flat, the pathway into the university and the interior double-loaded corridor lead parallel lives and for the most part don't connect, relegating social life to the interior corridors. maybe I am unfair. we have been spoiled by buildings like le corbusier's carpenter center or martorell-bohigas-mackay's 1972 escola thau in barcelona and the way their ramps and stairs open up floors to people passing by; but given the smithsons' sensitivity to social spaces - and this is a university - the great staircase seems at least to a degree to be an opportunity missed.

 

the smithsons, more.

more words, yada, yada, yada.

Borobudur, or Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument consists of six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues.

A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside a perforated stupa.

 

Built in the 9th century during the reign of the Sailendra Dynasty, the temple's design in Gupta architecture reflects India's influence on the region. It also depicts the gupta style from India and shows influence of Buddhism as well as Hinduism. The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The journey for pilgrims begins at the base of the monument and follows a path around the monument and ascends to the top through three levels symbolic of Buddhist cosmology: Kāmadhātu (the world of desire), Rupadhatu (the world of forms) and Arupadhatu (the world of formlessness). The monument guides pilgrims through an extensive system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the walls and the balustrades. WIKIPEDIA

 

B is you...

from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.”

 

cha⋅os  [key-os]

–noun

1.a state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack of organization or order.

2.any confused, disorderly mass: a chaos of meaningless phrases.

3.the infinity of space or formless matter supposed to have preceded the existence of the ordered universe.

4.(initial capital letter) the personification of this in any of several ancient Greek myths.

5.Obsolete. a chasm or abyss

6. My Life

 

Well my life recently, and my boyfriends. He still has no car and hasn't for over a week and every day we don't get it out it goes up more and more money. He has to walk a couple miles to and from work, so I try to find him rides everyday sometimes I'm fortunate oters not so much. He hasn't been home in over a week he's been staying with me and my grandmother. I'm trying to get a job because he pretty much takes care of me, and I know it's stressing him out. And when he's stressed out I'm sad. I just started feeling better today. The last four days I've felt like an Insomniac, I finally fall asleep at about 5:30 and wake up at 9. I want more than 4 hours of sleep. My family thinks I'm getting sick because I haven't been eating anything, but nothing looks or is appitising to me. Trust me I love food and I don't think I'm fat. I don't know what's wrong with me. School isn't chaotic yet just boring, and I feel like its not challenging at all, and I hate it. I have no friends there, but I'm not going to put forth the effort because its hopeless. I just really want a job so I can help my boyfriend, He hates his job and is going to try to intern at a Graphic Design Company. I'm proud of him but I don't think e realizes it.

 

Sorry to rant about my problems. They really aren't a big deal, I just wanted to say it all out loud.

'WOMEN, PERFUMES AND PRAYER': these three things, according to a famous hadith, 'were made worthy of love' to the Prophet; and this symbolism provides us with a concise doctrine of the outward reverberations of the love of the Inward.

 

Woman, synthesizing in her substance virgin nature, the sanctuary and spiritual company, is for man what is most lovable; in her highest aspect, she is the formal projection of merciful and infinite Inwardness in the outward; and in this regard she assumes a quasi-sacramental and liberating function.

 

As for 'perfumes,' they represent qualities or beauties that are formless, exactly in the same way as music; that is to say that side by side with the formal projection of Inwardness, there exists also a complementary formless projection, symbolized, not by visual or tangible qualities, but by auditory and olfactory ones; perfumes are silent music.

 

As for 'prayer’, the third element mentioned in the hadith, its function is precisely to lead from outward to Inward, and it both consecrates and transmutes the qualitative elements of the outward realm; from this it may be seen that the ternary comprised in the saying of Muhammad, far from being of an astonishing arbitrariness and a shocking worldliness (as is believed by those who have no idea either of Oriental symbolism in general or of the Islamic perspective in particular) provides on the contrary a doctrine which is entirely homogeneous, and which is founded, not on the moral or ascetical alternative, but on the metaphysical transparency of things.

 

The nature of the three elements of the ternary can be further delineated with the help of the notions -enumerated in the corresponding order- of 'beauty; 'love' and 'sanctity': it is beauty and love that reflect the Inward in the outward world, and it is sanctity, or the sacred, which establishes the bridgein both directions -between the outward and inward planes.

 

All that is beautiful comes from the Beauty of God; says a hadith.

 

Moslems readily affirm the link between beauty and love and show little inclination to dissociate these two elements which for them are but the two faces of one and the same reality; whoever says beauty, says love, and conversely, whereas for Christians mystical love is almost exclusively associated with sacrifice, except in chivalric esoterism

and its prolongations.

 

The hadith just quoted really contains the whole doctrine of the earthly concomitances of the love of God, in conjunction with the following hadith: 'God is beautiful, and He loves beauty'; this is the doctrine of the metaphysical transparency of phenomena. This notion of beauty or harmony, with all the subtle rhythms and symmetries which it implies, has in Islam the widest possible significance: 'to God belong the most beautiful Names; says the Quran more than once, and the virtues are called 'beautiful things'. 'Women and perfumes': spiritually speaking these are forms and qualities, that is to say, they are truths that are both dilating and fruitful, and they are also the virtues which these truths exhale and which correspond to them within us.

 

'Everything on earth is accursed except the remembrance of God’, said the Prophet, a saying which must be interpreted not only from the standpoint of abstraction but also from that of analogy; that is to say, the remembrance of God is not only an inwardness free from images and flavours, but also a perception of the Divine in the symbols (ayat) of the world. To put it another way: things are accursed (or perishable) in so far as they are purely outward and externalizing, but not in so far as they actualize the remembrance of God and manifest the archetypes contained in the Inward and Divine Reality.

 

And everything in the world that surrounds us which gives rise to a concomitance of our love of God or of our choice of the 'inward dimension; is at the same time a concomitance of the love which God shows towards us, or a message of hope from the 'Kingdom of Heaven which is within you’.

 

These considerations (or even simply the notion of the 'love of God’) lead us to a related question, that of the Divine Person in relation to our capacity for love: what, it may be asked, is the meaning of the masculine character attributed to God by the Scriptures, and how can man (the male) accord all his love, naturally centered on woman, on a Divine Person who seems to exclude femininity?

 

The answer to this is that the masculine character of God in Semitic monotheism signifies, not that the Divine Perfection could possibly exclude the feminine perfections (which is unthinkable), but simply that God is totality and not part, and this totality has its image, precisely, in the human male, whence his priority with regard to woman (a priority which in other respects is either relative or nonexistent).

 

It is indeed important to understand that the male is not totality in the same way that God is, and likewise that woman is not 'part' in an absolute manner, for each sex, being equally human, shares in the nature of the other.

 

If each of the sexes constituted a pole, God could neither be masculine nor feminine, for it would be an error of language to reduce God to one of two reciprocally complementary poles; but if, on the contrary, each sex represents a perfection, God cannot but possess the characteristics of both – active perfection, however, always having priority over passive perfection.

 

Whether one likes it or not, in Christianity the Blessed Virgin assumes the function of the feminine aspect of the Divinity, at least in practice, and in spite of every theological precaution; however, this observation, far from being a cause of reproach in the eyes of the writer, has on the contrary for him the most positive meanings.

 

In Islam it is sometimes said that man has a feminine character in relation to God; but from another point of view, the doctrine of the Divine Names implies that the Divinity possesses all conceivable qualities, and if we see in the perfect woman certain qualities which are proper to her, she cannot have them except in so far as they are a reverberation of the corresponding Divine Qualities ...

 

(Frithjof Schuon: Dimensions of Islam - Woman and lnteriorization)

The Indian tends towards independence and so towards indifference with regard to the outward world; he surrounds himself with silence as with a magic circle, and this silence is sacred as being the vehicle of the heavenly influences. It is from this silence — of which the natural support is solitude — that the Indian draws his spiritual strength; his ordinary prayer is unvoiced: what it requires is not thought but consciousness of the Spirit, and this consciousness is immediate and formless like the vault of heaven.

Been years since I wore this dress.

 

Read about this night at sophielynne1.blogspot.com/2013/05/formless.html

  

Thillai Natarajah Temple, Chidambaram or Chidambaram temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located in the town of Chidambaram, East-Central Tamil Nadu, South India. The temple is known as the foremost of all temples (Kovil) to Saivites and has influenced worship, architecture, sculpture and performance art for over two millennium. The Sangam classics list chief architect Viduvelvidugu Perumthachchan as directing an early renovation of the shrine.

 

A major shrine of Lord Shiva worship since the classical period, there have been several renovations and offerings to Chidambaram by the Pallava, Chola, Pandya, Vijayanagara and Chera royals in the ancient and pre-medieval periods. The temple as it stands now is mainly of the 12th and 13th centuries, with later additions in similar style. Its bronze statues and stone sculptures depicting various deities and the famous Thillai trees (Excoecaria agallocha) of the surrounding forest reflect the highpoints of early Chola and Pallava art while its famed gold plated gopuram towers are medieval structural additions by the royals Aditya I, Parantaka Chola I, Kopperunchinga I, Krishnadevaraya and Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan. King Kocengannan Chola was born following prayers his parents offered at the temple and later in his life he refined its structure. The shrine gave the town its name.

 

The deity that presides here is கூத்தன் - Thillai Koothan (Thillai Nataraja - Shiva, The Lord of Dance). Chidambaram is the birthplace of the sculpture and bronze image representation of Lord Shiva as the cosmic dancer, a Tamilian concept and motif in Chola art that has since become notable as a symbol of Hinduism. The shrine is the only Shiva temple to have its main deity represented in this anthropomorphic form, as the supreme being who performs all cosmic activities. The consort deity here is Sivakami Amman (form of Amman - mother goddess and female energy). Two other forms of Lord Shiva are represented close to this in the vimana (inner sanctum) of the temple - as a crystallised lingam - the most common representation of Lord Shiva in temples, and as the aether space classical element, represented with empty space and a garland of fifty one hanging golden bilvam leaves (Aegle marmelos). Lord Shiva is captured in pose as Nataraja performing the Ananda Tandava ("Dance of Delight") in the golden hall of the shrine Pon Ambalam (பொன் அம்பலம்). The sculptures of Chidambaram inspired the postures of Bharatha Natyam. The Chidambaram complex is admired for its five famous halls (ambalam or sabhai), several grand smaller shrines to the Hindu deities Ganesh, Murugan, Vishnu and Sivakami Amman which contain Pandyan and Nayak architectural styles, and for its endowment from many water tanks, one of which links it to the Thillai Kali temple.

 

Chidambaram is one of the five Pancha Bootha Sthalams, the holiest Shiva temples each representing one of the five classical elements; Chidambaram represents akasha (aether). Chidambaram is glorified in Tirumular's Tirumandhiram and was visited by Patañjali and VyagjrapadharPulikaal Munivar. It is the primary shrine of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams - Shiva Sthalams glorified in the early medieval Tevaram poems by Tamil Saivite Nayanar saints Tirunavukkarasar, Thirugnana Sambandar and Sundarar. Hailed in the Tiruvacakam series by Manikkavacakar, these very volumes of the Tirumurai literature canon were themselves found in secret chambers of the temple. The Periya Puranam, a biography of these Nayanar saints by Sekkizhar commissioned by emperor Kulothunga Chola II, was written in the shrine's Thousand Pillared Hall. In Kanda Puranam, the epic authored by Kachiyappa Sivachariar of Kanchipuram, the Chidambaram shrine is venerated as one of the three foremost Shiva abodes in the world, alongside Koneswaram temple of Trincomalee and Mount Kailash.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The traditional name of the temple complex, Chidambaram Tillai Nataraja-koothan Kovil, alludes to the environment of its location and its origins and significance in Saivite worship. The mangrove of ancient Tillai (தில்லை) trees (Exocoeria agallocha) of the forest surrounding the shrine when it was first built inspired the shrine's name and early artistic inspiration; the Tillai trees of the nearby Pichavaram wetlands, the second largest mangrove in the world, extends to the temple area. The shrine is venerated as Tillai ambalam (தில்லை அம்பலம் ), literally meaning Tillai Open Stage, the open space surrounded by Tillai Vanam (தில்லை வனம்) (the Tillai forest) - the original name of this area.[9] The name of the town of this shrine, Chidambaram comes from the Tamil word Chitrambalam (சிற்றம்பலம்) - "small hall/stage"; also spelled Chithambalam (சிட்டம்பலம்), from citt/chitthu and ambalam - meaning "wisdom of this open stage/atmosphere". The shrine is where some devotees believe they will attain liberation, or chitaakasam - "wisdom/consciousness of the sky". "Nataraja" or "Koothan" mean "Lord of Dance".

 

LEGEND

The story of Chidambaram begins with Lord Shiva strolling into the Thillai Vanam (vanam meaning forest and thillai trees - botanical name Exocoeria agallocha, a species of mangrove trees - which currently grows in the Pichavaram wetlands near Chidambaram). In the Thillai forests resided a group of sages or 'rishis' who believed in the supremacy of magic and that God can be controlled by rituals and mantras or magical words. Lord Shiva strolled in the forest with resplendent beauty and brilliance, assuming the form of Bhikshatana, a simple mendicant seeking alms. He was followed by His consort, Vishnu as Mohini. The sages and their wives were enchanted by the brilliance and the beauty of The handsome mendicant and His consort. On seeing their womenfolk enchanted, the rishis got enraged and invoked scores of serpents (nāgas) by performing magical rituals. Lord Shiva lifted the serpents and donned them as ornaments on His matted locks, neck and waist. Further enraged, the sages invoked a fierce tiger, whose skins and dons were used by Lord Shiva as a shawl around His waist and then followed by a fierce elephant, which was devoured and ripped to death by Lord Shiva (Gajasamharamurthy).

 

The rishis gathered all their spiritual strength and invoked a powerful demon Muyalakan - a symbol of complete arrogance and ignorance. Lord Shiva wore a gentle smile, stepped on the demon's back, immobilized him and performed the Ánanda Tandava (the dance of eternal bliss) and disclosed his true form. The sages surrender, realizing that Lord Shiva is the truth and He is beyond magic and rituals.

 

PATRONAGE

To Saivites, primarily in Tamil Nadu, the very word koil refers primarily to Chidambaram Tillai Natarajar.

 

Chidambaram is a temple complex spread over 160,000 m2 in the heart of the city. The main complex to Lord Shiva Nataraja also contains shrines to deities such as Shivakami Amman, Ganesh, Murugan and Vishnu in the form Govindaraja Perumal. Chidambaram's earliest structures were designed and erected by ancient craftsmen called Perumtaccan. The golden tiled roof for the Chit Ambalam (the vimanam) was laid by the Chola King Parantaka I (907-950 CE) following which he was given the title - Thillaiyambalathhukku pon koorai veiyntha thevan (Tamil:தில்லையாம்பலதுக்கு பொன் கூரை வேய்ந்த தேவன், meaning the one who constructed the golden roof). In its floruit, kings Rajaraja Chola I (reign 985-1014 AD) and Kulothunga Chola I (1070-1120 AD) made significant donations to the temple. Gold and riches to the temple were donated by Rajaraja Chola's daughter Kundavai II while Chola king Vikrama Chola (1118-1135 AD) made donations for the conduct of the daily rituals.

 

Donations of gold and jewels have been made by various kings, rulers and patrons to the temple from 9th to 16th century - including the Maharaja of Pudukottai, Sethupathy (the emerald jewel still adorns the deity) and the British.

 

Naralokaviran, the general of king Kulothunga Chola I was responsible for building a shrine for child saint Thirugnana Sambanthar and installed a metal image inside it. He constructed a hall for recitation of Tevaram hymns and engraved the hymns in copper plates.

 

TEMPLE STRUCTURE

The temple is the only great temple complex to date mainly from the later Chola period, and contains the earliest examples of a number of features that are found in many later temples, including "the earliest known Devī or Amman shrine, nritta (dance) maṇḍapa, Sūrya shrine with chariot wheels, hundred-and-thousand pillared maṇḍapas, even the first giant Śiva Gangā tank".A classical Shiva temple as per Agama rules will have five prakarams (closed precincts of a temple) or circuits each separated by walls one within the other. The outer prakaram will be open to the sky except the innermost one. The innermost one will house the main deity as well as other deities. There will be a massive wooden or stone flag post exactly in line with the main deity. The innermost prakaram houses the sanctum sanctorum (தமிழ் = கருவரை).

 

Chidambaram is also referred to in various works such as Thillai (after the Thillai forest of yore in which the temple is now located), Perumpatrapuliyur or Vyagrapuram (in honour of Saint Vyagrapathar, Sanskrit: Vyaghrapada - "Tiger-Footed").

 

The temple is supposed to be located at the lotus heart of the Universe: Virat hridaya padma sthalam.

 

This gold-roofed stage is the sanctum sanctorum of the Chidambaram temple and houses the Lord in three forms:

 

- the "form" - the anthropomorphic form as an appearance of Nataraja, called the Sakala-thirumeni.

- the "semi-form" – the semi-anthropomorphic form as the Crystal linga of Chandramaulishvara, the Sakala-nishkala-thirumeni.

- the "formless" – as the space in Chidambara-rahasyam, an empty space within the sanctum sanctorum, the Nishkala-thirumeni.

 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TEMPLE DESIGN

The layout and architecture of the temple is replete with philosophical meanings.

 

Three of the five Panchaboothasthala temples, those at Kalahasti, Kanchipuram and Chidambaram all stand on a straight line exactly at 79 degree 41 minutes East longitude - truly an engineering, astrological and geographical wonder. Of the other two temples, Tiruvanaikkaval is located at around 3 degrees to the south and exactly 1 degree to the west of the northern tip of this divine axis, while Tiruvannamalai is around midway (1.5 degree to the south and 0.5 degree to the west).

 

The 9 gateways signify the 9 orifices in the human body.

The Chitsabai or Ponnambalam, the sanctum sanctorum represents the heart which is reached by a flight of 5 stairs called the Panchaatchara padi - pancha meaning 5, achhara – indestructible syllables – "SI VA YA NA MA", from a raised anterior dias - the Kanakasabai. The access to the Sabhai is through the sides of the stage (and not from the front as in most temples). The Chit sabha roof is supported by four pillars symbolic of the four Vedas.

 

The Ponnambalam or the Sanctum sanctorum is held by 28 pillars – representing the 28 agamas or set methodologies for the worship of Lord Shiva. The roof is held by a set of 64 beams representing the 64 forms of art and is held by several cross-beams representing the innumerable blood vessels. The roof has been laid by 21,600 golden tiles with the word SIVAYANAMA inscribed on them representing 21600 breaths. The golden tiles are fixed using 72,000 golden nails which represents the no. of nadis exists in human body. The roof is topped by a set of 9 sacred pots or kalasas, representing the 9 forms of energy. The artha mandapa(sanctum) has six pillars denoting the six shastras (holy texts).

 

The hall next to the artha mantapa has eighteen pillars symbolizing the eighteen Puranas.

 

TOWERS

The temple has nine gateways, and four of these have gateway towers or gopurams each with 7 storeys facing the East, South, West and North. The South gopuram called the Sokkaseeyan Thirunilai Ezhugopuram was constructed by a Pandya king identified from the presence of the dynasty's fish emblem sculpted on the ceiling. The Pandyas sculpted two fishes facing each other when they completed gopurams (and left it with one fish, in case it was incomplete). The earliest and smallest of the four is West gopuram constructed around 1150 and there are no reliable evidence on the construction. The sculptures shows goddess fighting the buffalo-demon and warlike Skanda astride his peacock. The North Gopuram was initiated around 1300 AD with the brick portion constructed by the Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya (1509-1530 AD) in the 16th century. The East Gopuram, was claimed to have been constructed by the Pallava King Koperunsingan II (1243-1279 AD) as per epigrahical records and was repaired by Subbammal, the mother-in-law of the famous philanthropist Pachaiyappa Mudaliar (1754-1794 AD). The idols of Pachaiappa Mudaliar and his wife Iyalammal have been sculpted on the eastern gopuram. The Pachaiappa Trust to date has been responsible for various functions in the temple and also maintain the temple car. The eastern gopuram is renowned for its complete enumeration of 108 poses of Indian classical dance – Bharathanatyam, detailed in small rectangular panels along the passage that leads to the gateway. Each gopuram has around fifty stone sculptures, with each repeating some portions from the other.

 

HALLS

There are 5 ambalams or sabhas (halls) inside the temple.

 

- Chit Ambalam or Chit Sabhai, which is the sanctum sanctorum housing Lord Nataraja and his consort Sivakami Sundari, and gave the temple town its name.

- Pon Ambalam or Kanaka Sabhai – the golden hall in front of the Chit Ambalam, from where the daily rituals are conducted.

- Nrithya sabhai or Natya sabhai, a 56-pillared hall lies to the south of the temple's flag mast (kodi maram or dwaja sthambam) where Nataraja outdanced Kali and established his supremacy

- Raja sabhai or the 1000-pillared hall which symbolizes the yogic chakra of thousand pillared lotus or Sahasraram (which in yoga is a chakra) at the crown of the head and is a seat where the soul unites with God. This chakra is represented as a 1000-petalled lotus. Meditating by concentrating at the Sahasrara Chakra is said to lead to a state of union with The Divine Force and is the pinnacle of yogic practice. The hall is open only on festive days.

- Deva Sabhai, which houses the Pancha moorthis (pancha - five, moorthis - deities, namely the deities of Ganesh, Somaskanda (seated posture of Lord Shiva with Pavarthi and Skanda), Sivananda Nayaki, Muruga and the image of Chandikeswarar.

 

SHRINES

- The shrines for the original Shivalingam worshipped by the saints Patanjali and Vyagrapathar – called the Thiru Aadhimoolanathar and his consort Umaiyammai

- The shrine of the 63 nayanars of Lord Shiva – called the Arubaththu moovar.

- Shrine of Sivagami.

- Ganesha shrine

- Shrine of Muruga or Pandiya nayakan

 

There are also several smaller shrines in the temple complex.

 

GOVINDARAJA SWAMY SHRINE

The Govindaraja shrine is dedicated to Vishnu and is one of the 108 holy temples of Lord Vishnu called divyadesam, revered by the 7th-9th-century saint poets of vaishnava (those worshipping Lord Vishnu) tradition, alwars. Kulashekara alwar mentions this temple as Tillai Chitrakutam and equates Chitrakuta of Ramayana fame with this shrine. King Kulothunga Chola II is believed to have uprooted the presiding Govindraja image from the shrine. The shrine has close connections with the Govindaraja temple in Tirupati dating back to saint Ramanuja of the 11-12th century. Ramanujar fled to Tirupati with the utsava (festival image) of the temple to escape punishment. Down the centuries, king Krishnappa Nayak (1564-1572 AD) was instrumental in installing the image of Govindaraja back in the temple. There was lot of resistance from the shaivites (those worshipping Shiva) against placing the Vishnu image in a revered Shiva temple, but the king was unmoved and the image was installed in the present form. There is no satisfactory evidence of co-existence of the Shiva and Vishnu shrines within the same temple built during the same time - there was a dispute even in last century during 1849 AD regarding the rights on the Govindaraja idol and Alwar Sannidhi(sanctum of azhwars) between Vaishnavas and Dikshitars and the position of Vaishnavas was upheld by the district court.

 

TEMPLE TANKS

The Chidambaram temple is well endowed with several water bodies within and around the temple complex.

 

- Sivaganga (சிவகங்கை) tank is in the third corridor of the temple opposite to the shrine of Shivagami. It is accessed by flights of stone steps leading from the shrine.

- Paramanandha koobham is the well on the eastern side of the Chitsabhai hall from which water is drawn for sacred purposes.

- Kuyya theertham is situated to the north-east of Chidambaram in Killai near the Bay of Bengal and has the shore called Pasamaruthanthurai.

- Pulimadu is situated around a kilometer and a half to the south of Chidambaram.

- Vyagrapatha Theertham is situated on to the west of the temple opposite to the temple of Ilamai Akkinaar.

- Anantha Theertham is situated to the west of the temple in front of the Anantheswarar temple.

- Nagaseri tank is situated to the west of the Anantha thirtham.

- Brahma Theertham is situated to the north-west of the temple at Thirukalaanjeri.

- Underground channels at the shrine drain excess water in a northeasterly direction to the Shivapiyai temple tank (சிவப்பியை குளம்) of the Thillai Kali Temple, Chidambaram. Due to poor maintenance, it has not been in use.

- Thiruparkadal is the tank to the south-east of the Shivapiyai tank.

 

TEMPLE CAR

The Chidambaram temple car is, perhaps, the most beautiful example of a temple car in all of Tamil Nadu. This car, on which Lord Nataraja descends twice a year, is drawn by several thousand devotees during the festivals.

 

ANANDA TANDAVA

The legend of the temple is same as the legend of Ānanda-tāṇḍava. Adhisesha, the serpent who serves as a bed of Lord Vishnu, hears about the Änanda thaandava and yearns to see and enjoy it. Lord Shiva beckons him to assume the saintly form of sage Patanjali and sends him to the Thillai forest, informing him that he will display the dance in due course. Patanjali who meditated in the Himalayas during krita age joins another saint, Vyaghrapada or Pulikaalmuni (Vyagra / Puli meaning "Tiger" and patha / kaal meaning "feet" – referring to the story of how he sought and got the feet and eyesight of a tiger to help climb trees well before dawn to pick flowers for The Lord before the bees visit them). The story of sage Patanjali as well as his great student sage Upamanyu is narrated in both Vishnu Purana as well as Shiva Purana. They move into the Thillai forest and worship Lord Shiva in the form of lingam, a deity worshipped today as Thirumoolataneswarar (Thiru - sri, Moolatanam - primordial or in the nature of a foundation, Eswarar- the Lord). Legends say that Lord Shiva displayed his dance of bliss (the Aananda Thaandavam) - as Nataraja to these two saints on the day of the poosam star in the Tamil month of Thai (January-February).

 

THE ANANDA TANDAVA POSTURE

The Ānanda-tāṇḍava posture of Nataraja represents pancikritya functions of the godhead believed to have created the dynamic force to create the world.

 

- The demon under Lord Nataraja's feet signifies that ignorance is under His feet.

- The fire in His hand (power of destruction) means He is the destroyer of evil.

- The raised hand (Abhaya or Pataka mudra) signifies that He is the savior of all life forms.

- The arc of fire called Thiruvashi or Prabhavati signifies the cosmos and the perpetual motion of the earth.

- The drum in His hand signifies the origin of life forms.

- The lotus pedestal signifies Om, the sound of the universe.

- His right eye, left eye and third eye signify the sun, moon and fire/knowledge, respectively.

- His right earring (makara kundalam) and left earring (sthri kundalam) signify the union of man and woman (right is man, left is woman).

- The crescent moon in His hair signifies benevolence and beauty.

- The flowing of river Ganges through His matted hair signifies eternity of life.

- The dreading of His hair and drape signify the force of His dance.

 

Another notable point of this posture is that it is based on the six point star. Nataraja's head forms the topmost point of the star, while His spreading hair and right hand form the upper side points. His drape and raised left leg form the lower points, and His right leg that rests on the demon Myalagga forms the lowest point. Surrounding this is the arc of fire.

 

RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TEMPLE

Pancha Bhoota Stalam (Sanskrit: पन्च भूत स्थल) refers to the five Shiva temples, each representing the manifestation of the five prime elements of nature - land, water, air, sky, fire. Pancha indicates five, Bhoota means elements and Stala means place. All these temples are located in South India with four of these temples at Tamil Nadu and one at Andhra Pradesh. The five elements are believed to be enshrined in the five lingams and each of the lingams representing Lord Shiva in the temple have five different names based on the elements they represent. In the temple, Shiva is said to have manifested himself in the form of sky. The other four manifestations are Prithivi Lingam (representing land) at Ekambareswarar Temple, Appu Lingam (representing Water) at Thiruvanaikaval, Agni Lingam (representing fire) at Annamalaiyar Temple and Vayu Lingam (representing air) at Srikalahasti Temple.

 

Aathara Stala indicates the Shiva temples which are considered to be divine impersonification of Tantric chakras associated with human anatomy. Nataraja temple is called the Anthaga stalam associated with Anthagam - the third eye.

 

Pancha Sabhai refers to the five places where Lord Shiva is said to have displayed His cosmic dance and all these places have stages or ambalams, also known as Sabhai. Apart from Chidambaram which has the Ponna Ambalam - the Golden Hall, the others are the I-Ratthina Ambalam - the Jeweled Hall at Thiruvaalangadu (rathinam – ruby / red jewelled), the Chitra Ambalam - the Painted Hall at Thirukutralam (chitra – painting), the Velli Ambalam - the Silver Hall at Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple (velli – silver) and the Thaamira Ambalam - the Copper Hall at Nellaiappar Temple, Tirunelveli (Thaamiram – copper).

 

RELIGIOUS WORK AND SAINTS

There is no reference to the temple in Sangam literature of the 1st to 5th centuries and the earliest mention is found in 6th century Tamil literature. The temple and the deity were immortalized in Tamil poetry in the works of Thevaram by three poet saints belonging to the 7th century - Thirugnana Sambanthar, Thirunavukkarasar and Sundaramoorthy Nayanar. Thirugnana Sambanthar has composed 2 songs in praise of the temple, Thirunavukkarasar aka Appar 8 Tevarams in praise of Nataraja and Sundarar 1 song in praise of Nataraja. Sundarar commences his Thiruthondar thogai (the sacred list of Lord Shiva's 63 devotees) paying his respects to the priests of the Thillai temple - "To the devotees of the priests at Thillai, I am a devotee". The works of the first three saints, Thirumurai were stored in palm leaf manuscripts in the temple and were recovered by the Chola King Rajaraja Chola under the guidance of Nambiandarnambi. Manikkavasagar, the 10th century saivite poet has written two works, the first called Tiruvasakam (The sacred utterances) which largely has been sung in Chidambaram and the Thiruchitrambalakkovaiyar (aka Thirukovaiyar), which has been sung entirely in the temple. Manikkavasagar is said to have attained spiritual bliss at Chidambaram. The Chidambaram Mahatmiyam composed during the 12th century explain the subsequent evolution and de-sanskritization.

 

THE CHIDAMBARA RAHASIYAM

During the daily rituals, the Chief priest, of the day, himself in a state of Godliness - Shivohambhava (Shiva - the Lord, in His Sandhi form - Shivo-, aham – me / us, bhava - state of mind), parts the curtain, indicating the withdrawal of ignorance and reveals the space, and The Lord’s presence.

 

The Chidambara Rahasya, is hence representative of that time when one, in total surrender, allows God to intervene and remove our ignorance, even as we get to 'see and experience' His presence and hence - bliss.

Temple administration and daily rituals

 

WORSHIP FORMS

A unique feature of this temple is the bejeweled image of Lord Nataraja as the main deity. It depicts Lord Shiva as the master of Koothu-Bharata Natyam and is one of the few temples where Lord Shiva is represented by an anthropomorphic murthi rather than the classic, anionic Lingam.

 

At Chidambaram, the dancer dominates, not the linga as in other Shiva shrines. The Chitsabha houses a small sphatika(crystal) linga (Chandramoulisvara), believed to be a piece that fell from the crescent adorning Lord Shiva's head and installed by Adi Shankara. The linga is associated with the intangible fifth element, akasha (ether or space), the eternal infinite expanse where the dance of Lord Shiva takes place daily puja is offered to the linga and also to a small gem-carved figure of Ratnasabhapati.

 

Chidambaram offers a combination of the three apects of Shaiva worship - of the form Lord(Nataraja), of the form and the formlessness (linga) and of the formless omnipresence. The last is suggested by a "Chidambara rahasya", a chakra inscribed on a wall and blackened by applying "punugu" (civet) and over which hangs a string of golden bilva (bael) leaves. This can be viewed through the square chinks when the priest draws aside the dark "curtain of ignorance".

 

WORSHIP

The temple is managed and administered hereditarily by the Chidambaram Dikshitar – a class of Vaidika Brahmins whom, legends say, were brought here from Mt. Kailas, by Patanjali, specifically for the performance of the daily rituals and maintenance of the Chidambaram temple.

 

DIKSHITARS

The Dikshithars were supposed to be 3000 were called Tillai Muvayiram. Today they number around 360. These Dikshithars follow the Vedic rituals, unlike the Sivachariyars or Adhisaivars who follow the agamic rituals for the worship of Shiva and they sport a specific lopsided-to-the-left half shaved head. The rituals for the temple were collated from the Vedas and set by Patanjali, who is said to have inducted the Dikshithars into the worship of Lord Shiva as Nataraja. Every married male member of the Dikshithar family gets a turn to perform the rituals at the temple and can serve as the chief priest for the day. Married Dikshithars are also entitled a share of the temple's revenue. Though the temple is said to have been given endowments of almost 20 km2 of fertile land – having been patronized by various rulers for several centuries, it is managed almost entirely by privately run endowments.

 

DAILY RITUALS

The day begins with the chief priest of the day, performing required rituals to purify himself and assume the Shivoham bhava (Shiva-hood), after which he enters the temple to do the daily rituals. The day begins with Lord Shiva's footwear (padukas) brought at 7:00 am from the palliyarai (bedroom) to the sanctum sanctorum in a palanquin accompanied by devotees with cymbals, chimes and drums. The priest then performs the daily rituals with a yajna and a 'Gopujai' (worship of a cow and her calf). Worship (Puja) is done 6 times in a day. Before each puja, the spadika linga (crystal linga) or the semi form state of Lord Shiva is anointed with ghee, milk, curds, rice, sandal paste and holy ash. This is followed by presenting the naivedhyam or offering of freshly prepared food and sweets to the deity and the diparaadhana, a ritual of showing varied and decoratively set lamps, the reciting of Vedas in Sanskrit and the Panchapuranam (a set of 5 poems from a set of 12 works in Tamil – called the panniru thirumurai). The puja ends with the priest parting the curtains of the sanctum sanctorum to reveal the Chidambara Rahasyam (sanctum).

 

Before the 2nd puja, apart from the regular anointing of the crystal linga, a ruby Nataraja deity (the Rathinasabhapathy) is also anointed. The 3rd puja is at around 12.00 noon, after which the temple closes until around 4:30 pm. The 4th puja is performed at 6.00 pm, the 5th at 8:00 pm and the last puja of the day is performed at 10:00 pm, after which Lord Shiva’s footwear is taken in a procession for Him to ‘retire’ for the night. Before the 5th puja at night, the priest performs special rituals at the Chidambara Rahasya, where he anointed the yantra with aromatic substances and offers naivedyam. The last puja, called the arthajaama puja is performed with special fervor. It is believed that the entire divine force of the universe retires into the deity, when he retires for the night.

 

TEMPLE ADMINISTRATION

The Diskshithars one and fully responsible for the administration and pooja. Simply they mentioned their surname as the Sri Natarajar Temple Trustee and Pooja forever. Dikshithars life and temple tied as the nail and flesh relationship.

 

FESTIVALS

A whole year for men is said to be a single day for the gods. Just as six poojas are performed in a day at the sanctum sanctorum, six anointing ceremonies are performed for the principal deity - Nataraja in a year. They are the Marghazhi Thiruvaadhirai (in December-January) indicating the first puja, the fourteenth day after the new moon (chaturdasi) of the month of Masi (February-March) indicating the second pooja, the Chittirai Thiruvonam (in April-May), indicating the third pooja or uchikalam, the Uthiram of Aani (June-July) also called the Aani Thirumanjanam indicating the evening or the fourth puja, the chaturdasi of Aavani (August-September) indicating the fifth puja and the chaturdasi of the month of Puratasi (October-November) indicating the sixth pooja or Arthajama. Of these the Marghazhi Thiruvaadhirai (in December-January) and the Aani Thirumanjanam (in June-July ) are the most important. These are conducted as the key festivals with the main deity being brought outside the sanctum sanctorum in a procession that included a temple car procession followed by a long anointing ceremony. Several hundreds of thousands of people flock the temple to see the anointing ceremony and the ritualistic dance of Shiva when he is taken back to the sanctum sanctorum. Lord Shiva, in his incarnation of Nataraja, is believed to have born on full moon day in the constellation of Ardra, the sixth lunar mansion. Lord Shiva is bathed only 6 times a year, and on the previous night of Ardra, the bath rituals are performed on a grand scale. Pots full of milk, pomegranate juices, coconut water, ghee, oil, sandal paste, curds, holy ashes, and other liquids and solids, considered as sacred offering to the deity are used for the sacred ablution.

 

There are references in Umapathy Sivam's

Kunchithaangristhavam that the Maasi festival also had the Lord being carried out in procession, however this is not in vogue these days.

 

Natyanjali is a prominent festival celebrated during February every year when Bharatnatyam dancers from all over the country converge to present dance offering to Nataraja.

 

HISTORY

Constructed to signify where Tamil Shaivites identify the centre loci of the universe to be, the shrine, dedicated to Lord Shiva, has witnessed several significant events in the history of Tamil Nadu. A powerful legacy of Dravidian art, its structures and sculptures have attracted pilgrims to Chidambaram for over two millennium. The birthplace of Nataraja when Shaivite worship was highly popular during the Sangam period, Chidambaram had gained a reputation for holiness across the continent by the third century CE and the admiration of the Tamilakkam royals of the early Cholas, Chera dynasty and the early Pandyan Kingdom. Built by the early Cholas to one of their family deities - Nataraja-Koothan - it served as the king and queen's state temple and seat of their monarchs' coronations. The Chola royals underlined their non-partisan approach to religious iconography and faith by also patronizing the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple dedicated to Vishnu - their other Kuladheivam or "abode of family deity". Chola King Kocengannan who reigned in the first half of the 2nd century CE was born after his parents King Subhadevan and Kamaladevi worshipped in the Thillai Golden Hall (Pon Ambalam). He expanded the shrine in his later life and added to unfinished decorations. Saints Patañjali Tirumular and Vyaghrapada famously worshipped Nataraja at the shrine. The travelling Pallava-Chola king Simhavarman (II or III) who reigned in the 5th-6th century CE was cured of leprosy by bathing in the Shivagangai tank and in gratitude made extensive repairs and additions to the temple. He changed his name to Hiranyavarman or "golden bodied."

 

The Puranas, Sangam literature and the Tirumurai canon join several epigraphs and murals in highlighting the brilliance of the temple site and the devotion of Patañjali, Vyaghrapada-Pulikaalmunivar and patanjali to Nataraja at Thillai. The sthala puranam as well as umapathi sivacharya's koyil puranam give an account of how an ancient chola prince of kritayugam or first of epochal ages. Worshipped The Lord's feet at Chidambaram and being blessed with a vision of His was further helped by saint Vyaghrapada to consecrate a place of worship therewith. The temple murals and some cholan and pandyan literature refer to this sthala puranam. The chidambaram mahatyam as well as koyil puranam by the same author discuss as to how this prince who was presented with dhataki or atti garland and tiger flag in which Lord Indra would take abode to make him ever victorious was blessed with vision of lord and further attained mukti at this spot. This is very credible because all ancient literature and documents report that tiger flag and atti or dhataki (grislea tomentosa) garland as being emblematic with cholas. Some sangam period works also passingly refer to the krita age king's war with demons and his victory against them. The king also went by name Vyaghraketu after being gifted with the tiger flag.

 

Later during the 4th or 5th century CE, a pallava king called Simha Varman who was also a nayanmar saint by name Aiyatikal Kaadavarkon made some compositions and bathed in the tank and attained mukthi at tiru-perum-ppatra-puliyur or chidambaram. Aragalur Udaya Iraratevan Ponparappinan had refurbished most of the parts and rebuilt some parts of the temple around 1213 AD.

 

At periodical intervals (12 years in general), major repairs and renovation works are carried out, new facilities added and consecrated. Most old temples have also 'grown' over periods of time with additional facilities, more outer corridors and new gopurams (pagodas) were added by the rulers who patronized the temple. While this process has helped to keep the temples 'alive' as places of worship, from a purely archeological or historical perspective these renovations have unintentionally lead to destruction of the original works - which were not in sync with the latter and usually grander temple plans.

 

To this general trend, Chidambaram temple is no exception. The origins and developments of the temple are hence largely deduced from allied references in works of literature and poetry, the verbal information passed over generations by the Dikshithar community and from what little, of inscriptions and manuscripts that are available today.

The temple site is very ancient one is known to have been crafted time and again by the ancient craftsmen guild known as Perumthachchans. The reference to the same is available in sangam literature as well as other documents. The tevaram trio in particular have held this site to be of great sanctity with some like Tirugnanasambandar and Sundarar out of devotion being reluctant to set their foot in the place "because it would be an insult to the lord to put one's foot on his abode". The sangam works refer to the temple being favoured by all the three ancient crowns of south, the Neriyan (cholas), chezhiyan (pandyas) and uthiyan (cheras), even if the temple was in what was traditionally chola country.

 

INSCRIPTIONS

There are several inscriptions available in the temple and referring to the Chidambaram temple in neighbouring areas. Most inscriptions available pertain to the periods of Cholas - Rajaraja Chola I (985-1014 CE), Rajendra Chola I (1012-1044 CE), Kulothunga Chola I (1070-1120 CE), Vikrama Chola (1118-1135 CE), Rajadhiraja Chola II (1163 -1178 CE), Kulothunga Chola III (1178-1218 CE) and Rajaraja Chola III (1216-1256 CE). Pandya inscriptions date from Thribhuvana Chakravarthi Veerapandiyan, Jataavarman Thribhuvana Chakravarthi Sundarapaandiyan (1251-1268 CE) and Maaravarman Thribhuvana Chakravarthi Veerakeralanaagiya Kulashekara Pandiyan (1268-1308 CE). Pallava inscriptions are available for king Avani Aala Pirandhaan Ko-pperum-Singha (1216-1242 CE). Vijayanagara Kings mentioned in inscriptions are Veeraprathaapa Kiruttina Theva Mahaaraayar (1509-1529 CE), Veeraprathaapa Venkata Deva Mahaaraayar, Sri Ranga Theva Mahaaraayar, Atchyutha Deva Mahaaraayar (1529-1542 CE) and Veera Bhooopathiraayar. One of the inscriptions from the descendant of Cheramaan Perumal nayanar, Ramavarma Maharaja has been found.

 

KUMBHABISHEKAM 2015

The sacred Chidambaram Sri Sabanayagar Temple, which is also described as Boologa Kailaasam and Chithakasam

 

Sri Sivagamasundari Samaedha Sriman Anandha Nataraja Moorthy's Chitsabha Samprokshana Chithvilasa Maha Kumbhabishekam is about to happen in a great way On the auspicious day of Manmadha (Tamil) year Chithirai month 18th day (01-May-2015) Friday morning between 7:00 am and 8:30 am Hastha Nakshthra, Thrayodhasi Thithi, Amirtha yoga, Rishabha Lagna.

 

INVASIONS

The temple was severely vandalised during Malik Kafur's invasions of South India between 1311 and 1325. A garrison was set up within the temple precincts and the walls were fortified during the Carnatic Wars between the East India Company and the French and the Anglo-Mysore Wars that the British fought with Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mother of the Universe, she represents the infinite power of the universe and is a symbol of a female dynamism. The manifestation of Goddess Durga is said to emerge from Her formless essence and the two are inseparable

Genesis 1 New International Version (NIV)

  

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

  

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Village deity of Tamil Nadu - India @ a village Temple at Tamilnadu, India off NH 45.

  

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Village deities of Tamil Nadu that do not belong to the Agamic pantheon of Hinduism are found in almost all villages throughout India and Tamil Nadu in particular. They are known as Kaval deivam or guardian spirits in Tamil. They are associated to a main deity who is generally ascribed as Kuladeivam by various sects of community and clan groups as part of the tracing their generation through centuries.

Most of these village deities have their shrines on the periphery (border or outskirts) of the village as a representation of their Village Guardian position. Hence they are referred as "Peripheral Folk Deity". 21 associate deities and 61 servant deities are located in either the same premises or located in different places of the locality, for e.g.: Amman deities may be installed in the centre of the village but the Sonai, Sudalai or the Formless Nadukkal deities may be installed close to graveyards (cemeteries or burial and sometimes, also near memorial centres).

 

These Village deities are either represented in the form of a huge, fierce statue or as a simple stone. Most of these temples are not closed premises but are simple and small worship areas. Weapons such as a trident or a lance or sickles are also associated with these shrines.

 

We also see lots of terracotta horses, elephants, clay dolls & birds and bells. Most officiating priests are pandarams and derive from the local ancestral lineages that had initiated the cult centres generations ago. In ancient times most of the City priests were pandarams.Before Nayakkar rule Madurai Meenakshiamman temple pujas were performed by them.

 

The worship pattern is non-vedic through Folk tale, Folk Song and Folk arts (Villupattu, Karagam, Koothhu, etc). The local priest might offer flowers or Veeputhi (holy ash) or Holy flowers to the worshippers and may play the oracle role for shamanism.

Source - Wikipedia

 

ok, in gross violation of "DPT" principle I am posting this only because I think he's awesome and people wouldn't mind seeing him and he's an actual thing of what was posted yesterday as a pretend thing. The king hails from Moscow , where talented friend of ours gave him life, but obviously king's not a Russian fella though, he's far too streamlined and austere and disciplined and knight-like for that, all that's opposite to Russian formless mess .. I like him a lot.

"Its form formless,

Its image nothing,

Its name silence..."

 

Lao Tse

 

Photo: Ceasarea. Israel. Ancient Roman Aqueduct.

Shiva, meaning "The Auspicious One"), also known as Mahadeva ("Great God"), is a popular Hindu deity. Shiva is regarded as one of the primary forms of God. He is the Supreme God within Shaivism, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism. He is one of the five primary forms of God in the Smarta tradition, and "the Destroyer" or "the Transformer" among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine.

 

Shiva has many benevolent and fearsome forms. At the highest level Shiva is limitless, transcendent, unchanging and formless. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash, as well as a householder with wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya and in fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also regarded as the patron god of yoga and arts.

 

The main iconographical attributes of Shiva are the third eye on his forehead, the snake Vasuki around his neck, the crescent moon adorning, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the trishula as his weapon and the damaru as his instrument.

 

Shiva is usually worshiped in the aniconic form of Lingam. Temples of Lord Shiva are called shivalayam.

 

ETYMOLOGY & OTHER NAMES

The Sanskrit word Shiva (Devanagari: शिव, śiva) comes from Shri Rudram Chamakam of Taittiriya Samhita (TS 4.5, 4.7) of Krishna Yajurveda. The root word śi means auspicious. In simple English transliteration it is written either as Shiva or Siva. The adjective śiva, is used as an attributive epithet not particularly of Rudra, but of several other Vedic deities.

 

The other popular names associated with Shiva are Mahadev, Mahesh, Maheshwar, Shankar, Shambhu, Rudra, Har, Trilochan, Devendra (meaning Chief of the gods) and Trilokinath (meaning Lord of the three realms).

 

The Sanskrit word śaiva means "relating to the God Shiva", and this term is the Sanskrit name both for one of the principal sects of Hinduism and for a member of that sect. It is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism. He is the oldest worshipped Lord of India.

 

The Tamil word Sivan, Tamil: சிவன் ("Fair Skinned") could have been derived from the word sivappu. The word 'sivappu' means "red" in Tamil language but while addressing a person's skin texture in Tamil the word 'Sivappu' is used for being Fair Skinned.

 

Adi Sankara, in his interpretation of the name Shiva, the 27th and 600th name of Vishnu sahasranama, the thousand names of Vishnu interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings: "The Pure One", or "the One who is not affected by three Gunas of Prakrti (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas)" or "the One who purifies everyone by the very utterance of His name."Swami Chinmayananda, in his translation of Vishnu sahasranama, further elaborates on that verse: Shiva means "the One who is eternally pure" or "the One who can never have any contamination of the imperfection of Rajas and Tamas".

 

Shiva's role as the primary deity of Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva ("Great God"; mahā "Great" and deva "god"), Maheśvara ("Great Lord"; mahā "great" and īśvara "lord"), and Parameśvara ("Supreme Lord").

 

There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva. The version appearing in Book 13 (Anuśāsanaparvan) of the Mahabharata is considered the kernel of this tradition. Shiva also has Dasha-Sahasranamas (10,000 names) that are found in the Mahanyasa. The Shri Rudram Chamakam, also known as the Śatarudriya, is a devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.

 

The worship of Shiva is a pan-Hindu tradition, practiced widely across all of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

 

ASSIMILATION OF TRADITIONS

The figure of Shiva as we know him today was built up over time, with the ideas of many regional sects being amalgamated into a single figure. How the persona of Shiva converged as a composite deity is not well documented. According to Vijay Nath:

 

Visnu and Siva [...] began to absorb countless local cults and deities within their folds. The latter were either taken to represent the multiple facets of the same god or else were supposed to denote different forms and appellations by which the god came to be known and worshipped. [...] Siva became identified with countless local cults by the sheer suffixing of Isa or Isvara to the name of the local deity, e.g., Bhutesvara, Hatakesvara, Chandesvara."

 

Axel Michaels the Indologist suggests that Shaivism, like Vaishnavism, implies a unity which cannot be clearly found either in religious practice or in philosophical and esoteric doctrine. Furthermore, practice and doctrine must be kept separate.

 

An example of assimilation took place in Maharashtra, where a regional deity named Khandoba is a patron deity of farming and herding castes. The foremost center of worship of Khandoba in Maharashtra is in Jejuri. Khandoba has been assimilated as a form of Shiva himself, in which case he is worshipped in the form of a lingam. Khandoba's varied associations also include an identification with Surya and Karttikeya.

 

INDUS VALLEY ORIGINS

Many Indus valley seals show animals but one seal that has attracted attention shows a figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and possibly ithyphallic figure seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position and surrounded by animals was named by early excavators of Mohenjo-daro Pashupati (lord of cattle), an epithet of the later Hindu gods Shiva and Rudra. Sir John Marshall and others have claimed that this figure is a prototype of Shiva and have described the figure as having three faces seated in a "yoga posture" with the knees out and feet joined.

 

This claim has been criticised, with some academics like Gavin Flood and John Keay characterizing them as unfounded. Writing in 1997 Doris Srinivasan said that "Not too many recent studies continue to call the seal's figure a 'Proto-Siva'", rejecting thereby Marshall's package of proto-Siva features, including that of three heads. She interprets what John Marshall interpreted as facial as not human but more bovine, possibly a divine buffalo-man. According to Iravatham Mahadevan symbols 47 and 48 of his Indus script glossary The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables (1977), representing seated human-like figures, could describe Hindu deity Murugan, popularly known as Shiva and Parvati's son.

 

INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGINS

Shiva's rise to a major position in the pantheon was facilitated by his identification with a host of Vedic deities, including Purusha, Rudra, Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Vāyu, and others.

 

RUDRA

Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra, and both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.

 

The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BCE based on linguistic and philological evidence. A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the "Father of the Rudras", a group of storm gods. Furthermore, the Rudram, one of the most sacred hymns of Hinduism found both in the Rig and the Yajur Vedas and addressed to Rudra, invokes him as Shiva in several instances, but the term Shiva is used as an epithet for the gods Indra, Mitra and Agni many times. Since Shiva means pure, the epithet is possibly used to describe a quality of these gods rather than to identify any of them with the God Shiva.

 

The identification of Shiva with the older god Rudhra is not universally accepted, as Axel Michaels explains:

 

Rudra is called "The Archer" (Sanskrit: Śarva), and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra. This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Sharma notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages.

 

The word is derived from the Sanskrit root śarv-, which means "to injure" or "to kill", and Sharma uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name Śarva as "One who can kill the forces of darkness". The names Dhanvin ("Bowman") and Bāṇahasta ("Archer", literally "Armed with arrows in his hands") also refer to archery.

 

AGNI

Rudra and Agni have a close relationship. The identification between Agni and Rudra in the Vedic literature was an important factor in the process of Rudra's gradual development into the later character as Rudra-Shiva. The identification of Agni with Rudra is explicitly noted in the Nirukta, an important early text on etymology, which says, "Agni is also called Rudra." The interconnections between the two deities are complex, and according to Stella Kramrisch:

 

The fire myth of Rudra-Śiva plays on the whole gamut of fire, valuing all its potentialities and phases, from conflagration to illumination.

 

In the Śatarudrīya, some epithets of Rudra, such as Sasipañjara ("Of golden red hue as of flame") and Tivaṣīmati ("Flaming bright"), suggest a fusing of the two deities. Agni is said to be a bull, and Lord Shiva possesses a bull as his vehicle, Nandi. The horns of Agni, who is sometimes characterized as a bull, are mentioned. In medieval sculpture, both Agni and the form of Shiva known as Bhairava have flaming hair as a special feature.

 

INDRA

According to Wendy Doniger, the Puranic Shiva is a continuation of the Vedic Indra. Doniger gives several reasons for his hypothesis. Both are associated with mountains, rivers, male fertility, fierceness, fearlessness, warfare, transgression of established mores, the Aum sound, the Supreme Self. In the Rig Veda the term śiva is used to refer to Indra. (2.20.3, 6.45.17, and 8.93.3.) Indra, like Shiva, is likened to a bull. In the Rig Veda, Rudra is the father of the Maruts, but he is never associated with their warlike exploits as is Indra.

 

The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the Indo-Iranian religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran. It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements", which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" from the Bactria–Margiana Culture. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma. According to Anthony,

 

Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from Ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.

 

LATER VEDIC LITERATURE

Rudra's transformation from an ambiguously characterized deity to a supreme being began in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (400-200 BCE), which founded the tradition of Rudra-Shiva worship. Here they are identified as the creators of the cosmos and liberators of souls from the birth-rebirth cycle. The period of 200 BCE to 100 CE also marks the beginning of the Shaiva tradition focused on the worship of Shiva, with references to Shaiva ascetics in Patanjali's Mahabhasya and in the Mahabharata.

 

Early historical paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters, depict Shiva dancing, Shiva's trident, and his mount Nandi but no other Vedic gods.

 

PURANIC LITERATURE

The Shiva Puranas, particularly the Shiva Purana and the Linga Purana, discuss the various forms of Shiva and the cosmology associated with him.

 

TANTRIC LITERATURE

The Tantras, composed between the 8th and 11th centuries, regard themselves as Sruti. Among these the Shaiva Agamas, are said to have been revealed by Shiva himself and are foundational texts for Shaiva Siddhanta.

 

POSITION WITHIN HINDUISM

 

SHAIVISM

Shaivism (Sanskrit: शैव पंथ, śaiva paṁtha) (Kannada: ಶೈವ ಪಂಥ) (Tamil: சைவ சமயம்) is the oldest of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas", and also "Saivas" or "Saivites", revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. The tantric Shaiva tradition consists of the Kapalikas, Kashmir Shaivism and Shaiva Siddhanta. The Shiva MahaPurana is one of the purāṇas, a genre of Hindu religious texts, dedicated to Shiva. Shaivism is widespread throughout India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, mostly. Areas notable for the practice of Shaivism include parts of Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

 

PANCHAYATANA PUJA

Panchayatana puja is the system of worship ('puja') in the Smarta sampradaya of Hinduism. It is said to have been introduced by Adi Shankara, the 8th century CE Hindu philosopher. It consists of the worship of five deities: Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Surya and Ganesha. Depending on the tradition followed by Smarta households, one of these deities is kept in the center and the other four surround it. Worship is offered to all the deities. The five are represented by small murtis, or by five kinds of stones, or by five marks drawn on the floor.

 

TRIMURTI

The Trimurti is a concept in Hinduism in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahmā the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver and Śhiva the destroyer or transformer. These three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity", often addressed as "Brahma-Vishnu-Maheshwara."

 

ICONOGRAPHY AND PROPERTIES

 

ATTRIBUTES

Shiva's form: Shiva has a trident in the right lower arm, and a crescent moon on his head. He is said to be fair like camphor or like an ice clad mountain. He wears five serpents and a garland of skulls as ornaments. Shiva is usually depicted facing the south. His trident, like almost all other forms in Hinduism, can be understood as the symbolism of the unity of three worlds that a human faces - his inside world, his immediate world, and the broader overall world. At the base of the trident, all three forks unite.

 

Third eye: (Trilochana) Shiva is often depicted with a third eye, with which he burned Desire (Kāma) to ashes, called "Tryambakam" (Sanskrit: त्र्यम्बकम् ), which occurs in many scriptural sources. In classical Sanskrit, the word ambaka denotes "an eye", and in the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as three-eyed, so this name is sometimes translated as "having three eyes". However, in Vedic Sanskrit, the word ambā or ambikā means "mother", and this early meaning of the word is the basis for the translation "three mothers". These three mother-goddesses who are collectively called the Ambikās. Other related translations have been based on the idea that the name actually refers to the oblations given to Rudra, which according to some traditions were shared with the goddess Ambikā. It has been mentioned that when Shiva loses his temper, his third eye opens which can destroy most things to ashes.

 

Crescent moon: (The epithets "Chandrasekhara/Chandramouli")- Shiva bears on his head the crescent moon. The epithet Candraśekhara (Sanskrit: चन्द्रशेखर "Having the moon as his crest" - candra = "moon"; śekhara = "crest, crown") refers to this feature. The placement of the moon on his head as a standard iconographic feature dates to the period when Rudra rose to prominence and became the major deity Rudra-Shiva. The origin of this linkage may be due to the identification of the moon with Soma, and there is a hymn in the Rig Veda where Soma and Rudra are jointly implored, and in later literature, Soma and Rudra came to be identified with one another, as were Soma and the moon. The crescent moon is shown on the side of the Lord's head as an ornament. The waxing and waning phenomenon of the moon symbolizes the time cycle through which creation evolves from the beginning to the end.

 

Ashes: (The epithet "Bhasmaanga Raaga") - Shiva smears his body with ashes (bhasma). The ashes are said to represent the end of all material existence. Some forms of Shiva, such as Bhairava, are associated with a very old Indian tradition of cremation-ground asceticism that was practiced by some groups who were outside the fold of brahmanic orthodoxy. These practices associated with cremation grounds are also mentioned in the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism. One epithet for Shiva is "inhabitant of the cremation ground" (Sanskrit: śmaśānavāsin, also spelled Shmashanavasin), referring to this connection.

 

Matted hair: (The epithet "Jataajoota Dhari/Kapardina") - Shiva's distinctive hair style is noted in the epithets Jaṭin, "the one with matted hair", and Kapardin, "endowed with matted hair" or "wearing his hair wound in a braid in a shell-like (kaparda) fashion". A kaparda is a cowrie shell, or a braid of hair in the form of a shell, or, more generally, hair that is shaggy or curly. His hair is said to be like molten gold in color or being yellowish-white.

 

Blue throat: The epithet Nīlakaṇtha (Sanskrit नीलकण्ठ; nīla = "blue", kaṇtha = "throat"). Since Shiva drank the Halahala poison churned up from the Samudra Manthan to eliminate its destructive capacity. Shocked by his act, Goddess Parvati strangled his neck and hence managed to stop it in his neck itself and prevent it from spreading all over the universe, supposed to be in Shiva's stomach. However the poison was so potent that it changed the color of his neck to blue. (See Maha Shivaratri.)

 

Sacred Ganges: (The epithet "Gangadhara") Bearer of Ganga. Ganges river flows from the matted hair of Shiva. The Gaṅgā (Ganges), one of the major rivers of the country, is said to have made her abode in Shiva's hair. The flow of the Ganges also represents the nectar of immortality.

 

Tiger skin: (The epithet "Krittivasana").He is often shown seated upon a tiger skin, an honour reserved for the most accomplished of Hindu ascetics, the Brahmarishis.

 

Serpents: (The epithet "Nagendra Haara" or 'Vasoki"). Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake.

 

Deer: His holding deer on one hand indicates that He has removed the Chanchalata of the mind (i.e., attained maturity and firmness in thought process). A deer jumps from one place to another swiftly, similar to the mind moving from one thought to another.

 

Trident: (Trishula): Shiva's particular weapon is the trident. His Trisul that is held in His right hand represents the three Gunas— Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. That is the emblem of sovereignty. He rules the world through these three Gunas. The Damaru in His left hand represents the Sabda Brahman. It represents OM from which all languages are formed. It is He who formed the Sanskrit language out of the Damaru sound.

 

Drum: A small drum shaped like an hourglass is known as a damaru (ḍamaru). This is one of the attributes of Shiva in his famous dancing representation known as Nataraja. A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum. This drum is particularly used as an emblem by members of the Kāpālika sect.

 

Axe: (Parashu):The parashu is the weapon of Lord Shiva who gave it to Parashurama, sixth Avatar of Vishnu, whose name means "Rama with the axe" and also taught him its mastery.

 

Nandī: (The epithet "Nandi Vaahana").Nandī, also known as Nandin, is the name of the bull that serves as Shiva's mount (Sanskrit: vāhana). Shiva's association with cattle is reflected in his name Paśupati, or Pashupati (Sanskrit: पशुपति), translated by Sharma as "lord of cattle" and by Kramrisch as "lord of animals", who notes that it is particularly used as an epithet of Rudra. Rishabha or the bull represents Dharma Devata. Lord Siva rides on the bull. Bull is his vehicle. This denotes that Lord Siva is the protector of Dharma, is an embodiment of Dharma or righteousness.

 

Gaṇa: The Gaṇas (Devanagari: गण) are attendants of Shiva and live in Kailash. They are often referred to as the bhutaganas, or ghostly hosts, on account of their nature. Generally benign, except when their lord is transgressed against, they are often invoked to intercede with the lord on behalf of the devotee. Ganesha was chosen as their leader by Shiva, hence Ganesha's title gaṇa-īśa or gaṇa-pati, "lord of the gaṇas".

 

Mount Kailāsa: Mount Kailash in the Himalayas is his traditional abode. In Hindu mythology, Mount Kailāsa is conceived as resembling a Linga, representing the center of the universe.

 

Varanasi: Varanasi (Benares) is considered to be the city specially loved by Shiva, and is one of the holiest places of pilgrimage in India. It is referred to, in religious contexts, as Kashi.

 

LINGAM

Apart from anthropomorphic images of Shiva, the worship of Shiva in the form of a lingam, or linga, is also important. These are depicted in various forms. One common form is the shape of a vertical rounded column. Shiva means auspiciousness, and linga means a sign or a symbol. Hence, the Shivalinga is regarded as a "symbol of the great God of the universe who is all-auspiciousness". Shiva also means "one in whom the whole creation sleeps after dissolution". Linga also means the same thing—a place where created objects get dissolved during the disintegration of the created universe. Since, according to Hinduism, it is the same god that creates, sustains and withdraws the universe, the Shivalinga represents symbolically God Himself. Some scholars, such as Monier Monier-Williams and Wendy Doniger, also view linga as a phallic symbol, although this interpretation is disputed by others, including Christopher Isherwood, Vivekananda, Swami Sivananda, and S.N. Balagangadhara.

 

JYOTIRLINGA

The worship of the Shiva-Linga originated from the famous hymn in the Atharva-Veda Samhitâ sung in praise of the Yupa-Stambha, the sacrificial post. In that hymn, a description is found of the beginningless and endless Stambha or Skambha, and it is shown that the said Skambha is put in place of the eternal Brahman. Just as the Yajna (sacrificial) fire, its smoke, ashes, and flames, the Soma plant, and the ox that used to carry on its back the wood for the Vedic sacrifice gave place to the conceptions of the brightness of Shiva's body, his tawny matted hair, his blue throat, and the riding on the bull of the Shiva, the Yupa-Skambha gave place in time to the Shiva-Linga. In the text Linga Purana, the same hymn is expanded in the shape of stories, meant to establish the glory of the great Stambha and the superiority of Shiva as Mahadeva.

 

The sacred of all Shiva linga is worshipped as Jyotir linga. Jyoti means Radiance, apart from relating Shiva linga as a phallus symbol, there are also arguments that Shiva linga means 'mark' or a 'sign'. Jyotirlinga means "The Radiant sign of The Almighty". The Jyotirlingas are mentioned in Shiva Purana.

 

SHAKTI

Shiva forms a Tantric couple with Shakti [Tamil : சக்தி ], the embodiment of energy, dynamism, and the motivating force behind all action and existence in the material universe. Shiva is her transcendent masculine aspect, providing the divine ground of all being. Shakti manifests in several female deities. Sati and Parvati are the main consorts of Shiva. She is also referred to as Uma, Durga (Parvata), Kali and Chandika. Kali is the manifestation of Shakti in her dreadful aspect. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla, the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in "time has come"). Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatārini (literally "redeemer of the universe"). Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing or dancing. Shiva is the masculine force, the power of peace, while Shakti translates to power, and is considered as the feminine force. In the Vaishnava tradition, these realities are portrayed as Vishnu and Laxmi, or Radha and Krishna. These are differences in formulation rather than a fundamental difference in the principles. Both Shiva and Shakti have various forms. Shiva has forms like Yogi Raj (the common image of Himself meditating in the Himalayas), Rudra (a wrathful form) and Natarajar (Shiva's dance are the Lasya - the gentle form of dance, associated with the creation of the world, and the Tandava - the violent and dangerous dance, associated with the destruction of weary worldviews – weary perspectives and lifestyles).

 

THE FIVE MANTRAS

Five is a sacred number for Shiva. One of his most important mantras has five syllables (namaḥ śivāya).

 

Shiva's body is said to consist of five mantras, called the pañcabrahmans. As forms of God, each of these have their own names and distinct iconography:

 

Sadyojāta

Vāmadeva

Aghora

Tatpuruṣha

Īsāna

 

These are represented as the five faces of Shiva and are associated in various texts with the five elements, the five senses, the five organs of perception, and the five organs of action. Doctrinal differences and, possibly, errors in transmission, have resulted in some differences between texts in details of how these five forms are linked with various attributes. The overall meaning of these associations is summarized by Stella Kramrisch:

 

Through these transcendent categories, Śiva, the ultimate reality, becomes the efficient and material cause of all that exists.

 

According to the Pañcabrahma Upanishad:

 

One should know all things of the phenomenal world as of a fivefold character, for the reason that the eternal verity of Śiva is of the character of the fivefold Brahman. (Pañcabrahma Upanishad 31)

 

FORMES AND ROLES

According to Gavin Flood, "Shiva is a god of ambiguity and paradox," whose attributes include opposing themes.[168] The ambivalent nature of this deity is apparent in some of his names and the stories told about him.

 

DESTROYER AND BENEFACTOR

In the Yajurveda, two contrary sets of attributes for both malignant or terrific (Sanskrit: rudra) and benign or auspicious (Sanskrit: śiva) forms can be found, leading Chakravarti to conclude that "all the basic elements which created the complex Rudra-Śiva sect of later ages are to be found here". In the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as "the standard of invincibility, might, and terror", as well as a figure of honor, delight, and brilliance. The duality of Shiva's fearful and auspicious attributes appears in contrasted names.

 

The name Rudra (Sanskrit: रुद्र) reflects his fearsome aspects. According to traditional etymologies, the Sanskrit name Rudra is derived from the root rud-, which means "to cry, howl". Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means "wild, of rudra nature", and translates the name Rudra as "the wild one" or "the fierce god". R. K. Sharma follows this alternate etymology and translates the name as "terrible". Hara (Sanskrit: हर) is an important name that occurs three times in the Anushasanaparvan version of the Shiva sahasranama, where it is translated in different ways each time it occurs, following a commentorial tradition of not repeating an interpretation. Sharma translates the three as "one who captivates", "one who consolidates", and "one who destroys". Kramrisch translates it as "the ravisher". Another of Shiva's fearsome forms is as Kāla (Sanskrit: काल), "time", and as Mahākāla (Sanskrit: महाकाल), "great time", which ultimately destroys all things. Bhairava (Sanskrit: भैरव), "terrible" or "frightful", is a fierce form associated with annihilation.

 

In contrast, the name Śaṇkara (Sanskrit: शङ्कर), "beneficent" or "conferring happiness" reflects his benign form. This name was adopted by the great Vedanta philosopher Śaṇkara (c. 788 - 820 CE), who is also known as Shankaracharya. The name Śambhu (Sanskrit: शम्भु), "causing happiness", also reflects this benign aspect.

 

ASCETIC AND HOUSEHOLDER

He is depicted as both an ascetic yogi and as a householder, roles which have been traditionally mutually exclusive in Hindu society.[185] When depicted as a yogi, he may be shown sitting and meditating. His epithet Mahāyogi ("the great Yogi: Mahā = "great", Yogi = "one who practices Yoga") refers to his association with yoga. While Vedic religion was conceived mainly in terms of sacrifice, it was during the Epic period that the concepts of tapas, yoga, and asceticism became more important, and the depiction of Shiva as an ascetic sitting in philosophical isolation reflects these later concepts. Shiva is also depicted as a corpse below Goddess Kali, it represents that Shiva is a corpse without Shakti. He remains inert. While Shiva is the static form, Mahakali or Shakti is the dynamic aspect without whom Shiva is powerless.

 

As a family man and householder, he has a wife, Parvati and two sons, Ganesha and Kartikeya. His epithet Umāpati ("The husband of Umā") refers to this idea, and Sharma notes that two other variants of this name that mean the same thing, Umākānta and Umādhava, also appear in the sahasranama. Umā in epic literature is known by many names, including the benign Pārvatī. She is identified with Devi, the Divine Mother; Shakti (divine energy) as well as goddesses like Tripura Sundari, Durga, Kamakshi and Meenakshi. The consorts of Shiva are the source of his creative energy. They represent the dynamic extension of Shiva onto this universe. His son Ganesha is worshipped throughout India and Nepal as the Remover of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles. Kartikeya is worshipped in Southern India (especially in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) by the names Subrahmanya, Subrahmanyan, Shanmughan, Swaminathan and Murugan, and in Northern India by the names Skanda, Kumara, or Karttikeya.

 

Some regional deities are also identified as Shiva's children. As one story goes, Shiva is enticed by the beauty and charm of Mohini, Vishnu's female avatar, and procreates with her. As a result of this union, Shasta - identified with regional deities Ayyappa and Ayyanar - is born. Shiva is also mentioned in some scriptures or folktales to have had daughters like the serpent-goddess Manasa and Ashokasundari. Even the demon Andhaka is sometimes considered a child of Shiva.

 

NATARAJA

he depiction of Shiva as Nataraja (Tamil: நடராஜா,Kannada: ನಟರಾಜ, Telugu: నటరాజు, Sanskrit: naṭarāja, "Lord of Dance") is popular. The names Nartaka ("dancer") and Nityanarta ("eternal dancer") appear in the Shiva Sahasranama. His association with dance and also with music is prominent in the Puranic period. In addition to the specific iconographic form known as Nataraja, various other types of dancing forms (Sanskrit: nṛtyamūrti) are found in all parts of India, with many well-defined varieties in Tamil Nadu in particular. The two most common forms of the dance are the Tandava, which later came to denote the powerful and masculine dance as Kala-Mahakala associated with the destruction of the world. When it requires the world or universe to be destroyed, Lord Śiva does it by the tāṇḍavanṛtya. and Lasya, which is graceful and delicate and expresses emotions on a gentle level and is considered the feminine dance attributed to the goddess Parvati. Lasya is regarded as the female counterpart of Tandava. The Tandava-Lasya dances are associated with the destruction-creation of the world.

 

DAKSHINAMURTHY

Dakshinamurthy, or Dakṣiṇāmūrti (Tamil:தட்சிணாமூர்த்தி, Telugu: దక్షిణామూర్తి, Sanskrit: दक्षिणामूर्ति), literally describes a form (mūrti) of Shiva facing south (dakṣiṇa). This form represents Shiva in his aspect as a teacher of yoga, music, and wisdom and giving exposition on the shastras. This iconographic form for depicting Shiva in Indian art is mostly from Tamil Nadu. Elements of this motif can include Shiva seated upon a deer-throne and surrounded by sages who are receiving his instruction.

 

ARDANARISHVARA

An iconographic representation of Shiva called (Ardhanārīśvara) shows him with one half of the body as male and the other half as female. According to Ellen Goldberg, the traditional Sanskrit name for this form (Ardhanārīśvara) is best translated as "the lord who is half woman", not as "half-man, half-woman". According to legend, Lord Shiva is pleased by the difficult austerites performed by the goddess Parvati, grants her the left half of his body. This form of Shiva is quite similar to the Yin-Yang philosophy of Eastern Asia, though Ardhanārīśvara appears to be more ancient.

 

TRIRUPANTAKA

Shiva is often depicted as an archer in the act of destroying the triple fortresses, Tripura, of the Asuras. Shiva's name Tripurantaka (Sanskrit: त्रिपुरान्तक, Tripurāntaka), "ender of Tripura", refers to this important story.[216] In this aspect, Shiva is depicted with four arms wielding a bow and arrow, but different from the Pinakapani murti. He holds an axe and a deer on the upper pair of his arms. In the lower pair of the arms, he holds a bow and an arrow respectively. After destroying Tripura, Tripurantaka Shiva smeared his forehead with three strokes of Ashes. This has become a prominent symbol of Shiva and is practiced even today by Shaivites.

 

OTHER FORMS, AVATARS IDENTIFICATIONS

Shiva, like some other Hindu deities, is said to have several incarnations, known as Avatars. Although Puranic scriptures contain occasional references to "ansh" avatars of Shiva, the idea is not universally accepted in Saivism. The Linga Purana speaks of twenty-eight forms of Shiva which are sometimes seen as avatars. According to the Svetasvatara Upanishad, he has four avatars.

 

In the Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman is identified as the eleventh avatar of Shiva and this belief is universal. Hanuman is popularly known as “Rudraavtaar” “Rudra” being a name of “Shiva”. Rama– the Vishnu avatar is considered by some to be the eleventh avatar of Rudra (Shiva).

 

Other traditions regard the sage Durvasa, the sage Agastya, the philosopher Adi Shankara, as avatars of Shiva. Other forms of Shiva include Virabhadra and Sharabha.

 

FESTIVALS

Maha Shivratri is a festival celebrated every year on the 13th night or the 14th day of the new moon in the Shukla Paksha of the month of Maagha or Phalguna in the Hindu calendar. This festival is of utmost importance to the devotees of Lord Shiva. Mahashivaratri marks the night when Lord Shiva performed the 'Tandava' and it is the day that Lord Shiva was married to Parvati. The holiday is often celebrated with special prayers and rituals offered up to Shiva, notably the Abhishek. This ritual, practiced throughout the night, is often performed every three hours with water, milk, yogurt, and honey. Bel (aegle marmelos) leaves are often offered up to the Hindu god, as it is considered necessary for a successful life. The offering of the leaves are considered so important that it is believed that someone who offers them without any intentions will be rewarded greatly.

 

BEYOND HINDUISM

 

BUDDHISM

Shiva is mentioned in Buddhist Tantra. Shiva as Upaya and Shakti as Prajna. In cosmologies of buddhist tantra, Shiva is depicted as active, skillful, and more passive.

 

SIKHISM

The Japuji Sahib of the Guru Granth Sahib says, "The Guru is Shiva, the Guru is Vishnu and Brahma; the Guru is Paarvati and Lakhshmi." In the same chapter, it also says, "Shiva speaks, the Siddhas speak."

 

In Dasam Granth, Guru Gobind Singh have mentioned two avtars of Rudra: Dattatreya Avtar and Parasnath Avtar.

 

OTHERS

The worship of Lord Shiva became popular in Central Asia through the Hephthalite (White Hun) Dynasty, and Kushan Empire. Shaivism was also popular in Sogdiana and Eastern Turkestan as found from the wall painting from Penjikent on the river Zervashan. In this depiction, Shiva is portrayed with a sacred halo and a sacred thread ("Yajnopavita"). He is clad in tiger skin while his attendants are wearing Sodgian dress. In Eastern Turkestan in the Taklamakan Desert. There is a depiction of his four-legged seated cross-legged n a cushioned seat supported by two bulls. Another panel form Dandan-Uilip shows Shiva in His Trimurti form with His Shakti kneeling on her right thigh. It is also noted that Zoroastrian wind god Vayu-Vata took on the iconographic appearance of Shiva.

 

Kirant people, a Mongol tribe from Nepal, worship a form of Shiva as one of their major deity, identifying him as the lord of animals. It is also said that the physical form of Shiva as a yogi is derived from Kirants as it is mentioned in Mundhum that Shiva took human form as a child of Kirant. He is also said to give Kirants visions in form of a male deer.

 

In Indonesia, Shiva is also worshiped as Batara Guru. His other name is "Sang Hyang Jagadnata" (king of the universe) and "Sang Hyang Girinata" (king of mountains). In the ancient times, all kingdoms were located on top of mountains. When he was young, before receiving his authority of power, his name was Sang Hyang Manikmaya. He is first of the children who hatched from the eggs laid by Manuk Patiaraja, wife of god Mulajadi na Bolon. This avatar is also worshiped in Malaysia. Shiva's other form in Indonesian Hindu worship is "Maharaja Dewa" (Mahadeva). Both the forms are closely identified with the Sun in local forms of Hinduism or Kebatinan, and even in the genie lore of Muslims. Mostly Shiva is worshipped in the form of a lingam or the phallus.

 

WIKIPEDIA

2018 collection

 

on the road to perfection

 

Chaos expressed

with DADA kamikaze knitting

to accomplish formlessness

 

multiversatile tunic

dress top

brought into shape

with fabric ribbons

 

lots of dropped stitches

were used

to create

as much nothingness

as possible

 

one day

I will manage

to knit the perfect garment

using only 1 stitch

until then

much practice

will show me the way

 

my idols

are the grandmasters of calligraphy

who achieved ultimate excellence

by meditating on 1 letter

for decades....

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered over the water.

God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness. God called light ‘day’, and darkness he called ‘night.’ Evening came and morning came: the first day."

– Genesis 1:1-5, which is part of today's reading at Mass.

 

Stained glass detail from a window in the Anglican Cathedral of Southwark.

«Sovrana è l’acqua», così canta il poeta Pindaro, in un suo folgorante inizio. Secondo i Veda la Bibbia e altri testi sacri, l’acqua è l’elemento primordiale per eccellenza e precede la creazione. Come la vita stessa, l’acqua è alla base di tutto. L’acqua simboleggia la vita. A differenza degli individui, piante animali o essere umani, l’acqua non muore. È viva, è la sorgente stessa della vita. L’uomo un tempo, ricorda Platone, fu senza fuoco, ma senza l’acqua mai. L’acqua purifica, rigenera: che sia il battesimo, l’ebraico mikvè o le abluzioni nel Gange o nel Nilo. L’acqua è sacra e profana. Lava. Disseta. Sovrana l’acqua!

Certo l’acqua ha anche il potere di sommergere, dissolvere e distruggere. In sé e per sé l’acqua è viva ed è sorgente della vita, ma può anche portare la morte. Il diluvio biblico è un simbolo e una realtà: misteriosamente accade anche per le colpe dell’uomo.

Forse dietro ogni terremoto o ogni tsunami non sta l’uomo. Eppure siamo chiamati alla responsabilità. Non tutto, ma molto dipende da noi. Non siamo padroni dell’acqua, ma responsabili, sì. E non è così anche della vita? La rappresentiamo, l’amministriamo, ma non la possediamo.

I simboli non sono uno scherzo, i miti non un gioco.

Cerchiamoli, ricordiamoli se li abbiamo dimenticati, ma soprattutto viviamoli.

L’acqua è cedevole, senza forma, eppure immensa è la sua forza.

La goccia d’acqua è nel mare / Il mare è nella goccia d’acqua, ci ricorda Guru Nanak. E noi siamo onde del mare. E mare nelle onde.

Allora ascoltiamo l’acqua. Non basta rispettarla: sentiamone la voce, il richiamo e in essa ritroviamo noi stessi, la forza dell’acqua che è anche la nostra forza.

---------&&""""Sovereign is the water, " so sang the poet Pindar, in his brilliant start. According to the Vedas, the Bible and other sacred texts, water is the paramount element par excellence and above creation. Like life itself, water is the basis of everything. The water symbolizes life. Unlike people, plants, animals or humans, the water does not die. She's alive, is the source of life itself. He once recalled Plato was no fire, but never without water. The water purifies, regenerates: that baptism, the mikveh, or Jewish ablutions in the Ganges or the Nile. The water is sacred and profane. Lava. Quenches thirst. Sovereign water!

Of course water also has the power to overwhelm, destroy and dissolve. In and of itself is alive and the water is the source of life, but can also lead to death. The biblical flood is a symbol and a reality mysteriously happens also for the sins of man.

Perhaps behind every earthquake or tsunami is not any man. Yet we are called to responsibility. Not everything, but much depends on us. We are not masters of water, but responsible, yes. It is not so well in life? The stand for, the administrator, but not own it.

The symbols are not a joke, not a game myths.

Cerchiamoli, remember if we've forgotten, but also live it.

The water is soft, formless, yet its power is immense.

The drop of water in the sea / The sea is in the drop of water, reminds us of Guru Nanak. And we are the waves. And in the sea waves.

Then listen to the water. Respect it is not enough: sentiamone voice, appeal and in it we find ourselves, the power of water that is our strength.

I must confess that I didn’t pick one specific painting to let myself be influenced by. I particularly wanted to work on producing a painting that actually showed dimension and perspective. So using some of the wonderful inspiration and examples Mati and Lisa provided I went from there.

 

I chose to use encaustics again this week. Addictive and I have so much to learn. I started with layering the sky over and over with black, clear, Payne’s Grey, and white until I got it the way I wanted it. That took forever and I wish more of the layers were actually visible but it’s all part of the process and I am happy with it. After the sky came the formless white land. All the trees and corn rows were incised into the cool wax. I started with putting blue in the far mountains, adding brown on top and in the foreground trees. Then the corn rows were filled with yellow. As soon as I put the first blue paint down I knew I had got something right. My distracted driving staring at the mountains over the past few weeks had paid off. I had achieved at least some sense of dimension.

 

And then the house. Storm clouds behind it, the home is rooted to the mountain. With the home again as a symbol of my personal world, this is a hopeful painting. Despite the storm there is a foundation.

 

jetfuellines.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/get-your-paint-on-w...

“There are intangible realities which float near us, formless and without words; realities which no one has thought out, and which are excluded for lack of interpreters.” Natalie Clifford Barney

 

taken at Labo River, Labo, Camarines Norte, Philippines

during my EB with Soul101

No need to wait for grace. It's already here: breathing, heart beating, sounds appearing, sensations...

A spontaneous play of emptiness, a dance of the formless as form, and there's nobody here separate from this Never-Ending Dance of Completeness. It's the dance that you are, the dance that life is, and it all appears now, offering itself in its fullness, asking nothing in return.

Do you see what you've been given?

Jeff Foster

"Ode à Marten Toonder"

Cette œuvre est un hommage au dessinateur Marten Toonder, qui a fêté ses 90 ans le 2 mai 2002. La sculpture, haute de plus de six mètres, se compose d'un banc baroque en forme de trèfle, sur lequel trônent quatre personnages emblématiques des bandes dessinées de Toonder : le marquis de Cantecler, le maire Dickerdack, le professeur Sickbock et le peintre Terpen Tijn. Ils représentent quatre forces de la société : la philosophie, la politique, la science et l'économie. Au-dessus se dresse un grand obélisque, illuminé sur ses quatre faces par des reliefs. L'obélisque est surmonté d'un pinceau et d'une plume, symboles du talent de Toonder pour le dessin et l'écriture ; d'un globe terrestre, évoquant l'univers fantastique des bandes dessinées.

 

"La Ville sétruite"

Le Monument à la ville détruite de Rotterdam ou simplement La ville détruite, La ville dévastée (en néerlandais : De verwoeste stad), La ville déchirée est une célèbre sculpture de Rotterdam, aux Pays-Bas, réalisée entre 1951 et 1953 par Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967), en commémoration du bombardement allemand du 14 mai 1940 qui a détruit le centre médiéval de la ville. Il s'agit probablement de l'œuvre la plus célèbre de l'artiste franco-russe[1], et de l'une des statues les plus connues du pays.

La sculpture est en bronze et mesure environ 6,5 mètres. Elle représente une figure humaine stylisée, qui semble crier, appuyée contre une souche d'arbre. La figure tient les bras pointant vers le ciel, la tête rejetée en arrière comme si elle pleurait de chagrin, et a un trou béant dans l'abdomen et la poitrine à la place du cœur. L'absence de cœur symboliserait la destruction du centre de Rotterdam

 

"Cascade"

La sculpture de huit mètres de haut est réalisée en polyester, un matériau presque devenu la signature de l'Atelier Van Lieshout. Dix-huit fûts d'huile empilés, semblant descendre du ciel comme une cascade, s'assemblent pour former une colonne monumentale. De ces fûts grandeur nature s'écoule une masse sirupeuse où se devinent les silhouettes d'une vingtaine de figures humaines. Ce sont des êtres anonymes, dont beaucoup adoptent des poses dramatiques. L'un d'eux grimpe vers le haut. Comparées aux contours robustes des fûts, les figures sont molles et informes. Pourtant, ces formes forment un réseau qui soutient la colonne. Fûts et silhouettes humaines, formes rigides et molles, se sont fondues en un tout.

  

"Ode to Marten Toonder"

This work is a tribute to the cartoonist Marten Toonder, who celebrated his 90th birthday on May 2, 2002. The sculpture, over six meters high, consists of a baroque bench in the shape of a clover, upon which sit four iconic characters from Toonder's comics: the Marquis of Cantecler, Mayor Dickerdack, Professor Sickbock, and the painter Terpen Tijn. They represent four forces in society: philosophy, politics, science, and economics. Above rises a large obelisk, illuminated on all four sides by reliefs. The obelisk is surmounted by a paintbrush and quill, symbols of Toonder's talent for drawing and writing; and by a globe, evoking the fantastical world of his comics.

 

"The Destroyed City"

The Monument to the Destroyed City of Rotterdam, or simply The Destroyed City, The Devastated City (Dutch: De verwoeste stad), The Torn City, is a famous sculpture in Rotterdam, Netherlands, created between 1951 and 1953 by Ossip Zadkine (1890–1967) to commemorate the German bombing of May 14, 1940, which destroyed the medieval center of the city. It is probably the most famous work of the Franco-Russian artist[1] and one of the best-known statues in the country.

 

The sculpture is made of bronze and is about 6.5 meters tall. It depicts a stylized human figure, seemingly screaming, leaning against a tree stump. The figure holds its arms pointing skyward, its head thrown back as if weeping with grief, and has a gaping hole in its abdomen and chest in place of its heart. The absence of a heart symbolizes the destruction of Rotterdam's city center.

 

"Cascade"

The eight-meter-high sculpture is made of polyester, a material that has almost become the signature of Atelier Van Lieshout. Eighteen stacked oil drums, seemingly descending from the sky like a waterfall, come together to form a monumental column. From these life-size drums flows a syrupy mass in which the silhouettes of some twenty human figures can be discerned. These are anonymous beings, many of whom adopt dramatic poses. One of them climbs upward. Compared to the robust contours of the drums, the figures are soft and formless. Yet, these forms create a network that supports the column. Drums and human silhouettes, rigid and soft forms, have merged into a single whole.

Borobudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Magelang. The monument consists of six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside a perforated stupa.

Built in the 9th century during the reign of the Sailendra Dynasty, the temple’s design in Gupta architecture reflects India's influence on the region, yet there are enough indigenous scenes and elements incorporated to make Borobudur uniquely Indonesian. The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The journey for pilgrims begins at the base of the monument and follows a path around the monument and ascends to the top through three levels symbolic of Buddhist cosmology: Kāmadhātu (the world of desire), Rupadhatu (the world of forms) and Arupadhatu (the world of formlessness). The monument guides pilgrims through an extensive system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the walls and the balustrades.

Evidence suggest Borobudur was constructed in the 9th century and abandoned following the 14th century decline of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms in Java, and the Javanese conversion to Islam.Worldwide knowledge of its existence was sparked in 1814 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, then the British ruler of Java, who was advised of its location by native Indonesians. Borobudur has since been preserved through several restorations. The largest restoration project was undertaken between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO, following which the monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Borobudur is still used for pilgrimage; once a year Buddhists in Indonesia celebrate Vesak at the monument, and Borobudur is Indonesia's single most visited tourist attraction.[

Roman Signer describes his installations as ‘useless inventions’. He makes them with everyday objects: an umbrella, a pair of boots, a chair, a table. By combining them with natural elements such as water, fire and wind, he transforms these ordinary, inconspicuous items in imaginative and surprising ways. There is nothing he enjoys more than experimenting with simple objects and blowing them up, smashing them into pieces or throwing them through the air and subsequently capturing that ‘accidental’ (yet meticulously planned) process in photographs or videos. The usual role of a physical object is of no interest to Signer. Instead, he transforms them by exposing them to the elements and giving them a new meaning that is unrelated to their original purpose.

Humour is a deciding factor in a large part of Signer’s oeuvre. He expresses it in the relationship between sudden outbursts of energy and relaxation, between a clearly defined form and formlessness, and between order and chaos.

 

Roman Signer and Calder

 

Many of Calder’s early mobiles were motorized, meaning that the successive movements of the different elements in these works were predetermined. The element of chance appeared in Calder’s work when he started making suspended mobiles in the early 1030s. In these abstract creations, forms relate to each other unpredictably and in an infinite number of ways. Later on, artists like Signer returned to this idea of science and poetry from that same intuition. With the work Hemd (1995) Signer created a delicate balance between an item of clothing ( a shirt) and a helium filled balloon that is attached to it – the movement is activated by a fan.

 

Poetry and Energetic Activation – text describing Roman Signer’s work in the superb exposition Calder Now which ran at Kunsthal Rotterdam in spring 2022.

 

pic of Orgelpfeife (2020): www.flickr.com/photos/145400672@N02/52004769926/in/datepo...

"In the stillness of your presence, you can feel your own formless and timeless reality as the unmanifested life that animates your physical form. You can then feel the same life deep within every other human and every other creature. You look beyond the veil of form and separation. This is the realization of oneness. This is love."

-Eckhart Tolle

Idol of Goddess Durga of our South Madras Cultural Association -2013.This photo was snapped at the Sea Beach, sometime before immersion of the idol of Goddes Durga into the sea.

This is the time we feel empty in our mind; a sudden heavyness in our heart, strike us. We have to wait one more year for our Mother to be present amongst us again for another five days. This is endless wait !

 

IN FLICKR EXPLORE ON 16-11-2013.

www.flickr.com/photos/59670248@N05/10892586623/in/explore...

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Durga, in Sanskrit means - She who is incomprehensible or difficult to reach. Goddess Durga is a form of Sakti worshiped for her gracious as well as terrifying aspect. Mother of the Universe, she represents the infinite power of the universe and is a symbol of a female dynamism. The manifestation of Goddess Durga is said to emerge from Her formless essence and the two are inseparable.

 

The celebrations of Durga puja have references in Indian literature from the 12th century. Earlier the festival was performed only by the rich and powerful people like kings and feudal lords, but today the entire community celebrates Durga Puja.

Celebrated in month of Ashwin of the Hindu calendar (September / October), Goddess Durga (also referred to as "Maa Durga") is worshipped along with her four children - Kartik (The Protector), Ganesh (who symolizes prosperity), Lakshmi (who symbolizes wealth) and Saraswati (who symbolizes knowledge). Her four children complete the manifestation of Goddess Durga.

On the last day of the ten days of the puja, Goddess Durga who represents ‘shakti’ or power, kills the demon Mahishasura and thereby reinstates the triumph of good over evil.

The tenth day, Vijaya Dasami, marks the triumphant ovation of the soul at having attained liberation while living in this world, through the descent of knowledge by the Grace of Goddess Saraswati. The soul rests in his own Supreme Self or Satchidananda Brahman. This day celebrates the victory, the achievement of the goal. The banner of victory flies aloft. Lo! I am He! I am He!

It is on this day, the last and the tenth day, these pictures were taken in Chennai during / after the traditional ritual to bid a goodbye.

Source : Internet.

I often let my fingers create sensations on paper; my eyes visual stimulations with colours. Abstract releases of anxiety on formless shapes. Red like blood. Blue like the sea.

Although we are not aware of this, we are constantly interpreting the outside world through our sensory perceptions and our brain's processing. So we do not perceive the world just like it is: we are looking through a veil - essentially a layer of extremely fast biochemical processing - to get a representation of the world which makes sense to our mind.

Just for the sake of some argument... We can see just a limited range of the spectrum of the sunlight - no infrared nor UV, just to mention the wavelenghts laying just outside our sight. There are animals which are able to see infrared or UV, and we can only imagine how the world may appear to them. And our colour vision in the dark is severely limited - while the sensor of your camera, having not been forged by evolution, can discern a greatly wider colour range in the same conditions. And these are just physical limitations of our senses... Then the brain comes on stage as the key player, and it makes all sorts of processing, filtering, interpolations... and the result is our vision of the world.

 

So we go on through our lives with little or no awareness of the fact that we are filtering and interpreting everything we see. But there are moments when one suddenly realizes that the veil is there, between one's mind and reality - and those epiphanies may be quite unsettling. Below I leave you as a gift the English translation of one of the most renowned poems by the Italian poet and Nobel laureate Eugenio Montale, Non chiederci la parola, which is about one of those moments...

 

Don’t ask me for words that might define

our formless soul, publish it

in letters of fire, and set it shining,

lost crocus in a dusty field.

 

Ah, that man so confidently striding,

friend to others and himself, careless

that the dog day’s sun might stamp

his shadow on a crumbling wall!

 

Don’t ask me for formulas to open worlds

for you: all I have are gnarled syllables,

branch-dry. All I can tell you now is this:

what we are not, what we do not want.

 

(English translation by William Arrowsmith taken from lyricstranslate.com)

 

This is an impromptu shot taken with my phone while exiting the underground station to go home - pretty different from my usual subjects, but it looked almost interesting (moreover, I am curious about who and how will react to this one). As things often go (i.e. hurriedly), I have been walking next to this broken glass panel for some weeks without taking any special notice of it; then, one day, it suddenly acquired a meaning, and I captured it.

No elaborate postprocessing here, just a bit of Nik Color Efex Pro 4...

Kālī, also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga (Parvati). The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death: Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla— the eternal time — the name of Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in "time has come"). Hence, Kāli is the Goddess of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation of evil forces still has some influence. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. Shiva lies in the path of Kali, whose foot on Shiva subdues her anger.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time" but also means "black" in honor of being the first creation before light itself. Kālī means "the black one" and refers to her being the entity of "time" or "beyond time." Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) to come from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli" referring to Devi Parvathi being a manifestation of Devi MahaKali.

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, who manifested after her in creation, and who symbolises the rest of creation after Time is created. In his supreme awareness of Maya, his body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP & MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is called Devi Argala Stotram.

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा क्षमा शिवा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā kṣamā śivā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

TANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kāli who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.

 

In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:

 

At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time] Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art.

 

The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)

 

He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.

 

The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER OF RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

 

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, becoming drunk on the blood of her victims on the battlefield, dances with destructive frenzy. She is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her. In her fury, she fails to see the body of Shiva lying amongst the corpses on the battlefield and steps upon his chest. Realizing Shiva lies beneath her feet, her anger is pacified and she calms her fury. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist and an enchanted Shiva lies beneath her feet. Each of these icons represent a deep philosophical epithet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali is undoubtedly the primeval energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest; both of them dance and Kali matches Shiva in every step that he takes until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, by vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and became pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

Another legend depicts the infant Shiva calming Kali. In this similar story, Kali has defeated her enemies on the battlefield and begun to dance out of control, drunk on the blood of the slain. To calm her down and to protect the stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the battlefield, as an infant, crying aloud. Seeing the child's distress, Kali ceases dancing to care for the helpless infant. She picks him up, kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva. This legend is notable because it shows Kali in her benevolent, maternal aspect, with which she is not usually identified.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces and ten feet and three eyes. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj, when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda; indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

 

SRI RAMAKRISHNA

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).

 

The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

IN NEW AGE & NEOPAGANISM

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment." The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

WIKIPEDIA

“In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” John 1:1-5

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Mathew 2:1-2

Merry Christmas to all my Flicker Friends. May you find the light and peace this Christmas Season.

 

The Way is like an empty vessel

That yet may be drawn from

Without ever needing to be filled.

It is bottomless: the very progenitor of all things in the

world. . . .

It is like a deep pool that never dries

I do not know whose child it could be.

It looks as if it were prior to God.

 

When you look at it you cannot see it;

It is called formless.

When you listen to it you cannot hear it;

It is called soundless.

When you try to seize it you cannot hold it;

It is called subtle.

No one can measure these three to their ultimate ends,

Therefore they are fused to one.

It is up, but it is not brightened;

It is down, but it is not obscured.

It stretches endlessly,

And no name is to be given.

It returns to nothingness.

It is called formless form, shapeless shape.

It is called the intangible.

You face it but you cannot see its front.

You follow it but you cannot see its back.

Holding on to the Ancient Way (Tao)

You control beings of today.

Thus you know the beginning of things,

Which is the essence of the Way (Tao-chi).

 

Lao-tzu definition of Tao from his TaoTê Ching

THIS idea of the group-soul seems to many students novel and difficult; perhaps an Oriental simile may help us to understand it more readily. They tell us that the group-soul is like the water in a bucket, while if we suppose a tumbler full of water withdrawn from that bucket, we shall have a representation of the soul of the single animal. The water in the glass is for the time quite separate from that in the bucket, and it takes the form of the glass which contains it. Suppose that we put into that glass a certain amount of color-ing matter, so that the water in it acquires a distinctive hue of its own; that coloring matter will represent the qualities developed in the temporarily separated soul by the various experiences through which it passes.

 

The death of the animal will be typified by pouring back the water from the glass into the bucket, when the coloring matter will at once spread through the whole of the water, tinting it faintly. In exactly the same way, whatever qualities have been developed during the life of the separated animal will be distri-buted through the whole group-soul after his death.

 

It would be impossible to take again out of the bucket the same glass of water, but every glassful taken out afterwards will necessarily be colored by the matter brought in from that first glass. If it were possible to take out of the bucket exactly the same molecules of water, to reproduce the first glassful exactly, that would be a veritable reincarnation; but since that is not possible, we have instead the re-absorption of the tem-porary soul into the group-soul - a process in which, nevertheless, everything that has been gained by the temporary separation is carefully preserved.

 

Not one glass at a time only, but many glasses simultaneously, are filled from each bucket; and each one of them brings back to the group-soul its own quota of evolved quality. Thus in time many different qualities are developed within each group-soul, and of course manifest themselves as inherent in every animal which is an expression of it. Hence came the definite instincts with which certain creatures are born. The duckling, the moment it is set free from the egg, seeks the water and can swim fearlessly, even though it may have been hatched by a hen which dreads water, and is terribly worried to find her charges rushing to what she supposes to, be destruction. But that fragment of a group-soul which is functioning through the duckling knows perfectly well from previous experience that the water is its natural element, and the tiny body fear-lessly carries out its behests.

 

All the while within each group-soul the tendency to further and further subdivision is steadily working. It manifests itself in a phenomenon, which, though upon a higher plane, has a curious resemblance to the way in which a cell divides. In the group-soul, which may be thought of as vividly animating a great mass of matter on the mental plane, a kind of scarcely per-ceptible film appears, as we might suppose a sort of barrier gradually to form itself across the bucket. The water at first filters through this barrier to some extent, but nevertheless the glasses of water taken out from one side of that barrier are always returned to the same side, so that by degrees the water on one side becomes differentiated from the water on the other, and then the barrier gradually densifies and becomes impene-trable, so that we have eventually two buckets instead of one.

 

This process is constantly repeated, until by the time that we reach the really higher animals a com-paratively small number of bodies is attached to each group-soul. It is found that the individualization which lifts an entity definitely from the animal kingdom into the human, can take place only from certain types of animals. Only among domesticated creatures, and by no means among all classes of even those, does this individualization occur. It must of course be remem-bered that we are very little more than half through the evolution of this chain of worlds, and it is only at the end of this evolution that the animal kingdom is expected to attain humanity. Naturally, therefore, any animal which is now attaining or even approaching individualization must be very remarkably in advance of the others, and the number of such cases is con-sequently very small. Still they do occasionally occur, and they are of extreme interest to us as indicating the manner in which we ourselves came into existence in the remote past. The lunar animal kingdom, out of which we were individualized, was at a somewhat lower level than the animal kingdom of the present day; but the principle adopted seems to have been almost precisely the same.

 

BEFORE explaining this in detail we must refer once more to Pictured Knight. It will be remembered that the variously black bands which occupy the principal part of this diagram are intended to signify various stages in the upward progress of the monadic essence. In its downward course, which is indicated by the column to the left of the diagram, it simply aggregates round itself the different kinds of matter on the various planes, evolving that matter by accustoming and adapt-ing it to convey vibrations and impressions, and at the same time acquiring for itself the power to receive and respond readily to these impressions at their respective levels. But when it has reached the lowest point of its immersion in matter, and turns to begin the grand upward sweep of evolution towards divinity, its work then is somewhat different. Its object then is to develop its consciousness fully at these various levels, learning to control the bodies which it constructs from them, and to use them definitely as vehicles, so that they shall not only serve as bridges to carry impressions from without to the soul, but shall also enable that soul to express itself on their several planes through their instrumentality.

 

In this effort it naturally begins with the lowest matter, since its vibrations, though they are the largest and coarsest, are also the least powerful or penetrating, and therefore the easiest to control. Thus it happens that man, although possessing in a more or less latent condition so many higher principles, is yet at first for a long time fully conscious only in his physical body, and afterwards very gradually develops the consciousness in his astral vehicle, while in his mental body it comes at a still later stage.

 

Turning to picture, we see that we have a separate band or ribbon to represent each of the kingdoms. It will be noticed that in the band corresponding to the mineral kingdom we have the full width developed only in the denser part of the physical plane, and that in the part of the band which corresponds to etheric physical matter the band grows steadily narrower as we approach the higher planes. This of course indi-cates that in the mineral kingdom the control of the soul over the higher part of the etheric matter is not yet perfectly developed. It will be noticed also that there is a small point of red, showing that a certain amount of consciousness is already working through astral matter - that is to say, that a certain amount of desire is already manifesting itself.

 

It may seem strange to many people to speak of desire in connection with the mineral kingdom; but every chemist knows that in chemical affinity we have already a very distinct manifestation of preference on the part of various elements; and what is that but a commencement of desire? One element has so strong a desire for the company of another that it will instantly forsake, in order to join it, any other substance with which it may happen to be in association. Indeed, it is by means of our knowledge of these likes and dislikes of the various elements that we obtain various gases when we want them. For example, oxygen and hydrogen are combined in water, but if we throw sodium into the water we find that oxygen likes sodium better than hydrogen, and promptly deserts the latter to combine with the former; so we have a compound called sodium hydroxide instead of water, and the released hydrogen escapes. Or if we put zinc filings into diluted hydrochloric acid (which is hydrogen combined with chlorine) we find that the chlorine proceeds to abandon the hydrogen in order to join the zinc, so that zinc chloride remains, while hydrogen is given off and may be collected. So it will be seen that we are justified in speaking of the action of desire in the mineral kingdom.

 

If we now look at the band which symbolizes the vegetable kingdom we shall see that it is of full width not only in the dense physical, but also in the etheric part. We shall see also that the point typifying desire is more fully developed, betokening a far greater capa-city of utilizing the lower astral matter. Those who have studied botany will be aware that likes and dis-likes (that is to say, forms of desire) are very much more prominent in the vegetable world than in the mineral, and that many plants exhibit a great deal of ingenuity and sagacity in attaining their ends, limited though these ends may be from our point of view.

 

When we turn to the band representing the animal kingdom we find that consciousness has advanced very much further. It will be noticed that the band is of full width not only through the whole of the physical plane, but in the lowest sub-plane of the astral as well, showing that the animal is capable to the fullest possible extent of experiencing the lower desires, although the rapid narrowing of the band as we reach the higher sub-planes proclaims that his capacity for the higher desires is much more limited. Still it does exist; and so it happens that in exceptional cases he may manifest an exceedingly high quality of affection or devotion

 

It will be observed also that the band representing the animal kingdom ends in a point of green, signifying that at this stage there is already a development of intelligence, employing mental matter for its manifes-tation. It used at one time to be supposed that reason was the quality which distinguished man from the animals - that he possessed this faculty, while they had only instinct. As regards the higher domestic animals, however, that is certainly a mistake; anyone who has kept a dog or a cat, and made a friend of him will surely have observed that such creatures un-doubtedly do exercise the power of reason from cause to effect, although naturally the lines along which their reason can work are few and limited, and the faculty itself is far less powerful than ours. In the case of the average animal the point is quite correctly shown as embracing only the lowest variety of reason, acting in the matter of the lowest subdivision of the mental plane; but with the highly developed domestic animal the point might readily extend even to the highest of the four lower levels, though, of course, it would remain only a point, and by no means the full width of the band.

  

Man Visible and Invisible

Examples of Different Types of Men as

Seen by Means of Trained Clairvoyance

C. W. Leadbeater

 

WITH FRONTISPIECE, THREE DIAGRAMS,

AND TWENTY-TWO COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS

 

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE

Adyar, Madras 600 020, India

Wheaton Ill., USA. London, England

 

First Edition 1902

Second Edition: revised and enlarged

l'ho mangiata ieri, e si era conservata benissimo da Ottobre.

 

sono indecisa su che Koan associarvi adesso ci penso... ho deciso per quello in cui compare il serpente nel versetto associato.

  

Koan VI: The Buddha’s Flower

 

Once when the World-Honoured One, in ancient times, was upon Mount Grdhrakuta, he held up a flower before the congregation of monks. At this time all were silent, but the Venerable Kasyapa only smiled. The World-Honoured One said, “I have the Eye of the True Law, the Secret Essence of Nirvana, the Formless Form, the Mysterious Law-Gate. Without relying upon words and letters, beyond all teaching as a special transmission, I pass this all on to Mahakasyapa.”

  

#iorestoacasadatempoimmemore

A view from The Rougey walk overlooking Bundoran Beach, County Donegal, Ireland

 

Genesis 1:1

 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

 

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day.

 

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Roman Signer : Orgelpfeife (2020) in the background Flaming Tape (2021) by Zivinas Kempinas

 

Roman Signer describes his installations as ‘useless inventions’. He makes them with everyday objects: an umbrella, a pair of boots, a chair, a table. By combining them with natural elements such as water, fire and wind, he transforms these ordinary, inconspicuous items in imaginative and surprising ways. There is nothing he enjoys more than experimenting with simple objects and blowing them up, smashing them into pieces or throwing them through the air and subsequently capturing that ‘accidental’ (yet meticulously planned) process in photographs or videos. The usual role of a physical object is of no interest to Signer. Instead, he transforms them by exposing them to the elements and giving them a new meaning that is unrelated to their original purpose.

For one of his more recent works, Orgelpfeife (2020), Signer came up with a new, alternative interpretation for one of those objects. In this simple but impressive sculpture of a dysfunctional element (this pipe can no longer be filled with air), the themes of sound and gravity return once again. Humour is a deciding factor in a large part of Signer’s oeuvre. He expresses it in the relationship between sudden outbursts of energy and relaxation, between a clearly defined form and formlessness, and between order and chaos.

 

Roman Signer and Calder

 

Many of Calder’s early mobiles were motorized, meaning that the successive movements of the different elements in these works were predetermined. The element of chance appeared in Calder’s work when he started making suspended mobiles in the early 1030s. In these abstract creations, forms relate to each other unpredictably and in an infinite number of ways. Later on, artists like Signer returned to this idea of science and poetry from that same intuition. With the work Hemd (1995) Signer created a delicate balance between an item of clothing ( a shirt) and a helium filled balloon that is attached to it – the movement is activated by a fan.

 

Poetry and Energetic Activation – text describing Roman Signer’s work in the superb exposition Calder Now which ran at Kunsthal Rotterdam in spring 2022.

 

pic of Flaming Tape: www.flickr.com/photos/145400672@N02/52003679667/in/datepo...

pic of Hemd: www.flickr.com/photos/145400672@N02/52005049354/in/datepo...

Tirupperunturai known as Avudaiyarkoil is a Shaiva temple situated near Aranthangi in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu. One of the sacred books of Tamil Saiva Siddhanta, Manikkavacakar's Tiruvacakam, originated from this shrine. Manikkavacakar is said to have converted the king to the cult of Shiva and built the temple with money that had been intended for war-horses.

The presiding deity is formless (Atmanatar); there is no Shivalingam but only a pedestal {Avudayar} located in the sanctum, hence the name Avudayar Koil.His consort is worshipped as Siva Yoga Nayaki in iconless form. There is no Nandi bull icon. There is deep spiritual significance in the queerness. Hinduism allows deity worship only for beginners in the initial stage. As the devotee and his devotion matures, he has to realise the truth of formless. To illustrate the theology, the temple has been designed. This is the only Saivite shrine in whole of India to portray the supreme truth symbolically. Since the soul (athma) has no form, the deity is called Athmanathar.

The temple is noted for the zephyr (granite) roof work. The ceiling of the Kanaga sabhai (golden hall) is a grandeur creation in stone. The ropes, rafters and nails all are made of granite.The bow wielding Muruga, Kali and Siva's rudra thandavam (wild dance) are the finest specimen in sculptural art.

 

Many renovations have been carried out, much of the current structure dates to the fifteenth CCE. The temple covers an area of over 10 acres (40,000 m2) and faces south, constructed so that the setting sun strikes the sanctum even though it is cloistered within three circumambulatory paths. The thousand pillared hall has several delicately crafted pillars with depictions of the Oordhwa Tandavam of Shiva, Kaaraikkaal Ammaiyaar, Dhanurdhara Subramanya, etc.

Image captured at pawandham haridwar

 

Vishnu (Sanskrit pronunciation: [vɪʂɳu]; Sanskrit: विष्णु, IAST: Viṣṇu) is one of the principal deities of Hinduism, and the Supreme Being in its Vaishnavism tradition. Vishnu is the "preserver" in the Hindu trinity (Trimurti) that includes Brahma and Shiva.

 

In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is identical to the formless metaphysical concept called Brahman, the supreme, the Svayam Bhagavan, who takes various avatars as "the preserver, protector" whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces.His avatars (incarnations) most notably include Krishna in the Mahabharata and Rama in the Ramayana. He is also known as Narayana, Jagannath, Vasudeva, Vithoba, and Hari. He is one of the five equivalent deities worshipped in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition of Hinduism.

 

In Hindu inconography, Vishnu is usually depicted as having a dark, or pale blue complexion and having four arms. He holds a padma (lotus flower) in his lower left hand, Kaumodaki gada (mace) in his lower right hand, Panchajanya shankha (conch) in his upper left hand and the Sudarshana Chakra (discus) in his upper right hand. A traditional depiction is Vishnu reclining on the coils of the serpent Shesha, accompanied by his consort Lakshmi, as he "dreams the universe into reality".

Village deity of Tamil Nadu - India @ a village Temple at Tamilnadu, India off NH 45.

 

IN FLICKR EXPLORE ON 27-08-2014.

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Village deities of Tamil Nadu that do not belong to the Agamic pantheon of Hinduism are found in almost all villages throughout India and Tamil Nadu in particular. They are known as Kaval deivam or guardian spirits in Tamil. They are associated to a main deity who is generally ascribed as Kuladeivam by various sects of community and clan groups as part of the tracing their generation through centuries.

Most of these village deities have their shrines on the periphery (border or outskirts) of the village as a representation of their Village Guardian position. Hence they are referred as "Peripheral Folk Deity". 21 associate deities and 61 servant deities are located in either the same premises or located in different places of the locality, for e.g.: Amman deities may be installed in the centre of the village but the Sonai, Sudalai or the Formless Nadukkal deities may be installed close to graveyards (cemeteries or burial and sometimes, also near memorial centres).

 

These Village deities are either represented in the form of a huge, fierce statue or as a simple stone. Most of these temples are not closed premises but are simple and small worship areas. Weapons such as a trident or a lance or sickles are also associated with these shrines.

 

We also see lots of terracotta horses, elephants, clay dolls & birds and bells. Most officiating priests are pandarams and derive from the local ancestral lineages that had initiated the cult centres generations ago. In ancient times most of the City priests were pandarams.Before Nayakkar rule Madurai Meenakshiamman temple pujas were performed by them.

 

The worship pattern is non-vedic through Folk tale, Folk Song and Folk arts (Villupattu, Karagam, Koothhu, etc). The local priest might offer flowers or Veeputhi (holy ash) or Holy flowers to the worshippers and may play the oracle role for shamanism.

Source - Wikipedia

 

Goddess, Gentle Mother, Fierce Warrior

 

Kali is one of the most well known and worshipped Hindu Goddesses. The name Kali is derived from the Hindu word that means "time", and that also means "black". Kali in Hinduism, is a manifestation of the Divine Mother, which represents the female principle. Frequently, those not comprehending her many roles in life call Kali the goddess of destruction. She destroys only to recreate, and what she destroys is sin, ignorance and decay. She is equated with the eternal night, is the transcendent power of time, and is the consort of the god Shiva. It is believed that its Shiva who destroys the world, and Kali is the power or energy with which Shiva acts. Therefore, Kali is Shiva's shakti, without which Shiva could not act. Kali receives her name because she devours kala (Time) and then resumes her own dark formlessness. This transformative effect can be metaphorically illustrated in the West as a black hole in space. Kali as such is pure and primary reality (the "enfolded order" in modern physics); formless void yet full of potential.

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The sun was shining beautifully on my Goddess fountain yesterday afternoon.

I couldn't resist taking a shot of it.

The sun is shining here again; at least right now it is.

Hope it continues all day =)

Current temp. -1.0°C

 

Have a gorgeous bokeh Wednesday!

 

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About

 

This is my 23rd upload from our weekend trip to Paris end of october 2008.

 

This is the entrance to the famous Notre Dame Catherdral in Paris, I was doubting for a moment whether I would call it something like 'Enter the delusion' but what the hell, I'm all opposed to any form of religion but am attracted to the vast beauty of the buildings, it's a pity that we build big formless unattractive lumps of concrete, steel and glass most of the time nowadays.

Maybe we need a delusional state to be able to forget the big pile of mysery in the world, I'm always wondering why religious people seem to forget all that? The church is very rich however! Yet the teaching of Jezus do tell us to live a simple live, ironic?

I could go on endlessly and even proof to you an allmighty being is a logical impossibility, but I know by now that it is a big waste of time because you don't care, you want to believe, the word alone makes me shiver... We endulge ourselve in vast meals and plenty of wine during christmas time while the rest of the world is starving itself to death, lives on the street or on a garbage pile where the remainders of your precious dinner will end up.

 

I have the tendency of making simple dishes at christmas or new year eve, chicken with rice or something like that, not that it will matter... Yes I do like a fine glass of wine, yes I like a piece of smoked salmon but do we really need to stuff ourselves with plenty just like the good ol' turkey is stuffed?-)

 

You won't read this anyway most likely.

 

The shot

 

2 x Standard 3 exposures HDR [-2,0,+2EV] in RAW/ISO100 at f/8 using the Sigma 10mm fisheye lens, on a tripod.

 

Photomatix

 

Tonemapped using the detail enhancer.

 

Autostitch

 

° Stitched with autostich because photoshop doesn't do fisheye stitches as far as I know.

 

Photoshop.

 

° A lot of sharpening.

 

You

 

All comments, criticism and tips for improvements are ( as always ) welcome.

 

Humor

 

Religion ala Eddie Izzard

 

Happy holidays everybody

If you can't find the beauty in deadfall, then you have no business being in the woods. Or maybe you've got too much business in mind, imagining the lost dollars of trees rotted before the harvest. They surrender the shade of formless spaces, filling the clearing created by people. Natural openings make themselves, unnatural hollows get filled again. There's been a little wildlife here, signs of a small black bear feeding on the last ripe berries. Deer activity on the trail, branches overhanging, been a time since someone kept the width what it was. It's so hard to see all the secrets in summer, softened edges of those hard human angles. Bitter angels of our nature, that insist on regretting what's wasted. But it has been, and some always will, so it's the dying and deadfall I use to feel alive. It's worked so far, and yet so close.

 

September 7, 2021

Annapolis County, Nova Scotia

 

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And if you comment adversely on my Hindu or Shia blogs I will block you instantly,, I am a photo journalist documentarist I dont promote any religion caste or creed I promote India and my Indianess ..

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Kali, also known as Kalika (Bengali: কালী, Kālī / কালিকা Kālīkā ; Sanskrit: काली), is a Hindu goddess associated with death and destruction. The name Kali means "black", but has by folk etymology come to mean "force of time (kala)". Despite her negative connotations, she is today considered the goddess of time and change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence. More complex Tantric beliefs sometimes extend her role so far as to be the "ultimate reality" or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatarini (literally "redeemer of the universe"). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kali as a benevolent mother goddess.

 

Kali is represented as the consort of god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. She is associated with many other Hindu goddesses like Durga, Bhadrakali, Sati, Rudrani, Parvati and Chamunda. She is the foremost among the Dasa-Mahavidyas, ten fierce Tantric goddesses.[1]

 

Contents [hide]

1 Etymology

2 Origin

3 In Tantra

4 In Bengali tradition

5 Mythology

5.1 Slayer of Raktabija

5.2 Daksinakali

5.3 Maternal Kali

5.4 Mahakali

6 Iconography

6.1 Popular form

6.2 Mahakali form

6.3 Shiva in Kali iconography

7 Development

8 In New Age and Neopaganism

9 See also

10 Notes

11 References

12 Further reading

13 External links

   

Etymology

Kālī is the feminine of kāla "black, dark coloured" (per Panini 4.1.42). It appears as the name of a form of Durga in Mahabharata 4.195, and as the name of an evil female spirit in Harivamsa 11552.

 

The homonymous kāla "appointed time", which depending on context can mean "death", is distinct from kāla "black", but became associated through folk etymology. The association is seen in a passage from the Mahābhārata, depicting a female figure who carries away the spirits of slain warriors and animals. She is called kālarātri (which Thomas Coburn, a historian of Sanskrit Goddess literature, translates as "night of death") and also kālī (which, as Coburn notes, can be read here either as a proper name or as a description "the black one").[2]

 

Kali's association with blackness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) in which he meditates, and with which Kali is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

  

Origin

Kali appears in the Mundaka Upanishad (section 1, chapter 2, verse 4) not explicitly as a goddess, but as the black tongue of the seven flickering tongues of Agni, the Hindu god of fire.[3] However, the prototype of the figure now known as Kali appears in the Rig Veda, in the form of a goddess named Raatri. Raatri is considered to be the prototype of both Durga and Kali.

 

In the Sangam era, circa 200BCE–200CE, of Tamilakam, a Kali-like bloodthirsty goddess named Kottravai appears in the literature of the period.[citation needed] Like Kali she has dishevelled hair, inspires fear in those who approach her and feasts on battlegrounds littered with the dead.

 

It was the composition of the Puranas in late antiquity that firmly gave Kali a place in the Hindu pantheon. Kali or Kalika is described in the Devi Mahatmya (also known as the Chandi or the Durgasaptasati) from the Markandeya Purana, circa 300–600CE, where she is said to have emanated from the brow of the goddess Durga, a slayer of demons or avidya, during one of the battles between the divine and anti-divine forces. In this context, Kali is considered the 'forceful' form of the great goddess Durga. Another account of the origins of Kali is found in the Matsya Purana, circa 1500CE, which states that she originated as a mountain tribal goddess in the north-central part of India, in the region of Mount Kalanjara (now known as Kalinjar). However this account is disputed because the legend was of later origin.

 

The Kalika Purana a work of late ninth or early tenth century, is one of the Upapuranas. The Kalika Purana mainly describes different manifestations of the Goddess, gives their iconographic details, mounts, and weapons. It also provides ritual procedures of worshipping Kalika.

  

In Tantra

 

Mahakali YantraGoddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as the male deities are. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals.[4] In many sources Kali is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kali's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kali vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.[5]

 

In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kali is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:

 

At the dissolution of things, it is Kala [Time] Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahakala [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahakala Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kalika. Because Thou devourest Kala, Thou art Kali, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [primordial Kali. Resuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art.[6]

The figure of Kali conveys death, destruction, fear, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation.[7] This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise to Kali describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)

 

He, O Mahakali who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. 0 Kali, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Sakti [his female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.[8]

The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kali is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, who is said to be her spouse, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation.[9] In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.[10]

  

In Bengali tradition

Kali is also central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kali is rarely pictured in Hindu mythology and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotion beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengali tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.[11]

 

The Tantric approach to Kali is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kali's teachings, adopting the attitude of a child. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way things are. These themes are well addressed in Ramprasad's work.[12]

 

Ramprasad comments in many of his other songs that Kali is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you. Mother.

You have cut off the headset the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.[13]

To be a child of Kali, Ramprasad asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kali is said to not give what is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.[14][15]

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kali as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet. Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyama Sangeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

  

Mythology

 

Slayer of Raktabija

 

"Kali Triumphant on The Battle Field," Punjab, circa 1800–20CE)In Kali's most famous myth, Durga and her assistants, Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons, in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation, as for every drop of blood that is spilt from Raktabija the demon reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates.[16] Durga, in dire need of help, summons Kali to combat the demons. It is also said that Goddess Durga takes the form of Goddess Kali at this time.

 

The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger’s skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.[17]

 

Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. Her consort Shiva lies among the dead beneath her feet, a representation of Kali commonly seen in her iconography as Daksinakali'.[18]

 

In Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as an Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda) i.e the slayer of demons Chanda and Munda.[19] Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.[20]

  

Daksinakali

 

Bhadrakali (A gentle form of Kali), circa 1675.

Painting; made in India, Himachal Pradesh, Basohli,

now placed in LACMA Museum.In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, it is said that Kali, becoming drunk on the blood of her victims on the battlefield, dances with destructive frenzy. In her fury she fails to see the body of her husband Shiva who lies among the corpses on the battlefield.[21] Ultimately the cries of Shiva attract Kali's attention, calming her fury. As a sign of her shame at having disrespected her husband in such a fashion, Kali sticks out her tongue. However, some sources state that this interpretation is a later version of the symbolism of the tongue: in tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva, spiritual and godly qualities.[22]

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes residence in a forest. With fierce companions she terrorizes the surrounding area. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while doing austerities and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges her to a dance contest, and defeats her when she is unable to perform the energetic Tandava dance. Although here Kali is defeated, and is forced to control her disruptive habits, we find very few images or other myths depicting her in such manner.[23]

  

Maternal Kali

Another myth depicts the infant Shiva calming Kali, instead. In this similar story, Kali again defeated her enemies on the battlefield and began to dance out of control, drunk on the blood of the slain. To calm her down and to protect the stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the battlefield, as an infant, crying aloud. Seeing the child's distress, Kali ceases dancing to take care of the helpless infant. She picks him up, kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva.[24] This myth depicts Kali in her benevolent, maternal aspect; something that is revered in Hinduism, but not often recognized in the West.

  

Ekamukhi or "One-Faced" Murti of Mahakali displaying ten hands holding the signifiers of various Devas

Mahakali

Main article: Mahakali

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality Brahman. It can also simply be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali,[25] signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

  

Iconography

 

Statue from Dakshineswar Kali Temple, West Bengal, India; along with her Yantra.Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.[26]

 

In the ten armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces and ten feet and three eyes. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Siva.[27]

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.[28]

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And, because of her terrible form she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, “Maharaj, when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?”[29]

 

According to Ramakrishna darkness is Ultimate Mother or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda; indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

 

-Sri Ramakrishna

 

Throughout her history artists the world over have portrayed Kali in myriad poses and settings, some of which stray far from the popular description, and are sometimes even graphically sexual in nature. Given the popularity of this Goddess, artists everywhere will continue to explore the magnificence of Kali’s iconography. This is clear in the work of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

  

Popular form

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya and varada mudras or blessings, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshiping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.[30]

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.[31]

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities — she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her — she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.[32]

  

Mahakali form

 

The Dasamukhi MahakaliKali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

  

Shiva in Kali iconography

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a mythological story for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva’s corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon her husband she realized her mistake and bit her tongue in shame.[33]

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva, or Mahadeva represents Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman.[34]

  

Kali in Traditional Form, standing on Shiva's chest.While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda — existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.[35]

  

Kali and Bhairava (the terrible form of Shiva) in Union, 18th century, NepalFrom a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality — the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.[36]

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.[37]

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process ( psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.[38]

  

Development

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

  

Bharatanatyam dancer portraying Kali with a tridentThe ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos — which could be confronted — to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Visnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).

 

The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

  

1947 TIME Magazine cover by Boris Artzybasheff depicting a self-hurting Kālī as a symbol of the partition of IndiaLike Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same — totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.[39]

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric that which suits one’s evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi’s more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME Magazine article of October 27, 1947 used Kālī as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year.[40]

  

In New Age and Neopaganism

 

A Western Shacan representation of KaliAn academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."[41] The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural misappropriation:

 

"A variety of writers and thinkers [...] have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. [...] The most important issue arising from this discussion – even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation – concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. [...] It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available."[42]

 

The man who popularised the religion of Wicca, Gerald Gardner, was reportedly particularly interested in Kali whilst he was in the far east, before returning to England to write his seminal works on Wicca[citation needed

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

ON DETACHMENT

 

"I have read many writings of pagan masters, and of the prophets, and of the Old and New Testaments, and have sought earnestly and with all diligence to discover which is the best and highest virtue whereby a man may chiefly and most firmly join himself to God,and whereby a man may become by grace what God is by nature, and whereby a man may come closest to his image when he was in God, wherein there was no difference between him and God, before God made creatures. After a thorough study of these writings I find, as well as my reason can testify or perceive, that only pure detachment surpasses all things, for all virtues have some regard to creatures, but detachment is free of all creatures. Therefore our Lord said to Martha, "unum est necessarium " (Luke 1 0 : 42), which is as much as to say, 'Martha, he who would be serene and pure needs but one thing: detachment.'

 

The teachers greatly praise love, as does St. Paul who says, "Whatever things I may do, and have not love, I am nothing" (cf. 1 Cor. 1 3 : 1 ). But I extol detachment above any love. First, because, at best, love constrains me to love God, but detachment compels God to love me. Now it is a far nobler thing my constraining God to me than for me to constrain myself to God. That is because God is more readily able to adapt Himself to me, and can more easily unite with me than I could unite with God. That detachment forces God to me, I can prove thus: everything wants to be in its natural place. Now God's natural place is unity and purity, and that comes from detachment. Therefore God is bound to give Himself to a detached heart.

 

In the second place I extol detachment above love because love compels me to suffer all things for God's sake, whereas detachment makes me receptive of nothing but God. Now it is far nobler to be receptive of nothing but God than to suffer all things for God, for in suffering a man has some regard to the creatures from which he gets the suffering, but detachment is quite free of all creatures. But that detachment is receptive of nothing but God, I can prove this way: whatever is to be received must be taken in somewhere. Now detachment is so nearly nothing that there is no thing subtle enough to maintain itself in detachment except God alone. He is so subtle and so simple that He can stay in a detached heart. Therefore detachment is receptive of nothing but God.

 

The masters also extol humility above many other virtues. But I extol detachment above humility for this reason: humility can exist without detachment, but perfect detachment cannot exist without perfect humility, for perfect humility ends in the destruction of self. Now detachment comes so close to nothing, that between perfect detachment and nothing no thing can exist. Therefore perfect detachment cannot be without humility. But two virtues are always better than one.

 

The second reason why I praise detachment above humility is because humility means abasing oneself beneath all creatures, and in that abasement man goes out of himself into creatures, but detachment rests within itself. Now no going out can ever be so noble, but remaining within is nobler still. As the prophet David says, "Omnis gloria eius filiae regis ab intus " (Ps. 44 : 14), which is to say, "All the glory of the daughter comes from her inwardness. " Perfect detachment is not concerned about being above or below any creature; it does not wish to be below or above, it would stand on its own, loving none and hating none, and seeks neither equality nor inequality with any creature, nor this nor that: it wants merely to be. But to be either this or that it does not wish at all. For whoever would be this or that wants to be something, but detachment wants to be nothing. It is therefore no burden on anything.

 

Now somebody might say, 'Well, our Lady possessed all virtues to perfection, and so she must have had perfect detachment. But ifdetachment is higher than humility, why then did our Lady glory in her h umility and not in her detachment when she said, "Quia respexit dominus humilitatem ancillae suae " (Luke 1 : 48 ) , that is to say, " He regarded the humility of his handmaiden " ? '

 

I reply that in God there is detachment and humility, insofar as

we can speak of God's having virtues. You should know that it was loving humility that led God to stoop to enter human nature, while detachment stood immovable within itself when he became man, just as it did when He created heaven and earth, as I shall tell you later. And because our Lord, when he would become man, stood unmoved in his detachment, our Lady knew that he required the same of her too, and that in this case he looked to her humility and not her detachment. For if she had thought once about her detachment and said, 'he regarded my detachment,' that detachment would have been sullied and would not have been whole and perfect, since a going forth would have occurred. But nothing, however little, may proceed from detachment without staining it. There you have the reason why our Lady gloried in her humility and not her detachment. Concerning this, the prophet said, "Audiam, quid Loquatur in me dominus deus " (Ps. 84:9), that is to say, " I will (be silent and) hear what my lord God says within me,'' as if he were to say, 'If God wishes to speak to me, let Him come into me, for I will not go out.'

 

I also praise detachment above all compassion, for compassion isnothing but a man's going out of himself by reason of his fellow creatures' lack, by which his heart is troubled. But detachment is freeof this, stays in itself and is not troubled by any thing: for as long asany thing can trouble a man, he is not in a right state. In short, when I consider all the virtues, I find none so completely without lack and so conformed to God as detachment.

 

A master called Avicenna declares that the mind of him who

stands detached is of such nobility that whatever he sees is true, and whatever he desires he obtains, and whatever he commands must be obeyed. And this you must know for sure: when the free mind is quite detached, it constrains God to itself, and if it were able to stand formless and free of all accidentals, it would assume God's proper nature. But God can give that to none but Himself, therefore God can do no more for the detached mind than give Himself to it. But

the man who stands thus in utter detachment is rapt into eternity in such a way that nothing transient can move him, and that he is aware of nothing corporeal and is said to be dead to the world, for he has no taste for anything earthly. That is what St. Paul meant when he said, "I live and yet do not live - Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).

 

Now you may ask what this detachment is that is so noble in

itself. You should know that true detachment is nothing else but a mind that stands unmoved by all accidents of joy or sorrow, honor, shame, or disgrace, as a mountain of lead stands unmoved by a breath of wind. This immovable detachment brings a man into the greatest likeness to God. For the reason why God is God is because of His immovable detachment, and from this detachment He has His purity, His simplicity, and His immutability. Therefore, if a man is to be like

God, as far as a creature can have likeness with God, this must come from detachment. This draws a man into purity, and from purity into simplicity, and from simplicity into immutability, and these things make a likeness between God and that man; and this likeness must occur through grace, for grace draws a man away from all temporal things and purges him of all that is transient. You must know, too, that to be empty of all creatures is to be full of God, and to be full of all creatures is to be empty of God.

 

You should also know that God has stood in this unmoved detachment from all eternity, and still so stands; and you should know further that when God created heaven and earth and all creatures, this affected His unmoved detachment just as little as if no creature had ever been created. I say further: all the prayers and good works that a man can do in time affect God's detachment as little as if no prayers or good works had ever occurred in time, and God never became more ready to give or more inclined toward a man than if he had never uttered the prayer or performed the good works. I say still further: when the Son in the Godhead wanted to become man, and became man and endured martyrdom, that affected God's unmoved detachment as little as if he had never become man. You might say atthis, 'Then I hear that all prayers and good works are wasted because God does not allow Himself to be moved by anyone with such things, and yet it is said that God wants us to pray to Him for everything.'

 

Now you should mark me well, and understand properly if you

can, that God in His first eternal glance (if we can assume that there was a first glance) saw all things as they should occur, and saw in the same glance when and how He would create all creatures and when the Son would become man and suffer; He saw too the least prayer and good work that anyone should do, and saw which prayers and devotion He would and should accede to; He saw that you will call upon Him earnestly tomorrow and pray to Him, but God will not grant your petition and prayer tomorrow, for He has granted it in His eternity, before ever you became a man. But if your prayer is not sincere and in earnest, God will not deny it to you now, for He has denied it to you in His eternity.

 

And thus God has regarded all things in His first eternal glance, and God performs nothing afresh, for all has been performed in advance. Thus God ever stands in His immovable detachment, and yet the prayers and good works of people are not wasted, for he who does well will be rewarded, and he who does evil will reap accordingly. This is explained by St. Augustine in the fifth book of On the Trinity, in the last chapter thus: 'Deus autem, etc. ' which means, 'God forbid that anyone should say that God loves anyone in time, for with Him there is no past and no future, and He loved all the saints before the world was ever created, as He foresaw them. And when it comes to be that He displays in time what He has seen in eternity, then people think He has gained a new love for them; so too, when God is angry or does some good thing, it is we who are changed while He remains

unchanged, j ust as the sun's ray hurts a sick eye and delights a sound one, and yet the sunshine remains unchanged in itself.' Augustine also touches on the same idea in the twelfth book of On the Trinity in the fourth chapter, where he says, 'Nam Deus non ad tempus videt, nee aliquid fit novi in eius visione, ' 'God does not see in temporal fashion, and no new vision arises in Him.' In the same sense Isidore speaks in his book On the Highest Good, saying, 'Many people ask, What did God do before He created heaven and earth, or whence came the new will in God that He made creatures?' and he answers, 'No new will ever arose in God, for although a creature did not exist in itself (as it is now), yet it was before all time in God and in His reason.' God did not create heaven and earth as we (perishable beings) might say, 'let that be so! ' for all creatures were spoken in the Eternal Word. To this we can add what our Lord said to Moses when Moses said, " Lord, if Pharaoh asks me who you are, how am I to answer him ? " and the Lord said, " Say, 'He who IS has sent me" (Exod. 3 : 1 3 -1 4 ) . That is as much as to say, He who is immutable in Himself has sent me.

 

But someone might say, 'Was Christ in unmoved detachment when he said: " My soul is sorrowful even unto death" (Matt. 26: 3 8; Mark 1 4 : 34), and Mary when she stood before the cross? How is all this compatible with unmoved detachment?' Concerning this, you should know what the masters say, that in every man there are two kinds of man.? The one is called the outer man, that is, the life of the senses: this man is served by the five senses, though the outer man functions by the power of the soul. The other is called the inner man, that is, man's inward nature. You should understand that a spiritual man, who loves God, makes use of the powers of the soul in the outer man only to the extent that the five outer senses need it: the inward nature is not concerned with the five senses except insofar as it is a guide or ruler of those senses, guarding them so that they do not yield to sense objects in a bestial fashion, as some folk do who live for carnal pleasures like beasts unendowed with reason; such people should be termed beasts rather than men. And whatever powers the soul has over and above what it gives to the five senses are all devoted to the inner man. And when such a man perceives a noble or elevated object, the soul draws into itself all the powers it has granted to the five senses, and then that man is said to be insensible or entranced, for his object is an intelligible image or something intelligible without an image. But you should know that God requires of every spiritual man to love Him with all the powers of the soul. He says, " Love your God with all your heart" (Deut. 6 : 5; Matt. 22 : 3 7; Mark 1 2 : 3 0; Luke 1 0 :27). Now some people use up all the powers of the soul in the outer man. These are people who turn all their senses and their reason toward perishable goods, knowing nothing of the inner man.

 

You should know that the outer man can be active while the inner man is completely free of this activity and unmoved. Now Christ too had an outer man and an inner man, and so did our Lady, and whatever Christ and our Lady ever said about external things, they did so according to the outer man, but the inner man remained in unmoved detachment. Thus it was when Christ said, " My soul is sorrowful unto death," and whatever lamentations our Lady made, or whatever else she said, inwardly she was in a state of unmoved detachment. Here is an analogy: a door swings open and shuts on its hinge. I would compare the outer woodwork of the door to the

outer man, and the hinge to the inner man. When the door opens and shuts, the boards move back and forth, but the hinge stays in the same place and is never moved thereby. It is the same in this case, if you understand it rightly. Now I ask, 'What is the object of pure detachment? ' My answer is that the object of pure detachment is neither this nor that. It rests on absolutely nothing, and I will tell you why: pure detachment rests on the highest, and he is at his highest, in whom God can work all His will. But God cannot work all His will in all hearts, for, although God is almighty, He can only work where He finds readiness or creates it. I say 'creates it' on account of St. Paul, because in him God found no readiness, but made him ready by infusion of grace. And so I say God works according as He finds us ready. His working is different in a man and in a stone. Here is an example from nature. If you heat a baker's oven and put in it dough of oats, barley, rye, and wheat, there is only one heat in the oven, but it does not have the same effect on the different kinds of dough, for one turns into fine bread, the second coarser, and the third coarser still. And that is not the fault of the heat, it is due to the materials which are unlike. In the same way God does not work alike in all our hearts: He works as He finds readiness and receptivity. Now in whatever heart there is this or that, there may be something in 'this' or 'that' which God cannot bring to the highest peak. And so, if the heart is to be ready to receive the highest, it must rest on absolutely nothing, and in that lies the greatest potentiality which can exist. For when the detached heart rests on the highest, that can only be on nothing, since that has the greatest receptivity. Let us take an example from nature: if I want to write on a wax tablet, then anything written on that tablet already, however wonderful it may be, will prevent me from writing there; and if I want to write I must erase or destroy whatever is on the tablet, and the tablet is never so suitable for me to write on as when there is nothing on it. Similarly, if God is to write the highest on my heart, then everything called 'this and that' must be expunged from my heart, and then my heart stands in detachment. Then God can work the highest according to His supreme will. Therefore the object of a detached heart is neither this nor that.

 

Again I ask, 'What is the prayer of a detached heart? ' My answer is that detachment and purity cannot pray, for whoever prays wants God to grant him something, or else wants God to take something from him. But a detached heart desires nothing at all, nor has it anything it wants to get rid of. Therefore it is free of all prayers, or its prayer consists of nothing but being uniform with God. That is all its prayer. In this sense we can take St. Dionysius's comment on the saying of St. Paul, "There are many who run, but only one gains the crown " ( 1 Cor. 9 : 25 ) . All the powers of the soul compete for the crown but the essence alone can win it. Dionysius says the race is nothing but a turning away from all creatures and a union with the uncreated. And when the soul has got so far, it loses its name and is drawn into God, so that in itself it becomes nothing, j ust as the sun draws the dawn into itself and annihilates it. To this state nothing brings a man but pure detachment. To this we may add a saying of St. Augustine, 'The soul has a secret entrance to the divine nature, when all things become nothing for it.' On earth, this entrance is nothing but pure detachment, and when the detachment reaches its climax, it becomes ignorant with knowing, loveless with loving, and dark with enlightenment. Thus we may understand the words of a master, that the poor in spirit are they who have abandoned all things to God, j ust as He possessed them when we did not exist. None can do this but a pure, detached heart.

 

That God would rather be in a detached heart than in all other hearts, appears if you ask me, 'What does God seek in all things ? ' to which I answer from the Book of Wisdom, where He says, " In all things I seek rest" (Sir. 24: 1 1 ). But nowhere is perfect rest to be found but in a detached heart. That is why God prefers to be there rather than in other virtues or in anything else. You should know, too, that the more a man strives to be receptive to divine influence, the more blessed he is; and whoever can gain the highest readiness in this is in the highest state of blessedness. But none can make himself receptive to divine influence but by uniformity with God, for insofar as a man is uniform with God, to that extent he is receptive to the divine influence. But uniformity comes from man's subjecting himself to God, and the more a man is subject to creatures, the less he is uniform with God. Now the pure detached heart stands free of all creatures. Therefore it is totally subject to God, and therefore it is in the highest degree of uniformity with God, and is also the most receptive to divine influence. This was what St. Paul meant when he said, " Put on Christ, " meaning unformity with Christ, for this putting on can only take place through uniformity with Christ. You should know that when Christ became man, he took on, not a man, but human nature. Therefore, go out of all things and then there will remain only what Christ took on, and thus you will have put on Christ.

 

Whoever would know the nobility and profit of perfect detachment, let him note Christ's saying concerning his humanity, when he said to his disciples, "It is expedient for you that I should go away from you, for if I do not go away, the Holy Spirit cannot come to you" (John 1 6 : 7). This is just as if he had said, 'You rejoice too much in my present form, and therefore the perfect joy of the Holy Ghost cannot be yours.' So, leave all images and unite with the formless essence, for God's spiritual comfort is delicate; therefore He will not offer Himself to any but to him who scorns physical comforts.

 

Now take note, all who are sensible! No man is happier than he who has the greatest detachment. There can be no fleshly and physical comfort without some spiritual harm, for "the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh" (cf. Gal. 5 : 1 7) . Therefore, whoever in the flesh sows disorderly love reaps death, and whoever in the spirit sows ordered love, reaps from the spirit eternal life. Therefore, the quicker a man flees from the created, the quicker the Creator runs toward him. So, take note, all sensible men! Since the joy we might have from the physical form of Christ hinders us in receiving the Holy Ghost, how much more of a hindrance to gaining God is our inordinate delight in evanescent comforts! That is why detachment is best, for it purifies the soul, purges the conscience, kindles the heart, awakens the spirit, quickens the desire, makes us know God and, cutting off creatures, unites us with God.

 

Now take note, all who have good sense! The swiftest steed to bear you to His perfection is suffering, for none will enjoy greater eternal bliss than those who stand with Christ in the greatest bitterness. Nothing is more gall-bitter than suffering, nothing more honey-sweet than having suffered. Nothing disfigures the body before men like suffering, and nothing beautifies the soul before God like having suffered. The finest foundation on which this perfection can rest is humility. For whatever man's nature creeps here below in the deepest lowliness, that man's spirit will soar aloft to the heights of the Godhead, for j oy brings sorrow and sorrow joy. And so, whoever would attain perfect detachment should strive for perfect humility, and thus he will come to the neighborhood of God. That this may be all our lot, so help us the highest detachment, which is God Himself. Amen."

 

Meister Eckhart

The Way is like an empty vessel

That yet may be drawn from

Without ever needing to be filled.

It is like a deep pool that never dries.

It is bottomless: the very progenitor of all things in the world…

 

When you look at it you cannot see it;

It is called formless.

When you listen to it you cannot hear it;

It is called soundless.

When you try to seize it you cannot hold it;

it is called subtle.

No one can measure these three to their ultimate ends,

Therefore they are fused to one.

 

It is up, but it is not brightened;

It is down, but it is not obscured.

It stretches endlessly,

And no name is to be given.

It returns to nothingness.

It is called formless form, shapeless shape.

It is called the intangible.

You face it but you cannot see its front.

You follow it but you cannot see its back.

Holding on to the Ancient Way (Tao)

You control beings of today.

Thus you know the beginning of things,

Which is the essence of the Way.

 

(Laozi: Tao Te Ching)

 

Vajrasatva Mahaa Aakasha Pushti Nama Yogenii Tantra, rDo rJe Sems dPa' Nam mKha' Che rGyas Pa Shes Bya rNal 'Byor Ma'i rGyud

Vol: Kha P. 595 Line 3

 

In the Language of India:

 

Vajrasatva Mahaa Aakasha Pushti Nama Yogenii Tantra

 

In the Tibetan Language:

 

rDo rJe Sems dPa' Nam mKha' Che rGyas Pa Shes Bya rNal 'Byor Ma'i rGyud

  

I fold my hands to the One Who Transcends Dominion and Possession, the Glorious Bearer of The Stone of Transformation!

 

On one occasion I spoke out these words:

 

He who transcends dominion and possession, the true Master of all those who leave behind dominion and possession and conduct themselves accordingly, whose personal character is physical, vocal, and psychological, and who is Supreme Bliss (bDe ba'i mChog) was, naturally, engaging the Lotus of Great Bliss, his honored wife. He erected a crystal palace from the powerful waves of tremendous happiness, a happiness that comes from working towards happiness, for his honored wife. Its architecture and dimensions were beyond measure.

The entire audience entered [the crystal palace], including:

Vajra Maker of All Vision

Vajra Stability

Vajra Glory of Supreme Rarity [596]

Vajra Endless Life, and

Vajra Accomplishment Free From Demonic Consumption

Their Honored Wives:

Wide Eyes (Yangs pa'i sPyan)

Feminine Stability

She Who Splendors in Jewels

She Whose Life is Unending

She who's Accomplishments Are Free from Demonic Consumption

Furthermore, there were the Enlightened Ones of Strong Mind:

Heart of the Land

He with the Power of Transformation in His Hands

Heart of the Sky

Dominator of the World

Kind

Polite Voice

Cleanser of Darkness

Goodness in All Things

And Their Honored Wives:

Dancer

Flower Garland

Singer

Actress

Perfume Lady

Flower

Candle

Sweet Water

 

The Honored Tylers were:

Killer of the Lord of the Dead

Victory in All Things

He Who Takes the Lotus to the End

He Who Puts the Soup of Life on the Stove (Thab or Thabs?)

Their Honored Wives:

She Who Kills the Lord of the Dead

She Who Wins at Everything

She Who Takes the Lotus to the End

She Who Puts the Soup of Life on the Stove

 

An audience of those already mentioned, and many others, all came together there, with no disparity between any of them. What is more, they came together just like sesame seeds, filling the whole place.

Their light made the dominions of the world visible. It filled [the world]. It pervaded [the world]. Suddenly it was there, looking like a glowing shimmer. [597]

Then, from the waves of the power of that great happiness, which comes out of working for happiness, there emerged Grand Masters numbering three thousand great thousands. All the dominions of the world were shaken by their might (mThu). Very Shaken. Totally shaken. They were wiped out. Very much wiped out. Totally wiped out. Totally and completely wiped out. They were blasted. Very blasted. Totally blasted. They crackled. Crackled loudly. Crackled all up.

Then the periphery was equalized with the center. All living beings were brought into submission. They also used the power of prayer to bring all the many kinds of physical realities, the many kinds of speech, and the many kinds of psychological realities into submission.

Through physical submission one manifests oneself in the work and deeds of a human being. One is born, studies, does things that are difficult to do, turns the wheel of truth, and so on. There are also methods of submission by which one does the work and deeds of a lion or the work and deeds of an elephant.

Submission through speech is an act of submission in which divine beings use divine language and dragons use dragon language.

Psychological submission is the act of submitting in the shining light of absorption as well as through magical ritual. [598]

 

This is the First Chapter of The Vast Tantra of the Magnificent Sky: The True Character of All Those Who Travel through Reality. It is called "The Topic under Discussion."

 

II

Then He Who Leaves behind Dominion and Possession smoothly moved into the absorption of Great Happiness which comes out of working towards happiness. It is called "Generous Royalty." He smiled with his face to those in the audience.

Then all those who had left behind dominion and possession, travelers through reality, addressed, in a single voice, the Master of those who leave behind dominion and possessions, travelers through reality, with these words:

 

Aye Ma Oh!

O Supreme Master of physical, vocal, and psychological realities!

Allow us, through your compassion,

To utilize a physical writing implement

To retain the methodology of your wisdom!

 

Then the Master of those who have left behind dominion and possession, those who travel through reality, took on the body of Goodness in All Things. All the Travelers through Reality saw him as having three faces and six arms.

Then those Travelers Through Reality, including Maker of All Visions, made a very pure sacrifice, an offering of what is external, what is internal, and what is secret, to Goodness In All Things, The Master of all those who have left behind dominion and possession, who travel throughout reality. [599]

They held their hands together and said these words:

"We request that the Master of all those who have left behind dominion and possessions, those who travel through reality, perform for us the transmission of empowerment into the Secret Mandala, and after that turn the wheel of the truth for that which has no symbol!"

They said this.

The Master of all those who travel reality, who leave behind dominion and possessions, listened to this, and said: "So be it!"

 

He gave instruction with these words:

 

Aye Ma Oh!

All of you want to request this Tantra,

For it is difficult to understand!

Good! Good! O Great Enlightened Ones!

Good! Good! Listen with respect!

 

Then all those who travel through reality repeatedly folded their hands, their eyes full with the greatest joy. They addressed him with these words:

 

Aye Ma Oh!

O Buddha, What a Buddha!

Aye Ma Oh!

The Buddha's announcement is Good!

Aye Ma Oh!

We request that you,

The one who has left behind dominion and possessions,

Explain to us the Supreme Magnificent Enlightenment!

Aye Ma Oh!

We request you,

Most Direct One (gZu bo che),

To explain that supreme secret word that,

When properly applied,

Consolidates a strategy

For bringing about the Great Enlightenment of All Living Beings!

 

Then the Master of all travelers through reality, those who have left behind dominion and possessions, [600] gave instructions to all those who travel through reality with these words:

 

You, The Unsurpassed,

Wish to quickly acquire

The perfect Ati Yoga,

The strategy for bringing about

The enlightenment of living beings.

So listen!

I will give you an explanation.

 

Then the Master of all those who travel through reality, those who have left behind dominion and possessions, smoothly moved into the absorption that is called "The Bedazzling Stone of Transformation." He positioned the audience in a Secret Mandala. Then he performed the transmission of the empowerment. After that he explained the truth of it, from the very beginning:

 

Reality itself is the true identity of everything.

Everything has been worked out to make this real.

The strategy is to engender wisdom.

This cannot be seen through perspectives based on differentials.

The true identity of all things

Cannot be seen by anyone whosoever!

Even the Buddha cannot see it!

The wisdom of enlightenment has no visible abode!

This is the real reason it has no true identity!

Nothing brings a harvest of Nothing!

A duality of Something and Nothing does not exist!

This is called "The Inconceivable Center."

The only thing real about a true identity

Is that there is nothing whatsoever to say about it!

Anything that can be an object of sensory perception

Cannot be proven to exist!

The true identity of all things [601]

Has no beginning and no end.

It neither lasts nor does it stop.

It is not plural nor is it single.

It does not come nor does it go.

Speculation is pacified through recognition.

Respected intentions have no substance!

This cannot be perceived by the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind (yid)!

The attitude that one is perceptive is a deception!

True purity cannot be understood!

There are no superior attitudes with regard to Samsara and Nirvana.

When one dwells in the way things really are

Stability and instability are both fine.

When what is taken in and what is saved are clear,

There are no specifics or generalities,

No endings and no beginnings.

The unspeakable is completely inconceivable!

Words that are not written down are the best.

(Yi ge Med pa – This is the Title of key tractate in the Great Sky cycle)

If you give up on words

The delusions of the mind will stop!

 

This is the second chapter of the Vast Tantra of the Magnificent Sky, the true nature of all those who travel through reality. It is called "Dwelling in Reality,"

  

III

 

Then the Master of travelers through reality, those who have left behind dominion and possessions, considered the previous request that had been presented by the audience. He intentionally spoke out the following intentional statement:

 

The truth about dwelling in reality

Is that there is no peace

Through acquisition or rejection.

It is difficult to determine,

And difficult to teach. [601]

It stands apart from linguistic conventions.

The physical aspect of the Stone of Transformation

Is not a compound.

The physical aspect of the immutable (gyung drung sku)

Has no birth or death.

It is not compounded in tripartite temporality.

That which is called "This,"

Magnificent and permanent,

The light of all things,

Cannot be taught symbolically.

I myself am incapable of seeing it.

It is not something that can be directly perceived.

It pervades all things.

It is actually a treasure that does not decay.

The true identity of all things

Is none other than their true potential (stong pa nyid).

There is no differential or difference whatsoever

Between Samsara and Nirvana.

There is not even a single thing to distinguish these two.

Things like conglomerates (phung po), domains (khams),

and generative forces (skye mched)

Along with their interdependent origination,

Are nothing but potentialities.

Those who are born into the true reality,

Which is their own potential,

Cannot see it.

The true reality

Is therefore known as "Travelling Through Reality."

It is as if all things move through bliss.

You will not find it by looking anywhere else.

No one who looks for true purity

Will be able to see the purity.

Some of those who are blind

Have a great insight into this.

Those who cannot see Nirvana

Or the position of the Buddha

Instantly achieve genuine enlightenment

Through Lotus Wisdom (Padma'i Ye shes).

The true Master has a single identity

But appears in many different ways.

The Master of distorted designations

Deceives living beings,

As if he was sticking them into a trap.

The transcendence of dominion and possessions

Is a magnificent occurrence.

The minds of those who do not make conceptual designations

Remain clear,

For they leave behind dominion and possessions.

Just as every living being dwells in reality,

Every Buddha is his own true origin.

Living beings bring themselves into life.

This [life] does not come from anything else.

It is on account of their ignorant designations

That all sentient beings,

Beings that [already] have Buddha Hearts (sangs rgyas snying po),

Come to experience all kinds of sorrow,

Both subtle and gross.

.

 

The Bhaga,

Which is the domain of what is true

Is the real condition of all sentient beings.

This is the sky.

It pervades everything.

Those who do not see this

Do not see it.

It is a serious error for them to put shadows over it.

It is vast, tremendous, and profound in depth.

It is understood by the wise (she rab can).

That which comes from nowhere, goes nowhere.

It has nothing to do with coming and going.

The heart of pure intent

Will not be found,

No matter where one looks,

No matter how many approaches one takes.

Purity is unshadowed self awareness (rang rig).

 

There is no origin

To all those material things.

They are not pure;

They are complete fabrications.

There is no difference whatsoever

Between the real domain of truth

And the heart that turns away from it.

Reality is without attachment.

It is not born and does not die.

It cannot be imagined nor conceived of.

It is bliss.

 

This is the Third Chapter of The Vast Tantra of the Magnificent Sky, a realistic paradigm for all travelers through reality. It is called "Teachings on the Unchanging Truth."

 

IV

Then the Master of all travelers through reality, those who have left behind dominion and possessions, longed, most delightfully, to manifest his own greatness. The Master of both the corporeal and of wisdom proclaimed the following:

 

Even the Buddha does not see

The reality that pervades all things.

It is not available to direct awareness,

While it pervades all things.

This comprehensive Light

Is not a compound.

It is actually permanent.

It is the corpus of the Stone of Transformation.

This, from amongst all pure embodiments,

Is the supreme body.

The explanation of the truth

Is called "The Corpus of Truth."

This is clearly understood by means of

A grand self-generated wisdom.

 

The One with the Lotus (Pad ma can) has put together

A series of tactics

Involving an inclusive basis (kun gzhi) as essential elements.

The corpus of actual enlightenment is not conceptual.

How, then, is this perfect corpus put together?

The actualization of perfect enlightenment

Is instantaneously realized

Through the Wisdom of its own potential.

This is the Corpus of Truth.

There is no other.

The Magnificent Mandala of what is real [605]

Becomes evident by virtue of its waves of power.

Attitudes based on conventional intentions

Give birth to tactics that do not prevent apparitions.

The field that is a Mandala for the Stone of Transformation

Has it dawn with the true instructions on Mantra and Mudra.

 

The Corpus of Enjoyment,

Supreme in its interconnectedness,

Is stationed, with its symbol and allegories,

In the massive collections of Letter Wheels (yi ge 'khor lo).

 

The corpus of good deeds (bsod nams)

Maintains the purest wisdom

With the continuity of a river.

 

The Lord (mgon po), The Grand Master,

Turns the wheel of the stone of transformation.

He uses his tongue's powers to send forth

The turning of the wheel of truth.

There is interconnectedness between prayers

And the magnificent Aware Ones.

They appear in manifest embodiments

Throughout every domain in the world.

Utilizing impermanent things,

They demonstrate a way

To get from birth right up to Nirvana.

They bring everyone that has distorted ideas

Into the fields of those with Great Hearts.

Through the stages of the physical, the verbal, and the psychological,

They bring fulfillment to the lives of living beings.

 

This is the forth chapter of The Vast Tantra of the Magnificent Sky, a realistic paradigm for all travelers through reality. It is called "Teaching that the Master of the Harvest has a Physical nature along with his Wisdom." [606]

 

V

Then the Master of all travelers through reality, those who have left behind dominion and possessions, spoke out a strategy on the Mandalas of the corporeal, the vocal, and the psychological so that they should be realized.

 

The reality of any truth

Is not masculine, nor feminine, nor neuter.

There is something essential

About bringing in the harvest.

Do not talk about the various sorts of Mandalas!

They are made from shapes,

Which pervade all things.

The corpuses of truth and of perfect enjoyment,

Along with their innumerable manifest embodiments

Are dispersed [everywhere],

But are not elaborated upon.

That which is pure is not a potential.

It shows itself to every living being in the three spheres

[of Desire, Form, and Formlessness]

In a physical form that will be suitable

For the purpose of making them submit.

Potentialities cannot be removed from shapes.

 

The Masters,

Who are not spoken of,

Have the power to make them submit.

They send out all kinds of sounds and words

To control all kinds of conjectures.

I have taught the single transport (theg pa),

The dual transport, the triple transport,

The five transports, and inconceivable others. [607]

This was to prevent the separation of the center

From the periphery.

The purity of the Sonic Mandala

Is the inconceivable way that it spreads out everywhere.

There is something about the supreme Sonic Mandala

That makes the eighty four thousand bounteous worlds

Melt into Sonic Spaciousness.

 

He said this.

 

Then the entire Sonic Mandala melted into the spaciousness of truth, and became invisible.

Then he spoke on the Magnificent Mandala of the Heart.

 

The Mahamudra shines out

From the mudra of reality.

The clan of the real (de bzhin)

The clan of the Stone of Transformation (rdo rje)

And the clan of Precious Things (rin chen)

Blaze in the light of the Mahamudra!

Just like the blazing Udum flowers

That are sometimes found on lonely pathways.

You alone perceive all the Mandalas of Illusion.

For others, there is nothing there at all.

 

Thus he spoke.

 

Then all the Mandalas of the Heart were transformed beyond the imagination.

 

This is the fifth chapter of The Vast Tantra of the Magnificent Sky, a realistic paradigm for all travelers through reality. It is called "A Non-conceptual Teaching on the Physical, Vocal and Heart Mandalas." [608]

  

--

Peace on Earth

Translated by Christopher Wilkinson