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Confucius (551–479 BCE) is seen as the pre-eminent Chinese sage, and the most influential person in China’s great history. He is the embodiment of all that has come to be associated with the religion that grew up around his teachings. The development of Confucianism is seen to have occurred during a period known to scholars as “The Axial Age”. This was a time of significant moral and spiritual development for humanity. The term was first coined by Swiss philosopher and psychiatrist Karl Jaspers (1883-1969). In a nutshell Jaspers summed up “The Axial Age” starting with the Chinese masters:
“Confucius and Lao-Tse were living in China, all the schools of Chinese philosophy came into being, including those of Mo Ti, Chuang Tse, Lieh Tzu and a host of others; India produced the Upanishads and Buddha and, like China, ran the whole gamut of philosophical possibilities down to materialism, scepticism and nihilism; in Iran, Zarathustra taught a challenging view of the world as a struggle between good and evil; in Palestine the prophets made their appearance from Elijah by way of Isaiah and Jeremiah to Deutero-Isaiah; Greece witnessed the appearance of Homer, of the philosophers—Parmenides, Heraclitus and Plato,—of the tragedians, of Thucydides and Archimedes. Everything implied by these names developed during these few centuries almost simultaneously in China, India and the West."
— Karl Jaspers, "Origin and Goal of History", (p.2)
Confucius had no idea that his ideas would become so influential in Chinese history. He failed to convince the politicians of his own day to see the virtue in his teachings about respect and harmony. Moreover, he had to endure a life of considerable hardship, even poverty. But through it all he gained to himself some loyal followers who after his death collected his principal sayings and developed the rudiments of a philosophy that some consider almost a religion. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism
There is a very readable biography on Confucius by Meher McArthur published in 2010. And here is a nice little summary by Alain De Botton and his School of Life: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUhGRh4vdb8
There is a long documentary by Dan Snow including major interviews with scholars on “The Story of The Real Confucius”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaFDr11g4Rg
* We don't know what the real Confucius looked like, so this porcelain figure of a wise man from China can stand in for the sage.
Chennakesava temple was built on the banks of the Yagachi River in Belur, by the Hoysala Empire King Vishnuvardhana. Belur, which was an early Hoysala capital is in the Hassan district of Karnataka state, India. It is 40 km from Hassan city and 220 km from Bangalore. Chennakesava (lit, "handsome Kesava") is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Belur is well known for its marvelous temples built during the rule of the Hoysala dynasty. The temple complexes have been proposed to be listed under UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The ornate gopurams in the Chennakesava temple are attractive. When one enters the temple, one gets a feel of the grandeur of the Hoysalas. The sacrosanct platform of the temple has a golden horse along with the temple chariot. Lord Vishnu’s carrying the Garuda is at the entrance and faces the temple.
The temple structure has exclusive filigree gleams which shine like metal. The sculptures are well proportioned. Soapstone which is light greenish in colour has been used to create the Chennakesava temple. Smaller temples of Ranmaganayaki and Soumyanaki, the beloved of Lord Chennakesava lie within the temple premises. One gets to see temples of Anjaneya and Narasimha from here. The senior queen of King Vishnuvardhana, Shantaladevi who was a dance legend, built the Channigaraya temple.
The exterior of the temple is intricately carved. Mythological stories as well as stories from the Upanishads and Puranas are depicted here. Beadwork carvings can also be found in the temple art and architecture. Every piece of art work has been depicted very carefully and with skilled craftsmanship. The celestial nymphs or Madanikas are the other highlights of the temple’s beautiful art and architecture. The Madanikas are an epitome of the feminine form of Queen Shitladevi. The varied moods of the Madanikas are clearly depicted in the architecture.
The sculptures of Darpana Sundari, The Bhasma Mohini and the Huntress are some of the favourites. The royal dynasty’s emblem is the hallmark of the temple which is the major attraction on entering the temple and this is visible in every Hoysala temples. The chief deity, Kesava and Lord Krishna are worshipped here. The six foot tall, beautiful image of Lord Krishna installed at the sanctum looks marvellous.
seen from the east (south east) about 5km away from Tiruvannamalai.
I'll be off flickr for a while - thank you all for visits, comments, faves and your love and support!! :-)
There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth,
beyond us all, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in our heart.
The Upanishads
May the auspicious festival of lights illuminate your life with happiness and prosperity!
I made this Rangoli in like 15 mins (which is super fast by my standards). Had some last minute shopping to do and got back home late but didn't feel like breaking my tradition (of making Rangoli on every Diwali LOL). So decided to make this small and simple Om Rangoli.
You can check out my previous Rangolis here, here and here
For those not familiar, Om or Aum, written in Devanāgari as ॐ and as ओम्, in Sanskrit known as praṇava प्रणव (lit. "to sound out loudly"), Omkara, or Auṃkāra, is a sacred/mystical syllable in the Dharmic or Indian religions, i.e. Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. The Māndukya Upanishad is entirely devoted to the explanation of the syllable. The syllable consists of three phonemes, a Vaishvanara,u Hiranyagarbha and m Iswara, which symbolize the beginning, duration, and dissolution of the universe and the associated gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, respectively.
A very dear friend of mine is getting married. I will be away this weekend to attend her wedding. Will be back on Monday. :o)
"The Yogi is greater than the ascetics; he is thought greater than even men of knowledge.
The Yogi is greater than men of action.
Therefore, O Arjuna, be a Yogi."
(From the Gita, Upanishad, the Ordinance of Yoga, the discourse between Krishna and Arjuna)
A yogi (Sanskrit, feminine root: yogini) is a term for a male practitioner of various forms of the path of Yoga, maintaining a steadfast mind, the process of transcending the lower self through daily practices.
This word is often used to describe a monk or a householder who is devoted to meditation.
The Shiva-Samhita text defines the yogi as someone who knows that the entire cosmos is situated within his own body, and the Yoga-Shikha-Upanishad distinguishes two kinds of yogins: those who pierce through the "sun" (surya) by means of the various yogic techniques and those who access the door of the central conduit (sushumna-nadi) and drink the nectar.
This Yogi who seems to be ageless was in a little house with opened walls which is near river Ganga in Varanasi (Benaras).
It was three days ago as I was rooming around the ghats with my friends Rajesh, Eloise and Prabhat.
Then we took pictures of the same subjects but it is interesting to see how different our styles can be in our photostreams.
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'Even as a man who is asleep awakes, but when he is asleep does not know that he is going to awake, so a part of the subtle invisible Spirit comes as a messenger to the body without the body being conscious of his arrival.
A part of Infinite consciousness becomes our own finite consciousness with powers of discrimination and definition, and with false conceptions. He is in truth Prajapati and Visva, the Source of creation and the Universal in us all.
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad
Fallen man, and thus the average man, is as it were poisoned by the passional element, either grossly or subtly; from this results an obscuring of the Intellect and the necessity of a Revelation coming from the outside. Remove the passional element from the soul and the intelligence (remove "the rust from the mirror" or "from the heart") and the Intellect will be released; it will reveal from within what religion reveals from without.
This brings us to an important point: in order to make itself understood by souls impregnated with passion, religion must itself adopt a so to speak passional language, whence dogmatism, which excludes, and moralism, which schematizes; if the average man or collective man were not passional, Revelation would speak the language of the Intellect and there would be no exoterism, nor for that matter esoterism considered as an occult complement.
There are here three possibilities: firstly, men dominate the passional element, everyone lives spiritually by his inward Revelation; this is the golden age, in which everyone is born
an initiate.
Second possibility: men are affected by the passional element to the point of forgetting certain aspects of the Truth, whence the necessity - or the opportuneness - of Revelations that while being outward are metaphysical in spirit, such as the Upanishads.
Thirdly: the majority of men are dominated by passions, whence the formalistic, exclusive and combative religions, which communicate to them on the one hand the means of channelling the passional element with a view to salvation, and on the other hand the means of overcoming it in view of the total Truth, and of thereby transcending the religious formalism which veils it while suggesting it in an indirect manner. Religious revelation is both a veil of light and a light veiled.
---
Esoterism as Principle and as Way by Frithjof Schuon
The prone resting Devil of Indian mythology often hectored as Narkasur, meaning a demon or Asur from Hell has to look ugly, uncouth and detestable.
So if you do not identify with the aesthetics of this gentleman here, the job is well done :)
Rooted in mythological tales of Gods, their avatars and the battles of glorification, the dark skinned inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent were portrayed negatively in the historical records of the invading fair skinned Asian Aryans.
Narakasur quite like another such tale which involves Durga, was mighty and blessed with a boon of immortality. during his battle exploits he kidnapped 16000 fair maidens from Heaven and subsequent thereto Krishna, the Avatar of Vishnu had to be brought into the picture. Like all such tales, Narakasur lost his head and his empire to Krishna.
Narakasur before his death expressed a wish that everyone should celebrate his death with colorful light.
So that is what they do in Goa around Diwali time. Raucous loud music, flashing strobes and lights, ugly steel and fibreglass, cardboad material go into making large replicas and the whole of Goa is held ransom to youthful exuberance and assault on the ear drums.
_DSC5809 nef
‘’Le Soi n’est accessible ni par l’étude ni par l’intelligence,
ni grâce aux commentaires entendus.
C’est par le simple fait qu’on y aspire, qu’on y parvient.
Le Soi, dans l’homme éclairé, révèle sa propre réalité ‘’
Mundaka Upanishad
* * *
Chennakesava temple was built on the banks of the Yagachi River in Belur, by the Hoysala Empire King Vishnuvardhana. Belur, which was an early Hoysala capital is in the Hassan district of Karnataka state, India. It is 40 km from Hassan city and 220 km from Bangalore. Chennakesava (lit, "handsome Kesava") is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Belur is well known for its marvelous temples built during the rule of the Hoysala dynasty. The temple complexes have been proposed to be listed under UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The ornate gopurams in the Chennakesava temple are attractive. When one enters the temple, one gets a feel of the grandeur of the Hoysalas. The sacrosanct platform of the temple has a golden horse along with the temple chariot. Lord Vishnu’s carrying the Garuda is at the entrance and faces the temple.
The temple structure has exclusive filigree gleams which shine like metal. The sculptures are well proportioned. Soapstone which is light greenish in colour has been used to create the Chennakesava temple. Smaller temples of Ranmaganayaki and Soumyanaki, the beloved of Lord Chennakesava lie within the temple premises. One gets to see temples of Anjaneya and Narasimha from here. The senior queen of King Vishnuvardhana, Shantaladevi who was a dance legend, built the Channigaraya temple.
The exterior of the temple is intricately carved. Mythological stories as well as stories from the Upanishads and Puranas are depicted here. Beadwork carvings can also be found in the temple art and architecture. Every piece of art work has been depicted very carefully and with skilled craftsmanship. The celestial nymphs or Madanikas are the other highlights of the temple’s beautiful art and architecture. The Madanikas are an epitome of the feminine form of Queen Shitladevi. The varied moods of the Madanikas are clearly depicted in the architecture.
The sculptures of Darpana Sundari, The Bhasma Mohini and the Huntress are some of the favourites. The royal dynasty’s emblem is the hallmark of the temple which is the major attraction on entering the temple and this is visible in every Hoysala temples. The chief deity, Kesava and Lord Krishna are worshipped here. The six foot tall, beautiful image of Lord Krishna installed at the sanctum looks marvellous.
"You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your deep, driving desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny."
- Upanishads
"When the will is ready the feet are light."
- Proverb
WOW another testimonial, you leave me speachless, thank you www.flickr.com/photos/zkeeper/ this picture is dedicated to you for your touching and beautiful words!
Check out the stream, very cool!!!!!!!
Thank you, Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chakra (derived from the Sanskrit cakraṃ चक्रं, Phonetic pronunciation "chukr", Pali: chakka, Tibetan: khorlo, Malay: cakera) is a Sanskrit word that translates as wheel or disc. Chakra is a concept referring to wheel-like vortices which, according to traditional Indian medicine, are believed to exist in the surface of the etheric double of man.[1] The Chakras are said to be "force centers" or whorls of energy permeating, from a point on the physical body, the layers of the subtle bodies in an ever-increasing fan-shaped formation (the fans make the shape of a love heart). Rotating vortices of subtle matter, they are considered the focal points for the reception and transmission of energies.[2] Seven major chakras or energy centers (also understood as wheels of light) are generally believed to exist, located within the subtle body. Adherents of Hindu and New Age tradition believe the chakras interact with the body's ductless endocrine glands and lymphatic system by feeding in good bio-energies and disposing of unwanted bio-energies.[3]
There is a wide range of literature on the history and philosophy of chakras and, beside the traditional Indian spiritual practices and religions, the concept of chakras have become popular in Western culture with new-age religion and medical practitioners[citation needed]. Much of the original information on Chakras comes from the "Upanishads", which are difficult to date because they are believed to have been passed down orally for approximately a thousand years before being written down for the first time between 1200-900 BCE.
From: wikipedia
“YE young debaters over the doctrine
Of the soul's immortality
I who lie here was the village atheist,
Talkative, contentious, versed in the arguments
Of the infidels. But through a long sickness
Coughing myself to death I read the
Upanishads and the poetry of Jesus.
And they lighted a torch of hope and intuition
And desire which the Shadow
Leading me swiftly through the caverns of darkness,
Could not extinguish.
Listen to me, ye who live in the senses
And think through the senses only:
Immortality is not a gift,
Immortality is an achievement;
And only those who strive mightily
Shall possess it.”
Passi di: Edgar Lee Masters. “Spoon River Anthology”. iBooks.
“Shining through all sense-attributes, entirely distinct from all the senses; unattached yet supporting all; attributeless yet sustaining attributes”.
(“The Yoga of Wisdom about Nature and Presiding Being” from the Upanishad of the Glorious Divine Lay, in the Gita)
Those women from South India are pilgrims who came to Varanasi (Benaras) in order to sacrifice their hair.
Along the holy waters of the Ganges men usualy shave their heads at the time of a bereavement but a few women and men also do it as a sign of devotion.
Such as those ladies who were among a group of people, they were happy, I could see joy in their eyes and many smiles whenever they were feeling and touching their new bold skin.
By chance I get such a composition with those two faces which are almost making one and those warm colours of holiness.
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June 27 - from a distance (30 day image challenge)
"The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe.
The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars.
Fire and lightening and winds are there, and all that now is and all that is not."
—The Upanishads
Please don't use any of my images on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit written permission. © All rights reserved
Varanasi is a sacred and oldest city of the world located at the banks of the holy River Ganges. Where, Ganga aarti is performed daily in the evening by a group of priests at the Dashashwamedh ghat. Through the aarti, Agni Pooja is performed in which a commitment is made to the Lord Shiva, Mata Gange, Surya, Agni (Fire) as well as the whole universe made by the Lord Shiva. On some special occasions, religious festivals and second day of the week means Tuesdays, a particular type of aarti is held at this ghat.
Ganga aarti is the magnificent event during evening in the Varanasi that one must not miss to see it. It makes us to experience the great feelings while Ganga aarti become in process. This beautiful ritual makes every moment of the evening period special and fills with the spiritual thoughts. It is performed by the brass lamps which accompanied with the mantra chant in the presence of the huge crowd.
All the priests who have to perform the aarti, wear same cloth, the dhoti and kurta which is tightly bind with a long towel. First they make preparation of the Ganga aarti by making collection of the five elevated planks, a multi tiered oil lamp, an idol of the Goddess Ganga, flowers, incense sticks, a conch shell, a big and heavy brass lamp having a snake hood at the edge of the River Ganges. A group of boats filled with devotees come around the place of aarti at the bank of River. They are very eager to see the event; some of them take live video, photos as well. Ritual of the Ganga aarti is performed by the students of the Vedas and Upanishads which is lead by the head priest of the Gangotri Seva Samiti. The whole event takes around 45 minutes.
Timing of Ganga Aarti :
Ganga aarti takes place at 6.45 PM in the evening after the sunset for around 45 minutes at the Dashashwamedh ghat in the Varanasi. Devotees have started to come to see the Ganga aarti at least one hour before.
A group of young priests starts aarti in a well organized manner by having a lighting lamp in their hand, start a rhythmic chant of mantras. An announcement at 7.00 pm indicates the beginning of the aarti. Music starts by someone and priests involving in the aarti stood up to begin the Ganga aarti. Devotees at present make clapping together with the chanting of the mantras. Priests blown the conch shells in between the aarti very loudly and aarti continues with the incense sticks. After completing the mantras, priests do aarti with the multi-tiered brass lamps having firing camphor or kapoor. Ganga aarti ends up with the final aarti and after that the environment become very silent.
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I had planned to go out and shoot today. On account of some flash floods out here in the Mojave Desert, I'm posting another never-seen photo from the archives.
While it's nice to sit down in an air conditioned restaurant and have beer in a chilled glass, garlic mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables, sometimes it's also good to see someplace that looks about the same as when John Wesley Powell first saw it. There's a blank spot on the map. What's out there? Range cattle? A territorial Scrub Jay? The wind blowing through your hair? The mystery is solved around the next bend. Imagine hours of crackling rocks under traction tires. The suspension parts groan and the tires claw at loose soil.
Before leaving town, I stopped and spoke with one of the locals, mentioning the name of a point on the map that I wanted to visit. He had been all over the area. "I wouldn't try going out there," he counseled. "That road is very bad." So I picked a less ambitious route. The further I went, the narrower the road got. At one point, the road became a tunnel through Pinion Pines paved with red powder about six- or eight-inches deep. The pines were pruned with the blunt edges of Chevy Suburbans. Three hours after I had started, I reached a high point where the view opened out to a panorama with clear view to the horizon.
When, before a sunset or a mountain — in the beauty of this or that — you pause and say, 'ah': that is participation in divinity.
— Upanishads
Journalism grade image.
Source: 4200x2800 16-bit TIF file.
Please do not copy this image for any purpose.
There is a bridge between time and eternity; and this bridge is Atman, the spirit of man. Neither day or night cross the bridge, nor old age, nor death nor sorrow.
Evil or sin cannot cross the bridge, because the world of the spirit is pure. This is why when this bridge has been crossed, the eyes of the blind can see, the wounds of the wounded are healed, and the sick man becomes whole from his sickness.
To one who goes over the bridge, the night becomes like unto day; because because in the worlds of the spirit there is light everlasting.
Upanishads
“If the splendour of a thousand suns were to appear together on the sky, it would be a splendour of that Great Self”.
(“The Yoga of the Vision of the Universal Form” from the Upanishad of the Glorious Divine Lay, in the Gita)
This is one of my favorite spot in Varanasi (Benaras).
From that place you can see the Ganges and all the ghats till Assi on the right and to the other end of the city on the left.
In summers monsoon floods are covering it all.
This place shows the beauty of the oldest living city in the world, it allows to see how people live there, what they are doing.
Here everything becomes timeless and gives a glance of what Eternity is...
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Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
+++++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA +++++++
Nepal (English: /nɪˈpɔːl/;[19] Nepali: नेपाल [nepal]), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal,[20] is a sovereign country in South Asia. It is mainly in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is the 49th largest country by population and 93rd largest country by area. It is landlocked and borders Tibet in the north and India in the south, east and west, while Bangladesh is located only 27 km (17 mi) from its southeastern tip and Bhutan is separated from it by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multiethnic country, with Nepali as the official language.
The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture.
By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy.
The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms Nepal as a secular federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. It remains the only multi-party, fully democratic nation in the world currently ruled by a communist party. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and the People's Republic of China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a founding member. Nepal is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. The military of Nepal is the fifth largest in South Asia; it is notable for its Gurkha history, particularly during the world wars, and has been a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Etymology
Before the unification of Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley was known as Nepal.[a] The precise origin of the term Nepāl is uncertain. Nepal appears in ancient Indian literary texts dated as far back as the fourth century BC. However, an absolute chronology can not be established, as even the oldest texts may contain anonymous contributions dating as late as the early modern period. Academic attempts to provide a plausible theory are hindered by the lack of a complete picture of history and insufficient understanding of linguistics or relevant Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman languages.[22]
According to Hindu mythology, Nepal derives its name from an ancient Hindu sage called Ne, referred to variously as Ne Muni or Nemi. According to Pashupati Purāna, as a place protected by Ne, the country in the heart of the Himalayas came to be known as Nepāl.[b] According to Nepāl Mahātmya,[c] Nemi was charged with protection of the country by Pashupati.[23] According to Buddhist mythology, Manjushri Bodhisattva drained a primordial lake of serpents to create the Nepal valley and proclaimed that Adi-Buddha Ne would take care of the community that would settle it. As the cherished of Ne, the valley would be called Nepāl.[24] According to Gopalarājvamshāvali, the genealogy of ancient Gopala dynasty compiled circa 1380s, Nepal is named after Nepa the cowherd, the founder of the Nepali scion of the Abhiras. In this account, the cow that issued milk to the spot, at which Nepa discovered the Jyotirlinga of Pashupatināth upon investigation, was also named Ne.
Norwegian indologist Christian Lassen had proposed that Nepāla was a compound of Nipa (foot of a mountain) and -ala (short suffix for alaya meaning abode), and so Nepāla meant "abode at the foot of the mountain". He considered Ne Muni to be a fabrication.[25] Indologist Sylvain Levi found Lassen's theory untenable but had no theories of his own, only suggesting that either Newara is a vulgarism of sanskritic Nepala, or Nepala is Sanskritization of the local ethnic;[26] his view has found some support though it does not answer the question of etymology.[27][28][29][22] It has also been proposed that Nepa is a Tibeto-Burman stem consisting of Ne (cattle) and Pa (keeper), reflecting the fact that early inhabitants of the valley were Gopalas (cowherds) and Mahispalas (buffalo-herds).[22] Suniti Kumar Chatterji believed Nepal originated from Tibeto-Burman roots – Ne, of uncertain meaning (as multiple possibilities exist), and pala or bal, whose meaning is lost entirely.
History
Ancient Nepal
The painting depicts Gautam Buddha taking seven steps immediately after birth; seven lotuses mark his steps. His mother, Maya, watches over him while grabbing on a Sal tree branch for support, gods and angels celebrate the occasion by showering flowers and playing music.
By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved.[31][32][33] The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[34] The oldest discovered archaeological evidence of human settlements in Nepal dates to around the same time.
After 6500 BC, evidence for the domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and other sites in what is now Balochistan.[36] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilization,[37][36] the first urban culture in South Asia.[38] Prehistoric sites of palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic origins have been discovered in the Siwalik hills of Dang district.[39] The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the Indus Valley Civilization. It is possible that the Dravidian people whose history predates the onset of the Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent (around 6300 BC) inhabited the area before the arrival of other ethnic groups like the Tibeto-Burmans and Indo-Aryans from across the border.[40] By 4000 BC, the Tibeto-Burmese people had reached Nepal either directly across the Himalayas from Tibet or via Myanmar and north-east India or both.[41] Another possibility for the first people to have inhabited Nepal are the Kusunda people. According to Hogdson (1847), the earliest inhabitants of Nepal were perhaps the Kusunda people, probably of proto-Australoid origin.[42] Stella Kramrisch (1964) mentions a substratum of a race of pre-Dravidians and Dravidians, who were in Nepal even before the Newars, who formed the majority of the ancient inhabitants of the valley of Kathmandu.
By the late Vedic period, Nepal was being mentioned in various Hindu texts, such as the late Vedic Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa and in the post-Vedic Atharvashirsha Upanishad.[44] The Gopal Bansa was the oldest dynasty to be mentioned in various texts as the earliest rulers of the central Himalayan kingdom known by the name 'Nepal'.[45] The Gopalas were followed by Kiratas who ruled for over 16 centuries by some accounts.[46] According to the Mahabharata, the then Kirata king went to take part in the Battle of Kurukshetra. In the south-eastern region, Janakpurdham was the capital of the prosperous kingdom of Videha or Mithila, that extended down to the Ganges, and home to King Janaka and his daughter, Sita.
Changu Narayan Temple is one of the oldest temples in Nepal. This two-storied pagoda, rebuilt c. 1700 AD, showcases exquisite woodcraft in every piece of its timber, probably the finest in Nepal.
In the premises of the Changu Narayan Temple, is a stone inscription dated 464 AD, the first in Nepal since the Ashoka inscription of Lumbini (c. 250 BC).
Around 600 BC, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the southern regions of Nepal. From one of these, the Shakya polity, arose a prince who later renounced his status to lead an ascetic life, founded Buddhism, and came to be known as Gautama Buddha (traditionally dated 563–483 BC).[47] Nepal came to be established as a land of spirituality and refuge in the intervening centuries, played an important role in transmitting Buddhism to East Asia via Tibet,[48] and helped preserve Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts.
By 250 BC, the southern regions had come under the influence of the Maurya Empire. Emperor Ashoka made a pilgrimage to Lumbini and erected a pillar at Buddha's birthplace, the inscriptions on which mark the starting point for properly recorded history of Nepal.[49] Ashoka also visited the Kathmandu valley and built monuments commemorating Gautam Buddha's visit there. By the 4th century AD, much of Nepal was under the influence of the Gupta Empire.
In the Kathmandu valley, the Kiratas were pushed eastward by the Lichchhavis, and the Lichchhavi dynasty came into power c. 400 AD. The Lichchhavis built monuments and left a series of inscriptions; Nepal's history of the period is pieced together almost entirely from them.
In 641, Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire sends Narendradeva back to Licchavi with an army and subjugates Nepal. Parts of Nepal and Licchavi was later under the direct influences of the Tibetan empire.
The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late 8th century and was followed by a Thakuri rule. Thakuri kings ruled over the country up to the middle of the 11th century AD; not much is known of this period that is often called the dark period.
Geography
Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, about 800 kilometres (500 mi) long and 200 kilometres (120 mi) wide, with an area of 147,516 km2 (56,956 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 26° and 31°N, and longitudes 80° and 89°E. Nepal's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east.[78] Simultaneously, the vast Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian plate.[78] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas.[78] The rising barriers blocked the paths of rivers creating large lakes, which only broke through as late as 100,000 years ago, creating fertile valleys in the middle hills like the Kathmandu Valley. In the western region, rivers which were too strong to be hampered, cut some of the world's deepest gorges.[79] Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[80] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[81] Nepal lies almost completely within this collision zone, occupying the central sector of the Himalayan arc, nearly one-third of the 2,400 km (1,500 mi)-long Himalayas, with a small strip of southernmost Nepal stretching into the Indo-Gangetic plain and two districts in the northwest stretching up to the Tibetan plateau.
Mount Everest, the highest peak on earth, lies on the Nepal-China border.
Nepal is divided into three principal physiographic belts known as Himal-Pahad-Terai.[e] Himal is the mountain region containing snow and situated in the Great Himalayan Range; it makes up the northern part of Nepal. It contains the highest elevations in the world including 8,848.86 metres (29,032 ft) height Mount Everest (Sagarmāthā in Nepali) on the border with China. Seven other of the world's "eight-thousanders" are in Nepal or on its border with Tibet: Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu. Pahad is the mountain region that does not generally contain snow. The mountains vary from 800 to 4,000 metres (2,600 to 13,100 ft) in altitude, with progression from subtropical climates below 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) to alpine climates above 3,600 metres (11,800 ft). The Lower Himalayan Range, reaching 1,500 to 3,000 metres (4,900 to 9,800 ft), is the southern limit of this region, with subtropical river valleys and "hills" alternating to the north of this range. Population density is high in valleys but notably less above 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and very low above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), where snow occasionally falls in winter. The southern lowland plains or Terai bordering India are part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Terai is the lowland region containing some hill ranges. The plains were formed and are fed by three major Himalayan rivers: the Koshi, the Narayani, and the Karnali as well as smaller rivers rising below the permanent snowline. This region has a subtropical to tropical climate. The outermost range of the foothills called Sivalik Hills or Churia Range, cresting at 700 to 1,000 metres (2,300 to 3,280 ft), marks the limits of the Gangetic Plain; however broad, low valleys called Inner Terai Valleys (Bhitri Tarai Upatyaka) lie north of these foothills in several places.
Köppen climate classification for Nepal
The Indian plate continues to move north relative to Asia at about 50 mm (2.0 in) per year.[88] This makes Nepal an earthquake prone-zone, and periodic earthquakes that have devastating consequences present a significant hurdle to development. Erosion of the Himalayas is a very important source of sediment, which flows to the Indian Ocean.[89] Saptakoshi, in particular, carries a huge amount of silt out of Nepal but sees extreme drop in Gradient in Bihar, causing severe floods and course changes, and is, therefore, known as the sorrow of Bihar. Severe flooding and landslides cause deaths and disease, destroy farmlands and cripple the transport infrastructure of the country, during the monsoon season each year.
Nepal has five climatic zones, broadly corresponding to the altitudes. The tropical and subtropical zones lie below 1,200 metres (3,900 ft), the temperate zone 1,200 to 2,400 metres (3,900 to 7,900 ft), the cold zone 2,400 to 3,600 metres (7,900 to 11,800 ft), the subarctic zone 3,600 to 4,400 metres (11,800 to 14,400 ft), and the Arctic zone above 4,400 metres (14,400 ft). Nepal experiences five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, winter and spring. The Himalayas block cold winds from Central Asia in the winter and form the northern limits of the monsoon wind patterns.
Biodiversity
Nepal contains a disproportionately large diversity of plants and animals, relative to its size.[91][92] Nepal, in its entirety, forms the western portion of the eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot, with notable biocultural diversity.[93] The dramatic differences in elevation found in Nepal (60 m from sea level in the Terai plains, to 8,848 m Mount Everest)[94] result in a variety of biomes.[91] The Eastern half of Nepal is richer in biodiversity as it receives more rain, compared to western parts, where arctic desert-type conditions are more common at higher elevations.[92] Nepal is a habitat for 4.0% of all mammal species, 8.9% of bird species, 1.0% of reptile species, 2.5% of amphibian species, 1.9% of fish species, 3.7% of butterfly species, 0.5% of moth species and 0.4% of spider species.[92] In its 35 forest-types and 118 ecosystems,[91][f] Nepal harbours 2% of the flowering plant species, 3% of pteridophytes and 6% of bryophytes.
Nepal's forest cover is 59,624 km2 (23,021 sq mi), 40.36% of the country's total land area, with an additional 4.38% of scrubland, for a total forested area of 44.74%, an increase of 5% since the turn of the millennium.[95] The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.23/10, ranking it 45th globally out of 172 countries.[96] In the southern plains, Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion contains some of the world's tallest grasses as well as Sal forests, tropical evergreen forests and tropical riverine deciduous forests.[97] In the lower hills (700 m – 2,000 m), subtropical and temperate deciduous mixed forests containing mostly Sal (in the lower altitudes), Chilaune and Katus, as well as subtropical pine forest dominated by Chir Pine are common. The middle hills (2,000 m – 3,000 m) are dominated by Oak and Rhododendron. Subalpine coniferous forests cover the 3,000 m to 3,500 m range, dominated by Oak (particularly in the west), Eastern Himalayan fir, Himalayan pine and Himalayan hemlock; Rhododendron is common as well. Above 3,500 m in the west and 4,000 m in the east, coniferous trees give way to Rhododendron-dominated alpine shrubs and meadows.
The greater one-horned rhinoceros roams the sub-tropical grasslands of the Terai plains.
Among the notable trees, are the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in traditional herbal medicine,[98] and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepal,[99] which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,[100] and under which Gautam Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.
Most of the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest of the lower Himalayan region is descended from the Tethyan Tertiary flora.[102] As the Indian Plate collided with Eurasia forming and raising the Himalayas, the arid and semi-arid Mediterranean flora was pushed up and adapted to the more alpine climate over the next 40–50 million years.[102][103] The Himalayan biodiversity hotspot was the site of mass exchange and intermingling of the Indian and Eurasian species in the neogene.[104] One mammal species (Himalayan field mouse), two each of bird and reptile species, nine amphibia, eight fish and 29 butterfly species are endemic to Nepal.[92][g]
Himalayan monal (Danphe), the national bird of Nepal,[106] nests high in the himalayas.
Nepal contains 107 IUCN-designated threatened species, 88 of them animal species, 18 plant species and one species of "fungi or protist" group.[107] These include the endangered Bengal tiger, the Red panda, the Asiatic elephant, the Himalayan musk deer, the Wild water buffalo and the South Asian river dolphin,[108] as well as the critically endangered Gharial, the Bengal florican,[91][109] and the White-rumped Vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.[110] The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Nepali wildlife. In response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1973 with the enactment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973,[111] was substantially expanded. Vulture restaurants[92] coupled with a ban on veterinary usage of diclofenac has seen a rise in the number of white-rumped vultures.[112][110] The community forestry program which has seen a third of the country's population directly participate in managing a quarter of the total forested area has helped the local economies while reducing human-wildlife conflict.[113][114] The breeding programmes[115] coupled with community-assisted military patrols,[116] and a crackdown on poaching and smuggling, has seen poaching of critically endangered tigers and elephants as well as vulnerable rhinos, among others, go down to effectively zero, and their numbers have steadily increased.[117] Nepal has ten national parks, three wildlife reserves, one hunting reserve, three Conservation Areas and eleven buffer zones, covering a total area of 28,959.67 km2 (11,181.39 sq mi), or 19.67% of the total land area,[118] while ten wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.
Politics and government
Politics
Nepal is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system.[120] It has three political parties recognised in the federal parliament: Nepal Communist Party (NCP), Nepali Congress (NC),[120] and Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal (JSPN).[120] Of the two major parties both of which officially espouse democratic socialism, NCP is considered leftist while Nepali Congress is considered centrist.[121] During most of the brief periods of democratic exercise in the 1950s and the 1990s, Nepali Congress held majority of seats in parliament; CPN (UML) was its competitor in the 1990s.[122] After the Maoists entered the political process in 2006, they emerged as the third largest party.[123] In the aftermath of the 2017 elections, the first one according to the new constitution, NCP, formed by the merger of CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre) has become the ruling party at the federal level and in six out of seven provinces.[124] The Madhesi coalition, comprising Samajbadi Party, Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party, Nepal, which later merged to form JSPN, formed the provincial government in Province No. 2, though it has negligible presence in the rest of the country.[125][126][127] Though Nepali Congress has a significantly reduced representation, it is the only major opposition to the ruling communist party in all levels of government.
In the 1930s, a vibrant underground political movement arose in the capital, birthing Nepal Praja Parishad in 1936,[129] which was dissolved seven years later, following the execution of the four great martyrs. Around the same time, Nepalis involved in the Indian independence movement started organizing into political parties, leading to the birth of Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal.[130] As communism was trying to find its footing, Nepali Congress was successful in overthrowing the Rana regime in 1951 and enjoyed the overwhelming support of the electorate.[131] In the partyless Panchayat system initiated in 1962 by King Mahendra, monarchy loyalists took turns leading the government; political leaders remained underground, exiled or in prison.[129] A communist insurgency was crushed in its cradle in the 1970s, which led to the eventual coalescence of hitherto scattered communist factions under the United Left Front.
After the joint civil resistance launched by the United Left Front and Nepali Congress overthrew the Panchayat in 1990,[131][132] the Front became CPN (UML), adopted multi-party democracy, and in the brief period, it was in government, introduced welfare programs that remain popular.[122] After the Maoist Party joined mainstream politics, in the aftermath of the peaceful revolution of 2006, it also adopted multi-party democracy as its official line. The transition period between 2006 and 2015 saw sustained protests from the newly formed ethnocentric nationalist movements, principal among them the Madhes Movement. RJPN and SPN advocating equal rights and self-governance for the Madhesi people became major political parties in the Terai, Province No. 2 in particular.
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Ganesh Chaturthi (IAST: Gaṇēśa Chaturthī), also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi (Vināyaka Chaturthī) or Vinayaka Chavithi (Vināyaka Chavithī) is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Ganesha.[2] A ten-day festival, it starts on the fourth day of Hindu Lunisolar calendar month Bhadrapada, which typically falls in the months of August or September of the Gregorian calendar. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha clay idols privately in homes, or publicly on elaborate pandals (temporary stages). Observations include chanting of Vedic hymns and Hindu texts such as Ganapati Upanishad, prayers and vrata (fasting).[2] Offerings and prasadam from the daily prayers, that is distributed from the pandal to the community, include sweets such as modaka believed to be a favorite of the elephant-headed deity.[3][4] The festival ends on the tenth day after start, wherein the idol is carried in a public procession with music and group chanting, then immersed in a nearby body of water such as a river or ocean. In Mumbai alone, around 150,000 statues are immersed annually.[5] thereafter the clay idol dissolves and Ganesha is believed to return to Mount Kailash to Parvati and Shiva.[2][6]
The festival celebrates Lord Ganesha as the God of New Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles as well as the god of wisdom and intelligence[7][8] and is observed throughout India, especially in the states such as Maharashtra, Madhyapradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh,[2][9] and is usually celebrated privately at home in states such as Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.[10] Ganesh Chaturthi is also observed in Nepal and by the Hindu diaspora elsewhere such as in Australia, Canada, Malaysia Trinidad, Suriname, Fiji, Mauritius,[11] United States and in Europe[6][12] (in Tenerife).[13]
Golden Moments
The gate to peace and happiness is the presence. The past is memory. Thinking. The future is dreaming. Thinking as well. Now, the presence is the golden reality if you are not dreaming and not remembering.
HKD
Das Tor in die Freiheit
Während meiner Jugend wurde ich ständig emotional verletzt. Autoritäten und Erzieher machten mir das Leben schwer, denn sie resignierten an meiner Unfähigkeit, mich an ihre herossphärische Umgebung, den sogenannten „normalen“ Umständen anzupassen. Ich wurde weder Kämpfer noch ein Held.
In dieser von „Gott“ verlassenen Umgebung herrschten die Gesetze der Natur und des Stärkeren. Erst im Verlauf meiner Selbsterkenntnis und Selbsterfahrung konnte ich meinen Wesenskern finden, um allerdings festzustellen, dass er mich gefunden hat.
Bei mir selbst angekommen heißt, im inneren Frieden zu sein. Der innere Kampf mit schlechtem Gewissen und Zweifeln ist beendet, und die bildliche Darstellung mystischer Themen zeigt: Der Weise wird vom Löwen und vom Lamm flankiert. Die Gegensätze befinden sich im Ausgleich, weil ich beide Seiten, das heißt Yin und Yang, als wirksame Kräfte in mir selbst akzeptiere.
Es fällt nicht leicht, sich mit den ungeliebten Seiten des eigenen Wesens zu versöhnen. Und dennoch ist Versöhnung der einzige Weg, der das Bewusstsein in die Schwingung des Herzens versetzt. Die Verletzungen und der Schmerz der Kindheit müssen in abgewandelter und abgeschwächter Form wieder erlebt werden, doch dieses Mal begleitet wissende Aufmerksamkeit den Schmerz. Ich spreche hier über die Verletzungen aufgrund von Offenheit des Herzens.
Das Kind ist offen für seine Umwelt, doch ist es ohne starkes Ego. Ohne Ego-Panzer, das heißt ohne entsprechende Abwehrkräfte ist es der räuberischen Umwelt mit ihrem Wettbewerbsdenken hilflos ausgeliefert. Ein starkes Ego ist zweckmäßig in der ersten Lebensphase. Geht diese in eine Sehnsucht nach Wahrheit, nach Zuhause über, begibt sich der Pilger auf die Suche nach dem Göttlichen, dem Schöpfer des Lebens und damit nach sich selbst.
Der Buddhismus mit seiner Philosophie des Bewusstseins ist für mich darum so aufschlussreich, weil das buddhistische Konzept mit einigen Kernsätzen darauf hinweist, dass Buddha in jedem Menschen als keimender Wesenskern vorhanden ist. Buddha ist in dir. Du bist Buddha. Du bist göttlich. Das muss nicht übernommen und geglaubt werden, es geht um die Suche, diese Selbsterfahrung zu machen.
Selbsterfahrung steht an erster Stelle, denn keine äußere Institution kann die eigentliche Wahrheit vermitteln. Die Wahrheit kommt dem Pilger von innern heraus entgegen und dieses durch die Auseinandersetzung mit Vermittlern der konzeptuell ausgedrückten Wahrheit. Ordnung und Tradition interpretieren seit Alters hoch geschätzte Bücher der Weisheit, ob Bibel, Koran, die Sutren Buddhas oder die Upanishaden, und sie vermitteln ihre Interpretationen, die mit dem Wandel des Zeitgeistes sich ebenfalls wandeln.
Die bildlichen Geschichten, Allegorien und metaphorischen Aussagen aber bleiben. Die Lebensgeschichte eines Helden wird erzählt und viele der schicksalhaften Ereignisse erkennt man schließlich im eigenen Leben.
Schicksalhaft sind Krankheit, Verlust geliebter Menschen, Verbrechen, Intrige und körperliche wie psychische Gewalt. Die Jugend ist voll davon. Auf der praktischen Alltagsebene ist das Leben eine dauernde Herausforderung. Doch diese Alltagsebene kann sich wandeln und besonders, wenn der innere Friede wächst durch die Versöhnung mit sich selbst.
Lerne dir zu verzeihen für all deine Fehler und Schwächen, für alles, was du ausgelassen und versäumt hast, auch was du nicht geschafft hast, musst du dir verzeihen. Sich selbst zu verzeihen ist ein langwieriger Prozess, denn ein naiver Selbstbetrug bringt keinen dauerhaften Frieden. Solange das innere Gewissen schlägt, ist dies Ausdruck des inneren Zwiespaltes und Kampfes. Wenn Bewusstheit die Verurteilungen aufhebt, befreit sich der Geist von den Fesseln der Selbstkritik und viel Energie wird frei, die zuvor im inneren Kampf gebunden war. Sie fließt in neue Tätigkeiten, vielleicht in die Kreativität. Versöhnung mit dir selbst ist das Schlüsselwort zum Tor in die Freiheit. Der von Verurteilung freie Geist weilt im Augenblick.
HKD
Digital Art – own resources
HKD
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Stephen, strolling along the shore, is thinking of the relationship of visible things to their source—of a son to a father, of Hamlet to Shakespeare, of himself to the ground of his being—and he comes to the relationship of Jesus, the Son, to God the Father, which is a Christian problem.
If Jesus is God, and his Father is God also, what then is the relationship? Jesus said, "I and my Father are one," and those words brought him to the cross.
Sufi mystic Mansur Al-Hallaj said the same thing, "I and my Beloved are one," and he too was crucified.
This is the mystic realization: you and that divine immortal being of beings of which you are a particle, are one.
The classical statement of the idea is " Tat Tvam Asi " "you are that," and the famous formula in the Chāndogya Upanishad: "you are yourself the divine mystery you wish to know." "I and my father are one."
Joseph Campbell (commenting on a passage in James Joyce's Ulysses), from Mythic Worlds, Modern Words, p.71
To Nepali people in their hard moments.
"Lead me from darkness to light, from death to immortality." Vedic prayer
"When a person comes to weakness, be it through old age or disease, he frees himself from these limbs just as a mango, a fig or a berry releases itself from its stalk" (Sukla Yajur Veda, Brihadharanyaka Upanishad: 4.3.36).
One of the most sacred Hindu temples of Nepal - Pashupatinath Temple is located on both banks of Bagmati River on the eastern outskirts of Kathmandu.
Pashupatinath is the most important temple dedicated to god Shiva. Every year this temple attracts hundreds of elderly followers of Hinduism. They arrive here to find shelter for the last several weeks of their lives, to meet death, be cremated on the banks of the river and travel their last journey with the waters of the sacred river Bagmati, which later meets the holy river Ganges. Hinduists from every corner of Nepal and India are arriving here to die.
Viagem ao Oriente
Aquarela de Sonia Madruga
Em 2002, um ano depois do atentado, estive na Tailândia para uma conferência de Prem Rawat na ONU em Bangkok.
Foi a última grande viagem que fiz. Passei pela África, Nova Zelândia, Austrália onde também estive com Prem Rawat, e Malasia. Quando cheguei, com águas que trouxe de todos estes lugares, pintei uma série de aquarelas.
Hoje chegou este e-mail que segue, com a história dos dois sapos, que ouvi Maharaji (Prem Rawat) contando num dos eventos daquela viagem.
Procurei e encontrei esta aquarela para celebrar este momento cheio de alegria.
Estarei ausente fazendo um curso neste final de semana - até breve.
Espero que gostem do que segue.
Beijos
Sonia
"Dear friends
We are very happy to show you in premiere this new Mavoh video that has just been released www.mavoh.net/pages/2frogs.html.
This time the subject of the video is based on the 2 Frogs tale. We took this little story from a Prem Rawat conference and we have adapted it.
We hope you enjoy watching it and in the case you would like to download it in DVD quality it will be very soon available from MV website in English. The video will be also translated into German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Greek.
All the best
*****
"Estude as palavras encadeadas, sem dúvida,
Mas procure a ação indicada além delas.
Encontrando-as, jogue fora as palavras;
Como se faz com a palha depois de peneirado o grão.
Estude as ciências espirituais, domine seu significado secreto.
Feito isso, livre-se dos livros.”
Upanishad
*****
O melhor que tenho a compartilhar >
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Ganesh Chaturthi (IAST: Gaṇēśa Chaturthī), also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi (Vināyaka Chaturthī) or Vinayaka Chavithi (Vināyaka Chavithī) is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Ganesha.[2] A ten-day festival, it starts on the fourth day of Hindu Lunisolar calendar month Bhadrapada, which typically falls in the months of August or September of the Gregorian calendar. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha clay idols privately in homes, or publicly on elaborate pandals (temporary stages). Observations include chanting of Vedic hymns and Hindu texts such as Ganapati Upanishad, prayers and vrata (fasting).[2] Offerings and prasadam from the daily prayers, that is distributed from the pandal to the community, include sweets such as modaka believed to be a favorite of the elephant-headed deity.[3][4] The festival ends on the tenth day after start, wherein the idol is carried in a public procession with music and group chanting, then immersed in a nearby body of water such as a river or ocean. In Mumbai alone, around 150,000 statues are immersed annually.[5] thereafter the clay idol dissolves and Ganesha is believed to return to Mount Kailash to Parvati and Shiva.[2][6]
The festival celebrates Lord Ganesha as the God of New Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles as well as the god of wisdom and intelligence[7][8] and is observed throughout India, especially in the states such as Maharashtra, Madhyapradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh,[2][9] and is usually celebrated privately at home in states such as Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.[10] Ganesh Chaturthi is also observed in Nepal and by the Hindu diaspora elsewhere such as in Australia, Canada, Malaysia Trinidad, Suriname, Fiji, Mauritius,[11] United States and in Europe[6][12] (in Tenerife).[13]
Varanasi is a sacred and oldest city of the world located at the banks of the holy River Ganges. Where, Ganga aarti is performed daily in the evening by a group of priests at the Dashashwamedh ghat. Through the aarti, Agni Pooja is performed in which a commitment is made to the Lord Shiva, Mata Gange, Surya, Agni (Fire) as well as the whole universe made by the Lord Shiva. On some special occasions, religious festivals and second day of the week means Tuesdays, a particular type of aarti is held at this ghat.
Ganga aarti is the magnificent event during evening in the Varanasi that one must not miss to see it. It makes us to experience the great feelings while Ganga aarti become in process. This beautiful ritual makes every moment of the evening period special and fills with the spiritual thoughts. It is performed by the brass lamps which accompanied with the mantra chant in the presence of the huge crowd.
All the priests who have to perform the aarti, wear same cloth, the dhoti and kurta which is tightly bind with a long towel. First they make preparation of the Ganga aarti by making collection of the five elevated planks, a multi tiered oil lamp, an idol of the Goddess Ganga, flowers, incense sticks, a conch shell, a big and heavy brass lamp having a snake hood at the edge of the River Ganges. A group of boats filled with devotees come around the place of aarti at the bank of River. They are very eager to see the event; some of them take live video, photos as well. Ritual of the Ganga aarti is performed by the students of the Vedas and Upanishads which is lead by the head priest of the Gangotri Seva Samiti. The whole event takes around 45 minutes.
Timing of Ganga Aarti :
Ganga aarti takes place at 6.45 PM in the evening after the sunset for around 45 minutes at the Dashashwamedh ghat in the Varanasi. Devotees have started to come to see the Ganga aarti at least one hour before.
A group of young priests starts aarti in a well organized manner by having a lighting lamp in their hand, start a rhythmic chant of mantras. An announcement at 7.00 pm indicates the beginning of the aarti. Music starts by someone and priests involving in the aarti stood up to begin the Ganga aarti. Devotees at present make clapping together with the chanting of the mantras. Priests blown the conch shells in between the aarti very loudly and aarti continues with the incense sticks. After completing the mantras, priests do aarti with the multi-tiered brass lamps having firing camphor or kapoor. Ganga aarti ends up with the final aarti and after that the environment become very silent.
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Om or Aum (also About this sound Auṃ (help·info), written in Tamil as ஓம் Devanāgari as ॐ and as ओ३म् or ओम्, in Sanskrit known as praṇava प्रणव (lit. "to sound out loudly"), Omkara, or Auṃkāra (also as Aumkāra) ओंकार (lit. "Auṃ form/syllable"), is a sacred or mystical syllable in most Dharmic or Indian religions, specifically Hinduism, Jainism and Mahayana Buddhism.
Om is pronounced as ओ३म् where ३ is Pluti, (indicating a length of three morae) (long or over-long nasalized close-mid back rounded vowel, [õːː]), like OOOM, दीर्घ O, though there are other enunciations adhered to in received traditions. It is placed at the beginning of most Hindu texts as a sacred incantation to be intoned at the beginning and end of a reading of the Vedas or prior to any prayer or mantra. The Māndukya Upanishad is entirely devoted to the explanation of the syllable. The syllable consists of three phonemes, a Vaishvanara,[1] u Hiranyagarbha and m Iswara, which symbolize the beginning, duration, and dissolution of the universe and the associated gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, respectively.[2] The name Omkara is taken as a name of God in the Hindu revivalist Arya Samaj.
Only when illumining Light shines,
everything else shines;
the self-revealing Light illumines
the entire universe.
-Upanishad (A Hindu Holy Book)
This is a picture of a tile from a temple’s wall in Kashi, the oldest part of Varanasi (Benaras) where ॐ (Om) is written in Devanagari.
Om, often Aum, is a mystical and sacred syllable in the Dharmic religions, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
It is the symbol of the Absolute.
Om is reputed to be the resonant vibrational tone of the non-dualistic universe as a whole.
In Buddhism, Om corresponds to the crown chakra and white light.
Om is known in Sanskrit as praṇava प्रणव, "to sound out loudly" or oṃkāra ओंकार. "oṃ syllable".
Aum is placed at the beginning of most Hindu texts as a sacred exclamation to be uttered at the beginning and end of a reading of the Vedas or previously to any prayer or mantra.
The Mandukya Upanishad is entirely devoted to the explanation of the syllable.
The syllable is taken to consist of three phonemes, a, u and m, variously symbolizing the Three Vedas or the Hindu Trimurti or three stages in life ( birth, life and death )
The name omkara is taken as a name of God in the Hindu revivalist Arya Samaj.
Similarly, the concept of om, called onkar in Punjabi, is found in Sikh theology as a symbol of God.
It invariably emphasizes God's singularity, expressed as Ek Onkar ("One Omkara" or "The Aum is One"), stating that the multiplicity of existence symbolized in the aum syllable is really founded in a singular God.
Aum is said to be the primordial sound that was present at the creation of the universe.
It is said to be the original sound that contains all other sounds, all words, all languages and all mantras.
O que for a profundeza de teu ser, assim será teu desejo.
O que for o teu desejo, assim será tua vontade.
O que for a tua vontade, assim serão teus atos.
O que forem teus atos, assim será teu destino.
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)
A lamp can light a thousand lamps. A real"Guru"(Teacher) can dispel ignorance and bring Enlightenment!The creator is the greatest Guru and resides within us !!
(Title from the Upanishads ,Indian Vedic Literature)
Those wise ones who see that the consciousness within themselves is the same consciousness within all conscious beings, attain eternal peace.
The Upanishads
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[BlackPixel + WhitePixel] = [RedPixel = Tat Twam Asi] or BlueLight or
"BlueWay" or "The stupidity of the Intelligence" or "The Master Game"
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If you can not give love unconditionally and take, it is not love, but a trade. Emma Goldmann
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[...] The brotherly there is the experience of union with all men of human solidarity, of human at-onement. Brotherly love is based on the experience that we are all one. The differences of talent, intelligence and knowledge are negligible in compared with the identity of the human core common to all men.
In order to experience with the identity, it is necessary to penetrate from the periphery to the core.
This relatedness from centre to centre – instead of that from periphery to periphery – is CENTRAL RELATEDNESS.
Or as Simone Weil expressed so beautifully: “The same words a man says to his wife, “I love you”, can be commonplace or extraordinary according to the manner in which they are spoken.
And this manner depends on the depth of the region in a man’s being from which they proceed without the will being able to anything. And by a marvellous agreement they reach the same region in him who hears them. Thus the hearer can discern, if he has any power of discernment, what is the value of the words.”
Brotherly love is love between equals … [...]
Source: Erich Fromm "The Art of loving" (English Version)
Die Nächstenliebe enthält die Erfahrung der Einheit mit allen Menschen, der menschlichen Solidarität, des menschlichen Einswerdens. Die Nächstenliebe gründet sich auf die Erfahrung, daß wir alle eins sind. Die Unterschiede von Begabung, Intelligenz und Wissen sind nebensächlich im Vergleich zur Identität des menschlichen Kerns, der uns allen gemeinsam ist.
Um diese Identität zu erleben, muß man von der Oberfläche zum Kern vordringen. Wenn ich bei einem anderen Menschen hauptsächlich das Äußere sehe, dann nehme ich nur die Unterschiede wahr, das, was uns trennt; dringe ich aber bis zum Kern vor, so nehme ich unsere Identität wahr, ich merke dann, daß wir Brüder sind.
Diese Bezogenheit von einem Kern zum anderen, anstatt von Oberfläche zu Oberfläche, ist eine Bezogenheit aus der Mitte (CENTRAL RELATEDNESS). Simone Weil drückt dies besonders schön aus, wenn sie bezüglich des Bekenntnisses »Ich liebe dich«, das ein Mann zu seiner Frau spricht, bemerkt: »Die gleichen Worte können je nach der Art, wie sie gesprochen werden, nichtssagend sein oder etwas ganz Außergewöhnliches bedeuten. Die Art, wie sie gesagt werden, hängt von der Tiefenschicht ab, aus der sie beim Betreffenden stammen und auf die der Wille keinen Einfluß hat.
Durch eine ans Wunderbare grenzende Übereinstimmung erreichen sie in dem, der sie hört, genau die gleiche Tiefenschicht. So kann der Hörer erkennen, was die Worte wert sind, sofern er hierfür überhaupt ein Unterscheidungsvermögen besitzt.« (S. Weil, 1952, S. 117)
Nächstenliebe ist Liebe zwischen Gleichen ...
Source: Erich Fromm "Die Kunst des Liebens" (German Version)
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Wikipedia: ||The Art of Loving || Erich Fromm || Upanishad || Αα || Αα - Ωω ||
Yoga. It's not for me. I wish it was - I'd love to be more stretchy and bendy and fitter and more spiritual. I really would. But I'd much rather choose a good run over twisting myself into inconceivable positions.
I do, however, love to watch yoga being practiced, seeing the beautiful bodies slowly lift into handstands, rise up into the downward dog, and so on, and on, and on!
Matt
From Wikipedia:
Yoga (Sanskrit, Pāli: योग yóga) refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines that originated in India.[1] The word is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Within Hinduism, it refers to one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy, and to the goal towards which that school directs its practices. In Jainism, yoga is the sum total of all activities — mental, verbal and physical.
Major branches of yoga in Hindu philosophy include Rāja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Hatha Yoga. According to the authoritative Indian philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, yoga, based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, comprises one of the six main Hindu schools of philosophy (darshanas), together with Kapila's Samkhya, Gautama's Nyaya, Kanada's Vaisheshika, Jaimini's Purva Mimamsa, and Badarayana's Uttara Mimamsa or Vedanta. Many other Hindu texts discuss aspects of yoga, including the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita and various Tantras.
The Sanskrit word yoga has many meanings, and is derived from the Sanskrit root "yuj," meaning "to control," "to yoke" or "to unite." Translations include "joining," "uniting," "union," "conjunction," and "means." It is also possible that the word yoga derives from "yujir samadhau," which means "contemplation" or "absorption." This translation fits better with the dualist Raja Yoga because it is through contemplation that discrimination between prakrti (nature) and purusha (pure consciousness) occurs.
Someone who practices yoga or follows the yoga philosophy to a high level of attainment is called a yogi or yogini.
The esoterist sees things, not as they appear according to a certain perspective, but as they are: he takes account of what is essential and consequently invariable under the veil of different religious formulations, while necessarily taking his own starting point in a given formulation.
This at least is the position in principle and the justification for esoterism; in fact it is far from always being consistent with itself, inasmuch as intermediary solutions are humanly inevitable.
Everything which, in metaphysics or in spirituality, is universally true, becomes "esoteric" in so far as it does not agree, or does not seem to agree, with a given formalistic system or "exoterism"; yet every truth is present by right in every religion, given that every religion is made of truth.
This amounts to saying that esoterism is possible and even necessary; the whole question is to know at what level and in what context it is manifested, for relative and limited truth has its rights, as does the total truth; it has these rights in the context assigned to it by the nature of things, which is that of psychological and moral opportuneness and of traditional equilibrium.
The paradox of esoterism is that on the one hand "men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel", while on the other hand "give not what is sacred to dogs"; between these two expressions lies the "light that shineth in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not". There are fluctuations here which no one can prevent and which are the ransom of contingency.
Exoterism is a precarious thing by reason of its limits or its exclusions; there arrives a moment in history when all kinds of experience oblige it to modify its claims to exclusiveness, and it is then driven to a choice: escape from these limitations by the upward path, in esoterism, or by the downward path, in a worldly and suicidal liberalism. As one might have expected, the civilizationist exoterism of the West has chosen the downward path, while combining this incidentally with a few esoteric notions which in such conditions remain inoperative.
Fallen man, and thus the average man, is as it were poisoned by the passional element, either grossly or subtly; from this results an obscuring of the Intellect and the necessity of a Revelation coming from the outside. Remove the passional element from the soul and the intelligence (remove "the rust from the mirror" or "from the heart") and the Intellect will be released; it will reveal from within what religion reveals from without.
[This release is strictly impossible-we must insist upon It-without the cooperation of a religion, an orthodoxy, a traditional esoterism with all that this implies.]
This brings us to an important point: in order to make itself understood by souls impregnated with passion, religion must itself adopt a so to speak passional language, whence dogmatism, which excludes, and moralism, which schematizes; if the average man or collective man were not passional, Revelation would speak the language of the Intellect and there would be no exoterism, nor for that matter esoterism considered as an occult complement.
There are here three possibilities: firstly, men dominate the passional element, everyone lives spiritually by his inward Revelation; this is the golden age, in which everyone is born an initiate.
Second possibility: men are affected by the passional element to the point of forgetting certain aspects of the Truth, whence the necessity (or the opportuneness) of Revelations that while being outward are metaphysical in spirit, such as the Upanishads.
[Such a Revelation has a function that is both conservative and preventive, it expresses the Truth in view of the risk of its being forgotten; It consequently also has the aim of protecting the "pure" from contamination by the "impure", of recalling the Truth to those who run the risk of going astray by carelessness.]
Thirdly: the majority of men are dominated by passions, whence the formalistic, exclusive and combative religions, which communicate to them on the one hand the means of channelling the passional element with a view to salvation, and on the other hand the means of overcoming it in view of the total Truth, and of thereby transcending the religious formalism which veils it while suggesting it in an indirect manner. Religious revelation is both a veil of light and a light veiled.
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Frithjof Schuon: Understanding Esoterism (from Esoterism as Principle and as Way)
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Image:
Beatus de Facundus illuminated manuscript - Illustration for Revelation 1:1-3
1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond the highest, very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your heart.
Chandogya Upanishad
my grandma has a lot of beautiful and peaceful places to go. the sun was shining today but it was sooo cold. my fingers were freezing and i sould have worn my jacket. haha
i'd like to be as good as this awsome girl :/
© eva.photography all my photos may not be blogged or used in any way without my written permission!
++++ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ++++
Cattle in religion and mythology
Due to the multiple benefits from cattle, there are varying beliefs about cattle in societies and religions. In some regions, especially most states of India, the slaughter of cattle is prohibited and their meat may be taboo.
Cattle are considered sacred in world religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and others. Cattle played other major roles in many religions, including those of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Israel, ancient Rome, and ancient Germany.
In Indian religions
Legislation against cattle slaughter is in place throughout most states of India except Kerala, West Bengal and parts of the North-East.[1]
Hinduism
If anybody said that I should die if I did not take beef tea or mutton, even on medical advice, I would prefer death. That is the basis of my vegetarianism.
— Mahatma Gandhi, to the London Vegetarian Society on 20 November 1931.[2]
A bull bas relief, Mamallapuram
Hinduism specifically considers the zebu (Bos indicus) to be sacred.[3][4][5] Respect for the lives of animals including cattle, diet in Hinduism and vegetarianism in India are based on the Hindu ethics. The Hindu ethics are driven by the core concept of Ahimsa, i.e. non-violence towards all beings, as mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad (~ 800 BCE)..[6][7] By mid 1st millennium BCE, all three major religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism were championing non-violence as an ethical value, and something that impacted one's rebirth. According to Harris, by about 200 CE, food and feasting on animal slaughter were widely considered as a form of violence against life forms, and became a religious and social taboo.[8][9] India, which has 79.80% Hindu population as of (2011 census),[10] had the lowest rate of meat consumption in the world according to the 2007 UN FAO statistics,[11] and India has more vegetarians than the rest of the world put together.[12]
Vegetarianism in ancient India
India is a strange country. People do not kill
any living creatures, do not keep pigs and fowl,
and do not sell live cattle.
—Faxian, 4th/5th century CE
Chinese pilgrim to India[13]
According to Ludwig Alsdorf, "Indian vegetarianism is unequivocally based on ahimsa (non-violence)" as evidenced by ancient smritis and other ancient texts of Hinduism." He adds that the endearment and respect for cattle in Hinduism is more than a commitment to vegetarianism and has become integral to its theology.[14] The respect for cattle is widespread but not universal. According to Christopher Fuller, animal sacrifices have been rare among the Hindus outside a few eastern states.[14][15] To the majority of modern Indians, states Alsdorf, respect for cattle and disrespect for slaughter is a part of their ethos and there is "no ahimsa without renunciation of meat consumption".[14]
Several scholars explain the veneration for cows among Hindus in economic terms, including the importance of dairy in the diet, the use of cow dung as fuel and fertilizer, and the importance that cattle have historically played in agriculture.[16] Ancient texts such as Rig Veda, Puranas highlight the importance of cattle.[16] The scope, extent and status of cows throughout ancient India is a subject of debate. According to D. N. Jha, cattle, including cows, were neither inviolable nor as revered in ancient times as they were later.[17] A Gryhasutra recommends that beef be eaten by the mourners after a funeral ceremony as a ritual rite of passage.[18] In contrast, according to Marvin Harris, the Vedic literature is contradictory, with some suggesting ritual slaughter and meat consumption, while others suggesting a taboo on meat eating.[8]
Sacred status of cow
The Hindu god Krishna is often shown with cows listening to his music.
The calf is compared with the dawn, in Hinduism. Here, with a sadhu.
Many ancient and medieval Hindu texts debate the rationale for a voluntary stop to cow slaughter and the pursuit of vegetarianism as a part of a general abstention from violence against others and all killing of animals.[19][20]
The interdiction of the meat of the bounteous cow as food was regarded as the first step to total vegetarianism.[21] Dairy cows are called aghnya "that which may not be slaughtered" in Rigveda. Yaska, the early commentator of the Rigveda, gives nine names for cow, the first being "aghnya".[22] According to Harris, the literature relating to cow veneration became common in 1st millennium CE, and by about 1000 CE vegetarianism, along with a taboo against beef, became a well accepted mainstream Hindu tradition.[8] This practice was inspired by the beliefs in Hinduism that a soul is present in all living beings, life in all its forms is interconnected, and non-violence towards all creatures is the highest ethical value.[8][9] Vegetarianism is a part of the Hindu culture. The god Krishna and his Yadav kinsmen are associated with cows, adding to its endearment.[8][9]
According to Nanditha Krishna the cow veneration in ancient India during the Vedic era, the religious texts written during this period called for non-violence towards all bipeds and quadrupeds, and often equated killing of a cow with the killing of a human being specifically a Brahmin.[23] Nanditha Krishna stated that the hymn 8.3.25 of the Hindu scripture Atharvaveda (~1200–1500 BCE) condemns all killings of men, cattle, and horses, and prays to god Agni to punish those who kill.[24][25]
Prithu chasing Prithvi, who is in the form of a cow. Prithu milked the cow to generate crops for humans.
In Puranas, which are part of the Hindu texts, the earth-goddess Prithvi was in the form of a cow, successively milked of beneficent substances for the benefit of humans, by deities starting with the first sovereign: Prithu milked the cow to generate crops for humans to end a famine.[26] Kamadhenu, the miraculous "cow of plenty" and the "mother of cows" in certain versions of the Hindu mythology, is believed to represent the generic sacred cow, regarded as the source of all prosperity.[27] In the 19th century, a form of Kamadhenu was depicted in poster-art that depicted all major gods and goddesses in it.[28][29] Govatsa Dwadashi which marks the first day of Diwali celebrations, is the main festival connected to the veneration and worship of cows as chief source of livelihood and religious sanctity in India, wherein the symbolism of motherhood is most apparent with the sacred cows Kamadhenu and her daughter Nandini.[30]
Historical significance
Main articles: Cattle slaughter in India and Cow protection movement
A pamphlet protesting cow slaughter, first created in 1893. A meat eater (mansahari) is shown as a demon with sword, with a man telling him "don't kill, cow is life-source for all". It was interpreted by Muslims in British Raj to be representing them.[31] Redrawn the Raja Ravi Varma (c. 1897).
The reverence for the cow played a role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company. Hindu and Muslim sepoys in the army of the East India Company came to believe that their paper cartridges, which held a measured amount of gunpowder, were greased with cow and pig fat. The consumption of swine is forbidden in Islam and Judaism. Because loading the gun required biting off the end of the paper cartridge, they concluded that the British were forcing them to break edicts of their religion.[32]
A historical survey of major communal riots in India between 1717 and 1977 revealed that 22 out of 167 incidents of rioting between Hindus and Muslims were attributable directly to cow slaughter.[33][34]
In Gandhi's teachings
The cow protection was a symbol of animal rights and of non-violence against all life forms for Gandhi. He venerated cows, and suggested ending cow slaughter to be the first step to stopping violence against all animals.[35] He said: "I worship it and I shall defend its worship against the whole world", and stated that "The central fact of Hinduism is cow protection."[35]
Jainism
See also: Ahimsa in Jainism
Jainism is against violence to all living beings, including cattle. According to the Jaina sutras, humans must avoid all killing and slaughter because all living beings are fond of life, they suffer, they feel pain, they like to live, and long to live. All beings should help each other live and prosper, according to Jainism, not kill and slaughter each other.[36][37]
In the Jain religious tradition, neither monks nor laypersons should cause others or allow others to work in a slaughterhouse.[38] Jains believe that vegetarian sources can provide adequate nutrition, without creating suffering for animals such as cattle.[38] According to some Jain scholars, slaughtering cattle increases ecological burden from human food demands since the production of meat entails intensified grain demands, and reducing cattle slaughter by 50 percent would free up enough land and ecological resources to solve all malnutrition and hunger worldwide. The Jain community leaders, states Christopher Chapple, has actively campaigned to stop all forms of animal slaughter including cattle.[39]
Cattle at a temple, in Ooty India
Cattle making themselves at home on a city street in Jaipur, Rajasthan
Buddhism
The texts of Buddhism state ahimsa to be one of five ethical precepts, which requires a practicing Buddhist to "refrain from killing living beings".[40] Slaughtering cow has been a taboo, with some texts suggest taking care of a cow is a means of taking care of "all living beings". Cattle are seen in some Buddhist sects as a form of reborn human beings in the endless rebirth cycles in samsara, protecting animal life and being kind to cattle and other animals is good karma.[40][41] Not only do some, mainly Mahayana, Buddhist texts state that killing or eating meat is wrong, it urges Buddhist laypersons to not operate slaughterhouses, nor trade in meat.[42][43][44] Indian Buddhist texts encourage a plant-based diet.[9][8]
According to Saddhatissa, in the Brahmanadhammika Sutta, the Buddha "describes the ideal mode of life of Brahmins in the Golden Age" before him as follows:[45]
Like mother (they thought), father, brother or any other kind of kin,
cows are our kin most excellent from whom come many remedies.
Givers of good and strength, of good complexion and the happiness of health,
having seen the truth of this cattle they never killed.
Those brahmins then by Dharma did what should be done, not what should not,
and so aware they graceful were, well-built, fair-skinned, of high renown.
While in the world this lore was found these people happily prospered.
— Buddha, Brahmanadhammika Sutta 13.24, Sutta Nipāta[46][45][47]
Saving animals from slaughter for meat, is believed in Buddhism to be a way to acquire merit for better rebirth.[41] According to Richard Gombrich, there has been a gap between Buddhist precepts and practice. Vegetarianism is admired, states Gombrich, but often it is not practiced. Nevertheless, adds Gombrich, there is a general belief among Theravada Buddhists that eating beef is worse than other meat and the ownership of cattle slaughterhouses by Buddhists is relatively rare.[48][note 1]
Meat eating remains controversial within Buddhism, with most Theravada sects allowing it, reflecting early Buddhist practice, and most Mahayana sects forbidding it. Early suttas indicate that the Buddha himself ate meat and was clear that no rule should be introduced to forbid meat eating to monks. The consumption, however, appears to have been limited to pork, chicken and fish and may well have excluded cattle.[50]
Bhubaneswar (/ˌbʊbəˈneɪʃwər/; Odia: [ˈbʱubɔneswɔɾɔ] (About this soundlisten)) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as Ekamra Kshetra (area (kshetra) adorned with mango trees (ekamra)).[9] Bhubaneswar is dubbed the "Temple City"[10][11]—a nickname earned because of the 700 temples which once stood there. In contemporary times, it has emerged as an education hub[12][13] and an attractive business destination.[14][15][16]
Although the modern city of Bhubaneswar was formally established in 1948, the history of the areas in and around the present-day city can be traced to the 7th century BCE and earlier. It is a confluence of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain heritage and includes several Kalingan temples, many of them from 6th-13th century CE. With Puri and Konark it forms the 'Swarna Tribhuja' ("Golden Triangle"), one of eastern India's most visited destinations.[17][18]
Bhubaneswar replaced Cuttack as the capital on 19 August 1949, 2 years after India gained its independence from Britain. The modern city was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946. Along with Jamshedpur and Chandigarh, it was one of modern India's first planned cities.[19] Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are often referred to as the 'twin cities of Odisha'. The metropolitan area formed by the two cities had a population of 1.7 million in 2011.[20] Recent data from the United Nations released in 2016 states that Bhubaneswar's metro area has a population of around a million people.[6] Bhubaneswar is categorised as a Tier-2 city. Bhubaneswar and Rourkela are the only cities in smart city mission from Odisha.
Etymology
Bhubaneswar is the anglicisation of the Odia name "Bhubaneswara"(ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱର), derived from the word Tribhubaneswara (ତ୍ରିଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱର), which literally means the Lord (Eeswara) of the Three Worlds (Tribhubana), which refers to Shiva.[21]
History
Remains of the ancient city of Sisupalagada, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, dated to 7th century BCE
Inscription on rock in Brahmi language
Hathigumpha inscriptions at the Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves near Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar stands near the ruins of Sisupalgarh, the ancient capital of the erstwhile province of Kalinga. Dhauli, near Bhubaneswar was the site of the Kalinga War (c. 262-261 BCE), in which the Mauryan emperor Ashoka invaded and annexed Kalinga.[22] One of the most complete edicts of the Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka, dating from between 272 and 236 BCE, remains carved in rock, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) to the southwest of the modern city.[23] After the decline of the Mauryan empire, the area came under the rule of Mahameghavahana dynasty, whose most well-known rule is Kharavela. His Hathigumpha inscription is located at the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves near Bhubaneswar. The area was subsequently ruled by several dynasties, including Satavahanas, Guptas, Matharas, and Shailodbhavas.[22]
In the 7th century, Somavamshi or Keshari dynasty established their kingdom in the area, and constructed a number of temples. After the Kesharis, the Eastern Gangas ruled Kalinga area until the 14th century CE. Their capital Kalinganagara was located in present-day Bhubaneswar City. After them, Mukunda Deva of the Bhoi dynasty – the last Hindu ruler of the area until the Marathas – developed several religious buildings in the area.[22] Most of the older temples in Bhubaneswar were built between 8th and 12th centuries, under Shaiva influence. The Ananta Vasudeva Temple is the only old temple of Vishnu in the city.[24] In 1568, the Karrani dynasty of Afghan origin gained control of the area. During their reign, most of the temples and other structures were destroyed or disfigured.[22]
In the 16th century, the area came under pachamani Mughal control. The Marathas, who succeeded the Mughals in the mid-18th century, encouraged pilgrimage in the region. In 1803, the area came under British colonial rule, and was part of the Bengal Presidency (until 1912), Bihar and Orissa Province (1912-1936) and Orissa Province (1936-1947).[22] The capital of the British-ruled Orissa Province was Cuttack, which was vulnerabile to floods and suffered from space constraints. Because of this, on 30 September 1946, a proposal to move the capital to a new capital was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of the Odisha Province. After independence of India, the foundation of the new capital was laid by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 April 1948.[22]
The name of the new capital came from "Tribhubaneswara" or "Bhubaneswara" (literally "Lord of the Earth"), a name of Shiva, the deity of the Lingaraja temple.[21] The Legislative Assembly of Odisha was shifted from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar in 1949.[22] Bhubaneswar was built as a modern city, designed by German architect Otto Königsberger with wide roads, gardens and parks.[25] Though part of the city followed the plan, it grew rapidly over the next few decades, outstripping the planning process.[26] According to the first census of independent India, taken in 1951, the city's population was just 16,512. From 1952 to 1979, it was administered by a Notified Area Council or a nagar panchayat; a municipality was established only on 12 March 1979. By the 1991 census, the population of Bhubaneswar had increased to 411,542. Accordingly, on 14 August 1994, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation was established.[22]
Geography
Daya River at the foothills of Dhauli
Bhubaneswar is in Khordha district of Odisha.[27] It is in the eastern coastal plains, along the axis of the Eastern Ghats mountains.[28] The city has an average altitude of 45 m (148 ft) above sea level.[28] It lies southwest of the Mahanadi River that forms the northern boundary of Bhubaneswar metropolitan area, within its delta.
City of Bhubaneswar from Khandagiri hill
The city is bounded by the Daya River to the south and the Kuakhai River to the east;[28] the Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary and Nandankanan Zoo lie in the western and northern parts of Bhubaneswar, respectively.[25]
Bhubaneswar is topographically divided into western uplands and eastern lowlands, with hillocks in the western and northern parts.[28] Kanjia lake on the northern outskirts, affords rich biodiversity and is a wetland of national importance.[29] Bhubaneswar's soils are 65 per cent laterite, 25 per cent alluvial and 10 per cent sandstone.[30] The Bureau of Indian Standards places the city inside seismic zone III on a scale ranging from I to V in order of increasing susceptibility to earthquakes.[31] The United Nations Development Programme reports that there is "very high damage risk" from winds and cyclones.[31] The 1999 Odisha cyclone caused major damage to buildings, the city's infrastructure and cost many human lives.[32] Floods and waterlogging in the low-lying areas have become common due to unplanned growth.[30][33]
Bhubaneswar Schematic Map
Bhubaneswar schematic tourist map
Urban structure
See also: List of neighbourhoods in Bhubaneswar
Rajpath, Bhubaneswar
Pathani Samanta Planetarium Bhubaneswar
The Bhubaneswar urban development area consists of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation area, 173 revenue villages and two other municipalities spread over 1,110 km2 (430 sq mi).[3][34] The area under the jurisdiction of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation covers 186 square kilometres (72 sq mi).[2] The city is somewhat dumbbell-shaped with most of the growth taking place to the north, northeast and southwest.[35] The north–south axis of the city is widest, at roughly 22.5 kilometres (14.0 mi). Growth in the east is restricted due to the presence of Kuakhai River and by the wildlife sanctuary in the northwestern part.[35] The city can be broadly divided into the old town, planned city (or state capital), added areas and outer peripheral areas. It is subdivided into Units and Colonies.
The old town or "Temple Town", the oldest part of the city, is characterised by many temples, including the Lingaraja, Rajarani and Muktesvara temples, standing alongside residential areas. This area is congested, with narrow roads and poor infrastructure.[35] Among neighbourhoods in the old town are Rajarani Colony, Pandaba Nagar, Brahmeswara Bagh, Lingaraja Nagar, Gouri Nagar, Bhimatangi and Kapileswara. The planned city was designed in 1948 to house the capital. It is subdivided into units, each with a high school, shopping centres, dispensaries and play areas. While most of the units house government employees, Unit V houses the administrative buildings, including the State Secretariat, State Assembly, and the Raj Bhavan. Private residential areas were later built in other areas of the planned city, including Saheed Nagar and Satya Nagar. Unit I, popularly known as the Market Building, was formed to cater to the shopping needs of the new capital's residents. Later, markets and commercial establishments developed along the Janpath and Cuttack-Puri Road at Saheed Nagar, Satya Nagar, Bapuji Nagar and Ashok Nagar. A dedicated institutional area houses educational and research institutes, including Utkal University, the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology and Sainik School. Indira Gandhi Park, Gandhi Park and the Biju Patnaik Park are located in the unit.[35]
The added areas are mostly areas lying north of National Highway 5, including Nayapalli, Jayadev Vihar, Chandrasekharpur and Sailashree Vihar, #Niladri vihar which were developed by Bhubaneswar Development Authority to house the growing population.[35] With the development of the new areas such as Chandrasekharpur the city is now divided roughly into North(newer areas) and South Bhubaneswar (older areas) by the NH-5 highway.
The peripheral areas are outside the municipal boundary or have subsequently been included within the extended boundary, including Tomando, Patia and Raghunathpur. Most of these areas were developed in a haphazard manner, without proper planning.[36] The Master Planning Branch of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority developed the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) in 2010.[37] According to the Odisha Development Authorities Act, 1982, the Development Authority has control over the planning for municipal areas.[38] Apart from the CDP, BDA has also created Zonal Development Plans for some of the areas under the CDP.[37] Bhubaneswar secured the top rank in the Smart city list in India.[39][40]
Deras Dam
Climate
A one storied building with decorative plants and landscaping around it
Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar has a tropical savanna climate, designated Aw under the Köppen climate classification. The annual mean temperature is 27.4 °C (81.3 °F); monthly mean temperatures are 22–32 °C (72–90 °F).[41] Summers (March to June) are hot and humid, with temperatures in the low 30s C; during dry spells, maximum temperatures often exceed 40 °C (104 °F) in May and June.[41] Winter lasts for only about ten weeks, with seasonal lows dipping to 15–18 °C (59–64 °F) in December and January. May is the hottest month, when daily temperatures range from 32–42 °C (90–108 °F). January, the coldest month, has temperatures varying from 15–28 °C (59–82 °F). The highest recorded temperature is 46.7 °C (116.1 °F), and the lowest is 8.2 °C (47 °F).[42]
Rains brought by the Bay of Bengal branch of the south west summer monsoon[43] lash Bhubaneswar between June and September, supplying it with most of its annual rainfall of 1,638 mm (64 in). The highest monthly rainfall total, 404 mm (16 in), occurs in August.[44]
Economy
East Coast Railway Headquarters in Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar is an administrative, information technology, education and tourism city.[28] Bhubaneswar was ranked as the best place to do business in India by the World Bank in 2014.[46] Bhubaneswar has emerged as one of the fast-growing, important trading and commercial hub in the state and eastern India.[14] Tourism is a major industry, attracting about 1.5 million tourists in 2011.[28][47] Bhubaneswar was designed to be a largely residential city with outlying industrial areas. The economy had few major players until the 1990s and was dominated by retail and small-scale manufacturing. With the economic liberalisation policy adopted by the Government of India in the 1990s, Bhubaneswar received investment in telecommunications, information technology (IT) and higher education.[28]
As of 2001, around 2.15% of the city's workforce was employed in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry, mining, etc.); 2.18% worked in the secondary sector (industrial and manufacturing); and 95.67% worked in the tertiary sector (service industries).[28]
In 2011, according to a study by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, Bhubaneswar had the highest rate of employment growth among 17 Tier-2 cities in India.[48] It has been listed among the top ten emerging cities in India by Cushman and Wakefield, taking into consideration factors like demographics, physical, social and real estate infrastructure, current level and scope of economic activities and government support.[15] In 2012, Bhubaneswar was ranked third among Indian cities, in starting and operating a business by the World Bank.[16] Bhubaneswar has been traditionally home to handicrafts industry, including silver filigree work, appliqué work, stone and wood carvings and patta painting, which significantly contributes to the city's economy.[28] The late 2000s saw a surge of investments in the real estate, infrastructure, retail and hospitality sectors; several shopping malls and organised retails opened outlets in Bhubaneswar.[49][50][51][52]
The Department of Industries established four industrial areas in and around Bhubaneswar, in the Rasulgarh, Mancheswar, Chandaka, and Bhagabanpur areas.[28] In the informal sector, 22,000 vendors operate in regulated or unregulated vending zones.[53][54]
In 2009, Odisha was ranked ninth among Indian states in terms of software export by NASSCOM, with most IT/ITES companies established in Bhubaneswar. In 2011–12, Odisha had a growth rate of 17% for software exports.[55] According to a 2012 survey, among the tier-2 cities in India, Bhubaneswar has been chosen as the best for conducting IT/ITES business.[56] The government fostered growth by developing of IT parks such as Infocity-1, Infovalley, STPI-Bhubaneswar and JSS STP.[57][58] Infocity was conceived as a five-star park, under the Export Promotion Industrial Parks (EPIP) Scheme to create infrastructure facilities for setting up information technology related industries. Infosys and Tech Mahindra have been present in Bhubaneswar since 1996. Other software companies include TCS, Wipro, IBM, Genpact, Firstsource, Mindtree, MphasiS, Ericsson, Semtech and Reliance Communications, AnantaTek and SA Intellect. Apart from the big multinationals, some 300 small and mid-size IT companies and business startups have offices in Bhubaneswar.[58]
Demographics
Population
Bhubaneswar population
CensusPopulation%±
195116,512
As per the 2011 census of India, Bhubaneswar had a population of 837,737, while the metropolitan area had a population of 881,988.[62] As per the estimate of IIT Kharagpur, which made a development plan, the Bhubaneswar–Cuttack Urban complex, consisting of 721.9 square kilometres (278.7 sq mi), has a population of 1.9 million (as of 2008).[63] As of 2011, the number of males was 445,233, while the number of females were 392,504. The decadal growth rate was 45.90 per cent.[citation needed]
Literacy
Effective male literacy was 95.69 per cent, while female literacy was 90.26 per cent. About 75,237 were under six. Bhubaneswar's literacy rate is 93.15 per cent[62]—significantly higher than the national average of 74.04 per cent.[64]
Language
The main language spoken in the city is Odia. However, English and Hindi are understood by most residents. Although Odias comprise the vast majority, migrants from other states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand also dwell in the city. Growth in the information technology industry and education sector in Bhubaneswar changed the city's demographic profile; likely infrastructure strains and haphazard growth from demographic changes have been a cause of concern.
Religion
Panoramic view of Mukteshvara Temple, Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar is a very religiously diverse city. Hindus form the majority in it. It also has large minorities of Christians and Muslim.
Governance and Politics
Krushi Bhavan building in Bhubaneswar
Civic Administration
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) oversees and manages civic infrastructure for the city's 67 wards.[65] It started as a Notified Area Committee in 1946 and was upgraded to a municipal corporation in 1994.[66] Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, 2003 is the governing act.[67] Residents of each ward elect a corporator to the BMC for a five-year term. Standing committees handle urban planning and maintain roads, government-aided schools, hospitals and municipal markets.[68]
As Bhubaneswar's apex body, the corporation discharges its functions through the mayor-in-council, which comprises a mayor, a deputy mayor and other elected members. The executive wing is headed by a Commissioner. There are 13 administrative departments under BMC: PR & Communication, Disaster Management, Finance, Health & Sanitation, Engineering, Revenue & Tax, Electrical, Environment, Social Welfare, IT and Social Projects, Establishment, Land & Assets, Enforcement & Recovery.[69] The responsibilities of the municipal body include drainage and sewerage, sanitation, solid waste management and street lighting.[28]
The tenure of the last elected body ended in January 2019 and new elections have not taken place yet, because the High Court struck down the delimitation process that was carried out for exceeding 50% reservations of seats.[70][71] Ward committees have been formed in Bhubaneswar and are very active.[72] The Committees are responsible for issues such as public health, sanitation, street lighting and conservancy in their respective wards. There is no fixed number of members in the committees.
The processes for the municipal budget 2020-21 was initiated in February 2020, but it is unclear if they have continued after the lockdown was accounced.[73] The budget for 2020-21 was supposed to be aroound Rs. 700, an increase of 51.8% from the 2019-20 budget. The increase was suppsoedly to fund the various socio-economic welfare schemes in the city. The key revenue sources for BMC are: Holding Taxes, tax from advertisements, rent from municipal properties such as markets, shopping complexes, and kalyan mandaps (marriage halls), fees and user charges, and grants from state and central governments.[74]
Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha Constituencies
Citizens of Bhubaneswar elect one representative to India's lower house, the Lok Sabha, and three representatives to the state legislative assembly, through the constituencies of Bhubaneswar North, Ekamra-Bhubaneswar, and Bhubaneswar Central.[75][76] The last Lok Sabha election was in 2019, when Aparajita Sarangi from Bharatiya Janata Party won the seat.[77] The last state assembly election took place in 2019 as well, when all three Vidhan Sabha seats in Bhubaneswar were won by Biju Janata Dal: Susant Kumar Rout from North, Ashok Chandra Panda from Ekamra, and Ananta Narayan Jena from Central.[78][79][80]
Judicial and Police Institutions
As the seat of the Government of Odisha, Bhubaneswar is home to the Odisha Legislative Assembly and the state secretariat. Bhubaneswar has lower courts: the Court of Small Causes and the District Civil Court decide civil matters; the Sessions Court rules in criminal cases.[81] The Bhubaneswar–Cuttack Police Commissionerate, established in 2008, is a city police force with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation in the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack area.[82][83] Shri S.K. Priyadarshi, IPS is the police commissioner.[84]
A wide four storied building with landscaped lawn and garden in the foreground
Odisha State Secretariat building
Public utilities
Electricity is supplied by the state-operated Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha, or CESU.[30] TATA Power as a private entity started Power distribution in the city by the end of 2020.[85] Fire services are handled by the state agency Odisha Fire Service. Drinking water is sourced from the Mahanadi, Kuakhai and Daya rivers. Water supply and sewerage are handled by the Public Health Engineering Organisation.[28] As of 2015, 35% of the city was covered by piped water connections, 1.4% of the households had metered water connection, and the extent of non-revenue water in the city ran to 62.5%.[86] The Engineering Department of BMC creates and maintains roads.[87]
26.7% of the city is covered by sewage network, while more than 50% of the households are dependent on onsite containment systems, such as septic tanks.[88] There is no sewage treatment plant in Bhubaneswar right now,[when?] but one is being built using JNNURM funds.[86][89] The waste from the limited sewage network flows untreated into the Daya river. There is one septage treatment plant for fecal sludge with a capacity of 75 KLD.[90]
The municipal corporation is responsible for the solid waste management in the city. The average municipal waste generated in the city is 480 kg/m3 for wet waste and 600 kg/m3 for wet waste.[91] Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation BMC has introduced door to door collection through battery operated garbage collection vehicle.[92] It is trying to introduce segregation at source by providing two waste bins to every household, one each for dry and wet waste.[93] Landfilling is the most common method of waste disposal in Bhubaneswar.[91] State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, or BSNL, as well as private enterprises, among them Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Idea Cellular, Aircel and Tata DoCoMo, are the leading telephone, cell phone and internet service providers in the city.[94][95]
Education
See also: List of institutions of higher education in Odisha
Academic Block of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar library
NISER, Bhubaneshwar
Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar
All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhubaneswar
Utkal University Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar is a centre for higher education in the Eastern Region and is considered the education hub of Eastern India with several government and privately funded Universities and colleges.[12][13] IIT Bhubaneswar, NISER Bhubaneswar, AIIMS Bhubaneswar and NIFT Bhubaneswar are some of the elite institutions of country which are located in the city. Utkal University Bhubaneswar is the oldest university in Odisha and the 17th oldest university in India.
Primary and secondary education
Odia and English are the primary languages of instruction. Schools in Bhubaneswar follow the "10+2+3" plan for Regular Graduates and "10+2+4" plan for Technical studies. Schools in Bhubaneswar are either run by the state government or private organisations. Students typically enroll in schools that are affiliated with any of the following mediums of education.
BSE, Odisha
CHSE, Odisha
CBSE
Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations
SCTE&VT, Odisha
Notable union government schools in the city include
Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, Bhubaneswar,
Kendriya Vidyalaya No 2 CRPF,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, Mancheswar,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, Niladrivihar,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pokhriput,
Sainik School,
Notable state government schools in the city include
Badagada Government High School, Bhubaneswar
Capital High School, Bhubaneswar
Government High School, Saheed Nagar
Notable private schools in the city include
Aditya Birla School, Bhubaneswar,
BJEM School, Bhubaneswar,
DAV Public School, Unit-8, Bhubaneswar,
D.A.V. Public School, Chandrasekharpur,
D.A.V. Public School, Pokhariput
Delhi Public School, Bhubaneswar,
D M School, Bhubaneswar
KIIT International School, Bhubaneswar,
Loyola School, Bhubaneswar,
O D M School, Bhubaneswar
Prabhujee English Medium School, Bhubaneswar,
Sai International School, Bhubaneswar,
St. Joseph's High School, Bhubaneswar,
St. Xavier's High School, Bhubaneswar
Higher education
Several colleges are affiliated with universities or institution based in Bhubaneswar or elsewhere in India. Most offer a wide range of programs in STEM and applied research and are rated highly by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, India.
Engineering and applied sciences institutions
C. V. Raman Global University
Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture
College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar
Eastern Academy of Science and Technology
Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar
Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai (off campus in collaboration with IndianOil and IIT Kharagpur)
Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT, erstwhile RRL)
Institute of Physics
International Institute of Information Technology, Bhubaneswar (IIIT-BH)
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)
National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER)
Orissa Engineering College
Regional Institute of Education
Medical institutions
All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhubaneswar
Hi-Tech Medical College & Hospital, Bhubaneswar
Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital
Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences
Regional Medical Research Center
Universities
Birla Global University, Bhubaneswar
Centurion University of Technology and Management, Bhubaneswar
College of Engineering and Technology[96]
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology
Odisha State Open University[97]
Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology
Rama Devi Women's University
Regional College of Management[98]
Siksha 'O' Anusandhan
Utkal University of Culture
Utkal University
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar(XIM) university
Tourism education is another field of study emerging. The Eastern Regional Centre of Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), the second in the country after Gwalior, was established in 1996. One IATA Authorised Training Centre (ATC) is also located in the city premises. Several regional management educational institutions also have travel and tourism related courses in their curriculum.[citation needed]
Transport
Mo Cycle
Bicycle
A public bicycle sharing project named Mo Cycle has been started by the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) and the Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT). The scheme aims to reduce traffic congestion, promote non-motorized transport in the city and ensure better last mile connectivity. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik in November 2011 inaugurated Mo Cycle. Around 400 cycle stands have been set up across the city. Around 2,000 bicycles have been ordered from three companies - Hexi, Yaana and Yulu. Hexi (from Hero Cycles) will provide 1,000 bicycles and Yaana and Yulu will provide 500 each. The availability of rentals Bicycles are accessed by the Dedicated mobile app - "mo app".[99]
Bus
Mo Bus
Internal public transport is maintained by "Mo Bus (My Bus)" service administrated by CRUT(Capital Region Urban Transport) along with connecting nearest cities like Cuttack and Puri. The headquarters of the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) is in Bhubaneswar. The main Bhubaneswar inter-state bus terminus is at Barmunda, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the city centre, from where OSRTC and private operators run buses connecting Bhubaneswar to cities in Odisha and with the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.[100] Bhubaneswar is connected to the rest of Odisha and India by National Highway-NH 16, which is a part of the Kolkata-Chennai prong of the Golden Quadrilateral, NH 203, State Highway 13 (Odisha) and State Highway 27 (Odisha). Asian Highway- AH 45 passes through the city.[34]
Road
One of the many fly-overs in the city.
Bhubaneswar has roads in grid form in the central city. Bhubaneswar has approximately 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) of roads, with average road density of 11.82 square kilometres (4.56 sq mi).[28] Baramunda Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) is the major bus terminus in the city from where buses ply to all the districts in Odisha as well as to neighbouring state's cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Raipur and Ranchi. City bus service (Mo Bus) runs across Bhubaneswar by Capital Region Urban Transport Authority run by Bhubaneswar Development Authority .[101] A fleet of 300+ buses cover all major destinations including Cuttack, Puri and Khordha.[101] Auto rickshaws are available for hire and on a share basis throughout the city. In parts of the city, cycle rickshaws offer short trips.[102] To ease traffic jams, over-bridges at major road junctions and expansion of roads are under construction.[103][104] In a study of six cities in India, Bhubaneswar was ranked third concerning pedestrian infrastructure. The city scored 50 points out of a maximum of 100.
Rail
Bhubaneswar railway station
Bhubaneswar has the following stations:
Station name Station code Railway zone Number of platforms
Bhubaneswar BBS East Coast Railway 6
Mancheswar MCS East Coast Railway 4
Lingaraj Temple Road LGTR East Coast Railway 3
Vani Vihar BNBH East Coast Railway 2
Patia PTAB East Coast Railway 2
New Bhubaneswar BBSN East Coast Railway 7
The East Coast Railway has its headquarters in Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar railway station is one of the main stations of the Indian railway network. It is connected to major cities by daily express and passenger trains and daily service to all metro cities is available from here. However, the station is overloaded by existing traffic. Currently, the station has six platforms. There are plans to add two more platforms.[105]
A satellite station New Bhubaneswar railway station is opened near Barang in July 2018 to decongest the existing installation.[106]
Air
Biju Patnaik International Airport
Biju Patnaik International Airport (IATA: BBI, ICAO: VEBS) also known as Bhubaneswar Airport, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the city centre, is the major and sole international airport in Odisha. There are daily domestic flights from Bhubaneswar to Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai and Bangalore. There are international flights from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur thrice a week. The major carriers from Bhubaneswar are Indigo, Vistara, GoAir, AirAsia Berhad, AirAsia India and Air India. In March 2013, a new domestic terminal with a capacity of handling 30 million passengers per year was inaugurated to handle increased air traffic.[107] On 10 July 2015, the first international flight took off from terminal 2 of Biju Patnaik International Airport.
Culture
Muktesvara deula, covered with erotic ancient carvings, known for its quality of sculptures
Bindusagara water tank on a winter morning
Ravindra Mandapa, an auditorium in Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar is supposed to have had over one thousand temples, earning the tag of the 'Temple City of India'. Temples are made in the Kalinga architectural style with a pine spire that curves up to a point over the sanctum housing the presiding deity and a pyramid-covered hall where people sit and pray.
Famous temples include Lingaraja Temple, Muktesvara Temple, Rajarani Temple, Ananta Vasudeva Temple.[108]
The twin hills of Khandagiri and Udayagiri, served as the site of an ancient Jaina monastery which was carved into cave-like chambers in the face of the hill. These caves, with artistic carvings, date back to the 2nd century BCE. Dhauli hills has major edicts of Ashoka engraved on a mass of rock and a white Peace Pagoda was built by the Japan Buddha Sangha and the Kalinga Nippon Buddha Sangha in the 1970s. Apart from the ancient temples, other important temples were built in recent times include Ram Mandir and ISKCON.
Bhubaneswar along with Cuttack is the home of the Odia cinema industry, dubbed "Ollywood", where most of the state's film studios are situated.
Odia culture survives in the form of Classical Odissi dance, handicrafts, sand artistry and sculpturing as well as theatre and music. Boundary walls and gardens are increasingly being redone to depict the folk art of the state.[109][110] Odissi, the oldest of the eight surviving classical dance forms of India can be traced from archaeological evidence from the temples in Bhubaneswar.[111][112][113]
Odissi dance
Odissi dance is generally accompanied by Odissi music. Srjan, the Odissi dance academy founded by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, the legendary Odissi dancer is found here.[114][115] The Rabindra Mandapa in central Bhubaneswar plays host to cultural engagements, theatre and private functions.[116]
Odissi dance
Dress and attire
Though Odia women traditionally wear the sari, shalwar kameez and of late, Western attire is gaining acceptance among younger women.[117] Western-style dress has greater acceptance among men, although the traditional dhoti and kurta are seen during festivals.[118]
The Odisha State Museum offers archaeological artefacts, weapons, local arts and crafts as well as insights into Odisha's natural and indigenous history.[119] The Tribal Research Institute Museum hosts authentic tribal dwellings created by tribal craftsmen.[120] Nandankanan Zoological Park, located on the northern outskirt of the city, is India's first zoo to join World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.[121][122] The State Botanical Garden (Odisha) and Regional Plant Resource Center, popularly known as Ekamra Kanan, a park and botanical garden, has a large collection of exotic and regional fauna. The Ekamra Haat is a hand-loom and handicrafts market. Nicco Park and Ocean World are amusement parks. Other museums include Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Regional Museum of Natural History, Regional Science Center and State Handicrafts Museum.
Festivals
On the day of Ashokashtami in the month of March or April, the image of Lingaraja (Shiva) and other deities are taken in a procession from Lingaraja Temple to the Mausima Temple, where the deities remain for four days.[123] Hundreds of devotees participate in pulling the temple car that carries the deities, known as Rukuna Ratha.[124] Ratha-Yatra, "Temple Car Festival," is the most important festival in Odisha and Bhubaneswar.[125] The festival commemorates Jagannatha, who is said to have been the incarnation of India's revered deities, Vishnu and Krishna. Durga Puja, held in September–October, is an occasion for glamorous celebrations.[126][127]
As a part of the Ekamra Festival, many cultural sub-festivals take place in January in Bhubaneswar which include Kalinga Mahotsaba (for traditional martial arts), Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsaba (for classical dance forms), Rajarani Music Festival (for classical music) and Mukteswara Dance Festival (for Odishi dance).[128] Residents engage in khattis, or leisurely chats, that often take the form of freestyle intellectual conversation.[129]
Other festivals celebrated include Shivaratri, Diwali, Ganesha Chaturthi, Nuakhai and Saraswati Puja. Eid and Christmas are celebrated by the religious minorities in the city.[130][131][132]
The Adivasi Mela, held in January, is a fair that displays the art, artefacts, tradition, culture, and music of the tribal inhabitants of Odisha.[133] The Toshali National Crafts Mela, held in December, showcases handicrafts from all over India and from foreign countries.[134] Other important fairs in the city include the Rajdhani Book Fair, Dot Fest[135] and Khandagiri Utsav.[136][137] Two international literary festivals are held in the city, Kalinga Literary Festival[138][139] and Mystic Kalinga Festival.[140][141] In modern times Bhubaneswar hosts a literary festival, the Odisha Literary Fest.[142]
Cuisine
Pahala rasagola, a famous sweet which originated in Odisha
Chhena Gaja, another famous sweet of Odisha
Key elements of the city's cuisine include rice and a fish curry known as Machha Jhola, which can be accompanied by desserts such as Rasagola, Rasabali, Chhena Gaja, Chhena Jhilli and Chhena Poda.[143] Odisha's large repertoire of seafood dishes includes various preparations of lobsters and crabs brought in from Chilika Lake.[144]
Street foods such as gupchup (a deep-fried crêpe, stuffed with a mix of mashed potatoes and boiled yellow peas, and dipped in tamarind-infused water), cuttack-chaat, dahi bara-aloo dum (a deep-fried doughnut-shaped lentil dumpling marinated in yogurt-infused water and served alongside potato curry) and bara-ghuguni are sold all over the city.[145] Traditional Oriya food such as dahi-pakhala (rice soaked in water with yogurt and seasonings) which is considered as a body coolant, accompanied by badi chura or saga are consumed during the months of April–June.[146]
The abadha of Lingaraja Temple and Ananta Vasudeva Temple served for devotees is considered a vegetarian culinary delight. Other vegetarian dishes are Dalma (made of lentils and vegetables boiled together and then fried with other spices) and Santula (lightly spiced steamed vegetables).[144]
Sports
Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar Golf Club
Bhubaneswar's major sporting arena is the Kalinga Stadium, having facilities for athletics, football, hockey, basketball, tennis, table tennis and swimming.[147][148][149] It is known for hosting the Odisha Hockey World Cup in November–December 2018. Kalinga Lancers, the sixth franchise of Hockey India League and Odisha FC, a Club of Indian Super League, are based in Bhubaneswar with Kalinga Stadium as their home ground. East Coast Railway Stadium, a prominent cricket stadium hosts Ranji Trophy and other matches.[150]
The construction of a gallery and stadium renovation is under way. An air-conditioned indoor stadium, with a capacity of 2000 spectators for badminton, volleyball, basketball and table tennis games is also being constructed.[147] Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha's only venue for international cricket matches, is located around 25 kilometres (16 mi) away.[151] Bhubaneswar has a franchise of Odisha Premier League, Bhubaneswar Jaguars, which started in 2010. Bhubaneswar Golf Club, a nine-hole golf course is situated in Infocity.[152]
The Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Stadium commonly KIIT Stadium is a new multipurpose stadium located as a part of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology University Campus or KIIT University in Bhubaneswar with a capacity of 40,000 currently.
The 2017 Asian Athletics Championships was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 6-9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium. Bhubaneswar is the third Indian city to host the Asian Athletics Championships, with Delhi being the first, in 1989, and Pune, the second, in 2013.[153]
Bhubaneswar is emerging as the new sports capital of India, as the FIH and the IOA president, Narindar Batra, recently stated in a ceremony, while unveiling the new logo for the Indian hockey team jersey, which is sponsored by the government of Odisha. The state, Batra mentioned, provides equal importance and opportunity for all sports such as cricket, football, field hockey, tennis, badminton, chess and many more.[154]
Media
The city's widely circulated Odia-language newspapers are Sambad, Dharitri, Pragatibadi, Samaja, Khabara, Orissa Bhaskara, Prameya and Samaya.[155] Orissa Post and Odia Age are the English-language newspaper that is produced and published from Bhubaneswar. Other popular English-language newspapers published and sold in Bhubaneswar include The Times of India, The Statesman, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Indian Express and the Asian Age.[155] Bhubaneswar has substantial circulation of financial dailies, including The Economic Times, The Financial Express, Business Line and Business Standard.[155] Vernacular newspapers, such as those in the Hindi, Bengali and Telugu languages are read by minorities.[155] Major periodicals based in Bhubaneswar include Saptahika Samaya, Saptahika Samaja and Kadambini.
All India Radio, the national state-owned radio broadcaster, airs several AM channels from the radio station located in Cuttack.[156] Bhubaneswar has five local radio stations broadcasting on FM, including two from AIR.[156][157] India's state-owned television broadcaster Doordarshan Odia provides two free-to-air terrestrial channels,[158] while a mix of Odia, Hindi, English and other regional channels are accessible via cable subscription and direct-broadcast satellite services. Some of the Odia language television channels are Colors Odia, Sarthak TV and Tarang TV. Odia-language 24-hour television news channels include News 7, Odisha TV, Kanak TV, ETV News Odia, MBC TV and Naxatra News.[159]
Notable people
The following are some of the notable people associated with Bhubaneswar:[clarification needed]
Subroto Bagchi
Ranjib Biswal
Dutee Chand
Nabakrushna Choudhuri
Bidhu Bhusan Das
Prabhat Nalini Das
Pankaj Charan Das
Baidyanath Misra
B. K. Misra
Bhubaneswar Mishra
Aparajita Mohanty
Bijay Mohanty
Debashish Mohanty
Gopinath Mohanty
Saraju Mohanty
Uttam Mohanty
Bibhu Mohapatra
Kelucharan Mohapatra
Mira Nair
Oopali Operajita
Sanjukta Panigrahi
Ramesh Chandra Parida
Prasanna Kumar Patasani
Biju Patnaik
Janaki Ballabh Patnaik
Naveen Patnaik
Sudarsan Pattnaik
Rakesh Pradhan
Trilochan Pradhan
Biswa Kalyan Rath
Mahasweta Ray
Tandra Ray
Archita Sahu
Salabega
Achyuta Samanta
Pathani Samanta
Mayadhar Swain
Explored # 486 on 15th July, 2009
अस्तो मा सद् गमय
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय
मृत्योन् मा अमृतं गमय्
ॐ शांति शांति शांति
“From the unreal, lead us to the Real;
from darkness, lead us unto Light;
from death, lead us to Immortality.
Om peace, peace, peace.”
This Sanskrit quote is from the Third Brahmana of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which discusses the life force, i.e., Prana and is commonly used in Hinduism as part of the daily prayers.
Om or Aum (also Auṃ, written in Devanagari as ॐ and as ओम्, in Sanskrit known as praṇava प्रणव [lit. "to sound out loudly"] or Omkara or auṃkāra (also as Aumkāra) ओंकार (lit. "auṃ syllable") is a mystical or sacred syllable in the Indian religions, i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.
Aum is commonly pronounced as a long or over-long nasalized close-mid back rounded vowel, [õːː]) though there are other enunciations pronounced in received traditions. It is placed at the beginning of most Hindu texts as a sacred incantation to be intoned at the beginning and end of a reading of the Vedas or prior to any prayer or mantra. The Māndukya Upanishad is entirely devoted to the explanation of the syllable. The syllable consists of three phonemes, a, u and m, which symbolize the beginning, duration, and dissolution of the universe and the associated gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, respectively.
Fallen man, and thus the average man, is as it were poisoned by the passional element, either grossly or subtly; from this results an obscuring of the Intellect and the necessity of a Revelation coming from the outside. Remove the passional element from the soul and the intelligence (remove "the rust from the mirror" or "from the heart") and the Intellect will be released; it will reveal from within what religion reveals from without.
This brings us to an important point: in order to make itself understood by souls impregnated with passion, religion must itself adopt a so to speak passional language, whence dogmatism, which excludes, and moralism, which schematizes; if the average man or collective man were not passional, Revelation would speak the language of the Intellect and there would be no exoterism, nor for that matter esoterism considered as an occult complement.
There are here three possibilities: firstly, men dominate the passional element, everyone lives spiritually by his inward Revelation; this is the golden age, in which everyone is born
an initiate.
Second possibility: men are affected by the passional element to the point of forgetting certain aspects of the Truth, whence the necessity - or the opportuneness - of Revelations that while being outward are metaphysical in spirit, such as the Upanishads.
Thirdly: the majority of men are dominated by passions, whence the formalistic, exclusive and combative religions, which communicate to them on the one hand the means of channelling the passional element with a view to salvation, and on the other hand the means of overcoming it in view of the total Truth, and of thereby transcending the religious formalism which veils it while suggesting it in an indirect manner. Religious revelation is both a veil of light and a light veiled.
---
Esoterism as Principle and as Way by Frithjof Schuon
“Akashat Vayuhu, Vayur agnihi, agnire apaha, adyah pruthivi, pruthivya oshadhayaha, oshadhayo annam, annaath purushaha” – Taittriya Upanishad
Brahmam (The Paramathma) has determined that he would create the Universe from himself and then created Space. From Space came Air. From Air came the Fire. Water came from Fire and the Earth was created from Water. Organisms came from Earth and from Organisms came Human beings.
Each of the five elements is associated with one or more of the five 'Thanmatrams' (Shabdha (Sound), Sparsha(Touch), Rupa(Form), Rasa(Taste) and Gandha(Smell)).
Agasha - Shabdha
Air- Shabdha + Sparsha
Fire- Shabdha + Sparsha+Rupa
Water- Shabdha + Sparsha+Rupa + Rasa
Earth - Shabdha + Sparsha+Rupa + Rasa + Gandha
- Srimat Bhaghavatham
This position would be especially logical if one believed that the fluids themselves were being recycled to nourish body tissues.The future has always been surprising. The body is loaded with 100% optimism. It’s just like you don’t have any timeTaoist alchemy and Kundalini yoga, in their respective ways, are religious traditions based on an imperative of rational, yet creative,experimentation with the relationship of the internal body to objects in the outside world, and the relationship of human physical energy with the abstracted realms of religious symbolism and ontological beliefs. Both systems present a picture which is not entirely comprehensive by the methods and assumptions of modern science. Yet these types of traditions may have something useful to teach us, if we can analyze their beliefs and practices within the historical and cultural context in an effort to understand them as they were, and as they are, within their individual cultural framework. Scientific methods such as neurobiology can give us some insight into the basic underlying causes of human experience, yet will never be able to fully explain the phenomenological idiosyncrasies of religious ritual. With this in mind, we can apply the knowledge of modern science to the study of ancient religious in a responsible and realistic way. Taoist and Tantric sexual practices conserve and utilize the precious energy within the genital fluids. The vital forces energies that sustain life are ojas and prana. One particular type of prana is kundalini or shakti. The Taoist equivalent is ching. By murmuring this energy, life is enriched and preserved. By squandering it, health suffers and death results, Yogys believe kundalini energy is coiled up like a serpent at the base of the spine to the pineal gland in the brain, and enlightenment is attained. The kundalini energy flows through the chakras, energy centers in your subtle body related to the endocrine glands. The endocrine glands are fed by your body’s central heating system, the sexual center. If that center is weak, you entire system is weak. If that center is functioning optimally, the body can survive indefinitely. Taoist and Tantric techniques strengthen the sexual chakra. Their methods conserve its precious fluids and also pump these nourishing fluids back into the body, directing them to the endocrine glands. This technique stimulates the production of ojas and soma. The only caution about Taoist and Tantric sexual practices is the following: because of the tradition of patriarchal oppression, many of theses practices are designed solely for the male to attain immortality, often at the expense of young, ignorant, inexperienced girls, whose vitality {shakti } is drained from their bodies. The male is cautioned to never let semen leave his body, to practice coitus reservatus, stopping short of ejaculation. Yet he is advised to bring his partner to orgasm repeatedly. With his sperm held in check and his vital energy pumping back into his system continually, he invigorates and rejuvenates his body. Also pumping the energy and fluids of the female into his body at the time of her climax, he obtains her vitality as well. Practitioners are advised to engage in this female-draining activity a dozen or more times a day with several 14-to 19 year old virgins. Innocent females are victims of this crime against their health, driving them to early grave.
On other hand, when both partners ate fully knowledgeable and experienced in Taoist or Tantric sexual practices, a mutually beneficial, enriching, elevating relationship can growth is only possible with mutual respect, love, honesty, commitment, and trust. When partners recognize and worship each other as divines beings, there can be an exchange of divine energy in both body and Spirit.How does this move in the body? If we cannot see it, does it really exist? Science is only just getting a few tests going that prove energy is in the body and around it. Is it real what the Ancient wisdoms teach us? Can it guide us to oneness and conscious awakening?
It has been a long road for those in the energy field of health getting the message across to the general population that energy is everywhere, particularly in the body. With proof, barriers seem a lot easier to free up. Oriental medicine and Ayurvedic medicine are the clearest and longest standing observational sciences that describe and fully believe that energy exists as long as 5000 years ago. Both have movement medicine in the forms of Yoga and Qigong.
As I already discussed in the previous article Bring the energy home, there is a cycle called the Microcosmic cycle which when experienced connects the front and back energy meridians. Also called the Governing and Conception channels, in Oriental medicine a further 12 major channels exist that run up and down the body through the limbs, arms and legs (6 Yin and 6 Yang).These energies connect to the sun (yang) and moon (yin) influences. Predominantly yang energy in the morning and more yin energies in the afternoon, changing again after midnight. Then more yang energies developing until we awake and the body starts to function optimally again in the awakened state.The logograph 氣 is read with two Chinese pronunciations, the usual qì 氣 "air; vital energy" and the rare archaic xì 氣 "to present food" (later disambiguated with 餼). Pronunciations of 氣 in modern varieties of Chinese with standardized IPA equivalents include: Standard Chinese qì /t͡ɕʰi⁵¹/, Wu Chinese qi /t͡ɕʰi³⁴/, Southern Min khì /kʰi²¹/, Eastern Min ké /kʰɛi²¹³/, Standard Cantonese hei3 /hei̯³³/, and Hakka Chinese hi /hi⁵⁵/. Pronunciations of 氣 in Sino-Xenic borrowings include: Japanese ki, Korean gi, and Vietnamese khi. Reconstructions of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 氣 standardized to IPA transcription include: /kʰe̯iH/ (Bernard Karlgren), /kʰĭəiH/ (Wang Li), /kʰiəiH/ (Li Rong), /kʰɨjH/ (Edwin Pulleyblank), and /kʰɨiH/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang). Reconstructions of the Old Chinese pronunciation of 氣 standardized to IPA transcription include: /*kʰɯds/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang) and /*C.qʰəp-s/ (William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart). The etymology of qì interconnects with Kharia kʰis "anger", Sora kissa "move with great effort", Khmer kʰɛs "strive after; endeavor", and Gyalrongic kʰɐs "anger".The earliest texts that speak of qi give some indications of how the concept developed. In the Analects of Confucius qi could mean "breath". Combining it with the Chinese word for blood (making 血氣, xue–qi, blood and breath), the concept could be used to account for motivational characteristics:
The [morally] noble man guards himself against 3 things. When he is young, his xue–qi has not yet stabilized, so he guards himself against sexual passion. When he reaches his prime, his xue–qi is not easily subdued, so he guards himself against combativeness. When he reaches old age, his xue–qi is already depleted, so he guards himself against acquisitiveness.— Confucius, Analects, 16:7
The philosopher Mozi used the word qi to refer to noxious vapors that would in eventually arise from a corpse were it not buried at a sufficient depth. He reported that early civilized humans learned how to live in houses to protect their qi from the moisture that troubled them when they lived in caves. He also associated maintaining one's qi with providing oneself with adequate nutrition. In regard to another kind of qi, he recorded how some people performed a kind of prognostication by observing qi (clouds) in the sky. Mencius described a kind of qi that might be characterized as an individual's vital energies. This qi was necessary to activity and it could be controlled by a well-integrated willpower.page needed] When properly nurtured, this qi was said to be capable of extending beyond the human body to reach throughout the universe. It could also be augmented by means of careful exercise of one's moral capacities.[14] On the other hand, the qi of an individual could be degraded by adverse external forces that succeed in operating on that individual. Living things were not the only things believed to have qi. Zhuangzi indicated that wind is the qi of the Earth.Moreover, cosmic yin and yang "are the greatest of qi".He described qi as "issuing forth" and creating profound effects.[15] He also said "Human beings are born [because of] the accumulation of qi. When it accumulates there is life. When it dissipates there is death... There is one qi that connects and pervades everything in the world." Another passage traces life to intercourse between Heaven and Earth: "The highest Yin is the most restrained. The highest Yang is the most exuberant. The restrained comes forth from Heaven. The exuberant issues forth from Earth. The two intertwine and penetrate forming a harmony, and [as a result] things are born." The Guanzi essay Neiye (Inward Training) is the oldest received writing on the subject of the cultivation of vapor [qi] and meditation techniques. The essay was probably composed at the Jixia Academy in Qi in the late fourth century B.C. Xun Zi, another Confucian scholar of the Jixia Academy, followed in later years. At 9:69/127, Xun Zi says, "Fire and water have qi but do not have life. Grasses and trees have life but do not have perceptivity. Fowl and beasts have perceptivity but do not have yi (sense of right and wrong, duty, justice). Men have qi, life, perceptivity, and yi." Chinese people at such an early time had no concept of radiant energy, but they were aware that one can be heated by a campfire from a distance away from the fire. They accounted for this phenomenon by claiming "qi" radiated from fire. At 18:62/122, he also uses "qi" to refer to the vital forces of the body that decline with advanced age. Among the animals, the gibbon and the crane were considered experts at inhaling the qi. The Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu (ca. 150 BC) wrote in Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals:[17] "The gibbon resembles a macaque, but he is larger, and his color is black. His forearms being long, he lives eight hundred years, because he is expert in controlling his breathing." ("猿似猴。大而黑。長前臂。所以壽八百。好引氣也。") Later, the syncretic text assembled under the direction of Liu An, the Huai Nan Zi, or "Masters of Huainan", has a passage that presages most of what is given greater detail by the Neo-Confucians: Heaven (seen here as the ultimate source of all being) falls (duo 墮, i.e., descends into proto-immanence) as the formless. Fleeting, fluttering, penetrating, amorphous it is, and so it is called the Supreme Luminary. The dao begins in the Void Brightening. The Void Brightening produces the universe (yu–zhou). The universe produces qi. Qi has bounds. The clear, yang [qi] was ethereal and so formed heaven. The heavy, turbid [qi] was congealed and impeded and so formed earth. The conjunction of the clear, yang [qi] was fluid and easy. The conjunction of the heavy, turbid [qi] was strained and difficult. So heaven was formed first and earth was made fast later. The pervading essence (xi–jing) of heaven and earth becomes yin and yang. The concentrated (zhuan) essences of yin and yang become the four seasons. The dispersed (san) essences of the four seasons become the myriad creatures. The hot qi of yang in accumulating produces fire. The essence (jing) of the fire-qi becomes the sun. The cold qi of yin in accumulating produces water. The essence of the water-qi becomes the moon. The essences produced by coitus (yin) of the sun and moon become the stars and celestial markpoints (chen, planets).— Huai-nan-zi, 3:1a/19 Characters In Yoga they talk of Ida and Pingala channels and a central channel called Sushumna with very many Nadis connecting our energy back to our Chakras. This Kundalini shakti energy moving systematically when ready to the top most Chakra Sahasara and then connects to the Supreme shiva and universe.
This energy is also affected by our emotions, the food we eat, and how we move this energy i.e. with Qigong and Yoga and how well we relax. Learning these skills help develop and refine this energy and maintain a storage where we can then start to develop longevity and preserve our inherited energy from our family.We are also affected energetically by our environment, particularly magnetic waves, microwaves sonic waves, radio waves, TV signals, mobile phones and so on. The long term effect has not been fully understood, our body’s energy is at the mercy of these frequencies unless we learn energy techniques to take control of these movements and redirect the flow. Managing our bodies and its needs sometimes can feel overwhelming but with the correct help and attitude we can soon feel the benefits of repeated Qi flow and awakened consciousness.
Yoga also uses movement to connect ourselves to the universe. We can learn so much from these practices about our bodies and how to get into a flow that benefits mind, body, and spirit. My experience when studying Kundalini Yoga was a very powerful one. Kundalini is known as the mother Yoga and when followed by its principles and ancient wisdom, allows for natural movement of the Kundalini. This is a simple but effective Yoga, often postures being held and breath sequences and Bhandas used to help move energy. Meditations and Mantras with Mudras further help reconnect the spirit and open us to the universal oneness. Both Qigong and Yoga have deep understanding of our energetic connections and make use of techniques and principles that guide us safely back to our spiritual home and beyond. Having studied and experienced both of these models extensively, I feel privileged to have great teachers and the opportunity to pass onto others these great energy healersIn Hindu philosophy including yoga, Indian medicine, and martial arts, Prana (प्राण, prāṇa; the Sanskrit word for "life force" or "vital principle")[1] comprises all cosmic energy, permeating the Universe on all levels. Prana is often referred to as the "life force" or "life energy".[not verified in body] It also includes energies present in inanimate objects.[not verified in body] In the Hindu literature, prana is sometimes described as originating from the Sun and connecting the elements of the Universe. This life energy has been vividly invoked and described in the ancient Vedas and Upanishads.[not verified in body. In living beings, this universal energy is considered responsible for all bodily functions through five types of prana, collectively known as the five vāyus. Ayurveda, tantra and Tibetan medicine all describe praṇā vāyu as the basic vāyu from which all the other vāyus arise. Indologist Georg Feuerstein explains, "The Chinese call it chi, the Polynesians mana, the Amerindians orenda, and the ancient Germans od. It is an all-pervasive 'organic' The ancient concept of prana is described in many early Hindu texts, including Upanishads and Vedas. One of the earliest references to prana is from the 3,000-year-old Chandogya Upanishad, but many other Upanishads also make use of the concept, including the Katha, Mundaka and Prasna Upanishads. The concept is elaborated upon in great detail in the practices and literature of haṭha yoga, tantra,and Ayurveda. Prana is typically divided into multiple constituent parts, in particular when concerned with the human body. While not all early sources agree on the names or number of these subdivisions, the most common list from the Mahabharata, the Upanishads, Ayurvedic and Yogic sources includes five, often divided into further subcategories.This list includes: Prana (inward moving energy), apana (outward moving energy), vyana (circulation of energy), udana (energy of the head and throat), and samana (digestion and assimilation).[citation needed] Early mention of specific pranas often emphasized prāṇa, apāna and vyāna as "the three breaths". This can be seen in the proto-yogic traditions of the Vratyas among others.[6]:104 Texts like the Vaikānasasmārta utilized the five pranas as an internalization of the five sacrificial fires of a panchagni homa ceremony.[6]:111–112 Vāyus
Poren Huang (Chinese: 黃柏仁, born 1970), a Taiwanese sculptor, was born in Taichung, located in central Taiwan. His grandfather and parents engaged in wood carving business.During the 1970s, Poren Huang's father, Mingde Huang, had a successful wood carving industry and huge export volume. As a major wood carving factory in Taiwan,the factory employed more than 100 craftsmen to produce wood handicrafts during peak seasons. Mingde Huang expected his son Poren Huang to inherit the family business, but Poren Huang preferred artistic creation to wood handicraft production, resulting in years of differences between the father and son. In 2005, Poren Huang fully expressed his ideas through his series of works, The Dog's Notes. Although he and his father held different viewpoints, he highly values family interaction. He focused on mending his family relationship before pursuing his personal ambition, and some of his works in The Dog's Notes strongly convey enlightenment and morality.After World War II, with the recovery of the global economy, prosperity and focus on human rights, the hard work of the previous generation is often reciprocated with the disregard, self-centeredness, mockery and impiety of the next generation. In The Dog's Notes, Poren Huang added the quality of loyalty and kindness to purify the human heart and create positive influence.Using the dog as a creative starting point, each piece of work is suggestive of the "human". About 10% to 90% of the works borrow from the dog to explore various human behaviors. Modern people generally feel kindly toward dogs because of their ability to soothe. Therefore, Poren Huang uses the dog as his creative theme to convey positive traits such as self-confidence, courage, loyalty or innocence, and to provoke in people deeper thoughts as they come in contact with his work. Many people are first attracted by the amusing forms; however, after a period of contact and interaction with the pieces, they seem to sense the deeper significance and remain inspired by positive ideas and thoughts. There are primarily two types of animals that appear in The Dog's Notes, the dog and the panda. They share a common characteristic of being humanized. These animals do not appear completely animal-like under Poren Huang's sculpting, but instead, they appear to have the scent of a human. That is why viewers tend to stand in front of the artwork and stare for quite a long time, unwittingly; perhaps it is because they did not get an affirmative answer as to whether the artwork is human or animal? When the dog and the panda enter the human's environment, they naturally learn to cohabitate with humans. They lose the wild nature of being wild animals, and become more humanized. People are the same way. Poren Huang wishes that humans can be more inspired by the dogs, and to learn the positive characters found in dogs, such as innocence, loyalty, kindness, bravery, and being passionate. Much like the Chinese proverb, "The son does not despise the mother for being ugly, and the dog does not blame the owner for being poor"; the dog will not despite the owner, and will not leave the owner, instead he will spend the rest of his life by his owner's side. Humans, on the other hand are different. They might look down on others or alienate others. They might even become disrespectful toward parents. The selfishness of humans causes wars and unrest in the world. Therefore, Poren Huang is not just creating artworks of animals, but instead, he is making his sculptures more humanized, so that the viewers can naturally reflect and be inspired. In addition, Poren Huang's humanized works of art also have a little bit of the "Oriental Literati" essence. Although these artworks will have various emotions, but they are never too intense, and are never over the top. Just like Ang Lee, Xi Jinping, Yo-Yo Ma, Jeremy Lin, as well as other generally well-known Chinese, whose personalities are perhaps the same way, which is gentle and refined, and with the modesty of a gentleman. Much like the Eastern literai who are well read of poetry and literature, their emotions are not easily shown; they are more restrained, and are full of character and depth.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poren_Huang
Francois Gachon is an advertising agent of the By Chance agency and a watercolourist graduated from the school of applied arts, he painted this subtle body that I have inlaid in the photo. Poren Huang considered this collage to be very artistic.The wallpaper is a painting by Paul Gauguin named Delightful Land... Te nave nave nave nave fenua, 1892