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The Hmong (RPA: Hmoob/Moob, IPA: [m̥ɔ̃ŋ]) are an ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity (苗族) in southern China. Hmong groups began a gradual southward migration in the 18th century due to political unrest and to find more arable land.
During the first and second Indochina Wars, France and the United States recruited thousands of Hmong people in Laos to fight against forces from north and south Vietnam and communist Pathet Lao insurgents, known as the Secret War, during the Vietnam War and the Laotian Civil War. Hundreds of thousands of Hmong refugees fled to Thailand seeking political asylum. Thousands of these refugees have resettled in Western countries since the late 1970s, mostly the United States, but also in Australia, France, French Guiana, Canada, and Argentina. Others have returned to Laos under United Nations-sponsored repatriation programs.
SUBCULTURES
Hmong people have their own terms for their subcultural divisions. Hmong Der and Hmong Leng are the terms for two of the largest groups in America and Southeast Asia. In the Romanized Popular Alphabet, developed in the 1950s in Laos, these terms are written Hmoob Dawb (White Hmong) and Moob Leeg/Moob Ntsuab (Blue/Green Mong). The final consonants indicate with which of the eight lexical tones the word is pronounced.
White Hmong and Green Hmong speak mutually intelligible dialects of the Hmong language with some differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. One of the most characteristic differences is the use of the voiceless /m̥/ in White Hmong, indicated by a preceding "H" in Romanized Popular Alphabet. Voiceless nasals are not found in the Green Hmong dialect. Hmong groups are often named after the dominant colors or patterns of their traditional clothing, style of head-dress, or the provinces from which they come.
VIETNAM
Vietnamese Hmong women continuing to wear 'traditional' clothing tend to source much of their clothing as 'ready to wear' cotton (as opposed to traditional hemp) from markets, though some add embroidery as a personal touch. In SaPa, now with a 'standardised' clothing look, Black Hmong sub-groups have differentiated themselves by adopting different headwear; those with a large comb embedded in their long hair (but without a hat) call themselves Tao, those with a pillbox hat name themselves Giay, and those with a checked headscarf are Yao. For many, such as Flower Hmong, the heavily beaded skirts and jackets are manufactured in China.
NOMENCLATURE
In Southeast Asia, Hmong people are referred to by other names, including: Vietnamese: Mèo or H'Mông; Lao: ແມ້ວ (Maew) or ມົ້ງ (Mong); Thai: แม้ว (Maew) or ม้ง (Mong); Burmese: မုံလူမျိုး (mun lu-myo). The xenonym, "Mèo", and variants thereof, are considered highly derogatory by many Hmong people and are infrequently used today outside of Southeast Asia.
The Hmong people were also referred to by some European writers as the "Kings of the Jungle," because they used to live in the jungle of Laos. Because the Hmong lived mainly in the highland areas of Southeast Asia and China, the French occupiers of Southeast Asia gave them the name Montagnards or "mountain people", but this should not be confused with the Degar people of Vietnam, who were also referred to as Montagnards.
HMONG, MONG AND MIAO
Some non-Chinese Hmong advocate that the term Hmong be used not only for designating their dialect group, but also for the other Miao groups living in China. They generally claim that the word "Miao" or "Meo" is a derogatory term, with connotations of barbarism, that probably should not be used at all. The term was later adapted by Tai-speaking groups in Southeast Asia where it took on especially insulting associations for Hmong people despite its official status.
In modern China, the term "Miao" does not carry these negative associations and people of the various sub-groups that constitute this officially recognized nationality freely identify themselves as Miao or Chinese, typically reserving more specific ethnonyms for intra-ethnic communication. During the struggle for political recognition after 1949, it was actually members of these ethnic minorities who campaigned for identification under the umbrella term "Miao"-taking advantage of its familiarity and associations of historical political oppression.
Contemporary transnational interactions between Hmong in the West and Miao groups in China, following the 1975 Hmong diaspora, have led to the development of a global Hmong identity that includes linguistically and culturally related minorities in China that previously had no ethnic affiliation. Scholarly and commercial exchanges, increasingly communicated via the Internet, have also resulted in an exchange of terminology, including Hmu and A Hmao people identifying as Hmong and, to a lesser extent, Hmong people accepting the designation "Miao," within the context of China. Such realignments of identity, while largely the concern of economically elite community leaders, reflect a trend towards the interchangeability of the terms "Hmong" and "Miao."
HISTORY
The Hmong claim an origin in the Yellow River region of China. According to Ratliff, there is linguistic evidence to suggest that they have occupied the same areas of southern China for at least the past 2,000 years. Evidence from mitochondrial DNA in Hmong-Mien-speaking populations supports the southern origins of maternal lineages even further back in time, although Hmong-speaking populations show more contact with Han than Mien populations. Chinese sources describe that area being inhabited by 'Miao' people, a group with whom Hmong people are often identified.
The ancient town of Zhuolu, is considered to be the legendary birthplace of the Miao. Today, a statue of Chi You, widely proclaimed as the first Hmong king, has been erected in the town. The Guoyu book, considers Chi You’s Jui Li tribe to be related to the ancient ancestors of the Hmong, the San Miao people
CULTURE
The Hmong culture usually consists of a dominant hierarchy within the family. Males hold dominance over females and thus, a father is considered the head in each household. Courtships take place during the night when a man goes to visit a woman at her house and tries to woo her with sweet-talks through the thin walls of the house where the woman's bedroom may be located. If a man kidnaps an unwilling woman as a bride, she would have to marry him or risk having a tarnished reputation.
Today, bridenapping is uncommon because those marriages can end in divorce since women are no longer afraid of a tarnished reputation. During a marriage, the man pays the woman's family for taking away a daughter who is economically essential to her parents. Hmong women retain their own maiden names following marriage, but attends to the ancestors of their husbands. The children they bear take their husbands' clan names. Consequently, the Hmong favour having sons over daughters because sons perpetuate the clan.
The Hmong practice shamanism and ancestor worship. Like other animists, they also believe that all things are endowed with spiritual beings and so should be respected.
See Anne Fadiman's ethnography: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down for more info.
Hmong families in Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos practice subsistence agriculture, supplemented by hunting and some foraging. Although they have chickens, pigs and cows, the traditional staple of the Hmong consists mostly of vegetable dishes and rice. Domestic animals are highly valued and killed for consumption only during special events such as the New Year's Festival or during events such as a birth, marriage, or funeral ritual.
GEOGRAPHY
Roughly 95% of the Hmong live in Asia. Linguistic data show that the Hmong of the Peninsula stem from the Miao of southern China as one among a set of ethnic groups belonging to the Hmong–Mien language family. Linguistically and culturally speaking, the Hmong and the other sub-groups of the Miao have little in common.
In China the majority of the Hmong today live in Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan. The Hmong population is estimated at 3 million. No precise census data exist on the Hmong in China since China does not officially recognise the ethnonym Hmong and instead, clusters that group within the wider Miao group (8,940,116 in 2000). A few centuries ago, the lowland Chinese started moving into the mountain ranges of China's southwest. This migration, combined with major social unrest in southern China in the 18th and 19th century, served to cause some minorities of Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan to migrate south. A number of Hmong thus settled in the ranges of the Indochina Peninsula to practise subsistence agriculture.
Vietnam, where their presence is attested from the late 18th century onwards, is likely to be the first Indochinese country into which the Hmong migrated. During the colonization of 'Tonkin' (north Vietnam) between 1883 and 1954, a number of Hmong decided to join the Vietnamese Nationalists and Communists, while many Christianized Hmong sided with the French. After the Viet Minh victory, numerous pro-French Hmong had to fall back to Laos and South Vietnam.
At the 2009 national census, there were 1,068,189 Hmong living in Vietnam, the vast majority of them in the north of the country. The traditional trade in coffin wood with China and the cultivation of the opium poppy – both prohibited only in 1993 in Vietnam – long guaranteed a regular cash income. Today, converting to cash cropping is the main economic activity. As in China and Laos, there is a certain degree of participation of Hmong in the local and regional administration. In the late 1990s, several thousands of Hmong have started moving to the Central Highlands and some have crossed the border into Cambodia, constituting the first attested presence of Hmong settlers in that country.
In 2005, the Hmong in Laos numbered 460,000. Hmong settlement there is nearly as ancient as in Vietnam. After decades of distant relations with the Lao kingdoms, closer relations between the French military and some Hmong on the Xieng Khouang plateau were set up after World War II. There, a particular rivalry between members of the Lo and Ly clans developed into open enmity, also affecting those connected with them by kinship. Clan leaders took opposite sides and as a consequence, several thousand Hmong participated in the fighting against the Pathet Lao Communists, while perhaps as many were enrolled in the People's Liberation Army. As in Vietnam, numerous Hmong in Laos also genuinely tried to avoid getting involved in the conflict in spite of the extremely difficult material conditions under which they lived during wartime.
After the 1975 Communist victory, thousands of Hmong from Laos had to seek refuge abroad. Approximately 30 percent of the Hmong left, although the only concrete figure we have is that of 116,000 Hmong from Laos and Vietnam together seeking refuge in Thailand up to 1990.
In 2002 the Hmong in Thailand numbered 151,080. The presence of Hmong settlements there is documented from the end of the 19th century. Initially, the Siamese paid little attention to them. But in the early 1950s, the state suddenly took a number of initiatives aimed at establishing links. Decolonization and nationalism were gaining momentum in the Peninsula and wars of independence were raging. Armed opposition to the state in northern Thailand, triggered by outside influence, started in 1967 while here again, many Hmong refused to take sides in the conflict. Communist guerrilla warfare stopped by 1982 as a result of an international concurrence of events that rendered it pointless. Priority is since given by the Thai state to sedentarizing the mountain population, introducing commercially viable agricultural techniques and national education, with the aim of integrating these non-Tai animists within the national identity.
Burma most likely includes a modest number of Hmong (perhaps around 2,500) but no reliable census has been conducted there recently.
As result of refugee movements in the wake of the Indochina Wars (1946–1975), in particular in Laos, the largest Hmong community to settle outside Asia went to the United States where approximately 100,000 individuals had already arrived by 1990. California became home to half this group, while the remainder went to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, Pennsylvania, Montana, and North Carolina. By the same date, 10,000 Hmong had migrated to France, including 1,400 in French Guyana. Canada admitted 900 individuals, while another 360 went to Australia, 260 to China, and 250 to Argentina. Over the following years and until the definitive closure of the last refugee camps in Thailand in 1998, additional numbers of Hmong have left Asia, but the definitive figures are still to be produced.
WIKIPEDIA
Period:Roman Period
Date:A.D. 80–100
Geography:From Egypt, Fayum, Hawara, BSAE excavations 1910-1911
Medium:Encaustic on limewood, human remains, linen, mummification material
Dimensions:mummy: l. 169 cm (66 9/16 in); w. 45 cm (17 11/16 in) panel as exposed: l. 38.1 cm (15 in); w. 18 cm (7 1/16 in)
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1911
Accession Number:11.139
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 137
This mummy retains the panel inserted over the face. The portrait depicts a youth with large deep-set eyes and a down-turned mouth. His downy moustache indicates that he is no older than his early twenties. A number of mummy portraits represent youths with their first facial hair, a feature that had particular connotations in the Greek-educated society of Roman Egypt. The incipient moustache was both an indicator of the young man's entrance into important social groups and a signal that he was at the prime of sexual attractiveness and vigor.
In this era mummies might be kept above ground for periods of some months up to several years before final burial. Most probably they were deposited in chapels in cemeteries, where they were visited by relatives for ritual meals.
Nataraja "நடராசர்" or Kooththan"கூத்தன்: (Hindustani: [nət̪əˈraːdʒə], The Lord (or King) of Dance), is a depiction of the god Shiva as the cosmic dancer who performs his divine dance to destroy a weary universe and make preparations for the god Brahma to start the process of creation.
DEPICTION
The dance of Shiva in Tillai, the traditional name for Chidambaram, forms the motif for all the depictions of Shiva as Nataraja. He is also known as "Sabesan" which splits as "Sabayil aadum eesan" in Tamil which means "The Lord who dances on the dais". The form is present in most Shiva temples in South India, and is the prime deity in the famous Thillai Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram.
The sculpture is usually made in bronze, with Shiva dancing in an aureole of flames, lifting his left leg (or in rare cases, the right leg) and balancing over a demon or dwarf (Apasmara) who symbolizes ignorance. It is a well known sculptural symbol in India and popularly used as a symbol of Indian culture.
The two most common forms of Shiva's dance are the Lasya (the gentle form of dance), associated with the creation of the world, and the Tandava (the violent and dangerous dance), associated with the destruction of weary worldviews – weary perspectives and lifestyles. In essence, the Lasya and the Tandava are just two aspects of Shiva's nature; for he destroys in order to create, tearing down to build again.
ETYMOLOGY
Nāṭaraja is derived from the Tamil words "நாட்டியம்" "Natiyam" (dance) and "Raja" (king) meaning "Lord of dance".
Koothan is derived from the Tamil word Koothu, which means dance or performance. A male dancer is termed Koothan. Also known as Natairajan in Sankritised Tamil, meaning Nathiyathin (of dance) Raajan (king). Naathiyam is another word for dance.
CARACTERISTICS
A cobra uncoils from his lower right forearm, and the crescent moon and a skull are on his crest. He dances within an arch of flames. This dance is called the Dance of Bliss,(Tamil: ஆனந்த தாண்டவம்) aananda taandavam.
The upper right hand holds a small drum shaped like an hourglass that is called a ḍamaru in Sanskrit. A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum. It symbolizes sound originating creation or the beat of the drum is the passage of time.
The upper left hand contains Agni or fire, which signifies destruction. The opposing concepts in the upper hands show the counterpoise of creation and destruction or the fire of life.
The second right hand shows the Abhaya mudra (meaning fearlessness in Sanskrit), bestowing protection from both evil and ignorance to those who follow the righteousness of dharma.
The second left hand points towards the raised foot which signifies upliftment and liberation. It also points to the left foot with the sign of the elephant which leads the way through the jungle of ignorance.
The dwarf on which Nataraja dances is the demon Apasmara (Muyalaka, as known in Tamil), which symbolises Shiva's victory over ignorance. It also represents the passage of spirit from the divine into material.
As the Lord of Dance, Nataraja, Shiva performs the tandava, the dance in which the universe is created, maintained, and dissolved. Shiva's long, matted tresses, usually piled up in a knot, loosen during the dance and crash into the heavenly bodies, knocking them off course or destroying them utterly.
The surrounding flames represent the manifest Universe.
The snake swirling around his waist is kundalini, the Shakti or divine force thought to reside within everything. This also parallels the cords of life worn by the Brahmins to represent the second rebirth.
The stoic face of Shiva represents his neutrality, thus being in balance.
SIGNIFICANCE
An essential significance of Shiva's dance at Tillai, the traditional name of Chidambaram, can be explained as:
First, it is seen as the image of his rhythmic play which is the source of all movement within the universe. This is represented by the circular or elliptical frame surrounding the Lord.
Secondly, the purpose of his dance is to release the souls of all men from the snare of illusion.
Lastly, the place of the dance, Chidambaram, which is portrayed as the center of the universe, is actually within the heart.
Dancing is seen as an art in which the artist and the art s/he creates are one and the same, thought to evoke the oneness of God and creation.
In the compact spiritual texts of divine knowledge, the holy Geeta, there are three basic Guṇa: Satvic, Tamsic and Rajsic. These combine with each other, and the life forms are created as a result of this divine activity. These life forms remain devoid of prana (breath), until the Divine entity infuses them with life. The Geeta says the division of the Divine entity is ninefold, of which eight can be known by humans, but the ninth is eternally unexplainable and hidden and secret. These eight divisions are the elements, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Akash, Mana, Buddhi, Ahamkara.
Nataraja is a visual interpretation of Brahman and a dance posture of Lord Shiva. It is the representation of reality at the time of cosmic destruction. We being life forms, cosmic destruction would mean the disappearance of all life. The half moon shown in the head of Nataraja is a symbol only. The fall of the moon would result in cosmic destruction.
MURTIS
The Nataraja sect originated in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The trajectory of the dancing Shiva is traced from the processional worship of metal icons outside the sanctum to the cultic elevation of the Nataraja bronze into the sanctum at Chidambaram.
Archaeo metallurgical studies made on South Indian bronzes by Sharada Srinivasan combined with iconographic and literary evidence showed that the Nataraja bronze was a Pallava innovation (7th to mid-9th century), rather than 10th-century Chola as widely believed. That the depiction was informed of cosmic or metaphysical connotations is also argued on the basis of the testimony of the hymns of Tamil saints.
The largest Nataraja statue is in Neyveli, in Tamil Nadu.
The image of "the Lord as the Cosmic Dancer" is shown at the Chidambaram temple, an unusual fact as Shiva is depicted in an anthropomorphic form rather than in the usual non-anthropomorphic form of the lingam.
In 2004, a 2m statue of the dancing Shiva was unveiled at CERN, the European Center for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva. The statue, symbolizing Shiva's cosmic dance of creation and destruction, was given to CERN by the Indian government to celebrate the research center's long association with India. A special plaque next to the Shiva statue explains the significance of the metaphor of Shiva's cosmic dance with quotations from Fritjof Capra: "
Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art and modern physics.
WIKIPEDIA
OM PARVAT
Om Parvat (also Adi Kailash, Little Kailash, Jonglingkong Peak,Baba Kailash, chhota Kailash)[3] is a mountain in the Himalayanmountain range, lying in the Darchula district of western Nepal and inPithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India. It is considered sacred by Hindusand its snow deposition pattern resembles the sacred 'OM' (ॐ). Its appearance is distinctly similar to Mount Kailash in Tibet.[4] Near Om Parvat lie Parvati Lake and Jonglingkong Lake. Jonglingkong Lake is sacred, as Mansarovar, to the Hindus. Opposite to this peak is a mountain called Parwati Muhar. The Om Parvat is the fruit of discord between India and Nepal who do not reach agreement about the border line between the two countries. The Om Parvat is currently on the Indo-Nepalese border face "Om/ॐ" in India and the back of the mountain inNepal.
This peak was attempted for the first time by an Indo-British team including Martin Moran, T. Rankin, M. Singh, S. Ward, A. Williams and R. Ausden. The climbers promised not to ascend the final 10 metres (30 ft) out of respect for the peak's holy status. However, they were stopped around 200 m (660 ft) short of the summit by very loose snow and rock conditions.[4]
The first ascent of Adi Kailash came on October 8, 2004. The team comprised Tim Woodward, Jack Pearse, Andy Perkins (UK); Jason Hubert, Martin Welch, Diarmid Hearns, Amanda George (Scotland); and Paul Zuchowski (USA). They did not ascend the final few metres, again out of respect for the sacred nature of the summit.
Om Parvat can be viewed en route to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra from the last camp below Lipu Lekh pass at Nabhidhang. Many trekkers to Adi Kailash often make a diversion to view Om Parvat. Om Parvat and Adi Kailash or Baba Kailash are not one and the same. Om Parvat is located near Nabhi Dhang (Nepal),The Chhota Kailash is located near Sinla pass, Near Brahma Parvat.
The best view of Om Parvat which "Om" drawn by the snow is the view from the district of Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand, India), which faces the mountain and hence to the "Om". By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
OM
Auṃ or Oṃ, Sanskrit: ॐ) is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Indian religions. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.
In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols (pratima). It refers to Atman (soul, self within) andBrahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.
Vedic literature
The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Vedas and different early Upanishads.[19] The meanings include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, theBrahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge".
Vedas
The chapters in Vedas, and numerous hymns, chants and benedictions therein use the syllable Om. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda, for example, begins with Om. The mantra is extracted from the 10th verse of Hymn 62 in Book III of the Rig Veda.These recitations continue to be in use, and major incantations and ceremonial functions begin and end with Om.
ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: |
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् |
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि |
धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ||
Om. Earth, atmosphere, heaven.
Let us think on that desirable splendour
of Savitr, the Inspirer. May he stimulate
us to insightful thoughts.
Om is a common symbol found in the ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in the first line of Rig veda (top), as well as a icon in temples and spiritual retreats.
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads of Hinduism. It opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on Om". It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is the udgitha (song, Om).
Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce song. The highest song is Om, asserts section 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, of reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.
The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons). Max Muller states that this struggle between gods and demons is considered allegorical by ancient Indian scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively. The legend in section 1.2 of Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons". The syllable Om is thus implied as that which inspires the good inclinations within each person.
Chandogya Upanishad's exposition of syllable Om in its opening chapter combines etymological speculations, symbolism, metric structure and philosophical themes. In the second chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, the meaning and significance of Om evolves into a philosophical discourse, such as in section 2.10 where Om is linked to the Highest Self, and section 2.23 where the text asserts Om is the essence of three forms of knowledge, Om is Brahman and "Om is all this [observed world]".
Katha Upanishad
The Katha Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meetsYama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge,Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation). In section 1.2, Katha Upanishad characterizes Knowledge/Wisdom as the pursuit of good, and Ignorance/Delusion as the pursuit of pleasant, that the essence of Veda is make man liberated and free, look past what has happened and what has not happened, free from the past and the future, beyond good and evil, and one word for this essence is the word Om.
The word which all the Vedas proclaim,
That which is expressed in every Tapas (penance, austerity, meditation),
That for which they live the life of a Brahmacharin,
Understand that word in its essence: Om! that is the word.
Yes, this syllable is Brahman,
This syllable is the highest.
He who knows that syllable,
Whatever he desires, is his.
— Katha Upanishad,
Maitri Upanishad
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad in sixth Prapathakas (lesson) discusses the meaning and significance of Om. The text asserts that Om represents Brahman-Atman. The three roots of the syllable, states the Maitri Upanishad, are A + U + M. The sound is the body of Soul, and it repeatedly manifests in three: as gender-endowed body - feminine, masculine, neuter; as light-endowed body - Agni, Vayu and Aditya; as deity-endowed body - Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu; as mouth-endowed body - Garhapatya, Dakshinagni and Ahavaniya; as knowledge-endowed body - Rig, Saman and Yajur; as world-endowed body - Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; as time-endowed body - Past, Present and Future; as heat-endowed body - Breath, Fire and Sun; as growth-endowed body - Food, Water and Moon; as thought-endowed body - intellect, mind and pysche. Brahman exists in two forms - the material form, and the immaterial formless. The material form is changing, unreal. The immaterial formless isn't changing, real. The immortal formless is truth, the truth is the Brahman, the Brahman is the light, the light is the Sun which is the syllable Om as the Self.
The world is Om, its light is Sun, and the Sun is also the light of the syllable Om, asserts the Upanishad. Meditating on Om, is acknowledging and meditating on the Brahman-Atman (Soul, Self).
Mundaka Upanishad
The Mundaka Upanishad in the second Mundakam (part), suggests the means to knowing the Self and the Brahman to be meditation, self-reflection and introspection, that can be aided by the symbol Om.
That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,
on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants –
That is the indestructible Brahman. It is life, it is speech, it is mind. That is the real. It is immortal.
It is a mark to be penetrated. Penetrate It, my friend.
Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation,
Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,
Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.
Om is the bow, the arrow is the Soul, Brahman the mark,
By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated,
One should come to be in It,
as the arrow becomes one with the mark.
— Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.2 - 2.2.4
Adi Shankara, in his review of the Mundaka Upanishad, states Om as a symbolism for Atman (soul, self).
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring, "Om!, this syllable is this whole world". Thereafter it presents various explanations and theories on what it means and signifies. This discussion is built on a structure of "four fourths" or "fourfold", derived from A + U + M + "silence" (or without an element).
Aum as all states of time
In verse 1, the Upanishad states that time is threefold: the past, the present and the future, that these three are "Aum". The four fourth of time is that which transcends time, that too is "Aum" expressed.
Aum as all states of Atman
In verse 2, states the Upanishad, everything is Brahman, but Brahman is Atman (the Soul, Self), and that the Atman is fourfold. Johnston summarizes these four states of Self, respectively, as seeking the physical, seeking inner thought, seeking the causes and spiritual consciousness, and the fourth state is realizing oneness with the Self, the Eternal.
Aum as all states of consciousness
In verses 3 to 6, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates four states of consciousness: wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma (being one with Self, the oneness of Self). These four are A + U + M + "without an element" respectively.
Aum as all of knowledge
In verses 9 to 12, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates fourfold etymological roots of the syllable "Aum". It states that the first element of "Aum" is A, which is from Apti (obtaining, reaching) or from Adimatva (being first). The second element is U, which is from Utkarsa (exaltation) or from Ubhayatva(intermediateness). The third element is M, from Miti (erecting, constructing) or from Mi Minati, or apīti (annihilation). The fourth is without an element, without development, beyond the expanse of universe. In this way, states the Upanishad, the syllable Om is indeed the Atman (the self).
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.14 to 1.16, suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent rubbing of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of Upanishads. The text asserts that Om is a tool of meditation empowering one to know the God within oneself, to realize one's Atman (Soul, Self).
Epics
The Bhagavad Gita, in the Epic Mahabharata, mentions the meaning and significance of Om in several verses. For example, Fowler notes that verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad Gita synthesizes the competing dualistic and monist streams of thought in Hinduism, by using "Om which is the symbol for the indescribable, impersonal Brahman".
I am the Father of this world, Mother, Ordainer, Grandfather, the Thing to be known, the Purifier, the syllable Om, Rik, Saman and also Yajus.
— Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita 9.17,
The significance of the sacred syllable in the Hindu traditions, is similarly highlighted in various of its verses, such as verse 17.24 where the importance of Omduring prayers, charity and meditative practices is explained as follows,
Therefore, uttering Om, the acts of yajna (fire ritual), dāna (charity) and tapas (austerity) as enjoined in the scriptures, are always begun by those who study the Brahman.
— Bhagavad Gita
Yoga Sutra
The aphoristic verse 1.27 of Pantanjali's Yogasutra links Om to Yoga practice, as follows,
तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥२७॥
His word is Om.
— Yogasutra 1.27,
Johnston states this verse highlights the importance of Om in the meditative practice of Yoga, where it symbolizes three worlds in the Soul; the three times – past, present and future eternity, the three divine powers – creation, preservation and transformation in one Being; and three essences in one Spirit – immortality, omniscience and joy. It is, asserts Johnston, a symbol for the perfected Spiritual Man (his emphasis). BY KAILASH MANSAROVAR FOUNDATION SWAMI BIKASH GIRI www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
January 2009 to December 2010
It's always satisfying when a bank statement shows you have more money moving into your account than leaving it each month, however I wanted to visualise this activity over a longer period to help me understand my ability to save in more detail. This chart represents two years of data showing my account balance at the end of each day assuming I started on the first day of January with £100. Sharp rises represent pay days and each fall back towards the x-axis shows that I have either spent money on a credit or debit card or made an ATM withdrawal. In both years I made a large withdrawal in the summer, this was to buy a car in 2009 and to pay my tuition fees a year later. I was earning more money in early 2010 however I also made some large purchases. Since enrolling on the MA I have taken a reduction in hours with my employer and so have found it impossible to save as much as I was able to in 2009. Green is associated with money internationally and the layout was chosen to resemble a city skyline which also has strong connotations with this subject.
For higher quality images visit:
It's been nearly six years to the day since I made this photograph. The original is the same name, of course. I thought it ironic, and somewhat interesting that time and date posted is so very near today's date.
The camera I used to make this photograph was the Treo 650, an early smartphone made by Palm, which used the PalmOS.
As can be seen in the EXIF data, I used Adobe PhotoShop Creative Suite 5 to manipulate the image. And, I'd like to address the subject "manipulate." While the word has negative connotations, the primary definition of word means to "handle or control (a tool, mechanism, etc.), typically in a skillful manner."
Often, however, when folks hear the word "PhotoShop," they think of some change to the photograph that alters it so, that it no longer resembles the original, or is a radical departure from the object as envisioned by the photographer.
While PS and other applications can be so used - and have been - I have come to appreciate the tool itself for several reasons, not the least of which is that the camera (tool) I used to capture the scene didn't actually see, or render the scene as I envisioned it, or saw it. Matter of fact, for all the fancy cameras, processes, tools & techniques that have ever existed, there is none that has even come close to the remarkable ability and capacity of the human eye.
Again, I think it's equally important to acknowledge that art itself - and photography is an art, and art form - is a subjective matter, wherein every viewer and creative person has a personal preference, likes and dislikes. And so, because art is largely subjective in nature, there is an equally broad latitude given to the creative individual in the creative process.
If nothing else, the product produced represents an investment of the creator's time, vision and money, and should be given the respect for those three things at the very least.
Now... if you're interested in the tech specs of the Treo, here's a brief overview:
"The Treo 650 smart phone by Palm is a hybrid PDA/cellphone that was introduced late in 2004. This device has a 312 MHz Intel X-Scale PXA270 processor, making it almost the equal of a full-sized desktop computer of a decade ago. It supports phone, e-mail, Web access and multimedia applications, including video.The Treo 650 comes equipped with a 320x320 TFT backlit display, which makes it possible to view photos, web pages and e-mails when outdoors in daylight. Photos are in 16-bit color with a maximum VGA resolution of 0.3 megapixels, and there is a 2X zoom feature built in. Bluetooth capacity is built in for headsets and some other devices, but wireless is not included. You can listen to MP3 music on the Treo, but it requires a memory card, sold separately. The Treo 650's VersaMail wireless e-mail system is considered one of its strong points. The simple setup wizard allows you to send and receive e-mail from as many as eight IMAP or POP3 accounts. Early versions of the 650 displayed some problems with the 32-bit memory, but that was remedied with a 128-MB digital memory card.The Treo is available as a dual-band digital CDMA phone or as a GSM quad-band world phone. The directory holds thousands of listings, and entering them is relatively easy with the backlit QWERTY keyboard. The Treo has speakerphone, speed dial, conference calling and caller ID, and an on-screen dial pad. Plenty of programs are included, and there is a wide range of software available for customization."
Wigan Pier
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On the right, the reconstructed Wigan pier
Wigan Pier is the name given today to the area around the canal at the bottom of the Wigan flight of locks on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.[1] It is a popular location for visitors and the local community in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, situated just a few hundred yards south-west of the town centre. The name "Wigan Pier" has humorous connotations since it conjures an image of a seaside pleasure pier, whereas Wigan is in fact an inland and traditionally industrial town.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Existing buildings
3 Future
4 References
5 External links
History[edit]
The original "pier" at Wigan was a coal loading staithe, probably a wooden jetty, where wagons from a nearby colliery were unloaded into waiting barges on the canal. The original wooden pier is believed to have been demolished in 1929, with the iron from the tippler (a mechanism for tipping coal into the barges) being sold as scrap.[1]
The name Wigan Pier was possibly invented by and was brought to popular attention by George Formby, Sr. in the Music Halls of the early twentieth century and later by George Formby, Jr. who incorporated it into his songs. Someone looking out of an excursion train to Southport in the fog and seeing a coal gantry asked "Where are we?" and was told "Wigan Pier".[2] The tippler became the favoured location when people subsequently wanted to see it. There are references to it in songs such as On the Wigan Boat Express.[3]
In 1937, Wigan was featured in the title of George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, which dealt, in large part, with the living conditions of England's working poor. In response to a critic, Orwell insisted "He [Orwell] liked Wigan very much — the people, not the scenery. Indeed, he has only one fault to find with it, and that is in respect of the celebrated Wigan Pier, which he had set his heart on seeing. Alas! Wigan Pier had been demolished, and even the spot where it used to stand is no longer certain."[4] Some have embraced the Orwellian link, as it has provided the area with a modest tourist base over the years. "It seems funny to celebrate Orwell for highlighting all our bad points, but Wigan wouldn't be anywhere near as famous without him," said the Wigan Pier Experience's manager, Carole Tyldesley. "In the end George Orwell has proved to be a strong marketing tool."[5] Others regard this connection as disappointing, considering it an insinuation that Wigan is no better now than it was at the time of Orwell's writing.[6]
To see the difference, it is worth recalling a description of the canal scene from The Road to Wigan Pier: "I remember a winter afternoon in the dreadful environs of Wigan. All round was the lunar landscape of slag-heaps, and to the north, through the passes, as it were, between the mountains of slag, you could see the factory chimneys sending out their plumes of smoke. The canal path was a mixture of cinders and frozen mud, criss-crossed by the imprints of innumerable clogs, and all round, as far as the slag-heaps in the distance, stretched the ‘flashes’ — pools of stagnant water that had seeped into the hollows caused by the subsidence of ancient pits. It was horribly cold. The ‘flashes’ were covered with ice the colour of raw umber, the bargemen were muffled to the eyes in sacks, the lock gates wore beards of ice. It seemed a world from which vegetation had been banished; nothing existed except smoke, shale, ice, mud, ashes, and foul water."[7]
Today, the slag heaps have been removed or landscaped with trees, the factories are closed or converted to housing and the canal is only used for recreational boating and fishing.
Existing buildings[edit]
The pier was at the end of a narrow gauge tramway from a colliery. The wagons would be brought right to the edge of the canal to be tippled so that their contents went straight into the waiting barges. The original wooden pier is believed to have been demolished in 1929, with the iron from the tippler being sold as scrap. Because of the more recent pride in the area's heritage, a replica tippler, consisting of two curved rails, has been erected at the original location.[1]
The original terminus of the canal, completed 1777
The former Wigan Terminus Warehouses were built in the 18th century and refurbished in the 1980s. Boats could moor inside the building and off-load directly into the warehouse.[8]
A warehouse with covered loading bays, converted into a museum of Victorian life (often mistakenly thought to be Wigan Pier), and the home to The Way We Were museum,[9] was part of the Wigan Pier Experience museum and exhibition centre. The exhibition featured a Victorian school room, a colliery disaster, the Second Boer War and (on the top floor) a complete pub transported from Hope Street and reconstructed by shopping centre developers. The Wigan Pier Theatre Company used these displays to remind present generations of "The Way We Were" – not always a happy life.[10] The attraction closed on 20 December 2007.[11]
Gibson's Warehouse is a Victorian cotton warehouse, originally built in 1777, re-built in 1984 as The Orwell at Wigan Pier, is situated on the canalside.[12]
Trencherfield Mill is a former cotton mill, located across the road from Wigan Pier - currently[when?] being converted into luxury apartments.[13] It still contains the massive working steam engine which will be kept in the new development.
There are several bridges across the canal. Bridge #51 Pottery Changeline is a roving bridge, one which swaps the tow path from one side of the canal to the other, usually in such a way as to allow the horse pulling the barge to pass easily and without disconnecting its tow-rope.[14] Bridge #50 Seven Stars Bridge is adjacent to the Seven Stars public house, taking its name from "The Plough" star constellation.[15]
(further pictures and information about Vienna are available at the end of page by copying the corresponding link!)
Annexation 1938
Propaganda for the by Schuschnigg planned plebiscite - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Propaganda for the by Schuschnigg planned plebiscite.
Campaign advertising of Fatherland Front. Departure from Josef place.
10/11 March 1938. Photo: Leo Ernst - Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The "Anschluss" represents itself as a triple assumption of power:
... as massive military threat by the invasion of the Wehrmacht, accompanied by an yet earlier onset of police action by Himmler's Gestapo; as a takeover by local Nazis and sympathizers who were already in lower as well as higher positions of the "corporate state (Ständestaat)"; and as demonstrative takeover "from below" by threatening street demonstrations, open deployment of previously banned party formations and symbolic actions.
Spontaneous victory celebrations of the National Socialists in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Spontaneous victory celebrations of the National Socialists in Vienna.
NS-squad on a truck. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Dietrich
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The propaganda on this occasion took on a key role. Its effectiveness resulted from the confluence of staging and fascination. Propaganda replaced real power where it not yet could be exercised, intimidated political opponents and raised hopes among supporters. The structure of the necessary propaganda apparatus created simultaneously the foundations for the future party apparatus of the NSDAP as an organization penetrating the society as a whole.
Hitler Youth marched in Vienna. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hirscher - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Hitler Youth marched in Vienna. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hirscher
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Even children were mobilized to support the "Anschluss" propagandistically, they were as bearers of hopes of the new era addressees of Nazi propaganda. National Socialism in Austria also meant a significant change in the school system, which itself unresistingly and quite readily adapted to the new conditions.
Marching in of troops of the German Wehrmacht in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Marching in of troops of the German Wehrmacht in Vienna.
An armored car is visited by Wiener youth.
13 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Orientated toward the capturing of the "whole" person, the individual as less as possible should be given individual leeway. Personal decisions about connotations of one's life and insight into overall socio-political correlations were not even allowed to arise. Despite the apparent devotion to the children, was this state-imposed education determined by an inhuman ideology of humiliation (Erniedrigungsideologie), which found its expression in racial anti-Semitism, the doctrine of life unworthy of being lived and the devaluation of everything foreign. Companionable acting in the sense of solidarity with the weak, in this system of education had no place. In its place came the mutual monitoring and disciplining for unscrupulous execution of commands given from "above.
Demonstration of the HJ with Baldur von Schirach at Heldenplatz in Vienna.
13 March 1938. Photo: Dietrich
from "Hans Petschar; Annexation - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Central guideline of the National Socialist policy in the cultural sector was the exclusion of Jewish artists, which was marked out in Germany since 1933 through a series of bureaucratic measures: compulsory membership in the corresponding professional chambers of the Reich Chamber of Culture as an absolute professional requirement, while rejection of "non-Aryans"; total political supervision of the theater of the spoken word and music theater, but also of the literature and publishing industry as well as the film production by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels.
Hitler in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Hitler in Vienna. Driving on the ring road.
14 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Politically "unreliable and unsuitable" as communists, socialists, conservatives with an anti-Nazi attitude, religious activists and homosexuals were also "as parasites of culture" eliminated. Simultaneously, the advanced civilization operation should be exploited for the stabilization of leadership (Herrschaftsstablisierung), ultimately no new "essentially German" ("blood and soil") cultural movement being created, but the bourgeois approaches to the classics forced (under exclusion of the heritage of dead and living Jewish artists). The high representatives of the regime were satisfied to document toward the inside and abroad that the apparently revolutionary Nazi regime stood in the succession of civil and monarchical rulers. More intense became the Nazi commitment in the entertainment industry, especially in the film, in which the "Wien-Film" productions full of platitudinous operetta bliss further succeeded. Entertainment was a psychologically skilfully orchestrated attempt to divert attention from political repression and massive racist persecution. Artists (females and males), for the time being - with a few exceptions of resistance - rapidly in the new polictical system fell into line, partly too because the working and production conditions at the moment due to increased government spending were much better than in the times of high unemployment.
Parade in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Publishing company mbH
Parade in Vienna. German armored vehicles in University Street;
in the background right, the Votive Church. 03/15/1938
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Political instrumentalization mostly only in the private sector and occasionally assistance for persecuted colleagues was opposed. The National Socialist state sought immediately after the "Anschluss" also to win over the women. The propaganda especially the mothers put in the center. This pretended respect of motherhood should serve to encourage women for giving birth as much as possible of "racially valuable" children to counteract the purportedly looming descent of the German people by falling fertility rates.
A symbolic poster.
The men are at the front;
the women produce weapons.
Title page of exhibition catalog to exhibition "Degenerate Music".
Women, preferably, should be restricted to the household or social care professions. However, during the war there was an acute shortage of manpower, so that also mothers as workers were forced in the defense industry. The education of girls was clearly targeted at household and motherhood. In the "mandatory year" young girls had to work unpaid in agriculture, in large families or in homes of high-ranking Nazis. In this way, they should practice their future work as a housewife and mother.
Göring at the Heldenplatz - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Göring at the Heldenplatz. 27 March 1938
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
In political terms, however, women were excluded from any participation, the National Socialist Women's Organization at all levels was subordinated male functionaries. Many women nevertheless found it exciting now being courted propagandistically, and complied with the Nazi standards. Women also participated in acts of persecution and thus became co-participants in the National Socialist crimes. The appreciation but went only to aligned women and corresponding to racist standards. Those who opposed the regime were as ruthlessly persecuted as women who built relationships with Jews, prisoners of war or foreign workers. Despite the threat of persecution, many women offered resistance against Nazism. They were detained in prisons or concentration camps; even young mothers were executed. From Eastern Europe as forced laborers in the German Empire brought women were deprived of all their rights; them it was even forbidden to have children, and with them forced abortions were carried out, if they became pregnant just the same.
In the Nazi propaganda the "national" motives of the "Anschluss" stood in the foreground.
March of the Austrian Legion by the gate Heldentor - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
March of the Austrian Legion by the Heldentor.
01 April 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
But the real reason for the invasion of Austria was another one, 1938 the German armaments industry reached the limit of its capacity. The continuation of the rearmament seemed questioned. Because there was a lack of raw materials, labor force, free industrial capacities and - not least - of foreign exchange for imports of goods essential for armament. Not the highway construction or other job-creation measures had since 1933 reduced unemployment in the German Reich, but the preparation of a new war.
Glue action of HJ - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Glue action of the HJ. March 1938
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The "blitzkrieg" concept Germany should enable to incorporate one country after another into its sphere of influence and with the so obtained increase in economic power to eliminate the each next opponent. In the framework of the second four-year plan, which in 1936 was elaborated under the leadership of Hermann Göring, in addition to the development of substitutes (eg for rubber and oil), the securing of the access to non-substitutable goods (such as the iron ore from the Styrian Erzberg) had top priority.
It is therefore no coincidence that Austria and the so-called Sudeten German areas of Czechoslovakia with their rich economic resources yet before 1938 were in the field of view of National Socialism and that those countries then were "annexed" the first. Of interest in Austria next to the Erzberg were the unused water forces, the oil deposits in the March field, heavy industry, mechanical engineering and the gold and currency reserves of the Austrian National Bank, which exceeded those of the German Reichsbank in 1938 by a multiple.
OM PARVAT
Om Parvat (also Adi Kailash, Little Kailash, Jonglingkong Peak,Baba Kailash, chhota Kailash)[3] is a mountain in the Himalayanmountain range, lying in the Darchula district of western Nepal and inPithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India. It is considered sacred by Hindusand its snow deposition pattern resembles the sacred 'OM' (ॐ). Its appearance is distinctly similar to Mount Kailash in Tibet.[4] Near Om Parvat lie Parvati Lake and Jonglingkong Lake. Jonglingkong Lake is sacred, as Mansarovar, to the Hindus. Opposite to this peak is a mountain called Parwati Muhar. The Om Parvat is the fruit of discord between India and Nepal who do not reach agreement about the border line between the two countries. The Om Parvat is currently on the Indo-Nepalese border face "Om/ॐ" in India and the back of the mountain inNepal.
This peak was attempted for the first time by an Indo-British team including Martin Moran, T. Rankin, M. Singh, S. Ward, A. Williams and R. Ausden. The climbers promised not to ascend the final 10 metres (30 ft) out of respect for the peak's holy status. However, they were stopped around 200 m (660 ft) short of the summit by very loose snow and rock conditions.[4]
The first ascent of Adi Kailash came on October 8, 2004. The team comprised Tim Woodward, Jack Pearse, Andy Perkins (UK); Jason Hubert, Martin Welch, Diarmid Hearns, Amanda George (Scotland); and Paul Zuchowski (USA). They did not ascend the final few metres, again out of respect for the sacred nature of the summit.
Om Parvat can be viewed en route to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra from the last camp below Lipu Lekh pass at Nabhidhang. Many trekkers to Adi Kailash often make a diversion to view Om Parvat. Om Parvat and Adi Kailash or Baba Kailash are not one and the same. Om Parvat is located near Nabhi Dhang (Nepal),The Chhota Kailash is located near Sinla pass, Near Brahma Parvat.
The best view of Om Parvat which "Om" drawn by the snow is the view from the district of Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand, India), which faces the mountain and hence to the "Om". By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
OM
Auṃ or Oṃ, Sanskrit: ॐ) is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Indian religions. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.
In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols (pratima). It refers to Atman (soul, self within) andBrahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.
Vedic literature
The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Vedas and different early Upanishads.[19] The meanings include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, theBrahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge".
Vedas
The chapters in Vedas, and numerous hymns, chants and benedictions therein use the syllable Om. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda, for example, begins with Om. The mantra is extracted from the 10th verse of Hymn 62 in Book III of the Rig Veda.These recitations continue to be in use, and major incantations and ceremonial functions begin and end with Om.
ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: |
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् |
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि |
धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ||
Om. Earth, atmosphere, heaven.
Let us think on that desirable splendour
of Savitr, the Inspirer. May he stimulate
us to insightful thoughts.
Om is a common symbol found in the ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in the first line of Rig veda (top), as well as a icon in temples and spiritual retreats.
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads of Hinduism. It opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on Om". It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is the udgitha (song, Om).
Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce song. The highest song is Om, asserts section 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, of reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.
The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons). Max Muller states that this struggle between gods and demons is considered allegorical by ancient Indian scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively. The legend in section 1.2 of Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons". The syllable Om is thus implied as that which inspires the good inclinations within each person.
Chandogya Upanishad's exposition of syllable Om in its opening chapter combines etymological speculations, symbolism, metric structure and philosophical themes. In the second chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, the meaning and significance of Om evolves into a philosophical discourse, such as in section 2.10 where Om is linked to the Highest Self, and section 2.23 where the text asserts Om is the essence of three forms of knowledge, Om is Brahman and "Om is all this [observed world]".
Katha Upanishad
The Katha Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meetsYama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge,Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation). In section 1.2, Katha Upanishad characterizes Knowledge/Wisdom as the pursuit of good, and Ignorance/Delusion as the pursuit of pleasant, that the essence of Veda is make man liberated and free, look past what has happened and what has not happened, free from the past and the future, beyond good and evil, and one word for this essence is the word Om.
The word which all the Vedas proclaim,
That which is expressed in every Tapas (penance, austerity, meditation),
That for which they live the life of a Brahmacharin,
Understand that word in its essence: Om! that is the word.
Yes, this syllable is Brahman,
This syllable is the highest.
He who knows that syllable,
Whatever he desires, is his.
— Katha Upanishad,
Maitri Upanishad
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad in sixth Prapathakas (lesson) discusses the meaning and significance of Om. The text asserts that Om represents Brahman-Atman. The three roots of the syllable, states the Maitri Upanishad, are A + U + M. The sound is the body of Soul, and it repeatedly manifests in three: as gender-endowed body - feminine, masculine, neuter; as light-endowed body - Agni, Vayu and Aditya; as deity-endowed body - Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu; as mouth-endowed body - Garhapatya, Dakshinagni and Ahavaniya; as knowledge-endowed body - Rig, Saman and Yajur; as world-endowed body - Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; as time-endowed body - Past, Present and Future; as heat-endowed body - Breath, Fire and Sun; as growth-endowed body - Food, Water and Moon; as thought-endowed body - intellect, mind and pysche. Brahman exists in two forms - the material form, and the immaterial formless. The material form is changing, unreal. The immaterial formless isn't changing, real. The immortal formless is truth, the truth is the Brahman, the Brahman is the light, the light is the Sun which is the syllable Om as the Self.
The world is Om, its light is Sun, and the Sun is also the light of the syllable Om, asserts the Upanishad. Meditating on Om, is acknowledging and meditating on the Brahman-Atman (Soul, Self).
Mundaka Upanishad
The Mundaka Upanishad in the second Mundakam (part), suggests the means to knowing the Self and the Brahman to be meditation, self-reflection and introspection, that can be aided by the symbol Om.
That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,
on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants –
That is the indestructible Brahman. It is life, it is speech, it is mind. That is the real. It is immortal.
It is a mark to be penetrated. Penetrate It, my friend.
Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation,
Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,
Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.
Om is the bow, the arrow is the Soul, Brahman the mark,
By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated,
One should come to be in It,
as the arrow becomes one with the mark.
— Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.2 - 2.2.4
Adi Shankara, in his review of the Mundaka Upanishad, states Om as a symbolism for Atman (soul, self).
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring, "Om!, this syllable is this whole world". Thereafter it presents various explanations and theories on what it means and signifies. This discussion is built on a structure of "four fourths" or "fourfold", derived from A + U + M + "silence" (or without an element).
Aum as all states of time
In verse 1, the Upanishad states that time is threefold: the past, the present and the future, that these three are "Aum". The four fourth of time is that which transcends time, that too is "Aum" expressed.
Aum as all states of Atman
In verse 2, states the Upanishad, everything is Brahman, but Brahman is Atman (the Soul, Self), and that the Atman is fourfold. Johnston summarizes these four states of Self, respectively, as seeking the physical, seeking inner thought, seeking the causes and spiritual consciousness, and the fourth state is realizing oneness with the Self, the Eternal.
Aum as all states of consciousness
In verses 3 to 6, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates four states of consciousness: wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma (being one with Self, the oneness of Self). These four are A + U + M + "without an element" respectively.
Aum as all of knowledge
In verses 9 to 12, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates fourfold etymological roots of the syllable "Aum". It states that the first element of "Aum" is A, which is from Apti (obtaining, reaching) or from Adimatva (being first). The second element is U, which is from Utkarsa (exaltation) or from Ubhayatva(intermediateness). The third element is M, from Miti (erecting, constructing) or from Mi Minati, or apīti (annihilation). The fourth is without an element, without development, beyond the expanse of universe. In this way, states the Upanishad, the syllable Om is indeed the Atman (the self).
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.14 to 1.16, suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent rubbing of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of Upanishads. The text asserts that Om is a tool of meditation empowering one to know the God within oneself, to realize one's Atman (Soul, Self).
Epics
The Bhagavad Gita, in the Epic Mahabharata, mentions the meaning and significance of Om in several verses. For example, Fowler notes that verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad Gita synthesizes the competing dualistic and monist streams of thought in Hinduism, by using "Om which is the symbol for the indescribable, impersonal Brahman".
I am the Father of this world, Mother, Ordainer, Grandfather, the Thing to be known, the Purifier, the syllable Om, Rik, Saman and also Yajus.
— Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita 9.17,
The significance of the sacred syllable in the Hindu traditions, is similarly highlighted in various of its verses, such as verse 17.24 where the importance of Omduring prayers, charity and meditative practices is explained as follows,
Therefore, uttering Om, the acts of yajna (fire ritual), dāna (charity) and tapas (austerity) as enjoined in the scriptures, are always begun by those who study the Brahman.
— Bhagavad Gita
Yoga Sutra
The aphoristic verse 1.27 of Pantanjali's Yogasutra links Om to Yoga practice, as follows,
तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥२७॥
His word is Om.
— Yogasutra 1.27,
Johnston states this verse highlights the importance of Om in the meditative practice of Yoga, where it symbolizes three worlds in the Soul; the three times – past, present and future eternity, the three divine powers – creation, preservation and transformation in one Being; and three essences in one Spirit – immortality, omniscience and joy. It is, asserts Johnston, a symbol for the perfected Spiritual Man (his emphasis). BY KAILASH MANSAROVAR FOUNDATION SWAMI BIKASH GIRI www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
OM PARVAT
Om Parvat (also Adi Kailash, Little Kailash, Jonglingkong Peak,Baba Kailash, chhota Kailash)[3] is a mountain in the Himalayanmountain range, lying in the Darchula district of western Nepal and inPithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India. It is considered sacred by Hindusand its snow deposition pattern resembles the sacred 'OM' (ॐ). Its appearance is distinctly similar to Mount Kailash in Tibet.[4] Near Om Parvat lie Parvati Lake and Jonglingkong Lake. Jonglingkong Lake is sacred, as Mansarovar, to the Hindus. Opposite to this peak is a mountain called Parwati Muhar. The Om Parvat is the fruit of discord between India and Nepal who do not reach agreement about the border line between the two countries. The Om Parvat is currently on the Indo-Nepalese border face "Om/ॐ" in India and the back of the mountain inNepal.
This peak was attempted for the first time by an Indo-British team including Martin Moran, T. Rankin, M. Singh, S. Ward, A. Williams and R. Ausden. The climbers promised not to ascend the final 10 metres (30 ft) out of respect for the peak's holy status. However, they were stopped around 200 m (660 ft) short of the summit by very loose snow and rock conditions.[4]
The first ascent of Adi Kailash came on October 8, 2004. The team comprised Tim Woodward, Jack Pearse, Andy Perkins (UK); Jason Hubert, Martin Welch, Diarmid Hearns, Amanda George (Scotland); and Paul Zuchowski (USA). They did not ascend the final few metres, again out of respect for the sacred nature of the summit.
Om Parvat can be viewed en route to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra from the last camp below Lipu Lekh pass at Nabhidhang. Many trekkers to Adi Kailash often make a diversion to view Om Parvat. Om Parvat and Adi Kailash or Baba Kailash are not one and the same. Om Parvat is located near Nabhi Dhang (Nepal),The Chhota Kailash is located near Sinla pass, Near Brahma Parvat.
The best view of Om Parvat which "Om" drawn by the snow is the view from the district of Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand, India), which faces the mountain and hence to the "Om". By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
OM
Auṃ or Oṃ, Sanskrit: ॐ) is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Indian religions. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.
In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols (pratima). It refers to Atman (soul, self within) andBrahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.
Vedic literature
The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Vedas and different early Upanishads.[19] The meanings include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, theBrahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge".
Vedas
The chapters in Vedas, and numerous hymns, chants and benedictions therein use the syllable Om. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda, for example, begins with Om. The mantra is extracted from the 10th verse of Hymn 62 in Book III of the Rig Veda.These recitations continue to be in use, and major incantations and ceremonial functions begin and end with Om.
ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: |
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् |
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि |
धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ||
Om. Earth, atmosphere, heaven.
Let us think on that desirable splendour
of Savitr, the Inspirer. May he stimulate
us to insightful thoughts.
Om is a common symbol found in the ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in the first line of Rig veda (top), as well as a icon in temples and spiritual retreats.
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads of Hinduism. It opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on Om". It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is the udgitha (song, Om).
Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce song. The highest song is Om, asserts section 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, of reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.
The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons). Max Muller states that this struggle between gods and demons is considered allegorical by ancient Indian scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively. The legend in section 1.2 of Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons". The syllable Om is thus implied as that which inspires the good inclinations within each person.
Chandogya Upanishad's exposition of syllable Om in its opening chapter combines etymological speculations, symbolism, metric structure and philosophical themes. In the second chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, the meaning and significance of Om evolves into a philosophical discourse, such as in section 2.10 where Om is linked to the Highest Self, and section 2.23 where the text asserts Om is the essence of three forms of knowledge, Om is Brahman and "Om is all this [observed world]".
Katha Upanishad
The Katha Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meetsYama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge,Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation). In section 1.2, Katha Upanishad characterizes Knowledge/Wisdom as the pursuit of good, and Ignorance/Delusion as the pursuit of pleasant, that the essence of Veda is make man liberated and free, look past what has happened and what has not happened, free from the past and the future, beyond good and evil, and one word for this essence is the word Om.
The word which all the Vedas proclaim,
That which is expressed in every Tapas (penance, austerity, meditation),
That for which they live the life of a Brahmacharin,
Understand that word in its essence: Om! that is the word.
Yes, this syllable is Brahman,
This syllable is the highest.
He who knows that syllable,
Whatever he desires, is his.
— Katha Upanishad,
Maitri Upanishad
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad in sixth Prapathakas (lesson) discusses the meaning and significance of Om. The text asserts that Om represents Brahman-Atman. The three roots of the syllable, states the Maitri Upanishad, are A + U + M. The sound is the body of Soul, and it repeatedly manifests in three: as gender-endowed body - feminine, masculine, neuter; as light-endowed body - Agni, Vayu and Aditya; as deity-endowed body - Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu; as mouth-endowed body - Garhapatya, Dakshinagni and Ahavaniya; as knowledge-endowed body - Rig, Saman and Yajur; as world-endowed body - Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; as time-endowed body - Past, Present and Future; as heat-endowed body - Breath, Fire and Sun; as growth-endowed body - Food, Water and Moon; as thought-endowed body - intellect, mind and pysche. Brahman exists in two forms - the material form, and the immaterial formless. The material form is changing, unreal. The immaterial formless isn't changing, real. The immortal formless is truth, the truth is the Brahman, the Brahman is the light, the light is the Sun which is the syllable Om as the Self.
The world is Om, its light is Sun, and the Sun is also the light of the syllable Om, asserts the Upanishad. Meditating on Om, is acknowledging and meditating on the Brahman-Atman (Soul, Self).
Mundaka Upanishad
The Mundaka Upanishad in the second Mundakam (part), suggests the means to knowing the Self and the Brahman to be meditation, self-reflection and introspection, that can be aided by the symbol Om.
That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,
on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants –
That is the indestructible Brahman. It is life, it is speech, it is mind. That is the real. It is immortal.
It is a mark to be penetrated. Penetrate It, my friend.
Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation,
Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,
Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.
Om is the bow, the arrow is the Soul, Brahman the mark,
By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated,
One should come to be in It,
as the arrow becomes one with the mark.
— Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.2 - 2.2.4
Adi Shankara, in his review of the Mundaka Upanishad, states Om as a symbolism for Atman (soul, self).
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring, "Om!, this syllable is this whole world". Thereafter it presents various explanations and theories on what it means and signifies. This discussion is built on a structure of "four fourths" or "fourfold", derived from A + U + M + "silence" (or without an element).
Aum as all states of time
In verse 1, the Upanishad states that time is threefold: the past, the present and the future, that these three are "Aum". The four fourth of time is that which transcends time, that too is "Aum" expressed.
Aum as all states of Atman
In verse 2, states the Upanishad, everything is Brahman, but Brahman is Atman (the Soul, Self), and that the Atman is fourfold. Johnston summarizes these four states of Self, respectively, as seeking the physical, seeking inner thought, seeking the causes and spiritual consciousness, and the fourth state is realizing oneness with the Self, the Eternal.
Aum as all states of consciousness
In verses 3 to 6, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates four states of consciousness: wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma (being one with Self, the oneness of Self). These four are A + U + M + "without an element" respectively.
Aum as all of knowledge
In verses 9 to 12, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates fourfold etymological roots of the syllable "Aum". It states that the first element of "Aum" is A, which is from Apti (obtaining, reaching) or from Adimatva (being first). The second element is U, which is from Utkarsa (exaltation) or from Ubhayatva(intermediateness). The third element is M, from Miti (erecting, constructing) or from Mi Minati, or apīti (annihilation). The fourth is without an element, without development, beyond the expanse of universe. In this way, states the Upanishad, the syllable Om is indeed the Atman (the self).
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.14 to 1.16, suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent rubbing of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of Upanishads. The text asserts that Om is a tool of meditation empowering one to know the God within oneself, to realize one's Atman (Soul, Self).
Epics
The Bhagavad Gita, in the Epic Mahabharata, mentions the meaning and significance of Om in several verses. For example, Fowler notes that verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad Gita synthesizes the competing dualistic and monist streams of thought in Hinduism, by using "Om which is the symbol for the indescribable, impersonal Brahman".
I am the Father of this world, Mother, Ordainer, Grandfather, the Thing to be known, the Purifier, the syllable Om, Rik, Saman and also Yajus.
— Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita 9.17,
The significance of the sacred syllable in the Hindu traditions, is similarly highlighted in various of its verses, such as verse 17.24 where the importance of Omduring prayers, charity and meditative practices is explained as follows,
Therefore, uttering Om, the acts of yajna (fire ritual), dāna (charity) and tapas (austerity) as enjoined in the scriptures, are always begun by those who study the Brahman.
— Bhagavad Gita
Yoga Sutra
The aphoristic verse 1.27 of Pantanjali's Yogasutra links Om to Yoga practice, as follows,
तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥२७॥
His word is Om.
— Yogasutra 1.27,
Johnston states this verse highlights the importance of Om in the meditative practice of Yoga, where it symbolizes three worlds in the Soul; the three times – past, present and future eternity, the three divine powers – creation, preservation and transformation in one Being; and three essences in one Spirit – immortality, omniscience and joy. It is, asserts Johnston, a symbol for the perfected Spiritual Man (his emphasis). BY KAILASH MANSAROVAR FOUNDATION SWAMI BIKASH GIRI www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
The EGATONK project was developed for the exhibition Horizon 8300 in Knokke, promoting new architecture for this Belgian seaside town.Nick Ervinck was invited to contribute an artwork to the exhibition. As a starting point Nick Ervinck uses traditional cottages, which he turns into absurd buildings. The cottages become figures with connotations to crabs and other sea animals that walk along the beach, resembling the impossible structures in the engravings of the mathematician Escher (1898-1972).
credit: Peter Verplancke
Oeuf d'église - Ceramic Egg, 18th cent., Kutahya - Armenia
Céramique avec trois séraphins stylisés et six croix. Ces oeufs servaient à accrocher les lampes à huile dans les églises. Objets votifs, ils symbolisaient la fertilité et étaient apportés à Jérusalem par les pèlerins arméniens. Outre leur connotation religieuse, les "oeufs" avaient aussi une fonction pratique : placés entre la lanterne et les chaines, ils empêchaient les rongeurs de venir laper l'huile de la lampe.
Ceramic egg with winged seraphim heads joined with crosses. Such "eggs" were used for hanging oil lamps in churches. These votive objects symbolising fertility were taken to Jerusalem by Armenian pilgrims. Apart from their religious connotation, the "eggs" also have a practical function: they are positioned between the lamp and the chains to stop rodents from lapping the oil in the lamps.
A découvrir sur www.le-maf.com, dans la salle "Art Religieux", "Céramiques".
Closed for more than 15 years, the Armenian Museum of France is fighting to re-open. Please join the cause on the museum's facebook page.
The de Bono Hats system (also known as "Six Hats" or "Six Thinking Hats") is a thinking tool for group discussion and individual thinking. Combined with the idea of parallel thinking which is associated with it, it provides a means for groups to think together more effectively, and a means to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way.
White hat – Facts & Information
Red hat – Feelings & Emotions
Black hat – Critical Judgement
Yellow hat – Positive Judgement
Green hat – Alternatives and learning
Blue hat – The Big Picture
Participants identify barriers, hazards, risks and other negative connotations. This is critical thinking, looking for problems and mismatches. This hat is usually natural for people to use, the issues with it are that people will tend to use it when it is not requested and when it is not appropriate, thus stopping the flow of others. Preventing inappropriate use of the black hat is a common obstacle and vital step to effective group thinking. Another difficulty faced is that some people will naturally start to look for the solutions to raised problems - they start practicing green on black thinking before it is requested.
Commercial examples are:
We will be facing strong competition in that market
What if we cannot get enough capital together to support the investment?
We might not be able to make it cheaply enough for our customers to buy it
There will be too much political opposition to this approach
There is a risk that new legislation will make this market unattractive
Examples from the referenced article are:
Time is wasted
Learning is compromised
Those speaking feel that black hat listeners do not respect them and do not wish to hear what they are saying
Flow of discussion is less clear
Situada em pleno Centro Histórico de Sintra, classificado Património Mundial pela UNESCO, a Quinta da Regaleira é um lugar com espírito próprio. Edificado nos primórdios do Século XX, ao sabor do ideário romântico, este fascinante conjunto de construções, nascendo abruptamente no meio da floresta luxuriante, é o resultado da concretização dos sonhos mito-mágicos do seu proprietário, António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro (1848-1920), aliados ao talento do arquitecto-cenógrafo italiano Luigi Manini (1848-1936).
A imaginação destas duas personalidades invulgares concebeu, por um lado, o somatório revivalista das mais variadas correntes artísticas - com particular destaque para o gótico, o manuelino e a renascença - e, por outro, a glorificação da história nacional influenciada pelas tradições míticas e esotéricas.
A Quinta da Regaleira é um lugar para se sentir. Não basta contar-lhe a memória, a paisagem, os mistérios. Torna-se necessário conhecê-la, contemplar a cenografia dos jardins e das edificações, admirar o Palácio dos Milhões, verdadeira mansão filosofal de inspiração alquímica, percorrer o parque exótico, sentir a espiritualidade cristã na Capela da Santíssima Trindade, que nos permite descermos à cripta onde se recorda com emoção o simbolismo e a presença do além. Há ainda um fabuloso conjunto de torreões que nos oferecem paisagens deslumbrantes, recantos estranhos feitos de lenda e saudade, vivendas apalaçadas de gosto requintado, terraços dispostos para apreciação do mundo celeste.
A culminar a visita à Quinta da Regaleira, há que invocar a aventura dos cavaleiros Templários, ou os ideais dos mestres da maçonaria, para descer ao monumental poço iniciático por uma imensa escadaria em espiral. E, lá no fundo com os pés assentes numa estrela de oito pontas, é como se estivéssemos imerses no ventre da Terra-Mãe. Depois, só nos resta atravessar as trevas das grutas labirínticas, até ganharmos a luz, reflectida em lagos surpreendentes. www.cm-sintra.pt/Artigo.aspx?ID=2907
This is a fabulous assemblage of styles and constructions ( gardens, wells, towers, statues, mysterious grottoes, etc.), which Manini succeeded in imbuing with exceptional characteristics. Albeit having a semblance of a scene from opera, the Quinta da Regaleira has alchemical and sacred connotations.
The origins of this Quinta (palace and estate) which is currently known as the Quinta da Regaleira date back to 1697 when José Leite purchased a huge tract of land at one end of the Old Quarter of Sintra.
The property was bought at a public auction in 1715 by Francisco Alberto Guimarães de Castro who diverted water from the mountain to supply a fountain on the property. In the possession of João António Lopes Fernandes in 1800 it appears some thirty years later in the possession of Manuel Bernardo from whence it derived its current name, having formerly been known as the Quinta da Torre or the Quinta do Castro. It was then purchased by the daughter of Allen in 1840 (a wealthy trader from Oporto) who was later given the title of the Baroness of Regaleira.
At the beginning of this century, however, the Quinta da Regaleira was purchased by the capitalist António Augusto de Carvalho Monteiro, a man of enormous culture with a degree in Law from the University of Coimbra who had amassed a fortune in Brazil. Carvalho Monteiro, who was profoundly inspired by the glorious national epic poem, whose expression at the time was found in the "revivalist" taste of neo manueline architecture, took inspiration for the construction of the manor house and its respective chapel both from the structural and decorative eclecticism of the Pena Palace and the neo-manueline style of the Hotel Palácio do Buçaco, designed by Luigi Manini. It was Carvalho Monteiro who invited Manini to design and build the house at Regaleira . The project was completed in 1910.
This is a fabulous assemblage of styles and constructions (gardens, wells, towers, statues, mysterious grottoes, etc.), which Manini succeeded in imbuing with exceptional characteristics. Albeit having a semblance of a scene from opera, the Quinta da Regaleira has alchemical and sacred connotations.
The Quinta da Regaleira, which was purchased in March 1997 by the Sintra Town Council is currently used as the head office of the CulturSintra Foundation which is undertaking a vast conservation and rehabilitation programme for promoting the palace in tourist terms. It is also organising a series of cultural events. www.cm-sintra.pt/Artigo.aspx?ID=3168
Nandi is the name for the bull which serves as the mount (Sanskrit: Vahana) of the god Shiva and as the gatekeeper of Shiva and Parvati. In Hindu Religion, he is the chief guru of eighteen masters (18 Siddhar) including Patanjali and Thirumular. Temples venerating Shiva display stone images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. There are also a number of temples dedicated solely to Nandi.
The application of the name Nandi to the bull (Sanskrit: vṛṣabha) is in fact a development of recent centuries, as Gouriswar Bhattacharya has documented in an illustrated article entitled "Nandin and Vṛṣabha". The name Nandi was earlier widely used instead for an anthropomorphic deity who was one of Shiva’s two door-keepers, the other being Mahākāla. The doorways of pre-tenth-century North Indian temples are frequently flanked by images of Mahākāla and Nandi, and it is in this role of Shiva’s watchman that Nandi figures in Kālidāsa’s poem the Kumārasambhava.
ETYMOLOGY
The word “Nandi” is derived from the ancient Indian Language of Sanskrit. The Sanskrit word 'Nandi' in English translates as Happy, Joyous or Happy Person.
BIRTH OF NANDI
There was a sage named Shilada who underwent severe penance to have a boon — a child with immortality. Lord Indra pleased of the austerities of Shilada appeared in front of him to offer a boon. After hearing the request of Shilada and his desire to have an immortal child, Lord Indra suggested he pray to Lord Shiva: nobody else could provide such a boon. Sage Shilada continued his penance for 1,000 years. He was totally immovable for many years, so the termites settled on his body and slowly started to build up their nest. Finally, his whole body was covered up by them. The insects started to eat his flesh and imbibed his blood. At last, only bones remained.
Lord Shiva appeared in front of him and provided the boon for the child. Moreover, Lord Shiva provided Sage Shilada his old form with a single touch. Sage Shilada performed Yagna and a child appeared from the sacrificial fire. His body was clad in armour made out of diamonds. The celestial dancers and singers performed on this auspicious occasion and the deities showered flowers on the child. The boy was named ’Nandi’ — who brings joy. Shilada brought the child home. Immediately the boy lost his divine appearance to an ordinary child. The child completely forgot all about his birth. Sage Shilada was worried about the sudden change. He devoted his time for Nandi's upbringing his education etc. By the age of seven, the boy was well versed in Veda and all sacred texts.
One day the deities Mitra and Varuna visited Sage Shilada. At the first sight of the boy, they commented: Though the boy had all auspicious signs, he would have a very short life. He would not live after the age of eight. Sage Shilada was mortified at this remark. Nandi could not bear his father's sorrow; he began to pray to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared before him and blessed him. Lord Shiva adorned the boy with a necklace and made him immortal. Lord Shiva blessed the child and declared that he would be worshiped along with Him and become his vahana (vehicle). Immediately the boy got all the divine powers and transformed into half bull-half human. He and Shilada went to Lord Shiva's abode to live.
IN HINDUISM
Bulls appear on the Indus Valley seals, including the 'Pasupati Seal', which depicts a seated figure and, according to some scholars, is similar to Shiva. However, most scholars agree that the horned bull on the Indus Valley seals is not identical to Nandi.
DESCRIPTIONS ON NANDI IN HINDU RELIGIOUS TEXTS INCLUDE:
- Some Puranas describe Nandi or Nandikeshvara as bull face with a human body that resembles that of Shiva in proportion and aspect, although with four hands — two hands holding the Parasu (the axe) and Mruga (the antelope) and the other two hands joined together in the Anjali (obeisance). Brahma Vaivarta Purana mentions Krishna himself to have taken the form of a bull as no one else in the Universe can bear Shiva.
- Vehicle of Shiva: The bull Nandi is Shiva's primary vehicle and is the principal gana (follower) of Shiva.
- Gate keeper of Shiva's abode: The close association of Shiva and Nandi explains the presence of a statue of Nandi at the gate of many temples dedicated to Shiva. It also explains why the word "nandi" in the Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages is used as a metaphor for a person blocking the way.[citation needed] In Sanskrit, a bull is called vrisha, which has another connotation — that of righteousness or Dharma. It is important to seek the blessings of Nandi before proceeding to worship Lord Shiva.
- Chief in Shiva's army: Some Puranas mention that Nandi lead the Shiva Ganas, Shiva's attendants.
- A Guru of Saivism: In addition to being his mount, Nandi is Shiva's foremost disciple. In the Natha/Siddhar tradition, Nandi is one of the primal gurus. He was the guru to Siddhar Thirumulanathar, Patanjalinathar and others.
- From the yogic perspective, Nandi/Nandhi/Nandikeshvara is the mind dedicated to Lord Siva, the Absolute. In other words, to understand and absorb Light, the 'experience and the wisdom' is Nandi which is the Guru within.
- Spiritually, Nandi represents an individual jiva (soul) and the message that the jiva should always be focused on the Atman (Paramatman).
LEGENDS
According to some puranas, Nandi was born to sage Shilada who got him by the grace of Shiva.
It was Nandi who cursed Ravana (the demon King of Lanka) that his kingdom would be burnt by a monkey (Vanara). And later Hanuman burnt Lanka when he went in search of Sita, who was kept prisoner by Ravana in Ashok Vatika.
In one puranic story, it is stated that once Siva and Parvathi were playing a game of dice. For any game there has to be an umpire, who has to declare who is the winner. Siva and Parvathi agreed to have Nandi (the divine bull) as the umpire. Nandi is a favorite of Siva, as he is Siva's vehicle. Although Siva lost the game, Nandi declared him the winner. It is stated that Parvathi was indignant over Nandi's partiality for Siva and cursed him that he should die from an incurable disease. Thereupon Nandi fell at the feet of Parvathi and pleaded for forgiveness. "Mother forgive me. Should I not show at least this amount of gratitude to one who is my master? Is it not humiliating for me to declare that my master has lost the game? To uphold his honor I no doubt uttered a lie. But am I to be punished with such severity for so small an offence?" Nandi prayed for forgiveness in this manner. Parvathi forgave Nandi and taught him the means to atone for his lapse. She told him. "The Chaturdasi day in the month of Bhadrapada is the day when my son's birthday is celebrated. On that day you have to offer to my son what pleases you most (green grass)". This means that one atones for one's sins when one offers to the Lord what is most pleasing and enjoyable to him. For Nandi the most enjoyable and relishing food is green grass. As directed by Parvathi Nandi worshipped Ganapathi by offering green grass. Nandi was then relieved of his dreaded disease. His health improved and by the grace of Parvathi he was redeemed.
When the positive forces, the devas, and the negative forces, the asuras, joined together on a rare occasion to churn the ocean with a mountain to obtain the nectar of immortality they utilized Vasuki, the serpent, as the rope. The devas pulled from one end and the asuras from the other. Lots of precious herbs and gems were produced during the Churning and one of them was a poison (halāhala) which became human karma. This "poison" was so dangerous that none of the devas or asuras wanted to go near it. It was extremely sticky and coming into contact with this poison, i.e., human karma, would drag the divinity down to the realms of human suffering and ego. As everyone else ran away, Lord Siva, followed by Nandi, came forward to help as he was the only one who could counteract this deadly poison. Siva took the poison into his hand and drank it, the descent of the poison was in turn stopped at His throat, by His divine consort. Siva is therefore also known as Nīlakaṇṭha (the blue-throated one) and Viṣakaṇṭha (the poison-throated one). Nandi saw some of the poison spill out of Siva's mouth and immediately drank if off the ground. The devas and asuras watching were shocked and wondered aloud what would happen to Nandi. Lord Siva calmed their fears saying, "Nandi has surrendered into me so completely that he has all my powers and my protection".
LARGEST NANDIS IN INDIA
1. Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh
2. Brahadishwara Temple, Tamil Nadu
4. Bull Temple, Bangalore, Karnataka
5. Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu
6. Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka
7. Shanthaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka
8. Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur, Kerala
9. Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Karnataka
10. Nandi Temple, Western Group of Temples, Khajuraho,
Madhya Pradesh
11. Kedareshvara Temple at Balligavi (Karnataka)
12. Doddabasaveshvara temple, Kurugodu Bellary dist
MISCELLANEOUS
The white color of the bull symbolizes purity and justice.
Women visit images of Nandi, bringing floral offerings, and touch the stone. Their prayers are for fertility. Additionally, it is also considered a custom among some to whisper the fact of their visit, to that shrine, while requesting the faithful attendant to inform his master of the same.
WIKIPEDIA
(further pictures and information about Vienna are available at the end of page by copying the corresponding link!)
Annexation 1938
Propaganda for the by Schuschnigg planned plebiscite - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Propaganda for the by Schuschnigg planned plebiscite.
Campaign advertising of Fatherland Front. Departure from Josef place.
10/11 March 1938. Photo: Leo Ernst - Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The "Anschluss" represents itself as a triple assumption of power:
... as massive military threat by the invasion of the Wehrmacht, accompanied by an yet earlier onset of police action by Himmler's Gestapo; as a takeover by local Nazis and sympathizers who were already in lower as well as higher positions of the "corporate state (Ständestaat)"; and as demonstrative takeover "from below" by threatening street demonstrations, open deployment of previously banned party formations and symbolic actions.
Spontaneous victory celebrations of the National Socialists in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Spontaneous victory celebrations of the National Socialists in Vienna.
NS-squad on a truck. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Dietrich
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The propaganda on this occasion took on a key role. Its effectiveness resulted from the confluence of staging and fascination. Propaganda replaced real power where it not yet could be exercised, intimidated political opponents and raised hopes among supporters. The structure of the necessary propaganda apparatus created simultaneously the foundations for the future party apparatus of the NSDAP as an organization penetrating the society as a whole.
Hitler Youth marched in Vienna. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hirscher - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Hitler Youth marched in Vienna. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hirscher
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Even children were mobilized to support the "Anschluss" propagandistically, they were as bearers of hopes of the new era addressees of Nazi propaganda. National Socialism in Austria also meant a significant change in the school system, which itself unresistingly and quite readily adapted to the new conditions.
Marching in of troops of the German Wehrmacht in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Marching in of troops of the German Wehrmacht in Vienna.
An armored car is visited by Wiener youth.
13 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Orientated toward the capturing of the "whole" person, the individual as less as possible should be given individual leeway. Personal decisions about connotations of one's life and insight into overall socio-political correlations were not even allowed to arise. Despite the apparent devotion to the children, was this state-imposed education determined by an inhuman ideology of humiliation (Erniedrigungsideologie), which found its expression in racial anti-Semitism, the doctrine of life unworthy of being lived and the devaluation of everything foreign. Companionable acting in the sense of solidarity with the weak, in this system of education had no place. In its place came the mutual monitoring and disciplining for unscrupulous execution of commands given from "above.
Demonstration of the HJ with Baldur von Schirach at Heldenplatz in Vienna.
13 March 1938. Photo: Dietrich
from "Hans Petschar; Annexation - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Central guideline of the National Socialist policy in the cultural sector was the exclusion of Jewish artists, which was marked out in Germany since 1933 through a series of bureaucratic measures: compulsory membership in the corresponding professional chambers of the Reich Chamber of Culture as an absolute professional requirement, while rejection of "non-Aryans"; total political supervision of the theater of the spoken word and music theater, but also of the literature and publishing industry as well as the film production by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels.
Hitler in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Hitler in Vienna. Driving on the ring road.
14 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Politically "unreliable and unsuitable" as communists, socialists, conservatives with an anti-Nazi attitude, religious activists and homosexuals were also "as parasites of culture" eliminated. Simultaneously, the advanced civilization operation should be exploited for the stabilization of leadership (Herrschaftsstablisierung), ultimately no new "essentially German" ("blood and soil") cultural movement being created, but the bourgeois approaches to the classics forced (under exclusion of the heritage of dead and living Jewish artists). The high representatives of the regime were satisfied to document toward the inside and abroad that the apparently revolutionary Nazi regime stood in the succession of civil and monarchical rulers. More intense became the Nazi commitment in the entertainment industry, especially in the film, in which the "Wien-Film" productions full of platitudinous operetta bliss further succeeded. Entertainment was a psychologically skilfully orchestrated attempt to divert attention from political repression and massive racist persecution. Artists (females and males), for the time being - with a few exceptions of resistance - rapidly in the new polictical system fell into line, partly too because the working and production conditions at the moment due to increased government spending were much better than in the times of high unemployment.
Parade in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Publishing company mbH
Parade in Vienna. German armored vehicles in University Street;
in the background right, the Votive Church. 03/15/1938
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Political instrumentalization mostly only in the private sector and occasionally assistance for persecuted colleagues was opposed. The National Socialist state sought immediately after the "Anschluss" also to win over the women. The propaganda especially the mothers put in the center. This pretended respect of motherhood should serve to encourage women for giving birth as much as possible of "racially valuable" children to counteract the purportedly looming descent of the German people by falling fertility rates.
A symbolic poster.
The men are at the front;
the women produce weapons.
Title page of exhibition catalog to exhibition "Degenerate Music".
Women, preferably, should be restricted to the household or social care professions. However, during the war there was an acute shortage of manpower, so that also mothers as workers were forced in the defense industry. The education of girls was clearly targeted at household and motherhood. In the "mandatory year" young girls had to work unpaid in agriculture, in large families or in homes of high-ranking Nazis. In this way, they should practice their future work as a housewife and mother.
Göring at the Heldenplatz - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Göring at the Heldenplatz. 27 March 1938
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
In political terms, however, women were excluded from any participation, the National Socialist Women's Organization at all levels was subordinated male functionaries. Many women nevertheless found it exciting now being courted propagandistically, and complied with the Nazi standards. Women also participated in acts of persecution and thus became co-participants in the National Socialist crimes. The appreciation but went only to aligned women and corresponding to racist standards. Those who opposed the regime were as ruthlessly persecuted as women who built relationships with Jews, prisoners of war or foreign workers. Despite the threat of persecution, many women offered resistance against Nazism. They were detained in prisons or concentration camps; even young mothers were executed. From Eastern Europe as forced laborers in the German Empire brought women were deprived of all their rights; them it was even forbidden to have children, and with them forced abortions were carried out, if they became pregnant just the same.
In the Nazi propaganda the "national" motives of the "Anschluss" stood in the foreground.
March of the Austrian Legion by the gate Heldentor - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
March of the Austrian Legion by the Heldentor.
01 April 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
But the real reason for the invasion of Austria was another one, 1938 the German armaments industry reached the limit of its capacity. The continuation of the rearmament seemed questioned. Because there was a lack of raw materials, labor force, free industrial capacities and - not least - of foreign exchange for imports of goods essential for armament. Not the highway construction or other job-creation measures had since 1933 reduced unemployment in the German Reich, but the preparation of a new war.
Glue action of HJ - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Glue action of the HJ. March 1938
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The "blitzkrieg" concept Germany should enable to incorporate one country after another into its sphere of influence and with the so obtained increase in economic power to eliminate the each next opponent. In the framework of the second four-year plan, which in 1936 was elaborated under the leadership of Hermann Göring, in addition to the development of substitutes (eg for rubber and oil), the securing of the access to non-substitutable goods (such as the iron ore from the Styrian Erzberg) had top priority.
It is therefore no coincidence that Austria and the so-called Sudeten German areas of Czechoslovakia with their rich economic resources yet before 1938 were in the field of view of National Socialism and that those countries then were "annexed" the first. Of interest in Austria next to the Erzberg were the unused water forces, the oil deposits in the March field, heavy industry, mechanical engineering and the gold and currency reserves of the Austrian National Bank, which exceeded those of the German Reichsbank in 1938 by a multiple.
Tanaji Shinde, a police constable, pins his colleague Zameer Mulani during a practice wrestling session in Central Mumbai. Traditional Indian wrestling, with its strong macho connotations, has crossed over to urban cities. -- Suhit Kelkar
Processed with CameraBag 2
Huba, a chieftain of a Magyar tribe
Hősök tere (meaning "Heroes' Square" in Hungarian) is one of the major squares of Budapest, Hungary, rich with historic and political connotations. Its iconic statue complex, the Millennium Memorial, was completed in 1900, the same year the square was named "Heroes' Square". It lies at the end of Andrássy Avenue (with which it comprises part of an extensive World Heritage site), next to City Park
The central site of the hero's square, as well as a landmark of Budapest, is the Millennium Memorial (also known as Millennium Monument or Millenary Monument) with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other outstanding figures of Hungarian history. The construction of the memorial was started when the one thousandth anniversary was celebrated (in 1896), but it was finished only in 1900 and the square got its name then
[D3] Budapest, Hungary, Europe
The Corps de Maréchaussée was created by King William I to replace the French Gendarmerie on October 26, 1814. The word gendarmerie had gained a negative connotation, so William called the new force "marechaussée" (he forgot the first acute accent in the document). Maréchaussée is an alternate French word for gendarmerie. At that time, the Marechaussee was a part of the army (landmacht). The Marechaussee was tasked with maintaining public order, law enforcement, and safeguarding the main roads. Although not specifically mentioned, this included police duties for the army. As such, the Marechaussee was part of the national police (rijkspolitie).
A Marechaussee van
The Marechaussee was the only police force in many small municipalities, such as Venlo, especially in the southern provinces of Limburg and North Brabant.
In 1908, Queen Wilhelmina assigned the Marechaussee the task of guarding the royal palaces, which had previously been done by gardeners. To this day, guarding a palace is called "klompendienst" (clog service).
On July 5, 1940, the German occupation government merged the Marechaussee with the rijksveldwacht and the gemeenteveldwacht. This meant that the Marechaussee lost its military status and the predicate Royal. These changes did not apply to the Marechaussee outside occupied Dutch territory. About 200 marechaussees guarded the Royal Family and the Dutch government-in-exile, and provided military police services to the Princess Irene Brigade, a brigade formed in the United Kingdom, consisting of Dutchmen.
After World War II, the Marechaussee was split into a Korps Rijkspolitie (National Police Corps) (as a replacement of the rijksveldwacht and the gemeenteveldwacht) and the Royal Marechaussee, which regained its military status. The main tasks for the Marechaussee since then have been border protection, military police and guard duties.
On July 3, 1956, Princess Beatrix became patroness of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.
In 1994, the national and municipal police forces were merged into the present 25 regional police forces and the Korps landelijke politiediensten (National Police Services Agency). The National Police transferred its airport police and security tasks (primarily Schiphol) to the Marechaussee.
In 1998, the Marechaussee became a separate Service within the armed forces.
Wigan Pier
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On the right, the reconstructed Wigan pier
Wigan Pier is the name given today to the area around the canal at the bottom of the Wigan flight of locks on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.[1] It is a popular location for visitors and the local community in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, situated just a few hundred yards south-west of the town centre. The name "Wigan Pier" has humorous connotations since it conjures an image of a seaside pleasure pier, whereas Wigan is in fact an inland and traditionally industrial town.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Existing buildings
3 Future
4 References
5 External links
History[edit]
The original "pier" at Wigan was a coal loading staithe, probably a wooden jetty, where wagons from a nearby colliery were unloaded into waiting barges on the canal. The original wooden pier is believed to have been demolished in 1929, with the iron from the tippler (a mechanism for tipping coal into the barges) being sold as scrap.[1]
The name Wigan Pier was possibly invented by and was brought to popular attention by George Formby, Sr. in the Music Halls of the early twentieth century and later by George Formby, Jr. who incorporated it into his songs. Someone looking out of an excursion train to Southport in the fog and seeing a coal gantry asked "Where are we?" and was told "Wigan Pier".[2] The tippler became the favoured location when people subsequently wanted to see it. There are references to it in songs such as On the Wigan Boat Express.[3]
In 1937, Wigan was featured in the title of George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, which dealt, in large part, with the living conditions of England's working poor. In response to a critic, Orwell insisted "He [Orwell] liked Wigan very much — the people, not the scenery. Indeed, he has only one fault to find with it, and that is in respect of the celebrated Wigan Pier, which he had set his heart on seeing. Alas! Wigan Pier had been demolished, and even the spot where it used to stand is no longer certain."[4] Some have embraced the Orwellian link, as it has provided the area with a modest tourist base over the years. "It seems funny to celebrate Orwell for highlighting all our bad points, but Wigan wouldn't be anywhere near as famous without him," said the Wigan Pier Experience's manager, Carole Tyldesley. "In the end George Orwell has proved to be a strong marketing tool."[5] Others regard this connection as disappointing, considering it an insinuation that Wigan is no better now than it was at the time of Orwell's writing.[6]
To see the difference, it is worth recalling a description of the canal scene from The Road to Wigan Pier: "I remember a winter afternoon in the dreadful environs of Wigan. All round was the lunar landscape of slag-heaps, and to the north, through the passes, as it were, between the mountains of slag, you could see the factory chimneys sending out their plumes of smoke. The canal path was a mixture of cinders and frozen mud, criss-crossed by the imprints of innumerable clogs, and all round, as far as the slag-heaps in the distance, stretched the ‘flashes’ — pools of stagnant water that had seeped into the hollows caused by the subsidence of ancient pits. It was horribly cold. The ‘flashes’ were covered with ice the colour of raw umber, the bargemen were muffled to the eyes in sacks, the lock gates wore beards of ice. It seemed a world from which vegetation had been banished; nothing existed except smoke, shale, ice, mud, ashes, and foul water."[7]
Today, the slag heaps have been removed or landscaped with trees, the factories are closed or converted to housing and the canal is only used for recreational boating and fishing.
Existing buildings[edit]
The pier was at the end of a narrow gauge tramway from a colliery. The wagons would be brought right to the edge of the canal to be tippled so that their contents went straight into the waiting barges. The original wooden pier is believed to have been demolished in 1929, with the iron from the tippler being sold as scrap. Because of the more recent pride in the area's heritage, a replica tippler, consisting of two curved rails, has been erected at the original location.[1]
The original terminus of the canal, completed 1777
The former Wigan Terminus Warehouses were built in the 18th century and refurbished in the 1980s. Boats could moor inside the building and off-load directly into the warehouse.[8]
A warehouse with covered loading bays, converted into a museum of Victorian life (often mistakenly thought to be Wigan Pier), and the home to The Way We Were museum,[9] was part of the Wigan Pier Experience museum and exhibition centre. The exhibition featured a Victorian school room, a colliery disaster, the Second Boer War and (on the top floor) a complete pub transported from Hope Street and reconstructed by shopping centre developers. The Wigan Pier Theatre Company used these displays to remind present generations of "The Way We Were" – not always a happy life.[10] The attraction closed on 20 December 2007.[11]
Gibson's Warehouse is a Victorian cotton warehouse, originally built in 1777, re-built in 1984 as The Orwell at Wigan Pier, is situated on the canalside.[12]
Trencherfield Mill is a former cotton mill, located across the road from Wigan Pier - currently[when?] being converted into luxury apartments.[13] It still contains the massive working steam engine which will be kept in the new development.
There are several bridges across the canal. Bridge #51 Pottery Changeline is a roving bridge, one which swaps the tow path from one side of the canal to the other, usually in such a way as to allow the horse pulling the barge to pass easily and without disconnecting its tow-rope.[14] Bridge #50 Seven Stars Bridge is adjacent to the Seven Stars public house, taking its name from "The Plough" star constellation.[15]
Nandi is the name for the bull which serves as the mount (Sanskrit: Vahana) of the god Shiva and as the gatekeeper of Shiva and Parvati. In Hindu Religion, he is the chief guru of eighteen masters (18 Siddhar ) including Patanjali and Thirumular. Temples venerating Shiva display stone images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. There are also a number of temples dedicated solely to Nandi.
The application of the name Nandi to the bull (Sanskrit: vṛṣabha) is in fact a development of recent centuries, as Gouriswar Bhattacharya has documented in an illustrated article entitled "Nandin and Vṛṣabha". The name Nandi was earlier widely used instead for an anthropomorphic deity who was one of Shiva’s two door-keepers, the other being Mahākāla. The doorways of pre-tenth-century North Indian temples are frequently flanked by images of Mahākāla and Nandi, and it is in this role of Shiva’s watchman that Nandi figures in Kālidāsa’s poem the Kumārasambhava.
ETYMOLOGY
The word “Nandi” is derived from the ancient Indian Language of Sanskrit. The Sanskrit word 'Nandi' in English translates as Happy, Joyous or Happy Person.
BIRTH OF NANDI
There was a sage named Shilada who underwent severe penance to have a boon — a child with immortality. Lord Indra pleased of the austerities of Shilada appeared in front of him to offer a boon. After hearing the request of Shilada and his desire to have an immortal child, Lord Indra suggested he pray to Lord Shiva: nobody else could provide such a boon. Sage Shilada continued his penance for 1,000 years. He was totally immovable for many years, so the termites settled on his body and slowly started to build up their nest. Finally, his whole body was covered up by them. The insects started to eat his flesh and imbibed his blood. At last, only bones remained.
Lord Shiva appeared in front of him and provided the boon for the child. Moreover, Lord Shiva provided Sage Shilada his old form with a single touch. Sage Shilada performed Yagna and a child appeared from the sacrificial fire. His body was clad in armour made out of diamonds. The celestial dancers and singers performed on this auspicious occasion and the deities showered flowers on the child. The boy was named ’Nandi’ — who brings joy. Shilada brought the child home. Immediately the boy lost his divine appearance to an ordinary child. The child completely forgot all about his birth. Sage Shilada was worried about the sudden change. He devoted his time for Nandi's upbringing his education etc. By the age of seven, the boy was well versed in Veda and all sacred texts.
One day the deities Mitra and Varuna visited Sage Shilada. At the first sight of the boy, they commented: Though the boy had all auspicious signs, he would have a very short life. He would not live after the age of eight. Sage Shilada was mortified at this remark. Nandi could not bear his father's sorrow; he began to pray to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared before him and blessed him. Lord Shiva adorned the boy with a necklace and made him immortal. Lord Shiva blessed the child and declared that he would be worshiped along with Him and become his vahana (vehicle). Immediately the boy got all the divine powers and transformed into half bull-half human. He and Shilada went to Lord Shiva's abode to live.
IN HINDUISM
Bulls appear on the Indus Valley seals, including the 'Pasupati Seal', which depicts a seated figure and, according to some scholars, is similar to Shiva. However, most scholars agree that the horned bull on the Indus Valley seals is not identical to Nandi.
DESCRIPTIONS ON NANDI IN HINDU RELIGIOUS TEXTS INCLUDE:
- Some Puranas describe Nandi or Nandikeshvara as bull face with a human body that resembles that of Shiva in proportion and aspect, although with four hands — two hands holding the Parasu (the axe) and Mruga (the antelope) and the other two hands joined together in the Anjali (obeisance). Brahma Vaivarta Purana mentions Krishna himself to have taken the form of a bull as no one else in the Universe can bear Shiva.
- Vehicle of Shiva: The bull Nandi is Shiva's primary vehicle and is the principal gana (follower) of Shiva.
- Gate keeper of Shiva's abode: The close association of Shiva and Nandi explains the presence of a statue of Nandi at the gate of many temples dedicated to Shiva. It also explains why the word "nandi" in the Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages is used as a metaphor for a person blocking the way.[citation needed] In Sanskrit, a bull is called vrisha, which has another connotation — that of righteousness or Dharma. It is important to seek the blessings of Nandi before proceeding to worship Lord Shiva.
- Chief in Shiva's army: Some Puranas mention that Nandi lead the Shiva Ganas, Shiva's attendants.
- A Guru of Saivism: In addition to being his mount, Nandi is Shiva's foremost disciple. In the Natha/Siddhar tradition, Nandi is one of the primal gurus. He was the guru to Siddhar Thirumulanathar, Patanjalinathar and others.
- From the yogic perspective, Nandi/Nandhi/Nandikeshvara is the mind dedicated to Lord Siva, the Absolute. In other words, to understand and absorb Light, the 'experience and the wisdom' is Nandi which is the Guru within.
- Spiritually, Nandi represents an individual jiva (soul) and the message that the jiva should always be focused on the Atman (Paramatman).
LEGENDS
According to some puranas, Nandi was born to sage Shilada who got him by the grace of Shiva.
It was Nandi who cursed Ravana (the demon King of Lanka) that his kingdom would be burnt by a monkey (Vanara). And later Hanuman burnt Lanka when he went in search of Sita, who was kept prisoner by Ravana in Ashok Vatika.
In one puranic story, it is stated that once Siva and Parvathi were playing a game of dice. For any game there has to be an umpire, who has to declare who is the winner. Siva and Parvathi agreed to have Nandi (the divine bull) as the umpire. Nandi is a favorite of Siva, as he is Siva's vehicle. Although Siva lost the game, Nandi declared him the winner. It is stated that Parvathi was indignant over Nandi's partiality for Siva and cursed him that he should die from an incurable disease. Thereupon Nandi fell at the feet of Parvathi and pleaded for forgiveness. "Mother forgive me. Should I not show at least this amount of gratitude to one who is my master? Is it not humiliating for me to declare that my master has lost the game? To uphold his honor I no doubt uttered a lie. But am I to be punished with such severity for so small an offence?" Nandi prayed for forgiveness in this manner. Parvathi forgave Nandi and taught him the means to atone for his lapse. She told him. "The Chaturdasi day in the month of Bhadrapada is the day when my son's birthday is celebrated. On that day you have to offer to my son what pleases you most (green grass)". This means that one atones for one's sins when one offers to the Lord what is most pleasing and enjoyable to him. For Nandi the most enjoyable and relishing food is green grass. As directed by Parvathi Nandi worshipped Ganapathi by offering green grass. Nandi was then relieved of his dreaded disease. His health improved and by the grace of Parvathi he was redeemed.
When the positive forces, the devas, and the negative forces, the asuras, joined together on a rare occasion to churn the ocean with a mountain to obtain the nectar of immortality they utilized Vasuki, the serpent, as the rope. The devas pulled from one end and the asuras from the other. Lots of precious herbs and gems were produced during the Churning and one of them was a poison (halāhala) which became human karma. This "poison" was so dangerous that none of the devas or asuras wanted to go near it. It was extremely sticky and coming into contact with this poison, i.e., human karma, would drag the divinity down to the realms of human suffering and ego. As everyone else ran away, Lord Siva, followed by Nandi, came forward to help as he was the only one who could counteract this deadly poison. Siva took the poison into his hand and drank it, the descent of the poison was in turn stopped at His throat, by His divine consort. Siva is therefore also known as Nīlakaṇṭha (the blue-throated one) and Viṣakaṇṭha (the poison-throated one). Nandi saw some of the poison spill out of Siva's mouth and immediately drank if off the ground. The devas and asuras watching were shocked and wondered aloud what would happen to Nandi. Lord Siva calmed their fears saying, "Nandi has surrendered into me so completely that he has all my powers and my protection".
LARGEST NANDIS IN INDIA
1. Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh
2. Brahadishwara Temple, Tamil Nadu
4. Bull Temple, Bangalore, Karnataka
5. Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu
6. Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka
7. Shanthaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka
8. Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur, Kerala
9. Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Karnataka
10. Nandi Temple, Western Group of Temples, Khajuraho,
Madhya Pradesh
11. Kedareshvara Temple at Balligavi (Karnataka)
12. Doddabasaveshvara temple, Kurugodu Bellary dist
MISCELLANEOUS
The white color of the bull symbolizes purity and justice.
Women visit images of Nandi, bringing floral offerings, and touch the stone. Their prayers are for fertility. Additionally, it is also considered a custom among some to whisper the fact of their visit, to that shrine, while requesting the faithful attendant to inform his master of the same.
WIKIPEDIA
(further pictures and information about Vienna are available at the end of page by copying the corresponding link!)
Annexation 1938
Propaganda for the by Schuschnigg planned plebiscite - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Propaganda for the by Schuschnigg planned plebiscite.
Campaign advertising of Fatherland Front. Departure from Josef place.
10/11 March 1938. Photo: Leo Ernst - Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The "Anschluss" represents itself as a triple assumption of power:
... as massive military threat by the invasion of the Wehrmacht, accompanied by an yet earlier onset of police action by Himmler's Gestapo; as a takeover by local Nazis and sympathizers who were already in lower as well as higher positions of the "corporate state (Ständestaat)"; and as demonstrative takeover "from below" by threatening street demonstrations, open deployment of previously banned party formations and symbolic actions.
Spontaneous victory celebrations of the National Socialists in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Spontaneous victory celebrations of the National Socialists in Vienna.
NS-squad on a truck. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Dietrich
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The propaganda on this occasion took on a key role. Its effectiveness resulted from the confluence of staging and fascination. Propaganda replaced real power where it not yet could be exercised, intimidated political opponents and raised hopes among supporters. The structure of the necessary propaganda apparatus created simultaneously the foundations for the future party apparatus of the NSDAP as an organization penetrating the society as a whole.
Hitler Youth marched in Vienna. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hirscher - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Hitler Youth marched in Vienna. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hirscher
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Even children were mobilized to support the "Anschluss" propagandistically, they were as bearers of hopes of the new era addressees of Nazi propaganda. National Socialism in Austria also meant a significant change in the school system, which itself unresistingly and quite readily adapted to the new conditions.
Marching in of troops of the German Wehrmacht in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Marching in of troops of the German Wehrmacht in Vienna.
An armored car is visited by Wiener youth.
13 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Orientated toward the capturing of the "whole" person, the individual as less as possible should be given individual leeway. Personal decisions about connotations of one's life and insight into overall socio-political correlations were not even allowed to arise. Despite the apparent devotion to the children, was this state-imposed education determined by an inhuman ideology of humiliation (Erniedrigungsideologie), which found its expression in racial anti-Semitism, the doctrine of life unworthy of being lived and the devaluation of everything foreign. Companionable acting in the sense of solidarity with the weak, in this system of education had no place. In its place came the mutual monitoring and disciplining for unscrupulous execution of commands given from "above.
Demonstration of the HJ with Baldur von Schirach at Heldenplatz in Vienna.
13 March 1938. Photo: Dietrich
from "Hans Petschar; Annexation - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Central guideline of the National Socialist policy in the cultural sector was the exclusion of Jewish artists, which was marked out in Germany since 1933 through a series of bureaucratic measures: compulsory membership in the corresponding professional chambers of the Reich Chamber of Culture as an absolute professional requirement, while rejection of "non-Aryans"; total political supervision of the theater of the spoken word and music theater, but also of the literature and publishing industry as well as the film production by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels.
Hitler in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Hitler in Vienna. Driving on the ring road.
14 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Politically "unreliable and unsuitable" as communists, socialists, conservatives with an anti-Nazi attitude, religious activists and homosexuals were also "as parasites of culture" eliminated. Simultaneously, the advanced civilization operation should be exploited for the stabilization of leadership (Herrschaftsstablisierung), ultimately no new "essentially German" ("blood and soil") cultural movement being created, but the bourgeois approaches to the classics forced (under exclusion of the heritage of dead and living Jewish artists). The high representatives of the regime were satisfied to document toward the inside and abroad that the apparently revolutionary Nazi regime stood in the succession of civil and monarchical rulers. More intense became the Nazi commitment in the entertainment industry, especially in the film, in which the "Wien-Film" productions full of platitudinous operetta bliss further succeeded. Entertainment was a psychologically skilfully orchestrated attempt to divert attention from political repression and massive racist persecution. Artists (females and males), for the time being - with a few exceptions of resistance - rapidly in the new polictical system fell into line, partly too because the working and production conditions at the moment due to increased government spending were much better than in the times of high unemployment.
Parade in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Publishing company mbH
Parade in Vienna. German armored vehicles in University Street;
in the background right, the Votive Church. 03/15/1938
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Political instrumentalization mostly only in the private sector and occasionally assistance for persecuted colleagues was opposed. The National Socialist state sought immediately after the "Anschluss" also to win over the women. The propaganda especially the mothers put in the center. This pretended respect of motherhood should serve to encourage women for giving birth as much as possible of "racially valuable" children to counteract the purportedly looming descent of the German people by falling fertility rates.
A symbolic poster.
The men are at the front;
the women produce weapons.
Title page of exhibition catalog to exhibition "Degenerate Music".
Women, preferably, should be restricted to the household or social care professions. However, during the war there was an acute shortage of manpower, so that also mothers as workers were forced in the defense industry. The education of girls was clearly targeted at household and motherhood. In the "mandatory year" young girls had to work unpaid in agriculture, in large families or in homes of high-ranking Nazis. In this way, they should practice their future work as a housewife and mother.
Göring at the Heldenplatz - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Göring at the Heldenplatz. 27 March 1938
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
In political terms, however, women were excluded from any participation, the National Socialist Women's Organization at all levels was subordinated male functionaries. Many women nevertheless found it exciting now being courted propagandistically, and complied with the Nazi standards. Women also participated in acts of persecution and thus became co-participants in the National Socialist crimes. The appreciation but went only to aligned women and corresponding to racist standards. Those who opposed the regime were as ruthlessly persecuted as women who built relationships with Jews, prisoners of war or foreign workers. Despite the threat of persecution, many women offered resistance against Nazism. They were detained in prisons or concentration camps; even young mothers were executed. From Eastern Europe as forced laborers in the German Empire brought women were deprived of all their rights; them it was even forbidden to have children, and with them forced abortions were carried out, if they became pregnant just the same.
In the Nazi propaganda the "national" motives of the "Anschluss" stood in the foreground.
March of the Austrian Legion by the gate Heldentor - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
March of the Austrian Legion by the Heldentor.
01 April 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
But the real reason for the invasion of Austria was another one, 1938 the German armaments industry reached the limit of its capacity. The continuation of the rearmament seemed questioned. Because there was a lack of raw materials, labor force, free industrial capacities and - not least - of foreign exchange for imports of goods essential for armament. Not the highway construction or other job-creation measures had since 1933 reduced unemployment in the German Reich, but the preparation of a new war.
Glue action of HJ - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Glue action of the HJ. March 1938
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The "blitzkrieg" concept Germany should enable to incorporate one country after another into its sphere of influence and with the so obtained increase in economic power to eliminate the each next opponent. In the framework of the second four-year plan, which in 1936 was elaborated under the leadership of Hermann Göring, in addition to the development of substitutes (eg for rubber and oil), the securing of the access to non-substitutable goods (such as the iron ore from the Styrian Erzberg) had top priority.
It is therefore no coincidence that Austria and the so-called Sudeten German areas of Czechoslovakia with their rich economic resources yet before 1938 were in the field of view of National Socialism and that those countries then were "annexed" the first. Of interest in Austria next to the Erzberg were the unused water forces, the oil deposits in the March field, heavy industry, mechanical engineering and the gold and currency reserves of the Austrian National Bank, which exceeded those of the German Reichsbank in 1938 by a multiple.
What matters is not the idea a man holds, but the depth at which he holds it.
Ezra Pound (1885 – 1972)
Okay... I'm kinda fascinated with this album, Let's Have a Pizza Party (1958) by The Gaylords.
I first caught the name of the vocal group. It's an odd name, especially given its connotations since the late 20th century. "Gaylord" is an unusual name (I think of the baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry), seemingly derived from the French name "Gaillard", the definition of which eludes me. It was also chosen as the name of a prominent Italian Chicago street gang in the early 1950s - who have kept the name through to the present day. There is also a Gaylord Packaging Company in St. Louis.
Now to the vocal group. As far as I can determine, the Detroit band "chose the name after a chance encounter with Marcus Wren." (I can't find who Marcus Wren is, of course.) None of the members were born with the name - although one of them changed his name to Ronnie Gaylord intentionally! (His son became the guitarist for Third Eye Blind.)
Anyhow, the group sang songs in English & Italian, to a little success. They formed in 1949, recorded from c. 1955-1963, and existed in one form or another into the 21st century.
Yet, somehow, the most fascinating part of this saga is the title, Let's Have a Pizza Party (1958). Wow.
The original cover: 64.media.tumblr.com/564bdbd4eae643cbd1452ac4577d6127/b3a6...
and, incredibly, here's the album: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPv1XvHY4M4
OM PARVAT
Om Parvat (also Adi Kailash, Little Kailash, Jonglingkong Peak,Baba Kailash, chhota Kailash)[3] is a mountain in the Himalayanmountain range, lying in the Darchula district of western Nepal and inPithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India. It is considered sacred by Hindusand its snow deposition pattern resembles the sacred 'OM' (ॐ). Its appearance is distinctly similar to Mount Kailash in Tibet.[4] Near Om Parvat lie Parvati Lake and Jonglingkong Lake. Jonglingkong Lake is sacred, as Mansarovar, to the Hindus. Opposite to this peak is a mountain called Parwati Muhar. The Om Parvat is the fruit of discord between India and Nepal who do not reach agreement about the border line between the two countries. The Om Parvat is currently on the Indo-Nepalese border face "Om/ॐ" in India and the back of the mountain inNepal.
This peak was attempted for the first time by an Indo-British team including Martin Moran, T. Rankin, M. Singh, S. Ward, A. Williams and R. Ausden. The climbers promised not to ascend the final 10 metres (30 ft) out of respect for the peak's holy status. However, they were stopped around 200 m (660 ft) short of the summit by very loose snow and rock conditions.[4]
The first ascent of Adi Kailash came on October 8, 2004. The team comprised Tim Woodward, Jack Pearse, Andy Perkins (UK); Jason Hubert, Martin Welch, Diarmid Hearns, Amanda George (Scotland); and Paul Zuchowski (USA). They did not ascend the final few metres, again out of respect for the sacred nature of the summit.
Om Parvat can be viewed en route to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra from the last camp below Lipu Lekh pass at Nabhidhang. Many trekkers to Adi Kailash often make a diversion to view Om Parvat. Om Parvat and Adi Kailash or Baba Kailash are not one and the same. Om Parvat is located near Nabhi Dhang (Nepal),The Chhota Kailash is located near Sinla pass, Near Brahma Parvat.
The best view of Om Parvat which "Om" drawn by the snow is the view from the district of Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand, India), which faces the mountain and hence to the "Om". By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
OM
Auṃ or Oṃ, Sanskrit: ॐ) is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Indian religions. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.
In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols (pratima). It refers to Atman (soul, self within) andBrahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.
Vedic literature
The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Vedas and different early Upanishads.[19] The meanings include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, theBrahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge".
Vedas
The chapters in Vedas, and numerous hymns, chants and benedictions therein use the syllable Om. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda, for example, begins with Om. The mantra is extracted from the 10th verse of Hymn 62 in Book III of the Rig Veda.These recitations continue to be in use, and major incantations and ceremonial functions begin and end with Om.
ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: |
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् |
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि |
धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ||
Om. Earth, atmosphere, heaven.
Let us think on that desirable splendour
of Savitr, the Inspirer. May he stimulate
us to insightful thoughts.
Om is a common symbol found in the ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in the first line of Rig veda (top), as well as a icon in temples and spiritual retreats.
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads of Hinduism. It opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on Om". It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is the udgitha (song, Om).
Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce song. The highest song is Om, asserts section 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, of reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.
The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons). Max Muller states that this struggle between gods and demons is considered allegorical by ancient Indian scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively. The legend in section 1.2 of Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons". The syllable Om is thus implied as that which inspires the good inclinations within each person.
Chandogya Upanishad's exposition of syllable Om in its opening chapter combines etymological speculations, symbolism, metric structure and philosophical themes. In the second chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, the meaning and significance of Om evolves into a philosophical discourse, such as in section 2.10 where Om is linked to the Highest Self, and section 2.23 where the text asserts Om is the essence of three forms of knowledge, Om is Brahman and "Om is all this [observed world]".
Katha Upanishad
The Katha Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meetsYama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge,Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation). In section 1.2, Katha Upanishad characterizes Knowledge/Wisdom as the pursuit of good, and Ignorance/Delusion as the pursuit of pleasant, that the essence of Veda is make man liberated and free, look past what has happened and what has not happened, free from the past and the future, beyond good and evil, and one word for this essence is the word Om.
The word which all the Vedas proclaim,
That which is expressed in every Tapas (penance, austerity, meditation),
That for which they live the life of a Brahmacharin,
Understand that word in its essence: Om! that is the word.
Yes, this syllable is Brahman,
This syllable is the highest.
He who knows that syllable,
Whatever he desires, is his.
— Katha Upanishad,
Maitri Upanishad
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad in sixth Prapathakas (lesson) discusses the meaning and significance of Om. The text asserts that Om represents Brahman-Atman. The three roots of the syllable, states the Maitri Upanishad, are A + U + M. The sound is the body of Soul, and it repeatedly manifests in three: as gender-endowed body - feminine, masculine, neuter; as light-endowed body - Agni, Vayu and Aditya; as deity-endowed body - Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu; as mouth-endowed body - Garhapatya, Dakshinagni and Ahavaniya; as knowledge-endowed body - Rig, Saman and Yajur; as world-endowed body - Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; as time-endowed body - Past, Present and Future; as heat-endowed body - Breath, Fire and Sun; as growth-endowed body - Food, Water and Moon; as thought-endowed body - intellect, mind and pysche. Brahman exists in two forms - the material form, and the immaterial formless. The material form is changing, unreal. The immaterial formless isn't changing, real. The immortal formless is truth, the truth is the Brahman, the Brahman is the light, the light is the Sun which is the syllable Om as the Self.
The world is Om, its light is Sun, and the Sun is also the light of the syllable Om, asserts the Upanishad. Meditating on Om, is acknowledging and meditating on the Brahman-Atman (Soul, Self).
Mundaka Upanishad
The Mundaka Upanishad in the second Mundakam (part), suggests the means to knowing the Self and the Brahman to be meditation, self-reflection and introspection, that can be aided by the symbol Om.
That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,
on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants –
That is the indestructible Brahman. It is life, it is speech, it is mind. That is the real. It is immortal.
It is a mark to be penetrated. Penetrate It, my friend.
Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation,
Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,
Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.
Om is the bow, the arrow is the Soul, Brahman the mark,
By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated,
One should come to be in It,
as the arrow becomes one with the mark.
— Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.2 - 2.2.4
Adi Shankara, in his review of the Mundaka Upanishad, states Om as a symbolism for Atman (soul, self).
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring, "Om!, this syllable is this whole world". Thereafter it presents various explanations and theories on what it means and signifies. This discussion is built on a structure of "four fourths" or "fourfold", derived from A + U + M + "silence" (or without an element).
Aum as all states of time
In verse 1, the Upanishad states that time is threefold: the past, the present and the future, that these three are "Aum". The four fourth of time is that which transcends time, that too is "Aum" expressed.
Aum as all states of Atman
In verse 2, states the Upanishad, everything is Brahman, but Brahman is Atman (the Soul, Self), and that the Atman is fourfold. Johnston summarizes these four states of Self, respectively, as seeking the physical, seeking inner thought, seeking the causes and spiritual consciousness, and the fourth state is realizing oneness with the Self, the Eternal.
Aum as all states of consciousness
In verses 3 to 6, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates four states of consciousness: wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma (being one with Self, the oneness of Self). These four are A + U + M + "without an element" respectively.
Aum as all of knowledge
In verses 9 to 12, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates fourfold etymological roots of the syllable "Aum". It states that the first element of "Aum" is A, which is from Apti (obtaining, reaching) or from Adimatva (being first). The second element is U, which is from Utkarsa (exaltation) or from Ubhayatva(intermediateness). The third element is M, from Miti (erecting, constructing) or from Mi Minati, or apīti (annihilation). The fourth is without an element, without development, beyond the expanse of universe. In this way, states the Upanishad, the syllable Om is indeed the Atman (the self).
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.14 to 1.16, suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent rubbing of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of Upanishads. The text asserts that Om is a tool of meditation empowering one to know the God within oneself, to realize one's Atman (Soul, Self).
Epics
The Bhagavad Gita, in the Epic Mahabharata, mentions the meaning and significance of Om in several verses. For example, Fowler notes that verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad Gita synthesizes the competing dualistic and monist streams of thought in Hinduism, by using "Om which is the symbol for the indescribable, impersonal Brahman".
I am the Father of this world, Mother, Ordainer, Grandfather, the Thing to be known, the Purifier, the syllable Om, Rik, Saman and also Yajus.
— Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita 9.17,
The significance of the sacred syllable in the Hindu traditions, is similarly highlighted in various of its verses, such as verse 17.24 where the importance of Omduring prayers, charity and meditative practices is explained as follows,
Therefore, uttering Om, the acts of yajna (fire ritual), dāna (charity) and tapas (austerity) as enjoined in the scriptures, are always begun by those who study the Brahman.
— Bhagavad Gita
Yoga Sutra
The aphoristic verse 1.27 of Pantanjali's Yogasutra links Om to Yoga practice, as follows,
तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥२७॥
His word is Om.
— Yogasutra 1.27,
Johnston states this verse highlights the importance of Om in the meditative practice of Yoga, where it symbolizes three worlds in the Soul; the three times – past, present and future eternity, the three divine powers – creation, preservation and transformation in one Being; and three essences in one Spirit – immortality, omniscience and joy. It is, asserts Johnston, a symbol for the perfected Spiritual Man (his emphasis). BY KAILASH MANSAROVAR FOUNDATION SWAMI BIKASH GIRI www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS, a 30-minute-long CGI film, is the second part of an imaginary video game which follows an ambiguous “hero” undergoing numerous metamorphoses. The film challenges the amped-up constructed masculinity that video game avatars embody as well as the associated idealistic connotations of progress, growth, and transformation. Rather than just embracing the potential of computer-animated worlds, the film inverts their “logic” and questions their highly politicized and constructed nature.
Written, directed and animated by Bassam Issa. Commissioned by the Douglas Hyde Gallery. Supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.
Photo Credit: Bassam Issa,IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS, 2022, Installation view, The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art, Dublin. Image courtesy The Douglas Hyde and the artist. Photography Louis Haugh
Dulle Griet (anglicized as Dull Gret), also known as Mad Meg, is a figure of Flemish folklore who is the subject of a 1563 oil-on-panel by Flemish renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The painting depicts a virago, Dulle Griet, who leads an army of women to pillage Hell, and is currently held and exhibited at the Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp.
A restoration of the painting in 2018 revealed that it was painted in 1563, shortly after the painter had moved to Brussels. Previously, the signature and the date on the painting had been illegible, and it was assumed that it was painted two years earlier, or, based on its close compositional and stylistic similarity to The Fall of the Rebel Angels and The Triumph of Death, one year earlier. Like those pictures, Dulle Griet owes much to Hieronymus Bosch. It is assumed the painting was destined for a series.
Bruegel's earliest biographer, Karel van Mander, writing in 1604, described the painting as "Dulle Griet, who is looking at the mouth of Hell". It came into the collections of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, then was looted by the Swedish troops in 1648, and reappeared in Stockholm in 1800. Art collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh discovered it in 1897 at an auction in Cologne, where he bought it for a minimal sum, discovering its actual author a few days later.
Her mission refers to the Flemish proverb:
She could plunder in front of hell and return unscathed.
In the view of Max Seidel, Roger H. Marijnissen in their book 'Bruegel. Pt.2', Bruegel is making fun of noisy, aggressive women. At the same time he castigates the sin of covetousness: although already burdened down with possessions, Griet and her grotesque companions are prepared to storm the mouth of Hell itself in their search for more. It might also refer to something that is either stupid, or courageous, or both; implying that one who is dull or naive may have more courage and end up in trouble, though not succumbing but making the best of it. Could symbolize a woman defying hell and returning with treasure, a psychological analogy of working through troubles to become stronger and wiser; to enter into one's personal hell and overcome one's "demons" i.e. fears or trauma. Yet, the opinions may differ and are subjective.
Griet was a disparaging name given to any bad-tempered, shrewish woman. In an incisive historical and critical interpretation of the painting, Margaret Sullivan concludes that in it Bruegel allegorizes the ideological zeitgeist’s “madness and folly.” She notes that “in the sixteenth century ‘dulle’ had two meanings. The first was ‘mad’ and the second (and older) meaning was ‘foolish’ or ‘stupid.’ ‘Griet’ as a female name communicated the idea of a fool. . . The name Margaret and its variants Margot, Magrite, Greta, Griet, etc., seemed to have acquired pejorative connotations throughout Northern Europe, making it an especially appropriate choice for the painting.”
Dulle Griet appears as a character in Caryl Churchill's play Top Girls (1982), where she recounts her invasion of Hell: "I'd had enough, I was mad, I hate the bastards. I come out my front door that morning and shout till my neighbors come out and I said, 'Come on, we're going where the evil come from and pay the bastards out.'" (Churchill, 28).
Op 5 oktober 1894 gaat de droom van verzamelaar Fritz Mayer van den Bergh (1858-1901) in vervulling. Hij verwerft een authentieke Pieter Bruegel de Oude (1525?-1569) op de veiling van de collectie Hammer uit Stockholm. De Keulse veilingcatalogus vermeldt het paneel als een Phantastische Darstellung, Landschaft mit einer grossen Menge Spuckgestalten. Het wordt toegeschreven aan Pieter Brueghel de Jonge, zoon van. Omwille van de uitzonderlijke kwaliteit en de unieke thematiek van het werk, adviseert kunsthistoricus Max J. Friedländer tevergeefs de directeur van het Keulse museum het aan te kopen. Vervolgens brengt hij Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, die hij aanspreekt als dé Bruegelkenner, op de hoogte van deze buitenkans. Mayer van den Bergh geeft zijn agent de opdracht het werk aan te kopen. Het wordt afgehamerd voor amper 488 Belgische franken.
Net als bij zijn andere aankopen, bestudeert Fritz Mayer van den Bergh zijn nieuwe aanwinst en slaagt hij erin het werk te identificeren als de Dulle Griet van Pieter Bruegel de Oude. Hij baseert zich daarvoor op de vermelding van het schilderij door Karel van Mander in diens Schilder-Boeck van 1604. Van Mander beschreef het als volgt: ‘een “dulle Griet”, die een roof voor de Helle doet, die seer verbijstert siet, en vreemt op zijn schots toeghemaeckt is’. Hij vermeldde, terecht, keizer Rudolf II van Praag als toenmalige eigenaar. Hoe en wanneer het paneel in Zweden belandde is onduidelijk. Wie de opdrachtgever was en waar het schilderij zich tot ca. 1600 bevond, blijven open vragen.
Net als Fritz Mayer van den Bergh destijds, verwonderen kunsthistorici zich al decennialang over het vulkanisch schilderij en pogen ze de meervoudige betekenissen ervan te achterhalen. Vaak zijn het historisch ongegronde theorieën, vertrekkend vanuit een sociale, religieuze of politieke context. Geloofwaardiger is de hypothese van een strijd tussen de seksen. Dulle Griet draagt figuurlijk de broek. Zij is tot de tanden gewapend en ontvlucht met heel haar hebben en houden de brandende stad. Mocht haar zwaard niet toereikend zijn, dan heeft ze nog altijd een koekenpan bij de hand. In haar kielzog gaat een vrouwenmassa soldaten en duivels te lijf. Rondomrond krioelt het van de Boschiaanse monsters die Bruegel heruitvindt. Ook verwerkt hij spreekwoorden in de voorstelling en herneemt hij motieven uit eerdere werken. Elke figuur getuigt van zijn unieke, humoristische beeldtaal.
Fritz Mayer van den Bergh is van in het begin van zijn verzamelcarrière gefascineerd door het werk van Pieter Bruegel de Oude. Dit op een moment dat het œuvre van de meester in de vergetelheid was geraakt en er meermaals foutieve toeschrijvingen gebeurden. Als jonge collectioneur kocht hij 22 kopergravures en later nog eens twaalf prenten van de schilder/ tekenaar. Vijf jaar na de aankoop van Dulle Griet verrijkte hij zijn collectie met een tweede origineel werk op paneel van Pieter Bruegel de Oude, de Twaalf Spreuken. De rol van Fritz Mayer van den Bergh in de herwaardering van het œuvre van de Bruegeldynastie in de negentiende eeuw is dan ook groot. Het Museum Mayer van den Bergh is het enige Vlaamse museum met schilderijen van de meester in de collectie, aangevuld met zeven werken van zijn zonen.
De conservatie en de restauratie van de Dulle Griet, geschilderd door Pieter Bruegel, zijn uitgevoerd door het Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium (KIK-IRPA). Tijdens de voorstudie is gebruik gemaakt van wetenschappelijke beeldvorming: UV, IR, IRR, RX en Ma-XRF1. Een commissie van internationale experten heeft het diepgaand onderzoek begeleid. Zowel de schildering als de drager zijn aangepakt, dank zij de financiële inbreng van het fonds Baillet Latour en de Topstukkenraad van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap.
Door de behandeling, vooral dan de reiniging, zijn de originele kleurenpracht en de ruimtewerking opnieuw zichtbaar. Stapsgewijs zijn de vernislagen verwijderd, en ook de oude herstellingen en overschilderingen. Het meest spectaculaire verschil na het wegnemen van alle overschilderingen is te zien in de lucht op het schilderij, waar in de achtergrond een blauwgroene halo tevoorschijn is gekomen. De herwonnen helderheid zorgt voor een hernieuwde dieptewerking: de figuur van Dulle Griet treedt veel sterker op het voorplan. Het is duidelijk: ze staat op een heuvel en verlaat de stad. Al deze elementen dragen bij tot een nieuwe lezing van het werk en tot bijkomende inzichten. De restauratie heeft ook klaarheid gebracht over de signatuur en de datering van het werk. Algemeen werd aangenomen dat Bruegel het in 1561 heeft geschilderd. Reiniging en wetenschappelijke beeldvorming brachten aan het licht dat het schilderij in 1563 te dateren is.
A random brick I stumbled across inside Toronto Necropolis.
In Britain, this has a much ruder connotation than it does here in North America, and I have a very puerile mind. 😁
OM PARVAT
Om Parvat (also Adi Kailash, Little Kailash, Jonglingkong Peak,Baba Kailash, chhota Kailash)[3] is a mountain in the Himalayanmountain range, lying in the Darchula district of western Nepal and inPithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India. It is considered sacred by Hindusand its snow deposition pattern resembles the sacred 'OM' (ॐ). Its appearance is distinctly similar to Mount Kailash in Tibet.[4] Near Om Parvat lie Parvati Lake and Jonglingkong Lake. Jonglingkong Lake is sacred, as Mansarovar, to the Hindus. Opposite to this peak is a mountain called Parwati Muhar. The Om Parvat is the fruit of discord between India and Nepal who do not reach agreement about the border line between the two countries. The Om Parvat is currently on the Indo-Nepalese border face "Om/ॐ" in India and the back of the mountain inNepal.
This peak was attempted for the first time by an Indo-British team including Martin Moran, T. Rankin, M. Singh, S. Ward, A. Williams and R. Ausden. The climbers promised not to ascend the final 10 metres (30 ft) out of respect for the peak's holy status. However, they were stopped around 200 m (660 ft) short of the summit by very loose snow and rock conditions.[4]
The first ascent of Adi Kailash came on October 8, 2004. The team comprised Tim Woodward, Jack Pearse, Andy Perkins (UK); Jason Hubert, Martin Welch, Diarmid Hearns, Amanda George (Scotland); and Paul Zuchowski (USA). They did not ascend the final few metres, again out of respect for the sacred nature of the summit.
Om Parvat can be viewed en route to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra from the last camp below Lipu Lekh pass at Nabhidhang. Many trekkers to Adi Kailash often make a diversion to view Om Parvat. Om Parvat and Adi Kailash or Baba Kailash are not one and the same. Om Parvat is located near Nabhi Dhang (Nepal),The Chhota Kailash is located near Sinla pass, Near Brahma Parvat.
The best view of Om Parvat which "Om" drawn by the snow is the view from the district of Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand, India), which faces the mountain and hence to the "Om". By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
OM
Auṃ or Oṃ, Sanskrit: ॐ) is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Indian religions. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.
In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols (pratima). It refers to Atman (soul, self within) andBrahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.
Vedic literature
The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Vedas and different early Upanishads.[19] The meanings include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, theBrahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge".
Vedas
The chapters in Vedas, and numerous hymns, chants and benedictions therein use the syllable Om. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda, for example, begins with Om. The mantra is extracted from the 10th verse of Hymn 62 in Book III of the Rig Veda.These recitations continue to be in use, and major incantations and ceremonial functions begin and end with Om.
ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: |
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् |
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि |
धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ||
Om. Earth, atmosphere, heaven.
Let us think on that desirable splendour
of Savitr, the Inspirer. May he stimulate
us to insightful thoughts.
Om is a common symbol found in the ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in the first line of Rig veda (top), as well as a icon in temples and spiritual retreats.
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads of Hinduism. It opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on Om". It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is the udgitha (song, Om).
Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce song. The highest song is Om, asserts section 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, of reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.
The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons). Max Muller states that this struggle between gods and demons is considered allegorical by ancient Indian scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively. The legend in section 1.2 of Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons". The syllable Om is thus implied as that which inspires the good inclinations within each person.
Chandogya Upanishad's exposition of syllable Om in its opening chapter combines etymological speculations, symbolism, metric structure and philosophical themes. In the second chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, the meaning and significance of Om evolves into a philosophical discourse, such as in section 2.10 where Om is linked to the Highest Self, and section 2.23 where the text asserts Om is the essence of three forms of knowledge, Om is Brahman and "Om is all this [observed world]".
Katha Upanishad
The Katha Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meetsYama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge,Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation). In section 1.2, Katha Upanishad characterizes Knowledge/Wisdom as the pursuit of good, and Ignorance/Delusion as the pursuit of pleasant, that the essence of Veda is make man liberated and free, look past what has happened and what has not happened, free from the past and the future, beyond good and evil, and one word for this essence is the word Om.
The word which all the Vedas proclaim,
That which is expressed in every Tapas (penance, austerity, meditation),
That for which they live the life of a Brahmacharin,
Understand that word in its essence: Om! that is the word.
Yes, this syllable is Brahman,
This syllable is the highest.
He who knows that syllable,
Whatever he desires, is his.
— Katha Upanishad,
Maitri Upanishad
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad in sixth Prapathakas (lesson) discusses the meaning and significance of Om. The text asserts that Om represents Brahman-Atman. The three roots of the syllable, states the Maitri Upanishad, are A + U + M. The sound is the body of Soul, and it repeatedly manifests in three: as gender-endowed body - feminine, masculine, neuter; as light-endowed body - Agni, Vayu and Aditya; as deity-endowed body - Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu; as mouth-endowed body - Garhapatya, Dakshinagni and Ahavaniya; as knowledge-endowed body - Rig, Saman and Yajur; as world-endowed body - Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; as time-endowed body - Past, Present and Future; as heat-endowed body - Breath, Fire and Sun; as growth-endowed body - Food, Water and Moon; as thought-endowed body - intellect, mind and pysche. Brahman exists in two forms - the material form, and the immaterial formless. The material form is changing, unreal. The immaterial formless isn't changing, real. The immortal formless is truth, the truth is the Brahman, the Brahman is the light, the light is the Sun which is the syllable Om as the Self.
The world is Om, its light is Sun, and the Sun is also the light of the syllable Om, asserts the Upanishad. Meditating on Om, is acknowledging and meditating on the Brahman-Atman (Soul, Self).
Mundaka Upanishad
The Mundaka Upanishad in the second Mundakam (part), suggests the means to knowing the Self and the Brahman to be meditation, self-reflection and introspection, that can be aided by the symbol Om.
That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,
on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants –
That is the indestructible Brahman. It is life, it is speech, it is mind. That is the real. It is immortal.
It is a mark to be penetrated. Penetrate It, my friend.
Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation,
Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,
Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.
Om is the bow, the arrow is the Soul, Brahman the mark,
By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated,
One should come to be in It,
as the arrow becomes one with the mark.
— Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.2 - 2.2.4
Adi Shankara, in his review of the Mundaka Upanishad, states Om as a symbolism for Atman (soul, self).
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring, "Om!, this syllable is this whole world". Thereafter it presents various explanations and theories on what it means and signifies. This discussion is built on a structure of "four fourths" or "fourfold", derived from A + U + M + "silence" (or without an element).
Aum as all states of time
In verse 1, the Upanishad states that time is threefold: the past, the present and the future, that these three are "Aum". The four fourth of time is that which transcends time, that too is "Aum" expressed.
Aum as all states of Atman
In verse 2, states the Upanishad, everything is Brahman, but Brahman is Atman (the Soul, Self), and that the Atman is fourfold. Johnston summarizes these four states of Self, respectively, as seeking the physical, seeking inner thought, seeking the causes and spiritual consciousness, and the fourth state is realizing oneness with the Self, the Eternal.
Aum as all states of consciousness
In verses 3 to 6, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates four states of consciousness: wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma (being one with Self, the oneness of Self). These four are A + U + M + "without an element" respectively.
Aum as all of knowledge
In verses 9 to 12, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates fourfold etymological roots of the syllable "Aum". It states that the first element of "Aum" is A, which is from Apti (obtaining, reaching) or from Adimatva (being first). The second element is U, which is from Utkarsa (exaltation) or from Ubhayatva(intermediateness). The third element is M, from Miti (erecting, constructing) or from Mi Minati, or apīti (annihilation). The fourth is without an element, without development, beyond the expanse of universe. In this way, states the Upanishad, the syllable Om is indeed the Atman (the self).
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.14 to 1.16, suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent rubbing of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of Upanishads. The text asserts that Om is a tool of meditation empowering one to know the God within oneself, to realize one's Atman (Soul, Self).
Epics
The Bhagavad Gita, in the Epic Mahabharata, mentions the meaning and significance of Om in several verses. For example, Fowler notes that verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad Gita synthesizes the competing dualistic and monist streams of thought in Hinduism, by using "Om which is the symbol for the indescribable, impersonal Brahman".
I am the Father of this world, Mother, Ordainer, Grandfather, the Thing to be known, the Purifier, the syllable Om, Rik, Saman and also Yajus.
— Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita 9.17,
The significance of the sacred syllable in the Hindu traditions, is similarly highlighted in various of its verses, such as verse 17.24 where the importance of Omduring prayers, charity and meditative practices is explained as follows,
Therefore, uttering Om, the acts of yajna (fire ritual), dāna (charity) and tapas (austerity) as enjoined in the scriptures, are always begun by those who study the Brahman.
— Bhagavad Gita
Yoga Sutra
The aphoristic verse 1.27 of Pantanjali's Yogasutra links Om to Yoga practice, as follows,
तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥२७॥
His word is Om.
— Yogasutra 1.27,
Johnston states this verse highlights the importance of Om in the meditative practice of Yoga, where it symbolizes three worlds in the Soul; the three times – past, present and future eternity, the three divine powers – creation, preservation and transformation in one Being; and three essences in one Spirit – immortality, omniscience and joy. It is, asserts Johnston, a symbol for the perfected Spiritual Man (his emphasis). BY KAILASH MANSAROVAR FOUNDATION SWAMI BIKASH GIRI www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
The folder, made of wire (with some hot glue and duct tape that I tried to hide). I deliberately made the paper white to evoke a sense of neutrality from which anything can be achieved. The single diagonal fold is noncommittal but also the first step of many. The folder takes on a form evocative of a tree, bringing in further connotations of growth and complexity from simple beginnings. Oh man, I sound so pretentious! Is this how actual artists feel all the time?
Copy-paste description: Mental Menagerie is the title of a piece I made for a family art show. The main medium is origami, with some rudimentary wire sculpture. My basic goal was representing all the ideas that swirl around in a folder's head. All the models were designed and folded by myself. A few of them are pieces I had already folded before deciding to integrate them into this piece, and some were designed and/or folded particularly for the final piece. So you might recognize some of these models. Please, let me know what you think!
☆nagai yoru - natten är lång 情報☆
この度 アムステルダム ハイブリッドカルチャーズにて
ルーカス・ゴースマンさんとの二人展を
開催させていただく運びとなりました。
ご案内・ご報告申し上げます。
ルーカスとわたしは、共に The Act Of Painting に所属し
2013年からいくつものTAOPのグループ展でご一緒しています。
今回の展覧会は TAOPの主催である
レイモンド・ケホパースのアトリエの一部を
ギャラリーとし、1ヶ月ほど開催します。
今回は、文字をキーワードとし
二人の異なる絵画言語で語られる
物語をテーマとします。
眞弥子は初日とその週末は近くにおりますので
もしもお越しいただける方は
お声をかけていただけましたら幸いです。
どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
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・・・・・
nagai yoru - natten är lång
Mayako Nakamura + Lukas Göthman
March 17th - April 8th **opening Friday March 17th 3pm**
HYBRID CULTURES open Saturday 11 am - 6 pm and by appointment
Donker Curtiusstraat 25 B, 1051 JM, Amsterdam, 0031614672978, www.hybridcultures.org
・・・・・
Hybrid Cultures emphasizes the importance of the personal story, in this duo show by Japanese artist Mayako Nakamura, based in Tokyo and Swedish artist Lukas Göhman who lives and works in Stockholm. Both tell their stories in divergent painterly languages.
In her Calligraphic Landscape series Mayako Nakamura employs traditional Chinese characters as a point of departure for intuitive abstract landscapes on scrolls and screens. Mayako worked on this series while taking care of her gravely ill father. The works can be read as a diary incorporating the narrative of her daily life into the abstraction. In her latest works Mayako comes to grips with the spiritual inheritance of her family. Both her parents quite recently passed away and their spirits are captured in these gestural works. As Mayako states: “My mother passed away a year ago. My father passed away a month ago. I often feel their spirits come and go- riding the winds, or scent of spring. I feel the elemental particles of my parents often dancing in the courtyard..
Whoever came to exist on this earth must pass away.
Using water and ink on paper, I am trying to paint the impermanence - the very moment I am here - over and over again.”
Lukas Göhman tells his story by painting texts. Each text fluid and painted in thick and colorful layers of high viscosity oil, can be interpreted as a fragment of an ongoing story; a journey of self experienced realities and auto-ficticious, poetic narratives, meanwhile exploring the painterly abstract composition on the canvas. A series of paintings by Lukas Göthman can be read as pages from a diary, sometimes fictionalized, sometimes merely abstract, but always telling the story of the life Lukas is leading or is aiming to lead, with all the joy, fear, desire, dreams, love, lust, anger and grief a husband, father of two sons and owner of a dog can embody. The travels Lukas makes and the resonating lines of texts in his works are a commemoration to Scandinavian life. So too the title of this show, The Night is Long, which can refer to the long and dark winter in the North but also relates to a dark and difficult period in life. And yet there is another more enticing connotation: the longing for a long night with loved ones. Lukas captures the essence of his art practice as follows: “All my art starts from a sort of existential journey in which places and memories are important to me.”
Get Real! Wise Women Speak
OM Movie Review
RATING : 5 OM’s
Audience : Women of All Ages
As soon as the movie began, there was no turning back! Over the next 82 minutes, a multitude of strong, successful, independent, talented, free thinking, creative and visionary women are interviewed about “life, the universe & everything in between.” We are shown how very different life and aging can be depending on how you approach it and what you allow yourself to believe about it. From start to finish, Get Real speaks to our heart as others share from theirs.
Society deemed it necessary to associate negative connotations with the words for the wise aging woman – the crone and hag—these words previously meant wisdom and carried respect! Now we belittle and raise our children to fear the elderly as well as growing old themselves. We teach that being youthful is the only commodity a woman has and if you can’t do it naturally, there are always cosmetic alternatives to keep you looking youthful and desirable. Yet, if a woman has not learned her true worth and to love herself – the out shell no matter how beautiful will be lacking and happiness will never be found.
There are some things one must experience to fully appreciate and even minutely comprehend -aging gracefully and joyfully is one of those miraculous things! This is the first generation of women over the age of 50 who continue to not only survive, but thrive in their creative and expansive adventure. There have not been many role models, but there have been some who pioneered and danced to the beat of their own drum. So many women have raised the bar and led by example to pioneer this new space that is manifesting. No doubt scoffed, mocked and taught to dislike most parts of the aging process and told that we are nothing without “youth and looks,” Get Real ventures beyond what has been, into what can be! Through the voices of many – we can share in and learn from our “wise women” and sisters.
The honest and open dialogue these amazing women share with us brings tears, laughter and a sense of connection with our mothers, sisters, daughters and friends like never before. A tradition that has been hidden is being re-birthed and the divine feminine is sharing her wisdom once again. Don’t fear aging, work with it to squeeze every ounce of fun out of it you can. After watching the women, several of them are known for keeping a healthy, active lifestyle that often includes a daily yoga practice and meditation or prayer.
You should walk away with some insight into the process for aging gracefully and the mindset that each of these incredibly wise women share through their insight on life. A great movie for friends, sisters, as well as a lovely mother / daughter shared expression of love in action while planting historical seeds of change.
“Get Real – Wise Women Speak” did just that, it was REAL. An amazing adventure uniting the voices of women visionaries who have moved back to the divine feminine & embrace all facets of life. Beautifully done to touch our heart & mind!
12:57 – Fall Creek Falls State Park
AWESOME SHARE: Get Real! Wise Women Speak offers a film that features extraordinary women, including Jane Fonda, Nikki Giovanni, Della Reese, Marianne Williamson, Susan L. Taylor, Jody Williams and others who speak about their journey to the wise woman years and the inner fire that propels them to make the most of their wisdom and experience.
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getreal, wisewomenspeak, moviereview, OMtimesmagazine, media, humanityheailng, knowledge, sharing, teaching, youth, aging, graceful, deZengodesigned, namaspirittn, sacredspacetn
In one of those uncomfortable moments when my politics and love-of-beer meet, this is an advertisement placed in the 16 March 2015 edition of The Nation ...
"the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States, founded on July 6, 1865. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as 'the flagship of the left.' "
It's a full-page ad for hardware and software for the brewing industry, created by Siemans AG, an international, Germany-based, engineering conglomerate. Pictured is brewer Stephen Hale in the brewhouse at Schlafly Brewing, of St. Louis, Missouri, which uses the products.
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SIEMANS IN WORLD WAR II
During World war II, Siemans was involved with slave labor at Nazi concentration camps. Knowing that, it was a bit jarring to see the The Nation running this ad.
On a less somber note, years earlier, in 1894, Siemans wrested the refrigeration business at Munich's Oktoberfest away from the Einstein Brothers (Albert Einsteins' father and uncle). The family's business had been involved with first bringing electrical refrigeration to the beer festival, in 1885.
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SCHLAFLY BREWING OF ST. LOUIS
The brewery in the ad, American 'craft' brewery, Schlafly (aka St. Louis Brewery), was founded in 1989. It touted itself as the 'other' brewery in St. Louis, after Anheuser-Busch. But, of course, much, much smaller (56,000 vs. 363,023,530 million barrels, in 2013)!
To be clear: unlike Siemans, Schafly Brewing has absolutely no business connections with Nazi Germany .
In 1989, Schafly's first brewer was Dave Miller, the author of The Homebrewing Guide. That book was the inspiration for many homebrewers of that generation ... including me.
Schlafly is now both a brewpub and a production brewery, its beers sold in the U.S. midwest and east coast. Stephen Hale, pictured in the ad, is the brewpub's brewer and an 'Ambassador' of the brewery. When I was studying at the Siebel Institute in the early 1990s, Mr. Hale was a fellow student. He brews good beer.
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SCHLAFLY BREWING AND PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY
One more political oddity.
"In 2014, the brewery filed for an exclusive trademark on the use of the name 'Schlafly' to sell microbrewery beer; however, this was opposed by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, on the grounds that "alcohol has a connotation that is the opposite of conservative.
Phyllis Schlafly is founder of the Eagle Forum. She is known for her staunch social and political conservatism, her opposition to modern feminism, and her successful campaign against the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. "
A few years ago, I asked Schafly Brewing's co-founder Dan Kopman about Ms. Schlafley. (She is the aunt of the other co-founder, Tom Schafly.) He said that the brewery does not discuss mention the familial connection.
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Photo by Yours For Good Fermentables.com.
— Follow on Twitter @Cizauskas.
— Like on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables.
Commercial use requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.
Situada em pleno Centro Histórico de Sintra, classificado Património Mundial pela UNESCO, a Quinta da Regaleira é um lugar com espírito próprio. Edificado nos primórdios do Século XX, ao sabor do ideário romântico, este fascinante conjunto de construções, nascendo abruptamente no meio da floresta luxuriante, é o resultado da concretização dos sonhos mito-mágicos do seu proprietário, António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro (1848-1920), aliados ao talento do arquitecto-cenógrafo italiano Luigi Manini (1848-1936).
A imaginação destas duas personalidades invulgares concebeu, por um lado, o somatório revivalista das mais variadas correntes artísticas - com particular destaque para o gótico, o manuelino e a renascença - e, por outro, a glorificação da história nacional influenciada pelas tradições míticas e esotéricas.
A Quinta da Regaleira é um lugar para se sentir. Não basta contar-lhe a memória, a paisagem, os mistérios. Torna-se necessário conhecê-la, contemplar a cenografia dos jardins e das edificações, admirar o Palácio dos Milhões, verdadeira mansão filosofal de inspiração alquímica, percorrer o parque exótico, sentir a espiritualidade cristã na Capela da Santíssima Trindade, que nos permite descermos à cripta onde se recorda com emoção o simbolismo e a presença do além. Há ainda um fabuloso conjunto de torreões que nos oferecem paisagens deslumbrantes, recantos estranhos feitos de lenda e saudade, vivendas apalaçadas de gosto requintado, terraços dispostos para apreciação do mundo celeste.
A culminar a visita à Quinta da Regaleira, há que invocar a aventura dos cavaleiros Templários, ou os ideais dos mestres da maçonaria, para descer ao monumental poço iniciático por uma imensa escadaria em espiral. E, lá no fundo com os pés assentes numa estrela de oito pontas, é como se estivéssemos imerses no ventre da Terra-Mãe. Depois, só nos resta atravessar as trevas das grutas labirínticas, até ganharmos a luz, reflectida em lagos surpreendentes. www.cm-sintra.pt/Artigo.aspx?ID=2907
This is a fabulous assemblage of styles and constructions ( gardens, wells, towers, statues, mysterious grottoes, etc.), which Manini succeeded in imbuing with exceptional characteristics. Albeit having a semblance of a scene from opera, the Quinta da Regaleira has alchemical and sacred connotations.
The origins of this Quinta (palace and estate) which is currently known as the Quinta da Regaleira date back to 1697 when José Leite purchased a huge tract of land at one end of the Old Quarter of Sintra.
The property was bought at a public auction in 1715 by Francisco Alberto Guimarães de Castro who diverted water from the mountain to supply a fountain on the property. In the possession of João António Lopes Fernandes in 1800 it appears some thirty years later in the possession of Manuel Bernardo from whence it derived its current name, having formerly been known as the Quinta da Torre or the Quinta do Castro. It was then purchased by the daughter of Allen in 1840 (a wealthy trader from Oporto) who was later given the title of the Baroness of Regaleira.
At the beginning of this century, however, the Quinta da Regaleira was purchased by the capitalist António Augusto de Carvalho Monteiro, a man of enormous culture with a degree in Law from the University of Coimbra who had amassed a fortune in Brazil. Carvalho Monteiro, who was profoundly inspired by the glorious national epic poem, whose expression at the time was found in the "revivalist" taste of neo manueline architecture, took inspiration for the construction of the manor house and its respective chapel both from the structural and decorative eclecticism of the Pena Palace and the neo-manueline style of the Hotel Palácio do Buçaco, designed by Luigi Manini. It was Carvalho Monteiro who invited Manini to design and build the house at Regaleira . The project was completed in 1910.
This is a fabulous assemblage of styles and constructions (gardens, wells, towers, statues, mysterious grottoes, etc.), which Manini succeeded in imbuing with exceptional characteristics. Albeit having a semblance of a scene from opera, the Quinta da Regaleira has alchemical and sacred connotations.
The Quinta da Regaleira, which was purchased in March 1997 by the Sintra Town Council is currently used as the head office of the CulturSintra Foundation which is undertaking a vast conservation and rehabilitation programme for promoting the palace in tourist terms. It is also organising a series of cultural events. www.cm-sintra.pt/Artigo.aspx?ID=3168
It was born as a military aircraft, enjoyed a second career as a firefighting plane and is settling into its golden years as a piece of public art after a close call with the scrap heap.
"Grumman Greenhouse" is a decommissioned military plane that was being sold for scrap in Alabama when 27-year-old artist Jordan Griska purchased it with a more noble fate in mind. Its new home is next door to his alma mater, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in a new plaza it shares with some pretty weighty company: Claes Oldenburg's massive illuminated paintbrush.
The Grumman S2F Tracker was an anti-submarine aircraft flown by the Navy between 1954 and 1976. Griska's plane spent its post-military life in California as a firefighting plane until it was retired and ended up on eBay earlier this year. Griska was the sole bidder.
"It's $40,000 to install it — that's something like an eighth of what I paid for the plane," Griska said during a break Tuesday in the installation, a delicate operation involving a crane, ropes, ladders and nearly a dozen workers painstakingly reassembling the craft in its outdoor location. "I spent more on rivets than it cost to buy the plane."
Placed on a low platform nose-first, tail in the air, the 18,000-pound plane looks more like it tripped and fell than crash-landed. It is intact but reconfigured, like origami, with its nose and belly being fashioned into greenhouses that will yield seasonal herbs, vegetables and flowers year-round.
"To me, the piece is about ... the global tensions we live in, themes of war and peace and concerns about global sustainability," PAFA president David Brigham said, "and Jordan has brought them together in a very interesting way."
After a panel of PAFA faculty suggested Griska for the job, he returned with the proposal for "Grumman Greenhouse." The school provided an undisclosed amount of funding, described as an honorarium, and the artist did fundraising of his own for the project.
"I wanted a military aircraft for its scale and history and this came up," he said. "It was great timing."
Griska worked on "Grumman Greenhouse" for around six months in his West Philadelphia studio. It is so far his largest work. The 2008 PAFA graduate's earlier projects include reconfigured newspaper honor boxes, a 1960s gas pump crumpled accordion-like and a fanciful submarine repurposed from propane tanks.
The plane arrived from Alabama in pieces and with missing and damaged parts. After consultation with military and civilian pilots and enthusiasts, the white-painted Grumman was sanded to its silver base by a team of volunteers, its numbers and other distinguishing characteristics left intact to preserve its past, and lost pieces were donated or replicated.
In a nod to the plane's former job with the California Department of Forestry, Griska asked local firefighters to help with the artwork's installation, which was rain-delayed for two weeks. The "greenhouse" ingredients are courtesy of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the edible yields will be distributed to needy families through the City Harvest program.
The face-down orientation already has caused some consternation among a few former Navy pilots and aircraft aficionados who saw photographs of the work in progress and suggested "Grumman Greenhouse" was disrespectful of the craft's history and the veterans who flew it.
Griska did not build the piece to resemble a crash. He knew such interpretation was inevitable but said once people see the sculpture in place, they'll understand.
He said the plane's posture, consistent with his characteristic retrofitting of familiar objects, is partly due to space restrictions of an 18-foot-wide platform at the corner of a narrow plaza between two buildings. However, he did give thought to the connotation, asking himself how the aftermath of a tragic event could be used for a positive purpose by future generations.
Along with the serious statements it offers, the work also conveys a sense of playfulness and the plants suggest the optimism of new life and growth. Its future as a work of public art means the Grumman will be enjoyed and appreciated instead of being scrapped and torn apart, Griska said.
A plaque to be installed at the base of the plane includes a quote by retired Marine Gen. Peter Pace, a former joint chiefs chairman, honoring the Grumman's past service in times of peace and war and its future "to inspire and support this community, feeding those in need, and encouraging future artists."
Unlike Oldenburg's permanent "Paint Torch," Griska's work will remain in the plaza for about a year. It is the successful first edition of what will be a series of rotating exhibitions by established and emerging artists, Brigham said.
"He has taken found object sculpture to a new level," Brigham said. "It exceeds our expectations."
Wigan Pier
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On the right, the reconstructed Wigan pier
Wigan Pier is the name given today to the area around the canal at the bottom of the Wigan flight of locks on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.[1] It is a popular location for visitors and the local community in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, situated just a few hundred yards south-west of the town centre. The name "Wigan Pier" has humorous connotations since it conjures an image of a seaside pleasure pier, whereas Wigan is in fact an inland and traditionally industrial town.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Existing buildings
3 Future
4 References
5 External links
History[edit]
The original "pier" at Wigan was a coal loading staithe, probably a wooden jetty, where wagons from a nearby colliery were unloaded into waiting barges on the canal. The original wooden pier is believed to have been demolished in 1929, with the iron from the tippler (a mechanism for tipping coal into the barges) being sold as scrap.[1]
The name Wigan Pier was possibly invented by and was brought to popular attention by George Formby, Sr. in the Music Halls of the early twentieth century and later by George Formby, Jr. who incorporated it into his songs. Someone looking out of an excursion train to Southport in the fog and seeing a coal gantry asked "Where are we?" and was told "Wigan Pier".[2] The tippler became the favoured location when people subsequently wanted to see it. There are references to it in songs such as On the Wigan Boat Express.[3]
In 1937, Wigan was featured in the title of George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, which dealt, in large part, with the living conditions of England's working poor. In response to a critic, Orwell insisted "He [Orwell] liked Wigan very much — the people, not the scenery. Indeed, he has only one fault to find with it, and that is in respect of the celebrated Wigan Pier, which he had set his heart on seeing. Alas! Wigan Pier had been demolished, and even the spot where it used to stand is no longer certain."[4] Some have embraced the Orwellian link, as it has provided the area with a modest tourist base over the years. "It seems funny to celebrate Orwell for highlighting all our bad points, but Wigan wouldn't be anywhere near as famous without him," said the Wigan Pier Experience's manager, Carole Tyldesley. "In the end George Orwell has proved to be a strong marketing tool."[5] Others regard this connection as disappointing, considering it an insinuation that Wigan is no better now than it was at the time of Orwell's writing.[6]
To see the difference, it is worth recalling a description of the canal scene from The Road to Wigan Pier: "I remember a winter afternoon in the dreadful environs of Wigan. All round was the lunar landscape of slag-heaps, and to the north, through the passes, as it were, between the mountains of slag, you could see the factory chimneys sending out their plumes of smoke. The canal path was a mixture of cinders and frozen mud, criss-crossed by the imprints of innumerable clogs, and all round, as far as the slag-heaps in the distance, stretched the ‘flashes’ — pools of stagnant water that had seeped into the hollows caused by the subsidence of ancient pits. It was horribly cold. The ‘flashes’ were covered with ice the colour of raw umber, the bargemen were muffled to the eyes in sacks, the lock gates wore beards of ice. It seemed a world from which vegetation had been banished; nothing existed except smoke, shale, ice, mud, ashes, and foul water."[7]
Today, the slag heaps have been removed or landscaped with trees, the factories are closed or converted to housing and the canal is only used for recreational boating and fishing.
Existing buildings[edit]
The pier was at the end of a narrow gauge tramway from a colliery. The wagons would be brought right to the edge of the canal to be tippled so that their contents went straight into the waiting barges. The original wooden pier is believed to have been demolished in 1929, with the iron from the tippler being sold as scrap. Because of the more recent pride in the area's heritage, a replica tippler, consisting of two curved rails, has been erected at the original location.[1]
The original terminus of the canal, completed 1777
The former Wigan Terminus Warehouses were built in the 18th century and refurbished in the 1980s. Boats could moor inside the building and off-load directly into the warehouse.[8]
A warehouse with covered loading bays, converted into a museum of Victorian life (often mistakenly thought to be Wigan Pier), and the home to The Way We Were museum,[9] was part of the Wigan Pier Experience museum and exhibition centre. The exhibition featured a Victorian school room, a colliery disaster, the Second Boer War and (on the top floor) a complete pub transported from Hope Street and reconstructed by shopping centre developers. The Wigan Pier Theatre Company used these displays to remind present generations of "The Way We Were" – not always a happy life.[10] The attraction closed on 20 December 2007.[11]
Gibson's Warehouse is a Victorian cotton warehouse, originally built in 1777, re-built in 1984 as The Orwell at Wigan Pier, is situated on the canalside.[12]
Trencherfield Mill is a former cotton mill, located across the road from Wigan Pier - currently[when?] being converted into luxury apartments.[13] It still contains the massive working steam engine which will be kept in the new development.
There are several bridges across the canal. Bridge #51 Pottery Changeline is a roving bridge, one which swaps the tow path from one side of the canal to the other, usually in such a way as to allow the horse pulling the barge to pass easily and without disconnecting its tow-rope.[14] Bridge #50 Seven Stars Bridge is adjacent to the Seven Stars public house, taking its name from "The Plough" star constellation.[15]
Nandi is the name for the bull which serves as the mount (Sanskrit: Vahana) of the god Shiva and as the gatekeeper of Shiva and Parvati. In Hindu Religion, he is the chief guru of eighteen masters (18 Siddhar ) including Patanjali and Thirumular. Temples venerating Shiva display stone images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. There are also a number of temples dedicated solely to Nandi.
The application of the name Nandi to the bull (Sanskrit: vṛṣabha) is in fact a development of recent centuries, as Gouriswar Bhattacharya has documented in an illustrated article entitled "Nandin and Vṛṣabha". The name Nandi was earlier widely used instead for an anthropomorphic deity who was one of Shiva’s two door-keepers, the other being Mahākāla. The doorways of pre-tenth-century North Indian temples are frequently flanked by images of Mahākāla and Nandi, and it is in this role of Shiva’s watchman that Nandi figures in Kālidāsa’s poem the Kumārasambhava.
ETYMOLOGY
The word “Nandi” is derived from the ancient Indian Language of Sanskrit. The Sanskrit word 'Nandi' in English translates as Happy, Joyous or Happy Person.
BIRTH OF NANDI
There was a sage named Shilada who underwent severe penance to have a boon — a child with immortality. Lord Indra pleased of the austerities of Shilada appeared in front of him to offer a boon. After hearing the request of Shilada and his desire to have an immortal child, Lord Indra suggested he pray to Lord Shiva: nobody else could provide such a boon. Sage Shilada continued his penance for 1,000 years. He was totally immovable for many years, so the termites settled on his body and slowly started to build up their nest. Finally, his whole body was covered up by them. The insects started to eat his flesh and imbibed his blood. At last, only bones remained.
Lord Shiva appeared in front of him and provided the boon for the child. Moreover, Lord Shiva provided Sage Shilada his old form with a single touch. Sage Shilada performed Yagna and a child appeared from the sacrificial fire. His body was clad in armour made out of diamonds. The celestial dancers and singers performed on this auspicious occasion and the deities showered flowers on the child. The boy was named ’Nandi’ — who brings joy. Shilada brought the child home. Immediately the boy lost his divine appearance to an ordinary child. The child completely forgot all about his birth. Sage Shilada was worried about the sudden change. He devoted his time for Nandi's upbringing his education etc. By the age of seven, the boy was well versed in Veda and all sacred texts.
One day the deities Mitra and Varuna visited Sage Shilada. At the first sight of the boy, they commented: Though the boy had all auspicious signs, he would have a very short life. He would not live after the age of eight. Sage Shilada was mortified at this remark. Nandi could not bear his father's sorrow; he began to pray to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared before him and blessed him. Lord Shiva adorned the boy with a necklace and made him immortal. Lord Shiva blessed the child and declared that he would be worshiped along with Him and become his vahana (vehicle). Immediately the boy got all the divine powers and transformed into half bull-half human. He and Shilada went to Lord Shiva's abode to live.
IN HINDUISM
Bulls appear on the Indus Valley seals, including the 'Pasupati Seal', which depicts a seated figure and, according to some scholars, is similar to Shiva. However, most scholars agree that the horned bull on the Indus Valley seals is not identical to Nandi.
DESCRIPTIONS ON NANDI IN HINDU RELIGIOUS TEXTS INCLUDE:
- Some Puranas describe Nandi or Nandikeshvara as bull face with a human body that resembles that of Shiva in proportion and aspect, although with four hands — two hands holding the Parasu (the axe) and Mruga (the antelope) and the other two hands joined together in the Anjali (obeisance). Brahma Vaivarta Purana mentions Krishna himself to have taken the form of a bull as no one else in the Universe can bear Shiva.
- Vehicle of Shiva: The bull Nandi is Shiva's primary vehicle and is the principal gana (follower) of Shiva.
- Gate keeper of Shiva's abode: The close association of Shiva and Nandi explains the presence of a statue of Nandi at the gate of many temples dedicated to Shiva. It also explains why the word "nandi" in the Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages is used as a metaphor for a person blocking the way.[citation needed] In Sanskrit, a bull is called vrisha, which has another connotation — that of righteousness or Dharma. It is important to seek the blessings of Nandi before proceeding to worship Lord Shiva.
- Chief in Shiva's army: Some Puranas mention that Nandi lead the Shiva Ganas, Shiva's attendants.
- A Guru of Saivism: In addition to being his mount, Nandi is Shiva's foremost disciple. In the Natha/Siddhar tradition, Nandi is one of the primal gurus. He was the guru to Siddhar Thirumulanathar, Patanjalinathar and others.
- From the yogic perspective, Nandi/Nandhi/Nandikeshvara is the mind dedicated to Lord Siva, the Absolute. In other words, to understand and absorb Light, the 'experience and the wisdom' is Nandi which is the Guru within.
- Spiritually, Nandi represents an individual jiva (soul) and the message that the jiva should always be focused on the Atman (Paramatman).
LEGENDS
According to some puranas, Nandi was born to sage Shilada who got him by the grace of Shiva.
It was Nandi who cursed Ravana (the demon King of Lanka) that his kingdom would be burnt by a monkey (Vanara). And later Hanuman burnt Lanka when he went in search of Sita, who was kept prisoner by Ravana in Ashok Vatika.
In one puranic story, it is stated that once Siva and Parvathi were playing a game of dice. For any game there has to be an umpire, who has to declare who is the winner. Siva and Parvathi agreed to have Nandi (the divine bull) as the umpire. Nandi is a favorite of Siva, as he is Siva's vehicle. Although Siva lost the game, Nandi declared him the winner. It is stated that Parvathi was indignant over Nandi's partiality for Siva and cursed him that he should die from an incurable disease. Thereupon Nandi fell at the feet of Parvathi and pleaded for forgiveness. "Mother forgive me. Should I not show at least this amount of gratitude to one who is my master? Is it not humiliating for me to declare that my master has lost the game? To uphold his honor I no doubt uttered a lie. But am I to be punished with such severity for so small an offence?" Nandi prayed for forgiveness in this manner. Parvathi forgave Nandi and taught him the means to atone for his lapse. She told him. "The Chaturdasi day in the month of Bhadrapada is the day when my son's birthday is celebrated. On that day you have to offer to my son what pleases you most (green grass)". This means that one atones for one's sins when one offers to the Lord what is most pleasing and enjoyable to him. For Nandi the most enjoyable and relishing food is green grass. As directed by Parvathi Nandi worshipped Ganapathi by offering green grass. Nandi was then relieved of his dreaded disease. His health improved and by the grace of Parvathi he was redeemed.
When the positive forces, the devas, and the negative forces, the asuras, joined together on a rare occasion to churn the ocean with a mountain to obtain the nectar of immortality they utilized Vasuki, the serpent, as the rope. The devas pulled from one end and the asuras from the other. Lots of precious herbs and gems were produced during the Churning and one of them was a poison (halāhala) which became human karma. This "poison" was so dangerous that none of the devas or asuras wanted to go near it. It was extremely sticky and coming into contact with this poison, i.e., human karma, would drag the divinity down to the realms of human suffering and ego. As everyone else ran away, Lord Siva, followed by Nandi, came forward to help as he was the only one who could counteract this deadly poison. Siva took the poison into his hand and drank it, the descent of the poison was in turn stopped at His throat, by His divine consort. Siva is therefore also known as Nīlakaṇṭha (the blue-throated one) and Viṣakaṇṭha (the poison-throated one). Nandi saw some of the poison spill out of Siva's mouth and immediately drank if off the ground. The devas and asuras watching were shocked and wondered aloud what would happen to Nandi. Lord Siva calmed their fears saying, "Nandi has surrendered into me so completely that he has all my powers and my protection".
LARGEST NANDIS IN INDIA
1. Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh
2. Brahadishwara Temple, Tamil Nadu
4. Bull Temple, Bangalore, Karnataka
5. Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu
6. Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka
7. Shanthaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka
8. Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur, Kerala
9. Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Karnataka
10. Nandi Temple, Western Group of Temples, Khajuraho,
Madhya Pradesh
11. Kedareshvara Temple at Balligavi (Karnataka)
12. Doddabasaveshvara temple, Kurugodu Bellary dist
MISCELLANEOUS
The white color of the bull symbolizes purity and justice.
Women visit images of Nandi, bringing floral offerings, and touch the stone. Their prayers are for fertility. Additionally, it is also considered a custom among some to whisper the fact of their visit, to that shrine, while requesting the faithful attendant to inform his master of the same.
WIKIPEDIA
OM PARVAT
Om Parvat (also Adi Kailash, Little Kailash, Jonglingkong Peak,Baba Kailash, chhota Kailash)[3] is a mountain in the Himalayanmountain range, lying in the Darchula district of western Nepal and inPithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India. It is considered sacred by Hindusand its snow deposition pattern resembles the sacred 'OM' (ॐ). Its appearance is distinctly similar to Mount Kailash in Tibet.[4] Near Om Parvat lie Parvati Lake and Jonglingkong Lake. Jonglingkong Lake is sacred, as Mansarovar, to the Hindus. Opposite to this peak is a mountain called Parwati Muhar. The Om Parvat is the fruit of discord between India and Nepal who do not reach agreement about the border line between the two countries. The Om Parvat is currently on the Indo-Nepalese border face "Om/ॐ" in India and the back of the mountain inNepal.
This peak was attempted for the first time by an Indo-British team including Martin Moran, T. Rankin, M. Singh, S. Ward, A. Williams and R. Ausden. The climbers promised not to ascend the final 10 metres (30 ft) out of respect for the peak's holy status. However, they were stopped around 200 m (660 ft) short of the summit by very loose snow and rock conditions.[4]
The first ascent of Adi Kailash came on October 8, 2004. The team comprised Tim Woodward, Jack Pearse, Andy Perkins (UK); Jason Hubert, Martin Welch, Diarmid Hearns, Amanda George (Scotland); and Paul Zuchowski (USA). They did not ascend the final few metres, again out of respect for the sacred nature of the summit.
Om Parvat can be viewed en route to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra from the last camp below Lipu Lekh pass at Nabhidhang. Many trekkers to Adi Kailash often make a diversion to view Om Parvat. Om Parvat and Adi Kailash or Baba Kailash are not one and the same. Om Parvat is located near Nabhi Dhang (Nepal),The Chhota Kailash is located near Sinla pass, Near Brahma Parvat.
The best view of Om Parvat which "Om" drawn by the snow is the view from the district of Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand, India), which faces the mountain and hence to the "Om". By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
OM
Auṃ or Oṃ, Sanskrit: ॐ) is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Indian religions. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.
In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols (pratima). It refers to Atman (soul, self within) andBrahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.
Vedic literature
The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Vedas and different early Upanishads.[19] The meanings include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, theBrahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge".
Vedas
The chapters in Vedas, and numerous hymns, chants and benedictions therein use the syllable Om. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda, for example, begins with Om. The mantra is extracted from the 10th verse of Hymn 62 in Book III of the Rig Veda.These recitations continue to be in use, and major incantations and ceremonial functions begin and end with Om.
ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: |
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् |
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि |
धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ||
Om. Earth, atmosphere, heaven.
Let us think on that desirable splendour
of Savitr, the Inspirer. May he stimulate
us to insightful thoughts.
Om is a common symbol found in the ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in the first line of Rig veda (top), as well as a icon in temples and spiritual retreats.
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads of Hinduism. It opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on Om". It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is the udgitha (song, Om).
Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce song. The highest song is Om, asserts section 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, of reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.
The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons). Max Muller states that this struggle between gods and demons is considered allegorical by ancient Indian scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively. The legend in section 1.2 of Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons". The syllable Om is thus implied as that which inspires the good inclinations within each person.
Chandogya Upanishad's exposition of syllable Om in its opening chapter combines etymological speculations, symbolism, metric structure and philosophical themes. In the second chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, the meaning and significance of Om evolves into a philosophical discourse, such as in section 2.10 where Om is linked to the Highest Self, and section 2.23 where the text asserts Om is the essence of three forms of knowledge, Om is Brahman and "Om is all this [observed world]".
Katha Upanishad
The Katha Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meetsYama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge,Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation). In section 1.2, Katha Upanishad characterizes Knowledge/Wisdom as the pursuit of good, and Ignorance/Delusion as the pursuit of pleasant, that the essence of Veda is make man liberated and free, look past what has happened and what has not happened, free from the past and the future, beyond good and evil, and one word for this essence is the word Om.
The word which all the Vedas proclaim,
That which is expressed in every Tapas (penance, austerity, meditation),
That for which they live the life of a Brahmacharin,
Understand that word in its essence: Om! that is the word.
Yes, this syllable is Brahman,
This syllable is the highest.
He who knows that syllable,
Whatever he desires, is his.
— Katha Upanishad,
Maitri Upanishad
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad in sixth Prapathakas (lesson) discusses the meaning and significance of Om. The text asserts that Om represents Brahman-Atman. The three roots of the syllable, states the Maitri Upanishad, are A + U + M. The sound is the body of Soul, and it repeatedly manifests in three: as gender-endowed body - feminine, masculine, neuter; as light-endowed body - Agni, Vayu and Aditya; as deity-endowed body - Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu; as mouth-endowed body - Garhapatya, Dakshinagni and Ahavaniya; as knowledge-endowed body - Rig, Saman and Yajur; as world-endowed body - Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; as time-endowed body - Past, Present and Future; as heat-endowed body - Breath, Fire and Sun; as growth-endowed body - Food, Water and Moon; as thought-endowed body - intellect, mind and pysche. Brahman exists in two forms - the material form, and the immaterial formless. The material form is changing, unreal. The immaterial formless isn't changing, real. The immortal formless is truth, the truth is the Brahman, the Brahman is the light, the light is the Sun which is the syllable Om as the Self.
The world is Om, its light is Sun, and the Sun is also the light of the syllable Om, asserts the Upanishad. Meditating on Om, is acknowledging and meditating on the Brahman-Atman (Soul, Self).
Mundaka Upanishad
The Mundaka Upanishad in the second Mundakam (part), suggests the means to knowing the Self and the Brahman to be meditation, self-reflection and introspection, that can be aided by the symbol Om.
That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,
on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants –
That is the indestructible Brahman. It is life, it is speech, it is mind. That is the real. It is immortal.
It is a mark to be penetrated. Penetrate It, my friend.
Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation,
Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,
Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.
Om is the bow, the arrow is the Soul, Brahman the mark,
By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated,
One should come to be in It,
as the arrow becomes one with the mark.
— Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.2 - 2.2.4
Adi Shankara, in his review of the Mundaka Upanishad, states Om as a symbolism for Atman (soul, self).
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring, "Om!, this syllable is this whole world". Thereafter it presents various explanations and theories on what it means and signifies. This discussion is built on a structure of "four fourths" or "fourfold", derived from A + U + M + "silence" (or without an element).
Aum as all states of time
In verse 1, the Upanishad states that time is threefold: the past, the present and the future, that these three are "Aum". The four fourth of time is that which transcends time, that too is "Aum" expressed.
Aum as all states of Atman
In verse 2, states the Upanishad, everything is Brahman, but Brahman is Atman (the Soul, Self), and that the Atman is fourfold. Johnston summarizes these four states of Self, respectively, as seeking the physical, seeking inner thought, seeking the causes and spiritual consciousness, and the fourth state is realizing oneness with the Self, the Eternal.
Aum as all states of consciousness
In verses 3 to 6, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates four states of consciousness: wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma (being one with Self, the oneness of Self). These four are A + U + M + "without an element" respectively.
Aum as all of knowledge
In verses 9 to 12, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates fourfold etymological roots of the syllable "Aum". It states that the first element of "Aum" is A, which is from Apti (obtaining, reaching) or from Adimatva (being first). The second element is U, which is from Utkarsa (exaltation) or from Ubhayatva(intermediateness). The third element is M, from Miti (erecting, constructing) or from Mi Minati, or apīti (annihilation). The fourth is without an element, without development, beyond the expanse of universe. In this way, states the Upanishad, the syllable Om is indeed the Atman (the self).
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.14 to 1.16, suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent rubbing of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of Upanishads. The text asserts that Om is a tool of meditation empowering one to know the God within oneself, to realize one's Atman (Soul, Self).
Epics
The Bhagavad Gita, in the Epic Mahabharata, mentions the meaning and significance of Om in several verses. For example, Fowler notes that verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad Gita synthesizes the competing dualistic and monist streams of thought in Hinduism, by using "Om which is the symbol for the indescribable, impersonal Brahman".
I am the Father of this world, Mother, Ordainer, Grandfather, the Thing to be known, the Purifier, the syllable Om, Rik, Saman and also Yajus.
— Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita 9.17,
The significance of the sacred syllable in the Hindu traditions, is similarly highlighted in various of its verses, such as verse 17.24 where the importance of Omduring prayers, charity and meditative practices is explained as follows,
Therefore, uttering Om, the acts of yajna (fire ritual), dāna (charity) and tapas (austerity) as enjoined in the scriptures, are always begun by those who study the Brahman.
— Bhagavad Gita
Yoga Sutra
The aphoristic verse 1.27 of Pantanjali's Yogasutra links Om to Yoga practice, as follows,
तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥२७॥
His word is Om.
— Yogasutra 1.27,
Johnston states this verse highlights the importance of Om in the meditative practice of Yoga, where it symbolizes three worlds in the Soul; the three times – past, present and future eternity, the three divine powers – creation, preservation and transformation in one Being; and three essences in one Spirit – immortality, omniscience and joy. It is, asserts Johnston, a symbol for the perfected Spiritual Man (his emphasis). BY KAILASH MANSAROVAR FOUNDATION SWAMI BIKASH GIRI www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
Situada em pleno Centro Histórico de Sintra, classificado Património Mundial pela UNESCO, a Quinta da Regaleira é um lugar com espírito próprio. Edificado nos primórdios do Século XX, ao sabor do ideário romântico, este fascinante conjunto de construções, nascendo abruptamente no meio da floresta luxuriante, é o resultado da concretização dos sonhos mito-mágicos do seu proprietário, António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro (1848-1920), aliados ao talento do arquitecto-cenógrafo italiano Luigi Manini (1848-1936).
A imaginação destas duas personalidades invulgares concebeu, por um lado, o somatório revivalista das mais variadas correntes artísticas - com particular destaque para o gótico, o manuelino e a renascença - e, por outro, a glorificação da história nacional influenciada pelas tradições míticas e esotéricas.
A Quinta da Regaleira é um lugar para se sentir. Não basta contar-lhe a memória, a paisagem, os mistérios. Torna-se necessário conhecê-la, contemplar a cenografia dos jardins e das edificações, admirar o Palácio dos Milhões, verdadeira mansão filosofal de inspiração alquímica, percorrer o parque exótico, sentir a espiritualidade cristã na Capela da Santíssima Trindade, que nos permite descermos à cripta onde se recorda com emoção o simbolismo e a presença do além. Há ainda um fabuloso conjunto de torreões que nos oferecem paisagens deslumbrantes, recantos estranhos feitos de lenda e saudade, vivendas apalaçadas de gosto requintado, terraços dispostos para apreciação do mundo celeste.
A culminar a visita à Quinta da Regaleira, há que invocar a aventura dos cavaleiros Templários, ou os ideais dos mestres da maçonaria, para descer ao monumental poço iniciático por uma imensa escadaria em espiral. E, lá no fundo com os pés assentes numa estrela de oito pontas, é como se estivéssemos imerses no ventre da Terra-Mãe. Depois, só nos resta atravessar as trevas das grutas labirínticas, até ganharmos a luz, reflectida em lagos surpreendentes. www.cm-sintra.pt/Artigo.aspx?ID=2907
This is a fabulous assemblage of styles and constructions ( gardens, wells, towers, statues, mysterious grottoes, etc.), which Manini succeeded in imbuing with exceptional characteristics. Albeit having a semblance of a scene from opera, the Quinta da Regaleira has alchemical and sacred connotations.
The origins of this Quinta (palace and estate) which is currently known as the Quinta da Regaleira date back to 1697 when José Leite purchased a huge tract of land at one end of the Old Quarter of Sintra.
The property was bought at a public auction in 1715 by Francisco Alberto Guimarães de Castro who diverted water from the mountain to supply a fountain on the property. In the possession of João António Lopes Fernandes in 1800 it appears some thirty years later in the possession of Manuel Bernardo from whence it derived its current name, having formerly been known as the Quinta da Torre or the Quinta do Castro. It was then purchased by the daughter of Allen in 1840 (a wealthy trader from Oporto) who was later given the title of the Baroness of Regaleira.
At the beginning of this century, however, the Quinta da Regaleira was purchased by the capitalist António Augusto de Carvalho Monteiro, a man of enormous culture with a degree in Law from the University of Coimbra who had amassed a fortune in Brazil. Carvalho Monteiro, who was profoundly inspired by the glorious national epic poem, whose expression at the time was found in the "revivalist" taste of neo manueline architecture, took inspiration for the construction of the manor house and its respective chapel both from the structural and decorative eclecticism of the Pena Palace and the neo-manueline style of the Hotel Palácio do Buçaco, designed by Luigi Manini. It was Carvalho Monteiro who invited Manini to design and build the house at Regaleira . The project was completed in 1910.
This is a fabulous assemblage of styles and constructions (gardens, wells, towers, statues, mysterious grottoes, etc.), which Manini succeeded in imbuing with exceptional characteristics. Albeit having a semblance of a scene from opera, the Quinta da Regaleira has alchemical and sacred connotations.
The Quinta da Regaleira, which was purchased in March 1997 by the Sintra Town Council is currently used as the head office of the CulturSintra Foundation which is undertaking a vast conservation and rehabilitation programme for promoting the palace in tourist terms. It is also organising a series of cultural events. www.cm-sintra.pt/Artigo.aspx?ID=3168
Her Majesty’s Theatre in Ballarat’s Lydiard Street is one of the most intact, commercial nineteenth century theatres in Australia. Originally opened as the Ballarat Academy of Music in order to avoid the negative moral connotations associated with theatres at the time, Her Majesty’s was completed in 1875 to a design by architect George Browne. The Academy had a flat floored auditorium suitable for respectable dances and dinners, and a fully equipped stage. It was built to supersede Ballarat's Theatre Royal (built in 1858), which stood in Sturt Street. While very grand, the Royal had become outdated and no longer met the technical requirements of the touring companies.
The Academy was built by the wealthy Clarke family at the initiative of a group of local people who felt that Ballarat, as the premier city of the Victorian goldfields, should have a theatre worthy of its status. They guaranteed to rent it from the Clarkes at 10% of the construction cost, which was £13,000.
Built over a disused mineshaft, the original timber theatre initially comprised a theatre with rectangular auditorium, a steep lyre-shaped gallery, three entries leading to separate parts of the auditorium and two shops facing Lydiard Street.
Ballarat's handsome new theatre was ready ahead of schedule, and was opened on 7th June 1875. The first production was a comic opera by the French composer Lecocq, "La Fille de Madame Angot," presented by the Royal Opera Bouffe Company run by W. S. Lyster, Australia's first opera impresario.
Soon after the Academy opened, the large Supper Room above Lydiard Street was leased to William Bridges, a former miner, who ran it as an art gallery, displaying an excellent collection of European and Australian artworks, including his own tapestries. After Bridges moved his operations to Melbourne in 1883, the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery was formed. The Gallery Society ran the Gallery from the Academy from 1884 until 1890, when the present Art Gallery in Lydiard Street North was opened.
For the next twenty five years, the Academy of Music was unchallenged as Ballarat's main theatrical venue. It was never as popular as the old Theatre Royal, however, as the rather cavernous hall lacked the intimacy of the older playhouse. In 1898, when Sir William Clarke died, the building was bought by a local consortium and transformed into the delightful theatrical space we know today.
The new owners commissioned Australia's leading theatre architect, William Pitt (1855 – 1918), to remodel the interior and improve the stage facilities. William, who had been apprenticed to George Browne, also designed Melbourne's Princess Theatre amongst many other buildings. The present layout of the auditorium with sloping floor and double balconies, is Pitt's creation. The colour scheme is a recreation of the interior decoration undertaken at that time by Hugh Paterson, one of Melbourne's leading designers.
Paterson also decorated the dome and proscenium arch with murals. The mural in the dome depicted a carnival scene, with dancers in fanciful costumes; Comedy and Tragedy were featured on either side of the proscenium arch, with Shakespeare over the top. Unfortunately all the murals were destroyed in 1907 when Government regulations required the proscenium wall to be replaced with a solid firewall. The dome was removed at the same time for structural reasons, and was restored in 1990. The Dress Circle Lobby also dates from 1907.
The 1898 theatre was constructed in brick with timber roof construction sheeted with iron. The main body is brick with piers both inside and out. The hipped trussed roof covers both the three-level auditorium and the stage with dressing rooms below. The ground floor and foyer have been considerably altered at various times but the auditorium and stage structure are original as is much of the auditorium ceiling and pilastered walls. The roof over the stage also dates from 1875 and the later inclusion of a fly tower stage in 1898 is fitted around the original trusses. The flying system is the only manual (non counterweight) system in existence in Australia. In the auditorium roof there appears to have been two domes, a small one dating from before 1898 for which the horizontal shutters and tube structure to a former sliding ventilated roof are still in existence. When 1898 dome was removed a false octagonal ceiling was fitted in its place. Internally the circle and gallery levels are horseshoe shaped in plan and are carried on cast iron columns. The balcony balustrading is swag bellied and decorated. It is believed that the wall pilasters, panelled ceilings and proscenium are original decorations and some traces of art nouveau decorative motifs are to be seen where later alterations have been made. The two balconies were constructed in 1898, but one balcony front is the reused 1874 front while the second was made to match. The balconies and cast-iron supporting posts are typical for auditoria design in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. The double balcony, supported on columns, is now the last of this form of theatre in Victoria. The facade of this building is two storeyed in height with stucco ornamentation in a somewhat florid Classical style. The upper storey windows are round headed with archivolts supported by slender columns as are the two ground floor subsidiary entrances. The highly decorated curved entrance has now been lost. The ground floor facade has been much altered and a street awning has been added. The first floor facade is intact but the parapet balustrading and ornamentation has been destroyed.
From the First World War on, the Theatre was increasingly used for cinema presentations. A Bio Box (projection room) was built above the Dress Circle Lobby in 1916, and the Theatre was wired for sound in 1930. In 1928, the Hoyts cinema chain took over control over the building through its local subsidiary, Ballarat Theatres Limited, which ran Her Majesty's in tandem with the Regent Theatre (purposely built as a cinema).
In 1936, Her Majesty's was leased and operated by Ballarat Amusements, part of the Woodrow Distributing Company, presenting MGM and Paramount movies. Ballarat Amusements ran it until the early 1960s.
During the silent movie era, a theatre orchestra provided the film accompaniment. The Ballarat Theatre Organ Society installed the Theatre's Compton Theatre Organ in 1982.
Even when Her Majesty's was primarily a cinema, it was always available, to a lesser or greater degree, for live performances. It was used regularly by J. C. Williamson's and other touring companies as well as local groups. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s huge crowds came to see the annual pantomimes staged by the Wavie Williams Pantomime Company. For the last forty years, the Theatre has been used to stage locally produced musical comedies.
Television came to Ballarat in 1962, and had an immediate impact on attendances at the local cinemas. Ballarat Amusements decided to cease screenings and Hoyts put the building on the market.
In 1965, the Theatre was bought by the Royal South Street Society as the home for its Annual Competitions.The Bolte State Government gave the Society £20,000 towards the purchase price and a further grant towards the adaptation of the building for the Competitions. Further assistance towards both purposes came from local businessman, Alf Reid. It was clearly understood at the time that the Society would be managing the Theatre as a community facility.
The Society renamed Her Majesty's the Memorial Theatre, a move which made donations to its renovation appeal tax deductable.
The Society was unable to adequately maintain the upkeep of the building, however, and gifted it to the then City of Ballaarat in 1987, reserving the right to hold competitions in the Theatre every year between August and November.
The City of Ballarat undertook a major renovation, seeking funding from a wide range of businesses, individuals and organisations. The Theatre reopened as Her Majesty's on the 1st of November, 1990.
(further pictures and information about Vienna are available at the end of page by copying the corresponding link!)
Annexation 1938
Propaganda for the by Schuschnigg planned plebiscite - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Propaganda for the by Schuschnigg planned plebiscite.
Campaign advertising of Fatherland Front. Departure from Josef place.
10/11 March 1938. Photo: Leo Ernst - Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The "Anschluss" represents itself as a triple assumption of power:
... as massive military threat by the invasion of the Wehrmacht, accompanied by an yet earlier onset of police action by Himmler's Gestapo; as a takeover by local Nazis and sympathizers who were already in lower as well as higher positions of the "corporate state (Ständestaat)"; and as demonstrative takeover "from below" by threatening street demonstrations, open deployment of previously banned party formations and symbolic actions.
Spontaneous victory celebrations of the National Socialists in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Spontaneous victory celebrations of the National Socialists in Vienna.
NS-squad on a truck. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Dietrich
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The propaganda on this occasion took on a key role. Its effectiveness resulted from the confluence of staging and fascination. Propaganda replaced real power where it not yet could be exercised, intimidated political opponents and raised hopes among supporters. The structure of the necessary propaganda apparatus created simultaneously the foundations for the future party apparatus of the NSDAP as an organization penetrating the society as a whole.
Hitler Youth marched in Vienna. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hirscher - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Hitler Youth marched in Vienna. 11/12 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hirscher
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Even children were mobilized to support the "Anschluss" propagandistically, they were as bearers of hopes of the new era addressees of Nazi propaganda. National Socialism in Austria also meant a significant change in the school system, which itself unresistingly and quite readily adapted to the new conditions.
Marching in of troops of the German Wehrmacht in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Marching in of troops of the German Wehrmacht in Vienna.
An armored car is visited by Wiener youth.
13 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Orientated toward the capturing of the "whole" person, the individual as less as possible should be given individual leeway. Personal decisions about connotations of one's life and insight into overall socio-political correlations were not even allowed to arise. Despite the apparent devotion to the children, was this state-imposed education determined by an inhuman ideology of humiliation (Erniedrigungsideologie), which found its expression in racial anti-Semitism, the doctrine of life unworthy of being lived and the devaluation of everything foreign. Companionable acting in the sense of solidarity with the weak, in this system of education had no place. In its place came the mutual monitoring and disciplining for unscrupulous execution of commands given from "above.
Demonstration of the HJ with Baldur von Schirach at Heldenplatz in Vienna.
13 March 1938. Photo: Dietrich
from "Hans Petschar; Annexation - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Central guideline of the National Socialist policy in the cultural sector was the exclusion of Jewish artists, which was marked out in Germany since 1933 through a series of bureaucratic measures: compulsory membership in the corresponding professional chambers of the Reich Chamber of Culture as an absolute professional requirement, while rejection of "non-Aryans"; total political supervision of the theater of the spoken word and music theater, but also of the literature and publishing industry as well as the film production by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels.
Hitler in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Hitler in Vienna. Driving on the ring road.
14 March 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Politically "unreliable and unsuitable" as communists, socialists, conservatives with an anti-Nazi attitude, religious activists and homosexuals were also "as parasites of culture" eliminated. Simultaneously, the advanced civilization operation should be exploited for the stabilization of leadership (Herrschaftsstablisierung), ultimately no new "essentially German" ("blood and soil") cultural movement being created, but the bourgeois approaches to the classics forced (under exclusion of the heritage of dead and living Jewish artists). The high representatives of the regime were satisfied to document toward the inside and abroad that the apparently revolutionary Nazi regime stood in the succession of civil and monarchical rulers. More intense became the Nazi commitment in the entertainment industry, especially in the film, in which the "Wien-Film" productions full of platitudinous operetta bliss further succeeded. Entertainment was a psychologically skilfully orchestrated attempt to divert attention from political repression and massive racist persecution. Artists (females and males), for the time being - with a few exceptions of resistance - rapidly in the new polictical system fell into line, partly too because the working and production conditions at the moment due to increased government spending were much better than in the times of high unemployment.
Parade in Vienna - © Christian Brandstätter Publishing company mbH
Parade in Vienna. German armored vehicles in University Street;
in the background right, the Votive Church. 03/15/1938
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Political instrumentalization mostly only in the private sector and occasionally assistance for persecuted colleagues was opposed. The National Socialist state sought immediately after the "Anschluss" also to win over the women. The propaganda especially the mothers put in the center. This pretended respect of motherhood should serve to encourage women for giving birth as much as possible of "racially valuable" children to counteract the purportedly looming descent of the German people by falling fertility rates.
A symbolic poster.
The men are at the front;
the women produce weapons.
Title page of exhibition catalog to exhibition "Degenerate Music".
Women, preferably, should be restricted to the household or social care professions. However, during the war there was an acute shortage of manpower, so that also mothers as workers were forced in the defense industry. The education of girls was clearly targeted at household and motherhood. In the "mandatory year" young girls had to work unpaid in agriculture, in large families or in homes of high-ranking Nazis. In this way, they should practice their future work as a housewife and mother.
Göring at the Heldenplatz - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Göring at the Heldenplatz. 27 March 1938
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
In political terms, however, women were excluded from any participation, the National Socialist Women's Organization at all levels was subordinated male functionaries. Many women nevertheless found it exciting now being courted propagandistically, and complied with the Nazi standards. Women also participated in acts of persecution and thus became co-participants in the National Socialist crimes. The appreciation but went only to aligned women and corresponding to racist standards. Those who opposed the regime were as ruthlessly persecuted as women who built relationships with Jews, prisoners of war or foreign workers. Despite the threat of persecution, many women offered resistance against Nazism. They were detained in prisons or concentration camps; even young mothers were executed. From Eastern Europe as forced laborers in the German Empire brought women were deprived of all their rights; them it was even forbidden to have children, and with them forced abortions were carried out, if they became pregnant just the same.
In the Nazi propaganda the "national" motives of the "Anschluss" stood in the foreground.
March of the Austrian Legion by the gate Heldentor - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
March of the Austrian Legion by the Heldentor.
01 April 1938. Photo: Albert Hilscher
from "Hans Petschar; Connection - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
But the real reason for the invasion of Austria was another one, 1938 the German armaments industry reached the limit of its capacity. The continuation of the rearmament seemed questioned. Because there was a lack of raw materials, labor force, free industrial capacities and - not least - of foreign exchange for imports of goods essential for armament. Not the highway construction or other job-creation measures had since 1933 reduced unemployment in the German Reich, but the preparation of a new war.
Glue action of HJ - © Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
Glue action of the HJ. March 1938
from "Hans Petschar; Anschluss - A Chronology of pictures"
© Christian Brandstätter Verlag Gesellschaft mbH
The "blitzkrieg" concept Germany should enable to incorporate one country after another into its sphere of influence and with the so obtained increase in economic power to eliminate the each next opponent. In the framework of the second four-year plan, which in 1936 was elaborated under the leadership of Hermann Göring, in addition to the development of substitutes (eg for rubber and oil), the securing of the access to non-substitutable goods (such as the iron ore from the Styrian Erzberg) had top priority.
It is therefore no coincidence that Austria and the so-called Sudeten German areas of Czechoslovakia with their rich economic resources yet before 1938 were in the field of view of National Socialism and that those countries then were "annexed" the first. Of interest in Austria next to the Erzberg were the unused water forces, the oil deposits in the March field, heavy industry, mechanical engineering and the gold and currency reserves of the Austrian National Bank, which exceeded those of the German Reichsbank in 1938 by a multiple.
OM PARVAT
Om Parvat (also Adi Kailash, Little Kailash, Jonglingkong Peak,Baba Kailash, chhota Kailash)[3] is a mountain in the Himalayanmountain range, lying in the Darchula district of western Nepal and inPithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India. It is considered sacred by Hindusand its snow deposition pattern resembles the sacred 'OM' (ॐ). Its appearance is distinctly similar to Mount Kailash in Tibet.[4] Near Om Parvat lie Parvati Lake and Jonglingkong Lake. Jonglingkong Lake is sacred, as Mansarovar, to the Hindus. Opposite to this peak is a mountain called Parwati Muhar. The Om Parvat is the fruit of discord between India and Nepal who do not reach agreement about the border line between the two countries. The Om Parvat is currently on the Indo-Nepalese border face "Om/ॐ" in India and the back of the mountain inNepal.
This peak was attempted for the first time by an Indo-British team including Martin Moran, T. Rankin, M. Singh, S. Ward, A. Williams and R. Ausden. The climbers promised not to ascend the final 10 metres (30 ft) out of respect for the peak's holy status. However, they were stopped around 200 m (660 ft) short of the summit by very loose snow and rock conditions.[4]
The first ascent of Adi Kailash came on October 8, 2004. The team comprised Tim Woodward, Jack Pearse, Andy Perkins (UK); Jason Hubert, Martin Welch, Diarmid Hearns, Amanda George (Scotland); and Paul Zuchowski (USA). They did not ascend the final few metres, again out of respect for the sacred nature of the summit.
Om Parvat can be viewed en route to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra from the last camp below Lipu Lekh pass at Nabhidhang. Many trekkers to Adi Kailash often make a diversion to view Om Parvat. Om Parvat and Adi Kailash or Baba Kailash are not one and the same. Om Parvat is located near Nabhi Dhang (Nepal),The Chhota Kailash is located near Sinla pass, Near Brahma Parvat.
The best view of Om Parvat which "Om" drawn by the snow is the view from the district of Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand, India), which faces the mountain and hence to the "Om". By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
OM
Auṃ or Oṃ, Sanskrit: ॐ) is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Indian religions. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.
In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols (pratima). It refers to Atman (soul, self within) andBrahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.
Vedic literature
The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Vedas and different early Upanishads.[19] The meanings include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, theBrahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge".
Vedas
The chapters in Vedas, and numerous hymns, chants and benedictions therein use the syllable Om. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda, for example, begins with Om. The mantra is extracted from the 10th verse of Hymn 62 in Book III of the Rig Veda.These recitations continue to be in use, and major incantations and ceremonial functions begin and end with Om.
ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: |
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् |
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि |
धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ||
Om. Earth, atmosphere, heaven.
Let us think on that desirable splendour
of Savitr, the Inspirer. May he stimulate
us to insightful thoughts.
Om is a common symbol found in the ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in the first line of Rig veda (top), as well as a icon in temples and spiritual retreats.
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads of Hinduism. It opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on Om". It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is the udgitha (song, Om).
Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce song. The highest song is Om, asserts section 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, of reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.
The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons). Max Muller states that this struggle between gods and demons is considered allegorical by ancient Indian scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively. The legend in section 1.2 of Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons". The syllable Om is thus implied as that which inspires the good inclinations within each person.
Chandogya Upanishad's exposition of syllable Om in its opening chapter combines etymological speculations, symbolism, metric structure and philosophical themes. In the second chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, the meaning and significance of Om evolves into a philosophical discourse, such as in section 2.10 where Om is linked to the Highest Self, and section 2.23 where the text asserts Om is the essence of three forms of knowledge, Om is Brahman and "Om is all this [observed world]".
Katha Upanishad
The Katha Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meetsYama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge,Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation). In section 1.2, Katha Upanishad characterizes Knowledge/Wisdom as the pursuit of good, and Ignorance/Delusion as the pursuit of pleasant, that the essence of Veda is make man liberated and free, look past what has happened and what has not happened, free from the past and the future, beyond good and evil, and one word for this essence is the word Om.
The word which all the Vedas proclaim,
That which is expressed in every Tapas (penance, austerity, meditation),
That for which they live the life of a Brahmacharin,
Understand that word in its essence: Om! that is the word.
Yes, this syllable is Brahman,
This syllable is the highest.
He who knows that syllable,
Whatever he desires, is his.
— Katha Upanishad,
Maitri Upanishad
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad in sixth Prapathakas (lesson) discusses the meaning and significance of Om. The text asserts that Om represents Brahman-Atman. The three roots of the syllable, states the Maitri Upanishad, are A + U + M. The sound is the body of Soul, and it repeatedly manifests in three: as gender-endowed body - feminine, masculine, neuter; as light-endowed body - Agni, Vayu and Aditya; as deity-endowed body - Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu; as mouth-endowed body - Garhapatya, Dakshinagni and Ahavaniya; as knowledge-endowed body - Rig, Saman and Yajur; as world-endowed body - Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; as time-endowed body - Past, Present and Future; as heat-endowed body - Breath, Fire and Sun; as growth-endowed body - Food, Water and Moon; as thought-endowed body - intellect, mind and pysche. Brahman exists in two forms - the material form, and the immaterial formless. The material form is changing, unreal. The immaterial formless isn't changing, real. The immortal formless is truth, the truth is the Brahman, the Brahman is the light, the light is the Sun which is the syllable Om as the Self.
The world is Om, its light is Sun, and the Sun is also the light of the syllable Om, asserts the Upanishad. Meditating on Om, is acknowledging and meditating on the Brahman-Atman (Soul, Self).
Mundaka Upanishad
The Mundaka Upanishad in the second Mundakam (part), suggests the means to knowing the Self and the Brahman to be meditation, self-reflection and introspection, that can be aided by the symbol Om.
That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,
on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants –
That is the indestructible Brahman. It is life, it is speech, it is mind. That is the real. It is immortal.
It is a mark to be penetrated. Penetrate It, my friend.
Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation,
Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,
Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.
Om is the bow, the arrow is the Soul, Brahman the mark,
By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated,
One should come to be in It,
as the arrow becomes one with the mark.
— Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.2 - 2.2.4
Adi Shankara, in his review of the Mundaka Upanishad, states Om as a symbolism for Atman (soul, self).
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring, "Om!, this syllable is this whole world". Thereafter it presents various explanations and theories on what it means and signifies. This discussion is built on a structure of "four fourths" or "fourfold", derived from A + U + M + "silence" (or without an element).
Aum as all states of time
In verse 1, the Upanishad states that time is threefold: the past, the present and the future, that these three are "Aum". The four fourth of time is that which transcends time, that too is "Aum" expressed.
Aum as all states of Atman
In verse 2, states the Upanishad, everything is Brahman, but Brahman is Atman (the Soul, Self), and that the Atman is fourfold. Johnston summarizes these four states of Self, respectively, as seeking the physical, seeking inner thought, seeking the causes and spiritual consciousness, and the fourth state is realizing oneness with the Self, the Eternal.
Aum as all states of consciousness
In verses 3 to 6, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates four states of consciousness: wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma (being one with Self, the oneness of Self). These four are A + U + M + "without an element" respectively.
Aum as all of knowledge
In verses 9 to 12, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates fourfold etymological roots of the syllable "Aum". It states that the first element of "Aum" is A, which is from Apti (obtaining, reaching) or from Adimatva (being first). The second element is U, which is from Utkarsa (exaltation) or from Ubhayatva(intermediateness). The third element is M, from Miti (erecting, constructing) or from Mi Minati, or apīti (annihilation). The fourth is without an element, without development, beyond the expanse of universe. In this way, states the Upanishad, the syllable Om is indeed the Atman (the self).
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.14 to 1.16, suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent rubbing of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of Upanishads. The text asserts that Om is a tool of meditation empowering one to know the God within oneself, to realize one's Atman (Soul, Self).
Epics
The Bhagavad Gita, in the Epic Mahabharata, mentions the meaning and significance of Om in several verses. For example, Fowler notes that verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad Gita synthesizes the competing dualistic and monist streams of thought in Hinduism, by using "Om which is the symbol for the indescribable, impersonal Brahman".
I am the Father of this world, Mother, Ordainer, Grandfather, the Thing to be known, the Purifier, the syllable Om, Rik, Saman and also Yajus.
— Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita 9.17,
The significance of the sacred syllable in the Hindu traditions, is similarly highlighted in various of its verses, such as verse 17.24 where the importance of Omduring prayers, charity and meditative practices is explained as follows,
Therefore, uttering Om, the acts of yajna (fire ritual), dāna (charity) and tapas (austerity) as enjoined in the scriptures, are always begun by those who study the Brahman.
— Bhagavad Gita
Yoga Sutra
The aphoristic verse 1.27 of Pantanjali's Yogasutra links Om to Yoga practice, as follows,
तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥२७॥
His word is Om.
— Yogasutra 1.27,
Johnston states this verse highlights the importance of Om in the meditative practice of Yoga, where it symbolizes three worlds in the Soul; the three times – past, present and future eternity, the three divine powers – creation, preservation and transformation in one Being; and three essences in one Spirit – immortality, omniscience and joy. It is, asserts Johnston, a symbol for the perfected Spiritual Man (his emphasis). BY KAILASH MANSAROVAR FOUNDATION SWAMI BIKASH GIRI www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
Darling Harbor, Sydney. The bright yellow inflatable is five storeys high and five storeys wide and has been shown cities including Osaka, Auckland and Sao Paulo since 2007. Talking about the piece Hofman said: 'it doesn't discriminate and has no political connotation. It relieves everyday tensions, as well as defining them. its purpose is to do no more than amaze.'
Sometime around 1000 BC this woman was deposited face down (prone) into her grave with her wrists tied. The connotations of having her wrists tied does not necessarily infer that she suffered a violent death. It may have simply been to make the corpse easier to manoeuvre.
To find out more about the excavation site at Cliffs End Farm, Ramsgate, visit www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/kent/ramsgate/cliffs_end/
To wear a lip plate, someone must pierce his or her lip, and slowly stretch the hole. Classically, the piercing has been accomplished by cutting into the lip and inserting a small peg, and allowing the piercing to fully heal before installing a slightly larger peg. Stretching a lip to accommodate a lip plate can take time, as the goal is to take advantage of natural tissue elasticity to create a very large hole in the lip which can be filled with a plate made from clay, wood, or metal. Some lip plates take the form of hollow rings, depending on the culture.
The size of a lip plate can vary considerably. Some are relatively small, while others can approach the size of a dinner plate. Although a number of theories about the different sizes worn have been posited, the most likely explanation has to do with the individual elasticity of the wearer. Some people are capable of stretching their lips much more than others, and all people are forced to stop stretching at a certain point.
Lip plates can be worn in the upper, lower, or both lips. Both men and women have historically worn lip plates, with many people crafting their own. African women in the Mursi tribe, a tribe famous for its lip plates, decorate their lip plates, turning them into complex works of art which are meant to reflect the personality of the owner. The Mursi are in fact so famous for their lip stretching that some people in the West refer to a lip plate as a Mursi.
Among tribal peoples, the lip plate is designed as a personal ornamentation, and sometimes the lip plate also has religious or social connotations. For example, Suri women historically started stretching for a lip plate at the time of marriage. In the Northern Hemisphere, people usually wear lip plates because they find them aesthetically appealing, or because they want to identify with tribal peoples. Some people find this practice distasteful, either because of personal aesthetics or because they dislike cultural appropriation.
In 1980, the first MRI scanner became commercially available: the QED 80 by FONAR.
This is a LEGO model of that scanner (minifig scale).
The company FONAR was founded in 1978 by Raymond Damadian, the inventor of an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine.
FONAR is an alternating acronym for "field focused nuclear magnetic resonance". This expression described the fact that spatial resolution was not yet available and the patient had to be moved through the sweet spot to acquire each image incrementally.
Initially the method was called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, but the nuclear part was soon to be dropped because of its negative connotation.
The QED 80 was a permanent magnet with a field strength of 0.05 Tesla (500 Gauss). It was around 18 ft wide and 6 ft in height.
It looked quite like a caravan rather than a medical modality!
1980, the first system was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, in a private practice (Ronald J. Ross, MD); clinical trials started at the beginning of 1981.
- Cover of a brochure of the system
- Actual photograph of the system on display at a trade show
The minifigs shown are Raymond Damadian (at the console), Larry Minkoff and Michael Goldsmith (the latter one is the bearded fellow). Goldsmith and Minkoff worked alongside Damadian in developing the MRI system. In fact the first human body MRI image shows a cross section of Larry Minkoff's thorax.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpjSUhHgBOI
democracystreet.blogspot.com/2010/02/rain.ht
Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands 1849 - 1855
The Cephalonian Rebellion of 1849 and Ward’s reaction described on page 136 of
'The "Rizospastai" (Radical-Unionists): Politics and nationalism in the British Protectorate of the lonian Islands, 1815-1864' by Eleni Calligas, May 1994 submitted for the degree of Ph.D. London School of Economics and Political Science
With considerably greater violence than in the previous year, armed peasants from the southern part of the island had attacked a police detachment on 27 August, killing one constable and the next day moved against some of the Scala signori, setting fire to a house and killing its owner and four of his servants…
The anarchic progress of the rebellion was chartered with exceptional ferocity against the signori as the peasants set out to finish what they had begun but not accomplished the previous year…
Leading the band were Teodoro Viacco, Anastaslo Bomboti, a thirty year old from Faraclata who kept a butcher's stall in Argostoli, and, carrying a cross and the Greek flag, Nodaro the Papa-Listis [Brigand Priest]. The strong emotive connotations of a Cephalonian Father Tuck were lost on the British who translated the popular nick-name as ‘Assassin Priest’.
Given his contextual concepts, it is hardly surprising that Ward misinterpreted many aspects of the 1849 rebellion but the ferocity of his reaction was censured by liberal public opinion abroad and eventually by his own government.
The Cephalonian uprising effectively ended on 5 September, when a number of insurgents were caught and the rest split up and tried to escape. But Ward, although well aware of the enormous consequences of the naval blockade (he had ordered around Cephalonia) and the accumulating expense of martial law, was determined that those identified as the leaders of the uprising would be caught and punished before Cephalonia was returned to its civil authorities. So it was not until the end of October that martial law and the blockade were lifted. In the interim British troops had caused havoc in the countryside while supposedly looking for the culprits and British officers had administered justice, and punishment, ‘summarily’ at courts martial set up all over the island. The death penalty, although exceedingly rare in the Ionian Islands, had been meted out to forty-four people and administered to twenty-one, for offences that would not have claimed life in a civil court despite the Septinsula's severe penal code
(Calligas, p.137)
Later Gladstone, when he turned his attention to the Ionian Protectorate in 1859 observed that Ward’s reaction was disproportionately severe, that the military judges were totally unfamiliar with the language and customs of the population that flogging, which was extensivel y enforced, was unknown as a punishment in the Septinsula and abhorred as ‘brutal and degrading to the last degree’ and had moreover been administered without "even a passable approximation of justice", and that military rule had been prolonged without adequate justification. (Calligas, p.187)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpjSUhHgBOI
The image is by William Henry Mote, after James Holmes stipple engraving, published 1842. Sir Henry George Ward GCMG (1797–1860) was an English diplomat and politician. The son of writer Robert Plumer Ward and Catherine Julia Maling he entered the diplomatic service in 1816. He was charge d'affaires in Mexico from 1825 to 1827 and published two books about his travels there (illustrated by his wife Emily Elizabeth Swinburne). In 1832, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for St Albans, sitting for that seat until 1837, and then for Sheffield from 1837 to 1849.[1] He was First Secretary of the Admiralty from 1846 to 1849, Lord High Commissioner to the Ionian Islands from 1849 to 1855, and on 11 May 1855 he became governor of Ceylon. He succeeded Sir Charles Trevelyan as Governor of Madras in June, 1860 but served in that capacity only for a few weeks until his death from cholera on 30 June 1860. He is buried in St. Mary's Church, Madras.
Nandi is the name for the bull which serves as the mount (Sanskrit: Vahana) of the god Shiva and as the gatekeeper of Shiva and Parvati. In Hindu Religion, he is the chief guru of eighteen masters (18 Siddhar ) including Patanjali and Thirumular. Temples venerating Shiva display stone images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. There are also a number of temples dedicated solely to Nandi.
The application of the name Nandi to the bull (Sanskrit: vṛṣabha) is in fact a development of recent centuries, as Gouriswar Bhattacharya has documented in an illustrated article entitled "Nandin and Vṛṣabha". The name Nandi was earlier widely used instead for an anthropomorphic deity who was one of Shiva’s two door-keepers, the other being Mahākāla. The doorways of pre-tenth-century North Indian temples are frequently flanked by images of Mahākāla and Nandi, and it is in this role of Shiva’s watchman that Nandi figures in Kālidāsa’s poem the Kumārasambhava.
ETYMOLOGY
The word “Nandi” is derived from the ancient Indian Language of Sanskrit. The Sanskrit word 'Nandi' in English translates as Happy, Joyous or Happy Person.
BIRTH OF NANDI
There was a sage named Shilada who underwent severe penance to have a boon — a child with immortality. Lord Indra pleased of the austerities of Shilada appeared in front of him to offer a boon. After hearing the request of Shilada and his desire to have an immortal child, Lord Indra suggested he pray to Lord Shiva: nobody else could provide such a boon. Sage Shilada continued his penance for 1,000 years. He was totally immovable for many years, so the termites settled on his body and slowly started to build up their nest. Finally, his whole body was covered up by them. The insects started to eat his flesh and imbibed his blood. At last, only bones remained.
Lord Shiva appeared in front of him and provided the boon for the child. Moreover, Lord Shiva provided Sage Shilada his old form with a single touch. Sage Shilada performed Yagna and a child appeared from the sacrificial fire. His body was clad in armour made out of diamonds. The celestial dancers and singers performed on this auspicious occasion and the deities showered flowers on the child. The boy was named ’Nandi’ — who brings joy. Shilada brought the child home. Immediately the boy lost his divine appearance to an ordinary child. The child completely forgot all about his birth. Sage Shilada was worried about the sudden change. He devoted his time for Nandi's upbringing his education etc. By the age of seven, the boy was well versed in Veda and all sacred texts.
One day the deities Mitra and Varuna visited Sage Shilada. At the first sight of the boy, they commented: Though the boy had all auspicious signs, he would have a very short life. He would not live after the age of eight. Sage Shilada was mortified at this remark. Nandi could not bear his father's sorrow; he began to pray to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared before him and blessed him. Lord Shiva adorned the boy with a necklace and made him immortal. Lord Shiva blessed the child and declared that he would be worshiped along with Him and become his vahana (vehicle). Immediately the boy got all the divine powers and transformed into half bull-half human. He and Shilada went to Lord Shiva's abode to live.
IN HINDUISM
Bulls appear on the Indus Valley seals, including the 'Pasupati Seal', which depicts a seated figure and, according to some scholars, is similar to Shiva. However, most scholars agree that the horned bull on the Indus Valley seals is not identical to Nandi.
DESCRIPTIONS ON NANDI IN HINDU RELIGIOUS TEXTS INCLUDE:
- Some Puranas describe Nandi or Nandikeshvara as bull face with a human body that resembles that of Shiva in proportion and aspect, although with four hands — two hands holding the Parasu (the axe) and Mruga (the antelope) and the other two hands joined together in the Anjali (obeisance). Brahma Vaivarta Purana mentions Krishna himself to have taken the form of a bull as no one else in the Universe can bear Shiva.
- Vehicle of Shiva: The bull Nandi is Shiva's primary vehicle and is the principal gana (follower) of Shiva.
- Gate keeper of Shiva's abode: The close association of Shiva and Nandi explains the presence of a statue of Nandi at the gate of many temples dedicated to Shiva. It also explains why the word "nandi" in the Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages is used as a metaphor for a person blocking the way.[citation needed] In Sanskrit, a bull is called vrisha, which has another connotation — that of righteousness or Dharma. It is important to seek the blessings of Nandi before proceeding to worship Lord Shiva.
- Chief in Shiva's army: Some Puranas mention that Nandi lead the Shiva Ganas, Shiva's attendants.
- A Guru of Saivism: In addition to being his mount, Nandi is Shiva's foremost disciple. In the Natha/Siddhar tradition, Nandi is one of the primal gurus. He was the guru to Siddhar Thirumulanathar, Patanjalinathar and others.
- From the yogic perspective, Nandi/Nandhi/Nandikeshvara is the mind dedicated to Lord Siva, the Absolute. In other words, to understand and absorb Light, the 'experience and the wisdom' is Nandi which is the Guru within.
- Spiritually, Nandi represents an individual jiva (soul) and the message that the jiva should always be focused on the Atman (Paramatman).
LEGENDS
According to some puranas, Nandi was born to sage Shilada who got him by the grace of Shiva.
It was Nandi who cursed Ravana (the demon King of Lanka) that his kingdom would be burnt by a monkey (Vanara). And later Hanuman burnt Lanka when he went in search of Sita, who was kept prisoner by Ravana in Ashok Vatika.
In one puranic story, it is stated that once Siva and Parvathi were playing a game of dice. For any game there has to be an umpire, who has to declare who is the winner. Siva and Parvathi agreed to have Nandi (the divine bull) as the umpire. Nandi is a favorite of Siva, as he is Siva's vehicle. Although Siva lost the game, Nandi declared him the winner. It is stated that Parvathi was indignant over Nandi's partiality for Siva and cursed him that he should die from an incurable disease. Thereupon Nandi fell at the feet of Parvathi and pleaded for forgiveness. "Mother forgive me. Should I not show at least this amount of gratitude to one who is my master? Is it not humiliating for me to declare that my master has lost the game? To uphold his honor I no doubt uttered a lie. But am I to be punished with such severity for so small an offence?" Nandi prayed for forgiveness in this manner. Parvathi forgave Nandi and taught him the means to atone for his lapse. She told him. "The Chaturdasi day in the month of Bhadrapada is the day when my son's birthday is celebrated. On that day you have to offer to my son what pleases you most (green grass)". This means that one atones for one's sins when one offers to the Lord what is most pleasing and enjoyable to him. For Nandi the most enjoyable and relishing food is green grass. As directed by Parvathi Nandi worshipped Ganapathi by offering green grass. Nandi was then relieved of his dreaded disease. His health improved and by the grace of Parvathi he was redeemed.
When the positive forces, the devas, and the negative forces, the asuras, joined together on a rare occasion to churn the ocean with a mountain to obtain the nectar of immortality they utilized Vasuki, the serpent, as the rope. The devas pulled from one end and the asuras from the other. Lots of precious herbs and gems were produced during the Churning and one of them was a poison (halāhala) which became human karma. This "poison" was so dangerous that none of the devas or asuras wanted to go near it. It was extremely sticky and coming into contact with this poison, i.e., human karma, would drag the divinity down to the realms of human suffering and ego. As everyone else ran away, Lord Siva, followed by Nandi, came forward to help as he was the only one who could counteract this deadly poison. Siva took the poison into his hand and drank it, the descent of the poison was in turn stopped at His throat, by His divine consort. Siva is therefore also known as Nīlakaṇṭha (the blue-throated one) and Viṣakaṇṭha (the poison-throated one). Nandi saw some of the poison spill out of Siva's mouth and immediately drank if off the ground. The devas and asuras watching were shocked and wondered aloud what would happen to Nandi. Lord Siva calmed their fears saying, "Nandi has surrendered into me so completely that he has all my powers and my protection".
LARGEST NANDIS IN INDIA
1. Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh
2. Brahadishwara Temple, Tamil Nadu
4. Bull Temple, Bangalore, Karnataka
5. Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu
6. Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka
7. Shanthaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka
8. Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur, Kerala
9. Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Karnataka
10. Nandi Temple, Western Group of Temples, Khajuraho,
Madhya Pradesh
11. Kedareshvara Temple at Balligavi (Karnataka)
12. Doddabasaveshvara temple, Kurugodu Bellary dist
MISCELLANEOUS
The white color of the bull symbolizes purity and justice.
Women visit images of Nandi, bringing floral offerings, and touch the stone. Their prayers are for fertility. Additionally, it is also considered a custom among some to whisper the fact of their visit, to that shrine, while requesting the faithful attendant to inform his master of the same.
WIKIPEDIA
Great looking AN2 parked at the Coventry airshow June 2003. "Troika" has bad connotations in Ireland !
Samsung digital camera..in the middle ages, this unusally shaped flower was connected with the act of making love. its various local names-such as `sweethearts`, `silly lovers` and `adam and eve` - often had sexual connotation. in the 16th century it was also known as cuckoo pintle, which was later abbreviated to cuckoo pint.
`cuckoo` probably referred to the supposedly lustful male cuckoo, although some authorities think it came from `cuckold`- a man whose wife had been unfaithful to him.