Whirling visions of self and other and Self . . .

Whirling visions of self and other and Self (and Other ?) in juxtaposed and manifold madness of a nata (dance) that is both in vision and manifest in life lived:  either consideration of revelation of reincarnations possible, probable or actual, proceeding before me as a collage of faces, places and bodies, voices and choices, memories mixed with wonderings and wanderings and seems sometimes elses . . . thought, and what not.

This is (or at least is best) seen as lila, perceived as play divine, perfected when one might see oneness, yoga seen as kleem, relationships and relationship and fractals like dancers viewed from above, swirling and weaving each of us, in concert and consort with earth and sky and fire and air, solar and planetary bodies and the earth's features, from mountains to oceans and each other.  We both remember and forget, at any given moment, this unity, this beatific dance, romance, transformation through cycles of matter and mind, expand and contract:  big bang boom, ya' know?  Siva-Sakti, as is often bespoken, that through endless and beatiful cycles through dark and light, always to return, in a proper lila, to a point where we all remember in such a way to cycle us back to the purity we truly are at our core!!!!! 

धर्मात्मन् ब्रह्मन् सनातन धर्म भक्ति

dharmAtman, brahman, sanAtana dharma, bhakti; Self particular, Self Universal, eternal teachings/justice, devotion/love.

Loving Your Self

Then Yajnavalkya said: "Verily, not for the sake of the husband, my dear, is the husband loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self which, in its true nature, is one with the Supreme Self.
"Verily, not for the sake of the wife, my dear, is the wife loved, but she is loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, not for the sake of the sons, my dear, are the sons loved, hut they are loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, not for the sake of wealth, my dear, is wealth loved, but it is loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, not for the sake of the brahmin, my dear, is the brahmin loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, not for the sake of the kshatriya, my dear, is the kshatriya loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, not for the sake of the worlds, my dear, are the worlds loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, not for the sake of the gods, my dear, are the gods loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, not for the sake of the beings, my dear, are the beings loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, not for the sake of the All, my dear, is the All loved, but it is loved for the sake of the self.
"Verily, my dear Maitreyi, it is the Self that should be realized—should be heard of, reflected on, and meditated upon. By the realization of the Self, my dear—through hearing, reflection, and meditation—all this is known."  (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Part II, 4:4)

Not selfishness, exactly. Atman is not "ego." Love, but not love comes out of fear nor lack nor jealousy--rather, a love comes from a recognition of the nature of one's Self. I just explained it to a friend this way: love of Self is not selfishness, it is a recognition that that "other" you encounter is not not you (dble. negative intended, in case you were wondering). Understanding reincarnation, i.e., taking rebirth through a mama's sweet yoni, one can see how in some guise the possibility you may have been or perhaps shall be, that other.

So Buddha comes up to Brahma in a heaven realm, and notices that Brahma is surrounded by others sitting and listening as Brahma is teaching. So like, Buddha say, "Yo Brahma!! W's up? Why you still teaching if this be heaven?!"

At that moment, Buddha is taken in a reverie, and nigh faints. Brahma looks up from his thought, and ask the Buddha, "Why are you crying?" To which Buddha responds, "I saw all the lives I have lived, as every other, and I saw much suffering."

Point being, compassion and Self-interest are not disparate. To recognize others' suffering, by some degree of seperation or other, as one's own suffering (give or take however many cycles of lives lived) is one way to recognize Atman, the Eternal Self that is the manifestation of brahman (the Universal Divine Being, not to be mistaken with Lord Brahma, Creator aspect of the Trimurti) that is "in the world."  Oh, and another point be:  the journey of becoming don't end just 'cuz you get to heaven,  'cuz there's ages worth of dharma to be and do.

420: The Real History . . .

It's April 20

Two days before Earth Day



Eleven days till May Day



One day before the Ani Difranco show here at 7200 ft. high in the sky.
And a date celebrated by many a hippie, head, stoner, and cancer patient across this land and overseas . . .



This year as opposed to last when a slightly different version of this post was posted, I have sweet tasty nuggets to celebrate (for the moment), but still am given pause to think of the origins of this unique subcultural celebration, the only widely recognized day devoted to the consumption of a plant. There's no big day where people gather worldwide to celebrate tobacco, nor even roses, nor kumquats.



One rumor (promoted by High Times) is that some dudes in California decided to meet every day after school at 4:20 to puff. Various other proposals have been made as to the origins of this now internationally recognized code for smoking herb.

I believe, however, that the truth of this symbolic referent originated (as have so many things in this world) in India, on the Hippie Trail of days of somewhat yore (some sections not so safe these days). In India and Pakistan, the term "420" has long been synonomous with "corruption" or "graft," as section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, established in 1860, covers this area of offense.



The exceedingly popular 1950's Indian film "Shri 420" ("Mr. 420") is about a fella falsely thought to be a con-man. In my assessment, the American use of "420" as slang for smoking herb likely derived from hippies travelling the Hippie Trail through Asia, who likely picked up on the term from the Indian/Pakistany usage, and decided smoking herb to be symbolic of burnin' "the Man," else otherwise symbolically burning the corruptions they viewed at home in America and abroad, and perhaps within themselves.

Regardless of the precise mode by which "420" was transmitted from India to America, and specifically pot smokin' culture, I am rather well convinced that India's usage of the term is whence derives the American usage.



Happy 420, regardless!!

Reading the Map Like Constellations: The Trishul I Live Amidst . . .

What is the meaning of the trishul, and the figure holding said made of mountains trishul ("trident" is the familiar English term for said ancient weapon of God), outlined on these maps?

You can click on an image for a closer view.

One day as I was walking through downtown Laramie, Wyoming gazing at the mountains to the east, south and west, and then considered the Platte River Valley to the west of the Laramie Valley as also surrounded by mountains on three sides, I wondered how succinctly these mountains would appear as a trishul, or at least a nice "W" for Wyoming, perhaps.  I had had a sense that the three mountain ranges that extend from Colorado into southeast Wyoming formed something of a trishul for some time, though I had no idea how accurate a presentation of this symbol of the presence of Mahadeva, Siva, Hara, Shankara, Great God, Mahakala ("Big Time") was formed millions and millions of years ago by processes geologic and Divine. I did not imagine that this trishul even has a danda (staff), which is the Front Range of Colorado and the string of mountain ranges extending down to about Santa Fe, New Mexico.



The satellite photos above shows rather clearly that I was not mistaken about the trishul, sign of the presence of Siva, formed by the Laramie, Snowy, and Sierra Madre Ranges, with the Front Range as the danda. I did not conceive of the figure holding this auspicious weapon until I looked at the trishul via satellite photos.  A Trishul is "the Presence of Shiva.  "Shambala" means "the abiding place of Shiva." The Buddhist Shambala Center is located on the easternmost blade of the Rocky Mountain Trishul...Hindus believe Shambala to be the place where Kalki will come as the return of Vishnu to planet Earth, perhaps somewhere in Southeast Wyoming or North Central Colorado?

Mahakala is Shiva in His most terrible form, described as massive and covered in ash,a as rising from or out of the earth and destroying with fire and smoke and ash.

"According to Shaktisamgama Tantra, the spouse of Mahakali is extremely frightening. Mahakala has four arms, three eyes and is of the brilliance of 10 million black fires of dissolution,"
(https://www.revolvy.com/page/Mahakala)

Mahakala also has a two-armed form, and is covered in ash.
UPDATE 2/24/20
...to further correlate to my interpretation of the Grand lotus-seated earth-made pictograph, that to my view appears to be cloaked, from the Buddhist tradition:

The two-armed "Black-Cloaked Mahakala" (Wylie: mgon po ber nag chen) is a protector of the Karma Kagyu school clad in the cloak of a māntrika "warlock".

 If you would notice where the head and third-eye of the lotus-seated figure would be if said figure stood:  YELLOWSTONE !!!  The earthen Murti writ as the better part of the Rocky Mountains is Maha Kala, "Big Time" !!!  When Maha Kala stands up (every 600,000 years or so), Yellowstone blows !!

 If this is not proof enough of the truth of the Divine, writ large through the landscape and manifest long before humans were supposed to exist on this planet and before humans were supposed to be making up myths about Gods with Divine Weapons, then I s'pose death and a visit with Yama may be what's required for the skeptics amongst, or some such...

Just noticed that the Sandia Mountains make for an interesting and obvious earthen pictogram, a person with hands raised and seemingly offering adoration to the Presence of Shiva as the adri trishul that starts just above the figure as the Sangre de Cristo mountains...

Namaste !!

http://western-hindu.org/2009/10/14/shaivite-hindu-symbols-the-trishula/

Feminine Divine in the Oldest of Books

HYMN CXXV. Vāk.
1. I TRAVEL with the Rudras and the Vasus, with the Ādityas and All-Gods I wander.
I hold aloft both Varuṇa and Mitra, Indra and Agni, and the Pair of Aśvins.
2 I cherish and sustain high-swelling Soma, and Tvaṣṭar I support, Pūṣan, and Bhaga.
I load with wealth the zealous sacrificer who pours the juice and offers his oblation
3 I am the Queen, the gatherer-up of treasures, most thoughtful, first of those who merit worship.
Thus Gods have stablished me in many places with many homes to enter and abide in.
4 Through me alone all eat the food that feeds them,—each man who sees, brewhes, hears the word outspoken
They know it not, but yet they dwell beside me. Hear, one and all, the truth as I declare it.
5 1, verily, myself announce and utter the word that Gods and men alike shall welcome.
I make the man I love exceeding mighty, make him a sage, a Ṛiṣi, and a Brahman.
6 I bend the bow for Rudra that his arrow may strike and slay the hater of devotion.
I rouse and order battle for the people, and I have penetrated Earth and Heaven.
7 On the world's summit I bring forth the Father: my home is in the waters, in the ocean.
Thence I extend o’er all existing creatures, and touch even yonder heaven with my forehead.
8 I breathe a strong breath like the wind and tempest, the while I hold together all existence. Beyond this wide earth and beyond the heavens I have become so mighty in my grandeur.

Pasupati and Cernunos, And the Truth of Our Religious Roots, East and West

Already posted some of these. Pasupati of Indus Valley fame, Shiva as Protector of Animals and Souls, and Cernunos of the ancient European tradition. Undeniable connections, primal Divine Human Animal Spiritual in concert, and as Consort to the Mother Goddess, Maiden and Crone too.

Pasupati, Protector of Souls and Animals


Cernunos, European "Horned God"


One mask from Indus Valley Civilization, one from ancient Europe . . .