spiritualite

L'âme profonde (Bhagavad-Gita)

16 Mars 2025 , Rédigé par Sudarshan Publié dans #Asie, #Bharat, #Bhagavad-Gita, #Inde, #Hindouisme, #Religion, #Spiritualité

C'est au terme de naissances sans nombre,

Qu'un être qui connaît trouve refuge en moi.

Très difficile à rencontrer, l'âme profonde

Qui sait que je suis toute chose.

Bhagavad-Gita, VII, 18-19

Annwn/Livresdefemmes: Signification du "Vendredi"

15 Mars 2025 , Rédigé par Le Fil d'Ariane Publié dans #Annwn, #Vendredi, #Histoire, #Religion, #Spiritualité

Annwn

12 mars 2025:

Souvenons-nous que, suivant l’ancienne Loi qui régnait aussi bien chez les Celtes que chez les Israélites, le mot « AGAPE » désignait les réunions données le 7ème jour. Ce 7ème jour était un temps de repos ; c’était un jour CONSACRÉ, c’est-à-dire donné aux unions.

Cette consécration du 7ème jour laissé aux divertissements, aux agapes et au sacrifice eucharistique, a joué un grand rôle dans le premier culte, puisqu’elle a été imitée et parodiée par toutes les religions.

A propos des festins du vendredi et des noces qui étaient les agapes des Mystères, dans son ouvrage, « La République des Champs Elysées », Charles Joseph de Grave montre comment cette fête religieuse entra dans les mœurs : « Après avoir consacré les six premiers jours à des travaux et des devoirs, les législateurs ont proclamé le septième jour « libre ». « Vrydag », nom du vendredi, signifie « libre jour » (en allemand « Freytag », en anglais « Friday »). Le 7e jour était destiné à la célébration des noces. Sous ce rapport, l’amour présidait aussi à ce jour. C’est de là que le mot Vry a donné naissance au verbe Vryen (en Néerlandais) qui, dans l’usage du peuple moderne, signifie « faire l’amour ». Et on donne aussi le nom de « frayer », Vryen, à « l’amour des poissons ».

Le vendredi s’exprime en latin par le mot « dies Veneris », « jour de Vénus », « jour de la Femme » car « Vénus » à la signification de Femme. Alors, sans doute, Femme Divine. Notons à propos de « dies Veneris », devenu « vendre-di », que « Port-Vendres », cette ville située au pied des Pyrénées orientales, s’appelait autrefois « Portus Veneris » : le port de Vénus.
On a jeté tant de défaveur sur le vendredi, qu’il en est résulté un préjugé singulier contre ce jour, préjugé qui se soutient encore par l’effet d’une tradition sourde, quoiqu’on en ait perdu la raison. Dans l’opinion vulgaire, le vendredi est devenu un jour funeste et de mauvais augure. Et le vendredi, « jour de Vénus », a été remplacé par le dimanche, « jour du Seigneur ». Toujours la substitution des sexes accompagnée du renversement des idées. L’ancienne Loi donnait un jour sur sept à l’union ; la loi masculine fera du dimanche un jour d’abstinence et donnera à la licence masculine six jours sur sept.

Les relations sexuelles n’ayant plus été réglementées par LA RELIGION, la licence masculine, dès lors, entraîna un accroissement anarchique de la population mondiale. Ainsi, en cette fin de Cycle, l’explosion démographique planétaire inédite du XXème siècle a vu la population mondiale multipliée par 2,4, et passée de 2.5 milliards d’habitants en 1950, à 6 milliards en 1999 ; elle est de plus de 8 milliards en 2023.

Robert McNamara, ancien secrétaire d’État à la Défense des États-Unis d’Amérique (celui qui ordonna le bombardement massif du Vietnam) et ancien président de la Banque Mondiale (qui imposa aux pays dits « en voie de développement » l’utilisation de moyens contraceptifs comme condition sine qua non pour obtenir des aides financières), membre également du « Council on Foreign Relations » (CFR), de la Commission « Trilatérale », du « groupe Bilderberg » et du « Lucis Trust », puissante association reconnue par l’ONU, et dont dépendent les mouvements pseudo spiritualistes du « New Age », déclarera : « On doit prendre des mesures draconiennes de réduction démographique contre la volonté des populations… Pour réduire la population terrestre il faut augmenter le nombre de décès et diminuer le nombre de naissances… Cela aura lieu, soit par le biais de mesures humaines soit par un coup d’arrêt malthusien ».

Ainsi se développera, s’intensifiera et se banalisera l’usage des contraceptifs, des avortements, de la stérilisation et peut-être, bientôt, de l’euthanasie. Et pourquoi ne pas, dans le même temps, augmenter la souffrance des gens et les pousser au désespoir et au suicide, encourager la sodomie, défendre la pédophilie, provoquer des famines, des épidémies, voire même des pandémies fictives qui justifieraient un empoisonnement médical « scientifiquement correct », ou bien encore, comme tous les grands « bouchers » de l’histoire, déclencher des guerres ici où là, des conflits mondiaux… nucléaires… apocalyptiques ?

Aussi, pour ce genre d’individu, la société c’est le malheur, c’est la misère, le néant, la mort ; ils la veulent ainsi.

Nous, nous la voulons autrement. Nous voulons la vie et tout l’épanouissement de l’être.

On le voit, le mystère de la Chute a une importance capitale, c’est le nœud de notre condition qui prend ses replis et ses retours dans cet abîme.

NB : Aucune question ne présente un aussi grand intérêt que l’étude comparée de la psychologie de l’homme et de la femme. C’est dans cette étude que l’on trouve l’origine de la discorde ou des malentendus qui règnent trop souvent entre les deux sexes et gâtent l’existence. L’homme ne connait pas la femme dans sa physiologie et dans sa psychologie, c’est pourquoi, souvent, il la blesse sans le savoir et sans le vouloir ; la femme ignore également la nature intime de l’homme et la conduite qu’elle tient à son égard, croyant bien faire, est souvent la cause réelle de tous les maux dont ils souffrent l’un et l’autre. Il est donc de la plus grande utilité de faire connaître à tous les bases scientifiques de la « Loi des sexes », et de répandre le plus de lumière possible sur cette question qui est appelée à servir de base à la vraie morale.
LIEN :

https://livresdefemmeslivresdeverites.blogspot.com/2017/07/psychologieetloidessexes.html

NDLR: Ce texte a été publié en commentaire ici:

https://strategika.fr/2025/03/12/chers-survivants-je-constate-quaucun-dentre-vous-na-ete-avorte-vous-etes-tous-nes/

Sri Râmakrishna Paramahamsa: La grenouille de puits et la grenouille de mer

10 Mars 2025 , Rédigé par Sudarshan Publié dans #Bharat, #Hindouisme, #Inde, #Asie, #Râmakrishna, #Religion, #Spiritualité

Jean Herbert: L'enseignement de Râmakrishna. Albin Michel, Paris, coll. Spiritualités vivantes, 1942.

Le refuge (La Bhagavad-Gîtâ)

12 Février 2025 , Rédigé par Sudharsan Publié dans #Bharat, #Bhagavad-Gita, #Hindouisme, #Inde, #Religion, #Spiritualité, #Sri Aurobindo, #Gandhi, #Râmakrishna, #Vivekananda, #Dharma

Krishna:

Ta pensée plongée en moi, Arjuna,

gardant ton détachement intérieur

et faisant de moi ton refuge,

ainsi, sans aucun doute, sauras-tu qui je suis

dans ma totalité.

Écoute !

(...)

C'est au terme de naissances sans nombre

qu'un être qui connaît trouve refuge en moi.

Très difficile à rencontrer, l'âme profonde

qui sait que je suis toute chose.

La Bhagavad-Gîtâ (VII, 1 et 18-19). Traduite du sanskrit par Alain Porte. Arléa, 1992.

"The Gita does not track the disinterested performance of duties but the following of the divine life, the abandonment of all dharmas, sarvadharmān*, to take refuge in the Supreme alone, and the divine activity of a Buddha, a Ramakrishna, a Vivekananda is perfectly in consonance with his teachings."

Sri Aurobindo, Essays on Gita, p. 33 (The Core of Teaching).

* Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava is an Indian concept embodying the equality of all religions. The concept was embraced by Ramakrishna and Vivekenanda,] as well as Gandhi. Although commonly thought to be among the ancient Hindu vedas, the phrase is actually attributed to Gandhi, having been used first in September 1930 in his communications to his followers to quell divisions that had begun to develop between Hindus and Muslims toward the end of the British Raj. The concept is one of the key tenets of secularism in India, wherein there is not a separation of church and state, but an attempt by the state to embrace all religions.

Sarva dharma sama bhav has been rejected by some modern Hindus who claim that religious universalism has led to the loss of many of Hinduism's rich traditions.

https://en.dharmapedia.net/wiki/Sarva_Dharma_Sama_Bhava

La justice des abeilles

3 Février 2025 , Rédigé par Le Fil d'Ariane Publié dans #Abeilles, #Christianisme, #Nature, #Religion, #Spiritualité

Par son miel et son dard, l’abeille est considérée comme l’emblème du Christ : d’un côté, sa douceur et sa miséricorde ; et de l’autre, l’exercice de sa justice en tant que Christ-juge.

Annwn
25 janvier 2025 à 16 h 04 min
Permalink

Mère, pardonne-leur, car ils ne savent pas ce qu’ils font ! Sublimez les intelligences, élevez les cœurs, confondez les négateurs et les impies, haussez le niveau moral des foules jusqu’à la perception du Mystère en ouvrant leurs yeux à l’harmonie des Formes et à l’esthétique du Nombre, afin que tous puissent participer à la communion de l’infini ; purifiez surtout le monde des trivialités, des vulgarités et des laideurs qui l’envahissent de toutes parts et nous offusquent à chaque pas dans la vie, et faites que l’humanité toute entière devienne semblable aux privilégiés de Votre amour, à ceux qui, ayant vu plus loin que le formel, ont ressenti sur terre le prélude de la béatitude éternelle. Ainsi soit-il. NB : L’ensemble des traits empruntés à toutes les traditions culturelles dénote que, partout, l’abeille apparait essentiellement comme douée d’une nature ignée, c’est un être de feu. Elle représente les prêtresses du Temple, les Pythonisses, les âmes pures des initiés, l’Esprit, la Parole ; elle purifie par le feu et elle nourrit par le miel ; elle brûle par son dard et illumine par son éclat. Un texte juridique moyen-gallois dit que « la noblesse des abeilles vient du paradis et c’est à cause du péché de l’homme qu’elles vinrent de là ; Dieu répandit sa grâce sur elles et c’est à cause de cela qu’on ne peut chanter la messe sans la cire ». Le gallois « cwyraidd », de « cwyr » (cire), signifie parfait, accompli, et l’irlandais moderne « céir-bheach », littéralement « cire d’abeille », désigne aussi la perfection. Le symbolisme de l’abeille évoque donc chez les Celtes comme ailleurs les notions d’immortalité et de sagesse de l’âme. Par son miel et son dard, l’abeille est considérée comme l’emblème du Christ : d’un côté, sa douceur et sa miséricorde ; et de l’autre, l’exercice de sa justice en tant que Christ-juge.

La Justice des abeilles

Après la fécondation des reines, si le ciel reste clair et l’air chaud, si le pollen et le nectar abondent dans les fleurs, les ouvrières, par une sorte d’indulgence oublieuse, ou peut-être par une prévoyance excessive, tolèrent quelques temps encore la présence importune et ruineuse des mâles. Ceux-ci se conduisent dans la ruche comme les prétendants de Pénélope dans la maison d’Ulysse. Ils y mènent, en faisant carrousse et chère lie, une oisive existence d’amants honoraires, prodigues et indélicats : satisfaits, ventrus, encombrant les allées, obstruant les passages, embarrassant le travail, bousculant, bousculés, ahuris, importants, tout gonflés d’un mépris étourdi et sans malice, mais méprisés avec intelligence et arrière-pensée, inconscients de l’exaspération qui s’accumule et du destin qui les attend. Ils choisissent pour y sommeiller à l’aise le coin le plus tiède de la demeure, se lèvent nonchalamment pour aller humer à même les cellules ouvertes le miel le plus parfumé, et souillent de leurs excréments les rayons qu’ils fréquentent. Les patientes ouvrières regardent l’avenir et réparent les dégâts, en silence. De midi à trois heures, quand la campagne bleuie tremble de lassitude heureuse sous le regard invincible d’un soleil de juillet ou d’août, ils paraissent sur le seuil. Ils font un bruit terrible, écartent les sentinelles, renversent les ventileuses, culbutent les ouvrières qui reviennent chargées de leur humble butin. Ils ont l’allure affairée, extravagante et intolérante de dieux indispensables qui sortent en tumulte vers quelque grand dessein ignoré du vulgaire. Ils affrontent l’espace, glorieux, irrésistible, et ils vont tranquillement se poser sur les fleurs les plus voisines où ils s’endorment jusqu’à ce que la fraîcheur de l’après-midi les réveillent. Alors ils regagnent la ruche dans le même tourbillon impérieux, et, toujours débordant du même grand dessein intransigeant, ils courent aux celliers, plongent la tête jusqu’au cou dans les cuves de miel, s’enflent comme des amphores pour réparer leurs forces épuisées, et regagnent à pas alourdis le bon sommeil sans rêve et sans soucis qui les recueille jusqu’au prochain repas. Mais la patience des abeilles n’est pas égale à celle des hommes. Un matin, un mot d’ordre attendu circule par la ruche. On ne sait qui le donne ; il émane tout à coup de l’indignation froide et raisonnée des travailleuses, et selon le génie de la république unanime, aussitôt prononcé, il emplit tous les cœurs. Une partie du peuple renonce au butinage pour se consacrer aujourd’hui à l’œuvre de justice. Les gros oisifs endormis en grappes insoucieuses sur les murailles mellifères sont brusquement tirés de leur sommeil par une armée de vierges irritées. Ils se réveillent, béats et incertains, ils n’en croient par leurs yeux, et leur étonnement a peine à se faire jour à travers leur paresse comme un rayon de lune à travers l’eau d’un marécage. Ils s’imaginent qu’ils sont victimes d’une erreur, regardent autour d’eux avec stupéfaction, et, l’idée-mère de leur vie se ranimant d’abord en leurs cerveaux épais, ils font un pas vers les cuves à miel pour s’y réconforter. Mais il n’est plus, le temps du miel de mai, du vin-fleur des tilleuls, de la franche ambroisie de la sauge, du serpolet, du trèfle blanc, des marjolaines. Avant qu’il se soit rendu compte de l’effondrement inouï de tout son destin plantureux, dans le bouleversement des lois heureuses de la cité, chacun des parasites effarés est assailli par trois ou quatre justicières…

(M. Maeterlinck, La vie des abeilles, extrait)

Lien : https://livresdefemmeslivresdeverites.blogspot.com/2017/07/plusunenfantconnaitsamereplusillaime.html

Source: https://strategika.fr/2025/01/25/evangile-sur-le-salut-de-lhomme-et-la-decheance-des-porcs/#comment-185525

Aidan Rankin: La Voie du Jaïnisme

28 Décembre 2024 , Rédigé par Sudarshan Publié dans #Aidan Rankin, #Angleterre, #Bharat, #Inde, #Jaïnisme, #Religion, #Spiritualité, #Gandhi, #Dharma

Living Jainism explores a system of thought that unites ethics with rational thought, in which each individual is his or her own guru and social conscience extends beyond human society to animals, plants and the whole of the natural world. The Jain Dharma is a humane and scientific spiritual pathway that has universal significance. With the re-emergence of India as a world power, Jain wisdom deserves to be better known so that it can play a creative role in global affairs. Living Jainism reveals the relevance of Jain teachings to scientific research and human society, as well as our journey towards understanding ourselves and our place in the universe.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/living-jainism-aidan-d-rankin/1114932003;jsessionid=53DECB9CEF3E0032F1317AD8D6DFAD1A.prodny_store01-atgap07

Voir également:

https://pocombelles.over-blog.com/tag/aidan%20rankin/

https://pocombelles.over-blog.com/2014/07/aidan-rankin-green-karma.html

Ahimsa: Its theory and practice in Gandhism

https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/ahimsa-Its-theory-and-practice-in-Gandhism.php

B.R. Dugar: Gandhi and JaInism

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24701117

Published on New Statesman (http://www.newstatesman.com)

Escape from UKIP
Tired of the political correctness of the left, Aidan Rankin joined Ukip. Becoming right-wing gave h
by Aidan Rankin [2] Published 14 June, 2004 - 13:00

The scene was a dinner, organised by the Salisbury Review, somewhere in the depths of the Carlton Club. It was an occasion of right-wing triumphalism, or a rallying of the troops, but I felt neither triumphant nor rallied, only irritated and bored. I listened, with increasing loathing, to a repertoire of anti-Muslim barbs from people who knew nothing whatsoever about Islam and were proud of their ignorance. I listened to conspicuously affluent men and women inveigh against scroungers, appeal to the work ethic, condemn asylum-seekers as criminals and call for people to be charged for visiting the doctor. This, apparently, "worked perfectly well in the old days", although few people gathered around the table were born before 1945.
A drunken academic accused me of being "anti-western" when I supported Palestinian autonomy. Palestinians were "Muslims" and "terrorists". At this supposedly intellectual gathering, not one single idea, substantial or ethereal, was expressed. Soon, my disgust was tempered by self-loathing. I would rather be just about anywhere but here. So why was I here, listening to mean-minded philistinism and being eyed disapprovingly every time I dissented? How on earth had I ended up on the right - and was I ever going to be able to leave it?
It took me two more years to leave the right fully. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to use the past tense when I describe it. When I awake in the morning, I relish the sudden realisation that, no, I am no longer right-wing.
Looking back, I feel that being on the right was like losing a part of myself. In shamanic cultures, there is a widespread theory of "soul theft". This is the belief that an individual's soul can be captured, and then manipulated, by an external force. Soul theft is blamed for a wide range of ailments, from serious physical and mental illness to feelings of inner emptiness, and soul retrieval is an important part of the shaman's work. The process of soul theft can be long and insidious, with the affected individual becoming a willing collaborator.
Soul theft is an accurate depiction of the experience of becoming right-wing. It starts as a vague impression, then progresses - if that is the word - into a world-view; it begins as a bad mood, then becomes a permanent, brooding anger. One doesn't wake up one morning and find oneself transformed into a reactionary, a political version of the clerk in Kafka's Metamorphosis, who awakes as a gigantic insect. Instead, right-wingery takes over gradually, crowding out conflicting thoughts, until suddenly it defines and underlies everything.
I should begin by saying that there were two types of right-wing ideology that never appealed to me. One is "far-right" racism and the scapegoating of immigrants or refugees, given voice by the British National Party, but believed in by many members of the UK Independence Party, the Eurosceptic groupuscules and the Tory party's "traditionalist" right. This has always profoundly repelled me, both for its creeping totalitarianism and its simple-minded classification of individuals by race or group.
The second strand of right-wing thinking that held no appeal was the ersatz religion of "market forces", part consumerist cargo cult and part fundamentalist reworking of 19th-century liberalism. That approach is equally off-putting because of its personal heartlessness and its superstitious regard for the market's "hidden hand". In its naive, mechanistic view of human society, and its belief in permanent revolution, the neoliberal right resembles the most extreme variants of Trotskyism.
These two tendencies - traditionalist xenophobia and market fundamentalism - dominate the British right. They coexist quite happily with-in individual right-wingers, although they are contradictory. Market ideology gives economic forces precedence over nations and traditions, after all, and places corporate rule before "national sovereignty".
As a young man in the mid-1990s, I had held standard progressive views and written occasional contributions to New Left Review. But, like many at that time, I became disillusioned with a left that seemed to be recycling old slogans and ignoring new complexities. Moreover, it was doing so with a distortion of liberalism dubbed "political correctness", which seemed harsh and intolerant, and could hurt most those whom it intended to help. In particular, I found that the left's assumptions about gay men - of which I am one - were often patronising and in many ways as restrictive as the old stereotypes. Being gay, the left seemed to think, meant ceasing to be an individual and becoming a nameless, faceless member of a minority group, obediently reciting the mantras of victimhood.
I was interested in green issues as well and had the experience of working for Survival International, which promotes the interests of indigenous peoples throughout the world, oppressed minorities who are struggling to preserve their ancient cultures as well as keep their environment intact. I came to see a contradiction between this cultural and ecological conservatism and the universalist values of the left.
In moving right, I thought that I would meet people who would excite me and make me think, who would dare to question received assumptions. I thought I would find cultured yet passionate individuals whose radicalism was balanced by a sense of history. I had the naive and hopelessly utopian idea of uniting green politics with cultural conservatism and in the process strengthening both. This led me towards sections of the right that showed some basic ecological awareness. In 1997 I became a contributor to Third Way, then the British mouthpiece for the European new right, and which proudly proclaimed itself green.
Many on the left have demonised Third Way, because its best-known contributor, Patrick Harrington, was once a well-known activist in the National Front - although his views on immigration and race have modified beyond recognition. At the time of my involvement it seemed a rather homely outfit, a London-based magazine and small political movement run from a sprawling basement flat in Kensington by Harrington and his mother, a sharp-witted, cheerful lady who served herbal tea and gave highly expert tarot card readings. This is fairly typical of the British right: grandiloquent declarations of intent contrasting with banal realities. Despite Harrington's reputation, there were far fewer right-wing views expressed in Third Way than in the UK Independence Party. When I became a researcher for Ukip's 2001 manifesto, I thought that I was helping to shape a moderate and mainstream movement. I hoped it would revive some of the best, and most flexible, aspects of conservatism. In reality, I found a movement held together primarily by hatred and fear.
My attraction to Ukip took me into a peculiar demi-monde, peopled largely by men with faces red through alcohol and outrage against the modern world, ladies with affected accents or strange hats, and youthful zealots who collected "facts" about Europe or immigration the way better-adjusted young men collect train numbers. There were rules to this half-world, but I could never grasp them. I was never "one of us", but I was often characterised as "one of them", a phrase they use without shame. During my time in Ukip - which I emphasise was long before Robert Kilroy-Silk and Joan Collins declared for it - I met with objections to the word "inclusive" because it was "used by gays" or "could include gays". When I suggested inheritance and pension rights for same-sex couples - and others living together, such as siblings or friends - frenzied letters of complaint were circulated by the party's evangelical wing. These letters, which were never addressed to me, but whose content I was made aware of by "helpful" friends within the party, were more Inquisitional than political. They speculated on whether or not I was a "practising" homosexual and, if so, whether I was a suitable person to work on policy.
Homophobia was one of the few forces uniting a notoriously divided party. To its brownshirt-in-blazer tendency, the dangers of Europe and the dangers of homosexuality were intertwined. Immigration, too, was seen less as an economic and social issue than as a threat to the moral order. When I spoke of the benefits of immigration, I was accused of "sounding like Labour"; when I expressed approval of other cultures and religions, I was accused of being "anti-western". Although the party contains men who almost make Abu Hamza sound liberal, Islamophobia pervades its internal dialogue.
There have, needless to say, always been homosexuals in Ukip. They either affect to ignore the party's intolerance or seek to increase it, to avoid discovery. One parliamentary candidate told me that he was gay - or rather, he whispered his "confession" even though we were speaking on the telephone. He did not discuss it with the electorate, he told me, not because he thought they would be prejudiced, but because he was afraid his Ukip colleagues "would react badly".
Suggestions that the party should appeal to trade unionists and ethnic minorities, many of whom are trenchant critics of the EU, elicited responses that ranged from a "why should we bother?" attitude to outright hostility. When I produced a leaflet aimed at the Kashmiri community in West Yorkshire, it was widely condemned as "supporting separatism", although it rigorously espoused electoral politics and non-violence. The Eurosceptic movement as a whole consists of a series of mock-conspiratorial cabals, sad little internet discussion groups and obscure news-sheets, each trying to outdo the other in vituperation. They hate each other at least as much as they do the European Union.
I have yet to meet anyone on the British right who is made more contented or fulfilled by its politics. So why do otherwise relatively intelligent people put up with it?
The answer, I believe, is to be found in the initial frisson, the sense of adventure and vague threat, which much of left-wing politics has lost. Indulging in right-wingery is a form of political slumming akin to the predilection for "rough trade". And, like the taste for rough trade, it is initially thrilling but yields quickly to feelings of loneliness and inner turmoil. Right-wing politics and rough trade are both addictions. They take over as substitutes both for real thought and real emotion. They combine certainty with danger, and rebellion.
Indulging in rough trade gives you the certainty of sexual encounter and the danger of it being with a stranger, in illicit (and often illegal) circumstances that can climax in violence. With the right, you have the certainty that comes from clear positions and convictions often lacking in nuance. You have the certainty that comes from constant appeal to a long tradition and a glorious national history. You also get a sense of danger: these are on the whole unfashionable convictions, which can provoke strong responses from many interlocutors.
For gay people, rebellion is a rite of passage: for many, it is a turning away from their family's values and a rejection of the establishment's code of conduct. The right-wingers, instead, promise that to ally oneself to them is to rebel against the shibboleths of contemporary discourse - no need to kowtow to political correctness here.
In his semi-autobiographical novel A Boy's Own Story, Edmund White writes of his teenage hero's wish "to be a homosexual and not to be a homosexual". To the adult male, there is no better stopgap solution to this problem than being on the right. In the right-wing demi-monde, the negative aspects of the gay scene are replicated with astonishing accuracy. The bitchiness, fierce rivalries and mindless militancy associated with the worst of gay life are found in abundance in right-wing politics. Abstract loyalty is demanded, but personal treachery is the norm.
If the right has any core at all, it is its anger. Anger takes the place of a philosophy and also projects itself on to convenient objects. These range from "practising" homosexuals to Muslims, "Europe" to home-grown "liberal elites". This anger is sustained by paranoid caricatures of outsiders and political opponents, including members of rival right-wing factions, needless to say. When I associated with the right, I seemed to spend most of my waking hours listening to them preaching about how angry they were that Britain and the world were not the way they used to be. They missed a society that was coherent, that had order and structure and predictability. They missed a crime-free Britain where the traditional family reigned and foreigners left after an admiring tour of Buckingham Palace and the Cotswolds. In short, they missed a fictional Britain. What they loathed about the contemporary, real Britain was the unfamiliarity of it - a place where people looked different and spoke in a different way, where change always lurked around the corner.
Being criticised on the right does not involve gentlemanly disagreement or even tough debate, but wild-eyed accusations. When I decided not to stand as a Ukip candidate, the Eurosceptic bush telegraph buzzed with rumours that I was working for MI6 and that I had been "pro-EU" all along. This was an amusing, in some ways flattering accusation - its only tragic aspect being that the poor old things really believed it. The right is as paranoid about the intelligence services today as the left was at the height of the cold war. In truth, I suspect that the right enjoys being paranoid. It makes its followers feel that they matter.
My political journey took me eight years. Eight years spent being ashamed of my political allegiances when I was with my gay friends, or my Muslim and Hindu friends, and realised that they would have been rejected by many in Ukip.
Renouncing the right is like waking from a disturbing dream or throwing off an especially nasty hangover. It is a life-enhancing, liberating experience. I wish it on many others.

Source: http://www.newstatesman.com/print/node/148179

Sri Râmakrishna Paramahamsa: Vanité des discussions

27 Décembre 2024 , Rédigé par Sudarshan Publié dans #Bharat, #Hindouisme, #Jean Herbert, #Inde, #Religion, #Râmakrishna, #Spiritualité

Sri Râmakrishna Paramahamsa

In: Jean Herbert et al: L'enseignement de Râmakrishna, Albin Michel, Coll. Spiritualités vivantes, Paris, 1942.

L'hymne à Aranyani du Rig Veda (Hymne 146, Livre X)

22 Décembre 2024 , Rédigé par Sudarshan Publié dans #Aranyani, #Bharat, #Hindouisme, #Inde, #Rig Veda, #Religion, #Spiritualité, #Forêt, #Asie

Rig Veda, tr. by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1896], at sacred-texts.com

HYMN CXLVI

Aranyani

1. GODDESS of wild and forest who seemest to vanish from the sight.
How is it that thou seekest not the village? Art thou not afraid?

2 What time the grasshopper replies and swells the shrill cicala's voice,
Seeming to sound with tinkling bells, the Lady of the Wood exults.

3 And, yonder, cattle seem to graze, what seems a dwelling-place appears:
Or else at eve the Lady of the Forest seems to free the wains.

4 Here one is calling to his cow, another there hath felled a tree:
At eve the dweller in the wood fancies that somebody hath screamed.

5 The Goddess never slays, unless some murderous enemy approach.
Man eats of savoury fruit and then takes, even as he wills, his rest.

6 Now have I praised the Forest Queen, sweet-scented, redolent of balm,
The Mother of all sylvan things, who tills not but hath stores of food.

1. Déesse de la forêt et de la nature sauvage, qui semble disparaître de la vue. Comment se fait-il que tu ne cherches pas le village ? N'as-tu pas peur ?

2 A l'heure où la sauterelle répond et enfle la voix stridente de la cicala, Semblant sonner avec des cloches tintinnabulantes, la Dame des Bois exulte.

3 Et, là-bas, le bétail semble paître, Et ce qui semble être une demeure apparaît : Ou bien, le soir, la Dame de la Forêt semble libérer les vaches.

4 Ici, l'un appelle sa vache, Là, un autre a abattu un arbre : Le soir, l'habitant de la forêt croit que quelqu'un a crié.

5 La déesse ne tue jamais, à moins qu'un ennemi meurtrier ne s'approche. L'homme se nourrit de fruits savoureux, puis il se repose à sa guise.

6 J'ai loué la Reine de la Forêt, au parfum suave, à l'odeur de baume, La Mère de toutes les choses sylvestres, Qui ne cultive pas, mais qui a des réserves de nourriture.

AraNyaanii (or Aranyani) represents the earliest known reference to a forest goddess in the Indian context, and perhaps even in the world at large. The hymn to AraNyaanii in the Rig Veda is indeed an extremely rare one, and the only one of its kind. The hymn visualizes, describes and praises a feminine deity of the forest or a forest nymph. It is a short hymn of just six verses, and presents a simple narrative, drawing upon happenings in the forest and the da

The word AraNyam (neuter gender) means forest; and AraNyaanii is a feminine noun, which is used to mean goddess of the forest, or just a large forest itself.

In this hymn, AraNyaanii is described as an elusive spirit of the deep forest, who is invisible, but can be heard in the form of various sounds of the forest, by the jingling of her anklets and by her loud cry. She is the mother of all animals in the forest. She is also the benevolent provider of varieties of foods (from the forest vegetation), without having to till the land.

The hymn (suktam) to the deity (devatha) AraNyaanii is the 146th hymn in the tenth chapter (mandala) of the Rig Veda. The hymn is also repeated in the Taittiriya Brahmana of the Krishna Yajurveda. The sage (rishi) or seer (bard) of this hymn is Devamuni, and the verses (mantras) are in the poetic meter (chandas) called Anushtup.

Though we have temples dedicated to forest goddesses going by names such as Vana Durga, Banashankari, etc., in different parts of India to this day, these deities are seen as forms of Parvati or Durga, and are not the same as AraNyaanii of the Rig Veda.

A transliteration and simplified translation of the six verses of the hymn to AraNyaanii are given below.

1
araNyaanyaraNyaanyasou yaa preva nashyasi
kathaa graamam na prichchasi na tvaa bhiiriva vindathii
AraNyaani, O AraNyaani (goddess of the forest), the elusive one who wanders away
Why do you not seek the village (i.e., the civilized inhabited spaces)? Are you not afraid (of the thick forest)?

2
vruShaaravaaya vadate yadupaavati chichchikah
AaghaaTibhiriva dhaavayannaraNyaanirmahiiyate
W- hen the chirping chichchika bird responds to the roar of the vrishaarava (evidently, a forest animal)
The forest nymph runs about with sound like the clanging of cymbals (or the jingling of anklets with bells)

3
uta gaava ivaadantyuta veshmeva drushyate
uto araNyaanih saayam shakatiiriva sarjati
Also some animals like cattle seem to graze, and there (a group of trees) looks like a shelter
And in the evening the forest rattles like a cart (suggests various sounds of the forest)

4
gaamangaiSha aa hvayati daarvangaiSho apaavadhiit
vasannarNyaanyaam saayamakrukshaditi manyate
Here one is calling his cow, another has cut timber
In the evening the forest dweller thinks that he heard a cry (of AraNyaanii)
(Once darkness sets in, forest dwellers or those living on the fringes of the forest, who graze cows and cut timber during the day, leave for their abodes)

5
na vaa araNyaanirhantyanyashchennaabh- igachchhati
svaadoh phalasya jagdhvaaya yathaakaamam ni padyate
AraNyaani does not harm, unless another (hostile enemy) approaches her
(Hence), eating tasty fruit, he (the forest dweller) settles down at will

6
aanjanagandhim surabhim bahvannaamakruShiivalaam
praaha- m mrugaaNaam maataramaraNyaanimashamsiSham
I- praise AraNyaanii, the mother of beasts
who is perfumed and fragrant; and who offers varieties of food, though she does not till (the land)

Source: https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/hymn-to-a-forest-nymph-in-the-rig-veda

Source: https://archive.org/details/rigvedacomplete

Kalpataru, the divine tree of life being guarded by mythical creatures Kinnara and Kinnari, flying Apsara (a female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist mythology) and Devata - 8th-century Pawon temple, Java, Indonesia. Credit: Gunawan Kartapranata - CC BY-SA 3.0

Kalpavriksha, l'Arbre de vie. Marbre sculpté. Asie.

Kalpavriksha, the tree of life, also meaning "World Tree" finds mention in the Vedic scriptures.

In the earliest account of the Samudra manthan or "churning of the ocean of milk" Kalpavriksha emerged from the primal waters during the ocean churning process along with Kamadhenu, the divine cow that bestows all needs.

The tree is also said to be the Milky way or the birthplace of the stars Sirius.

The king of the gods, Indra returned with this Kalpavriksha to his abode, the paradise and planted it their. Tree also finds mention in the Sanskrit text Mānāsara.

In Indra's "Devaloka" it is said that there are five Kalpavrikshas, which are called Mandana, Parijata, Santana, Kalpavriksha and Harichandana, all of which fulfill various wishes. Kalpavriksha, in particular, is said to be planted at Mt. Meru peak in the middle of Indra's five paradise gardens.
It is on account of these wish-granting trees that the asuras waged a perpetual war with the devas as the heavenly gods who exclusively benefited freely from the "divine flowers and fruits" from the Kalpavriksha, whereas the demigods lived comparatively in penury at the lower part of its "trunk and roots".

The Parijata is often identified with its terrestrial counterpart, the Indian coral tree (Eyrthrina indica), but is most often depicted like a magnolia or frangipani (Sanskrit: champaka) tree.

It is described as having roots made of gold, a silver midriff, lapis lazuli boughs, coral leaves, pearl flower, gemstone buds, and diamond fruit. It is also said that Shiva created his daughter Ashok Sundari from a Kalpavriksha tree to provide relief to Parvati from her loneliness.

In Hindu mythology Shiva and Parvati after much painful discussions while parting with their daughter Aranyani gave her away to the divine Kalpavriksha for safe keeping.

Parvati requested Kalpavriksha to bring up her daughter with "safety, wisdom, health and happiness," and to make her Vana Devi, the protector of forests.

https://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Kalpavriksha

Pilier sculpté à l'entrée d'une maison moderne, dans le haut de la rue Borgnis-Desbordes à Versailles (Quartier Saint-Louis), près de la demeure natale de Pierre-Olivier Combelles. Photo: Pierre-Olivier Combelles.

L'hymne à Aranyani du Rig Veda (Hymne 146, Livre X)

Rangapura Vihara | Sooryagayathri | Carnatic Krithi

22 Décembre 2024 , Rédigé par Sudarshan Publié dans #Bharat, #Hindouisme, #Inde, #Musique, #Musique carnatique, #Religion, #Spiritualité

Bhaja Govindam I Manojna & Pradanya ( Om Voices Junior ) I The great classic by Adi Shankaracharya

21 Décembre 2024 , Rédigé par Sudarshan Publié dans #Bharat, #Hindouisme, #Inde, #Musique, #Vaishnavism, #Spiritualité, #Religion, #Adi Shankaracharya

Krishna and the Cowherds. Kulu, c. 1800. Victoria and Albert Museum IS.167-1951

Bhaja Govindam

By Sri Adi Sankaracharya (and his disciples)

The Acharya is believed to have composed the Bhajagovindam during his famous pilgrimage to Kashi (Benares). The fourteen disciples are said to have accompanied him. The story goes that when he was walking along the streets of Kashi, he was pained to observe an elderly man trying hard to learn Sanskrit grammar. At his advanced age, the remaining valuable little time of his life should have been used for worshipping the God, instead of wasting on learning a language. This prompted Sri Sankara to burst out this composition, a sort of rebuke to foolish way of living. The Acharya urges the man to turn towards God and sing His glory instead of trying to learn a language. A censure is implied when the Acharya calls the man a fool (Moodhamathe). It may be added here that the tone of Bhajagovindam is not at all soft, but somewhat striking, in spite of its exotic poetic beauty and perfection of composition. This is no wonder, because such a treatment is required to wake up man from his slumber. A milder approach would delay the matter. The matter is urgent, as the Acharya explains in the next verse, for, when the hour of death approaches without any forewarning, the hard-learned verses of grammar are not going to save the poor soul. Hence the song rightly starts without any preamble:

bhajagovindaM bhajagovindaM
govindaM bhajamuuDhamate .
saMpraapte sannihite kaale
nahi nahi rakshati DukRiJNkaraNe .. (1)

Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda. Oh fool! Rules of Grammar will not save you at the time of your death.

mUDha jahiihi dhanaagamatRishhNaaM
kuru sadbuddhiM manasi vitRishhNaam.
yallabhase nijakarmopaattaM
vittaM tena vinodaya chittam. .. (2)

Oh fool ! Give up your thirst to amass wealth, devote your mind to thoughts to the Real. Be content with what comes through actions already performed in the past.

naariistanabhara naabhiideshaM
dRishhTvaa maagaamohaavesham.
etanmaaMsaavasaadi vikaaraM
manasi vichintaya vaaraM vaaram. .. (3)

Do not get drowned in delusion by going wild with passions and lust by seeing a woman's navel and chest. These are nothing but a modification of flesh. Do not fail to remember this again and again in your mind.

naliniidalagata jalamatitaralaM
tadvajjiivitamatishayachapalam .
viddhi vyaadhyabhimaanagrastaM
lokaM shokahataM cha samastam .. (4)

The life of a man is as uncertain as rain drops trembling on a lotus leaf. Know that the whole world remains a prey to disease, ego and grief.

yaavadvittopaarjana saktaH
staavannija parivaaro raktaH .
pashchaajjiivati jarjara dehe
vaartaaM ko.api na pRichchhati gehe .. (5)

So long as a man is fit and able to support his family, see the affection all those around him show. But no one at home cares to even have a word with him when his body totters due to old age.

yaavatpavano nivasati dehe
taavatpRichchhati kushalaM gehe .
gatavati vaayau dehaapaaye
bhaaryaa bibhyati tasminkaaye .. (6)

When one is alive, his family members enquire kindly about his welfare. But when the soul departs from the body, even his wife runs away in fear of the corpse.

baalastaavatkriiDaasaktaH
taruNastaavattaruNiisaktaH .
vRiddhastaavachchintaasaktaH
pare brahmaNi ko.api na saktaH .. (7)

The childhood is lost by attachment to playfulness. Youth is lost by attachment to woman. Old age passes away by thinking over many past things. But there is hardly anyone who wants to be lost in parabrahmam.

kaate kaantaa kaste putraH
saMsaaro.ayamatiiva vichitraH .
kasya tvaM kaH kuta aayaataH
tattvaM chintaya tadiha bhraataH .. (8)

Who is your wife ? Who is your son ? Strange is this samsara. Of whom are you ? From where have you come ? Brother, ponder over these truths here.

satsaNgatve nissN^gatvaM
nissaNgatve nirmohatvam.h .
nirmohatve nishchalatattvaM
nishcalatattve jiivanmuktiH .. (9)

From Satsangh comes non-attachment, from non-attachment comes freedom from delusion, which leads to self-settledness. From self-settledness comes Jeevan Mukti.

vayasigate kaH kaamavikaaraH
shushhke niire kaH kaasaaraH .
kshiiNevitte kaH parivaaraH
GYaate tattve kaH saMsaaraH .. (10)

What good is lust when youth has fled ? What use is a lake which has no water ? Where are the relatives when wealth is gone ? Where is samsara when the Truth is known ?

maa kuru dhana jana yauvana garvaM
harati nimeshhaatkaalaH sarvam.h .
maayaamayamidamakhilaM hitvaa
brahmapadaM tvaM pravisha viditvaa .. (11)

Do not boast of wealth, friends, and youth. Each one of these are destroyed within a minute. Free yourself from the illusion of the world of Maya and attain the timeless Truth.

dinayaaminyau saayaM praataH
shishiravasantau punaraayaataH .
kaalaH kriiDati gachchhatyaayuH
tadapi na muJNcatyaashaavaayuH .. (12)

Daylight and darkness, dusk and dawn, winter and springtime come and go. Time plays and life ebbs away. But the storm of desire never leaves.

dvaadashamaJNjarikaabhirasheshhaH
kathito vaiyaakaraNasyaishhaH .
upadesho bhuudvidyaanipuNaiH
shriimachchhankarabhagavachchharaNariH .. (12a)

This bouquet of twelve verses was imparted to a grammarian by the all-knowing Shankara, adored as the bhagavadpada.

kaate kaantaa dhana gatachintaa
vaatula kiM tava naasti niyantaa .
trijagati sajjanasaM gatiraikaa
bhavati bhavaarNavataraNe naukaa .. (13)

Oh mad man ! Why this engrossment in thoughts of wealth ? Is there no one to guide you ? There is only one thing in three worlds that can save you from the ocean from samsara. Get into that boat of satsangha quickly. Stanza attributed to Padmapada.

jaTilo muNDii luJNchhitakeshaH
kaashhaayaambarabahukRitaveshhaH .
pashyannapi cana pashyati muuDhaH
udaranimittaM bahukRitaveshhaH .. (14)

There are many who go with matted locks, many who have clean shaven heads, many whose hairs have been plucked out; some are clothed in saffron, yet others in various colors --- all just for a livelihood. Seeing truth revealed before them, still the foolish ones see it not. Stanza attributed to Totakacharya.

aNgaM galitaM palitaM muNDaM
dashanavihiinaM jataM tuNDam.
vRiddho yaati gRihiitvaa daNDaM
tadapi na muJNcatyaashaapiNDam.. (15)

Strength has left the old man's body; his head has become bald, his gums toothless and leaning on crutches. Even then the attachment is strong and he clings firmly to fruitless desires. Stanza attributed to Hastamalaka.

agre vahniH pRishhThebhaanuH
raatrau chubukasamarpitajaanuH .
karatalabhikshastarutalavaasaH
tadapi na muJNcatyaashaapaashaH .. (16)

Behold there lies the man who sits warming up his body with the fire in front and the sun at the back; at night he curls up the body to keep out of the cold; he eats his beggar's food from the bowl of his hand and sleeps beneath the tree. Still in his heart, he is a wretched puppet at the hands of passions. Stanza attributed to Subodha.

kurute gaNgaasaagaragamanaM
vrataparipaalanamathavaa daanam.h .
GYaanavihinaH sarvamatena
muktiM na bhajati janmashatena .. (17)

One may go to gangasagar(ganes), observe fasts, and give away riches in charity ! Yet, devoid of jnana, nothing can give mukthi even at the end of a hundred births. Stanza attributed to Sureshwaracharya.

sura ma.ndira taru muula nivaasaH
shayyaa bhuutala majinaM vaasaH .
sarva parigraha bhoga tyaagaH
kasya sukhaM na karoti viraagaH .. (18)

Take your residence in a temple or below a tree, wear the deerskin for the dress, and sleep with mother earth as your bed. Give up all attachments and renounce all comforts. Blessed with such vairagya, could any fail to be content ? Stanza attributed to Nityananda.

yogarato vaabhogaratovaa
saN^garato vaa saNgaviihinaH .
yasya brahmaNi ramate chittaM
nandati nandati nandatyeva .. (19)

One may take delight in yoga or bhoga, may have attachment or detachment. But only he whose mind steadily delights in Brahman enjoys bliss, no one else. Stanza attributed to Anandagiri.

bhagavad.h giitaa kiJNchidadhiitaa
gaNgaa jalalava kaNikaapiitaa .
sakRidapi yena muraari samarchaa
kriyate tasya yamena na charchaa .. (20)

Let a man read but a little from Gitaa, drink just a drop of water from the ganges, worship murari (govinda) just once. He then will have no altercation with Yama. Stanza attributed to dR^iDhabhakta.

punarapi jananaM punarapi maraNaM
punarapi jananii jaThare shayanam.h .
iha saMsaare bahudustaare
kRipayaa.apaare paahi muraare .. (21)

Born again, death again, birth again to stay in the mother's womb ! It is indeed hard to cross this boundless ocean of samsara. Oh Murari ! Redeem me through Thy mercy. Stanza attributed to Nityanatha.

rathyaa charpaTa virachita kanthaH
puNyaapuNya vivarjita panthaH .
yogii yoganiyojita chitto
ramate baalonmattavadeva .. (22)

There is no shortage of clothing for a monk so long as there are rags cast off the road. Freed from vice and virtue, onward he wanders. One who lives in communion with God enjoys bliss, pure and uncontaminated, like a child and as someone intoxicated. Stanza attributed to Nityanatha.

kastvaM ko.ahaM kuta aayaataH
kaa me jananii ko me taataH .
iti paribhaavaya sarvamasaaram.h
vishvaM tyaktvaa svapna vichaaram.h .. (23)

Who are you ? Who am I ? From where do I come ? Who is my mother, who is my father ? Ponder thus, look at everything as essenceless and give up the world as an idle dream. Stanza attributed to surendra.

tvayi mayi chaanyatraiko vishhNuH
vyarthaM kupyasi mayyasahishhNuH .
bhava samachittaH sarvatra tvaM
vaaJNchhasyachiraadyadi vishhNutvam.h .. (24)

In me, in you and in everything, none but the same Vishnu dwells. Your anger and impatience is meaningless. If you wish to attain the status of Vishnu soon, have samabhava always. Stanza attributed to medhaatithira.

shatrau mitre putre bandhau
maa kuru yatnaM vigrahasandhau .
sarvasminnapi pashyaatmaanaM
sarvatrotsRija bhedaaGYaanam.h .. (25)

Do not waste your efforts to win the love of or to fight against friend and foe, children and relatives. See yourself in everyone and give up all feelings of duality completely. Stanza attributed to medhaatithira.

kaamaM krodhaM lobhaM mohaM
tyaktvaa.atmaanaM bhaavaya ko.aham.h .
aatmaGYaana vihiinaa muuDhaaH
te pachyante narakaniguuDhaaH .. (26)

Give up lust, anger, infatuation, and greed. Ponder over your real nature. Fools are they who are blind to the Self. Cast into hell they suffer there endlessly. Stanza attributed to bharativamsha.

geyaM giitaa naama sahasraM
dhyeyaM shriipati ruupamajasram .
neyaM sajjana saNge chittaM
deyaM diinajanaaya cha vittam. .. (27)

Regularly recite from the Gita, meditate on Vishnu [thro' Vishnu sahasranama] in your heart, and chant His thousand glories. Take delight to be with the noble and the holy. Distribute your wealth in charity to the poor and the needy. Stanza attributed to sumatira.

sukhataH kriyate raamaabhogaH
pashchaaddhanta shariire rogaH .
yadyapi loke maraNaM sharaNaM
tadapi na muJNchati paapaacharaNam.h .. (28)

He who yields to lust for pleasure leaves his body a prey to disease. Though death brings an end to everything, man does not give up the sinful path.

arthamanarthaM bhaavaya nityaM
naastitataH sukhaleshaH satyam.
putraadapi dhana bhaajaaM bhiitiH
sarvatraishhaa vihiaa riitiH .. (29)

Wealth is not welfare, truly there is no joy in it. Reflect thus at all times. A rich man fears even his own son. This is the way of wealth everywhere.

praaNaayaamaM pratyaahaaraM
nityaanitya vivekavichaaram.
jaapyasameta samaadhividhaanaM
kurvavadhaanaM mahadavadhaanam .. (30)

Regulate the pranas, remain unaffected by external influences and discriminate between the real and the fleeting. Chant the holy name of God and silence the turbulent mind. Perform these with care, with extreme care.

gurucharaNaambuja nirbhara bhakataH
saMsaaraadachiraadbhava muktaH .
sendriyamaanasa niyamaadevaM
drakshyasi nija hR^idayasthaM devam. .. (31)

Oh devotee of the lotus feet of the Guru ! May thou be soon free from Samsara. Through disciplined senses and controlled mind, thou shalt come to experience the Indwelling Lord of your heart !

muuDhaH kashchana vaiyaakaraNo
DukRiJNkaraNaadhyayana dhuriNaH .
shriimachchhamkara bhagavachchhishhyai
bodhita aasichchhodhitakaraNaH .. (32)

Thus was a silly grammarian lost in rules cleansed of his narrow vision and shown the Light by Shankara's apostles.

bhajagovindaM bhajagovindaM
govindaM bhajamuuDhamate .
naamasmaraNaadanyamupaayaM
nahi pashyaamo bhavataraNe .. (33)

Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda, Oh fool ! Other than chanting the Lord's names, there is no other way to cross the life's ocean.

Source: https://shankaracharya.org/bhaja_govindam.php

Painting of Adi Shankara, exponent of Advaita Vedanta with his disciples by Raja Ravi Varma

Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (Sanskrit: आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, romanized: Ādi Śaṅkara, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, was an Indian Vedic scholar, philosopher and teacher (acharya) of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scanty, and his true impact lies in his "iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta. He is seen as "the one who restored the Hindu dharma against the attacks of the Buddhists (and Jains) and in the process helped to drive Buddhism out of India." Tradition also portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism) with the introduction of the Pañcāyatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara

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