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Bhagavad-Gita: 18 Chapters in Sanskrit

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It has reverence and ecumenical irreverence; accolades and brickbats; tinsel, barbs and shards; humor, facts and factoids; Science and Nescience; short stories; comparative religion; things that inform, entertain, shock and amuse you; Sanskrit, the seminal language of gods and men;....

Viśva Virāt = Manifest Universe; Taijasa Hiraṇyagarbha = Fiery or Effulgent Golden Womb; Avyākṛta = elementary substance from which all things were created. Prājña = progenitor and Avyakta = Unmanifest. Oct 6, 2012

The quiescent Shiva-aspect is by its definition inert. It is because  of this that the Devi is in the Tantras symbolically represented as  being above the body of Shiva, who lies under Her like a corpse (Shava). As the Kubjika Tantra states, it is not Brahma, Vishnu and  Rudra, who create, maintain and destroy, but their Shaktis [powers], Brahmani,  Vaishnavi, Rudrani. Activity is the nature of  Prakriti [matter]. For the same reason  the female form is represented in sexual union as being above (Viparita = reverse coition)  the male. When the Devi stands above Shiva, the symbolism also denotes (particularly in the case of Kali) the liberating aspect of the  Mother.

Srishtikalpana The world is called an imagination (Kalpana), for it is creative  ideation on the recalled memory of the past universe. As the Yogini- hridaya Tantra says, "the picture of the world is designed by her own  will" , "seeing which Bhagavan  was very pleased ".

It is held natural to worship Her as Mother. The first Mantra into which all men are initiated  is the word 'Ma' (Mother). It is their first word and generally their last. The father is a mere helper of the Mother. The whole world of the five elements also springs from the Active Consciousness or Shakti, and is  Her manifestation. Therefore men worship the Mother, than whom is none more tender, saluting Her smiling beauty as the rosy Tripurasundari, the source of the universe, and Her awe-inspiring grandeur as Kali, who  takes it back into Herself. Here we are concerned with Yoga which is the realization of the union of the Mother  and Lord aspects in that state of consciousness which is the Absolute. Woodroffe, Serpent Power, page 27-28

In fact the main cause of the birth and nourishment of men and animals is their respective mothers. Their fathers are merely helpers (Sahakārī). Every Jīva on issuing from his mother's womb, lives on her milk, and receives his first initiation with the Mantra 'Mā' (Mother). The first preceptor (Adiguru) of every man is his mother. She is his visible Devatā. His first lessons are learnt of her. It is the mark also of the Earth to generate and nourish all Jīvas, like a mother, by producing for them all kinds of fruits and grains and holding them in her bosom. Hence we are not wrong in saying that the world is full of the Mother. kALIKARPURADI STOTRA.

Kali's Supremacy over all gods is described here.

In the Yoginī-Tantra Īsvara (Śiva) says to Devi (Goddess Kali) that the difference between Vedas and Agamas is like that between Jīva (individual soul) and Ātma (the Great Soul = Śiva), that is between Jīva covered with Avidyā (ignorance) and Īsvara who is full of Vidyā (knowledge). Indra and other Devas (lesser gods) who used to be worshipped as Īsvaras (Lords of the universe) in Yajñas (sacrifices) held under the Karmakāṇda or Saṁhitā of the Vedas are, in Tantra-Śāastra, worshipped as the Presiding Devatās of the Dikpālinī (guardians of quarters) Śakti of Her who is all Śaktis (Sarvaśakti-svarūpiṇī = Universal Power is Her Form). The three Īsvaras Brahma, Viṣṇu and Rudra of the Vedas and Purāṇas are in Tantra-śāstra the presiding Devatās of the creative, preservative, and dissolving Śaktis of Mahādevi (Great Goddess). As such they are worshipped as the supports of the couch of the Mahādevī. She in the Devīgītā says that 'Brahma, Viṣṇu  Īsvara, Sadāśiva are five Mahāpreta (the Great Dead = subordinates)) at my Feet. They are constituted of the five Bhūta (elements) and represent the five different elements of matter.' 'I however' She says 'am unmanifested consciousness (Chit) and in every way beyond them.'

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Siva and Sakti (Kali) worship is one and the same and inseparate.

The object of worship in Brahmasādhana (Realization of God) and Ādyā-śakti-sādhana (First Sakti Realization) is one and the same. For by Brahman is meant Turīya Brahman united with Mūlaprakṛti and by Adyā Śakti is meant Mūlaprakṛti (root-nature) as united with Turīya Brahman. It is She who is worshipped under the different names of Māyā, Mahāmāyā, Kāli, Mahākāli and so forth. Brahman and Māyā are not separate entities. Could they be separated then Brahman bereft of activity (Kartiṛtva) would be inert (Jaḍapadārtha) and Śakti without consciousness (Caitanya) would also be so. The relation between Brahman and Śakti is non-separateness (Avīnābhāva); that is, there can be no Brahman without Śakti or Śakti without Brahman. Worship of Brahman is directed towards Brahman as united with Śakti and worship of Śakti is directed towards Śakti as united being so the fruit to be gained by Brahmasādhana is the same as that to be gained by Śakti-sādhana.  Woodroffe The Worship of Sakti (or Kali) page 63-64 The Great Liberation.

It is by the Power of the Śakti of Kāla (time) that men and other Jīvas (embodied souls, we the people) are conceived in the womb, are born, attain childhood, boyhood, middle and old age and leave the world on death. In the Śāntiparva of Mahābhārata, Vedavyāsa

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says that it is through Kāla that women bear, that birth and death occur, winter, summer and rains come, and the seed germinates. Even Brahmā, Vishnu and Rudra appear, stay and disappear through the Śakti of Kāla. None can escape Its operation. Viśṇu-Samhitā says that even those Devas (deities) who create and withdraw the world are themselves withdrawn by Kāla.  Kāla or time is certainly then the stronger. Mahā Kāla (Great Time) is called Mahākāli (The Great Mistress of Time) because He is one and the same and not different from His eternal Śakti. It is She who is Mahāvidya (Great Knowledge), Mahādevī (The Great Goddess), Mahāmāyā (The Great Illusion), and Parabrahmarūpiṇī (Sakti of the form of Supreme Brahman). As Ādinātha Mahā Kāla (The Deity, the Lord Who is from the beginning, the Great Time) is the first creator of the world so the Śakti of MahāKāla, the merciful Mahākālī is the Ādiguru (Guru from the beginning) of the world. Yoginī Tantra says that Mahākālī  is the Mother of the world, and one with Mahā Kāla, as is shown in the Ardhanāriśvara Murti.

காளி = [ Kāḷi, ] s. A black woman, கரியவள். 2. The goddess Kali, ஐயை. 3. Parvati, பார்வதி

The modern cosmologists in their Faustian wisdom dispute these statements.

There are only two entities in the universe: Prakasa and Vimarsa.  Prakasa is  Consciousness and Vimarsa is the adjutant to Consciousness. Siva-Prakasa (S-P) is illumination and Vimarsa-Sakti (V-S) is the producer of objects by which we experience the world. They exist as one as the pea in a pod with two cotyledons. Siva-Prakasa is self-effulgent, static and positively charged. V-S is negatively charged and dynamic. S-P is the sun around which V-S spins like the planets. S-P is the nucleus around which V-S spins like a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Siva is Consciousness and Bindu; Sakti is Nada and matter (Prakrti).

Prakasa is Supreme Light; Vimarsa is experience of the object (and the object maker). The root word mris (Vimarsa) means to touch mentally and physically, to cogitate, to handle, to reflect, to consider. Light without object serves no purpose; object without light is not seen. Siva is the illumination in thought, word, deed, phenomena and matter. In Siva-Sakti Tattva (Principle) 'Sakti,' the negative aspect of the former negates Herself as the object of experience by Siva, leaving Him as mere 'I''. Siva is not looking at Sakti and thus has no experience of objects. Sakti turns towards Him with longing eyes. They come to a mutual agreement to begin creation. The object 'This' comes into existence. Now 'I' and 'This' are the universe.  'I' and 'This' = Aham (I

being such) and Idam = अहम् and इदम्.

You may call Consciousness God, Brahman, Kali, Siva, Vishnu, Yahweh, the Lord, The Father in heaven, Allah or whatever your imagination can conjure up. Consciousness (Purusa) reigns supreme and Sakti (Prakrti) is the adjutant to Consciousness. The Supreme Consciousness has trickled down to human consciousness and other lesser entities in fauna and flora. According to Woodroffe, the manifestation of  consciousness is more or less limited as ascent is made from the mineral to man. Siva and Sakti (Kali) are one; one without the other does not exist. It is like a rich man and riches.

Puruṣa does not merely mean man nor indeed any animal. Every single thing in the Universe is Puruṣa. Thus an atom of sand is a Puruṣa or consciousness, identifying itself with solidity (Pṛthivī = Earth), manifesting its limited Consciousness as atomic memory and other ways. What Consciousness thinks, that is, identifies itself with, that it becomes.  Page 101, The Garland of letters by Woodroffe

Matter has consciousness according to Hindus. The extent it manifests itself in a particular matter varies. In the atom the consciousness is expressed by its qualities. Earth is the least conscious entity. Man is the most conscious entity. The Pure Consciousness of Siva-Sakti, the greatest of all, is unfathomable. We men cannot fathom the Infinite Consciousness of Siva-Sakti, as a worm would not be able to fathom the consciousness of man.

Consciousness sleeps in stone, feels in flora, senses in fauna and thinks in man. Sentience runs parallel with consciousness.  

Ṛta (ऋतं Ṛtaṃ = that which is properly joined; order, rule; truth:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rta), the Laws of Cosmos, and its derivative Dharma-धर्म- at personal, interpersonal, national and international levels govern the universe of matter and man.

Rta: fixed or settled order, law or rule (magnetism, Gravity...). Dharma: prescribed conduct, duty, justice.... At the level of Ṛta, man may overcome a certain law (Gravity) or may use one (Magnetism as in MRI) for an appropriate purpose. Likewise Dharma is also made flexible by man and differs from country to country by the laws of man. What is Dharma in one country is Adharma of another country and comes under local laws. Building a church is allowed by law in the USA but is prohibited in Saudi Arabia. This prohibition does not negate the existence of Jesus Christ, his teachings and followers but is an evidence of cultural and religious sentiment or antipathy, as some would characterize it. Dharma is also a personal conduct not governed by and beyond the laws of the land (religious observances). In certain countries, alien religions are prohibited. 

Rta (cosmic law) in the cosmos keeps the sun and the planets in orbit.

Whenever an entity does its prescribed natural thing, it is Dharma. Examples:

1) water quenches thirst; the fire cooks food; a teacher teaches; a physician heals.

2) Man follows puruṣārtha (goal of man): Artha, Kāma, Dharma, Mokṣa ( Wealth, love, Righteousness, Liberation).

This is the essence of Hinduism.

The word Dharma (= धर्म = தருமம்), which includes both ethics and religion, but has also a wider context, comes from the root dhri, to sustain, and is therefore  both the sustainer and the act of sustaining. The Universe is sustained (Dhāryate) by Dharma, and the Lord who  is its Supreme Sustainer is embodied in the eternal law and is  the Bliss which its fulfillment secures. Dharma is thus the law governing the universal evolution, or the path of outgoing  (Pravṛtti), and involution, or the path of return (Nivṛtti). And only those can attain the liberation to which the latter path leads who by adherence to Dharma co-operate in the carrying out of the universal scheme. For  this reason it is finely said, "Doing good to others is the Supreme Duty" (Paropakāro hi paramo dharmah).

Woodroffe, Serpent Power page 187.  

 The vacuous and vapid intellect, pretenses and arrogance of limited man.

The god of the Gaps

The scientists fall into the abysmal Gap of arrogance and intellectual effeteness. Sep 5, 2010

Cosmologists are agreed that the universe began with a big bang 13.7 billion years ago. People naturally want to know what caused it. A simple answer is nothing: not because there was a mysterious state of nothing before the big bang, but because time itself began then - that is, there was no time “before” the big bang. The idea is by no means new. In the fifth century, St Augustine of Hippo wrote that “the universe was created with time and not in time”.

Religious people often feel tricked by this logic. They envisage a miracle-working God dwelling within the stream of time for all eternity and then, for some inscrutable reason, making a universe (perhaps in a spectacular explosion) at a specific moment in history.

That was not Augustine’s God, who transcended both space and time. Nor is it the God favoured by many contemporary theologians. In fact, they long ago coined a term for it - “god-of-the-gaps” - to deride the idea that when science leaves something out of account, then God should be invoked to plug the gap. The origin of life and the origin of consciousness are favourite loci for a god-of-the-gaps, but the origin of the universe is the perennial big gap.

Atheist ·     God is conscience. He is even the atheism of the atheist. www.gandhi-manibhavan.org  TIG-10 Mahatma Gandhi   The priests, pundits and puerile minds, having not seen God, talk the cheap talk. Here is what RKPH says about God.-Krishnaraj   Here is what RamaKrishnaParamaHamsa (February 18, 1836 – August 16, 1886), says about experiencing God in saying 908.... Perception of Divine Forms and Sounds By Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886)   908. The realization of God is of two kinds-one consists in the unification of the Jivatman (We the people) and the Paramatman (Him, the God) and the other in seeing Him in His personal manifestation. The former is called Jnana (knowledge or wisdom), and the latter Bhakti (devotion).   909. Really God can be seen, my boys. As we are sitting and talking together, in the very same way God can be seen and conversed with. Truly and sincerely I say so.   910. The manifestation of the Personal God is often a Spiritual Form, which is seen only by a purified human soul. In other words, these forms of God are realized by the organs of spiritual vision belonging to the spiritual body (Bhagavati-tanu) which is derived from the Lord. So the perfect man alone can see these Divine Forms.   911.. On being questioned whether those who see God see Him with the ordinary fleshy eyes, the Master replied:   "No, He cannot be seen with the physical eye. In the course of Sadhana a 'Love-body' is created in you, with eyes and ears of Love, and with them you see and hear Him." --Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.   More on Vision experienced by people. November 14, 2013   Here is what Dr. Radhakrishnan says in Bhagavadgita Page 270 about Vision that people have of God. The Blessed Lord said: (11.5) Behold, O Partha (Arjuna), My forms, a hundred-fold, a thousand-fold, various in kind, divine, of various colors and shapes.  The stupendous self-revelation of Divine power is manifested to Arjuna who understands the true meaning of the cosmic process and destiny. In M.B., VI, 131, it is said that Kṛṣṇa appeared in His world-form to Duryodhana, who attempted to make Him a prisoner when He approached Duryodhana for a final attempt at reconciliation. The vision is not a myth or a legend but spiritual experience. In the history of religious experience, we have a number of such visions. The transfiguration of Jesus,1 the vision of Saul on the Damascus Road, Constantine's vision of the Cross bearing the motto "In this sign, conquer," Joan of Arc's visions are experiences akin to the vision of Arjuna.  1Mark ix, 2-8. Saint Hildegard (1098-1180) reports a vision in which she saw a "fair human form" who declared his identity in words reminiscent of the Gītā description. "I am that supreme and fiery force that sends forth all the sparks of life. Death hath no part in me, yet do I allot it, wherefore I am girt about with wisdom as with wings. I am that living and fiery essence of the divine substance that glows in the beauty of the fields. I shine in the water, I burn in the sun and the moon and the stars. Mine is that mysterious force of the invisible wind. I sustain the breath of all living. I breathe in the verdure and in the flowers, and when the waters flow like living things, it is I. I formed those columns that support the whole earth.... All these live because I am in them and am of their life. I am wisdom. Mine is the blast of the thundered word by which all things were made. I permeate all things that they may not die. I am life.'' Quoted in Studies in the History and Method of Science, edited by Charles Singer (I917), p. 33. There is a difference between a Professor of Theology and God-Realized person. RKPH is a God-Realized person. He does not merely theorize about God, but bears witness to the presence of God. Scientist is blind, in his celebration of Faustian knowledge, to see God. His eyes and heart are flesh, while Ramakrishna Parmahamsa has spiritual eyes and heart. --Krishnaraj

The Nobel Prize-winning physicist (and atheist) Steven Weinberg made the point as well as anybody, in Dreams of a Final Theory: Some people have views of God that are so broad and flexible that it is inevitable that they will find God wherever they look for him. One hears it said that 'God is the ultimate' or 'God is our better nature' or 'God is the universe.' Of course, like any other word, the word 'God' can be given any meaning we like. If you want to say that 'God is energy,' then you can find God in a lump of coal. Dawkins, Richard (2008-01-16). The God Delusion (p. 33). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition. ............................................................................................................... The problem with excellence in Faustian knowledge (like Physics) is it gives a delusive superiority. Here is Jaggi Vasudev who felt He, (She), it and that are one.  Insight into Self. Jaggi Vasudev, commonly known as Sadhguru, is an Indian yogi, mystic, philanthropist and author of over 100 titles in 8 different languages. At the age of twenty-five on 23 September 1981,[8] he rode up Chamundi Hill and sat on a rock, when he had a spiritual experience. Sadhguru describes his experience, "Till that moment in my life I always thought this is me and that's somebody else and something else. But for the first time I did not know which is me and which is not me. Suddenly, what was me was just all over the place. The very rock on which I was sitting, the air that I breathe, the very atmosphere around me, I had just exploded into everything. That sounds like utter insanity. This, I thought it lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I was about four-and-a-half-hours I was sitting there, fully conscious, eyes open, but time had just flipped."[9]:04:04 Six weeks after this experience, he left his business to his friend and traveled extensively in an effort to gain insight into his 'mystical' experience. After a year of meditation and travel, Sadhguru decided to teach yoga to share his inner experience.[8] Wikipedia.  Notes on October 4, 2014.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Bhagavadgita. Dr. Radhakrishnan.  Nov 2, 2013 Scientific or discriminative knowledge prepares us for the higher wisdom. The partial truths of science are different from the whole truth of spirit. Scientific knowledge is useful since it dispels the darkness oppressing the mind, shows up the incompleteness of its own world and prepares the mind for something beyond it. For knowing the truth, we require a conversion of the soul, the development of spiritual vision. Arjuna could not see the truth with his naked eyes and so was granted the divine sight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The material scientist with Faustian knowledge in his abysmal spiritual bankruptcy and ignorance has not seen God, as Jesus Christ, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (RKPH)... have seen God. What RKPH obtained is called Nirvana Experience (Aparokṣa-Jñāna) as opposed to (parokṣa) or merely intellectual knowledge.  Parokṣa = beyond the eye; cognizable by mind only. Parokṣa-Jñāna is mere Jñāna (knowledge of God) obtained by the study of Sacred Texts. Aparokṣa-Jñāna: (Vijñāna) is direct knowledge of (God) by Self-realization. It is common knowledge that material sciences change as new discoveries are made. God remains immutable, absolute and solid through all these changes. He is invisible to the material scientist and visible to Jesus Christ.... The Nobel Prize-winning physicist (and atheist) Steven Weinberg says in a derisive and dismissive manner that ' If you want to say that 'God is energy,' then you can find God in a lump of coal.' The truth of the matter is that God is Consciousness and matter. Coal is matter and therefore god. Srivaishnavites say God is Isvara, Cit and Acit (the Lord, the sentient and the insentient). Coal being insentient is God. God is all and all-pervasive. The problem with the scientists today is that they are full of themselves-- (Egotistical, believing themselves to be superior to others; preoccupied with their own work, interests, point of view. They know Faustian knowledge as it exists today. What will be tomorrow or in the distant future, they have no idea. The little things they discovered or invented have given them a god-dismissive super-size ego, they question what Rishis and Seers and Jesus Christ say about God. It is like the worm taking the measure of man and man (material scientist) taking the measure of God. Krishnaraj Dr. Radhakrishnan  bhagavadgita page 181. November 21, 2013 What we know is practically nothing compared to what we do not know The familiar sentence of the great Newton illustrates this: ''I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay undiscovered before me:' I might transcribe a sentence of Henry Adams. ''After all, man knows mighty little, and may some day learn enough of his own ignorance to fall down and pray.' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Here an American, turned a Saivite, talks about Siva, Muruga.... Himalayan Academy Kauai's Hindu Monastery 107 Kaholalele Road Kapaa, HI 96746-9304 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivaya_Subramuniyaswami Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927–2001), born Robert Hansen also known as Gurudeva by his followers, in Oakland, California, on January 5, 1927, and adopted Saivism as a young man.  Wiki. Here is what Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (an American who became an ardent devotee of Siva) and established Saiva Siddhanta Church, says: Gurudeva said: "It was in 1959 that my path led me to the Hawaiian Islands for the first time. In 1968 I returned to the islands on a vision quest, seeking and finding a place to move our international headquarters, there to live a contemplative life in harmony with the ultimate attainment of the Self within man. One early morning, before dawn, a three-fold vision of Lord Siva came to me. First I beheld Lord Siva walking in a valley, then I saw His face peering into mine, then He was seated on a large stone, His reddish golden hair flowing down His back. That was February 15, 1975. "This was the fulfillment of the quest for a vision of what the future might hold, which led me and my followers to the lovely Garden Island of Kauai, held the most sacred of all by the Hawaiian peoples long, long ago. It is alongside the sacred Wailua River, leading to the top of Mt. Waialeale, that this place of pilgrimage is being built, a temple of kaivalya, granting freedom from the past and a vision for the future. The temple's 700-pound 50-million-years-in-the-making crystal icon is a kalpaka (spiritual wish-fulfilling) ever-giving Sivalingam. So many blessings await each pilgrim. None are ever neglected. It is said that the most powerful temples are those founded by the Gods themselves through visions. Kadavul Hindu Temple is such a temple. Gurudeva describes his vision and the events leading up to the temple's founding: "At Mahasivaratri time in 1973, in the jungles of Kauai, our Kadavul Nataraja Deity (Siva), Lord of the Dance, arrived at Kauai Aadheenam and was placed in the gardens overlooking the sacred Wailua River, where it was spontaneously decorated, bathed and worshiped. That night the exact location of the Deity's installation was chosen by Lord Muruga Himself when He appeared to me in an early morning vision, upturned His glistening vel, His scepter of spiritual discernment, and powerfully pounded its point three times on the cement steps at the Aadheenam entrance, marking the precise spot to place the Deity." This mystical vision marked the founding of Kadavul Hindu Temple. Shortly after the installation of the Nataraja Deity, Gurudeva received what he called "a magical boon" of reading clairvoyantly from inner-plane manuscripts, which he then dictated to his monks over a two-year period. These writings from the devas and Mahadevas formed the shastras, spiritual instructions, that now guide his monastic order. During the same time, Gurudeva received devonic directions that written prayers could be sent to the inner world devas by being burned in the sacred fire inside Kadavul Temple. What we know today in material sciences will be pooh-poohed and purged tomorrow. God remains steady, solid and unchanged - Krishnaraj The material scientists (Reductionist extraordinaire) fall into the abysmal Gap of arrogance and intellectual effeteness. --Krishnaraj I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity. This belief must be classed as a superstition  .  .  .  . we have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world. —SIR JOHN C. ECCLES (1903– 1997) Alexander III M.D., Eben (2012-10-23). Proof of Heaven (p. 140). Simon & Schuster, Inc.. Kindle Edition.   Svetasvatara Upanisad. Page 721-722 The Principal Upanisads By Dr. Radhakrishnan about how God reveals himself to a Yogi. November 29, 2013 2.11. Fog, smoke, sun, wind, fire, fireflies, lightning, crystal moon, these are the preliminary forms which produce the manifestation of Brahman in Yoga. We read in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: 'In his exercise, the Yogin sees (imaginatively) the form of the sun or the moon or something looking like a lotus, or the underworld or various forms such as skyfire and the like. When all these are put aside and there is a state of imagelessness, then a condition in conformity with suchness (bhūta-tathatā) presents itself and the Buddhas will come together from all their countries and with their shining bands will touch the head of the benefactor.' At first appears a sign like that of a star, then gradually appear a diamond mirror, thereafter a full lunar circle, thereafter a circle of the lustre of the nine germs, thereafter the midday sun, thereafter a circle of flame, then a crystal, a black circle, a dot, sound, digit, star, sun, lamp, eye, the lustre of gold and nine gems are seen. l Mystics speak of visions and auditions. Truth is seen through the mirror of human reflection. The mind of man is limited by the nature of its possessor, by the kind of man he is. What thinks is the man, not the mind. Our senses make definite what is in its nature indefinite. We reduce the invisible to our level. As we cannot for long dwell on the heights without suffering from vertigo, we descend to the sense world and use images belonging to it. Though God transcends all forms, He may still use them and convey His presence through them. These images are sent to comfort and instruct us. l This verse makes out that the images are not the subjective activities of the human self. Besides, many of these visions have a symbolic character. The words and phrases we use to describe impressions which external things make upon us are employed to describe the events of our spiritual life. It is a process of spiritual materialization. Truths of the spiritual life cannot be adequately represented except through symbols. Saint Hildegrand (1098-1180) had visions and she repeatedly assures us: 'These visions which I saw I beheld neither in sleep nor in dream, nor in madness nor with my carnal eyes, nor with the ears of the flesh, nor in hidden places; but wakeful, alert, with the eyes of the spirit and with the inward ears I perceived them in open view and according to the will of God. And how this was compassed is hard indeed for human flesh to search out: Quoted in Studies in the History and Method of Science, edited by Charles Singer (1917), p. 53. Suso, Theresa, Muhammad and many others had these visions.

In his new book, Stephen Hawking reiterates that there is no big gap in the scientific account of the big bang. The laws of physics can explain, he says, how a universe of space, time and matter could emerge spontaneously, without the need for God. And most cosmologists agree: we don’t need a god-of-the-gaps to make the big bang go bang. It can happen as part of a natural process. A much tougher problem now looms, however. What is the source of those ingenious laws that enable a universe to pop into being from nothing? Traditionally, scientists have supposed that the laws of physics were simply imprinted on the universe at its birth, like a maker’s mark. As to their origin, well, that was left unexplained.

In recent years, cosmologists have shifted position somewhat. If the origin of the universe was a law rather than a supernatural event, then the same laws could presumably operate to bring other universes into being. The favoured view now, and the one that Mr. Hawking shares, is that there were in fact many bangs, scattered through space and time, and many universes emerging therefrom, all perfectly naturally. The entire assemblage goes by the name of the multiverse.

Our universe is just one infinitesimal component amid this vast - probably infinite - multiverse, that itself had no origin in time. So according to this new cosmological theory, there was something before the big bang after all - a region of the multiverse pregnant with universe-sprouting potential.

A refinement of the multiverse scenario is that each new universe comes complete with its very own laws - or bylaws, to use the apt description of the cosmologist Martin Rees. Go to another universe, and you would find different bylaws applying. An appealing feature of variegated bylaws is that they explain why our particular universe is uncannily bio-friendly; change our bylaws just a little bit and life would probably be impossible. The fact that we observe a universe “fine-tuned” for life is then no surprise: the more numerous bio-hostile universes are sterile and so go unseen.

So is that the end of the story? Can the multiverse provide a complete and closed account of all physical existence? Not quite. The multiverse comes with a lot of baggage, such as an overarching space and time to host all those bangs, a universe-generating mechanism to trigger them, physical fields to populate the universes with material stuff, and a selection of forces to make things happen. Cosmologists embrace these features by envisaging sweeping “meta-laws” that pervade the multiverse and spawn specific bylaws on a universe-by-universe basis. The meta-laws themselves remain unexplained - eternal, immutable transcendent entities that just happen to exist and must simply be accepted as given. In that respect the meta-laws have a similar status to an unexplained transcendent god.

According to folklore the French physicist Pierre Laplace, when asked by Napoleon where God fitted into his mathematical account of the universe, replied: “I had no need of that hypothesis.” Although cosmology has advanced enormously since the time of Laplace, the situation remains the same: there is no compelling need for a supernatural being or prime mover to start the universe off. But when it comes to the laws that explain the big bang, we are in murkier waters.

Guardian News & Media 2010 September

Sayings of Sri Ramkrishna, page 241

887. A devotee: Why is the Divine Mother called Yogamaya?  

Purusha = Spirit; Prakrti = Nature.

The Master: Yoga maya means the union of Purusha and Prakriti. Whatever you see is nothing but that union of the two. Haven't you seen the Siva-Kali image--Kali standing on Siva? Siva is lying prostrate like a corpse and Kali is with a fixed gaze upon Siva. All this means the same Purusha-Prakriti union. Purusha is inactive, hence Siva is lying down inert like a corpse. But by virtue of the union with Him, Prakriti is doing everything--creation, preservation and destruction. The same is the significance of the coupled image of Radha and Krishna.

 Woodroffe on Science

Excerpt from The Garland of Letters Pages 292-4

In my opinion none is better constructed than the Six Darśanas (Doctrines). The advance has been made in Science. But even here there is dispute, both as to the facts observed, and the theories based on them. For me, their greatest importance just lies in the fact, that the latest scientific inferences corroborate the intuitively derived teaching of the ancient sages. Thus present scientific conceptions of the constitution of matter, and notably the breakdown of the Atomic Theory, support the notions of Māyā, a single material basis of the Universe, and the existence of Ether which, as Ākāśa, was accepted in India when Europe had not passed beyond the so-called “four elements.” Both science and Indian beliefs posit an evolution of beings from the inorganic to the organic, and, in the latter division, from plant to animal and animal to man. In India it has always been held that there are no partitions or gulfs between the various forms of existence, and that, for instance, the difference between man and animal is not a difference of kind but of degree. Again from the new Psychology and Psychical Research, Vedānta gains support, as from theories touching the nature of mind as a material force (as Herbert Spencer teaches) and as a power (the predominant idea in “New Thought” literature), the extension of the field of Consciousness, dual personalities and various forms of psychical phenomena.

Nevertheless, so far as ultimates are concerned, neither Metaphysics nor Science can establish more than a high degree of probability; they may lead to the door of the shrine, but they do not directly and unaided place the enquirer within. The Brahman or All-Pervader (God) cannot be established by reason, because it is never an object of knowledge. The Śāstra says, one can only know Brahman by being Brahman and that is by spiritual experience. Its being and nature are taught by revelation. Revelation is not the speaking of any voice, divine or otherwise, from without. It is self-knowledge in its deepest sense and nothing more. The Vedāntist affirms that we can know ourselves, not only in our gross or physical aspect as being fair or dark, short or tall and so on, or in our subtle or mental aspect as perceiving and reasoning beings, but in our innermost essence as that of which both body and mind are manifestations. It may be the facts or it may not be the fact, but there is nothing unreasonable in the proposition as such. It is this Self-knowledge, attained by oneself in varying degrees, or accepted as the experience of others (Śruti), whose testimony we may, for reasons satisfying to ourselves, accept, which renders certain that which to reason is only probable. Once Śruti is accepted, Reason can follow its teaching without violence to its own principles. What was before reasonable and probable is now both reasonable and certain. This must be so, unless we assume what is impossible, namely a divorce between rational and spiritual truth. Truth however is one and what is unreasonable must be rejected, whoever says it, “even if He be the Lotus-born.”

It is not India who has denied the rights of Reason. It is Europe who in the past has done so. But Europe has now, after fierce contest against Church tyranny and oppression (aided by the State) with its imprisonment, torture and burning at the stake, largely achieved in the present the right of free thinking. Had India been so opposed She might have been to-day more intellectually active. In the same way the political activity of Europe has been stimulated by the oppressive governance of its peoples. We westerners have had to fight for all the things of worth we have won.

Nowhere however has intellectual liberty been so authoritatively, and for such a length of time, recognised as in India. The word “Man” is derived from the root Man, which in Sanskrit means “to think.” Man is Manu. Therefore man is “The Thinker.” He is thus distinguished from the rest of the world by his thinking. What greater definition than this of our Aryan forefathers can be found? In no country in the whole world has there been more thinking than in India, which has been indeed a very hot-bed of speculation and divergent beliefs and practices: such as the Materialism of Chārvāka and the Lokāyatas, true atheists, men of the type of Ajitakeśakam ̣ balī, the opponent of Śākya-Munī, who denied that any Brāhmaṇa, or anyone else, had discovered any truth concerning any other life than this, who said that man was made of the four elements and dissolved into the elements at death and had gone for ever; such again as the Sānkhyas, dualists and realists, affirming the existence of Spirit, but holding a God as Governor of the universe unproved (Nirīśvara-Darśana); the Nyāyavaiṣeśikas, pluralists, realists affirming the existence of the Supreme Lord; Buddhist idealism (Vijnānavāda) and so called “Nihilists”  (Śūnyavādins); Vedāntic Monism, qualified Monism, and Dualism in various theistic forms, Mimam ̣ sakas, Jainas and every shade of thought imaginable.

“There is no harm in having many religions and faiths, but it is harmful to think that they are different and that one faith is higher and the other one is lower. Children, do not see the differences. See the unity in them and the great ideals that they teach.”

--Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

Graham Crackers

Billy and his Progeny turn against their HOME.

William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. (born November 7, 1918) and his progeny do not know that Graham is a Sanskrit, Tamil and English word for HOME.

Welcome Home to India, Hinduism and its Sanskritic traditions, Billy. Are you going to claim your Hindu Heritage?

A Note on Graham.  Graham: a male given name: from an Old English word meaning "gray home." ---Random House Webster's Dictionary.

Let me say right off that Graham is originally a Sanskrit word. (கிரகம் = *kirakam sanskrit. A house, a mansion, or palace.

Graham = Gṛha = house or home. Graha is Sanskrit and Graham is Tamil with M terminator.

As you see and pronounce, Sanskrit Graham is not Graham flour or Graham crackers but yes,  Martha Graham, Thomas Graham and Billy Graham are named after the Sanskrit word Graha meaning house. English Dictionary:  It also means a male given name, "Gray Home."  In a surprising manner, there is a concordant meaning between Sanskrit Graha (house) and English Graham meaning "gray home."  I postulate English Graham is derived from Sanskrit Graham because Sanskrit Graham built the HOUSE long before the English built their GRAY HOME.

Gṛha: (Sanskrit) has several meanings. One among them is house

Here is what the Grahams say about Hinduism. Hindus are not upset but welcome them back to their ancient roots, Hinduism. Is that possible? Our roots come from Black African Adam and Black African Eve and not from the false portrayal in the paintings of great masters. Remember Graham, We all came from Black Eve and Black Adam. You have their DNA in you. Hold your tongue from this day onward.

Grahams on Hinduism:

'None of their 9,000 gods is going to lead me to salvation. We are fooling ourselves if we think we can have some big kumbaya service and all hold hands and it's all going to get better in this world. It's not going to get better,'--www.rediff.com

"multiple-handed Hindus would have to sanitise their hands were they to hold Mr Graham's anyway."--www.rediff.com

The Pentagon canceled Franklin Graham's appearance because of his previous attacks on Islam as 'an evil and wicked religion', arguing that it was 'not appropriate' to have someone like him at a prayer service which would be attended by armed services personnel of all faiths, including many Muslim servicemen. --www.rediff.com

(Americans of South Asian origin are serving in the military protecting the interests of the Grahams, who forgot their Sanskritic traditions and Hindu origin. Come back HOME, Billy; all is forgiven! --Krishnaraj)

'The people of the Christian faith and the Jewish faith are the ones who built America and it is not Islam,' Graham declared.  --www.rediff.com

(We need to remind him about the Silicon Valley Indians and the First Pentium built by an Indian. There is no computer without 0 and 1. That ZERO was invented in India. --Krishnaraj)

"Mr Graham's father was caught on President Nixon's White House tapes, bitterly denouncing Jews. It came to light a few years ago."--www.rediff.com

(Karma, Yoga, Avatar and reincarnation have become part of the Lexicon in America. Americans believe in things such as these in Hinduism.)

--Krishnaraj)

" Shukla said, adding, "that they are more desperate cries of a shepherd trying to recapture a fleeing flock than a representative voice of Christians in America." www.rediff.com

(This shepherd was caught napping; the flock is scattering. Welcome back HOME, Billy! You belong to Sanskritic tradition and Hinduism. Your name is Sanskritic first and everything else later. All is forgiven. Do come home. A warm welcome awaits you, your family and your flock.

Let me tell you that the flock (Pasu) means spiritually unenlightened beings. Flock in Sanskrit is Pasu (Cattle). There is a trilateral relationship: Pati-Pasu-Pasa (Chief or shepherd-flock-bondage). Here Pati is Siva or the shepherd in Christian tradition. We are all the flock or Pasu in Sanskrit. Bondage is our spiritual ignorance. Siva offers spiritual knowledge necessary for liberation. Does all this sound like Christianity? Which is older, Hinduism or Christianity. I propose that this idea of shepherd and flock came from India and a transplant to Christianity. -Krishnaraj)

Take Jesus Christ.

The Hugging Saint of India and the World
Natal name = Sudhamani = Pure Gem AKA Sri Mātā Amritananadamayi Devi = Sri¹-Mātā²-Amrit³-Ānanda⁴-Mayi⁵-Devi⁶ = Her divineness¹-Mother²-Ambrosia³-Bliss⁴-She full of⁵-Goddess⁶  =  Her Divineness Ambrosial Mother Goddess full of Bliss AKA Amma = Mother

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Louis Hughes op from https://dialogueireland.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/sri-mata-amritanandamayi-amma-by-louis-hughes-op/

At first sight Amma appears to westerners to be a traditional Hindu teacher. However, there are unique, even revolutionary, elements in her approach to spirituality and mission. These include an emphasis on love that is more characteristic of the Gospels than of any Hindu scriptures. And this isn’t only theory. She exemplifies it in her loving approach to people on a one-to-one basis, as well as in the extraordinary range of social services with which she is associated. This focus on love provides the foundation for her ecumenism: “Love is a universal religion and this is what society really needs.”[13] She has had a network of Temples called brahmasthanam (places for Brahma) built in different parts of India. These are designed to emphasize an essential unity underlying different forms of God.
The manner in which Amma expresses love to all – her embrace – is exceptional in an Indian context. Physical touch is used in some guru movements as part of an initiation ceremony. The guru communicates spiritual energy by touching the disciple, usually on top of his/her head. This is called shaktipata (descent of the power). Generally however, touching is discouraged in polite society and particularly in religious circles. Non-westernized Indians do not shake hands – they greet one another by joining their own hands together in front of the chest and bowing the head. To embrace someone, especially of the opposite sex, is highly unconventional.
In another breach with convention Amma has installed women priests in her brahmasthanam temples, something previously unheard of in India. On the other hand her popularity in the west is due in no small way to the fact that she pays homage to the feminine aspect of God, something taken for granted in India. Here she has a strong appeal for women, many of whom feel alienated from what they see as a male-dominated Christian Church, in which God is conceived of first of all as Father.
Finally, Amma’s over-riding concern with the social and material uplift of people is atypical of Hinduism and particularly the advaita vedanta philosophy to which she subscribes. Advaita views the world as maya – not fully real. Its concerns are with the world of spirit. This otherworldly attitude has led to a neglect of developments that improve this world. Amma has rejected this approach. For her, practical help for people’s needs must come first. After that they can be introduced to the mysteries of religion.[14] Her programmes of social uplift and care for the environment are driven by spiritual energy. Thus, religion is seen as leading to the renewal of society. This has some parallels with what has been happening in the Christian world for centuries. Consider for example how Benedictine monasteries contributed to the building up of European civilization in the early medieval period.
 

 Hitchens to the Hilt

Hey Hitchens! what is cooking in your kitchen?

Christopher Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) is known for his admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson and for his excoriating critiques of, among others, Mother Teresa,^[12] Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Henry Kissinger. Hitchens describes himself as an antitheist and a believer in the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. Wikipedia

A moral and ethical person (theist, atheist or antitheist) is superior to a self-adoring godly (religious) man wallowing in ignorance, prejudice, conspicuous consumption and the ten afflictions of man (passion, pride, anger, greed, infatuation, lust, hatred, jealousy, selfishness and crookedness). --Krishnaraj

Here is Christopher Hitchens (CH), an advocate of Enlightenment and an out-stretched leftist to the tip of his left middle finger. Krishnaraj

  "It would be better if there was a great deal more by way of an outbreak of secularism." CH

In the ordinary moral universe, the good will do the best they can, the worst will do the worst they can, but if you want to make good people do wicked things, you’ll need religion.--Stephen Weinberg

Identified as a champion of the "new atheism" movement, Hitchens (a fierce left-winger, aggressively attacking targets such as Henry Kissinger, the Vietnam War, and the Roman Catholic Church) describes himself as an anti-theist and believer in the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. Hitchens says that a person "could be an atheist and wish that belief in god were correct," but that "An antitheist, a term I’m trying to get into circulation, is someone who is relieved that there’s no evidence for such an assertion."^[7] He argues that the concept of God or a supreme being is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom, and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization. He wrote at length on atheism and the nature of religion in his 2007 book God Is Not Great.  -Wikipedia.

Hitchens is an old-fashioned village atheist, standing in the square trying to pick arguments with the good citizens on their way to church. Although Hitchens’s title refers to God, his real energy is in the subtitle: “religion poisons everything.” Disproving the existence of God (at least to his own satisfaction and, frankly, to mine) is just the beginning for Hitchens. In fact, it sometimes seems as if existence is just one of the bones Hitchens wants to pick with God — and not even the most important. If God would just leave the world alone, Hitchens would be glad to let him exist, quietly, in retirement somewhere. Possibly the Hoover Institution.-Michael Kinsley is a columnist for Time magazine.

In short, Hitchens critique of religion come down to four main points: that it misrepresents the origins of humankind and the cosmos, demands unreasonable suppression of human nature, inclines people to violence and blind submission to authority, and expresses hostility to free inquiry. Collins sees God's design in our DNA; but Hitchens cannot imagine a competent designer equipping humans with useless gene artifacts, otherwise known as "junk DNA," anymore than he can imagine a competent designer equipping a new jetliner with old, useless parts. Hitchens, it should be noted, is not merely an atheist but an anti-theist. Unlike many atheists, who mourn God's death, anti-theists are glad there is no evidence for the existence of God. He moves to the very canons of religion, specifically the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran (which he considers a feeble plagiarism of the former two) to show that religious texts have served as a how-to manual for irrationality and violence. In a chapter titled "Revelation: The Nightmare of the 'Old' Testament," Hitchens is puzzled that a book which condones genocide, slavery, rape, indiscriminate massacre and the murder of "witches," homosexuals and disobedient children is widely endorsed as a proper foundation for morality. And in the New Testament, which casts God in a softer light, we stumble into what Hitchens considers one of the worst cruelties of Christianity (and later Islam): the threat of an eternal punitive hell, a teaching that for centuries had been used to frighten children into believing what their parents or religious leaders did. "Perhaps Thomas Paine was not wrong in saying that he could not believe in any religion that shocked the mind of a child," writes Hitchens.

He bemoans religious coercion, the idea of Hell, religious ban on stem cell research, teaching of creationism in schools, prohibition of condom use (Hitchens: A church that says, AIDS may be wicked but not as wicked as condoms: its use approved by the church as of 12/2010), militant brand of Islam....

He recommends abandonment of blind credulity, resolution of ethical dilemmas not with outmoded religious texts but with literature of Shakespeare, pursuance of unfettered scientific enquiry and divorcing of sexual life from fear and tyranny. Jeremy Carlos Foster

Hitchens on Gandhi

Then, ‘at just the moment when what India most needed was a modern secular nationalist leader, it got a fakir and guru instead.’ Gandhi therefore retarded India’s economic development.

Now read what the opponents of Christopher Hitchens say about him.

Last week Christopher Hitchens had to suspend his book tour that he will undoubtedly take up again if possible due to a cancer diagnosis of his esophagus. It is no surprise that the cancer developed as Hitchens is famous for his heavy drinking and smoking and had even given up smoking, even though he had supposedly been caught doing it here and there under pressure. This first bit of this little blurb of mine, is to wish him the best and hope he gets better as he is one of the leading thinkers in moral issues, that helps to bring a talk to the table, whether you agree with him or not, which is why he is important aside from his fabulous writing abilities.--Samuel Langford Sunday, July 4, 2010

Sister Nivedita (1867-1911), born Margaret Elizabeth Noble in Ireland talks on Kali.

In the East, the accepted symbol is of a woman nude, with flowing hair, so dark a blue that she seems in colour to be black, four-handed---two hands in the act of blessing, and two holding a knife and bleeding head respectively,--garlanded with skulls, and dancing, with protruding tongue, on the prostrate figure of a man all white with ashes. A terrible, an extraordinary figure! Those who call it horrible may well be forgiven. They pass only through the outer court of the temple.

Yet, this image, so fearful to the Western mind, is perhaps dearer than any other to the heart of India. It is not, indeed, the only form in which the Divine Energy presents Herself to Her worshippers. To the Sikh, She is absorbed, embodied in his sword; all women, especially as children, are Her incarnations; glorious Sita carries the great reality to many.

But Kali comes closer to us than these. Others we admire; others we love; to Her we belong. Whether we know it or not, we are Her children, playing round Her knees. Life is but a game of hide-and-seek with Her, and if, in its course, we chance to touch Her feet, who can measure the shock of the divine energy that enters into us? Who can utter the rapture of our cry of "Mother?"

For the Kali-image is not so much a picture of the deity, as the utterance of the secret of our own lives. The soul in realisation beholds the mother--how? The picture of green lawns and smiling skies, and flowers steeped in sunshine, cannot deceive the All-Knower. Under the apparent loveliness, He (Siva) sees life preying on life, the rivers breaking down the mountains, the comet poised in mid-space to strike. Around him rises up the wail of all the creatures, the moan of pain, and the sob of greed, and the pitiful cry of little things in fear. Irresponsible, without mercy, seems the spirit of time--deaf to the woes of man, or answering them only with a peal of laughter.

As the Purush, or Soul, He is Consort and Spouse of Maya, Nature, the fleeting diversity of sense. It is in this relation that we find Him beneath the feet of Kali. His recumbent posture signifies inertness, the Soul untouched and indifferent to the external. Kali has been executing a wild dance of carnage. On all sides She has left evidences of Her reign of terror. The garland of skulls is round her neck; still in Her hands She holds the bloody weapon and a freshly-severed head. Suddenly She has stepped unwittingly on the body of Her Husband. Her foot is on His breast. He has looked up, awakened by that touch, and They are gazing into each other's eyes. Her right hands are raised in involuntary blessing, and Her tongue makes an exaggerated gesture of shyness and surprise, once common to Indian women of the villages.

And He, what does He see? To Him, She is all beauty--this woman nude and terrible and black, who tells the name of God on the skulls of the dead, who creates the blood-shed on which demons fatten, who slays rejoicing and repents not, and blesses Him only that lies crushed beneath Her feet.

Her mass of black hair flows behind Her like the wind, or like time, "the drift and passage of things." But to the great third eye even time is one, and that one, God. She is blue almost to blackness, like a mighty shadow, and bare like the dread realities of life and death. But for Him there is no shadow. Deep into the heart of that Most Terrible, He looks unshrinking, and in the ecstasy of recognition He calls Her Mother. So shall ever be the union of the soul with God. 

Do we understand what the background is from which such a thought as this could spring? For the Kali-image is not so much a picture of the deity, as the utterance of the secret of our own lives.

Kali

Kill, Kill, Kill, Kali; You are here to kill; You will never stop killing until you are satisfied. Yes, You are the killer of ten demons in us: passion, pride, anger, greed, infatuation, lust, hatred, jealousy, selfishness and crookedness. What you see in the images is symbolism.

 Definition of Avyakta (Unmanifest). Dr. Radhakrishnan Bhagavadgita page 233-234.  November 22, 2013

(Bhagavadgita Verse 8.20) But beyond this unmanifested, there is yet another Unmanifested Eternal Being who does not perish even when all existences perish.

A father dotes on his infant son, disciplines his rambunctious three year old, acts as a tender lover to his wife, shows compassion to animals, maintains neighborly relationship with all wherever he is and kills the enemies in his capacity as a soldier with unmitigated fervor and fierceness in the battle field. He is a father, love, a disciplinarian, a lover, a compassionate man, a ferocious fighter.... It is the same with the deities. Killing by Kali here is synonym/metonymy for eradication of undesirable qualities in men.

In like manner, a deity comes in three aspects and more: Yoga, Bhoga and Vira (Meditative, Anugraha [munificent--showing favor] and Valiant). The Yogis worship Yoga Mūrthis; the householders the Bhoga murthis; the warriors the Vira Mūrthis.  The Yogis attain communion with the deity by meditation; the householders want satisfaction of material needs; the Ksatriyas (the warriors) aspire for victory in the battlefield. Vira Mūrthy worship: Instances were reported in Kargil war; the Indian soldiers invoked Kali and Durga before attacking the enemy fortifications. The warriors who want to avenge the enemies worship Abhicarika Murthys; this kind of worship is no longer a regular worship. But one sees variations and permutations of this kind of worship even today. Mūrthi or Mūrthy= idol.   Abhi-cāra = Incantation; in this instance, attacking enemies whose tactics do not conform to rules of warfare. (Think of Osama and his death.) Abhicara Yagna or Dakshinagni (Southern Fire) is the sacrifice to drive or kill evil spirits or enemies. Every Brahmana Home has this Fire along with the Beneficent Garhapatya. It is used in the household nowadays to ward off or drive the evil spirits.

Bhoga:  As there are persons who always associate with the word" enjoyment" (Bhoga) "beer and skittles," it is necessary to say that that is not the necessary implication of the word Bhoga, nor the sense in which it is here used. Philosophically, Bhoga is the perception of objects upon which enjoyment, or it may be suffering, ensues. Here any form of sense or intellectual enjoyment is intended. All life in the world of form is enjoyment. Bhoga in fact includes suffering.  Woodroffe, The Serpent Power, page 290. 

And so the Kularnava-Tantra says: "By what men fall, by that they rise." When acts are done in the right feeling and frame of mind (Bhava), those acts give enjoyments (Bhukti); and the repeated and prolonged Bhava produces at length that divine experience (Tattva-jñāna ) which is liberation. When the Mother is seen in all things, She is at length realized as She is when beyond them all.  page 293

Modern example of righteous Abhicarika Murthy worship from news reports: Remember "the double-agent (a Jordanian doctor) who killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan last December (2009), an incident that has become central in the debate over the Afghan war. The CIA did not heed Jordanian intelligence warnings about the double agent, Humam Khalil al Balawi, and security measures at Chapman failed." --News report

As expected, justifiably, "the US intensified drone attacks" on the enemies -- a case of righteous Abhi-cara Murthy worship. A double-agent is a double-edged sword; one has to keep it in a sheath and check all the time. Once drawn, it kills all, friend and foe alike.

Indira Gandhi assassination on October 31, 1984 is also an Abhicara Murthy worship--avenging the invasion of Golden Temple (Operation Blue Star) at the behest of then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who was advised not to have Sikh guards in the Security Detail after she ordered the attack on Sikh Temple. In this instance, Indira Gandhi could have handled the matter without sending the troops to the Golden Temple and violating its sanctity. Having sent the troops, she should have heeded the advice of the security apparatus not to have Sikhs in the security detail. Having drawn lessons from Operation Blue Star and observing respect for places of worship, secular India forbids its soldiers enter the mosques in Kashmir, wherein the enemy fighters take refuge.

January 6, 2013: Thehindu.com reports:

Akal Takht head honours Indira Gandhi assassins

Posted in her inner security ring, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, had shot Indira Gandhi from close range on October 31, 1984. While Beant Singh was killed on the spot by security personnel, Satwant Singh survived grievous injuries. After the trial that followed, Satwant Singh was convicted for assassinating her, while Kehar Singh was found guilty for conspiracy. Both were hanged in Delhi on January 6, 1989. ...a function within the Golden Temple complex, where the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Giani Gurbachan Singh honoured on Sunday (Jan 6, 2013) the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi....apex religio-temporal seat of the Sikh community bestowed siropa (robes of religious honour) on the relatives of Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh, who were convicted in the Indira Gandhi assassination case. 

Apparently stung by the criticism on the issue of construction of the memorial for those who died defending the shrine in "Operation Blue Star" as well as the recent function to honour the assassins of former Army chief, Gen A.S. Vaidya, the SGPC president, A.S. Makkar as well as top leadership of the ruling Akali Dal stayed away from the function, where despite a considerable audience, no speeches were allowed.

The latest example of Abhicara Murthy worship.

2011. bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin; March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011 (Wikipedia).

Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.^[8][9][10] From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, with a US$25 million bounty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.^[11]

After being placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list, bin Laden remained in hiding during three U.S. presidential administrations. On May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs and CIA operatives in a covert operation ordered by United States President Barack Obama. Shortly after his death, bin Laden's body was buried at sea.^[12] Al-Qaeda acknowledged his death on May 6, 2011, vowing to retaliate.^[13] --Wikipedia.

Ref: Harper's Dictionary of Hinduism (page 1) Abhicara. 

Remember Hinduism is replete with symbolism.

 Chinnamasta, the Tantrics, Abhicara अभिचार worship and its lateral reference in the Bible.

Chinnamasta is Cut Head. Chinna + Masta = Cut + Head. She is Tantric form of Durga (one form of Kali) with a severed head, fifth in line of Mahavidyas. The western students regard Chinnamasta as an adopted goddess from Buddhist faith and Tantrics inducted her in (the gallery) Hall of Mahavidyas, though they were afraid to alter her Buddhist Mantra for fear of reaping the wrath of Chinnamasta. Buddhists call Chinnamasta, Chinna-Munda. Munda = head. Chinnamasta and Dhumavati along with other bevy of goddesses are regarded by the west as sinister goddesses bent on Abhicaara; thus, "they are worshipped in Abhicaara rites for the express purpose of harming the enemies." Abhicaara (अभिचार = Bewitchment; enchantment =  employment of  spells  for retaliatory or malevolent purposes. (In the movie "Loc Kargil" the soldiers were invoking Kali, Krishna and Durga while they were attacking the rock-fortified positions of the enemy soldiers. They failed to invoke Chinnamasta; no Abhicaara rites were performed.) Some experts call Chinnamasta by other epithets: Vidya and Tara.

Chinnamasta is portrayed against the background of mountains, rivers, verdure, flowers, thunderclouds, and  lightning. All look pleasant and appealing except the thunder and lightening and the central figure who holds her own severed head dripping blood on her left hand; three streams of blood are spouting out of the severed neck, the right and the left stream going into the mouths of two females and the central stream going into the mouth of the severed head; scimitar is held by the right hand. Indophobes (and Indophiles) have a field day spouting diagnostic opinions ranging from psychosis, personality disorder, displaced anger, dissociation, destructive impulse behavior, self-mutilation. They forget conveniently the sayings of Jesus Christ.

 Everyone including some big names "oralized and analized" the perturbing points in the portrait; none had the qualification of the insider.  The one thing that they lacked was the wisdom evinced by the Tantrics who were in the thick of it. After studying the sanguine opinions of pseudo-pundits of all hues, colors and countries on this subject of sanguine nature, I came to the conclusion that the Tantrics in the know had the best explanation.

The goddess of red hibiscus complexion with the severed head is Chinnamasta; she holds a scimitar on the right hand and her own severed head on the left hand; the severed head with three eyes and headless sprinkler-body are living units. Three streams emanate from the severed neck, two streams go into mouths of two goddesses, Varnini on her right side and Dakini on her left side and one stream falls into the mouth of the severed head. Naked Varnini of Raja Guna (quality of passion) is white in color with cascading black hair, holds an upright sword on her left hand and a skull-bowl on her right hand, moves her right foot forward in a walking stance so as to receive the right stream into her mouth.  Naked Dakini of Tamas Guna (quality of darkness) with cascading black hair holds the sword on her right hand, the skull-bowl on her left hand and moves with the left foot forward so as to catch the left stream into her mouth. Chinnamasta is sitting (standing) on a pair of lovers engaged in Viparita Mithuna (reverse coition), involving supine Manmatha and prone Rati, who were stretched out on a open blossom of lotus flower floating in a body of water (the older version of waterbed). In the background are the mountains...What do all these disparate elements of a portrait mean?

Chinnamasta is associated with Kundalini Chakras; there is reference to that in her hymnal names: Susumna-svara-bhasini, Sahasra-dala-madhyastha and Sahasra-dala-varttini.

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A note: in India and Tamil Nadu, there are small Hindu temples built right in the middle of the road or street obstructing traffic. Many of them built on Government property are simply left alone for the public to worship. Some are moved to new locations; some are simply bulldozed into extinction under police guard, inviting wrath from the public. The people move the deities to other locations.

High Five Abhaya Mudra

The Abhaya mudrā ("mudrā of no-fear") represents protection, peace, benevolence, and dispelling of fear. In the Theravāda (and Hinduism), it is usually made with the right hand raised to shoulder height, the arm bent and the palm facing outward with the fingers upright and joined and the left hand hanging down while standing. Wikipedia

The Mudras (signs) differ in their import in different cultures. This sign of the hand is Abhaya Mudra in Hinduism, taking of oath of office as in the picture, a gesture of greeting or congratulation [High five] in which two people slap raised right palms together....

The Varada mudrā ("favourable mudrā") signifies offering, welcome, charity, giving, compassion and sincerity. It is nearly always shown made with the left hand by a revered figure devoted to human salvation from greed, anger and delusion. It can be made with the arm crooked and the palm offered slightly turned up or in the case of the arm facing down the palm presented with the fingers upright or slightly bent. The Varada mudrā is rarely seen without another mudrā used by the right hand, typically the Abhaya mudrā.--Wikipedia. 

The Benign hand gestures of Hindu deities

The left hand points to the feet, a clue to the devotee that he or she should surrender at Her or His feet to receive favor (from the deity). This is Bhoga Murthy.

Yogic Aspect: The deity is in meditation and the worshipper is yogic meditator.

Bhoga Aspect: (pic from https://www.stephen-knapp.com/narasimha_print_one.htm) This, in the temple and home, is the common appearance of the deity, to whom we offer worship.

Vira Aspect: "You mess with him (or her, my devotee); you are messing with Me."

In this aspect God shows anger or fierceness as in the case of incineration of Cupid by Siva for disturbing Him when he was in meditation. In Srivaishnava tradition, Narasimha (man-Lion Incarnation of Vishnu) kills the father of His devotee Prahalada because the father could not persuade his son to worship him as the god and tortured his son for his belief in Vishnu.

Vishnu has many Murthy forms: Ugra Murthy = Angry form = Lord Narasimha (man-Lion form). Kalyana Murthy = Auspicious form = Vishnu with his Consort Sri. Yoga Murthy = Ranganatha swamy in SriRangam. Shanta Murthy = Tranquil form = Man-Lion after pacification by devotee Prahalada.

He (Lord Narasimha) appears in different forms as Ugra Mūrthy (aggressive form), Shanta Mūrthy (tranquil form), Yoga Mūrthy (in penance) and Kalyana Mūrthy with his consort Sri Mahalakshmi.--https://rameshwaramyatra.blogspot.com/

Yoga murthy = Dakshinamoorthy. Vishnu on banyan leaf.

Severing and wearing a skirt of hands means absolution. Man does evil acts with his hands; thus, hands are synonym for evil acts. The goddess has to stop man from doing evil acts, so She wears a skirt of chopped hands, a visible preemptive warning. A devotee, showing repentance, receives absolution. 

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The more hands (Her own) the deity has, the more virulent, destructive and terrible the deity may be (all for the sake of humanity). And yet it is not as simple as that. You must also see what the deity holds in the hands. If the goddess holds a book, rosary, water-pot and a staff, you can be sure that the deity is not going to throw the book at you, break the water-pot on your head or smite you with the staff. The staff signifies stick of knowledge and monism. The deity holding the book and rosary looks beautiful, knowledgeable and spiritual and therefore tranquil.

Heads roll.

The one (deity) holding a scimitar is ferocious and is not going to give you a shave but ready and willing to sever the head. Severing the head is not really that. It is only a depiction with fierce face and weapons that go with them. She is addressing your conduct. Your quality, thought, conduct and speech have their headquarters in your head. If some one is greedy, the Goddess would like to figuratively chop off the head that generates greed. Kali would chop off the head of madoff figuratively for his greediness. There are ten bad qualities (an example) coming from ten heads as in the case of a demon Ravana: passion, pride, anger, greed, infatuation, lust, hatred, jealousy, selfishness and crookedness. (Man can be a demon, a man or a divine.) Each quality is depicted as one head. The goddess chops off one bad head at a time or chops off all heads in one sweep. She is really removing one's bad quality. Once they are all chopped off, man becomes perfect and is ready to merge with the God or Goddess as the case may be.  If one considers the way things are in this world, one would say heads should be rolling for such and such an act. You don't really mean that heads should be disjoined from the shoulders and all join to celebrate the rolling of the disjoined heads.

Spiritual Purity and perfection of man are the preconditions before he can merge with God or Goddess (or the Father in heaven).  The depiction here is Rama kills the ten-headed Ravana. This bad dude has ten bad qualities, which Rama removes. People not in the know of the significance of virtual decapitation and other practices, deride and denigrate Hinduism, which is full of symbolism.

I have heard some (the self-appointed minions of their superior God) in alien religions make derogatory remarks on the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Four heads, eight hands, and three eyes on each head fascinate them and soon they descend into abyss of denigration. He or she (purveyor of lies and bearer of loose tongue) speaks in double tongues, drags the tail over the floor, sometimes walks with the tail between the legs, sweeps the dirt under the carpet, blows smoke, sometimes blows off steam, chews the fat over beer, racks the brain.... These are idioms; likewise Hinduism is chockablock with symbolism.

You should also look at the deity as to her seat. In this depiction, the Goddess is in a post-war tranquility, ready to confer benediction to her devotees. The weapons are held but not used in this image. If the deity is sitting on a lion or tiger with body parts strewn all around, she is not there to entertain us in a circus. She means business --decapitation and is ready to take down the demons in us.  If the deity has many arms and holds conch, discus, bow, shield, sword, bell, noose and trident in assault mode, you should know she is on a war path to destroy the demons (in us).  See the weapons on her hands and accouterments. When she launches the smart weapon the discus from her uppermost right arm, no demon can keep his greedy or evil head safe on his shoulders. In Hindu mythology, discus is a smart weapon. Once it is launched, the discus spins like a meat slicer, makes midcourse corrections, and pursues the victim everywhere until the head rolls. Look at the trident, the club....  Before She launches the weapons and after She emerges victorious, She blows her conch, (and sings at a 'Hootenanny.'-- I just made it up.).

If she is sitting or standing on a lotus flower without weapons, you know that she is well disposed and ready to reward the virtuous or her votaries. If she is holding the book, she is the most learned goddess in the universe. Don't even think or try to outwit Her. She can bring you down in a trice. Just praise and pray to her so she may give you the boon of knowledge. Sarasvati sitting on the swan is the Goddess of arts and learning. It is a common sight in India that students pray to Sarasvati (and also Lord Ganesa-the Lord of new beginnings) for success in their studies. With the left upper arm, she rolls the prayer beads. With the left lower arm and the right upper arm she plays stringed instrument. She has a paper roll getting ready to read between rolling the beads and plucking the strings. At the same time she can ride her swan too. I can't chew gum and walk at the same time. With that kind of multitasking, Sarasvati is inimitable and at the same time looks out for the devotee ready to confer boons. Deity sporting many hands is not a physical anomaly as some alien religions say but a depiction of Her or His many attributes. Have you seen two tongues in a double-tongued? Have you seen the tail in a person who drags his tail?

Look at the goddess (or God) and her company. If she is standing or sitting with her consort, she usually sports two hands only. If the goddess is sitting  or standing with the family as if posing for a family portrait, she is very benign. See also the size of people and deities in relation to Her or His size. The size and height reflect the hierarchy from the deity down in that group depiction. The blue deity Rama in the center is the Highest deity in this portrait. Taller the height, higher is the position in the totem pole. Look at the pose of the hands. If the right hand is in a high-five position, you are lucky; she is offering her blessings and protection. If the hand is pointing to her foot, it means, you should offer obeisance, and worship her feet to receive favors. If the God is holding weapons in a family depiction (Ram Parivar = Family of Rama), look at the weapons. If the bow is not drawn and remains untaut with the arrows in the quiver, it is a post-war tranquility, benign nature and offering of protection. The situation is like a nation parading its potent weapons for the people and the visiting foreign dignitary to see, enjoy and feel the might of the nation. It is also a public announcement to the existing, prospective and recalcitrant enemies, "Don't mess with us."

Generally, a God has no intrinsic Sakti or power by Himself. His Spouse (wife) has the power. Now you know who rules the house and wears the pants. Remember recently a woman politician running for a public office asked the male contender to get and wear "man-pants."

The analogy is a man with an empty wallet. No cash means no power. The God wields power through his Wife. More wives he has, more power he has. The God may have one wife but many are her names; each one may have a distinct power. My friend has one wife with many names: Happy, honey-bunch, babe, pumpkin (not Bumpkin), Sweetie (not sweaty), butter cup (not butter ball), Honey (not bunny), dotty (not fatty), dollface (not pale face), Princess, Sunshine (not moonshine), Tootsie (not Footsie), sugar Lips (not Sour lips)...

Kali, the wife of Siva has many names: Gauri, Parvati, Uma....  When polynomial Parvati is with Siva, she has only two hands. By Herself, she has four hands. In her two-handed form, she is all dolled up sitting or standing on a lotus flower pedestal to the left of Siva or Siva-linga and holding a blue lily in the right hand with the left hand hanging down loose gracefully. There are variations of this theme. In the four-handed pose, She holds a flower in each of the upper hands with the lower hands in Abhaya and Varada poses (Fear-not and boon postures). See here Bhadrakali, a benign goddess.

Parvati, the consort of Siva is the sister of Vishnu. (In Hinduism's polytheistic pantheon of gods and goddesses, they are all related to one another one way or another. They keep the divinity and power in the family.) She assumes the angry mood as the occasion demands. In man, emotion takes hold of him; in a deity, He or She invokes the emotion to fit the occasion. All these moods spanning the entire spectrum of divine psyche are displayed and deployed by the deity for the welfare of humanity and destruction of evil.

 

When Kali is holding a blood-dripping head [see the lowest left hand], it means that she excised the head with a bad quality. Each bad or good quality is a liability or an asset. Kali lets you keep your assets and removes the liabilities. Hand is the synonym for good or evil deed and Karma. Kali in Her benign nature, removes Karma of man; the depiction is she cuts off Karma, meaning the severance of hands (which do the evil) and wears them as a skirt for every one to see. Now the Karma of man is expunged and the man is free of Karma and thus earns the right to go to heaven. Remember, all these depictions of blood and gore are symbolic. Don't take them in a literal sense. If you don't think, speak, hear, see, and do evil (see the three wise monkeys), you are the darling of Kali and get to keep your good head literally on your shoulders.

  Excerpt from The Necklace of Kali, page 234, Garland of Letters by Sir John Woodroffe.

THE world has never been altogether without the Wisdom-the Mula Veda nor its Teachers. The degree and manner in which it has been imparted have, however, necessarily varied according to the capacities of men to receive it. So also have the symbols by which it has been conveyed. These symbols further have varying significance according to the spiritual advancement of the worshipper. This question of degree and variety of presentation has led to the superficial view that difference in beliefs negatives the existence of any commonly established Truth. But if the matter be regarded more deeply, it will be seen that whilst there is one essential Wisdom, its revelation has been more or less complete according to symbols evolved by, and, therefore, fitting to, particular racial temperaments and characters. Symbols are naturally misunderstood by those to whom the beliefs they typify are unfamiliar, and who differ in temperament from those who have evolved them. To the ordinary Western mind the symbols of Hinduism are often repulsive and absurd. It must not, however, be forgotten that some of the symbols of Western Faiths have the same effect on the Hindu. From the picture of the "Slain Lamb," and other symbols in terms of blood and death, he naturally shrinks in disgust. End--Woodroffe

Kali and Siva are inseparable. Siva is portrayed in formless, form-formless and with form (= Arupa, Rupa-Arupa and Rupa). In the West, and also in India among certain people, there is a misconception about Siva Linga.

Anadilinga = Anadi + Linga = without beginning + Linga. Also it is known as swyambhu or self-existent. Anadhilinga is supernatural Linga-shaped outcroppings as a natural formation from the earth. These are not fashioned by human hand. Anadhi Lingas (Banalingas) are present at Vaidyanatha, Tarakesvara and Chandrasekara (Chittacong). 

Alinga, Linga, Lingalinga (அலிங்கம், இலிங்கம், இலிங்க-அலிங்கம்)

Alinga: The Supreme Vyaktam (வியத்தம்), the unmanifest, is beyond the ancient atma Mahan (the Great Soul) which is beyond intelligence, the essence of the mind; the latter is beyond the mind, which is beyond the senses.  Beyond avyaktam is the person who is all-pervasive and devoid of any mark (alinga). Knowing him brings liberation and immortality.  Linga consists of prakrtic elements such as buddhi, ahamkara, manas, indriyas and Tanmatras (intellect, ego, mind, sense organs and subtle elements); the Supreme is not tainted with these factors; therefore, it is not subject to Samsara (= Metempsychosis). Linga status marks manifest Isvara ( = the Lord), while Alinga status carries no marks and is unknowable; it is avyaktam, primordial, undifferentiated, unmanifest, noumenal state. Eyes have never seen this form. He can be known by (spiritual) heart, mind and (spiritual) wisdom. Mental focus helps apprehend Reality. When the five senses (vision, hearing, taste and speech, touch and grasp) and the mind come to a standstill and the intellect does not stir, that is the highest state (Paramam). When the Prakrti-bound senses and the mind come to an arrest, the spiritual world that lies beyond the grasp of the senses comes into access.  This is yoga; it needs control of the senses; distractions make yoga come and go.

Another view:

    The three qualities of the insentient and the sentient, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas ( = Virtue, Passion and Darkness) assume divine status in Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra under the aegis of Mahesvara for creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the universe. Mahesvara pervades them all, and in their roles, they are called Alinga, Linga, and Lingalinga.  He is Pradhana (primordial unmanifested matter), Bija (the seed), and Yoni (the womb). Prakrti, the unmanifest matter, wakes up to become manifest and fecund upon the glance of the Lord Mahesvara.

The Linga and the icon:

    Siva Linga is attributeless Nirguna Brahman (Attributeless Brahman). It is point of coalescence, where all Tattvas merge and is transcendental. Nataraja is the Saguna Brahman (Brahman with attributes), the clinical Entity with attributes and the wielder of all Tattvas and Prakrti.

Threefold Siva:

    Some others look at Siva in three forms: Mahesa, Sadasiva, and Nishkala Siva. Mahesa is Sakala form, having body parts, a clinical form; Sadasiva is Misra rupa (mixed form), both with and without attributes; Nishkala (Nirguna) Siva has no form or attributes and it is full of Bliss; therefore, it is called Ananda Rupa (Bliss form). In Dance festival (Nritotsava = Nrit +Utsava = Dance Festival), it is the (Ananda Tandava) Bliss Dance by Nishkala Siva.

Many Lingams:

    Configuration of various Lingams are based on the Bhutas or elements: Fire, Earth, Wind, Water and Sky or Ether. The idea is that Siva exists in all elements; thus he exists in your body, which is made of the following elements.

Wendy Doniger insists that Lingam is phallus which is the object of phallus worshippers. Such simplicity or simple-mindedness is questioned by other Western students of Hinduism. Assuming such simplicity in the image of Lingam, I submit in this article examples of some form of phallus worship in other cultures.

First, lest us read what Sri Swami Sivananda says about lingam. According to Swami Sivananda, the view that the Shiva lingam represents the phallus is a mistake;^[16] The same sentiments have also been expressed by H. H. Wilson in 1840.^[31]The novelist Christopher Isherwood also addresses the interpretation of the linga as a sex symbol.^[32] The Britannica encyclopedia entry on lingam also notes that the lingam is not considered to be a phallic symbol;^{[5]--Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingam}

The Siva Lingam

Sri Swami Sivananda

You will find in the Linga Purana:

Pradhanam Prakritir Yadahurlingamuttamam Gandhavarnarasairheenam sabda sparshaadi varjitam

 The foremost Lingam which is primary, and is devoid of smell, colour, taste, hearing, etc., is spoken of as Prakriti—Nature.

Linga means mark in Sanskrit. It is a symbol which points to an inference. When you see a big flood in a river, you infer that there should have been heavy rains the previous day. When you see smoke, you infer that there is fire. This world of countless forms is a Lingam of the Omnipotent Lord. The Siva Lingam is a symbol of Lord Siva. When you look at the Lingam, your mind is at once elevated and you begin to think of the Lord.

Lord Siva is really formless. He has no form of His own; and, yet, all forms are His forms. All forms are pervaded by Lord Siva. Every form is the form or Lingam of Lord Siva.

There is a mysterious power or indescribable Shakti in the Lingam, to induce concentration of the mind. Just as the mind is focused easily in crystal gazing, the mind of a devotee is easily concentrated when he looks at the Lingam. That is the reason why the ancient Rishis of India and the seers have prescribed Lingam for being installed in the temples of Siva.

Siva Lingam speaks to you in the unmistakable language of silence: ‘I am one without a second. I am formless.’ Pure, pious souls only can understand this language. A curious, passionate, impure foreigner of little understanding or intelligence says: ‘Oh, the Hindus worship the phallus. They are ignorant people. They have no philosophy.’ When a foreigner tries to learn Tamil or Hindustani language, he first tries to pick up some vulgar words. This is his curiosity nature. Even so, the curious foreigner tries to find out some defects in the worship of the symbol. Lingam is only the outward symbol of the formless Being, Lord Siva, Who is the indivisible, all-pervading, eternal, auspicious, ever-pure, immortal essence of this vast universe, Who is the undying soul seated in the chambers of your heart, Who is your Indweller, innermost Self or Atman, one with Brahman.

Sphatikalingam is also a symbol of Lord Siva. This is prescribed for Aradhana or worship of Lord Siva. It is made of quartz. It has no colour of its own, but takes on the colour of the substance which comes in contact with it. It represents the Nirguna Brahman or the attributeless Supreme Self.

For a sincere devotee, the Lingam is not a block of stone. It is all radiant Tejas or Chaitanya (Light or Consciousness). The Lingam talks to him, makes him shed profuse tears, produces horripilation and melting of heart, raises him above body-consciousness, and helps him to commune with the Lord and attain Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Lord Rama worshipped the Siva Lingam at Rameshwaram. What a great mystic Shakti there should be in the Lingam! --Sri Swami Sivananda.

When you are in a foreign soil, you should become the native of the soil to know, understand, feel, act, sympathize, worship, eat, talk...like a native. Your body, mind, thought, speech and soul should become those of the native. --Krishnaraj

I just bought the 1st Volume of Autobiography of Mark Twain..Nov 2010.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), well known by his pen name Mark Twain

Lingamburg: by Mark Twain

Bhowanee (the other name for Kali)  is not pleasant to look at. She has a silver face, and a projecting swollen tongue painted a deep red. She wears a necklace of skulls. In fact, none of the idols in Benares are handsome or attractive. And  what a swarm of them there is! The town is a vast museum of idols--and all of them crude, misshapen, and ugly. They flock through one's dreams at night, a wild mob of nightmares. When you get tired of them in the temples and take a trip on the river, you find idol giants, flashily painted, stretched out side by side on the shore. And apparently wherever there is room for one more lingam, a lingam is there. If Vishnu had foreseen what his town was going to be, he would have called it Idolville or Lingamburg.

Veeraswamy Krishnaraj: Among its many names, Lingamburg, coined by Mark Twain, is an ingenious name for Benares, Kasi, Varanasi..., thanks Mark Twain! it is a well thought out benign insult (I take it as a compliment.) and ingenious at that. But Mark Twain endowed with towering intellect could not see and realize the true meaning behind external symbolism and the ugliness, which I bet, he saw. In his unfamiliarity with India and its symbolisms, it is like the Indian who could not distinguish the meaning of an upright thumb from that of an upright middle finger.

I wish I was there with him at that time to explain the symbolisms in Hinduism. Hey, Kali is on a warpath to chop off evil heads. Things look ugly and atrocious in a battlefield, a limb here, a head there.

   Here is what science says about the origin of man from lesser animals, like Gibbon, Chimpanzee, Gorilla, and Orangutan. We are not born from the mouth, shoulders, thighs and feet of God, as Hinduism says with regards to Brahmana, Ksatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra. Caste discrimination is very much alive and well today in India and abroad among the NRIs with significant exceptions. In the last few days (Oct 13, 2011) a collector (a high official) has to intervene on behalf of Dalits (दलित = oppressed, trampled, below the caste system) so they can enter the village temple to worship alongside the people of so-called higher castes. 

https://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2559909.ece

The long-standing dispute between Dalits and caste Hindus (Pillaimar) of Uthapuram village has been resolved, thanks to concerted efforts by the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, District Collector U. Sagayam and Superintendent of Police Asra Garg.

Out of Africa

According to the Out-of-Africa model, developed by Chris Stringer and Peter Andrews, modern H. sapiens evolved in Africa 200,000 years ago. Homo sapiens began migrating from Africa between 70,000 – 50,000 years ago and eventually replaced existing hominid species in Europe and Asia.^[60][61] Out of Africa has gained support from research using female mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the male Y chromosome. After analysing genealogy trees constructed using 133 types of mtDNA, researchers concluded that all were descended from a woman from Africa, dubbed Mitochondrial Eve. Out of Africa is also supported by the fact that mitochondrial genetic diversity is highest among African populations.^{[62]  Wikipedia}

^{In light of the above science, I am questioning the veracity of Hindu texts which state that the Brahmanas came from the Rishis born of Brahma. These seven Rishis and their pupils are the progenitor fathers (Vaidika and Laukika) of Brahmanas of today who pride themselves of  their unbroken lines of hereditary descent. This contradicts with the current scientific view that we came from Black African Adam and Eve. Gotra is the medallion that Brahmanas carry with them all through life. It states that a particular Rishi was the putative father of a Brahmana, tracing their heredity to that Rishi, who existed thousands and thousands of years ago.}

In a court case "Madhavrao vs Raghavendrarao" which involved a Deshastha Brahmin couple, the German scholar Max Mueller's definition of gotra as descending from eight sages and then branching out to several families was thrown out by reputed judges of a Bombay High Court.^[3] The court called the idea of Brahmin families descending from an unbroken line of common ancestors as indicated by the names of their respective gotras impossible to accept.^[4] The court consulted relevant Hindu texts and stressed the need for Hindu society and law to keep up with the times emphasizing that notions of good social behavior and the general ideology of the Hindu society had changed.^[5] The court also said that the mass of material in the Hindu texts is so vast and full of contradictions that it is almost an impossible task to reduce it to order and coherence.^{[3]  Wikipedia}

Subdue the earth. = Do not ravage the earth.

Replenish the earth. = Do not engage in mindless exploitation of earth.

June 5, 2010. The oil spills in the gulf; we have dominion over crude-oil marinated dying living fish; marine life like the unctous sea turtles; the basted fowls of the air weighed down with sticky oil; and the earth and water, subdued beyond repair. Grown men in white garbs go to the beach looking intently not for seashells, lost coins, earrings... but for black tar balls of sand and oil - a gift that the sea never stops giving. The booted, gowned, masked and gloved marauders go about picking and hoarding their precious find. Submerged amorphous wayward jellylike amoeboid oil plumes move out of sight and thus out of mind. They might one day disgorge themselves on the white beaches,  settle down in the depths of the sea killing the deep dwellers of the ocean or dissipate in the roiling sea. Ugly gooey globs, blobs and daubs appear overnight on the white sands and rock piles as if sent by a Night Fairy. We certainly have dominion over the rancid air. MNCs have dominion over every living thing that moves or stands upon earth. Oil is the currency of modern world; without it nothing moves; the one who controls oil controls the world and thus is God. Is it the way intended by the Lord? Is it all 'un-sweet' crude joke?

There are many who believe that translation of 'Old Bible/Old Testament' from Hebrew/Aramaic into English is faulty. Take the word 'Replenish'. This word 'replenish' does not apply here, because God just created the earth anew for the first time and therefore there is nothing taken away and out of the earth yet to replenish it.

Prajapati created man first and then created women to consort from under him. This is the exact opposite of Saktas, the worshippers of Mother Goddess: Woman first, man later, which is in line with science.

Verse 2. And Prajapati (the Lord of people) thought within himself: Come, let me make a firm basis (abode) for him. So he created woman. Having created her, he revered  her below. So one should revere the woman below. He stretched out for himself that which projects (Yes, you guessed it right; it is the erect phallus.) With that he impregnated her.

It won't surprise me if the Chapter VI Fourth Brahmana is an interpolation, because the sap that runs through the 6th chapter 4th section is not the same as in the first five chapters.

Many Hindu translators of Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad with few exceptions simply ignored and excluded Chapter VI, which is out of character with the earlier 5 chapters. It is common knowledge among Pundits to actively suppress what is inimical to Hinduism's reputation in sacred texts. For them to be a Hindu is not to expose the underbelly of the religion. By that they are not reforming the religion, which is a greater offence.  I have time and again noticed the Pundits gave a palatable but erroneous translations and explanations of Hindu sacred texts of unsavory nature.

Here is the exact opposite of the above from the Taittiriya Upanisad, page 529 the Principal Upanisads.

3.4. Now with regard to progeny: the mother is the prior form, the father is the latter form: progeny is their junction, procreation is  the connection. Thus with regard to progeny.

 Jesus Christ on Marriage and Divorce

Mt. 19:5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ?

Mt. 19:6. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."     

JC is against Lawyers specializing in divorce and divorce settlement. He is Pro Family  & Counseling.  The contrarian's curt view: JC is single. What does JC know about two becoming one flesh in marriage and one flesh becoming two in divorce? 

One should note that JC called man and wife flesh. They are not yet spiritualized. For that JC suggested that they eat his flesh and drink his blood for infusion of spirit into them. More on this elsewhere. Oct 23, 2011

  Dharmasutra of Vasistha translation by Patrick Olivelle. Page 250 verse 1.36.

1.36. When a man negotiates a price and purchases a girl for money [or goods], it is the 'human' marriage. Purchase is defined as follows: Therefore, the groom should give one hundred cows together with a chariot to the bride's father.

Rich people can afford 100 cows and a chariot, but poor people go bargain-hunting. A lucky father, having 5 girls will get 500 cows and five chariots. Now he has his own farm. Imagine 500 cows having calves. He buys horses. Now he is a riding Rancher with ranch hands and wranglers. Soon he would have a dude ranch for tourists like us.

Decent people take umbrage to depiction of woman as a cow. There are die-hard inveterate, cast-in-iron, male chauvinists of porcine attributes who say,' why own a cow, when you can get milk for free?' I understand this unwelcome supercilious depiction of a woman as the cow started as follows. If a prospective bridegroom saw a bride in a girl, he offered a cow to the prospective father-in-law in mutual exchange--barter the cow for a bride. No father raised a one cow girl. Every girl of his is a ten cow girl on a scale of 1 to 10. No man wants a one cow woman for a wife. The man takes a look-see, surveys the woman from heaven to earth (crown to toenail), makes note of the rising and plunging topography and regards a girl average¹, attractive², handsome³, beautiful⁴, elegant⁵, gracious⁶, sinuous/curvaceous⁷, concupiscent⁸, luscious⁹..., (Hey, how about having a sinuous siren for a spouse? That tickles me pink. I am brown. How can I ever turn pink, unless I am painted pink?) He offers the father of the bride fewer cows for her grade in an act of subdued flattery and enhanced chicanery. The man tries to get a concupiscent⁸ girl for four cows and the father tries to get ten cows for an elegant⁵ girl (in his mind). This to-and-fro goes on with the participation of siblings, uncles, aunts, elders.... The siblings are upset to see the man short their sister in his longing for the prospective bride. Both parties settle down on the terms of exchange, which is kept secret from the nosy neighbors in the village and posterity.

The man and woman are married. In the village, there is talk of the terms of exchange, though they are clueless. (There was no RollingStone to record and report the event. June 2010.) The people have no idea of the number of cows the girl's father has added to his cowshed. No gumshoeing [He chewed gum too!] village sleuth was allowed near the stable for a head count. The man is happy that he drove a hard bargain and won an eight cow woman⁸ (for four cows) with whom he is in passionate love. Bargain is beautiful. Shorting is sweet. He would not have a nine cow woman as wife, because he does not like the idea of other men taking a bite at a luscious woman with their lascivious eyes. His mother wished she had a one cow daughter-in-law so that she had somebody help her in daily chores around the kitchen and the house instead of spending time in front of a mirror. The women in the village could not stand the bride's company, because their husbands were ogling the eight cow woman, instead of working in the fields. The husbands were jealous because the women were glancing the virile young man out of the corner of their fish eyes. Thus, the loving couple became the object of jealousy in the village, until another buck of a man and nine cow luscious woman showed up in the village and thus displaced the eight cow woman and the man as the object of jealousy.

Note: Sanskrit Vīra (वीर) means 'man, powerful, heroic, valiant.  Vīra, virile, vir... are cognate. Fish eyes are a mark of beauty.

  Another View

Father is the Creator and Mother is the Liberator from the world of miseries. Androgynous Siva-Sakti (Chennai Museum) has the right half for male and left half for female; the former is the creative Purusa Sakti, while the latter is the liberating sakti; Purusa is Daksina (right) and Sakti is Vama (left). As long as the androgynous form endures, Sakti and Siva are in balance, Samsara (life on earth) plays its havoc on Jiva (we the people) and liberation is in abeyance. When the Sadhaka by his intense Sadhana (spiritual effort) awakens the liberating left side and renders it more powerful than the creative Purusa right side, Devi in her new-found power gleefully encroaches on the right side, fills it with her liberating power, and confers liberation to Jiva. This transformation earns her the name Daksina Kali, the liberator and savior of the three worlds. The androgynous form is fully transformed into Sakti form, until a round of creation comes into force and the androgynous form makes a comeback.  This Daksina form is a reversal of Isvari to its neutral form, Brahman, who is free of gunas, creative, preservative and destructive qualities.  Daksina-Brahma form transforms into Isvara with Maya and gunas; a galaxy of gods, goddesses, men and beings, and matter issue forth from her. All gods and goddesses are equal in the eye of Devi; any sectarian attempts to claim superiority of one god or goddess over another is against Saktitattva. A good Sadhaka is one who recognizes that Adhisakti (Adyasakti, primordial ancient Sakti) encompasses Vishnu, Siva, Surya, and Ganesa Saktis. Bhagavan speaks of himself as written in Tantra Sastra, " Brahman, Sakti, and  Mahesvara: these three are one and the same; the only difference among them is that Brahman is neuter, Sakti is feminine, and Mahesvara is masculine. In the highest consideration, all are same, but the descriptive words are different." An actor portraying a character has no direct connection with that character; in like manner Bhagavan has no connection with the form he portrays. But that portrayal of a form has meaning to the Jiva (we the people, the audience, the spectator). Siva and Sakti assume the gender-specific forms to please the Sadhaka; once the Sadhaka attains siddhi meditating on these forms, Nirguna neuter Brahman reveals itself to the Sadhaka. Sadhaka may want to image her in his mind in the form of  Durga, Kali, Krishna, Lakshmi, Radha, Rama, Siva, Sita, Tara, Vishnu, father, mother, or Guru (the Lord); A Vaishnava needs to exercise no compulsion to consider Devi as Vishnu and Sakta needs no compulsion to consider Devi as Sakti. When we delve deep into meditation and enter the realm of Citsakti, all differences in form and gender evaporate and Kalisakti, Sivasakti, Krishnasakti, and all other saktis lose their individual identity and merge into one sakti because of sloshing waves in the ocean of citsakti. Mahasakti forms the hypostasis of all five forms, Siva, Vishnu, Durga, Ganesa and Surya and offers liberation. He who realizes that unity in five forms knows Sakti tattva.

Ramakrishnaparamahamsa makes this observation on Ardhanarisvara.

884. No one can say what Sachchidananda (Sat-Cit-Ananda = Being-Consciousness-Bliss) is like. That is why He first took the form of Ardhanarisvara (half man and half woman). Do you know why He did so? It is to show that both Prakriti and Purusha are Himself. At a step still lower, Sachchidananda became several Purushas and Prakritis.