Aum Gung Ganapathaye Namah
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa
Homage to The Blessed One, Accomplished and Fully Enlightened
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful
Paul Brunton
A Collection of Articles, Notes and References
References
(Revised: Thursday, May 24, 2007)
References Edited by
An Indian Yogi
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
- William Shakespeare
Copyright © 2002-2010 An Indian Yogi
The following educational writings are STRICTLY for
academic research purposes ONLY.
Should NOT be used for commercial, political or any other
purposes.
(The following notes are
subject to update and revision)
For free distribution only.
You may
print copies of this work for free distribution.
You may re-format and
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Otherwise, all
rights reserved.
8 "... Freely you
received, freely give”.
- Matthew 10:8 ::
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
1
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
2
People will be lovers
of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive,
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3
without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control,
brutal, not lovers of the good,
4
treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers
of God—
5 having a form of godliness
but denying
its power. Have nothing to do with them.
6
They are the
kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,
7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
8
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds,
who, as far as
the faith is concerned, are rejected.
9
But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.”
- 2 Timothy 3:1-9 ::
New International Version (NIV)
6
As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
- Hebrews 5:6 ::
King James Version (KJV)
Therefore,
I say:
Know your enemy and know yourself;
in a hundred battles, you
will never be defeated.
When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself,
your chances of winning or
losing are equal.
If
ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself,
you are sure to be defeated in every battle.
-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, c. 500bc
There
are two ends not to be served by a wanderer. What are these two? The pursuit of desires and
of the pleasure which springs from desire, which is base, common, leading to
rebirth, ignoble, and unprofitable;
and the
pursuit of pain and hardship, which is grievous, ignoble, and unprofitable.
- The Blessed One, Lord Buddha
Contents
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A Brief Word on Copyright
References
Educational Copy of Some of the
References
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A Brief
Word on Copyright
Many of
the articles whose educational copies are given below are copyrighted by their
respective authors as well as the respective publishers. Some contain messages
of warning, as follows:
Republication
or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited
without the written consent of “so and so”.
According
to the concept of “fair use” in US copyright Law,
The
reproduction, redistribution and/or exploitation of any materials and/or
content (data, text, images, marks or logos) for personal or commercial gain is
not permitted. Provided
the source is cited,
personal, educational
and non-commercial use (as defined by fair use in US copyright law) is permitted.
Moreover,
I
believe that satisfies the conditions for copyright and non-plagiarism.
References
Some of
the links may not be active (de-activated) due to various reasons,
like removal of the concerned information from the source database. So an
educational copy is also provided, along with the link.
If the
link is active, do cross-check/validate/confirm the educational copy of the
article provided along.
References
Brunton,
Paul. (1985) A Message From
Arunachala. (1/e)
Brunton,
Paul. (1991) A Search in Secret
Brunton,
Paul. (1962) A Search in Secret
Brunton,
Paul. (1988) The Quest of the
Overself.
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Educational
Copy of Some of the References
FOR
EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
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Reference
Brunton,
Paul. (1985) A Message From
Arunachala. (1/e)
Page
65
Any
jerry-built villa can be more sacred to you than
Page
66
Five different
religions are simply five different ways of talking about the same God.
Page
68
It never occurs to
most priests and most clergymen that the mystic may be much more engaged on
God’s work than they are - even though he be creedless, churchless and
sermonless.
Page
73
Although we may
foresee the necessity of religion taking an intellectual incarnation if it is
to appeal to present-day needs, this is not to say that we are therefore to
continue with the present exaggerated worship of intellect. The latter, too, has
its painful
limitations
and suffers from the same blindness in refusing to see those limitations. In fact, the reverence for
intellect becomes farcical when pushed to
extremes: if Christ came
today He would be expected to bear the M.A. and B.Litt.
farcical
adj
broadly
or extravagantly humorous; "the wild farcical exuberance of a clown"
Page
92
...Carlyle once defined
genius as the capacity for taking infinite pains. ...
Page
100
Although I work
harder than the average man, I have a great sympathy for a man who was
observed to sit for hours on a log of timber in
Soliloquy the act of talking to oneself
Page
114
It may be
impossible to imagine such an event, but a time will certainly come in the ripening of
the soul
when we shall recognize that sorrow has not come a day too soon, and that failure is
sometimes better than success. Such is the mystery of suffering, life’s master paradox.
Page
115
We make
frantic efforts to clutch at the phantom pleasures of this world, but realize through
bitter-tasting after-fruits how fleeting they are.
Page
126
If disaster
threatens you, do not pray to be saved; pray rather for more strength, more
faith, more courage. Save yourself, and let the gods of destiny do what they
will with your body. Thus you attract the help of unseen forces.
Worry is spiritual
short sight. Its cure is intelligent faith.
Page
127
Life, looked upon as an education in
wisdom,
seems to have some sense in it after all.
Page
141
Were the world’s
leaders and the masses who follow them ready to accept the better way, to have
the faith and the daring to try the Golden Rule, their problems would melt
down, all Nature would co-operate and the hidden powers would come to their
aid. Were they ready to accept spiritual values as a worth-while standard, they
might see their dreams of happy, prosperous and peaceful lands come true. Were
they courageous enough to challenge the gods in this striking manner, they
would not, they could not, be disappointed.
But
the dead hand of the past drags them back. Yesterday has gone but not for them. Why not let the
dead bury their dead, and follow a new sun and begin anew? The ancient Mayas of
Effects
movable property: Goods <personal
effects>
The world is in
the throes of a new birth. We experience the agony of it all right, but the joy
of deliverance must follow. Meanwhile it is well that we realize that this
planet, whereon we are camped for a time, is not our true home. We are errant wanderers and
there is no rest for us until we return repentantly to the Overself.
Errant
1:
travelling or given to travelling <an errant knight>
2
a: straying outside the proper path or bounds <an errant calf>
b:
moving about aimlessly or irregularly <an errant breeze>
c:
deviating from a standard (as of truth or propriety) <an errant child>
Page
143
And I thought how
Nature is not sentimental over transient human life. When whole groups of peoples
defile her body and descend
into monstrous wickedness, she has not hesitated to destroy them with awful cataclysms. It is no
superstition. If we can accord a
mind and intelligence to the self in our own bodies, why should we not
accord a mind and intelligence to the self in the Earth, whence our bodies
derive and whither they must return? It is not less rational to think that a Directing Mind,
a Planetary Soul, inhabits our Earth, than it is to think
that a
directing mind inhabits our own bodies, for flesh and dust are merely two different forms of Matter.
Defile
:
to make unclean or impure: as
a :
to corrupt the purity or perfection of : DEBASE <the countryside defiled by
billboards>
b:
to violate the chastity of : DEFLOWER
c:
to make physically unclean especially with something unpleasant or
contaminating <boots defiled with blood>
d:
to violate the sanctity of : DESECRATE <defile a sanctuary>
e:
SULLY, DISHONOR
synonym
see CONTAMINATE
Cataclysm
1:
FLOOD, DELUGE
2:
CATASTROPHE 3a
3:
a momentous and
violent event marked by overwhelming upheaval and demolition; broadly : an
event that brings great changes
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Reference
Brunton,
Paul. (1991) A Search in Secret
Page 21-34
Chapter VI The Yoga Which Conquers
Death
...
Page 93
Does it not recall to memory the idle
dreams of our European alchemists
of medieval times,
dreamers
who sought an elixir of life, but who succumbed to the sickle of death one by one? But if Brama is
not self-deceived,
why
should he seek to deceive me. He has not sought my company and he makes no effort to acquire disciples.
A strange fear touches my brain. What if he is
merely mad? No – he seems
so sensible and rational in other matters. Would it not be better to regard him as mistaken?
Yet something in me doubts even that conclusion. I am bewildered.
“Can I not convince you?” He speaks again. “Have you
not heard the story of the faqueer who was buried by Ranjeet Singh in a vault at
A pregnant silence follows our conversation.
ą I have since verified this reference
and find that the actual episode occurred in 1837 at
Page 93-94
“There exist other strange powers which can be
acquired by the way of our Yoga, but who, in these degenerate days, will pay the heavy price
to obtain them?”
Page 94
There is another pause.
“We who live and work in the everyday world have
sufficient to do without seeking such powers,” I venture, in defence of my epoch.
“Yes,” agrees Brama, “this path of Body Control is only for the
few. Therefore the
teachers of our science have kept it a silent secret through the centuries. It is not
often that they seek after pupils; pupils must seek after them.”
The next time we meet, Brama visits my quarters. It is
evening and we soon adjourn for dinner. After the meal and a short rest, we go
out on the moonlit veranda where I plant myself in a deck chair, while the Yogi finds
a mat on the floor more comfortable.
For several minutes we silently enjoy the bright radiance
of the full moon.
As I have not forgotten the astonishing events of
our last meeting, it is not long before I broach anew this incredible matter of
men
who snap their fingers at death.
“Why not?” Brama asks his favourite question. “There is an adept
in our Yoga of Body Control who is hidden among the Neilgherry Hills, here in the South. He never stirs
from his retreat. In the North, there lives another whose home is a cave upon the
snowy
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Cross Reference
The Nilgiris District
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nilgiris_District
The Nilgiris District
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nilgiris District is in the Indian state of
Tamil Nadu. The Nilgiri (Tamil : நீலகிரி) or Blue Mountains are also the name given to
a range of mountains panning across the states of Tamilnadu and Kerala and are part of a
larger mountain chain known as the Western Ghats. The highest point is the
Contents
1
2 Tribes
3 Ecoregions
4 History
5 Transport
6 See also
7 External links
Main features
Tea is grown at elevations of 1,000 to above 2,500
metres. The area also produces eucalyptus oil and temperate zone vegetables. Parts of many
Indian movies are filmed in the Nilgiris.
The altitude of the Nilgiris results in a much cooler
wetter climate than the surrounding plains, and so the area is popular as a
retreat from the summer heat. The rolling hills of the Downs look very similar
to the Downs in
The principal town of the area is
Ootacamund, or Udagamandalam. In the town there are many buildings which look very
"British", in particular the Churches. There is even a road junction
known as
The other main towns in the Nilgiris
are Coonoor, Kotagiri, Gudalur and Aruvankadu. The famous tourist spot in Coonoor are
Lamesrock and Sims park. In Sims park, every year they conducting "Fruit
Show" function during summer season. All the varieties of fruit are shown
during that time. This park is situated on the way of Kotagiri.
Tribes
Picture
Hut of Toda tribe in the Nilgiris
There are several tribes living in the Nilgiris,
whose origins are uncertain. The best known of these are the Toda people, whose
culture is based upon cattle, and whose red, black and white embroidered
shawls, and silver jewelry is much sought after.
There is a railway running from
Mettupalayam to Udhagamandalam via Coonoor, which is a great tourist attraction. It was used
in the film A Passage to
Ecoregions
Two ecoregions cover portions of the
Nilgiris. The
The
Much of the native forest has been cleared for
grazing cattle, or for plantations of tea, Eucalyptus and Acacia. Two national
parks protect portions of the Nilgiris. Mudumalai National Park lies in the northern part
of the range
where Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu meet, and covers an area of 321 km˛. Mukurthi
National Park
lies in the southwest of the range, in Kerala, and covers an area of 78.5 km˛, which includes intact shola-grassland
mosaic, habitat for the Nilgiri tahr. The entire range, together with portions of the Western
Ghats to the northwest and southwest, was included in the Nilgiri Biosphere
Reserve in 1986,
The region has given its name to a number of
bird species,
including the Nilgiri Pipit, Nilgiri Woodpigeon and Nilgiri Blackbird.
History
The Nilgiri hills have a history
going back a good many centuries. It is not known why they were called the
It was originally tribal land and was occupied by the
Todas around what is now the Ooty area and the Kotas around what is now the
Kotagiri area. The Badagas appeared here much later from the Mysore Plateau,
the unconfirmed date being 1550. Although the Nilgiri hills are mentioned in the
Ramayana of Valmiki
(estimated by Western scholars to have been recorded in the second century
B.C.E.), they remained all but undiscovered by Europeans until 1602. This was when
the first European set foot into the jungles. A Portuguese priest going by the
name of Ferreiri resolved to explore the hills and succeeded. He came upon a community of
people calling themselves the "Toda." This priest seems to have
been the
only European to have explored this area. The Europeans in
It was only around the beginning of the 1800s
that the English unsuccessfully considered surveying this area. Around 1810 or so the East
India Company deceided to delve into the jungles here. An Englishman Francis
Buchanan made a failed expedition. John Sullivan who was then the Collector of
Coimbatore, just south of the Nilgiris, sent two surveyors to make a
comprehensive study of the hills. They went as far as the lower level of Ooty, but failed to see
the complete valley. The
two men were Keys and Macmohan (their first names seem to be lost to the annals
of history)and their mission was significant because they were the
first Englishmen to set foot in the Nilgiri hills which soon led to the
complete opening up of the area.
The original discovery however,is attributed to
J.C.Whish and N.W.Kindersley, working for the
The first European resident of the hills was John
Sullivan, the Collector of
By the end of the 19th century, the
Nilgiri hills were completely accessible with the laying of roads and the
railway line.
Transport
The Nilgiri Ghat Roads link the district with the
nearest cities in Tamilnadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
The
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“You really believe this?” I exclaim in deferential
doubt.
“Without a doubt! Have I not the visible
example of my own master?”
A question which has been on my mind for many days,
presses itself to the fore again. Hitherto I have hesitated in voicing
it, but now that
our friendship has come so close I decide to give the query a bold outlet. I look earnestly at the
Yogi and ask him:
“Brama, who is your master?”
For a while he returns my gaze, but yields no
answer. He looks at me hesitatingly.
Page 95
When he speaks, his voice is slow and grave:
“He is known to his Southern disciples as Yerumbu
Swami, meaning The Ant Teacher.”
“What a curious name!” I exclaim involuntarily.
“My master always carries a bag of rice powder from
which he feeds the ants wherever he may be. But in the North and among the Himalayan villages
where he sometimes stays, he bears another name.”
“Is he, then, perfect in your Yoga of Body Control?”
“Even so.”
“And you believe that he has lived ____?”
“I believe that he is over four hundred years old!” Brama quietly finishes the
sentence for me.
There is a tense pause.
I stare at him in bewilderment.
“Many a time he has described to me what happened
during the reigns of the Moghul Emperors,” supplements the Yogi. “And he has told me stories
of the days when your English India Company first came to
Sceptical Western ears are unable to
accept these statements.
“But any child who has read a history book
could tell you such things,” I counter.
Brama ignores my remark. He goes on:
“My master remembers clearly the first battle of
Panipatą and he has not forgotten the days of the battle of Plassey˛. I
recollect how he once referred to a brother disciple, one Beshudananda, as a mere child
of eighty years!”
In the clear moonlight I notice that Brama’s swarthy,
broad-nosed countenance
remains
peculiarly unmoved while he utters these strange words. How can my brain, nurtured in the strict methods of inquiry which
modern science has called forth, entertain
such assertions? After all, Brama is a Hindu
and must possess some of the legend-swallowing
ability of his people. It
is useless to contend with him: I shall remain silent.
ą In 1526, the invading army of Baber, a
descendant of the ruthless Tamerlane, and the forces of the King of
˛ This famous battle, which opened the
British path to power in
Page 95-96
The Yogi continues:
“For more than eleven years my master was spiritual
adviser to one of the old Maharajahs of
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Cross Reference
28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
- Matthew 28:19 :: King
James Version (KJV)
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Page 96
“How is it possible for a man to live so long?” My
thoughts involuntarily voice themselves again.
Brama looks away, seems to forget my presence.
“There are three ways in which this is possible. The first is to practise all
the postures, all the
breathing exercises
and all
the secret exercises
which comprise our system of Body Control. This practice must take place until
one is perfect,
which
can be done only under a proper master who can show you in his own body what he
teaches. The second way is to partake regularly of some rare herbs which are known only to the
adepts who have studied this matter. These adepts carry the herbs secretly, or
hide them in their robes when travelling. When time arrives for the final disappearance
of such an adept,
he selects a worthy disciple, makes the secret known to him, and presents him
with the herbs. To none else are they given. The third way is not easy to explain.” Brama stops
abruptly.
“Will you not try?” I urge.
“It is possible that you will laugh at my words.”
I assure him that, on the contrary, I shall treat
his explanation with due respect.
Page 96-97
“Very well. There exists a
tiny hole inside the brain of man.ą Within this hole dwells the soul. There is also a kind of valve which
protects this hole.
At the bottom of the spine there comes into being the unseeable life-current which I have
mentioned to you more than once. The constant loss of this current causes the body
to grow old, but its control fills the flesh with new life and perpetuates it. When a man has conquered
himself, he can begin to get this control by certain practices which are known only to
advanced Yogis of our school. And when he can withdraw this life-current up his
spine, he may then try to concentrate it into the hole in the brain. But, unless he finds a
master who will assist him to open the protecting valve, he cannot succeed. If
he finds a master who is willing to do this, then the unseeable current will
enter the hole and turn into the Nectar of Longevity, as we name it. It is no easy
task, for ruin waits in ambush for the man who attempts it alone. But the man who
succeeds can induce a condition similar to death whenever he pleases, and so obtains the
victor’s power when real death seeks him out. In fact, he
can choose the exact moment of his death at any time, and to the
severest examination he will appear to
have died naturally. One who has all these three methods at his command can live for
many hundred years. So have I been taught. Even when he dies, the worms will refrain from
attacking his body. A century later his flesh will still be free from decay.”
ą It is possible that Brama refers to
the cavity caused by the four inter-communicating ventricles of the brain, but
I am not sure.
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Cross Reference
Bhishma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhishma
Bhishma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bhishma (Sanskrit: भीष्म, bhīshma) born as Devavrata (देवव्रत, dévavrata), is one of the
major characters of the Mahabharata.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Bhishma's vow
3 In the Mahabharata War
4 External links
Early life
Bhishma was the eldest son of Shantanu by his first
wife
Bhishma's vow
'Bhishma' means 'He of the terrible oath', referring to his vow of
life-long celibacy.
Devavrata became known as Bhishma because he took the bhishan pratigya — the vow of
life-long celibacy and
of
service to whoever sat on the throne of his father (the throne of Hastinapura). This was
because when his father
Shantanu wanted to marry a fisherwoman Satyavati, her father refused, saying that his
daughter's children would never be rulers because Shantanu already had a son
(i,e., Devavrata). This made Shantanu despondent. To placate Satyavati's
father, Devavrata promised that he would never stake a claim to the
throne,
implying that the child born of Shantanu and Satyavati would become the ruler
after Shantanu. At this, Satyavati's father retorted that even if Devavrata
gave up his claim to the throne, it was still possible that his (Devavrata's)
children would claim the throne. At this, Devavrata, to make his
father happy,
took
the terrible vow,
thus sacrificing
his crown-prince title,
and denying
himself the pleasures of intercourse. This gave him immediate recognition among
the gods. His father granted him
the boon of Ichcha Mrityu (control over his own death — he could choose the
time of his death,
but not, as may be suggested, one of immortality).
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Cross Reference
28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost:
- Matthew 28:19 :: King
James Version (KJV)
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Bhishma was a great archer and a
warrior of peerless valour and courage. In the process of finding a bride for the young
king Vichitravirya for whom he was the regent, Bhishma challenged the assembled suitors at
the swayamvara
of the Kashi princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika and defeated all
of them. Unknown to Bhishma,
Salya, the ruler of Saubala is in love with Amba the eldest princess who reciprocates
his feelings. While on the way to Hastinapura with the princesses, Bhishma is
confronted by Salya who challenges him to a battle for the hand of Amba in
marriage. After a hard fight, Salya is vanquished and admits defeat. Upon reaching
Hastinapura Amba confides in Bhishma that she wished to wed Salya and no other. When Bhishma
sends her to Salya, the vanquished ruler turns her down in shame of
losing the combat. Upon being turned down by Vichitravirya too, as a maiden
who had loved another man, Amba is incensed at Bhishma, whose
interference she perceives as the root cause of her troubles. She performs
penance to Shiva, and obtains the boon to one day be instrumental in Bhishma's death. Amba would be
born as a Panchala princess in the house of King Drupada, who as a consequence
of another boon would be transformed into Shikhandi and be the root cause of Bhishma's
death.
In the Mahabharata War
He is the one who witnessed the
Mahabharata completely from the beginning since the rule of the Shantanu.
In the great battle at Kurukshetra, Bhishma, bound by his
oath to serve the ruler of Hastinapura, fought very reluctantly on the side of the
Kauravas;
nevertheless, he gave it his best effort. At one stage, his impeccable military prowess, combined with Arjuna's
disinclination to fight him, almost made Lord Krishna break His vow of not actually fighting in the
war.
Bhishma was finally grievously wounded on the tenth
day of the battle
by Arjuna, who hid behind another warrior Shikhandi, and rained arrows
on the grandsire.
Bhishma
knew that Shikhandi was born a woman and to strike a woman
he deemed unworthy of the chivalrous. Thus, the warrior did not resist but merely remarked to
Dushasana, "These are Arjuna's arrows, they cannot be Shikhandi's
because they tear my flesh as a crab's young ones tear their mother's body." Of all of
Duryodhana's commander-in-chiefs, Bhishma had held off the inevitable defeat the longest. He was the
supreme commander of the Kaurava forces for ten days compared to
Drona's five, Karna's two and Salya on the
final day. Bhishma fell,
his entire body a pincushion of Arjuna's arrows. After that Drona become the commannder in
chief of kaurav army. After his demise Karna replaced him. Soon after this, Karna, who in the face of
Bhishma's criticism had sworn his vow to keep out of the Kurukshetra till
the withdrawal of Bhishma, approached the grandsire to seek his
blessing.
Bhishma reveals to Karna that he always knew the truth of the latter's parentage and implored him to
persuade Duryodhana (at this point he also told Karna that he had not
allowed to fight him under his command as he did not wanted the real brothers
to fight with each other)to
end the carnage that had already resulted in such great slaughter. Upon Karna's
refusal and insistence to remain true to Duryodhana, he nevertheless received the grandsire's blessing. He lay on the
'bed of arrows' till the end of the battle, and chose to die only after learning that the Pandavas had
won, as he was now assured that the throne of Hastinapura was in safe
hands. In his last days before he ascended to heaven, he
recited to Yudhisthira the famous hymn to Vishnu, the Vishnu sahasranama.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cross Reference
Steven Lee Myers. (Tuesday,
October 1, 2002)
A Russian Lama's Body, and His Faith, Defy Time.
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/Russian%20lama.htm
October 1, 2002
IVOLGINSK JOURNAL
A Russian Lama's Body, and His Faith, Defy Time
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Picture
James Hill for The New York Times
A young Buddhist monk at the Involginsk Monastery in
Buryatia.
Picture
The New York Times
To Buddhists in
VOLGINSK,
The story begins in 1927, when a spiritual leader of
The years that followed were difficult for all
faiths in
After World War II, Stalin relented
somewhat and allowed the
Buddhists to rebuild their monastery outside Ivolginsk, along a low,
desolate valley 22 miles from Buryatia's capital, Ulan-Ude. But religious practice
remained tightly restricted.
When the 30 years had passed — it might have been
28; the details are murky — Itigilov's followers did what he had asked,
exhuming his remains from a cemetery in Khukhe-Zurkhen. What they found, as the
story goes, was Itigilov's body, still in the lotus position, still
perfectly intact, having defied nature's imperative to decay.
Stalin was dead, but Soviet power
remained absolute,
and so the Buddhists reburied Itigilov — and the secret — in an unmarked
grave, packing his wooden coffin with salt. (That may be important, or not.) "Nobody
could talk about it then," said the current Pandito Hambo Lama, the 25th, Damba Ayusheyev. "To bring
him back to the temple — it was forbidden, impossible. So he was put
back."
Unlike supreme Tibetan lamas, who are
considered reincarnations of previous lamas and are enthroned for life, Pandito
Hambo Lamas are elected by other lamas, serve relatively short terms and are
free to step down.
The story might have ended with the reburial had not
a
young lama, Bimba Dorzhiyev, turned his curiosity for history into a quest to
resolve the mystery of Itigilov. He found an 88-year-old believer, Amgalan
Dabayev, whose father-in-law had been there when the coffin had been opened and
who himself had seen Itigilov. He led them to the grave.
On Sept. 11, 75 years after Itigilov's death, the body was once again
lifted from the earth. This time there was a record of the event: a dozen witnesses,
including two forensic experts and a photographer. The lamas who
opened the coffin wore surgical masks, but they need not have. Itigilov's
body remained preserved.
The current Hambo Lama ordered the
body brought to Ivolginsk, where it was greeted with fanfare, ringing bells and lulling chants. He ordered the
body placed on the second floor of one of the monastery's four temples, where it
remains today, secreted behind heavy curtains and locked doors. The
monastery's 150 students keep a vigil on the first floor, praying around the
clock, though only
the lamas may see the body.
"To me it is the greatest miracle in
life," said Hambo Lama Ayusheyev, the spiritual leader since 1995. "It turns
out there are things on
which time has no power."
The 12th Hambo Lama was born in 1852 in Czarist
Most of
In the years since the Soviet collapse, Buryatia has
remained a republic of the
The Ivolginsk monastery is
In Moscow, Vladislav L. Kozeltsev, an expert at
the Center for Biomedical Technologies, the institute that keeps the body of Lenin — who died in 1924 — in state on Red
Square, said the salt in
the coffin might have slowed the decay but could not alone explain the
preservation of the lama's body. Other factors may include the soil and the
condition of the coffin.
More likely, Mr. Kozeltsev said, Itigilov suffered from a defect in the
gene that hastens the decomposition of the body's cellular structure after
death. He
added, "You cannot rule out some secret process of
embalming."
Hambo Lama Ayusheyev says the body was
preserved because Itigilov achieved a heightened state of existence through meditation known as shunyata,
or emptiness.
He acknowledged that there would be skepticism. When greeted with it, he
relented on his own order and led a visitor into the temple, up a flight of
narrow wooden stairs, past a locked door and into the
darkened chamber where
Itigilov sits
atop a simple
table, surrounded by candles and metal bowls holding oils.
The lamas have dressed his body in a
golden robe, with a blue sash laid across his lap. His eyes are closed, his
features blurred, though the shape of his face and his nose certainly resemble
the 1913 photograph. His hands
remain flexible, his nails perfectly trimmed. His skin is leathery but soft.
His head is still covered in short-trimmed hair.
"Many people don't see what's obvious,"
Hambo Lama Ayusheyev said. "Many people won't understand even if they
see him."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cross Reference
Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itigilov
Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Itigilov)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Itigelov.jpg/175px-Itigelov.jpg
Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov (1852-1927)
Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov (Russian:
Даши-Доржо
Итигэлов) (1852–1927) was a
Buryat Buddhist lama of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, best known for the
lifelike state of his body, which is not exposed to decay.
Biography
Itigilov was born in 1852 and began his religious
education at the age of 16. He studied at the Anninsky Datsan (a Buddhist
university in Buryatia, of which only ruins remain), earning diplomas in
medicine and philosophy (the so-called "nature of emptiness"). At that time
he wrote an encyclopedia of pharmacology.
In 1911, he was appointed the 12th Pandido Khambo
Lama (as the head of Russian Buddhists is styled), at which post he inaugurated
the period of a Buddhist revival among Buryats. Between 1913 and 1917, Itigilov
was prominent in the spiritual life of Imperial
During the First World War Itigilov presided over
the society of "Buryat brothers", an organization helping the
Russian army with money, provisions, clothes, and medicaments. He also helped set up a
number of hospitals, with lama doctors helping wounded soldiers. For his
charitable activities Itigilov was awarded the Order of St. Anna.
In 1926 Itigilov advised the Buddhist monks to leave
Life after death
Itigilov left a testament asking to be buried as he
was at the time of his death, sitting in lotus posture. According to his
wishes, his body was put into a pine box and interred at a bumkhan (a graveyard
for the lama burials) in the locality of Khukhe-Zurkhen (Dark-blue Heart in Buryat
language). One
of the testament clauses stipulated that his body should be exhumed by other
monks within several years. This clause is interpreted by enthusiasts to
demonstrate Itigilov's precognisance of his body's incorruptibility.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/Itigelov_preserved.jpg
The exhumed body of Itigilov
In 1955 and in 1973, Itigilov's body was examined by
Buddhist monks, who were astonished to observe no signs of physical decay. They
were too reluctant to divulge their finding to the atheistic authorities of
Communist
On 11 September 2002 Itigilov's body was eventually
exhumed in the presence of the leaders of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of
Although Itigilov's body was never embalmed or
mummified, it is said that his corpse
still bleeds if punctured. The Buddhist monks approach him as a living person
and shake hands with him. Some devotees even claim that Itigilov is still
alive, only immersed in a hibernation- or nirvana-like state. "Buddhists
say that only the most advanced masters can fall into some particular condition
before death and purify themselves so that his dead body could not decay"
[2]. Some
scientists explain the state of Itigilov's body by abnormal quantities of
bromine discovered in tissues and muscles.
On 23 April 2003, the Buddhist conference recognized
the body of Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov as one of the sacred Buddhist objects of
External links and references
(English) Hambo Lama Itigilov
(English) Hambo Lama Itigilov at the Buddhist
Channel
(English) Mortals and saints can remain physically
immortal after death
(Russian) Itigilov at the site of the Ivolginsky
datsan
(Russian) "Izvestiya" attempts to explain
scientific background of the Itigilov phenomenon
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Page 97
I thank Brama for his explanation, but I wonder. I am
profoundly interested, but I am not convinced. Anatomy does not know this current of
which he talks, and it has certainly never known his Nectar. Are these stories of
physiological marvels mere superstitious misunderstandings? With them one
returns to the age of fable, the ancient days of long-lived wizards and
magicians who hold the elixir of life. Yet the demonstrations of breath and blood control
which Brama has given me provide some assurance that Yogic powers are not mere chimeras,
that these powers can undoubtedly be responsible for the performance of feats
which must appear fabulous to the uninitiated. Beyond
this point I find it difficult to walk with him.ą
I
remain respectfully silent, careful not
to allow my intellectual struggles
betray themselves on my face.
“Such powers as these would be much desired by men
who are nearing the grave,”
Brama resumes, “but forget not that the way to them is full of danger. Can you wonder that our
masters say of these exercises: ‘Keep them as secret as you would keep
a box of diamonds.’”
“So
you are unlikely to reveal them to me?”
“Those who wish to become adepts should first learn
to walk before they try to run?” he replies, with a faint smile.
“A last question, Brama.”
The Yogi nods.
“Where is your master now living?”
“He has entered a temple retreat in the
mountains of
ą The entire conversation, with its
amazing statements and cool assertions, now seems like a fantastic
dream. My attempt to transfer it to paper is a task which, more
than once, makes me contemplate omitting it completely from this book as I have
perforce to omit many other conversations. I do not doubt but that it
will cause many superior European lips to curl in contempt of Asiatic
superstition. If I finally let it pass into publication, it is at the
bidding of other judgments than mine.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cross Reference
Madhesh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhesh
Madhesh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Picture
A Madheshi woman from eastern Madhesh
Madhesh (ne:मधेश), also known as Terai or Tarai, is the flat southern
region of
The Madhesh is a 20 to 30 km wide broad belt of flat
and fertile land
stretching from east to west of Nepal. Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
and
Contrary to the frequent image of
The eastern part of Madhesh was a part of the ancient
kingdon Mithila
with Janakpur as its capital.
Contents
1 Origin of Word Madhesh and Variants
2 Geography
3 Climate
4 People
5 Politics
6 Economy
7 Tourism
8 Important Localities
9 See Also
10 External links
Origin of Word Madhesh and Variants
Terai is used to refer to all the Indo-Gangetic
Plain region of northern
In
There are a number of dialectical forms and Western
spellings in use which refer to the population of the Madhesh: Madheshi,
Madhesi, Madesi, Mahadhesi.
Geography
Madhesh goes along the northern edge of the Gangetic
plain. The Gangetic plain goes far into
The Terai of
The Terai makes up 17% of the area in
Climate
The Terai has a subtropical climate and it can often
be humid. The best weather is from November to
February, when day temperatures are from the mid 20ş to the high 20ş and it is cool,
sometimes cold at night.
It very seldom rains at this time.
From late April to the beginning of September the
weather is mild,
often going over 40şC. The monsoon goes from mid-June to mid-September, and this not a
good time to visit.
Most areas in the Terai get over 1500mm of rain in a year.
People
Picture
Janaki Mandir of Janakpur, Nepal, is an icon of
Madhesh.
The people in the region are mostly Indo-Aryan,
whose culture background and ethnicity can be traced with the people
in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in
The people in Madhesh traditionally wear Dhoti and Kurta. The main
religion is Hinduism.
Politics
In January of 2007 there were protests by the
population in the Madhesh region demanding greater autonomy within
In response, Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula
stated that additional electoral constituencies would be added for elections to
be held before June 2007, and that "in principle we have agreed to
establish a federal state of government but the new constitution to be formed
by the constituent assembly will decide on the structure"[1].
Economy
Economically Madhesh is the most
productive region of
Agriculture is the main economic stake
of the region. Main
crops are paddy, wheat, pulses, moong, sugarcane, jute, tobacco, and maize.
Many agro-based industries like jute factories, sugar mills, rice mills and
tobacco factories are established throughout the region.
Tourism
The main places to visit in Madhesh are
The main east–west road through
Important Localities
Biratnagar
Rajbiraj
Janakpur
Birganj
Siddhartanagar
Lumbini
Nepalgunj
Mahendranagar
Butwal
Mechinagar
Lahan
Dhangadhi
Dharan
Ithahari
See Also
Geography of
Janaki Mandir
External links
Terai pictures at Flickr.com
Butwal Today, a daily newspaper from Madhesh
News, Discussions and Library of Madhesh
Government of
BBC Nepali Service
Kantipur Online
Conference on Tarai
Association of Nepali Teraian in
Nepalgunj Business and Information Portal
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Page 98
“Is he likely to return to the plains again?”
“Who can foretell his movements? He may remain
in
Brama reverts to silence. I guess that he is
dwelling in devoted thought upon this enigmatic figure of his master. Ah! if these
things I have heard to-night are more real than legendary, then, indeed,
one may catch a glimpse of what is around the corner – Man, Ageless
and Immortal!
If I do not hurry my pen, this chapter will never be
brought to a close. Therefore I shall endeavour to transfix the last memorable
scene of my association with the Yogi of the five names.
The Indian night comes quickly on the heels of
evening; there are no lingering sunsets as in
The old widow discreetly slips away and leaves me
alone with the Yogi and the student-teacher who translates our words. The odour
of burning incense touches the room with a mystical atmosphere.
This evening sad thoughts of parting steal over me.
I try to brush them off, but fail. I cannot clearly tell this man, through the irritating
barrier of
speaking through a third person, what is in my heart. How far the novel
facts and strange theories he has put forward are correct, I am little able to say, but I have
appreciated his readiness to let me enter his solitary existence; I have felt at times that our hearts
have drawn sympathetically near to each other; and I know now what it has
meant to him to break his
habitual reserve.
To-night I have made a last attempt,
under the shadow of impending departure, to induce him to reveal his deeper
secrets.
“Are
you ready to abandon the life of cities and to retire into a solitary place in
the hills or the jungle for some years?” he asks me, searchingly.
Page 99
“I must first think this out, Brama.”
“Are
you ready to give up all other activities, all your work, renounce your
pleasures and put your whole time into the exercises of our system – and that
not merely for a few months, but for several years?”
“I do not think so. No – I am not
ready. One day, perhaps ____”
“Then
I can take you no farther. This Yoga of Body Control is too serious to become
the mere sport of a man’s leisure hours.”
I see my chances of becoming a Yogi
fade swiftly into nothing. I regretfully realize that the full system, with its many years of difficult
training, its rigorous and austere discipline, is not for me. But there is something else
which is closer to my heart than strange powers of the flesh. I confide in the anchorite.
“Brama, these powers – they are
wonderfully fascinating.
One day I would really like to go more deeply into your training, yet, after
all, how much
lasting happiness do they bring? Is there not something finer still in Yoga? Perhaps I do
not make myself clear?”
Brama nods his head and says:
“I understand.”
We both smile.
“Our texts say that the wise man will follow up his
practice of the Yoga of Body Control with the Yoga of Mind Control,” he remarks, slowly. “It
can be said that the first prepares the way for the second. When our ancient masters
received the principles of our system from the god Shiva, they were told that the final goal
was not to be purely material. They understood that the conquest of the body was to be
looked upon as a step towards the conquest of the mind, and this again as a way to
becoming spiritually perfect. So you see that our system deals with things close at
hand, indeed, with the body, but only as an indirect means of penetrating to the spirit. Therefore, my own master
has taught me: ‘First run your course in
Body Control; then you can take to the kingly science, the Mind Control.’
Remember that a body which is mastered ceases to distract the mind; only a few can plunge straight into the path of holding
the thoughts.
Yet if
a man feels strongly drawn to the way of Mind Control we do not interfere; for that, then, is
his path.”
“And that is a purely mental Yoga?”
Page 99-100
“Even so. It is a training to make the mind like
a steady
light, and then that light is
turned on to the abode of the spirit.”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cross Reference
Steven Lee Myers. (Tuesday,
October 1, 2002)
A Russian Lama's Body, and His Faith, Defy Time.
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/Russian%20lama.htm
...
Hambo Lama Ayusheyev says the body was
preserved because Itigilov achieved a heightened state of existence through meditation known as shunyata,
or emptiness.
...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Page 100
“How can one start such training?”
“For that again, it is necessary to find a master.”
“Where?”
Brama shrugs his shoulders.
“Brother, people who are hungry look eagerly for food; those who are
starving, however, will search like madmen. When you want a master as much as a
starving man wants to eat, you will surely find one. Those who search sincerely
will most assuredly be led towards him at
the appointed hour.”
“You believe that there is a destiny about the matter?”
“You speak truly.”
“I have seen some books ___”
The Yogi shakes his head.
“Without a master, your books are mere pieces of
paper. Our word
for him, guru,
means: ‘One who dispels darkness.’ The man whose efforts and destiny favour him sufficiently to find a real teacher, steps quickly into
a
state of light,
for the master uses his own higher gifts to benefit the disciple.”
Brama moves away to his bench of
littered papers
and presently returns with a large document, which he hands to me. It is
covered with an orderly arrangement of cabbalistic signs, peculiar symbols and Tamil
characters drawn in red, green and black inks. The top of the sheet is
adorned with a large hieroglyphic symbol patterned like a scroll, in which I recognize
representations of the sun, moon and the human eyes. All the sketches and writings fall around a central blank
space.
“Last night, I spent some hours preparing this,”
says Brama. “When you get back, paste one of my photographs in the centre.”
He informs me that if I will concentrate my mind upon this queer but not
inartistic document for five minutes before going to sleep at night, I shall dream clearly and vividly of him.
“Even
if five thousand miles separate our bodies, place your thoughts upon this paper and our spirits shall meet at night,” he asserts confidently. And he explains that these dream meetings will be as actual and as real as our physical meetings
have been so far.
This brings me to mention that my trunks are all but
packed, and that I shall soon be off; I am doubtful when and where I may see
him again.
Page 101
He replies that he does not doubt that whatever
destiny has been allotted us, must be fulfilled. And then he confides in me:
“I leave this place in the spring, when I shall go
to the
Tanjore district,
where two students await me. As for what will happen thereafter, who can say, for, as you know, I hope one day
to receive the call from my master.”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cross Reference
Tanjore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanjore
Thanjavur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Picture
Thanjavur
State Tamil
Nadu
- District(s) - Thanjavur
Coordinates 10.8°
N 79.15° E
Area 36
km˛
- Elevation - 2 m
Time zone IST
(UTC+5:30)
Population (2001) 215,725
- Density - app. 7700/km˛
Municipal Chairperson Thenmozhi Jayabalan[1]
Codes
- Postal - 613 001 till 009
- Telephone - +914362
- Vehicle - TN 49
"Tanjore" redirects here. For other uses,
see Tanjore (disambiguation).
Thanjavur (தஞ்சாவூர் in Tamil), also known by its
anglicised name Tanjore, is a city and a municipality in Thanjavur district in
the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is also the capital of the Thanjavur
District. The city lies on the south bank of the Kaveri River
Thanjavur was the capital of Cholas whey they were at the peak
of their power. Since then, Thanjavur has been one of the chief political,
cultural and religious centres of
Thanjavur derives its name from Tanjan-an
asura (demon)
who according to local legend caused devastation and was killed by Sri
Anandavalli Amman and Sri Neelamegapperumal. Tanjan's last
request that the city might be named after him was granted.
Contents
1 History
1.1 Under the Cholas
1.2 After the Cholas
2 Geography
3 Places of interest
4 Culture
5 Demographics
6 Employment
7 Education
8 Top Government Officials
9 References
10 External links
History
The city was once the stronghold of the historic Chola
dynasty and was
later ruled by the nayaks of Vijayanagara and Maratha rajas. Thanjavur contains over
90 temples, as
it was favored by the Cholas rulers between the 1-th and 12th centuries, the Nayakas in the 16th century, and the Marathas in the 17th and
18th centuries.[2]
Under the Cholas
Picture
Thanjavur, or Tanjapuri as it was called in the
ancient times was chosen by Vijayalaya Chola as the seat of his new kingdom in 848 CE. He built a temple
for his favourite
goddess Nisumbhasudani
in the city. Although during subsequent emperors, Kanchipuram
also became a subsidiary capital, Thanjavur maintained its position as the chief
city. The great
The inscriptions tell us about a number of royal
palaces in the city and of the districts where palace servants lived. We also
learn of the names of a number of streets: the big street of Virasola and the
big market of Tribhuvanamadeviyar. During the reign of Rajaraja we learn that
the city was divided into two parts: Ullalai (inner) and Purambadi (outer) city. Purambadi
could have been an extension to the city built during Rajaraja's reign. Among
the new streets built by Rajaraja were two running east to west in front of the
The influence of Thanjavur began to diminish when
Rajendra Chola I built a
After the Cholas
Picture
A Mighty Cannon of forge-welded Iron. This cannon
was built during the reign of Raghunatha Nayak (1600 - 1645 CE), and it was located
at the defense barricade at the Eastern entrance to the city.
After the Cholas the Pandyas conquered the Chola
country. Madurai was the Pandya capital and Thanjavur remained in the background, as
a
Later in 1535,the Vijaynagar king installed a nayak
king hence the era of Tanjore Nayaks which lasted till mid-17th century, until
attacked by the
Tanjore was conquered by the Marathas in 1674 under
Venkaji, the half-brother of Shivaji the Great; his successors ruled as rajas
of Tanjore. The British first came into contact with Tanjore by their expedition in 1749 with a view to the
restoration of a deposed raja of Tanjore Nayak lineage. In this they failed,
and a subsequent expedition was bought off. The Maratha rajas held Tanjore until 1799. A Protestant
mission at
Tanjore was founded in 1778
by the Reverend Christian Friedrich Schwarz. His church dates from 1779.
In October of that year the district was ceded to the
British East India Company in absolute sovereignty by Raja Serfoji
II, a pupil of the missionary Schwartz. The raja retained only the capital and a small
tract of country round. He died in 1833 and was succeeded by his son Sivaji, on
whose death in 1855 without an heir the house became extinct.
Geography
Thanjavur is located at 10.8° N 79.15° E[3]. It has
an average elevation of 2 metres (6 feet). The city lies on the south bank of
the
The city is primarily divided into two parts
separated by a flyover.
The Downtown [known as
The extension areas include Mariamman Koil, Gnanam
Nagar, Kattuthottam, Nanjikottai, Madhakottai, Pillaiyarpatti and
Nilagirivattam. The total population of the composite city touches 500,000
(unofficial figure). For all purposes the city extends from Vallam to Mariamman
Koil (west - east) and Vayalur to Nanjikottai (north-south) for an area of 100
km˛.
Places of interest
Picture
Entrance of the
Picture
Thanjavur is famous for the
Culture
Thanjavur is one of the chief political, literary
and religious centres of southern India, known for its contribution to Carnatic music, it has produced many
classical musicians and Bharathanatyam dancers. Tiruvaiyaru, which is close to
Thanjavur, is the place where the great musician Saint Tyagaraja lived. It is also well known for
its unique painting style called Tanjore Painting, a percussion
instrument called the Thavil, a divine classical string instrument Veenai and the Thanjavur Dolls.
Demographics
The city is the 8th largest in the state of Tamil Nadu
with a census population of around 225,000 (est. 2005). It has an area of 36 km˛. Ethnically most of the
people are Tamils. There is also a large Telugu population along with Saurashtrians and Thanjavur
Marathi people.
As of 2001
Employment
Most of the people in Thanjavur District are farmers. In the city of
Education
Thanjavur is renowned for its culture of education.
It is home to the famous Saraswati Mahal library which dates back to the end of the
16th century and
contains over 30,000 rare manuscripts. It has now been fully
computerized.
St. Peter's, founded in the 18th century by Schwartz, is a renowned school.
Currently, Thanjavur has two universities, viz., the
Thanjavur has more number of Software Engineering
Professionals, Doctors, Engineers, Teachers etc.
List of Universities:
1. Tamil University.
2. SASTRA Deemed University (Formerly
List of Autonomous colleges:
1. A.V.V.M SRI Pushapam College(Autonomous) poondi,
Thanjavur Dt.(A.Veeraiya Vandaiyar Memorial Sri Pushpam College was established
in 1956 in a village Poondi, 12 km from Thanjavur on the way to Nagapattinam in
Tamilnadu state in India on the National High Way 74. The College is having a
vast campus of 85 acres, NAAC accreditation with status of four stars.
List of Colleges:
Medical and Paramedical
1. Thanjavur Medical College.
2. Mannai Narayanasamy College.
3. Arasu Paramedical College.
4. Konagarnadu College of Nursing.
Engineering
1. Periyar Maniyammai College of Technology for
Women.
2. Anjalaiammal Mahalingam Engineering College.
3. P R
4. King's
Arts, Science and Management
1. Rajah Serfoji Government Arts College, Thanjavur.
2. Kundhavai Nachiar Government Arts College.
3. Tamilvel Umamaheshwaranar Karanthai Arts College.
4.
5. Na. Mu.
6.
7. Bharath College of Science and Management.
8. Marudhupandiar College.
9.
10. Adaikala Matha College.
11. Bon Secours College.
12. Ponnaiah Ramajayam College.
13. Abi & Abi
14. Adikalamatha Institute of Management.
15. P. R. Institute of Managemnet.
Polytechnics
1. Periyar Centenary Polytechnic.
2. Vandayar Polytechnic.
3. CCMR Polytechnic.
4. P R Polytechnic.
Top Government Officials
1. Deputy Inspector General of Police.. Mr Abhash
Kumar IPS
2. District Collector.. Mr C Vijayraj Kumar IAS
References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopćdia
Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
1. The Hindu dated 29 October 2006
2.
3. Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Thanjavur
External links
1. Online poojas to Thanjavur and surrounding
2. Sri Vishnu Temples in
3. Thanjavur Weather
4. Thanjavur District
5. Thanjavur.com
6. Thanjavur -
7.
8. http://www.mayiladuthuraionline.com
9.
10.
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There is a long silence, which Brama eventually
breaks by addressing me in a voice which is lowered to a hushed
whisper. I turn
to the student-teacher, preparing myself to receive some new revelation.
“Last night my master appeared to me. He spoke to me about
yourself. He said: ‘Your friend, the sahib, is eager for knowledge. In his last birth he was among
us.
He followed Yoga practices, but they were not of our school. To-day he has come again to
I draw back, astounded.
The lamp throws its beams of light upon the little
assembly. My young interpreter’s face seems stricken with awe in that yellowish
glare.
“Did you not tell me that your teacher
was in distant
“Indeed, he remains there still!”
“Then how on earth can he travel twelve hundred
miles
in a single night?”
Brama smiles cryptically.
“My
master is ever present to me, though
“Telepathy?”
“If you wish!”
Page 101-102
I rise, for it is time to go. We wander out on our
last moonlight walk together, and pass the ancient walls of the temple which
stands not far from Brama’s house. The moon filigrees through the many-branched trees
as we halt at a lovely group of palms which borders the road.
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Cross Reference
Adyar (Tamil Nadu)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adyar_%28Tamil_Nadu%29
Adyar (Tamil Nadu)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about locality in Chennai, Tamil
Nadu. For other uses, see Adyar.
Adyar or Adayar is a large neighborhood south of
Chennai (previously
The literacy rate in Adyar is very high. The residents includes IT
professionals, Business persons, Engineers, HighCourt Judges and Advocates,
Tamil Cinema Stars, Professors and etc.
The migration of IT profesionals to Adyar is because
of the emergence of
Adyar is situated on a flat coastal plain, near
Adyar river as can be seen in this Landsat 7 map. Adyar is noted for housing the
Theosophical Society,
which provides a calm environment along the south bank of the river for quiet
contemplation on
comparative
religion. The
Elliot's beach in nearby Besant Nagar is the nearest point to the sea, and a
popular recreation spot. IIT Madras, one of the top technical institutes in the
world, Anna University ,one of the best universities in
The main entrance of IIT Madras, showing its logo
and its motto. The locality has developed significantly through the late 1970s
and early 1980s as a residential area to accommodate Chennai's sprawl. Since
the late 1990s, it has become part of the IT corridor, the name given to the
part of southeast Chennai where several IT companies have set up base. It is
also home
to many birds which primarily flock the Adyar estuary close to the Theosophical
Society.
The land rates have gone up tremendously in a short
period. The center of the city runs along
Adyar has a number of good schools including The
Hindu School, St.Patrick's, St.Micheal's Academy, Bala Vidya Mandir, Sri
Sankara School, The School, KFI founded by J Krishnamurti, Sishya and St Johns
School. NIFT (National Institite of Fashion Technology) and TamilNadu`s first
IT center TIDEL PARK
is very close to Adyar.
Adyar has world class hospital and restaurants.
Adyar is quite near to Prathna Cinema Theatre which is the only BEACH drive in
theatre in the world, Amusement parks like MGM Dizee world, Little Folks, VGP
Golden Beach, Discotheques and Resorts.
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Whilst he is bidding me farewell, Brama murmurs:
“You know that I have but few possessions. This is the thing
I value most. Take it.”
He grasps the fourth finger of his left hand, and pulls at it. He holds
forward the palm of his right hand. I see a golden ring glistening in the
centre under the rays of the moon. Eight slender claws grip a round green stone, whose
face is veined with reddish-brown markings. Brama puts it in my hand as we
clasp in farewell. I attempt to return the unexpected gift, but he meets my refusal
by pressing it more determinedly upon me.
“One who enjoys great wisdom in Yoga gave this to me. In those days,
I was travelling far and wide for knowledge.
Now – I beg you to wear it.”
I thank him and enquire, half jokingly:
“Will it bring me good fortune?”
“No, it cannot do that. But there is a powerful
charm within the stone, which will help you penetrate to
the company of secret sages, and which will
help you awaken your
own mystic powers.
This
you will realize by
experience.
Wear it when you need these things.”
There is a final and friendly parting, and we go our
ways.
I walk slowly away, my head filled with a strange
medley of thoughts. I muse over the extraordinary message from Brama’s far-off
master. It is too
extraordinary for me to dispute. I remain silent before it while belief and
skepticism fight a fantastic conflict in my heart.
I glance at the golden ring and ask myself, “How can a
mere ring possess any efficacy in these matters?” I do not understand how or why it can
influence me or others in any mental or spiritual manner. The belief savours of
superstition. Yet
Brama seems so confident of the reality of its fanciful properties. Is it
possible? I
feel almost impelled to answer: In this strange land all things may be
possible! But intellect
rushes to the rescue and
puts
up a barricade of question marks.
I fall into a fit of musing
abstraction, so
that I
move away, startled,
when
I stumble against something and knock my forehead. Looking up, I behold the poetic silhouette of a palm tree and the
fireflies making a myriad dancing points of light between the branches.
Page 102-103
The night sky is deep blue. Venus – a point of
intense brightness
– seems
quite close to our planet. Infinite peace broods over the road as I walk. A mysterious
stillness enthrals me.
Even
the large bats which occasionally appear and sweep over my head, move their
wings silently.
The
scene charms me.
I stop for a moment. The moon diffuses a light which turns a man, who is approaching me, into a
flitting ghost.
Page 103
When I reach my quarters, I find that wakefulness
lingers late this night.
Close
to dawn sleep comes at last, drowning my whirl of thoughts in forgetfulness.
Picture
THE YOGI’S MAGIC CHART
“Paste one of my photographs in the centre. Even if
five thousand miles separate our bodies, place your thoughts upon this paper and
our spirits shall meet at night.”
Page
110
Chapter VII The Sage Who Never Speaks
I learn that the
Sage Who Never Speaks has not even one pupil. He seeks none and accepts none. He is one of those
solitaries who prefer to live in isolation in order to achieve their own
“spiritual liberation”. If
there is any value in the latter, then their attitude is apparently a selfish
one, judged by our Western lights. And yet, when one remembers the Sage’s
profound considerateness towards the drunkard and his refusal to
retaliate
against the young hooligans, one wonders whether he can be so very selfish after
all.
Accompanied by two
other persons, I make my second attempt to interview the Sage Who Never Speaks.
One is my interpreter, while the second man is none other than the Yogi who has
taught me so much - Brama, “the Adyar anchorite,” as I affectionately call him.
Brama
never cares to enter the city, but when I make known the object of my visit and desire him to
accompany me, he agrees without demur.
Page
111
...
The attendant
again admits us into the cottage, where we find the recluse sunk in the same
trance-like condition which he maintained throughout my first visit.
We squat upon the
floor in silence and wait patiently before the tall, majestic, black-bearded
figure on the marble dais. About half-way through the second hour we perceive
the first signs of returning activity in the Sage’s body. His breathing becomes
deeper and then more audible. The eyelids move, the eyeballs roll alarmingly
upwards until the whites glare and then come down to normal. A slight swaying
movement becomes perceptible in his trunk.
Five minutes later
the expression in the Sage’s eyes changes in such a way that we know he has
become aware of his physical environment. He looks attentively at the
interpreter, turns his head abruptly and looks at Brama and then at the other
visitor, turns it again and looks at me.
I seize the
opportunity and place a pencil and a pad of paper at his feet. He hesitates
awhile, takes up the pencil and writes in large flourishing Tamil characters:
Page
112
“Who came here the
other day and tried to take pictures?”
I am compelled to
admit to this activity. As a matter of fact, the effort had been useless, for I
had under-exposed the films.
He writes again:
“When you go again
to Yogis who are in deep trance, never disturb them by such actions. Do not attempt to
break in abruptly upon their meditations. In my own case it did not matter, but I tell you this
to guide your future actions when you try to see other Yogis. Such interruption
may be dangerous to them
and they
might put a curse upon you.”
It is evidently
looked upon as a minor act of sacrilege to penetrate the solitude of such a man, so I express my
regrets.
Page 115
...
When we emerge from the compound, Brama, the Adyar
anchorite, turns to me and says, in a quiet voice:
“This Yogi has reached a high state, although not
the final goal. He possesses occult gifts, but is keener to perfect his spirituality. His fine
bodily condition I attribute to his long practice of the Yoga of Body Control, though I now
observe that he has advanced into the art of Mind Control. I knew him before.”
“When?”
“I discovered him some years ago near here, when he lived
in the open field without a cottage. I recognized him for what he was – a
practising Yogi following my path. I shall also tell you that he informed me –
through writing, of course – that in early life he was a Sepoy in the army.
After his period of service came to an end, he wearied of this worldly life and
embraced solitude.
It was then that he met the renowned faqueer Marakayar and became his
disciple.”
We proceed in silence across the fields and then
rejoin the dusty road. I do not mention to anyone the unexpected
and inexplicable experience which came to me in the cottage. I want to muse over it while
its echoes are yet sounding fresh within me.
Page 115-116
I never see the Sage again. He does not
wish me to intrude upon his secluded life and I must respect his wish. I leave him to
his lonely meditations, wrapped in his mantle of impenetrability. He has no
desire to found a school or collect a following, and his ambitions seem to
stretch no farther than passing unobtrusively through life. He has nothing
to add to what he has already said to me. He does not make an art of conversation for its own
sake, as we do in the West.
Page 197
Chapter XI The Wonder-Worker of
...
He tells me his birthplace was in
A Yogi sat on the banks of the river and watched the
proceedings. He got up and predicted that the boy was reserved to live and
achieve greatness, and that his destiny was most fortunate, inasmuch as
he would become a famous Yogi. The man then rubbed some herbs on the poisoned wound and went
away. Seven days later he returned and told the parents that the boy was now
quite cured, and indeed it was so. But, during the interim a strange thing had
happened to the child. His entire mentality and character had changed, and instead of
being content to remain at home with his parents, he thirsted to become a
wandering Yogi.
Henceforth he worried his mother constantly until, a few years later, she
granted him permission to leave home. He went forth in quest of the Yoga
adepts.
Page 197-198
He made his way to
Page 198
Years passed uneventfully, yet his desire found no
abatement. Once more he crossed the border and wandered the bleak
wastes of
I hear, next, one of those incredible statements which might
once have moved me to satiric laughter, but now actually startles me. For I am solemnly assured that this Tibetan
master is no less than one thousand two hundred years old! The assertion is
made as calmly as a prosaic Westerner might mention that he is forty.
This amazing legend of longevity has cropped has cropped up
at least twice before. Brama, the Yogi of the Adyar river, once told me that his master in
Nepal was over four hundred years old, while a holy man whom I encountered in Western
India said that there was a Yogi living in an almost inaccessible
mountain cave on the Himalayas who was so old – over one thousand years, was the figure given me – that the lids
of his eyes actually drooped heavily with age! I had dismissed both these assertions as
being too fantastic,
but now
I must again entertain a repetition of them, for this man before me hints at being on
the track of the elixir of life.
The Tibetan teacher initiated young Vishudhananda
into the principles and practices of the Yoga of Body Control. Under this
rigorous training, the disciple developed powers of the body and mind which were
supernormal. He
was also initiated into a strange art which he calls Solar Science. For twelve
years, despite the hardships
of life in a snow-bound region, he continued his pupilage at the feet of the Tibetan possessor
of immortal life.
His
training finished, he was sent back to
Page
205-223
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Reference
Brunton,
Paul. (1962) A Search in Secret
Egypt. (17th Impression)
Page
164
Abydos, as the
first seat of the Osirian religion, was also the first Grand Lodge of the inner
secret rites of that religion; that is of the “Mysteries,” progenitors of early
Freemasonry.
...
The whole
structure, most archaic in appearance, was dug out of more than forty feet of
debris. The central room was saddle-roofed and shaped like a colossal
sarcophagus. The roof was delicately sculptured with carvings showing
Shu, god of the air, lifting a dead Pharaoh from the earth and protecting him
with his arms. I
felt at once that some hidden symbolism lay in this picture.
Page 280-281
“Therefore, I repeat that foreigners who for the sake
of hidden treasures,
or that exaggerated curiosity which often disguises itself as scientific
enquiry, seek to
exploit any ancient country where magic was much understood and practised, take grave risks. There are
secret tombs of the great Lamas at Lhassa, in
Page 281
“In ancient times,
“Let this warning go out through your pen. Now you
may understand why we have met. Even if it be scorned and ignored, my duty and
yours – if you
will accept it – shall have been done. Nature’s
laws do not pardon ignorance; but even that excuse shall have gone.”
Thus ended Ra-Mak-Hotep’s message. I have
faithfully transcribed it and have set it down here for what it is worth.
We met a few more times, the Adept and I, and then I
was called away to pursue my travels farther south. At each of our meetings he stored my
head with information about the tenets of the mysterious fraternity to which he
belonged. It
was during a reference to some experiences of mine in India,
where I had met a young Yogi who claimed that his Master was more than four
hundred years old,
that Ra-Mak-Hotep gravely announced the startling and incredible information
that some
Adepts who had lived and moved in ancient Egypt were still alive!
I shall not quickly forget the exclamations of
astonishment with which I greeted his statement.
The pith of his assertions was that there are Adepts
whose bodies lie in a comatose state in certain Egyptian tombs which have not
yet been discovered, and which, he claimed, would never be discovered by the ordinary archaeologist.
Page 281-282
“The tombs of these great Adepts are too
well-guarded
and will
never be found by your ‘diggers’,” he explained. “Those tombs are not tombs of the
dead, but of the living. They contain, not mummies, but the bodies of Adepts
in a unique state which the word ‘trance’ most nearly describes. You have
discovered in
Page 282-283
“Moreover, there is one vital difference between
them and those Hindu fakirs. The latter fall into a totally unconscious state during their burial, and remember
nothing until they awaken again – unless
they are Adepts, in which case they could never be persuaded to give a public
demonstration of their powers. The Egyptian Adepts, however, remain fully
conscious during their interment, and although their bodies are in coma, their
spirits are free and working. In India you visited the Sage Who Never Speaks, who lives near
Madras, and on the first occasion you found him in a profound trance, seemingly
as though dead. Yet you must know that his mind was very much alive, because
on your second visit he not only knew all about your first one, but mentioned
his objection to your having attempted to take his photograph then. Such a man
functions in the inner realms of being, or even on the physical realm by using
an etheric body.
The buried Egyptian Adepts are mentally in a similar condition while physically their
bodies are, of course, much more profoundly entranced. Their
spirits move and travel, their minds think in a condition of full consciousness
and they have the advantage of being aware of two worlds – the material and the
spirit worlds.
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Cross Reference
Meenakshi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenakshi
...
Meenakshi, according to Hindu mythology, is a deity;
a
Goddess who is related to two of the three Godheads - Vishnu and
Shiva. She is the sister of Lord Vishnu,...
...
Like a fish, Minakshi
Devi's eyes are always open, watching over her
devotees.
Her
eyes are fabled to bring life to the unborn.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Page 283
“Their bodies are hidden in undiscoverable tombs,
which await the return of their spirits. One day the latter will re-animate
those comatose bodies, which will then step forth into the outer world again.
The process of re-animation will have to be performed by the right persons, who
possess the necessary knowledge. Part of the ritual of awakening will consist
in chanting certain secret ‘Words of Power’. It may seem curious to you, but their
bodies are apparently embalmed, for they lie swathed in linen and enclosed in
mummy coffins. There is, however, the vital difference that they have
never had their hearts cut out as was done with real mummies. All their vital
organs remain intact, except that they have collapsed stomachs, due to the fact that no
food has been intaken since the beginning of their entrancement. Another
difference is that the living Adepts have had their faces and bodies entirely
covered with a coating of wax. This coating was applied after the state of entrancement had
been induced.
Page 283-284
“Their tombs are well concealed, and their number
is extremely small
– naturally, for only highly advanced Adepts could enter this state and not all
Adepts are willing to do so. I do not like to use the word ‘trance’ in their case because it
gives a wrong impression, but I know no other word which can fitly be employed.
Their
condition is quite different, for instance, from the trance of spiritualist
mediums and hypnotic subjects. There are really profound degrees of trance which modern
investigators have never traced. All such conditions which they have
contacted are superficial in comparison with the profound and unique condition of the
entombed Egyptian Adepts.
In the repose of the latter
there
is really much activity;
they are not really in trance states, as the world understands that word.
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Reference
WordWeb 4.5 Dictionary
repose
Lean in a comfortable resting position
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Page 285
“There is one Adept who has been in his tomb since 260 B.C.; another
since more than 3000 B.C.; still another who has lain there for 10,000
years! They are all
working very actively in secret for the spiritual welfare of mankind. They know what is going on in the entire world, despite the fact that their bodies are interred. They are perfect men. By that I mean that their bodies
cannot be touched
– not even by any insect or parasite – such is the tremendous radiation of
their spiritual forces.
Moreover, they are in constant telepathic communication with certain
living Adepts of our time who themselves possess a functioning body. The spiritual
treasures preserved by those ancient Egyptian Adepts are handed over to these
living Adepts. When the time
comes to awaken them,
the ritual of arousal will have to be performed by one of the latter.”
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Cross Reference
Meenakshi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenakshi
...
Meenakshi, according to Hindu mythology, is a deity;
a
Goddess who is related to two of the three Godheads - Vishnu and
Shiva. She is the sister of Lord Vishnu,...
...
Like a fish, Minakshi
Devi's eyes are always open, watching over her
devotees.
Her
eyes are fabled to bring life to the unborn.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Page 282
ą In my account of the Indian Yogis, A Search in
Secret India, a reference to one of these fakirs appears on page 93. It may
be of interest to supplement that reference with the following further details,
which I have taken from Sir Claude Wade’s official account.
The fakir was buried alive in a box
which was placed in a cell three feet below the floor and with a guard
comprising two companies of soldiers. Four sentries were furnished and relieved
every two hours, night and day to guard the building from intrusion.
“On opening the box,” wrote Sir
Claude, “we saw the figure enclosed in a bag of white linen fastened by a
string over the head. The servant began pouring warm water over the figure – the legs and
arms of the body were shrivelled and stiff, the face full, the head reclining
on the shoulder like that of a corpse. I then called to the medical
gentleman who was attending me to come down and inspect the body, which he did,
but could discover no pulsation in the heart, temples or arm. There was, however, a heat about the region of the
brain which existed in no other part of the body. The process of resuscitation
including bathing with hot water, friction, the removal of wax and cotton
pledgets from the nostrils and ears, the rubbing of the eyelids with clarified
butter, and, what will appear most curious to many, the
application of a hot wheaten cake about an inch thick to the top of the head. After the
cake had been applied for the third time, the body was violently convulsed, the
nostrils became inflated, the respiration ensued, and the limbs assumed a
natural fullness, but the pulsation was still faintly perceptible. The tongue
was then annointed with clarified butter, the eyeballs became dilated and
recovered their natural colour, and the fakir recognized those present and
spoke.”
I remember a very old Indian, who had
witnessed a case of burying a Yogi alive for twenty-seven days. He told me
that when the man had been disinterred and resuscitated, the air rushed
into his lungs with a whistling noise, like that of a steam-whistle.
Page 285
Epilogue
And after I had wandered afar throughout the whole
length of this hoary land of Egypt and witnessed divers more curious things, I turned my
steps homeward to my good friends, who sit in
eternal meditation
on
the edge of the Libyan Desert.
“Tell me, O wise Sphinx!” I cried, “whither I may go
to rest my tired feet, which seem to have walked enow along the dusty road of life?”
And the Sphinx made response:
“Ask thy question of the One whose lonely child I am, whose womb brought me
forth to endure the sorrowful
buffetings of this world.
For
I am Man himself,
and yonder
is my mother, Earth.
Ask her!”’
So I trod on a little farther and came to the Great
Pyramid. And I
went inside the dark passage and crawled down into the deep bowels of the
earth, into the dismal subterranean vault itself.
And I uttered the pass-words of greeting, according to my
instruction from the seventh verse of the sixty-fourth chapter of the most
ancient book in all
“Hail! Lord of the Shrine Which Standeth
in the Middle of the Earth!”
Thereupon I sat down on the rocky floor and plunged my
mind into its own native
quietude, patiently
waiting for an answer.
When at last the Great One, the Master of
the Divine House,
made his appearance, I begged him to lead me into the presence of She who is called “The Mistress
of the
And the Master yielded to my strong entreaty and
conducted me through a secret door into the
To her I repeated my enquiry:
“Tell me, O Mistress of the
Page 286
She gazed long and earnestly into my eyes before She
spoke forth in answer:
“Seven waysş are open before thee, O Seeker. Seven steps
await to be mounted
by the
man
who
would enter into myą secret chamber˛. Seven lessons must be learned by those of thy human race who would see
my face unveiledł.
Not
till thou hast travelled all
the ways, climbed all
the steps, and mastered all the lessons canst thou
hope to find rest
for thy feet or
peace
for thy soul.”
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ş Cross Reference
15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory
of God, and from his power; and no man was
able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
- Revelation 15:8 :: King
James Version (KJV)
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ą Cross Reference
Picture
http://www.sivananda.org/madurai/images/meenakshi_full1.jpg
Picture
http://kabuki.eecs.berkeley.edu/~rsn/images/meenakshi.gif
Picture
http://www.sivananda.org/madurai/images/meenakshi_lingam1.jpg
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˛ Cross Reference
Picture
http://www.sivasakti.com/local/tantra/poza81-4.jpg
Picture
http://www.tantramag.com/tantra/poza153-1.jpg
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˛ Cross Reference
Attis
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Attis.html
Agdistis
Agdistis, who was a demon with both male and female
sexual organs, was born from the seed that Zeus once let fall upon the ground when
he was asleep. But
since his double sexuality frightened the gods, they cut off Agdistis' male
organ. From Agdistis' amputated organ then, an almond tree grew up with its fruit
ripe; and when
Sangarius' daughter came along, they say, she took of the fruit and laid it in
her bosom and, on doing this,
the fruit disappeared
and she found herself pregnant.
Castration at wedding party
When some time after a boy was born she exposed him,
but he was saved by a goat that nourished him. And when years later Attis
became a youth of beauty more than human, he was sent by some relatives to
Pessinus in central Asia Minor near
Attis buried
When this happened, Agdistis repented and asked Zeus
to grant that Attis' body should not decay; for as they say, Agdistis was himself in love with
the youth. But whatever happened to that request, Attis was buried in the
vicinity of Pessinus, where a temple was built to the Mother of
the Gods, whom they called Agdistis although she is often identified with Rhea
1, Cronos' wife.
Attis love for Sagaritis
Others have said that Attis was a worshipper of the
Mother of the Gods, and that the goddess asked him to guard her temple and keep his chastity, whereupon he promised
obedience saying:
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Cross Reference
3:16 Know ye not that ye are the
3:17 If any man defile the
- 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ::
King James Version (KJV)
6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost
which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not
your own?
6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ::
King James Version (KJV)
7:1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto
me: It
is good for a man not to touch a
woman.
- 1 Corinthians 7:1 :: King
James Version (KJV)
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"If I lie ... may the love for which
I break faith be my last love of all." [Ovid, Fasti 4.227]
And since promises are more often than not broken,
Attis met the Naiad
Sagaritis and turned her into his sweetheart. But the Mother of the Gods, who
was well informed, by wounding the Naiad's tree destroyed Attis' sweetheart as well, since her fate
was dependent on the tree's. This event, they say, and nothing else, is the reason why Attis
lost his mind, imagining that his chamber's roof was falling in.
Naiad
n.
1.
Greek Mythology. One of the nymphs who lived in and presided over
brooks, springs, and fountains.
2.
Any one of a subfamily (Najades) of butterflies including the
purples, the fritillaries, the peacock butterfly, etc.; -- called also naiad.
Attis
goes mad
So being completely mad, Attis ran to the top of
"Ah, perish the parts that were my
ruin."
[Ovid, Fasti 4.240]
whereupon he cut off his genitals. Then Attis turned
into a pine-tree,
which is why this tree is pleasing to the Mother of the Gods.
Born an eunuch and killed by a
boar
Still others say that Attis was son of the Phrygian
Calaus and eunuch from birth. Attis became known, they say, when he, after
migrating to
The Mother goes to
Later, at the time when Attalus was king of Phrygia,
which is about 200 BC, the Mother of the Gods was brought to
"It was my own will that they should
send for me ... let me go, it is my wish.
Successful
priesthood˛ş
When the Mother of the Gods had spoken, Attalus,
understanding that Rome traced its origin to Aeneas and Phrygian ancestors, let
the envoys take the goddess, whose image was embarked in the Hellespont, the
strait in northwestern Asia Minor, and came to the mouth of the Tiber, Rome's
river, some time later. For this reason the Asian temple became famous where the Mother of
the Gods was
venerated. She was in
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˛ş Cross Reference
Martin R. De Haan II. (2005) Knowing God Through
Hebrews. Discovery series.
Page 4
According to biblical scholar F. F. Bruce, Hebrews
is quoted in an epistle by Clement of
Page 4-5
Maintaining that turning back from Christ would be a
terrible mistake,
the author of Hebrews admonished and encouraged his readers in four ways:
First, he made six claims for Jesus. Second, he explained why Jesus is superior
to every created being – angelic and human. Third, he described the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood over the priesthood of
Old Testament times.
Fourth, he showed how Jesus provides a better hope than anyone else. Sandwiched
throughout are solemn warnings that we will consider after we have looked more closely at
these four main points.
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˛ş Cross Reference
Polygamists in the Bible: Directory
http://www.biblicalpolygamy.com/polygamists/
The list of the polygamists found in the Bible.
...
Abdon*
Abijah Abraham Ahab
Ahasuerus Ashur Belshazzar
Benhadad Caleb David
Eliphaz
Elkanah Esau Ezra
Gideon Heman* Hosea*
Ibzan* Issachar** Jacob
Jair*
Jehoiachin Jehoram Jerahmeel
Joash Lamech Machir
Manasseh Mered Moses
Nahor
Rehoboam Saul Shaharaim
Shimei* Simeon Solomon
Terah* Zedekiah Ziba*
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ł Cross Reference
Henry Thomas and Dana Lee Thomas.(1959) Living Biographies of Great
Philosophers.
Kant had come at last to the end of his
philosophical quest.
He had sought for God and he had discovered
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Cross Reference
6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost
which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not
your own?
- 1 Corinthians 6:19 :: King
James Version (KJV)
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I heard her mellow voice, which seemed
to speak with a myriad aeons
of age behind its
calm tones, reverberating
across the
Great Hall of the
“What are those ways, O divine Mother?”
And She said:
“The Road that leadeth to Many Houses and the Track that
Leadeth into the Desert,
the Street that Groweth Red Flowersş; the Ascent of
High Mountains
and the
Descent into Dark Cavesą,
the
Path of Ever-Wandering˛
and the
Way of Sitting Stillł.”
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ş Cross Reference
7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments
with thee.
7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my
law as the apple
of thine eye.
7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them
upon the table of thine heart.
7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the
stranger which flattereth with her words.
7:6 For at the window of my house I looked
through my casement,
7:7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned
among the youths,
a
young man void of
understanding,
7:8 Passing
through the street near
her corner; and he went the way to her house,
7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
7:10 And, behold, there met him
a woman with the
attire of an harlot,
and subtil
of heart.
7:11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide
not in her house:
7:12 Now is she without, now in the
streets, and lieth in wait
at every corner.)
7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an
impudent face said unto him,
7:14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have
I payed my vows.
7:15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to
seek thy face,
and I
have found thee.
7:16 I have decked my bed with coverings
of tapestry, with carved
works, with fine
linen of
7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes,
and cinnamon.
7:18 Come, let us take our fill of
love until the
morning: let us solace
ourselves with loves.
7:19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a
long journey:
7:20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him
to
yield, with the
flattering of her lips
she
forced him.
7:22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth
to the slaughter,
or as
a fool to the correction of the stocks;
7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird
hasteth to the snare,
and knoweth
not that
it is for his life.
7:24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children,
and attend to the words of my mouth.
7:25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray
in her paths.
7:26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong
men have been
slain by her.
7:27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to
the chambers of death.
- Proverbs 7:1-27 :: King
James Version (KJV)
5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an
honeycomb, and her mouth is
smoother than oil:
5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a
two-edged sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take
hold on hell.
5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are
moveable, that thou
canst not know them.
5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart
not from the words of my mouth.
5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh
the door of her house:
5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy
years unto the cruel:
5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and
thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh
and thy body are consumed,
5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my
heart despised reproof;
5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
- Proverbs 5:3-13 :: King
James Version (KJV)
6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto
him:
6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that
shed innocent blood,
6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations, feet that be
swift in running to mischief,
6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth
discord among brethren.
6:20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
6:21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie
them about thy neck.
6:22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou
sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is
light; and reproofs of
instruction are the way of life:
6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the
flattery of the tongue
of
a strange woman.
6:25 Lust not after her beauty in thine
heart; neither let
her take thee with her
eyelids.
6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is
brought to a piece of bread: and the adultress will hunt for the precious life.
6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes
not be burned?
6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not
be burned?
6:29 So he that goeth in to his
neighbour's wife;
whosoever
toucheth her shall not be
innocent.
6:30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his
soul when he is
hungry;
6:31 But if he be found, he shall
restore sevenfold;
he
shall give all the substance
of his house.
6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh
understanding: he that doeth
it destroyeth his
own soul.
6:33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be
wiped away.
6:34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not
spare in the day of
vengeance.
6:35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will
he rest content,
though
thou givest many gifts.
- Proverbs 6:16-35 :: King
James Version (KJV)
5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a
strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
- Proverbs 5:20 :: King
James Version (KJV)
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ą Cross Reference
74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark
places of the earth
are full
of the habitations
of
cruelty.
- Psalms 74:20 :: King James
Version (KJV)
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˛ Cross Reference
6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that
travelleth, and
thy want as an armed man.
- Proverbs 6:11 :: King
James Version (KJV)
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ł Cross Reference
46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will
be exalted in the earth.
- Psalms 46:10 :: King James
Version (KJV)
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I asked:
“What are those seven steps?”
She answered:
“The first is Tears, the second Prayer, the third Work, the fourth Rest, the fifth
Death, the sixth is
Life, and the last is
Pity.”
“And what of the seven lessons that man must learn, O Mother?”
And She made response:
“Pleasure is the first and easiest, Pain is the
next, Hate is the
third, Illusion the
fourth, Truth the
fifth, Love is sixth and Peace must be
learned at the end.”
And I wondered at these things.
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Cross Reference
6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that
shed innocent blood,
6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations, feet that be
swift in running to mischief,
6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth
discord among brethren.
6:20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
- Proverbs 6:16-20 :: King
James Version (KJV)
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Then the Mistress of the
And the wall behind was deep blue, and upon it there suddenly
appeared many words, brilliant with light like set jewels. And of those words I
was commanded to read those only which were at the end.
And those words were:
“For
Page 286-287
“And when Egypt shall have witnessed these things,
then that Lord and Father who is the Supreme God, First in Power and Governor
of the World, shall look into the hearts and deeds of men, and by His will, shall recall them
to their ancient goodness, in order that the world itself may truly appear to be an adorable work of
His hands.”
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Cross Reference
12:36 But I say unto
you, That every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
- Matthew 12:36-37 :: King James Version (KJV)
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Cross Reference
Anguttara
Nikaya. The "Further-factored" Discourses (selected suttas)
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/anguttara/index.html
Pabhassara
Sutta (AN I.49-52) -- Luminous {I,v,9-10; I,vi,1-2; A i 10} [Thanissaro Bhikkhu,
trans.]. The mind is inherently luminous; the unwise person can't even see that it
is obscured by defilements.
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Cross Reference
Thanissaro Bhikkhu. (Trans.) (Revised: Sunday, May 12, 2002) Anguttara Nikaya
I.49-52. Pabhassara Sutta. Luminous.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/anguttara/an01-049.html
Anguttara Nikaya
I.49-52
Pabhassara Sutta
Luminous
Translated
from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For
free distribution only.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Luminous,
monks, is the
mind.[1] And it is defiled by
incoming defilements." {I,v,9}
"Luminous,
monks, is the
mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements." {I,v,10}
"Luminous,
monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements. The uninstructed
run-of-the-mill person doesn't discern that as it actually is present, which is
why I tell you that -- for the
uninstructed run-of-the-mill person -- there is no development of the mind." {I,vi,1}
"Luminous,
monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements. The
well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is
present, which is why I tell you that -- for the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones -- there is
development of the mind." {I,vi,2}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note
1.
This statement has engendered a great deal of controversy over the centuries. The commentary maintains that "mind"
here refers to the bhavanga-citta, the momentary mental state between periods when the mental stream
adverts to objects, but this statement
raises more questions than it answers. There is no reference to the bhavanga-citta or the mental
stream in any of the suttas (they
appear first in an Abhidhamma treatise, the Patthana); and because the commentaries compare the
bhavanga-citta to deep sleep, why is it called luminous? And why would the
perception of its luminosity be a prerequisite for developing the mind? And further, if "mind" in this discourse means bhavanga-citta, what would
it mean to develop the bhavanga-citta?
Another
interpretation equates the
luminosity of the mind with the "consciousness without feature," described as "luminous" in MN 49
and DN 11, but this interpretation also has problems.
According to MN 49, that
consciousness partakes of nothing in the describable world, not even the
"Allness of the All," so how could it possibly be defiled? And, because it is not
realized until
the goal of the practice is reached,
why would the perception of its luminosity
be a prerequisite for
developing the mind? And again, if "mind" here means consciousness
without feature, how could the sutta talk of its development?
A
more reasonable approach to understanding the statement can be derived from
taking it in context: the luminous mind is the mind that the meditator is
trying to develop. To perceive its luminosity means understanding that defilements
such as greed, aversion, or delusion are not intrinsic to its nature, are not a
necessary part of awareness. Without this understanding, it would be impossible
to practice. With this understanding, however, one can make an effort to cut
away existing defilements, leaving the mind in the stage that MN 24 calls "purity in terms of mind." This would correspond to the luminous level of
concentration described in the standard simile for the fourth jhana: "And furthermore, with the abandoning of pleasure & pain -- as
with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress -- he enters &
remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness,
neither-pleasure-nor-pain. He sits, permeating the body with a pure, bright
awareness. Just as if a man were sitting covered from head to foot with a white
cloth so that there would be no part of his body to which the white cloth did
not extend; even so, the monk sits, permeating the body with a pure, bright
awareness. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by pure, bright
awareness." From this state it is
possible to develop the discernment that not only cuts away existing
defilements but also uproots any potential for them to ever arise again. Only in the stages of Awakening that follow
on those acts of discernment would "consciousness without feature" be realized.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revised:
Sun 12 May 2002
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/anguttara/an01-049.html
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Reference
Brunton,
Paul. (1988) The Quest of the
Overself.
Page 33-34
Archeologists excavating in
Jesus said: “And the
Page 37
The Hindus, who have enquired deeply into these
matters for many thousand years before the first Western scientist started to
think, have built their doctrines generally on the tacit assumption of the existence of a universal spirit which
inter-penetrates and transcends simultaneously the world and the creatures who
dwell therein; they assert,
therefore, that the human
spirit possesses in itself the revelation it seeks.
Page 37-38
Nevertheless, there always have been, there
are today and there always will be some people who do
attempt to swim ashore out of the drifting tide of daily events; who endeavor
to find a vantage point of solid ground above the whirlpool of external things,
from which to regard this mystery of life and mind. Generally, they only do
this under the pressure of
great sorrow, emotional crisis, or other upheavals, which temporarily drive them in upon themselves and make all
the activity which centres around the “I”, the individual ego, seem futile and
meaningless. Strangely enough, it
is when people reach that point when “life no longer seems worth living”
that they begin to
become really interested in the spiritual aspect of life, whereas before they had only been interested in the material; it is at this point that they turn to religion for consolation, to
philosophy for comprehension, and when
these two do not attract or suffice, to strange and unorthodox cults for
heretical glimmers of light.
Page 40
The reclusive yogis of India, the bland
sages of China, the powerful initiate-priests of Egypt, the God-ravished Sufis
of Persia, the vanished Druids of early Britain and the chief Inca priests of
America, among others were custodians of psychological knowledge; they knew of
a certain Way, and some among them practised it. It yielded them astonishing
spiritual transformations. Their feebler descendants of today have mostly
forgotten or ignored that Way and only a rare few practise it. Salvation will
come to us of the West when we re-learn this method – now nearly lost in the
shadows of darkening antiquity – revise it to suit our own environment, restate
it in modern terms and re-embrace its regular practice.
Page 40-41
This need of a modern revision is essential.
Archaic accents require an interpreter. For instance, experience with many
people shows that the old Indian mode of discussing and
answering these questions in talk and in writing, seems too far removed from our mundane affairs, too
alien and unfamiliar in tradition and temperament to be of much use and
attraction to Europeans. In reality this is not so, but because external
forms need to be respected, we Westerners need a more modern and practical
method of presentation of the same truths as have been taught since time
immemorial by bearded yogis on Ganges banks and revered Rishees in Himalayan
caves. When presented in the ancient manner they seem to possess an unreal
character and an utter impracticability of being applied in the teeming world
which surges around the great cities of
Page 41
Supreme among the ancient lores is the
Indian, because it
still lives when others have perished, and because India is the land which has
mothered the deepest thought of man,
as Egypt was the father of his most marvelous magic and Greece was the parent
of his highest efforts at creating beauty.
...
What was thus taught in private was not
altogether dissimilar to what some Grecian philosophers taught in public, for
the same substratum runs through the mind of the world from east to west and
teaches the same ancient path to all alike: Man, Know Thyself.
For example, Socrates himself practised
methods of absorbed meditation which Patanjali's doctrine of direct
contemplation plainly inculcated. Both culminated in the trance state, Socrates
demonstrating this personally by passing at times into a contemplative trance.
Page 41-42
Once he was walking with his friend
Aristodemus to a banquet. He lagged behind in a fit of abstraction, fixing the
mind on himself, and Aristodemus arrived without him. A servant was sent back
to look for the sage, but came and reported that Socrates stood fixed in the
portico of a house and did not answer when called. “Let him alone,” said
Aristodemus. “This is a way he has of retiring at times and standing wherever
he may chance.” Socrates arrived later. Again, Alcibiades mentions that on one
occasion, during a military campaign, Socrates was found by a soldier standing
still in one place where he had been since early dawn, fixed in profound
meditation. At noon attention was drawn to him and the wondering crowd
thereafter watched the sun go down but Socrates still kept to his trance. There
he stood all night and at break of day he offered up a prayer to the sun and
thus returned to normal activity. This is precisely the same as the Nirvikalpa Samadhi of the Hindus.
Page 42
Hindus who have been following the practices
of Patanjali in an unbroken line of tradition since pre-Socratic days, have had
identical experiences. The writer has seen several instances of similar trances
among living yogis of today.
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Published on internet: Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Revised: Thursday, May 24, 2007
Information on the web site is given in
good faith about a certain spiritual way of life, irrespective of any specific
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“Thou
belongest to That Which Is Undying, and not
merely to time alone,”
murmured the Sphinx, breaking its muteness at last. “Thou art eternal, and not merely of the vanishing flesh. The soul in man cannot be
killed, cannot die. It waits, shroud-wrapped, in thy heart, as I waited, sand-wrapped, in thy world. Know thyself,
O mortal! For there is One within thee, as in all men, that comes and stands at
the bar and bears
witness that there IS a God!”
(Reference: Brunton,
Paul. (1962) A Search in Secret
Amen
