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female friendships are so precious and beautiful. sisterhood is so inherent in women. there is a life force where many women are sitting together and conversing. their giggles reverberates through the deepest chambers of the even the coldest of hearts & softens them. when they take care of each other together from oiling their hair turn by turn by to putting henna on each other’s palms, everything is a sacred offering to some source unseen; but only felt. they spend hours talking about things unfathomable from the basis of love to the state of the world, the soul, beauty, last, present & future & many other philosophies. because when they’re sitting in a room together that’s where they’re easily allowed to ‘be’. here, they aren’t someone being smothered by alotted identities. they aren’t just someone’s sister or daughter or even lover, but just humans trying to make the most out of their freedom to breathe.

#desi #desiblr #indian dark academia #beautiful women

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I couldn't get over from this T-T

#desiblr #cricket world cup 2023 #india vs australia

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wait did y'all know there's a ton of free language course resources for u.s. peace corps training??

#langblr #language resources

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Intro to Tantric Shaivism

Shiva as a god is someone who has been deeply influential in my personal spiritual journey. From watching both Lord Ram and Ravana pray to him to seeing the relationship between Shiva and Shakthi, I was always intuitively fascinated by him and that led naturally to intellectual curiosity. In the previous write up I had summarised the meaning of Tantra, this is a small introduction to Shaivism. 

Shaivism is the worship of Lord Shiva as the supreme being. It is an ancient Hindu sect that is an amalgamation of pre Vedic and Vedic traditions. As such, some scholars have dated the sect to the Indus Valley civilisation at 2500-2000 BCE. 

Shaivism has many schools of thought, two of the most popular ones being: Saiva siddhanta and Kashmiri Shaivism from which we will draw most of the metaphysics, philosophy and cosmology from but first…

Who or what is Shiva? 

The answer to this question itself could be a series all on its own but here’s two etymologies from two of the most ancient languages: Tamil and Sanskrit.

I was reading this incredible novel called Kottravai where the author describes the etymology of the word, Sivam, this is my very rough translation of the tamil text, “from the word meaning, life (Siivam), the people named their lord sivam”. From sivam comes siivan, more predominantly pronounced as jiivan meaning soul or living being. 

Indeed, one of the most ancient names of the lord is pasu-pati, lord (pati) of animals (pasu). In Saiva Siddhanta, pasu is has a further meaning of soul so the lord of souls. 

According to Monier-Williams, the Sanskrit word "Shiva" means "auspicious, propitious, gracious, benign, kind, benevolent, friendly". The root words of shiva in folk etymology are śī which means "in whom all things lie, pervasiveness" and va which means "embodiment of grace”.

While the Tamil etymology talks about who he is, the Sanskrit one gives a description of his characteristics. 

But what is he? 

He is sat-cit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss). Or more succinctly, the universal consciousness. Kashmiri Shaivism talks about the universal consciousness as having two characteristics: prakasa (light) and vimarsa (reflective awareness) and talks about the universal consciousness as being the efficient cause whose effect is the vibration of consciousness (spanda). Here it should be noted that cause and effect are reciprocal processes where cause leads to effect and effect back to cause.

While we talk about Shiva as masculine, it is important to note that Shiva and Shakthi are a dual principle, like two sides of the same coin where Shakthi is the instrumental cause whose effect is pure energy (kundalini Shakthi). Symbolised in Ardhanadishwara.

Similarly, while Shaivism and vaishnavism are at odds with each other in many aspects, the old name for Visnu in the Tamil was Mayon, the personification of Maya (material reality, illusion) and Shaivite traditions agree that Maya is another aspect of Shakthi. The duality of Shiva and Vishnu is symbolised in Hari-Hara.

Proof of existence 

Saiva siddhanta, a school popular in South India is a philosophical school that is based on theistic realism and therefore offers a rational argument for why the universal consciousness should exist. The proof first begins with 3 laws:

All existing things have arisen and must at some time be destroyed. 

Law I, to the thesis that the world in its entirety must have been created at one point of time, and, again at one point of time, will in its entirety be destroyed; the world has a beginning and an end. 

Everything that gets destroyed must arise again; something that exists cannot become a nothing. 

Law 2, that the world's history will not end with its destruction, but that after a certain time it will be created anew out of itself; a new world-creation will follow a world- destruction. 

Whatever arises must have existed before; a nothing can't turn into an existent something

Law 3, that an eternal living something must form the basis of this world, out of which it was created, and into which it will at some time be resolved, and from which it will at another time again be created.

But why Shiva?

Why is Shiva the personification of the universal consciousness? The answer given is quite simple. 

There is a popular Tamil saying: ‘Anbe Sivam’ which means ‘love is Shiva’ or ‘shiva is love’. To quote from Saiva siddhanta: “You must worship what engages your love, you disciples of advaita.” Advaita means non-duality of subject and object and talks about the relationship between the individual soul and the divine. So from their perspective, anything that fuels your love is your personification of the divine and for Shaivites due to the history, culture and religion, Shiva is who engages their love and hence their devotion.

This is where the idea of Tantra comes into play. ‘The exploration of the inner cosmos is Tantra that helps one discover the inner architecture of one’s self and its relationship with the outer world.’ Tantric Shaivism is essentially the exploration and recognition of the soul and its relationship to Shiva, the personification of the universal consciousness.

Why use a personification?

the soul has three faculties: knowledge, will, action 

it needs something to lean on, which it then imitates and assimilates

its faculties need to be set in motion by some impulse from outside.

When you love something, you desire to understand it, be with it and you immerse your thoughts in it. In other words, you develop devotion. This is what you lean on. The qualities of the personification of the universal consciousness as being auspicious, benevolent, full of grace enable the soul to be able to imitate it and assimilate with it. This love is fuelled by culture, mythology and other personal experiences unique to each individual so theology helps set in motion the faculties of the soul. 

Knowledge - Knowledge can roughly be of two types: intellectual knowledge and instinctual knowledge. Instinctual knowledge is brought about by faith and the faith is strengthened through intellectual knowledge gathered from reading scripture, philosophy etc. Sometimes instinct can give rise to intellectual curiosity and other times intellectual exploration can give rise to a deity that is instinctually recognised by the soul. 

Will - the will is simply the ability of a person to concentrate completely on the divine and is fuelled by devotion and resilience of one’s faith and this initiates action.

Action - action is the performance of inner (meditation, chanting mantras) and outer (puja, yoga) rituals acting as a symbolic union from which the actual union with the divine occurs

One of my main resources was the book Saiva Siddhanta: An Indian School of mystical thought in addition to other resources which I would be happy to link if anyone is curious.

#hinduism #hindu gods #religion #theology #tantra #spirituality #hindublr #lord shiva

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Okay but I'm on Right side of tumblr and Desi people because everyone being equally excited and even more than me about chandrayaan 3 gave me so much hope for future <3

#chandrayaan3 #india

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To the country where half of the songs mention chaand ✨️😭🙌

#chandrayaan3 #india

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everyone celebrating india's mission to the moon's south pole i love you and im with you but this is NOT india's first accomplishment in space!! im seeing a lot of people saying that but its not true. some other things we've done:

confirm the presence of water and ice on the moon

was the first asian nation to reach mars orbit, and the first nation IN THE WORLD to reach it in it's maiden attempt

saved thousands of lives from cyclone phailin in 2013 over the four days, resulting in 45 deaths when without them, would have been in the thousands at minimum

launched the first successful flight using the indigenous cryogenic engine

successfully neutralized a satellite in space with an anti-satellite (mission shakti, anyone?)

launched 104 satellites with one (1) rocket

THE VIKAS ENGINE??? HELLO?? NAMBI NARAYANAN??? even if you didnt know him before, surely youve seen the movie rocketry?

not to mention everything we've done in coordination with other nations, and achievements from Indian scientists and astronauts that were then taken by other nations, usually during war. plus, we've always been much more cost efficient than our space-faring peer nations

all to say!! we've always been there, and we've always been strong. our mission now only proves that, and we should scream it loud and proud for any westerner who ignores us again

#india #isro #space #chandrayaan3

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🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

#chandrayaan3 #india #so proud of ISRO #🇮🇳

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இனிய தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு நல்��ாழ்த்துக்கள்! (Happy Tamil new year!).

#happy Tamil new year!

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While there are countless movie and serial adaptations of the Ramayana, my favorite remains the Indo-Japanese animated movie, Ramayana: The Legend Of Prince Rama (1993), directed by Yugo Sako, Ram Mohan and Koichi Sasaki. I adored the character designs, the vivid backgrounds, the fight scenes, and even the little birds and animals Sita, Ram and Lakshman encountered in the forest. The movie also has a beautiful musical score composed by Vanraj Bhatia, with the song "Janani Main Rama Dhoot Hanuman", sung by Udit Narayan, being my favourite. The animation was on par with Disney films, and the sceneries gave strong Studio Ghibli vibes. Growing up, I'd eagerly watch the movie each time it aired, usually during Dusshera and Ram Navmi.

@sundaralekhan day 7 : Favorite media ~ Ramayana: The Legend Of Prince Rama

#the nostalgia #ramayana

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NAATU NAATU WON THE OSCAR OH MY GOD DESIBLR RISE 😭😭😭😭

#im so proud of them #rrr #South Indian rep!

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A wounded elephant is a tiger’s worst enemy

Ponniyin Selvan I (2022) dir. Mani Ratnam

requested by Anonymous

#ponniyin selvan #kollywood #mani ratnam

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Hey y'all! Just a PSA for those of you from TN, the govt has launched the Tamilnadu green mission and I thought the initiative is really wholesome. You can plant your own sapling and take a pic to upload it, donate for plantation or just register to keep yourself updated on events and be a part of the community! I love that the mission has accountability and is promoting citizen participation too so here’s the website for those of you who are interested and do spread the word. 

#environment #india #climate change #green mission #tamil nadu

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@sundaralekhan

#hindu mythology #art #these are so pretty

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Kathir as Sakkarai in Episode 5 சுழல்: த வோர்டெக்ஸ் SUZHAL: THE VORTEX (2022)

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HELP STOP EXECUTIONS IN IRAN

The numbers are rising. They are using executions as a tactic to frighten the people and stop the protests. Be their voice. For anyone living in G7 countries, please urge your representatives to talk about the executions in Iran, bring attention to it in their parliament and in the UN. These students do not deserve death; they are heroes. They need to be saved. 

#stop executions #help iran #iran protests #freedom for iran #woman life freedom

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already got a blazed marvel post. the adpocalypse is closer than we think so heres your daily PSA

don't interact with corporate tumblr accounts

yes even to dunk on them. i don't care if you have the sickest burn of the century lined up, don't even give them the time of day

the eventual and inevitable fall of twitter marks a change in the advertising industry, and tumblr is unclaimed territory. if we want tumblr to remain the social media bastion it has become, it needs to remain as unappealing to corporations as possible. do not engage. in a marketing strategist's eyes, any kind of attention is good attention. don't "silence, brand" them. don't kungpowpenis them. don't send them hate anons. don't hate-follow them. corporate tumblrs are not a single entity and they will not be harassed off this site. we only have a shot at repelling them because of tumblr's lack of an algorithm. so turn off recommended posts on your dashboard, put it chronological order, and install an adblocker. if you don't seek out these blazed posts and actively ignore them when they happen upon you, the corporations will starve. in this case, the best kind of protest is a silent one

#tumblr #news #psa