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In the cold bleak regions of the Garhwal Himalayas lies one of India's holiest spots. The Jyotir Linga of Kedarnath rings a bell in anyone's mind towards the deep secrets of Indian spiritualism.
Kedarnath, is a magical name, a name that denotes spiritualism of a higher kind, that beckons one to make that journey against all odds to meet the Lord, in his holy abode in the Himalayas.
Its a world apart, where the Lord lives, within snow capped ranges and chilling weather. And in the backdrop of white snow and blue sky is a flash of color, an imposing facade decked in marigold. The dynamic facade of Kedarnath is an eyeful to anyone. One can experience the chill in the air, the fresh unpolluted breeze in the space around, the reverberating sound of the bells that hang down at the entrance constantly ringing and more than anything else a simple small temple housing a potent form of the Lord.
Brilliant colors light up the facade, with curtains of flowers raining down the entrance, almost waking us up to something quite similar to a Buddhist monastery lost in the mountains. Kedarnath lies at the head of the Mandakini River in the Chamoli district, dotted with a possible Ganesha in orange at its entrance. Bells ring through out the day reliving the very essence of sound - OM, that spreads over to the mountains beyond.
They say that Kedarnath is one of five shrines called the Pancha Kedar. After the Mahabharata war the five pandavas wanted to seek the help of Lord Shiva, for their redemption from the sin of killing their kith and kin and their guru. Lord Shiva avoided them repeatedly and took refuge in Kedarnath in the form of a bull. The second pandava, Bhima, tried to pick Him up, but the bull dived into the ground leaving behind His hump on the surface. Lord Shiva was pleased with their persistence and requested the Pandavas to worship His hump at Kedarnath. This hump is worshipped at Kedarnath in the form of a conical Shiva pinda form. The other parts of Shiva's body, his arms, face, navel and hair locks appeared at Tungnath, Rudranath, Madmaheshwar and Kalpeshwar. These four shrines along with Kedarnath are worshipped as "Panch Kedar".
When one stands in the middle of these towering mountains the mind just fills with peace and tranquility, with the very Lord Himself who descends down to earth to save us from our misery. Kedarnath, is one such abode, where the Lord resides forever.
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24 comments:
Before the British period, the hilly region - which is now known as Uttarakhand - stood divided into two regions that were ruled by different local kings who, obviously also like the kings in other regions in India, fought each other from time to time.
Subsequently, under the British India, Kurmanchal, (the word ‘Kurma’ or ‘tortoise’ that believably has a hump shaped hard back/ the hump of Shiva’s bull communicated the shape of mounds in the regions, for 'kurma' was believed as the second evolved form of Vishnu/ Shiva with Nandi the bull as His vehicle the Formless Creator), came to be known as the Kumaon region, different from Garhwal (not Gharwal) region, which literally was related with ‘garh’ or ‘Fort’ (of Ma Durga)…for the inhabitants in both regions were/ continue to be worshippers of energy or ‘Shakti’ that is ‘Sati’ the believable better-half of Ardhanarishwar Shiva, who in the form of Ma Durga, or Jagadamba, was believed by the ancients to be the cause of the evolved universe/ earth…
P.S. A glimpse of mischievousness of the Creator can be seen how with time and place, even unknowingly, usage of words by historians could communicate different meanings. For example, 'Garhwal' written in English as 'Gharwal' would communicate different meaning to the generation next, for 'Ghar' means house!
Continuing, Uttarakhand/ Uttarnchal, carved out recently from Uttar Pradesh/ United Provinces during British rule, just informs the present generation that it is a part of north India. Although, it could also help reach the ‘Truth’, but one would need to believe that ‘direction North’ was realized by 'wise ancients' to be under the control of ‘Guru’, which at a certain point of time came to be related with Brihaspati the Guru of the selfless demigods. Therefore, only one could relate it with Moon from Yellow colour as its believable essence that is housed in the head of animals, the highest pedestal accorded to Jagadamba, i.e., ‘Sahastradhara/ Sahasrara Chakra, and therefore the real GURU the superior most!
Thank you Joshi uncle, I figured I had made a mistake in the spelling of Garhwal which completely changes the meaning indeed. Will re-edit the blog again. :)
YOu know its really interesting how the word "fort"or garh is related to Ma Durga, who is metaphorically the fortress that protects us from all evil.
There is a temple at Aihole Karnataka, that is called Durga temple and it was a controversy as to what the name really meant. One half said it was fort while the other said it was Ma Durga's temple. It was both!!
Took me a while to figure that one out.
Regds
Kavitha
Kavitha, that’s why the ancients called Yogiraja Krishna, the lucky or 'bhagyawan' 8th child of Devki-Vasudeva, from which the word 'Bhagwan' that is God evolved. Because of his extraordinary energy/ power He is also called ‘the light of thousand suns’ and the 8th reincarnation of Formless Vishnu - in the most evolved human form in Dwaperyuga of 0nly 50% efficiency - as ‘natkhat’ or mischievous. He, believably starting as the Centre of our Milky Way galaxy, ultimately ‘in four stages of churning’ helped earth-moon to evolve as the Formless Creator’s supreme material form with 100% efficiency by the end of Satyuga…
In the Gita, the character named Arjuna, an expert archer, also wondered why Yogiraja Krishna was working when he claimed (perhaps on behalf of the Supremesoul, for he himself was a realized soul) that he had nothing new to achieve in the three components of universe on its model, earth (sky, surface of earth and underground). Krishna replied that he was doing so in the interest of sustenance of what all he had created (on behalf of the Supreme being). For, he also indirectly indicated that earth was his supreme form, thus communicating earth to be the model of the believably unborn and unending Formless Creator… and all humans as His illusory forms or images…
Kavitha,
I give below 'my' reaction on some matter on the subject 'About Nothing' received from a relative cum fri4nd, for your benefit too.
"Thanks for the different thoughts being received regularly...the reactions to which generally remain unexpressed...
It is the Nothing, the Formless that is not a thing but the supreme soul/ supreme knowledge who created all things or images in no time, perhaps to fool itself, like we somethings are doing all the time and are obliged to watch through the physical senses the different aspects of 'Nature' - things belonging to the Supreme being! Every being, who is something, in Creator's eyes only, gets to realize only a part of the supreme knowledge - like somethings stored in different drawers within a chest of drawers.
The ancients expressed the same by calling each something as "koopmandook" or a 'frog in the well'...
One could also find how something functions like a radio - to receive a particular station of one's choice, one needs to tune it to the proper frequency...and nothing is received when the radio is switched off, and hence Yogi-like, something needs reaching the Supreme being thorough thoughtless stage..."
To have a glimpse of the general functioning of human brain, believably as part of the grand design, one would notice - with the make believe world of Cinema as a typical reference of illusion or ‘Maya’ - that one generally remembers the essence of the story of a film that one has recently seen. And, even some of the catchy dialogues/ songs are retained. [In this connection, I recall to my mind a friend as a special case in our school days. He had the knack of dialogue delivery. He saw the film, ‘Devdas’ – the role played by Dilip Kumar - and thereafter a large audience used to collect to listen to him recite some catchy dialogues from it. At the end, if someone asked him to recite some other particular dialogue(s) that they were interested in from that very film (and he didn’t know that particular one) he would be taken to see the film again, and the concerned would buy his ticket also. It happened total 16 numbers of time and thus later at one stage he was able to recite virtually all the dialogues in the said film!]
However, normally, because of the design, one is unable to retain even the essence of the story of a particular film for long, for capacity to retain for long diminishes - and depending on the length of time elapsed, one might not retain even the name of that film!
However, today one isn’t normally able to say how certain incidents/ persons, and so on, get recalled suddenly by certain persons even after long time.
But, after in-depth study, the ancients explained all varieties of human behaviours related with the individual as a unique design, operated through the solar system, the human structure believably being formed with essences of selected 8 numbers of its members…
Thus although the brain (mind's eye) is like earth, a stage upon which actors appear and play their roles, seven other actors are believed to reside in seven other floors of the same structure – top floor occupied by the essence of Moon - and wait for the commander’s invitation only to act to their full potential!
No reaction, or question, or opposition, from any of the visitors remind me of what my wife said to me in the eighties when I used to express thoughts related with unknown God to persons who visited us at home. She criticizingly asked me why I did it when I could personally see that some of them were even yawning!
My reply to her was that when a person speaks, whether anyone hears him or not, he alone at least gets to hear his own words. And, as I had so many questions in my mind for which I sought replies, I found that repetitions of the same questions sometimes suddenly resulted in the reply popping up into my head on its own, and gave me happiness for some time at least.
It is also a fact reported by ‘scientists’ in the present also that if a person goes to sleep after intense thought on some problem, in the early morning, after one wakes up, the brain itself presents the solution to that problem! God’s ways are mysterious - and teh ancients said he resides within all (and perhaps supplies teh answers)!
Further - to appreciate better the functioning of the wonderful human brain - Pandavas’, the word related with the five brothers who are indicated in the story of ‘Mahabharata’, could immediately ring a bell in the head of the ‘seeker’ that it could be related also with the ‘panchabhoota’ or the five ‘ghosts’, the characters believably acting since the beginning of the eternal drama, in which EARTH is the hero - as immortal Bhootnath Shiva the Lord of the Past…
Further perusal of the story would indicate Yudhister, literally the immortal one who remains unmoved by wars (like earth), as the likely candidate in the human form as a typical model of earth in Dwaperyuga, of maximum 50% capacity to utilize the potential that existed at the beginning of Satyuga, when Earth/ Shiva of “Satyam Shivam Sunderam” fame was the believable hero...
One finds another hint in Yudhister being cited as ‘Satyawadi’ that is the one who didn’t tell lies, although because of the characteristic property of time he is indicated as obliged by mischievous Krishna to confirm to Kauravas that Dronacharya’s son, Aswaththama, although believable immortal, had died. Yudhister said it but his additional words – true to his character - that he didn’t know if it was a person or an elephant also called by that name, were drowned in the sound of mischievous Krishna’s conch-shell!
Also he too had a simple nature like Bholenath Shiva…and Yama teh Dharmaraja himself took the Pandavas to heaven, indicating immortality of the solar system...and Yudhister was also called Dharmaraj...
Similarly, one could easily relate expert archer Arjuna with Sun, or ‘fire’, another ‘tatva’ or ‘element’/ ‘bhoota’ or ‘ghost’…and Bhima the ‘Gadadhar’, like Ganesha and Hanjuman too, that is the one who uses the mace as his weapon – as the typical model of the planet Mars…without whose assistance 'Absolute Truth' can't be reached by any one human and requires activation of 'Kundalini' that is rising of the essence of Mars to reach the essence of Moon.
In view of the above, and with the word ‘Yoga’ meaning ‘addition’ also could help the seeker visualize the composite Earth, as ‘Yogeshwar’ the immortal, as model of the universe made from essences of the selected eight planets, having Moon – represented by Yellow colour - in the ‘sky’; earth represented by the surface – reflected as its essence by the colour Green; and essence of Mars - represented by Orange colour, made from excess of Yellow and Red colours, in the core - which originally had Krishna/ Kali reflected by Red colour as the essence of Asteroids; and so on…
The mound that appeared as the hump of Shiva's vehicle, Nandi the bull, 'when Bhima dived to catch Shiva in the form of a bull' thus could help visualize the 'Truth'...
As I have expressed earlier - many times perhaps - as per the thought received in my head, the colours or energy associated with different essences of the selected planets in the rising order from the centre of the earth/ Mooladhar in humans are: orange, red, infra-red, white, ultra-violet, blue, green and yellow…
As it is a dynamic process of learning direct from ‘Nature’, or the Formless Creator through different media from time to time - many of them misleading also - it is time taking, as I have been experiencing in ‘my research’.
I have worked out control planets from time of birth of many individuals, separately for males & for females, which I can’t reproduce here, and about which I have no doubt. Also, for different control planets, I have prepared Tables for single/ married individuals, each male married to a female having different control, out of the eight other possible controls…to determine the required gemstones which when applied on photographs of the individuals has shown improved functioning in certain cases. It is done basically to confirm the belief about illusion, and the concept of human being as an instrument of God…primarily for 'my' personal satisfaction only...
The hilly region in Uttaranchal have many stories related with the Pandavas. During my sojourn at Nainital, during my childhood days, one day I visited by bus Bhimtal, and visited Naukuchiatal too, in the company of my brother and two cousins. We spent first the major part of our time at Bhimtal, which although a sleepy hill-town was relatively a little more populated and the lake acted as the source of drinking water supply to the people in that region. We also learnt about the legend popular in that region that the lake, in fact, was one of the eyes of the second Pandava! And, we tried to visualize if that was the size of Bhima’s eye, how big Bhima himself might have been!
From Bhimtal we walked to Naukuchiatal, conscious of the time of the lone bus that had dropped us at Bhimtal that we must catch from Bhimtal for our return journey. Reaching there, the secluded lake with no humans being seen near it that day, the dark waters of the lake filled our hearts with a sense of fear. Also, it was popular for that ‘nine-cornered-star-like lake’, all of whose corners aren’t visible at ground level at the same time because of the peculiar configuration of the hills, that if anyone were to see all the corners at the same time, he would die!
Human brain comes into immediate action - and starts flying high - just by the mention of a particular word. For example, depending on one’s background knowledge, ‘Naukuchiatal’, that is, ‘a lake that has nine corners’ could remind one of the ‘navagraha’, or the nine planets from Sun to Saturn, out of which Sun to Jupiter believably play active roles while Saturn acts as their supervisor - sitting in the middle, as the nine planets are generally indicated in Navagraha Temples in India.
Out of these nine, five are indicated as the Pandavas, the suns of Sun, the source of white light, the colour of the garment (sari) worn by widows in northern parts of India in the past, represented by mother Kunti…
Pandavas are also incomplete without Draupadi, ‘the one who was born out of sacred fire’, that is, a volcano – that is, moon the believable source of all waters on earth in lakes, rivers and seas, born of Earth-Moon…also they are incomplete without Krishna, their informal advisor representing Centre of our galaxy/ and in the solar system represented also by Sage Vidur, model of planet Jupiter, as their formal Guru…
Kauravas, on the other hand, with Duryodhan as their leader representing planet Venus, the ‘poisonous’ person with hatred in his heart against the cousins, the Pandavas; and Dronacharya, the physically powerful Guru of Kauravas, represented as the model of planet Mercury. For, both Mercury and Venus are the inner planets with reference to the third planet, that is, Earth as the central figure that has Mars and Jupiter, including Asteroids as the army of Krishna, as the outer planets…
Having lived in north India for many years, at a certain stage in the eighties, on moving over to the northeast parts of India for a few years, in Assam, I was surprised to notice that even unmarried girls wore white saris, like widows used to do in the north as I had seen in my childhood (although not now by many in the urban areas)…
Now, the people in the hilly regions of India, from Upper Himalayas down to the Lower Himalayas worshipped ‘shakti’, that is, energy more than the material, for, even otherwise the topography does not encourage industrial development, and therefore, naturally, ‘spiritual’ practices got evolved in the hilly regions of India. Advancement in astronomy gave birth to astrology, palmistry etc. by the Yogis. It was relized by them that the direction East was governed - as essence of energy - represented by Red colour and thus ‘Ma Kali’, depicted as a dark goddess, representing the original dark space, having a red tongue as the form of energy at the beginning (having as its model for even a housewife, a black charcoal with red coloured flame when it is just ignited, which when it finds support from air flares up to burn with yellow, to blue and finally to white flame)...
And, northeast was realized to be governed by Orange colour as essence of planet Mars, which believably is housed in the ‘Mooladhar’ that believably lies at the tip of the tail-bone in humans. The mythological story related with Kamakhya Temple, in Guwahati, as the location where ‘Sati’s genitals’ fell, thus indirectly indicates the location of the 'Mooladhar' of Mother/ Sati as the model of universe to the discerning eye, and Mother’s eyes at the location of Naina Devi Temple in Himachal as the 'Ajna Chakra', while on the other hand, the mention of the word 'yoni' takes the ‘outward looking’ individuals away from the truth…also, the ‘Vaishnavites’ depicted Lord Vishnu reclined in west-east direction…
Earth the ‘Gangadhara Shiva’/ ‘Chandrashekhara’, however, as the physical manifestation of Formless Vishnu, on Anant, or Shiva represented by the lingam or volcanic mounds, is indicated reclines in the N-W/ S-E direction – His head at the location of Gomukh in Uttarkashi, literally the Kashi (the original abode of Formless Shiva/ Adi or Ardhanarishwar Shiva) of the North, along the axis passing through Konark Temple in Orissa as His solar Plexus on His spinal column, and ‘Mooladhar’ at the Andaman Island, believably related with ‘Hanuman’ the model of Mars in Tretayuga…while the water-cycle in SW-NE direction, i.e., perpendicular to the direction in which Shiva reclines, generated by the elements of nature during the monsoon periods, is reflected in the mythological stories by ‘churning Mandara Hill (or earth with the present root of human life in African Continent) resting on the back of Vishnu in the form of a tortoise with the help of the celestial serpent Vasuki’ as the rope operated by both selfless as well as selfish people, as they obviously exist at any time as the perennial truth…
Hi Joshi Uncle,
Its an interesting analogy to connect direction with geographical locations attributed to Lord Shiva but I think I completely lost you here.
I didnt get the connect of muladhara with andaman or the idea of a reclining Shiva... i completely lost you there...
Regsd
Kavitha
There is another concept they refer to for direction - there are four forms of Shiva associated with these directions:
Isanyam (isana)
Tatpurusham
Vamadevam
Aghoram
Each of them represents a direction, where Vamdeva and Aghora are part of Shiva Trimurti (found at Elephanta caves, Adbhutanatha Shiva at Chittor)...would this fit into your analogy in anyway?
Regds
Kavitha
Kavitha,
The thought that comes to my mind about Shiva with form - as the typical model of Earth - are as follows.
It is well known that there is a tilt in the axis of rotation of planet earth with reference to the sun, which the ancients have perhaps seen reflected in the direction of the SW monsoon, that is, when the monsoon winds carry the water vapours from the Arabian Sea towards the northeast direction each year to reach the Himalayan range that acts as a dam and results in wide spread rains for an average of 100 days in the different regions of India.
The 'churning' thus is seen happening in an oblique direction around an imaginary axis in NW-SE direction, which could help imagine a 'Divine Person' lying in that direction as, say, the Yogeshwar who has His head or 'Sahasrara chakra' where the holy river Ganga has its origin, as indicated by teh stories, and His 'muladhar' at the Andaman island (believably the name given to Hanuman, the Sankat Mochan or 'trouble shooter' - representing essence of Mars in Tretayuga - by the tribals, in the Bay of Bengal and His Swadhisthan Chakra in the sea (where lies His navel with which Sun or Brahma is connected) while the solar plexus location (Manipuraka Chakra) believably is located at the place where Sun temple in Orissa is built...
I will try to guess, if it is possible, the significance of the four forms of Shiva that you have indicated...of coourse I believe Aghora relates Shiva with Mrityulok where consumption of animal forms by earth is a routine affair, with no emotions attached, as Krishna also says that death is only a change of 'garment' by the soul, which acquires anew body...
Continuing with the earlier chain of thought, I am to add the following.
In the Gita, Krishna also says that He has created only two types of men, that is ‘devta’-like or selfless, and the others with demonical character, that is, selfish people. One full chapter is devoted exclusively to describe their characteristic properties…
The said ‘churning of the Milky Ocean’ by devtas and demons or 'rakshashas'- starting from the beginning of the Kaliyuga, i.e., the time when only the dark space existed around the Nadbindu or the point source of infinite energy (and perhaps ever and creation only as its thoughts or dream) - with a view to achieving perfection by Shiva or composite Earth at the end of the Satyuga and immortality of the most evolved members of the Solar System (the devtas or demigods) was believably carried out in four stages, or four durations, Kaliyuga, Dwaperyuga, Tretayuga and Satyuga…And however, in the human life, the events are believably being seen in the reverse order, that is, from Satyuga to Kaliyuga - through Tretayuga and Dwaperyuga – from perfect balance of material and spiritual form reflected by Earth in physical form to perfect original unborn and unending spiritual form of the Formless Creator…
Kavitha, In order to reach Shiva, the Formless as well as the three-in-one God with form, first I believe the word ‘Aghora’ indicates the Formless, for ‘ghora’ means dense (material) and the prefix ‘a’ makes it the one who is opposite of ‘ghora’, that is without material form…
Shiva (the word fromed from opposites of letters that are used to express the word 'poison', that is, ‘Visha’), being called ‘Neelkantha’, relates Him with Venus the planet that holds poison in the throat for sustenance of life on earth - one of the vital organs of Mahashiva the composite earth - and of course, with blue colour as its essence. The colour also is associated with Kartikeya, His physically powerful son who had a “peacock as his vehicle”, and also with Vishnu (literally the poisonous atom) and Vishnu's re-incarnation, Krishna as Neelamber, i.e., the one who wore blue garments, and also is depicted in some images wearing a peacock feather in his crown…Saturn the planet with beautiful rings (reflecting Vishnu's physical form) believably is the controller of the direction west, and it would therefore mean that as Neelkantha, Shiva controls the direction west…
Also, Bholanath Shiva, literally the simple or inert God, as Gangadhara/ ash applied on His body/ Plant life reflected through His locks of hair, and so on relates Him with earth, the planet that has apparently been allowing it to be exploited by humans since time immemorial in whatever way the human race wished it. The hint, in Him being called ‘Hara’, also associates Him with Green Colour as the essence. As I have discussed earlier the Yogeshwar, or ‘Tatpurusham’, personified by physical earth directly, is seen reflected reclining in NW-SE direction, the head in the northwest the location of the origin of Ganga in the Himalayan forest…
Coming to His consort, or ‘vamangi’ the left part of His body, as Parvati the daughter of Himalaya, as ‘Vamdevam’ relates Him with Moon and golden yellow colour as its essence and the controller of direction north…
Thus to me, in view of the above in brief, 'Trimurty' means essences of three different planets Venus, Earth, and Moon, having colours Blue, Green, and Yellow (the central portion of the visible spectrum) as controllers of directions west, northwest, and north respectively while Aghora stands for the Formless that resides within all forms at the 'muladhar', linked to the essence of planet Mars…
I think 'Ishan' indicates the direction northeast. The mythological story also indicates that on His retirement from active service, Shiva-Parvati handed over the control of earth to Ganesha, the son of Parvati, a typical model of planet Mars (a component of Mahashiva), as the controller of direction northeast, the original muladhar lying in teh lower Himalayas...
The magic mantra passed on through time immemorial the wise ancients had eventually realized is, “Vishnu is Shiva/ and Shiva is Vishnu.”
Although, the descriptions of each in the mythological stories would normally mislead a person that doesn’t have much experience and overall essential background knowledge of the cosmos, one could interpret this statement to mean that the evolved Earth/ Adi Shiva (Ardhanarishwar) in the beginning was an image of the force in its centre and, in their turn, all physical forms are images of earth/ Shiva, which was therefore considered central even by the ancient Hindu astronomers...
Although, the above meant that Shiva/ Vishnu exists everywhere just as, thanks to Krishna’s counseling, Arjuna also realized earth in the present form as the supreme form of Krishna when humans had only maximum 50% efficiency and, therefore, considered as the reincarnation of Vishnu the perfect being who had mouths and eyes in all directions.
The ancient astrologers, for simplification, however, considered each of the eight main directions under control of different essences of the most evolved among the Heavenly Bodies, i.e., planets that have hierarchy amongst themself, in order to explain the variety that is apparent in ‘Nature’…overall control/ human efficiency range within a particular Yuga however remaining with the Formless Shiva/ Vishnu…
Maybe the following would help clarify, if the above isn't sufficient! It is part of an e-mail to my 8-year-old grand-daughter.
"The brain is an anlogous computer - it works with analogy. The word, say, 'Cat', doesn't communicate anything to you unless you have learnt English language, or rather, an animal is pointed out to you and you are told that everyone calls it a 'cat', (or 'billi' in Hindi, or any other word in innumerable other languages, and so on), depending on the environment where you are born, or you are being brought up.
The particular word is repeated many times by you, such that as soon as you hear 'cat'/ 'billi'/'patti', the brain presents to you the picture of the animal - that you have seen many times - in your mind. That is, the animal with round face, pointed whiskers, two pointed ears, furry hairs, and so on. But that also doesn't complete the picture for you have five senses. You also associate with 'cat' the sound/ touch that it makes, i.e., 'meow' and also the 'purring' sound (and its physical touch with your person) that it makes when she begs milk of you and presses its furry body against your leg...
Like you have got interested in 'finches' and would like to know all about birds and particularly the finches. You will search for information on them everywhere and would feel happy the more and more you learn about them...You would perhaps find that one life-time isn't sufficient to know everything just about the finches, and you are obliged to know everything about everything else also that you find interesting or even uninteresting in 'Nature'...
Knowledge of the material world thus always would remain incomplete, for the mischievous and mysterious God is unending and infinite and He alone was understood as 'Supreme Knowledge' by the ancient 'wise' people and that He alone releases knowledge to each and everyone depending on the interest(s) of the concerned..."
Kavitha,
Once when my daughter was in school, she sometimes used to ask me to solve some questions on Trigonometry, which she found difficult. Generally those involved some terms on the left hand side that were required to be proved equal to some others on the right hand side.
She once surprisingly asked me how I managed to do those even when I had studied the subject some three decades ago! I told her that as I was interested in the subject even during my school days, now it was like as if the written figures themselves talked to me and led me to perform the right steps!
Similarly, take for example the map of locations of the Jyotirlingas on ‘Google map’ presented by you. My attention automatically gets attracted to the ‘blank space’, generally in the Southeast direction (extending to Andaman Island) where no jyotirlinga exists, (believably under the control of Ganesha or essence of planet Mars - as the link between man and God, like Krishna represented by another ring planet like Saturn, Jupiter, as I have discussed elsewhere earlier also).
Another analogous situation could be noticed in the game of Cricket where a ‘good batsman’ notices only the location where there is no fielder positioned so that he “fills the blanks with his shots" to enjoy longer stay on the crease!
Thus the importance of linking with the blank or zero time and space!
However, the wise ancients also appear to have tried to understand their own purpose vis-Ã -vis God’s, or Creator’s.
Through the character of Krishna in Gita, they said that the purpose of man is to find out the Formless - who alone is the Supreme Knowledge - as well as the Gods with forms. All physical forms believably although house a component of the formless within (soul), compared to the Formless (Super soul), they are imperfect by design...
Although the forms are transitory in nature, they perhaps serve some useful purpose to the Formless, as everything in ‘Nature’ apparently is serving some useful purpose. Therefore, the Formless is perhaps looking for its own possible origin, that is, its likely ‘mother’ from among innumerable forms (as it is reflected in humans looking for tehbest), a phenomenon that gets reflected in animal behaviour too, by design, where very strong ties are observed between Mother & Child…
The ancients indicated very strong attachment between mother and child among humans with the typical best example of Parvati and Ganesha.He is indicated in the mythology, in the east, as having been created by Parvati with the specific purpose of acting as ‘security guard’ for his mother, not allowing entry even to her husband, Shiva.
This could be visualized as the destructive nature of her husband, 'Shiva the Destroyer', perhaps ‘mrityulok’ that is ‘planet earth’, and thus the relationship between Shiva-Parvai like that of earth and moon revolving around each other and maintaining sufficient distance between each other, (in which perhaps Mars plays an important role) without the risk of moon crashing into earth – like meteorites do regularly (as they are perhaps doing in large numbers right now also), and also some meteors sometimes, and asteroids too, though rarely, like the one that believably resulted in obsolescence of dinosaurs 65 million years ago...
In the west, similar relationship is indicated between Mother Mary and her son Jesus…thus indicating least importance given by the ancients to the father, (whose role was perhaps understood like that of a gardner, that is a medium only), and Jesus being called 'the son of God'…
In the east, realizing the existence of component of Shiva within oneself, the Yogi or the realized soul reportedly said, Shivoham!” That is, “I am Shiva!”
But, unlike rakshashas or demons that is selfish people, the ‘wise’ devta or the rare selfless person also added that he alone wasn’t Shiva, all others too were God, or His images, for He was ‘sarvagunasampanna’ or expert in all fields, or an accomplished all rounder.
The rakshashas also believably could appear in many forms, but for their limited selfish interest only.
And, His believably mysterious and mischievous nature gave rise to the saying, “God can appear in any form,” which led to the worship, by common ‘Hindus’ or average inhabitants of ‘India,’ of everything living or non-leaving, which is a well established fact since time immemorial – although perhaps because of the characteristic property of time or Kaliyuga no one might know today why every 'believer' prayed to ‘God’ in different forms – images, or idols, or any living thing, or person, and therefore fighting each other on each and every issue…
In the Gita, Krishna also says to the effect that everyone sees by maya or illusion that He resides within them, whereas, in reality, the whole creation resides within Him [that is, within His Supreme Form, whose model our planet earth is - including its atmosphere that has the ozone layer that acts as His ‘third eye’, which when and if opened would turn everything (Kamdeva/ Bhasmasur) into ashes because of the obviously direct unprotected exposure to sunrays – like removal of 'Garh' or fort-like, or bullet-proof-vest-like proverbial Parvati's or ‘Durga’s' protective kavach’, that Himlaya itself is...]
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