Bramha - The Creator and Time part 5 updated

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Raghuji

@Raghuji

Explorer

Posted: 11 years ago

#21

Vaikartana,

Hope it is informative. I wanted to raise awareness so that people appreciate the greatness in our country - how sages/siddhars, yogic masters have unravelled complex puzzle of human life, existence , universe showed us the pathway or made us think about realization . I.e the ultimate truth - pure consciousness bliss

Edited by Raghuji - 11 years ago

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Alice

@alice54

Voyager

Posted: 11 years ago

#22

Thanks Raghuji for this splendid and mind blowing information:) this is a very useful one...please continue this...

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582445

Hibernated

Posted: 11 years ago

#23

Hats Off .. this is absolutely brilliant .. you are truly knowledgeable person .. your knowledge in Veda, its explanation and scientific theories are really good .. This is such an intriguing chapter of Shiva .. I always felt Nataraj like Maa Kali is another most mysterious existence of God .. they are creation and destruction together

Thanks for explaining Nataraj and Tandav so well .. There was nothing to learn from Star Bharat but I am glad to say in the forum .. that's y I am able to read this today .. I learnt so many things here ..

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Raghuji

@Raghuji

Explorer

Posted: 11 years ago

#24

Part 4
DANCE CONTEST contd...
In the Nritta Sabha, Nataraja and Kaali wanted to display their dancing prowess. On hearing this, Adhi Sesha too wanted to see the dance of the Lord and came to chidambaram and worshiped the Lord as pathanchali along with another sage vyaghra padar, who too was worshiping the Lord to see His dance. They worshipped for a long time and finally to fulfill their desire the Lord appeared on the thiruvathirai and danced in the golden hall. Kali competed against the Lord, She matched every move of Shiva (you could see 108 Karanas - dance forms depicted in the temple). Nataraja's ear ring fell on floor. Nataraja the strident expert stood on one leg and lifted the other high above his shoulder (i.e one leg thrust vertically towards the sky), the Urdhva-tandava stance. This is a male dance posture. Though Kaali could match this, She refrained owing to principles of Dancing and feminine modesty. Shiva was adjudged winner, hence She graces us in a temple (as Thillai Kaali) that is in the outskirts of this town.

Personally I can NEVER accept Maa Kaali lost. As I said earlier in part 3, this is a Saivite temple (built on Saiva Agama/Tantrik) - Nataraja is King ! So, Let's have a glimpse of Maa here. Today being Ganesh Chaturthi wanted to write about His Maa as well ! 😊

You see Maa Kali on the left and Lalitha Maha tripura sundari to your right.

You could see Maa Kali stepping on SHIVA and Tripurasundari sitting on SHIVA. To understand this representation we need to know some details of what SHAAKTA philosophy is...

SHAAKTA philosophy (worship of Goddess as Supreme) talks of SHIVA in place of the actionless substratum Brahman. Even if it is actionless, it is Cit - i.e knowledge, says advaita. In place of this Cit, SHAAKTA talks of Cit-Shakti or simply, SHAKTI. The Brahman of advaita peacefully rests in itself. In SHAAKTA, on the other hand, the peaceful SHIVA has the Shakti, power or energy, that manifests as knowledge potential (Cit-Shakti) and this manifestation is its play as the multiplicity of the universe.

In SHAAKTA philosophy/philosophies, duality is created by parAShakti, the energy of Brahman. It is also the ParaaShakti that grants the moksha, which is the identity of Brahman and jeeva in eternal peaceful bliss. This bliss is called SHIVAananda/shaantAnandaa in the shaivite schools, and cidaanandaa in the shAkta schools. The philosophy of advaita takes creation as false appearance/imagination, manifestation of reality that needs to be negated. Whereas the SHAAKTA school takes it as an effulgence of a reflection. It is like the sun appears as a reflection in water, the same way, the universal Cit-Shakti reflects itself with a limitation and becomes the jeeva as well as the universe. This is the shAkta concept of creation.

But there needs to be the original object namely Sun, without which there could be no reflection. So it pretty much traces back to the advaitic concept.

Sankara , the founder of Advaita and in modern times Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a proponent of Advaita vedanta were great Maa bhaktas. Paramahamsa used to enjoy the bliss from Lalitha Tripurasundari.

Here is first sloka of Sankara's magnum opus Soundaryalahari, where He extols the greatness of Maa/Shakti

SHIVAs shaktyaa yukto yadi bhavati shaktah: prabhavitum
na ced evam devo na khalu kushalah: spanditum api
atas tvaam aaradhyaam hari-hara-virinchaadibhir api
pranantum stotum va katham-akrtapunyah prabhavati
- Soundaryalahari

It is only by YOUR will and action that even the actionless nirguNa SHIVA gets into action through the Triad ( Bramha, Hari and Hara who worship you) and the cosmic process of presentation of Duality starts. Everything in the universe moves because of You, O! PARAASHAKTI

SHIVA earns His place and honor only when He is united with Shakti. But the words SHIVA and Shakti have been placed in the sloka in that order, with SHIVA first. But if you note carefully, the Shakti's presence can be clearly noted in SHIVA - the vowel "I" with consonant "SH" (Same can be seen in ShrI in the case of Lakshmi/Narayana). The Beej for Shakti is I.

If we remove the Vowel I from SHIVA, It would become SHAVAA which denotes "PRETHA" - Dead body. This is what Maa Kali is stepping over and to the right Lalitha is seated on. Here Maa Kaali is depicted fierce-some energy (massive energy form) while Lalitha depicted as Shanta swarupini (stable energy form).
Maa Kali is high energy unleashed !

There are two statements to be seen in the Sloka above.
First One says: Even SHIVA, only when united with you Shakti/Maa is able to monitor the whole world.
And the other statement says: The Triad formed of Hari, Hara and Bramha worship Shakti. Both these statements are contained in the 1st sloka. Are SHIVA and Hara different? Are they not same ?

Hara is the "Rudra" who is in charge of the function of dissolution among the five functions of the Parashakti. Hara' comes from the root verb har' to destroy, to eradicate, to nullify.

What are the five functions, Viz. Brahma (Creation), Vishnu (Sustenance), SHIVA (Dissolution), and Ishvara (mAyic curtain); the seat itself is SadASHIVA (moksha-anugraha). How does she do ? She sits on the seat of five dead bodies and does this. Lalitha Sahasranama clearly mentions them.

Pancha pretha-asana seena Pancha brahma swaroopini
...
Srishti karthri Brahma roopa Gopthri Govinda roopini
Samharini Rudhra roopa Thirodhana kari Eeswari
SadaShiva Anugrahada Pancha krithya parayana
- Lalitha Sahasranama

Thirodharana means secret or hide. In tamil we say "Tirai" (you could remember the screen I mentioned in part 3)

Thatho vi thishte bhuvananu vishwotha - I spread throughout the universe
...
Ahameva vatham yiva vatha yiva pravami,
Arambhamana bhuvanani viswam,
Paro dhiva para yena prithwya,
Yaithavathi mahinaa sam bhabhoova.
- Devi suktham (Rig Veda)

The body of Kaali symbolizes the universe - dark in color (isn't space dark 😊 ). Here Kaali is representing very high energy.

In science a black body (black body radiation), viewed in the dark at the lowest just faintly visible temperature, subjectively appears grey, even though its objective physical spectrum peaks in the red range, When it becomes more hotter, it appears dull red. As its temperature increases further it eventually becomes blindingly brilliant blue-white. Don't you see streaks of red in the image and white Teeth ? Have you heard of RedShifts and how NASA's hubble telescope spy our galaxy ?

Goddess tongue is red as well. In Maa Kaali's case it is not only red but she sticks it out. Why does she stick out the tongue ? Not because she is ashamed/embarassed having stepped over SHIVA, it is Rajo guna while her white teeth Sattva guna and her dark body Tamo guna. But if you look at it from perspective of science, you need heat dissipation. Just as in a nuclear reaction(exothermic reaction) where when high energy is released - light (electromagnetic radiation) and heat (Kinetic) a proper cooling mechanism is put in place for heat dissipation.

The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies Ahankaar (Ego) which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her beloved devotees (or anyone worshiping her with a true heart) will be Protected by Her.

SHIVA and SHAKTI ONENESS :
Just to make it clear, there is no first/second - neither of them is to be lower in hierarchy or glory. They are "Samaa" or "equal". SHIVA and Shakti are like the lamp and its light, the flower and its fragrance, honey and its sweetness, milk and its whiteness, word and its meaning. Thus they cannot be separated from each other. Even though the credit for the spandanaM (moving force) is given to Shakti, it is not as if She and He are separate. We should never lose focus of this mutual dependence or identity. Identity does not mean just a union. It is a total oneness. It is identity in the sense there is only one. Being one and only one is what is called Aikyaa or identity. In Lalita Sahasranama, after calling Her SHIVAA, the next name is SHIVA-Shaktyaikya-rUpiNI.

Let's look at an Atom. It is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons.
The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom.Protons and neutrons are fermions, with different values of the strong isospin quantum number, so two protons and two neutrons can share the same space wave function since they are not identical quantum entities.
An electron is a negatively charged subatomic particle. It can be either free (not attached to any atom), or bound to the nucleus of an atom. Electrons in atoms exist in spherical shells of various radii, representing energy levels.

The dense nucleus at the centre can be compared to SHIVA while the electrons to Shakti.

Have you heard of MASS-ENERGY equivalence ?
The Mass-Energy equivalence is most important upshot of the special theory of relativity (Albert Einstein), for this result lies at the core of modern physics.
In science they talk about the interconvertibility of matter and energy. This energy is our Shakti.
This Shakti is what makes inert matter non-inert. So SHIVA, the absolute Brahman, has to be compared to the inert matter of science; but the comparison is not right since,Brahman is consciousness so not jaDa (that which has no consciousness), whereas inert matter of science is jaDa.
Further, in the convertibility of matter into energy there is a difference for, when matter becomes energy, the matter that has become energy is now not
there as matter probably got transformed to some other form. When energy shoots forth from SHIVAM, the SHIVAM still remains the same SHIVAM.
We know that inert matter undergoes internal changes and in due course evolves into more complicated matter and finally the universe itself.

What is the power which made inert matter non-inert?
This is a difficult question for science. Even if the scientists one day accept it in theory, they will have to say Need proof ?
It is not within Science's jurisdiction. Science can explain phenomena, through its laws - only certain movements of the grand cosmic dance of ParaaShakti; whereas it is incapable of showing a path for becoming the Absolute by quelling the live Mind that vibrates in an integrated way together with all the vibrations of the universe. Nor is it the goal of Science.

Time and Space are relative concepts.
Brahman is the only absolute. Everything else is relative, says vedanta. Anything that appears as real, does so because it is resting on the Brahmancanvas.
This appearance as reality, is the relativity of science and the MAyA of advaita Vedanta.
Science which talks of the relativeness, does not say what is the absolute. The only absolute is Brahman , according to our religious scriptures as well as philosophical schools. Though western knowledge makes a distinction between religion and philosophy, SanAtana dharma does not make any distinction between the two. In it the two are inseparable like SHIVA and Shakti ! And that Absolute has been experienced as Atman by our great sages. That is the soul of all souls.

But definitely Einstein's theory of Relativity, has made science come much closer to advaita vedanta and the ShAkta schools.

BOTTOMLINE :
IT IS SHIVA THAT GETS REFLECTED IN MAYA AND BECOMES THE MAA or Lalitha - Divine Goddess. i.e Nirguna Brahman (Pure consciousness) gets reflected in Maaya and becomes a Saguna Bramhan. No wonder many of our great Acharyas/Sages/Scholars and in recent times Yogi's like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa/Swami Vivekananda/Ramprasad Sen and MANY MANY more have been Devi devotees. Needless to say Kanchi Mahaswamigal was a great Devi Bhakta whose discourse/blessings has helped me immensely to write the above.

Shouldn't I follow suit ?

p.s As I have said earlier, There is so much and so many things to write and not possible to cover everything. There are several forms of Kaali but I have tried to give the essence of the common one. For want of time, I will let you readers google out more on redshifts/Hubble telescope etc.

Edited by Raghuji - 11 years ago

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Raghuji

@Raghuji

Explorer

Posted: 11 years ago

#25

Dear Forumites,
Haven't done a proper proof read, if you find any mistakes please let me know.

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582445

Hibernated

Posted: 11 years ago

#26

Brilliant Raghu .. Just brilliant .. this is a long post n it demands full concentration n I am repeating one line again n again to understand the whole meaning .. so I have not completed reading .. I read till the point where you compared Mata Kali with electron n Shiva with nucleus .. I am spell bounded ..

I loved your explanation of Advaita-Baad what was followed by Ramkrishna Paramhangsha Dev .. I wud like to what Dhaithva vad say

I with my peronal logic always felt Shiva is internal knowledge [Anadi Anant - the knowledge is only thing which has no start no beginning ] and Kaali is Shakti .. the energy of every living being n whole cosmos .. these two things create whole universe .. I am happy by believes isn't fully wrong

I have a philosophical explanation of mata's standing of Mahadev n the whole posture .. I tried to see the philosophy behind the figure .. I will share with you n come back to comment on rest ,,

THANK YOU Raghu .. it is an wonderful feelings to read your updates .. I rarely feel this way

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Raghuji

@Raghuji

Explorer

Posted: 11 years ago

#27

@Sayanee,

I know it is a long one. I hate long posts too 😉

This was on Maa that I just couldn't stop it. I'll let you read the whole part and then try to answer your questions if any. As you might be aware, these are abstract concepts that it is not easy to put it on a piece of paper. As written in Vivekachudamani, one in a crore can realize the Brahman - the absolute.

BTW, Have you heard of tattvachintamani ?

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Sabhayata

@Sabhayata

Sparkler

+ 4

Posted: 11 years ago

#28

@Raghiji:Thanks a lot for the update

Reading your updates has really increased my knowledge

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panchaali

@panchaali

Sparkler

+ 2

Posted: 11 years ago

#29

Brilliant and thought post..I just love reading such post based on Mythology...

the logic behind is just wow...

yes Devi Shakti is the supreme...

SHIVA earns His place and honor only when He is united with Shakti. But the words SHIVA and Shakti have been placed in the sloka in that order, with SHIVA first. But if you note carefully, the Shakti's presence can be clearly noted in SHIVA - the vowel "I" with consonant "SH" (Same can be seen in ShrI in the case of Lakshmi/Narayana). The Beej for Shakti is I.

wonderful explanation.. well I have not completely finished it yet, so after I finish I will post more comments 😊

you know there's an atvutpurana...I don't know it completely but my uncle just used to say one of it's story repeatedly..

the story says Devi Shakti creates everything even Shiva...

but Lord Shiva desired to marry her, to fulfill his wish Shakti takes 108 births and dies 108 times so that all motherly bond dies...

each time She dies every time Lord adds her scull to his garland in agony why He wished such!

Edited by panchaali - 11 years ago

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amritat

@amritat

Sparkler

Posted: 11 years ago

#30

Great thread Raghuji...

Its very informative...
There is so much about our own religion that many of us dont know...
Thank u for making this post... 😊

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Bramha - The Creator and Time part 5 updated - Page 3

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