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vakibs @vakibs
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Interesting how the Islamic sholars were able to appreciate Indian spiritual traditions by mapping them to the Sufi practices. The lotus heart (Anāhata Chakra) was mapped to Qalb in the Lataif-e-Sitta.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lataif-e-…
One of the most sacred passages in Quran is "Isra and Miraj", the ascent of Muhammad to heaven.

Muhammad visits 7 levels of the heavens, meeting with a Biblical prophet at each of the levels. I think this is a transmission of Yogic knowldge of 7 Chakras.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Hea…
An ancient transmission of this idea probably happened to Mesopotamia, which also mentions the 7 heavens. But probably a more recent update happened via Buddhist missionaries and monks from India, who followed these meditative practices.
There was also a transmission of the knowledge about the 7 heavens of the underworld. But this was badly misunderstood, and represented as 7 levels of hell. I think this is the ultimate source for the "Inferno" of Dante Alligheri's "Divine Commedy".

Dante was very likely inspired by "Kitab-al-Miraj" of the Arabic poet Abu'l Qasim. This recounts the Quranic journey of Muhammad to the 7 heavens.

But I think this was again a mapping of some Buddhist work on cosmology, modeling the motions of the stars.
web.ccsu.edu/astronomy/tibe…
The axis of Mēru has an astronomical interpretation. The Purāṇas describe the motions of the stars and constellations, as observed from the earth at different points in history. A similar knowledge is encoded in Buddhist/Jain Jataka tales.

Ultimately, I suspect the reason for the transmission of this knowledge is their practical utility in keeping track of the astronomical charts. The esoteric interpretation related to spiritual practices may have been neglected/corrupted in the later years after the transmission.
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I think there was a steady and continuous slide from 1970s to now, on recognizing inner talent vs outer bling-bling.

The 70s had rock stars. The 80s had pop stars. The 90s reality TV stars. The 00s had YouTube stars. The 10s had Instagram stars. Next we’ll have bot-stars.
The context of the artistic experience and creative process doesn’t matter much now, as far as popular appraisal is concerned. People’s attention spans got much shorter, and everything can (must?) be cropped and photoshopped in the most presentable manner.
On the other hand, there is a veritable explosion of tiny communities who nourish true creativity even today. But how do they survive and sustain themselves economically? Not possible as the web ecosystem supports only the top performers and aggregate monopolies. Not subcultures.
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It is true that we must develop machine-learning models that can represent causality, but there is no one notion of causality that “represents our intuition about cause and effect”.

All notions of causality are tied up with theology, and specifically, with the theology of time.
When we say the “intuitive notion of cause and effect”, what we typically mean is the Christian theology of time which is the dominant paradigm today, and secularized version of it known as “Deism”, that attributes the fundamental cause to a mover external to the universe.
This theological model of time is implicitly assumed within physics, for example, when we posit the “Big Bang” as the origin of space-time.

Then on, causality is modeled as one directional links from a “past” event to a “future” event.

But this model fails at singularities.
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Well, only the most misinformed of the people would say that AI is about automating “routine work”.

The most drudguous jobs are the last to be automated. It is white collar jobs that get automated first. The proportion of bullshit jobs that humans have is increasing over time.
Even if we accept that routine work is getting automated, and somehow that it is a good thing, what does “humans will achieve more” mean ?

It is ‘newspeak’ to mean “humans will consume more”. And consume till when? Until the ecosystems of the planet get depleted beyond recovery.
The strange western idea of “progress” as a kind of accelerating consumption of resources can only lead to one thing: human extinction.

Other civilizations had other metrics for defining what “achieving more” means. In that perspective, routine work is not at all a bad thing.
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As it is Navaratri season, (and since December is coming), thought I'd talk about something from the world of Carnatic music. Dikshithar's Kamalamba Navavarnas.
Before we start with the Navavarnas, themselves, a bit of background on Kamalamba/Kamalambigai, the Goddess of the Thyagaraja Temple at Thiruvaroor. Interestingly, there is a separate shrine for the wife of Thyagesa, Nilotpalamba.
But it's to Kamalamba that Dikshithar dedicated his Navavarnas. Perhaps he was inspired by the unique seated portrayal of the idol, with her legs crossed, probably the only such portrayal anywhere in India
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Beyond the Veil - The #Ayyappan Sankalpa — A Long Thread !
The #SabarimalaTemple is many centuries-old and hosts an ancient deity, Sastha — #Ayyappan the main Vigraha (idol) of the temple, the deity is worshipped in the form of a Naishtika Brahmachari
This temple is not a prayer hall but is an energy centre; the Vigraha of #Ayyappan is not the representation of a God who is omnipresent, but as a source of energy (Chaithanya) from a mystical dimension.
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0/ This thread offers a mini-critque of some Western conceptions of "religion" - especially academic conceptions of religion.
1/ The way I myself approach religion gives useful some perspective on how I come to see the weaknesses in academic conceptions of religion.
2/ I'm a contemplative. In practical terms that means I meditate a lot. In somewhat broader terms it means I'm someone who actively seeks out and engages in practices of honesty and clarity and intimacy to put me in touch with an undeniable experience of life's worth and wonder.
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An English translation of the below thread:

A

B

A note from the famous writer Jayamohan:

In 1980’s, during my college days, despite half of us in the student population being Hindus, we used to see intense proselytisation efforts by both Christians and Muslims, who accused us of having only rituals & practices;
C

they continued to debate against & tauntingly accuse Hinduism of lacking any Scriptures, all the while gloating that they had revelations from their Gods as Scriptures for themselves.
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Navraatri literally means nine nights! These nine days n nights are dedicated to the Divine Mother. The female energy of universe peaks during this period. Each day has a reigning Goddess, specially worshiped in her child form! A thread of 9.

#NavDurga
#Navraatri
#VedicKnowledge
Prathama : #Shailputri
वन्दे वांछित लाभाय चन्द्रार्द्वकृत शेखराम I
वृषारूढ़ा शूलधरां शैलपुत्री यशस्विनीम II

Daughter of Himalaya, is first of the 9 eternal Shakti-Roops. Wields a trident in right hand to protect devotees, a lotus in left for knowledge & peace. Rides a bull.
Dwitiya #Brahmmcharini:
दधाना कर पद्माभ्यामक्षमाला कमण्डलू।
देवी प्रसीदतु मयि ब्रह्मचारिण्यनुत्तमा॥

Austere in conduct; she is 2nd of the 9 eternal Shaktis; adorned in white; Japmala in right hand; Kamandal in left; bestower of ‘satt, chitt, anand’ i.e. truth, awareness, bliss.
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1/ Manu (The progenitor of Humankind)
All different races of Mankind are derived from Manu and Shradha. The current Manu is Vaivasvata Manu.
2/ The word Manu literary means man but it is a title given to the progenitor of mankind. According to Hindu Puranas there are many kalpas (One day of Lord Brahma the creator) and each Kalpa has 14 manvantara and each manvatara has one manu. So basically each Kalpa has 14 Manus.
3/ The current manu of the present manvantara is Shraddhadeva or Vaivasvata Manu of this current Kalpa. He is the son of Vivasvat (Probably Surya) and is therefore also known as Manu-vaivasvata.
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