Hi again. Three weeks ago I posted about a project I'm working on. For those who haven't seen it yet:

>So, I am embarking on an interesting project. I intend to experience the best art and media humanity has to offer before I die. Namely this is all the highly notable and interesting books, plays, art, music, films, TV shows, and video games. I guess you could call it a bucket list. I've been indexing it chronologically and downloading it to an external hard drive.

I then solicited suggestions for highly notable/significant ancient and medieval literature that I was missing from an early draft of what the list would cover. I got over 100 responses; it was clear I was missing a lot. So, I pretty much started from scratch, doing multiple sweeps of any pre-Renaissance literature, and incorporated many of the suggestions I received, ranging from missing individual works to missing authors and cultures.

I should also note that in order to prevent this list from becoming unwieldly, I am limiting myself to 10,000 entries total, forcing myself to take a more deliberate and top-down approach. So far, I have 261 entries for the time span 4000 BC to 1400 AD: 12 Ancient-era, 121 Classical-era, and 128 Medieval-era works. 251 are literature, 10 are music. In other words, 2.61% of the list is Medieval era works or earlier, which seems quite reasonable to me and leaves plenty of room for more modern works spanning across more mediums.

I thought I would share what I have so far before I begin work on more modern stuff. Note that bolded entries are in the top 1,000 works, the cream of the crop, the most notable of all. If you're following along with me and don't want it to take a decade or longer to get through the whole completed list, just sticking to the bolded entries will give you a good taste too.

Ancient Era (4000 BC - 1001 BC)

Understanding the Ashwamedha Yajna

This is probably a relevant topic to discuss as polemicists of the Hindu tradition have begun taking one of the controversial aspects of the Ashwamedha sacrifice as a tool to denigrate and disparage the Hindu tradition. But what is the traditional narrative regarding the Aswamedha yajna and what relevance does it have in contemporary Hindu society? Let us investigate .

The historical and theological context

The earlier corpus of Vedic literature(the Samhitas,brahmanas) dealing with ritual sacrifice falls into the category of karmakanda (which places greater emphasis on the mode of action as a means to salvation), while the later texts such as the Aranyakas and Upanishads constitute the jnanakanda (which emphasises esoteric understanding).

Vedic society, during the age in which karmakanda was prominent, centred around a ritual known as Yajna.

The rites in the karmakandha are followed to produce specific temporal rewards which are materialistic in nature. Since they are temporary rewards, they represent a lower mode of worship than the jnanakanda. This mode of ritual is done via appeasement or propitiation of limited beings known devas and is not to be equated with the Bhakti directed towards the Eternal Brahman as found in the jnanakanda. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:-

3.8.10. “He, O Gārgī, who in this world, without knowing this Immutable Being, offers oblations in the fire, performs sacrifices and undergoes austerities even for many thousand years, finds all such acts but perishable; he, O Gārgī, who departs from this world without knowing this Immutable, is miserable. But he, O Gārgī, who departs from this world after knowing this Immutable, is a knower of Brahman.”

There are three types of ritual practices which are described in the Vedas:- the Nitya karmas (necessary rites), the Naimitika karmas (the occasional rites) and the Kamya karmas (desire oriented rites).

1. The Nitya karmas are to be followed on a daily basis to produce the necessary results required for expiating sin. According to Vedanta, the Nitya karmas are to be performed without desiring the outcome of the ritual-such a process is known as karma yoga. These rites are also known as nishkamya karmas as they are done without any objective in mind. The non performance of the Nitya karmas invites sin on the individual. ex:- Agnihotra.

2. The Naimitika karmas are occasional rites -examples include the Upanayana for the initiation of Vedic educ

So, I'm from India, and had been an atheist for a long time, primarily because I was not convinced that there is any proof for the existence of God. I was not seriously seeking answers or anything, I just wasn't really bothered then. But during my engineering days, I came across a group that practiced Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which is a subset of Vaishnavism (primarily, the belief that Vishnu or his incarnations are the Supreme Lord). Gaudiya Vaishnavism holds that Krishna is the Supreme Lord, and that Vishnu is one of his expansions. I initially attended their discourses, and through a mixture of somewhat convincing answers, my own newly ignited curiosity, and in general the good quality of the devotees, I took to the practice whole-heartedly. I was then a strict theist for four years, after which I wanted to leave the group, because I found it too restrictive. Restriction in terms of what music one can listen to, in terms of what books that one can read and so on. I found the principles difficult to follow. I was also curious to explore other philosophies such as Western, Buddhism, Shaivism and that too from their own sources, rather than what devotees had to say, because there'll naturally be bias. After I left, I'm still in touch with some of them, and they're more like usual friends, and are not fanatic enough to push their thoughts on me. My position now is that of an agnostic, because I'm not sure whether God exists (including non-scriptural) or not. I'm currently reading Russell's History of Western Philosophy (read till Spinoza) and am going to read Anthony Kenny's next.

So, one of the friends that I'm still in touch with (two years senior to me from my college), is a practicing monk and is open to any sort of questions. He is also learning Sanskrit and in general, I regard him to be more reasonably versed in Vedas than me. I recently had a lot of discussion with him regarding God, Vedas etc. and wanted to hear your take/perspective on this. The questions are by me and answers by him (mostly from memory); I told him to forget that I had been a practicing devotee and answer my questions anew.

Q1. How do you know that there is a God? Where's the evidence for such an entity?

A. Evidence of God can be realized only through personal experience, which is based on faith on God and his word (scriptures). Since God is by definition non-material, we cannot perceive him (let's refer to him for brevity) through our senses or instruments (i.e. through the in

Welcome friend :)

Now that I have caught your attention, and we all know that the disease of today's man is a chronic lack of attention, I want to serve you some mental food. Since most people today do not pay attention to read more than a few lines, I will try to write this as briefly and concisely as possible, although I know I will not succeed in doing so. But it doesn't matter, let reading this text be a test, an exercise in attention and concentration.

I'll be honest right away. I chose this title just to appeal to you because I noticed that non-duality philosophy is very popular and appealing to everyone and I noticed that it has become like some new religion. If you say something against it, you will immediately be marked as an amateur on the spiritual path. Since I have always been a rebel and a heretic, so even now I have to raise my voice against generally accepted norms, that is, try to explain the philosophy of non-duality from my limited understanding.

I believe that the philosophy of non-duality is true, but simplified truth. This is why it is so popular today, because of the general state and mind of the average man, a man who can read only a few sentences, the truth must be simplified so that man can chew it. I think that's good too, I just wanted to shed light on some more aspects of this doctrine.

There have been mystics in all cultures and at all times who have understood and experienced the truth of non-dualism. Their experiences are quite similar; the terminology with which they tried to express their knowledge is slightly different, which is quite understandable. The problem can only arise because this experience is difficult to convey accurately to those who are not conversant with it. Thus, we have cases where many mystics were killed and considered heretics because they knew and made public this understanding. For example, Islamic traditionalists killed Mr. Mansur Al-Hallaj who is best known for his saying: I am the Truth (Ana'l-Ḥaqq), which many saw as a claim to divinity, while others interpreted it as an instance of annihilation of the ego, allowing God to speak through him (also some of his statements are: If you do not recognize God, at least recognize His sign, I am the creative truth because through the truth, I am eternal truth. There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God, there is nothing in my cloak but God). He also wrote: *I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I asked,

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Vedanta : This Stocks In News the company announced total aluminium production at 5.79 lakh tonnes for Q3FY22, up 16 percent from 4.97 lakh tonnes in Q3FY21.

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Dilip Buildcon : This Stocks In News the company has received letter of acceptance (LOA) for over burden removal contract mining work for Amadand OCP, Jamuna Kotma Area, in Madhya Pradesh valued at Rs 2,683.02 crore by the South Eastern Coalfield (SECL), a subsidiary of Coal India. The authority has issued Provisional Completion Certificate for the project, Four Laning of NH-161 from Mangloor to Telangana/Maharastra border in Telangana under Bharatmala Pariyojana, on hybrid annuity mode.

Bajaj Steel Industries : CRISIL reaffirmed its long-term rating on the company’s bank loan facilities at A- and revised outlook to Positive from Stable.

Indo Thai Securities : The company has incorporated a subsidiary Femto Green Hydrogen Limited. Femto Green Hydrogen is developing a kind of revolutionary de-carbonisation technique aimingto aid eradication and reduction of global warming caused due to various means of surface transport.

GAIL India : The company paid first interim dividend of Rs 4 per equity share for FY22.

Megasoft : The company has signed a Lease agreement for the third and final block (Block 3) for its share, and part rental payments are expected to be received from Q1 of 2022 after adjusting for the rent-free period.

**M

Do your worst!

GMR: Company signs Shareholders’ Agreement with Indonesia’s Angkasa Pura II for Medan Airport, Indonesia (Positive)

Adani Transmission: Company awarded first RE evacuation systems project in Khavda, Guj (Positive)

INOX Leisure: Company has commenced commercial operations at a multiplex cinema theatre taken on a lease basis in Gurugram, Haryana (Positive)

Vedanta: India Ratings and Research has revised Company's Outlook to Positive from Stable while affirming its Long-Term Issuer Rating at 'IND AA-. (Positive)

Paytm doubles down on the outstanding success of credit to merchants, consolidates leadership of offline payments business with lending. (Positive)

Uttam Sugar: ICRA Limited has assigned the ratings for various bank facilities obtained by the Company. (Positive)

CDSL: NSDL e-Governance files for IPO. (Positive)

PG Electroplast: CRISIL Ratings has reaffirmed Long-Term Rating at "CRISIL A-/Stable (Reaffirmed)" (Positive)

Lupin: USFDA approval for the Company’s Abbreviated New Drug Application Sevelamer Carbonate for Oral Suspension, 0. (Positive)

Emami Realty: CARE has upgraded the credit rating of the long-term banks facilities to 'BBB; Stable' from 'BBB-; Stable.. (Positive)

HCL Technologies: The technology major bought nearly 26 lakh shares of the company through a block deal (Positive)

JSW Holdings: Promoter group bought 5.1 lakh shares (Positive)

FSL: Subsidiary of the company, has completed the acquisition of The StoneHill Group Inc. (TSG), (Positive)

RBL Bank: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and RK Damani approached Reserve Bank of India to buy 10 percent stake in RBL Bank, CNBC-TV18 (Neutral)

Vedanta: The promoter group Westglobe exited the company by selling stake via block deal on NSE. (Neutral)

Manappuram: The company Board has approved raising up to Rs 500 crore via NCDs. (Neutral)

PI Industries: The company's MD and CEO Ramachandran to step down from executive role. (Neutral)

RBL Bank: says its board has accepted current MD & CEO Vishwavir Ahuja's request to proceed on leave with immediate effect.. (Negative)

Add more if you any any!

It really does, I swear!

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

They’re on standbi

Buenosdillas

Salam. I'd like to know what is it in Islam that you are a part of it, in other words, what if (assuming you are not a convert) you were not born in a muslim family, would you still choose to be a muslim? I asked this question to myself last year and honestly I am having a hard time finding answers to it.

The problem, therefore, is twofold.

First problem: It seems everything that islam offers could be found outside islam as well (considering there is no afterlife), and even if in better forms. Think of the basic roles that religions fulfill - spirituality, laws, ethics and morals, religious literature, role model and inspiration, self help, real life problems.

As in islam- sufi spirituality and meditation, I find, is just a tiny fraction compared of the vast ocean of eastern religious literature (i.e. buddhism, advaita vedanta, yoga) in terms of their content and applicability in our modern life.

Apart from some minor issues, liberal democracies and secular humanism also I'd say triumphs the traditional interpretation of sharia both in terms of their humaneness, non-discriminatory attitude, warmth, love and peace for the fellow individuals, and is perfect to fit in with the progressive and sustainable future that we envision.

Think of the central texts, if one reads with an open mind, The bhagvad geeta has a lot to offer in terms of the challenges and struggles that individuals go through and provides excellent advices on how to handle them. On the other hand, I try hard but cannot really connect with the quran, all I feel is extreme fear and anxiety for the afterlife and not much constructive to enrich my life in this world. The hadith literature sadly does not feel very intellectually satisfying or inspirational either, with a collection of folktales, extremely detailed commands and prohibitions, contradictions, rampant misogyny; and only a handful one that appeal to our conscience and sense of morality.

For role models, I really feel myself more connected to buddha and his timeless teachings, and I find extreme similarities in our personalities. On the other hand, prophet muhammad seems extremely complex; and I would say he is the epitome of a traditional alpha male in a tribalistic society and many of the things he did/said are strictly limited to the relevant time-place-context and therefore reducing their significance in our day to day lives. Compare that with buddha, whose teachings are incredibly compatible to the recent developments i

“One who knows God becomes equivalent to God”

My journey started unintentionally over two years ago. It started with meaning a broke college student turning towards an ascetic lifestyle trying to find happiness and contentment from within and not material bs. Through this process, I learned to make my own foods. Even making my own bread/pasta/other things/etc. I soon realized how I was royally being screwed financially by the market system we use. I then worked out how much it would cost me to build a rural offgrid hermit type of settlement. The realization of how little it would cost for me to live on my own led me into a psychosis. I nearly went 'insane' at the time, I had realized I had been indoctrinated into being a wage slave for society, and that the 'matrix' was indeed very real. 'I' had not attained god realization, but was well on the way towards it. At this point I had been in and out of psyche wards due to manic episodes after being diagnosed Bipolar 1. After this I suppose I was convinced to undergo electrocompulsive therapy while being medicated. Six months of my memory was fried away. Despite all of this, I still found myself relearning all which was lost and came to the same conclusion for a second time. The only reason I had any idea of the first realization after my second one was due to looking through screenshots on my phone from the past. Freedom is but an illusion to a vast majority on this planet. After this realization, I wanted to understand why I was here, and what the point of all this was. I wanted the Truth. I ended up dropping out of college and spending nearly every waking hour for the past 5 months on the spiritual journey(no work, savings), Jnana Yoga,  reading and listing to lectures for what is more than likely well over a thousand hours.

“God became man that man might become God” - Athanasius

“Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. Neo: What truth? Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.”

“Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream