Tag: Temple

Shadow

Ever since I first heard about shadow work decades ago, I've wondered exactly what it is. I always thought of deep abysses in the soul, traumas, taboos, secrets that you haven't shared with anyone because it's too shameful to talk about. I thought shadows are what we hide from ourselves and from others. And there's probably something to that idea. Now I've realized that shadows first appear somewhere else...

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2nd lecture: Irumbai Temple as Yantram (Apparata)

During the Chola Empire, the layout of Shiva temples was highly formalized. Based on the Agamas and Shastras, the temple was fully developed into a place in space, time, and consciousness where the microcosm and macrocosm mirror each other. When a temple is built, a site will be chosen, and it has to be indicated as auspicious. Often an unusually friendly encounter with the animal realm is considered a good sign. The site then has to be…

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Chola Temple

During the Chola Empire, the layout of Shiva temples became highly formalized. Based on the Agamas and Shastras, the temple was fully developed into a locus in space, time, and consciousness where the microcosm and macrocosm mirror each other. The study of the Irumbai temple, as a smaller temple that follows the strict rules of temple architecture and serves as a practitioner's temple, reveals its central role in a cluster of about two dozen temples in the vicinity. It follows the main principles of Vastu,…

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Superficiality

I am slowly delving a little deeper into superficiality. Concepts I have absorbed from various knowledge systems like the Vedas, Agamas, and Shastras are slowly connecting. I see broad root systems. For example, how the 5 elements (water, fire, earth, ether, and air) as a starting point in the teachings of the Vedas further develop in Vastu or Ayurveda, thus into space and the body. I see how various knowledge systems intertwine in the temple, and how this is still reflected in contemporary art practice today...

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Shavasana

I am fascinated by the synchronicities here in Auroville. The mental, intellectual, spiritual, physical, and emotional spaces that intertwine here often do so over several days, seemingly effortlessly, intuitively, easily. I was exhausted. A friend had left his body, as they say here. The community had provided support for over a month, many had grown closer. In a small circle, the death ceremony Karumadhi was held, a specific type of puja on the 16th day when the soul leaves this world. For a few weeks...

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