#3/thread on Angkor wat

Christianity and islam may be the largest religion of today’s world but Sanatan dharm has the largest religious monument in the world in the form of Angkor wat. It is situated in combodia and spread across over 400 acres / 1.6 km².

|| Savasana: The best bedtime yoga ||

According to the Haṭharatnavali 3.7-20, Savasana (शवासन) is one of the 84 asanas (postures) taught by Shiva. According to Haṭhayogapradīpikā I.33- “Lying down on the ground, like a corpse, is called Savasana

How to do it:
1) Lie flat on your back, Legs should be separated.
2 ) Keep your arms straight & palms facing up.
3) Close your eyes & breathe deeply & slowly through the nostrils.
4) Start concentrating from your head to your feet. Relax & don't move.
5) Do it atleast for 10 min

Benefits-
* Shavasana is the best yoga pose for relaxation & meditation
* Calms the body: It helps to make the body and mind fresh & afresh.
* It is a one of the powerful yoga poses to make the body stress free.
* Nervous system: It is extremely beneficial for nervous system.

* Blood pressure: It is good to normalize the blood pressure, relaxes your heart and reduces the level of anxiety.
* Memory: It increases the concentration and memory.
* Increases energy level: The regular practice of the asana helps to increase the level of energy in the body.

#Thread on kundalini- The hidden treasure!

In Hinduism, there are few topics which can fascinate even an atheist. Kundalini is one of them.

Kundalini is the latent Shakti sleeping near the Muladhara region (bottom of the spinal cords).

Siva Samhita, chapter 5 (pic 2)

Two fingers above the rectum and two fingers below the linga , four fingers in width is a space like a bulbous root.

Between this space is the yoni having its face towards the back.That space is called the root;there dwells the Goddess Kundalini.

It surrounds all the nadis and has three coils and a half;and catching its tail in its own mouth,it rests in the hole of the Sushumna(nadi).

Significance-

Chandogya Upanishad 8.6.6 and Katha Upanishad  2.16 says:

यदा सर्वे प्रभिद्यन्ते हृदयस्येह ग्रन्थयः ।
अथ मर्त्योऽमृतो भवत्येतावद्ध्यनुशासनम् ॥

शतं चैका च हृदयस्य नाड्य-
    स्तासां मूर्धानमभिनिःसृतैका ।
तयोर्ध्वमायन्नमृतत्वमेति
    विष्वङ्ङन्या उत्क्रमणे भवन्ति ॥

When all the knots of Hridaya Granthi are cut down, mortal becomes an immortal & attains Brahman there. There are 101 Nadis which emerge from heart, one Nadi goes out piercing the head. Going up through that, one attains immortality; the others serve for departing in diiff. ways.

“Thread: History of Valentines Day”

Ancient historical sources have claimed the existence of several saints by the name of St.Valentines who died on Feb 14. Among them, two were executed during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius Gothicus in 269-270 A.D.
#valentinesday2021

[1]

It was the time when the Christian persecution was common. Another legendary account states that under the rule of Claudius II, Rome was involved in the bloody campaigns, therefore, to maintain a strong army, Claudius II banned all marriages and engagements in Rome.

[2]

The reason of forbidding marriages was forced by the reluctance of people to join military because of their strong attachment to their wives. But St. Valentine defied the orders of the Emperor Claudius II Gothicus and married couples secretly to spare the husbands from war.

[3]

A few claims have reported that St.Valentine endorsed illegal relationships which could end up into a marriage. When it was discovered by the emperor, St. Valentine was arrested and condemned to have his head cut off.

[4]

An order of Belgian monks spent almost three centuries to explore the lives of saints by the name of St.Valentines from archives around the world. Bollandists suggested, that there weren’t actually two decapitated Valentines, but the two different versions of one saint’s...

[5]

1/ The “I Have a Dream" speech is one of the most extraordinary speeches in American history. You should read it again. First, a few thoughts about the common American heritage Dr. King relied upon in calling Americans to rededicate themselves to the unfinished work of freedom.

2/ Dr. King delivered his speech in what he called the “hallowed spot” of the Lincoln memorial. More than a picturesque backdrop, King relied on America’s reverence for Lincoln and the common celebration of Lincoln’s words and acts, especially the Emancipation Proclamation.

3/ “Five score years ago…” King echoes the words of the Gettysburg Address. Like Lincoln, King invokes the Declaration of Independence and the fundamental principles of American freedom, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Every person in that crowd knew these words.

4/ The Declaration, Constitution and Emancipation Proclamation declared and established the fundamental American principles of freedom that all Americans knew and believed in. But these principles and promises remained unfulfilled for black Americans.

5/ Lincoln’s audience knew the history of slavery and many had suffered personal loss in the ongoing war. Dr. King’s audience knew the history of violent racism, segregation, and unequal economic opportunity. The Proclamation freed the slaves, “but the Negro still is not free.”

[THREAD: WHEN GREECE RULED INDIA]
1/89
Some time in the 7th century AD, Sanskrit writer Bāṇabhaṭṭa did a biography on his patron, emperor Harshavardhana. It was titled Harṣacarīta and is said to be the first biographical work from the subcontinent.

2/89
Besides abundant references to the Greeks (as Yavanas, derived from Ionians), the book recounts a curious incident of king Vatsapati being ambushed by soldiers emerging from "the belly of a sham elephant."

This section may or may not have been lifted from an earlier work.

It's now over half a century since 1970, and I'm starting to wonder if we should bring back its concept of gracious modern living...

You see we've grown so used to Swedish-style modernism that we've sort of forgotten that maximalism, rather than minimalism, was once the sign of a cultured abode.

The 1970s in many ways reached back to the rich ideas of Victorian decor: heavy, autumnal and cluttered. Home was meant to be a baroque and sensual experience, rather than a 'machine for living in.'

Gaudy was certainly in by 1970: colour choices for interior design were rich and varied, with every room becoming a boutique of signature design.

Experimentation and adventurism were also coming to the fore: now we had landed on the Moon surely we should start to live like astronauts on Earth.

As the Qanon prophecies fail and the cult-members struggle to resolve their cognitive dissonance, it's a good time to revisit the history of paranoid, conspiratorial political movements in American history - the "paranoid style" that has dominated since the Revolution.

1/

After all, the very first skirmishes of the US war of independence were based on a conspiracy theory: that the levy on tea was a prelude to a sellout of the colonists to transnational mercantalist interests. US politics have always been conspiratorial.

2/

I found @zacharykarabell's @politico history of the Know Nothing party especially useful, as it tells the story of what happens when surging, paranoid, fractious political movements

The American Party was a secret 19th century organization founded on a conspiracy theory: that Irish immigrants were secretly planning a takeover of the US on behalf of the Pope.

4/