The dance of Shiva,

 The dance of Shiva, known as Ananda Tandava (the Dance of Bliss), is the cosmic dance of the Hindu god Shiva performed as Nataraja (Lord of the Dance), representing creation, preservation, and destruction.

Core Symbolism

The Ring of Fire: The flaming circle enclosing the figure represents the continuous flow of the cosmos, time, and space.

The Drum (Damaru): Held in the upper right hand, the beating drum creates the primal sound and rhythm of creation.

The Flame (Agni): Held in the upper left hand, the fire symbolizes the eventual destruction, renewal, and purification of the universe.

The Hand Gesture (Abhaya Mudra): The lower right hand is raised to say "fear not," offering protection and grace.

The Trampled Dwarf (Apasmara): The foot rests upon a small demon representing ignorance, ego, and forgetfulness.

The Raised Foot: The lifted leg points toward liberation and spiritual release from illusion.

Isha Upanishad

Worlds there are without suns, covered up with

darkness. To these after death go the ignorant, slayers of the Self. The Self is one. Unmoving. it moves swifter than thought. The senses do not overtake it, for always it goes before. Remaining still, it outstrips all that run. Without the Self, there is no life.

KATHA Upanishad

The secret of immortal life is to be found tn purification of the heart, in meditation, in realization of the identity of the Self within and Brahman without. For immortality is simply union With God

Tara was once a princess named Yeshe Dawa

 Tara was once a princess named Yeshe Dawa who was deeply devoted to the Dharma. After achieving great spiritual insight through meditation, she was encouraged by monks to pray for rebirth as a man, since male incarnation was traditionally seen as more favourable for attaining enlightenment.

But Tara rejected this idea.

She declared:

“There are many who wish to become men, but none who wish to become women. Therefore, until samsara is empty, I shall remain a woman and work for the benefit of all sentient beings.”

Don Miguel Ruiz

 

“Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.”

KATHA

 

The Self Existent made the senses turn out ward Accordingly man looks toward what is Without, and sees not what is within Rare is he who, longing for immortality, shuts his eycs to what IS without and beholds the Self. Fools follow the desires of the flesh and fall into the snare of all encompassing death but the Wise knowing the Self as eternal, seek not the things that pass away

Paul Brunton, The Short Path to Enlightenment:

Instructions for Immediate Awakening

“There is really nothing to be achieved here; only something to be accepted-the fact of your own divinity.”

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:6

“Having fully ascertained and realized the truth of Vedanta, having established themselves in purity of conduct by following the yoga of renunciation, these great ones attain to immortality in this very life; and when their bodies fall away from them at death, they attain to liberation.” (Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:6)

“When death overtakes the body, the vital energy enters the cosmic source, the senses dissolve in their cause, and karmas and the individual soul are lost in Brahman, the pure, the changeless. As rivers flow into the sea and in so doing lose name and form, even so the wise man, freed from name and form, attains the Supreme Being, the Self-Luminous, the Infinite.” (Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:7, 8 )

Paul Brunton, Advanced Contemplation: The Peace Within You

“This notion that we must wait and wait while we slowly progress out of enslavement into liberation, out of ignorance into knowledge, out of the present limitations into a future union with the Divine, is only true if we let it be so. But we need not. We can shift our identification from the ego to the Overself in our habitual thinking, in our daily reactions and attitudes, in our response to events and the world. We have thought our way into this unsatisfactory state; we can unthink our way out of it. By incessantly remembering what we really are, here and now at this very moment, we set ourselves free. Why wait for what already is?”

Richard Maurice Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness

“Then the realization of grandeur of the human soul, immediately followed by the rapture of the realization of God. He glances back and sees how futile his life and ambitions have so far been. Then realizes his present reconcilement with the cosmos and that the rest of his life must be continual .”