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| Vamadeva or *Shiva* the preserver together with Lalita |
Who is your guru? Reflect on the answer, brother. My guru is evidently...ChatGPT! LOL.
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
The secret shrine
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| Gemini´s fantasy picture of Vimala |
This is something of a niche subject, but I read two articles from "Orissa Review" about the goddess Vimala (or Bimala). She is worshipped in a temple inside the temple complex associated with the god Jagannath at Puri in the Indian state of Odisha (Orissa).
Jagannath is usually seen as a form of Krishna and hence a Vaishnava god-form. Both the chariot festival Rath Yatra at Puri and the god himself have been popularized internationally by the Hare Krishna movement, despite the fact that their non-Indian devotees are barred from entering the temple complex. However, the cult of Jagannath isn´t entirely Vaishnava in character. Vimala´s temple is one of the complicating factors.
Vimala is usually offered symbolic left-overs from the main offerings to Jagannath (which are strictly vegetarian). While this may suggest subordinate status, the main offerings to Jagannath apparently don´t become "prasad" (blessed food) until a portion of them have been given to the goddess. During certain celebrations, Vimala receives her own independent sacrifices. These are *not* vegetarian, and include a goat and fish. These rituals are secret and are in fact closed to Vaishnavas (who oppose animal sacrifice).
The Vimala Temple is "Tantric" in character. It contains depictions of couples engaged in various erotic activities. There are sculptures of goddesses trampling on corpses. There are also pictures of various Tantric deities. The Tantrikas refer to Vimala and Jagannath as "Bhairavi and Bhairava". At the same time, Vimala is clearly seen as a form of Durga. Absurdly, during Durga Puja, women are excluded from the temple!
Bottom line: clearly much more is going on in the Jagannath temple than a straightforward worship of a Vaishnavite god-form.
Vimala Temple at the Jagannath temple complex, Puri [click article title in the left column]
I am he
This is a controversy I was completely unfamiliar with. Until now, that is. Did the Buddha actually claim to be Rama in a previous life?
Here is the most interesting comment from the commentary section:
>>>The Rāmāyaṇa before its compilation by Vālmīki was circulated in oral traditions by bards (sūtas) beginning from 800 BCE. In 500 BCE when Vālmīki finally organized it into a living text with segregated books (kāndas), it was an epic that explicitly focused on the life of Rāma not his supernatural origins. It did not yet have the Bāla Kānda and Uttar Kānda or the passages that declared him an avatāra of Viṣṇu.
>>>This only happened in 200 BCE when the Vaiṣṇava avatāra theology and Dashāvatāra theory were formulated and the Bāla Kānda and Uttar Kānda were added to the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. So since Rāma was not always considered an avatāra, hence when the Buddhists say the Buddha was Rāma in a previous life that doesn't alone account for saying that Buddha was basically Viṣṇu.
>>>Yes. Buddha is indeed revered even by Vaiṣṇavas as the ninth avatāra. However it is crucial to make a distinction between personal belief and a proven fact. So neither should Ambedkarite(neo/fake) Buddhists object to Vaiṣṇavas regarding the Buddha an avatāra of Viṣṇu nor should Vaiṣṇavas try to convince Buddhists to believe that the Buddha was an avatāra of Viṣṇu. Both should practice their own religions.
I had to ask ChatGPT, as well. The LLM denied everything! Kind of.
Did Buddha claim to be Rama?
No. There is no evidence in the earliest Buddhist texts that the Buddha claimed to be Rāma, whether the hero of the Ramayana or an incarnation of Rama.
However, there are several reasons why the question arises.
1. The Buddha identified with many previous lives
A central feature of Buddhism is that the Buddha taught he had undergone countless previous births before attaining enlightenment. These previous births are narrated in the Jātaka stories.
In some Jātakas, the Bodhisattva is born as:
- a king,
- an animal,
- a sage,
- a god,
- an ordinary person.
Some of these stories resemble episodes from the Rāmāyaṇa.
2. The Daśaratha Jātaka
One famous example is the Daśaratha Jātaka.
In this story:
- King Daśaratha appears,
- a prince named Rāma (often called Rāmapaṇḍita) appears,
- Sītā also appears.
However, this is not the same story as the Hindu Rāmāyaṇa.
There are significant differences:
- Rāma is portrayed primarily as an exemplar of wisdom and patience.
- The story lacks many of the later epic's central elements, such as the war against Rāvaṇa.
Within the Buddhist tradition, Rāmapaṇḍita is understood as one of the Buddha's previous births.
So Buddhism does not say:
"The historical Buddha is the incarnation of the Hindu god Rāma."
Rather, it says:
"In a previous life, the Bodhisattva lived as a righteous prince named Rāma."
Whether this Buddhist story predates, postdates, or developed alongside versions of the Rāmāyaṇa remains a subject of scholarly debate.
3. The Hindu view
In many Hindu traditions, the relationship is reversed.
The Buddha is regarded as an avatar of Vishnu, while Rāma is another avatar of Viṣṇu.
Thus, from this perspective:
- Rāma and Buddha are distinct incarnations of the same divine being.
This is a Hindu theological interpretation, not a Buddhist one.
4. Did the Buddha ever say, "I am Rāma"?
No surviving early Buddhist text records such a claim.
When the Buddha spoke about his former lives, he described many different births, but he did not proclaim:
"I am the same person as the Rāma worshipped by Hindus."
That idea belongs to later comparative theology rather than the earliest Buddhist scriptures.
5. Later syncretism
In regions where Hinduism and Buddhism coexisted—such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Southeast Asia, and parts of India—there were many attempts to harmonize the two traditions.
As a result, one can find traditions that draw symbolic parallels between:
- Rāma,
- the Bodhisattva,
- the Buddha.
These are examples of religious synthesis rather than claims made by the historical Buddha himself.
In summary
The historical Buddha did not claim to be Rāma. However, Buddhist literature does identify the Bodhisattva with a virtuous prince named Rāma in the Daśaratha Jātaka, one of the stories of his previous lives. This should not be confused with the Hindu doctrine that Rāma is an avatar of Viṣṇu, nor with the later Hindu teaching that the Buddha is also an avatar of Viṣṇu. They are different theological frameworks that developed within their respective traditions.
True heterodoxy
Redeemed Zoomer strikes again. This is a sequel to his two previous videos on strange and (perhaps) wonderful Christian denominations. A *bit* boring, though! I expected more colorful cults. I mean, what about the 57 versions of Mormonism, bruh?
Små marginaler
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| Credit: jacilluch |
Intressant artikel om skogsbruket i södra Frankrike. Apropå de närmast apokalyptiska bränderna där.
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
The secret unknowns
For the record, I *did* know that Sheridan worked for Goldman Sachs years ago, but it´s still kinda funny that a conspiracy guy worked for *that* company, LOL.
Forteana in the skies
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| Credit: Wikipedia |
For a moment tonight, I actually thought I saw a UFO. Or even the planet Venus under *very* strange conditions. I mean, dude.
How long moment? I don´t know. 30 seconds? One minute? It must have been a chopper. Although I have to say that it stayed put in the same position for quite some time. Perhaps drones can do that? And yeah, their red and green lights kind of give the game away...
Unless the sky-elves have learned to mimic our technology. As per usual.
The long night has come
I never even heard of this scy fy TV series before. "Gene Roddenberry´s Andromeda" (or just "Andromeda") was originally aired over 20 years ago. Somebody (unclear who) has started to upload the old episodes on YouTube. The link above goes to episode three, "To loose the fateful lightning", which I have been hate watching a couple of times now. More on that later in this review!
"Andromeda" is apparently based on some old ideas by the late "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. It was produced by his widow, actress Majel Barrett. Judging by the four episodes uploaded so far, the series is similar to "Star Trek" but mostly lacks its weird charm. The good guys are called the Systems Commonwealth, somewhat imprudently dubbed "the greatest civilization in history". Following a civil war, the Commonwealth is destroyed and replaced by a dark age in which humans are constantly attacked by various evil alien races. The main character, Dylan Hunt, is a High Guard officer from the Commonwealth who miraculously survived for 300 years at the event horizon of a black hole. His starship Andromeda Ascendant and a *very* motley crew roam the galaxy, trying to restore the old civilization.
In the third episode, Hunt and his associates encounter a group of teenagers and children onboard an otherwise abandoned Commonwealth space station. The youngsters have formed a quasi-religious cult, awaiting the appearence of a Messiah-like figure who can save them from the Magog and the Nietzscheans (two alien races at war with humanity). It turns out that the cult´s expectations are very concrete: the children need the High Guard access codes to battle ships armed with planet-killing doomsday weapons. As the sole survivor of the old Commonwealth, Hunt does indeed have the codes.
What happens next is...interesting. The stranded children clearly expect Hunt (their long awaited savior) to be a militarist who will lead them in battle and utterly destroy the aliens. Instead, Hunt turns out to be an idealist and near-pacifist. One of his associates is a full-pacifist Magog who sounds like a stereotypical Buddhist (or is it Quaker). He´s darn ugly, too. Like the Jews in the New Testament, the children are disappointed when the Messiah preaches peace instead of armed resistance. Their mentality is clearly that of religious fundamentalists.
However...
What annoys me with this episode is that the "cult" is clearly right. With a few exceptions, the Magog are evil. Like parasitic wasps, they reproduce by laying their eggs inside humans. Why *not* nuke their planets sky high? Already in the first episode, we learn that the Systems Commonwealth preferred to negotiate with this bizarre race rather than resist them, handing over the Nietzschean home world to the intruders. At the time, the Nietzscheans were key *allies* of the Commonwealth. This triggered the civil war which brought down "the greatest civilization". Sounds like civilizational suicide. Yet, at least in this episode, we are somehow supposed to draw the conclusion that the children are crazy fanatics, while Hunt is the adult in the room?!
Frankly, I never seen more idiotic pacifist propaganda.
"Star Trek" is mostly liberal, but during the 00´s, there was actually a series in the franchise that was more Neo-Conservative: "Star Trek: Enterprise". I wonder if "Andromeda" acted as the liberal counter-weight to that show? I suppose those of us who didn´t see the series when it was first aired will find it in 106 episodes. Assuming the YouTube channel Andromeda Official really has the rights to show them!
Jävla IKEA-bög, flytta dina flata möbler
Vet inte om nyorden "IKEA-bögar" och "IKEA-flator" är så lyckade, ärligt talat. Fast IKEA kanske inte vågar klaga? Och sedan känns det här utspelet kanske lite desperat. Eftersom det kommer från Liberalerna. Som man väl skulle kunna kalla "SD-bitches" eller något sådant, LOL.
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