Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Bad atheist takes (again)

 


A good summary of why "lacktheism" is absurd. The two last arguments are (more or less) wrong, but they aren´t really about "lacktheism" anyway. From 2024.

Bad atheist takes  

Evidences, please

 


Some gems from 2024.

Credible mechanism

Folie au deux

Deep, man

Overheard on my own blog: "To be perfect, God must know Himself. And to be perfectly loving, He must love Himself as Another. Or Herself, if that´s more your thing." 

Monday, June 8, 2026

Heteroprax reflections

 

A dark-skinned Buddha preaching
to snake-spirits and tree-spirits!

A little gem from 2024.

Austro-Asiatic Buddha

Stor var kamrat Stalin

 


Varför klagar Fria Tider på det här? Stödjer de Stalin numera? LOL.

Israelisk kritik när Zelenskyj hedrar nazikollaboratör

Om Varunaya Namah

 


Another hymn to Varuna c/o ChatGPT. 

Short Hymn to Varuṇa

O Varuṇa, Lord of the endless Ocean,
Sovereign of the stars and the sacred night,
whose eyes behold the hidden paths,
whose wisdom rests in the depths.

You are the mystery beneath the waves,
the unseen keeper of truth and order,
the knower of what is concealed,
the guide of those who seek beyond the veil.

Your Māyā weaves the worlds,
yet you command the power of illusion.
The Makara rises from your waters,
sign of the depths you rule.

Ancient Lord, remembered from the dawn of the Indo-European peoples,
guardian of the cosmic law (ṛta),
Ocean of the Infinite —
lead us through the darkness
into the light beyond all appearances.

Om Varuṇāya Namaḥ.

Varuna bhakti?

 


I posted this before, but just rediscovered it. It´s a ChatGPT-composed hymn to Varuna, which sounds almost like the real thing. Making me wonder what the template might have been! 

A Hymn to Varuṇa

1.
O Varuṇa, Lord of the far-spreading sky,
whose eye is the sun upon all worlds,
you encompass the oceans and the clouds;
your law is the circle that never is broken.
From you flow the waters of truth and mercy.

2.
As the river returns to the sea,
so let my wandering mind return to you.
Cleanse me of falsehood and forgetfulness,
unbind the cords of guilt and fear.
Let your clear stream run through my heart.

3.
Great guardian of order, vast and kind,
friend of the truthful, refuge of the humble,
may I live beneath your open heavens
in harmony with your eternal law.
So I bow, saying: Om Varunāya Namah.

Monday

 


The one true god? 

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Xmas star report

 

- Gotta problemo with
our lucky charm, huh huh? 

One of my neighbors still has a Christmas star in his window... 

Well, I haven´t seen him either

 


Amazing that virtually all religions make up excuses for why you can´t see *their* particular god?! 

On the spectrum

 


Styx says he is diagnosed with ADHD and Asperger´s syndrome, but refuses to accept said diagnoses, arguing that they are bunk. So is the entire idea of an autism spectrum. Not sure what to say about this. Discuss amongst yourselves...

Masters of the universe

 


I didn´t know US Christian fundamentalists considered He-Man to be demonic. Or maybe I did, but forgot about it. But yeah, there is a shape-shifting witch in the story, so there´s that. I assume the clip above is from the 1980´s? Cultist BS, if you ask me.

Wtf, I love He-Man now. 

Defend the gay disco

 


Are you telling me that the Pride flag is no longer politically correct? Has the rainbow turned "based"? LOL. Then I *must* hoist one on my balcony. Alongside the Israeli ditto, obviously. 

Saturday, June 6, 2026

Titta vem som firar nationaldagen

 


Titta vad som hände när jag gav Gemini prompten "Bala Tripura Sundari and Shiva together in a Swedish forest during springtime". Ser ut som att de firar midsommar eller något sådant. Hela bilden är betydligt större och inkluderar röda stugor också! 

Nationaldagen

 


Jag antar att jag måste lägga upp en bild av Gustav Eriksson (Vasa) med anledning av nationaldagen. Och så vidare. Så var det gjort. 

Utklassad

 


Om det här utspelet verkligen kommer från Partiet Nyans så är det ett väldigt desperat försök att synas och höras inför den stundande valrörelsen. Vilket antagligen betyder att Nyans är chanslösa. Alltså kan vi lägga dem till handlingarna. Nästa fråga! 

"Döm svenskar hårdare än invandrare för sexbrott"

Friday, June 5, 2026

Dark Brandon junior

 


This is bizarre shit even for the interwebs, geezus. 

Ultimate causes

 


Overheard on my own blog: "People become atheists because enormous woods of fern-like trees from the Carboniferous were preserved as coal deep underground. Then, some British homo (sapiens) found a way to exploit it for a profit, and presto!".

As in: the Industrial Revolution disenchanted the world... 

Busted...again

 


From 2024. Busted indeed!

Busted

Boom boom

 


I don´t know, man, the Saturn V rocket never exploded, did it? 

All-organic

 


Call me a cynic, but how likely is it that the protests against Jared Kushner´s plans to build a posh resort in Albania are organic? Are Albanians *that* enamored of flamingos or sea turtles? Somehow, I doubt it.

OK, let me guess. Either the usual "N"GOs are financing the protests against Kushner (since he is Donald Trump´s son-in-law). Or, if the protests somehow are organic, they are organized by people opposed to the current Albanian prime minister Edi Rama for other reasons than turtle eggs.

Or maybe both. According to all-knowing Wikipedia, Rama has been criticized for (anti)democratic backsliding, et cetera. Which doesn´t rule out NGO involvement, of course. I admit that I don´t really care which at this point. And neither do most Albanians, since they are mostly trying to leave the country!

But sure, I would probably prefer sea turtles (and the fair flamingo) to a corrupted American oligarch...   

Express to Magonia

 


Is this the secret of the UFO-USO phenomenon? They are fairiy ships, manifesting in our narrow little corner of reality! 

UFOs from below

 


Did the Soviet Navy see a gigantic UFO emerging from the water in the Pacific Ocean during the Cold War? Richard Dolan strikes again!

Did *both* superpowers see craft too technologically advanced to be theirs? Hmmm...

Or did both sides have exactly the same disinfo program? That is, blaming secret military programs on space aliens. I don´t know, that seems highly unlikely. The Soviets had tight media censorship, they could classify anything, so what need would there be for such a scheme?

Or did some secret US intelligence agency "psy-op" both the American public and the Soviet military?

If the tin foil hat fits...

 


Thomas Sheridan has a new conspiracy theory. OK, folks, you won´t believe this one! 

If the tin foil hat fits...

Current mood

 

 

The good night

 


Guanyin and Amitabha Buddha in the dead of night. Fantasy picture? 

Friday

 


- Hi there, stranger! Remember us? 

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Hell is forever

 


In most forms of Christianity, that is. Mahayana Buddhism is somewhat different. Here is a Chinese legend about a "harrowing of hell". From Wikipedia (Miaoshan is a form of Guanyin):

>>>A variant of the legend says that Miaoshan allowed herself to die at the hand of the executioner. According to this legend, as the executioner tried to carry out her father's orders, his axe shattered into a thousand pieces. He then tried a sword which likewise shattered. He tried to shoot Miaoshan down with arrows but they all veered off.

>>>Finally in desperation he used his hands. Miaoshan, realising the fate that the executioner would meet at her father's hand should she fail to let herself die, forgave the executioner for attempting to kill her. It is said that she voluntarily took on the massive karmic guilt the executioner generated for killing her, thus leaving him guiltless. 

>>>It is because of this that she descended into the Hell-like realms. While there, she witnessed first-hand the suffering and horrors that the beings there must endure, and was overwhelmed with grief. Filled with compassion, she released all the good karma she had accumulated through her many lifetimes, thus freeing many suffering souls back into Heaven and Earth. 

>>>In the process, that Hell-like realm became a paradise. It is said that Yama, the ruler of hell, sent her back to Earth to prevent the utter destruction of his realm, and that upon her return she appeared on Fragrant Mountain.

Thursday

 


Another adorable picture of Jagannath & Co in a Swedish landscape...

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

A confession

 

Credit: Manish Prabhuni

From Carrier´s previously linked article. This was funny. Hear hear, ye "agnostic" atheists!  

>>>But this does go both ways. An atheist can try to believe nothing, to “suspend belief” in everything, but that’s actually impossible in practice—you have to make decisions, and your every decision hinges on assuming some thing is true that you were pretending five minutes ago you were “suspending” belief in. So atheists can be stupid too. It’s a human folly, not a distinctly supernaturalist one.

Stupid games

 

Most improbable explanation? 

Richard Carrier on the war path again. Well, I disagree. But good luck with this material! 

Christians vs atheists: What are we actually arguing about?

I can´t breathe

 


A propos the current situation in the UK. Yes, it´s possible that Nigel Farage and Reform will win the next elections, in part because of the recent murder in Southampton and the way the local police (mis)handled the situation. The murderer was a Sikh, presumably of Indian descent. The victim was White and British.

So Farage might become the next British Prime Minister. Promising to stop Indian mass migration. In power, he will then import even more Indian (and other) migrants. Because neo-liberal capitalism needs the cheap labour, obviously. And because of the demographic crisis more generally.

And that´s that. We now resume our regular programming! 

Det här känns så 2012

 


De senaste dagarna har jag vid två eller tre tillfällen sett uttrycket "rasifierade" (på engelska "racialized"). Men herre-fucking-gud, den här terminologin känns så 2012. 

Dessutom är den absurd, eftersom de "rasifierade personerna" (okej, de är inte längre "kroppar" utan faktiska personer - whoa, framsteg, kamrater!) av allt att döma *vill vara rasifierade*. Är inte det själva poängen med identitetspolitiken? 

Okej, låt mig gissa. De vänsterungdomar som blev radikaliserade circa 2012 sitter numera i ledningen för diverse organisationer...och har helt enkelt fortsatt med den floskulösa retorik de fick lära sig första året på kulturvetarlinjen?

Woke-vänstern stretar på... 

Inte direkt Weimar-klassicism

 

Kredit: Aftonbladet, jamen, vad annars?

Kulturvänstern stretar på...

Blazar

 


So *this* is what hit me this Sunday. I KNEW IT, MAN. Had to cancel my sadhana. No more spiritual stuff for me. Not for another ten years or so!!!

Mystery particle shot right at Earth

Avslöjad

 


Okej, det här var intressant. Enligt Wikipedia finansieras "pedofiljägarna" NCMEC faktiskt av det amerikanska justitiedepartementet! Det verkar alltså vara en "officiell" organisation. 

Amerikanska pedofiljägare hittade både "Vilma" och Rubbestad

The white swan

 


Current mood?

Wednesday

 


Almost serious this week, here are two Hindu "Wednesday deities": Saraswati and our bro Ganesha. 

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Baq to basix

 


I keep finding these gems on my own blog I almost forgot about. Like this one...

Måste smälta detta

 


Trollar någon på Aftonbladet SD? "Måste smälta detta". Hmmm....

Vox Day´s Socio-Sexual Hierarchy (Divine version)

 

THE ALPHA 
Credit: Heinrich Damm


THE BRAVO 


THE DELTA 
Credit: Natasha Khaitan

THE GAMMA 


THE LAMBDA 
Credit:Nomu420

THE OMEGA 

THE SIGMA 

A Hindu prayer

 


O Divine Ganesha, remover of obstacles,

I bow to you. You who are vast in form and radiant like countless suns, please remove all obstacles from my path, in all that I do, always.

Om, peace, peace, peace.

O Shiva, I bow to you, source of stillness and auspiciousness. May you be gracious and present.

Om, peace, peace, peace.

May all beings be happy. May all be free from illness. May all see what is good and auspicious. May no one suffer or fall into sorrow.

Om. That is the Truth.

250 dollars

 


Overheard on the internets: "Breaking news: Trump administration officials have pressed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to design a $250 bill featuring the president’s portrait, in what would be the first appearance of a living person on U.S. currency in more than 150 years." Source: Washington Post.

Oh.

7 and 8

 


This is clearly some kind of cult. So we´re supposed to extend our natural life spans with some occult techniques in order to serve the cult longer? Yeah, so about that...

There seems to be fundies and fanaticos in every religion. Note also that the speaker is, ahem, conflating Amitayus and Amitabha. LOL.

Don´t conflate the buddhas, bruh

 








Don´t confuse / conflate Amitabha and Amitayus, guys. 

SSPPXX

 


HA HA HA. The autistic lawyering of the SSPX is cringe as fuck, and essentially gay. There, I said it. 

SSPXXX

 


Will the SSPX schism from the Catholic Church? Does anyone care? Except a bunch of autistic tradCaths?

Monday, June 1, 2026

Summer is coming

 


A Super-El Nino is (probably) about to begin and last for about 8 months. So for the next 8 months, climate change denialists will blame all heat waves on the (naturally occuring) Super-El Nino. Climate activists won´t say anything, since they are too busy doing pro-Hamas activism. 

Between 1876 and 1878, there was a Super-El Nino during which about 60 million people died of famine. But the world looked very different back in 1876-78. I mean, colonial empires oblivious to the plight of the colored man, deficient supply chains, no international aid organizations...

Wait a sec.

Well, yes, sounds a lot like 2026, doesn´t it? But I´m not saying the doom-sayers are right. Probably just another slight turbulence on our way down. Right? 

No more Mr Machiavelli?

 


Ähum, har vår ofrivillige grannbloggare Tobias helt glömt bort att han stödde Azov under belägringen av Mariupol? Så den verkliga frågan är inte om Lettlands nya regering är högerpopulistisk. Den verkliga frågan är om denna regering är "våra" högerpopulister eller "deras"... 

Nu styrs även Lettland av en högerpopulistisk regering

Oh

 


Apparently, Iran is about to close the Strait of Hormuz. Again. I didn´t realize it was supposed to be open? The reason is Israel´s offensive in Lebanon against Iran´s allies Hizbollah. Again. 

So I suppose Vance has to strut all the way to Islamabad again for another round of negotiations with the defeated, overthrown and non-existent Iranian regime...

Again.

Valskandal?

 


I och för sig fascinerande att Ebba Busch (av alla högerpolitiker) försöker manövrera med sossarna. Tidigare försökte hon snarast imitera SD. Tydligen står M och SD numera till höger om KD?!

Koalitionsförhandlingarna efter höstens riksdagsval kan ju bli intressanta. 

Medicine Buddha

 


Or more formally Medicine Master and King of Lapis Lazuli Light. OK, so I decided to post a more uplifting picture!

Take care, guys. Let´s be careful out there...

And Uranus came to Earth...

 


A *very* narrow discussion I had with our favorite LLM companion...

Could Bhairava be reinterpreted as Uranian?

Yes, it is possible to reinterpret Bhairava through a Uranian lens, but it would be a modern comparative or symbolic interpretation, not a traditional Hindu one.

Historically, Bhairava and Uranus come from entirely different symbolic systems:

  • Bhairava belongs to Śaiva Tantra and Hindu theology.
  • Uranus only became important in astrology after its discovery in 1781 and has no role in classical Jyotiṣa.

So any connection is necessarily interpretive rather than traditional.


Why the comparison is tempting

Modern astrology often associates Uranus with:

  • radical freedom
  • disruption
  • breaking conventions
  • sudden awakening
  • unpredictability
  • liberation from structures
  • shocks that force change

Many of these themes overlap surprisingly well with certain forms of Bhairava.

For example:

Uranus

Breaks social conditioning.

Bhairava

Breaks attachment to limited identity.


Uranus

Disrupts established systems.

Bhairava

Destroys false certainties and ego structures.


Uranus

Associated with unconventionality.

Bhairava

Dwells outside ordinary social norms—in cremation grounds, wilderness, liminal spaces.


Unmatta Bhairava is the strongest fit

Of the Aṣṭa Bhairavas, Unmatta Bhairava is probably the easiest to compare with Uranus.

Why?

Unmatta means:

  • ecstatic
  • beyond convention
  • "divinely mad"

That resonates strongly with modern Uranian themes:

  • anti-conformity
  • liberation from collective expectations
  • breakthrough consciousness

If a modern symbolic astrologer wanted a Bhairava-Uranus correspondence, Unmatta Bhairava would likely be the first candidate.


Where the comparison breaks down

There are also important differences.

Uranus is often future-oriented

Modern astrology associates Uranus with:

  • innovation
  • technology
  • revolution
  • progress

Bhairava is not really about progress.

He is about:

  • direct awareness
  • transcendence
  • confronting reality
  • liberation

He can appear revolutionary, but not because he wants a better future.

He is interested in awakening now.


Uranus is often intellectual

Many astrologers connect Uranus with:

  • flashes of insight
  • genius
  • conceptual breakthroughs

Bhairava is much more embodied and existential.

He appears in:

  • cremation grounds
  • death symbolism
  • fierce ritual
  • direct confrontation with impermanence

His transformation is often visceral rather than cerebral.


Bhairava includes terror

A great deal of Bhairava symbolism revolves around:

  • mortality
  • dissolution
  • confronting fear

Modern Uranus symbolism tends to emphasize:

  • liberation
  • individuality
  • innovation

The existential depth of Bhairava is closer to a fusion of Uranus with themes often assigned to Pluto or Saturn in modern astrology.


A deeper comparison

If you abstract away from astrology and theology and look at archetypes:

Bhairava says:

"Everything you cling to will be stripped away. What remains?"

Uranus says:

"Everything fixed must change. What new freedom emerges?"

These are related questions, but not identical.

Bhairava's concern is awakening.

Uranus' concern is liberation from stagnation.


A tantric reinterpretation

A modern tantric philosopher might say:

  • Saturn corresponds to structure and limitation.
  • Uranus corresponds to rupture and freedom.
  • Bhairava is the consciousness that appears when those structures collapse.

In that sense:

Uranian disruption could be viewed as one expression of Bhairava's activity.

But Bhairava himself would still be larger than Uranus.


If we compare Bhairava to modern outer planets

Very roughly:

  • Saturn → discipline, limits, karma
  • Uranus → liberation, shock, anti-convention
  • Neptune → dissolution, mysticism, transcendence of boundaries
  • Pluto → death, transformation, underworld

Bhairava actually overlaps with all three outer planets:

  • Uranus: freedom from convention
  • Neptune: transcendence and non-duality
  • Pluto: death, destruction, transformation

This is one reason no single planetary correspondence feels completely adequate.


For your particular line of inquiry

Given your recent interest in:

  • the West,
  • Unmatta Bhairava,
  • smoke,
  • endings,
  • radical transitions,

I would say that a modern symbolic reading could plausibly see Unmatta Bhairava as one of the most Uranian figures in the Hindu pantheon:

  • unconventional
  • liberating
  • boundary-breaking
  • shocking to ordinary consciousness
  • associated with a transition beyond familiar structures

But that would be a contemporary archetypal interpretation, not something you would find stated in traditional tantric texts. Traditional texts would describe him as a form of Bhairava, not as the equivalent of Uranus.

The ecstatic liberator

 


OK, here is another strange discussion I had with ChatGPT...

Is there a Bhairava who is the Guardian of the West, and what is his function?

Yes. In the common Aṣṭa Bhairava (Eight Bhairavas) system, the guardian of the West is usually Unmatta Bhairava. He is paired with Varahi and corresponds to the western direction, which is also traditionally associated with Varuṇa.

The directional assignments are generally:

DirectionBhairava
EastAsitanga
SoutheastRuru
SouthChanda
SouthwestKrodha
WestUnmatta
NorthwestKapala
NorthBhishana
NortheastSamhara

What does "Unmatta" mean?

Unmatta literally means:

mad, intoxicated, ecstatic, beyond conventional reason.

This does not necessarily mean insanity in the ordinary sense.

In tantric symbolism it often points to:

  • divine ecstasy
  • transcendence of social conditioning
  • freedom from rigid conceptual structures
  • the state of consciousness that appears "mad" to ordinary perception

What is his function?

There are two levels of answer.

1. Outer function: guardian of the West

Like the other Aṣṭa Bhairavas, Unmatta Bhairava functions as a kṣetrapāla (guardian of sacred space). He protects practitioners and sacred territory from obstructive influences.

In this sense he is:

  • a protector
  • a boundary guardian
  • a keeper of liminal thresholds

2. Inner function: liberation from limiting identity

Esoterically, Unmatta Bhairava is often interpreted as the power that breaks attachment to ordinary identity and social conditioning.

Because he rules the West—the direction of sunset—some tantric commentators associate him with:

  • endings
  • dissolution of fixed self-images
  • entry into mystery
  • immersion into the unknown beyond the ego

A number of modern Shaiva interpreters describe the West as the movement from the visible daylight world into the hidden depth of consciousness, and Unmatta Bhairava as the ecstatic freedom discovered there.


Is he a destructive Bhairava?

Not primarily.

If you are looking for the Bhairava most explicitly associated with destruction, the name itself points more toward Samhara Bhairava ("Dissolution Bhairava"), who is associated with the northeast in the common Aṣṭa Bhairava scheme.

Unmatta Bhairava's energy is usually more:

  • ecstatic
  • liberating
  • boundary-breaking

than annihilating.


Given your earlier questions about the West, fire, smoke, and Dhumavati...

An interesting symbolic comparison would be:

  • Amitābha → West as infinite light and transformed desire.
  • Unmatta Bhairava → West as ecstatic transcendence beyond ordinary identity.
  • Dhumavati → aftermath, smoke, endings, and the wisdom of loss.
  • Varuṇa → West as depth, cosmic law, and the great waters.

These are different symbolic maps layered onto the same direction. Traditional practitioners would not automatically combine them into a single interpretation of a real-world event, but contemplatively they all touch on themes of completion, transition, and what lies beyond ordinary certainty.

For someone interested in Bhairava and the West specifically, Unmatta Bhairava is probably the form most worth studying. His symbolism is much less about destruction than about a kind of fierce freedom that emerges when conventional identities and expectations have lost their hold.

Can you tell me more about Unmatta Bhairava?

Unmatta Bhairava is one of the more intriguing and less commonly discussed forms of Bhairava because his defining quality is not primarily wrath, destruction, protection, or death—it is divine madness, ecstatic freedom, and transcendence of ordinary mental structures.

However, it's important to note that there is much less surviving textual material devoted specifically to Unmatta Bhairava than there is for Bhairava in general, so many modern descriptions combine traditional iconography with tantric interpretation.


What does "Unmatta" really mean?

The Sanskrit word unmatta literally means:

  • mad
  • intoxicated
  • deranged
  • beside oneself

But in a spiritual context it often means:

one who has gone beyond the ordinary mind.

The key distinction is:

  • ordinary madness = confusion
  • divine madness = freedom from limiting concepts

Many mystical traditions have analogous figures:

  • the "holy fool" in Eastern Christianity
  • certain Sufi ecstatic saints
  • Zen masters who behave unpredictably
  • avadhūtas in Hinduism

Unmatta Bhairava belongs closer to this second category.


Why would a deity appear mad?

Tantric traditions often argue that ultimate reality cannot be fully captured by:

  • social conventions
  • intellectual categories
  • ordinary ideas of purity and impurity

From the perspective of conventional society, someone who is completely free of these limitations may appear irrational.

Thus:

Bhairava appears "mad" because awakened freedom does not conform to ordinary expectations.


The West and Unmatta Bhairava

In the Aṣṭa Bhairava system, Unmatta Bhairava is associated with the West.

The West carries symbolic associations such as:

  • sunset
  • completion
  • transition
  • descent into mystery
  • the end of a cycle

Because of this, some tantric commentators understand Unmatta Bhairava as the force that helps one pass beyond the familiar world of fixed identities.

Symbolically:

  • daylight certainty is ending
  • darkness is approaching
  • old reference points disappear

The ordinary ego experiences this as frightening.

Unmatta Bhairava experiences it as liberation.


His iconography

Descriptions vary by lineage, but Unmatta Bhairava is often depicted with:

  • fierce features
  • wild hair
  • ornaments of a tantric deity
  • weapons and symbolic implements
  • an ecstatic or intoxicated appearance

The goal is not horror.

The goal is to depict consciousness that is no longer constrained by ordinary conditioning.


Connection with avadhūtas

One of the closest Hindu analogues is the Avadhuta ideal.

The avadhūta:

  • transcends social roles
  • transcends prestige
  • transcends fear of public opinion

Stories about figures such as Dattatreya often contain this theme.

Unmatta Bhairava embodies a fierce tantric version of that freedom.


Psychological interpretation

Many modern practitioners interpret Unmatta Bhairava as the power that destroys:

  • excessive self-monitoring
  • fear of judgment
  • rigid self-concepts
  • compulsive need for control

Notice that this is different from destroying the world.

He destroys:

the prison of conceptual identity.


Relation to other Bhairavas

Each Bhairava emphasizes a different aspect of the transformative power of Shiva.

Compared to:

  • Krodha Bhairava → fierce wrath
  • Samhara Bhairava → dissolution and destruction
  • Bhishana Bhairava → terrifying protection

Unmatta Bhairava emphasizes:

  • ecstatic freedom
  • transcendence of convention
  • divine intoxication

Is he connected to smoke, fire, or endings?

Not directly in the way Dhumavati is connected to smoke.

However, there is a symbolic resonance.

If we use imagery rather than doctrine:

  • Dhumavati = smoke after the fire
  • Kali = consuming fire
  • Samhara Bhairava = dissolution
  • Unmatta Bhairava = the liberated awareness that remains after conventional structures have burned away

This is not a classical textual equation, but it reflects how many tantric practitioners experience these symbols.

In Kashmir Shaivism

If viewed through the lens of Kashmir Shaivism, Unmatta Bhairava can be understood as expressing a core insight:

Reality is vastly freer than the ego imagines.

The ego seeks:

  • control
  • certainty
  • stability

Bhairava reveals:

  • spontaneity
  • immediacy
  • boundless awareness

The "madness" is the shock of encountering reality beyond conceptual limits.


Why some practitioners are drawn to him

People often become interested in Unmatta Bhairava during periods when:

  • old identities are collapsing
  • certainty has broken down
  • conventional success no longer satisfies
  • spiritual life feels less orderly and more mysterious

His symbolism says:

Freedom may look like madness from the standpoint of the structures that are being left behind.


A concise summary

Among the Aṣṭa Bhairavas, Unmatta Bhairava is less the destroyer and more the ecstatic liberator.

He represents:

  • freedom from social conditioning
  • transcendence of rigid identity
  • divine intoxication
  • fearless entry into the unknown
  • the liberating side of endings and transitions

As the Bhairava of the West, he is not primarily the lord of catastrophe or destruction. He is the lord of what becomes possible when the sun of ordinary certainty has set and consciousness is no longer confined by its usual boundaries.