Amit Ketkar

@maa_bhaishiiH Rituals are indeed a practice that resonates with a higher reality or force. That resonance represents partaking in the higher truth through the body form which is essentially earth bound ( made of panchamahabhuta)

Pagan Roman Plutarch (46 - 120 CE) : There are not different gods for different peoples; not barbarous gods and Greek gods, northern gods and southern gods … however numerous may be the names by which they are known, so there is but one Intelligence reigning over the world, one Providence which rules it, and the same powers are at work everywhere. Only the names change, as do the forms of worship. In the famous novel “The Golden Ass” by the philosopher Apuleius (125 - 180 CE), he describes the Egyptian goddess Isis (whose worship spread from Egypt throughout the Roman world) appearing to a character in a dream announcing : I am the single power which the world worships in many shapes, by various cults, under various names. In the 3rd century CE, the Greek philosopher Plotinus founded a school now called Neoplatonism whose central religious teaching was that the source of all existence was an entity called “The One” who emanated the cosmos. Life was an internal spiritual journey in quest for ascent of the soul (Greek : anabasis) with “The One” (Greek : to hen). Plotinus acknowledged that religious practices could serve as meditative aids to direct the soul inward and upward toward the One. For eg, sacrifices or prayers might symbolise the soul’s offering of itself to higher realities, facilitating contemplation. One of his adherents Porphyry (regarded by Christians of his time as their most bitter enemy) in his work “On Cult Statues” sought to rationalise traditional polytheistic worship by interpreting myths and religious practices through a philosophical lens, thereby seeking to reconcile popular belief with philosophy. He saw myths as accessible ways to convey complex metaphysical ideas to those not trained in philosophy. While his works like “Philosophy from Oracles” legitimised polytheistic worship by suggesting it could aid in a soul’s ascent to The One, Porphyry ultimately viewed the Olympian gods as relatively low-ranking beings, separate from the highest, singular principle. His philosophy aimed to understand and justify polytheistic rituals, even the most superstitious ones, by revealing their underlying philosophical meanings. For Porphyry, myths were not historical accounts but allegories of eternal cosmic and spiritual processes. Porphyry’s work “Against the Christians” critiqued Christian literalism while defending pagan traditions as philosophically sophisticated. He argued that pagan myths, when properly interpreted, revealed universal truths about the cosmos, unlike the historical and literal claims of Christianity. Iamblichus, a student of Porphyry emphasised the notion of theurgy, a ritual practice aimed at invoking divine powers to aid the soul’s ascent. In works like “On the Mysteries”, he defended pagan rites and myths, integrating them into Neoplatonic metaphysics. Iamblichus argued that rituals actively facilitated the soul’s connection to the divine. Theurgy involved invoking divine powers through rites, symbols, and incantations, which he believed were established by the gods. For Iamblichus, myths and rituals were divinely inspired and contained symbola (tokens) that resonated with the divine order. He argued that myths were not human inventions but revelations from the gods, encoded with truths about the cosmos. Eg. Stories of gods represent interactions between higher & lower reality. Neoplatonism provided a clear theology for the expression of monotheistic principles and challenged the exclusivity of Judeo-Christian religions, while accommodating and rationalising all popular religions. Neoplatonists were problematic for Christians because they didn’t fit the standard Christian stereotype of the pagan as a blood-thirsty barbarian. For instance, Porphyry was a highly educated Pythagorean and argued against blood sacrifice of animals (like Christians) and espoused vegetarianism as essential for spiritual health. Neoplatonic philosophy would have a major influence in the Renaissance.

@b0red_historian Are those wine barrel pots for real?

Bathing Ghats at Nashik. Late 1800s. Colourized.

@maa_bhaishiiH The other example probably:

Libbi here observed that Brahmins of Pune still pronounce the ण​ in the Marathi written language properly by curling their tongue backwards, and others have dropped that and merged it with न sound which is the dental “n” sound. She wanted to write how maintaining the tradition of linguistic retroflexion is casteist. But she was too dumb to google the terms like “retroflexion” or “dental” that describe the difference between the consonants न and ण​. So, she just used a random word “nasal” and describes the retroflex ण​ as “nasal n”. Roflmao. The fun fact is that both न and ण​ are nasal sounds (you get a hmmmm coming out of your nose when you pronounce both the consonants). Can’t even google for the appropriate term and these geniuses have come to write articles titled “How the nasal na insists on Marathi’s caste hierarchy” 😂😂😂 If brahmins speak the language based on how it is written , it means that they have still preserved the older pronunciation of the language that prevailed when it was first written down . It is others who have changed their pronunciation. Also retroflexion , if at all it goes, is the most indigeneous thing to the subcontinent 😭😭😭 There is nothing more that is a sign of indigenity to the subcontinent than retroflex sounds. Most languages that has been here for a long time in the subcontinent (no matter the family - Aryan, Dravidian, Munda, Iranian) have developed phonemic retroflexion ; even Pashto, which is an eastern dialect of Persian, spoken in southern Afghanistan has developed retroflex consonants ffs 😭😭 Akhand bharat ≈ retroflexed Bharat (see map) Retroflexion is the last thing that is brahminical and Aryan. No other Indo-European languages outside Indian subcontinent have phonemic retroflexion. Retroflexion is an indigeneous feature of the Indian sprachbund (language area). Kudos to the brahmins who proudly flex their tongue backwards and carry on the indigeneous tradition of retroflexion that even the moolnivasis are losing. @Ugrashravas Link to the article : scroll.in/article/109246…

@RajivMessage What scale can Iran ship oil over land? They are even dusting off rail network with china . I think the land route is just a small pressure valve .

As I have said before, Munir is a wily character who is repositioning his country strategically. Geopolitics is not about morals or ethics. It’s about pragmatic results.

@DivaJain2 I don’t think she comprehends

Erika is carrying a Gucci Dionysus bag. Dionysus was the son of Zeus and the god of wine, grape harvest, ecstasy, madness and theatre. Also called Bacchus by the Romans. He also supposedly conquered India :) A rather hedonic and pagan choice for a devout Catholic :)

@shiv_cybersurg @UnSubtleDesi 😂

@UnSubtleDesi Spot the RAA agint..

Lunatic storms out after complaining about BJP speakers. Says “they are not letting me conduct the meeting”. “if possible, vote for us”. This kind of frustration is unusual. In 2021 she was threatening. This time, she’s begging. Is BJP about to pull off the unthinkable?

@rai_kaushlesh the British and the stooges they left behind to rule India after 1947... Also, after 1857 the British had this policy that all heirs to Indian states would compulsorily be imparted an English education. This created an English speaking elite.

I used to think reading about the brutality of Islamic rule was depressing enough, but, reading what the British did to us, is far more depressing and traumatic. The Islamic invaders couldn’t cut our roots. The British succeeded in doing exactly that. August 15, 1947 is the biggest bluff that happened to us Hindus, even bigger than ‘Islam is a religion of peace!

@AbhijitChavda 🤣

2039? Concerning. Even more concerning if they announced it on Monday.

@sidin Ghavan!

Mahrashtrian flatbreads are undiscovered treasure trove. Vade. Bhakri. Amboli. Ghadichi Poli. Jwari. Mande. You Marathi fellows need to hype this stuff more man. Magnificent items.

@svembu Our poverty is also attributed to the back-to-back colonizations we endured. Those colonizations sapped the spirit and enterprise . They also drained all accumulated wealth leaving us a near rump state.

In the 1980s, most IITians would go abroad. In 1989, when I graduated from IIT Madras, I remember feeling extremely dejected about our country. Punjab, Kashmir and Assam were all burning. My heart was not in engineering. I was mostly reading books in Economics and Philosophy - we had a good library. The burning question in my mind was "Why are we so poor?" Some of my classmates and I wrote an article in the IIT campus newspaper in late 1988-early 1989 (there were two newspapers, Focus and Spectator, and I believe we published in Focus, they were reproduced using "cyclostyling" machines - please look them up!). In my vague recollection, the thrust of the article was that the IIT system was failing to serve the needs of the country and the country itself was facing a profound stagnation (I wish I could get that article now - a copy may be in some dusty basement in IIT). I want to know what I thought and said as a 21 year old in 1989 that I agree with and what I disagree with today. By 1989, I had become a committed anti-socialist, having lived through the socialist stagnation of India. By 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union was on, and China was in turmoil - the Tinananmen student protests and their forced suppression. By 1991, India needed an emergency IMF loan. The 1991 economic reforms by Shri Manmohan Singh happened due to pressure from the IMF. So you can imagine the mood in 1989. That was the India I left in 1989. I was feeling miserable to leave but hopeless to stay. In 1990, I came home for a visit and thought of dropping out of my PhD and staying home. I was home sick. I started to study Singapore and Japan during 1990-94 in my PhD years - the "Why are we so poor" question. By 1994, I decided I would be in the private sector and took up an R&D job in Qualcomm.

@homam108 @RahulDewanV2 The word Sikh is an apabhransh or mutation of “Shishya”. Sikhism is the Guru-Shishya parampara! 🙏🏼

@RahulDewanV2 More power to you! 🙏🙏 The large umbrella of Sanatana Dharma encompasses many paths and Sikh dharma is certainly one of them. Some Sikhs or non-Sikh Hindus may vehemently disagree, but this truth is worth championing and spreading. 🙏🙏

Sikhs are Hindus. I will continue to work endlessly and tirelessly for reclaiming this unity. Guru Nanak was my Guru as well.

@Warlock_mohit And will magically become a Gandhi

Male - Christian Female - Muslim And his son will be born as a Hindu. Fraud family 🤡🤡

@tomselliott @PeterSchiff Fiscal dominance

Why is the U.S. Treasury buying back debt at a record pace? In short, it's a backdoor way to absorb supply and suppress yields without the Fed formally doing QE. Treasury issues new short-duration debt, uses proceeds to buy back longer-duration debt — effectively shortening the average maturity of outstanding debt & putting downward pressure on long rates. It's almost like Bessent is helping run monetary policy.

@VEDANJANAM Small correction, the Fed's balance sheet is currently $6.65 trillion. Two third of this is US govt debt and the rest is MBS (Mortgage Backed Securities). There's continued structural deficit that needs to be financed by the treasury every year, this is >$1.5 trillion.

The $9T is not Fed debt. It is US Treasury debt that the Fed holds on its balance sheet, purchased during QE rounds (2008–2014, 2020–2022). The Fed does not need to refinance it. Treasury does. Treasury refinances without QE through five channels. 1. Higher yields: the market clears at a price, and that price is currently painful. 2. Shorter duration: Treasury has shifted issuance toward T-bills, easier to place but concentrating rollover risk into a narrower window. 3. Financial repression: regulatory architecture (Basel III endgame, bank liquidity mandates) that compels domestic institutions to hold Treasuries whether they want to or not. 4. Foreign buyers: Japan, China, and Gulf sovereign wealth funds still hold trillions, though all three are net sellers in recent years. 5. The Fed's RMP programme, which is functionally QE for the short end regardless of what Powell calls it. Pragmatically though, 9T cannot roll at 5% yields indefinitely without restarting QE, engineering a recession to compress rates, or accepting that debt service permanently compromises discretionary spending.

@homam108 @AmarJit_IFS A very informative video, in marathi youtu.be/GqhaT42OFfw?si…

@AmarJit_IFS Thank you for the wonderful compilation! 🙏 I see Sikh dharma, Bouddha dharma and Jaina dharma as parts of Sanatana Dharma, just as Trigonometry, Calculus and Algebra are parts of Mathematics. 🙏

Instead of sitting idle, I thought of posting this👇as a reminder to those who have made it their mission to speak ill of our roots.

@VEDANJANAM Water element (ocean) very highly activated, a naval conflict unavoidable.

This is the stellium, in case you were wondering.

US blocking Hormuz = Dark fleet movement stops. This directly involves China. They have been dragged into the escalation. Even Russia will be forced to recalibrate. The theatre of war just became very interesting! Just stellium in Pisces things!

@adamtaggart El Aurance !

Tonight's viewing for Mrs T & me was the first half of 'Lawrence of Arabia' An epically grand production Staggering how they pulled off filming in the Jordanian desert with such a vast crew, cast & production And a true cinematic work of art

@Ravi_Ladva1 @RutgersU @UofCalifornia +The Marathas who decimated the Mughal empire

It is academic insanity to treat the Mughals as the "definitive" Indian experience. @RutgersU @UofCalifornia , where are the journals for the dynasties that defeated the Mughals (Ahoms) or the ones that lasted a millennium (Pandyas)? This devalues the education earned at your University, just stealing students money at this point. Indian history is older and deeper than 1526. Consider for a moment.... 1) The Ahoms are the gold standard for longevity and resilience. Duration: 598 years (1228–1826) The Flex: They famously defeated the Mughals 17 times in battle, most notably at the Battle of Saraighat in 1671, preventing Mughal expansion into Southeast Asia. 2) The Cholas, a lineage that dates back to ancient times, the Medieval period. The Cholas established a maritime empire that dominated South India and Southeast Asia. Duration: 431 years (848–1279) They possessed one of the most powerful navies in the world at the time and constructed architectural marvels like the Brihadisvara Temple. 3) Purba Gangas This is one of the most underrated powerhouses in Indian history. They ruled from Kalinga modern-day Odisha and parts of Andhra Pradesh with remarkable continuity. Duration: 946 years (approx. 498–1434 CE) They were responsible for the iconic Jagannath Temple at Puri and the Konark Sun Temple. They successfully repelled early Islamic invasions for centuries, maintaining an independent Hindu state long after northern India had shifted to Sultanate rule. 4) The Chera Dynasty The Cheras are mentioned in the Ashokan edicts. They went through several phases, most notably the "Early Cheras" and the "Kulasekhara" or "Second Chera" Empire. Duration: 1,000+ years (with interruptions, but surviving in various forms from roughly 300 BCE to 1102 CE) They dominated the spice trade with the Roman Empire and the Middle East, making them one of the wealthiest empires in the ancient world.

@OnlyNakedTruth correct. After 1857, the British instituted a policy that all royal heirs had to be educated in European way. These were European minds in a brown body feasting on some French food.

It is not just about the menu being in French . Even the dishes are mostly European - Norwegian anchovies, German cutlets , roasted turkey, Swedish fruit salad. By 19th century most of our royals were mentally colonised

@SiddharthKG7 anglicized sovereign. This was due to British policies towards Indian rulers post 1857, they were compulsorily imparted a western education and upbringing.

They were not poor & look what was their food. That’s why I equate certain diets & habits with “poverty food”. I might hurt feelings but something is needed to break the inertia. Pistachio pudding, prawn curry, turkey roast salad, Asparagus fish soup. 1 Hindu Raje to another. 🔥