Merging, emerging, re-merging…

Rejuvenating y’all, my🙏beloved & intelligent co-passengers in life, or rather co-yātrīs & fellow sādhaks, is such a wonderful privilege, made possible only due to your enormous humility & never-ending thirst & love for wisdom❣️ 

Though today is aipasi pournami & tiruvannāmal̥ai🌋dīpam̐ is exactly 4️⃣ weeks away, only on Fri, Dec 13th, 2024, I wanted my near & dear ones to celebrate🥳it here & now today too, going by the🌝luni-solar🎑cāndramāna🗓️calendar, rather than the😇purely-solar☀️souramāna🌞calendar🗓️alone. I don’t🙅🏻‍♂️tire😅repeating🔂&🔦emphasising to my in-person & virtual audiences that the former is associated with our emotional🥹mind💗, while the latter is associated with our “soul,” which I prefer to call “ourSelf,” knowing fully well that’s a grammatically-incorrect❌word, albeit THE🧘🏻experientially-realised🕉️spiritual✅truth⚠️ 

Divisive ideologies unfortunately project it as tamiḻ vs other bhāratīya “language calendars‼️” But, in reality & in experience, both the💓mind & the💠soul are significantly-important for everybody who’s alive, whether they’re tamiḻian or not, unexceptionally so! 

This year, dév🪔dīpāvali is being celebrated today: Fri, Nov 15th. While humans (referring actually to our own <sat-tva> sāttvik guṇās) celebrated🥳dīpāvali🪔on the immediately-previous🌑amāvasyā🌚, dévās (referring to our own passionately-active/ambitious/aggressive nature: rājasik guṇās) celebrate🙌it today on🌕pournami🌝of🫀cāndramāna🔯kārtika✡️māsā. This festival holds a special place, particularly in a-yōdhyā & vārā-nasi, where it’s celebrated with grand festivities, culminating in mega🔥āratīs along the ghāṭs of the holy rivers of sarayu & gaṅgā, respectively‼️ An example of its significant continuity⬇️down↘️south↙️too is the unique🧜śiva🕳️liṅga🌾🍚annābhśēkam̐🚿done once annually: only on aipasi🌝pournami (that’s today this year: Fri, Nov 15th, 2024) to🌋tiruvannāmal̥ai🤰🏻unnāmul̥ai🤱🏻amman🧜🏿‍♀️samēta🌄arunācalēśvarā🔱. 

Unfortunately, the intricately-deep & organically-ingrained kāśi-tamiḻnāḍu connection has been deliberately/purposely/intentionally fractured & invisibly delaminated over the last millennium by the divide-&-rule policies of the serially-marauding West Asian invaders, oppressive British colonisers & the opportunistic so-called “dravīḍian” parties, based on shrewdly-imagined/invented differences & myths, like the so-called “āryan🤴🏻invasion🤺theory,” which have long been debunked with multifaceted scientific, archeological & anthropomorphic proofs, to mention a few amongst a series of impartial, independent & rigorous studies. 

Luckily, our🇮🇳honourable PM is resurrecting this intricate connect in all its glory & the month-long saṅgamam̐ has been successfully held for the last 2️⃣ years, with the active participation of my UG alma mater IIT-M’s current director, Prof kāmakōṭi vīḻināthan & his team❣️