1/ A different way to think about life.

Our lives are all too often governed by living up to other people's opinion of us. We have this fear of appearing foolish, fear of being seen as unsophisticated, fear of missing out on things, fear of losing face.

Prestige is a trap.

2/ Prestige is a trap we set for ourselves. Those are the worst kind of traps.

Liberation is getting out of those traps.

We get a sense of security from those traps. It is a false security.

After all, who amongst us is 100% certain of surviving the pandemic?
3/ In reality this very life itself is uncertain and could be snatched from us at any moment.

Deeply understanding that is liberation.

Once we achieve that liberation, we quit seeking that false security that mental traps provide.

Our actions are now untainted by fear or ego.
4/ That liberation is itself the biggest gift life can bestow us.

We don't seek the liberation to be able to achieve wealth or prestige or status. They may come to us and they may not. In a true sense, we are not slaves to those. We become masters of ourselves.
5/ we can make it easier on ourselves to achieve that liberation.

One time honored way, as religious saints have shown us, is to physically move ourselves out of the grasp of those traps.

Cities are full of prestige and ego traps. Moving ourselves *may* help with liberation.
6/ Another way out of prestige and ego traps is to truly identify with the suffering of people who are in far worse station than us. That helps us to see reality clearly.

We can combine both: move to smaller towns and identify with and serve people who have a lot of suffering.

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एक दिन देवर्षि नारद वहां से गुजर रहे थे ।नारद ने पीपल के कोटर में बालक को देख कर उसका परिचय मांगा -
नारद बोले - बालक तुम कौन हो?
बालक - यही तो मैं भी जानना चहता हूँ ।
नारद - तुम्हारे जनक कौन हैं?
बालक - यही तो मैं भी जानना चाहता हूँ ।

तब नारद ने आँखें बन्द कर ध्यान लगाया ।


तत्पश्चात आश्चर्यचकित हो कर बालक को बताया कि 'हे बालक! तुम महान दानी महर्षि दधीचि के पुत्र हो । तुम्हारे पिता की अस्थियों का वज्रास्त्र बनाकर ही देवताओं ने असुरों पर विजय पायी थी।तुम्हारे पिता की मृत्यु मात्र 31 वर्ष की वय में ही हो गयी थी'।

बालक - मेरे पिता की अकाल मृत्यु का क्या कारण था?
नारद - तुम्हारे पिता पर शनिदेव की महादशा थी।
बालक - मेरे उपर आयी विपत्ति का कारण क्या था?
नारद - शनिदेव की महादशा।
इतना बताकर देवर्षि नारद ने पीपल के पत्तों और गोदों को खाकर बड़े हुए उस बालक का नाम पिप्पलाद रखा और उसे दीक्षित किया।
First thread of the year because I have time during MCO. As requested, a thread on the gods and spirits of Malay folk religion. Some are indigenous, some are of Indian origin, some have Islamic


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Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their


Two known examples of such elemental spirits that had god-like status are Raja Angin (king of the wind) and Mambang Tali Arus (spirit of river currents). There were undoubtedly many more which have been lost to time

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The entire discussion around Facebook’s disclosures of what happened in 2016 is very frustrating. No exec stopped any investigations, but there were a lot of heated discussions about what to publish and when.


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In the Spring of 2017, after a deep dive into the Fake News phenomena, the security team wanted to publish an update that covered what we had learned. At this point, we didn’t have any advertising content or the big IRA cluster, but we did know about the GRU model.

This report when through dozens of edits as different equities were represented. I did not have any meetings with Sheryl on the paper, but I can’t speak to whether she was in the loop with my higher-ups.

In the end, the difficult question of attribution was settled by us pointing to the DNI report instead of saying Russia or GRU directly. In my pre-briefs with members of Congress, I made it clear that we believed this action was GRU.