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We are the first generation of western Naths. In life we often stick apart, here we can come together in virtual space to create our new world.

The tale of the Indian Naths stretches back a thousand years and more, a story full of saints, miracles, Kings and fools. In India today many Naths are either in jail, or worse, in politics. Mahendranath, the English saint and hermit, spent his life in India as a naked Nath. He sought and found many of the essential concepts that sustained the Naths through the millennia. He wrote tantras and poems and stories to convey what he had discovered to the western world. He was called Paramahamsa, the Great Swan, because he was able to extract the milk of pure intelligence and leave behind the water of cultural usage and local context. This site is dedicated to Mahendranath. It is also dedicated to that water in which the knowledge held by the Naths can flower again.

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FICTION SUIT »

Twilight Language

In English I think the term Twilight Language (skt. Sandya basha) is best compared to the Zen koan. The logical mind short circuits and the body is left to feel its way to a resolution. Ideally tension is released. Laughter is almost guaranteed. Don’t think of elephants.

Sometimes twilight language uses an outright lie, an assertion that can only be dissolved by thinking clearly for oneself. Again the body, providing you are actually in it and not 6 in. over, is a great tool for recognizing a lie, a bad situation or an ill-intentioned charmer. This language plays with our expectations and our preconceptions. The successful use of TL should feel like getting the right thread and easily pulling the whole fabric apart. It could feel like a circular unzipping of the thick skin around our minds, like a light going on in a vastly more spacious inner vision. Aha! I see. Everything I say is a lie.

Mahendranath says naths should not be named with god names. It is arrogant and disrespectful.
But Mahendra is a god’s name. The rule dissolves leaving nothing but fundamentalist attitude exposed. Rules written in twilight language are always tricky and are like traps for the unwary. The Discordian Bible is a masterpiece of jokes and puns and rebellion against the status quo. It is a great hilarious romp. It is written almost entirely in TL and very rewarding to study. fnord
to be continued……

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2005 at 5:16 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Twilight Language”

  1. Scott Hutton Says:
    November 12th, 2005 at 11:49 am

    Ho Lal!

    Thanks for the heads up on Morrison.

    As you know, I’ve had my hand in many spiritual tills but somehow this one got by me.

    You call his work great late 20th Century tantra.

    That’s good enough for moi; I hied off to Amazon and some of his books are on the way.

    Cyber-hugs,

    Scott

  2. Kaladevi Says:
    November 17th, 2005 at 4:48 am

    Lal,

    “Mahendranath says naths should not be named with god names. It is arrogant and disrespectful.
    But Mahendra is a god’s name.”

    That’s hilarious, especially given that the letters of the alphabet are the Matrikas (goddesses) which/who collectively are Sarasvati (goddess). My own nath name is a contradiction in terms — nonsensical to anyone familiar with the masculine forms in Sanskrit and Hindi. The best part of that joke is that it did not originate with any study of Indian language. It was from dreamtime after reading something on the subject of Kabbalah and long before any interest, on my part, in tantrism or anything from India. Jokes abound. ;-)

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