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This is the first part of a podcast about Bhairava, with Adi Jayadhar explaining the topic and Vadim Demchog narrating the text. "The mixture of beauty and horror in Shaivism is, of course, interconnected with the reconciliation of life and death. It was this mixture of contradictory values that ensured the unification of two complementary currents within Hindu society: a) the path of radical Brahmins who saw the highest Truth in violating the foundations of Brahminical orthodoxy; and b) the path of outsiders (including even non-Hindus), who agreed to follow the models prescribed by the Brahminical law books, but decided to do it in their own way. "By reason of his transgressive essence and wild character, through his heretical, outcast, even criminal adepts, Bhairava served as an instrument in the Hinduization of local pastoral and pagan deities, who gradually became identified with one or another aspect of his various forms... As a result, Bhairava often has two wives, the official one coming from the settled agricultural or trading culture of the upper castes, and the unofficial one coming from a hunting or gathering tribal community and retaining all its wild attributes." (Elizabeth Challier-Visuvalingam) "There are no adequate contradictions, no figurative analogues sufficient to convey the total, awesome mystery of Bhairava. Awarenesses of the contradictory qualities of the Divine have been collected into an intensely meaningful myth and expressed in diverse forms, in bronze and stone." (Stella Kramrisch) Telegram chat on tantrism, yoga, philosophy and metaphysics: https://t.me/Pujas_of_Jaya_Ashram Instagram: @adijayadhar Website: https://abhichara.com/ Facebook: / amjayadhar VK: https://vk.com/id280408675