#quote is from bhagavad gita !!

[damayantia]

welcome DAMAYANTI ‘DAMIATA’ SIVASANKAR. you hail from VIJAYANAGARA and have been risen to the position of a COURTESAN. you are a member of the house of COLONNA and will go down in history as the MUSE. though you are CONDESCENDING & CALLOUS, you are blessed with being BEGUILING and DISCERNING.

links.  character  study  /  playlist  /  pinterest  /  threads

━━ BASIC INFO.

NAME:  damayanti  sivasankar  NICKNAME:  damiata,  dami  AGE:  thirty-eight  PLACE OF BIRTH:  vijayanagara  IMPERIUM:  rome  GENDER:  cisgender  woman  PRONOUNS:  she/her  ORIENTATION:  bisexual  RELIGION:  shaivism  PARENTS:  sivasankar  vikramaditya  &  bhima devi  SIBLINGS  one  brother  LANGUAGES:  tamil,  telugu,  kannada,  portuguese,  latin  (  fluent  )    urdu,  italian,  french,  arabic  (  conversational  )    english,  mandarin  (  learning  )    spanish  (  reliant on intelligibility from the other romance languages  )    sanskrit,  hindi  (  childhood’s  forgotten  tongues  )  EDUCATION:  private  tutoring  TITLE:  courtesan  INTERESTS:  martial  arts,  poetry,  natural  philosophy,  fine  art   HOBBIES:  swordplay,  archery,  hunting,  singing  LABEL  the  muse

━━ PERSONALITY.

mbti. entp-a  enneagram. 3w2,  the  enchanter  instinct. sx/so  character inspo.  helen,  the  iliad  /  daenerys  targaryen,  a  song  of  ice  and  fire  /  kaeya,  genshin  impact  /  dazai  osamu,  bungou  stray  dogs  /  serval,  honkai:  star  rail

beguiling,  discerning,  mellifluous,  determined

condescending,  callous,  ruthless,  deceptive

━━ SNAPSHOT.

character  study  TBD

known    most    everywhere    through  her  perhaps-scandalous  links  with  the  de  facto  ruler  of  rome,    damayanti    —    also  known  as  damiata    —    is  a  figure  who  confounds  understanding:    a  non-believer  reigning  as  the  queen  of  beauty  in  the  eternal  city,    whose�� visage  has  been  writ  by  many  a  roman  artist  in  their  canvas.    she  is  charming  and  witty,    yet  all  her  intelligence  seems  to  be  geared  towards  ensuring  immortality  of  her  fair  form.    she  plays  at  expectations  and  makes  the  crowd  part  of  her    —    not  make  herself  part  of  the  crowd,    which  is  a  very  subtle  yet  important  distinction.    she  could  revel  with  the  drunkards  at  the  taverns  yet  converse  ever  so  delightfully  with  the  bluebloods  in  their  chateaus  and  fortifications.  in  short:    a  woman  of  any  occasion,    or  perhaps  a  woman  of  many  masks.

in    truth,      her  reservation  about  her  past  is  less  a  thing  cultivated  to  incite  curiosity  and  more  just  a  natural  reaction  to  the  plight  that  her  family  experienced  when  she  was  young,    fleeing  another  country  simply  because  they  gambled  wrongly.    she  is  perceptive  yet  deceptive  but  also  endlessly  indecisive:    she  charms  people  to  know  their  secrets,    yet  does  almost  next-to-nothing  with  them,    preferring  to  keep  it  to  herself  to  the  point  of  seeming  fruitlessness.    what’s  important  to  her,    however,    is  that  she  knows  others  yet  others  don’t  know  her:    a  guardedness  borne  from  exile.

━━ TIMELINE.

1392.  a son is born to bhima devi and sivasankar,  the former a renowned poetess and the latter a court adviser in the employ of emperor harihara ii of vijayanagara. 

1394.  damayanti is born to sivasankar and bhima devi.  in the same year,  a portuguese merchant settles in vijayanagara.  he is quickly contracted under the sivasankar household as a languages tutor for the children.  damayanti is educated alongside her brother.

1405.  the death of harihara ii paves the way for virupaksha raya’s accession to the royal throne of vijayanagara.  however,  with the succession disputed by his other brothers,  his reign is short-lived.  virupaksha is eventually murdered by his sons.  having been in the employ of the murdered king,  the sivasankar family looks as if they might share their lord’s fate.  however,  their tutor arranges passage for them alongside him back to portugal.

1406.  having arrived in portugal, the sivasankar household experiences a difficult start in establishing themselves. they sell off their treasured possessions — whatever few they can smuggle with their escape — and begin attempts for a burgeoning mercantile trade, specialising in goods exported from the east.

1413.  with the family having found its footing after many long years,  damayanti takes after her erstwhile tutor and takes up travelling.

142?.  eventually,  she settles in italy.

1432.  she arrives at the court of king charles of france as julius’ courtesan.

━━ PLOTS.

mercantile  links  through  her  family’s  trading  empire,    courts  she  may  have  visited  in  her  travels,    husbands  whose  wives  she’s  slept  with,    wives  who  she’s  seduced,    artists  and  poets  and  other  creatives  she  enamoured,    philosophers  she  discoursed  with,    a  person  she  might  have  unwittingly  insulted,    people  she’s  outraged  over  her  ‘artist’s  passions,’    etc.

[foone]

Gender with a blast radius

Gender you watch from a distant cliff and the city is destroyed

Gender that leaves you naught but a shadow etched into the brickwork

Gender that can't be taken into tunnels or across bridges because the emergency vehicles would never be able to get there in time

Gender that requires its own NFPA 704 hazard diamond.

Gender that's best viewed through a mirror from down a long hallway

Gender that can't be photographed because it spoils the film or glitches the CCD

Gender that causes nearby electronics to fail. TVs fade to static. Lights flicker. Bulbs burn out. Engines stall.

Gender that freaks out dogs. All their hair goes on end and they bark at you. Cats try to look big and then flee.

Gender that makes people quote the Bhagavad Gita at you.

Gender that gives people the look of Moses descending from Mt. Sinai. Beard turned white. Face flash tanned. Eyes cloudy.

Gender that changes people, forever. They have trouble sleeping afterwards. They can't get effective therapy for what they went through because no one else can understand what they went through.

Gender that's making your eventual burial arrangements difficult for your next of kin, because the EPA is worried it might leak into the watertable.

Gender that gets assigned an incident severity by the IAEA.

Gender that causes the writing of endless new papers. There's an international scientific organization trying to get grants to build a new supercollider in a salt mine in Brazil so they can recreate, study, and hopefully understand your gender.

Your gender inspires depressed poets.

Your gender has a New York Times best selling book about it. It's called one of the scariest non-fiction books ever written.

Your gender gets talked about on a podcast about disasters, and the hosts have trouble making any jokes between the exclamations of "Jesus christ!"

Your gender is mentioned in the book of revelation, in between the beast with seven heads and the star falling to earth and turning the seas to blood.

Your gender spoils milk and destroys crops. There's European folk legends about the rituals needed to cleanse a town after your gender has cursed it.

Your gender is talked about around campfires to scare children.

Your gender keeps horror writers up at night and inspires their next work.

Your gender is yours and is beautiful and terrific.

[coolseabird]

Every Literary Reference Gale Makes When Selected in BG3 (That I Could Find)

"Oh, what a tangled Weave we web!" -

A play on words referencing the famous quote, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive," from Sir Walter Scott's poem "Marmion."

"What fools these mortals be." -

A quote from William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," spoken by the character Puck.

"All the world's my stage and you're just a player in it." -

A reference to the famous Shakespearean line, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," from "As You Like It."

"No rest for the wicked" -

A phrase that originates from the Bible Isaiah 48:22 There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.

"To hold the world in the palm of one's hand" -

I believe this is a reference to this part of the poem Auguries of Innocence by William Blake: To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.

"'Doth thy mirror crack?' Apparently not." -

I was so sure this was a quote from some Shakespearean play but nope lol. This is a Waterdhavian phrase that was mentioned in a DnD companion book at some point.

"Seek and you shall find me." -

From the bible. Specifically Matthew 7:7–8 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

The path less travelled. -

A reference to Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," which includes the line, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by."

"Creator. Destroyer." -

This is a reference to the Lord Krishna's words in the Bhagavad Gita. O Arjuna, I am the creator, maintainer and destroyer of all created objects, such as the sky. Of all knowledge I am knowledge of the self, and in logical debate I am vāda, the philosophical principle that asserts the conclusive truth.

"A rough tempest I will raise" -

I found the explanation behind this quote from a reddit post: "Shakespeare - Tempest, - this is a mash-up of two quotes: In Act V, Scene 1, Prospero uses the phrasing "when first I raised the Tempest". In the same scene, he recites a soliloquy about the great works of magic he has accomplished, before finally renouncing magic altogether: " … But this rough magic I here abjure" https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/17uher2/literary_references_in_gales_selection_remarks/ (this person came to the same conclusions as me for many of the prior quotes but I only used their post for this one haha)

I almost certainly missed a few! If there are any others please feel free to reblog and add them!

[helpmeimblorboing]

In the Mahabharata, the one time Krishna ever comes close to breaking his vow of peace was when Bheeshma came close to killing Arjuna ( who was, mind you, a warrior, and therefore probably fully expected to at least come close to death, if not die himself)

Let me repeat that : God himself, epitome of Honor and goodness and nobility, was willing to kill someone after swearing that he wouldn’t, because that person came close to killing Arjuna

Something tells me he wouldn’t have done that for any other Pandava. I know he wouldn’t, in fact, because he didn’t give a shit when Abhimanyu died

When Krishna greeted the Pandavas , he greeted Yudhistira and Bhima as elders (correct me if I’m wrong), and Nakula and Sahadeva as juniors, but Arjuna ? Arjuna he embraced as an equal

He does not do this to anyone else. Throughout all of Kurukshetra (again, correct me if I’m wrong), save for Arjun, there is not a single person he greets as an equal, save maybe his own brother

Later on, he even mentions that out of the Yadavas, the Pandavas and all his devotees, Arjuna is the dearest to his heart

Let me repeat that, he sees Arjuna as closer to him than his family. Closer than his devotees. Closer even than his own wives

That’s not very platonic of him

Arjuna, meanwhile ? He sees Krishna as his god, his master. Sees himself as his slave. Now, for those of you who’ve read the Bhagavad Gita, remind me again what it defines love, real love, as ?

That’s right. Service. And who gave the Gita ? Yup. Krishna

In fact, the book straight up says he surrendered himself to Krishna - without knowing his true form, mind you

B.G 2.7 :

“Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.”

B.G. 11.42-42

“Thinking of You as my friend, I have rashly addressed You “O Kṛṣṇa,” “O Yādava,” “O my friend,” not knowing Your glories. Please forgive whatever I may have done in madness or in love. I have dishonored You many times, jesting as we relaxed, lay on the same bed, or sat or ate together, sometimes alone and sometimes in front of many friends. O infallible one, please excuse me for all those offenses.”

In some circles, Arjuna is considered so equal to Krishna that he is seen as yet another avatar of Krishna - literally the same person, reincarnated into two shapes

When Agni, the god of fire, chose to grant Krishna a boon, out of everything he could have had, he asked that his “friendship” towards Arjuna never decrease

“Then Vasudeva asked that his friendship with Arjuna might be eternal. The chief of the celestials granted unto the intelligent Krishna the boon he desired”

In fact, quoting Krishna directly, he straight-up says at one point

“

"Thou art mine and I am thine, while all that is mine is thine also! He that hateth thee hateth me as well, and he that followeth thee followeth me! O thou irrepressible one, thou art Nara and I am Narayana or Hari! We are the Rishis Nara and Narayana born in the world of men for a special purpose. O Partha, thou art from me and I am from thee! O bull of the Bharata race, no one can understand the difference that is between us!"”

Later, he says to Vasudeva, his father (in fact, his very last words to him)

“Know, O father, that I am Arjuna and Arjuna is myself.”

The very last thing God himself thought about in his human shape was Arjuna. That seems like a bit excessive for a mere friendship, doesn’t it ?

When Krishna leaves Arjuna for Dwarka, the book says

“Vaisampayana said, 'As he of Vrishni's race was proceeding to Dwaraka, those foremost princes of Bharata's race, those chastisers of foes embraced him and fell back with their attendants. Phalguna repeatedly embraced the Vrishni hero, and as long as he was within the range of vision, he repeatedly turned his eyes towards him. With great difficulty, the son of Pritha withdrew his gaze that had fallen on Govinda. The unvanquished Krishna also (did the same).”

He also said the following. Notably, the implication is that without Arjuna, Krishna, lord of the Three Realms, could not find any enjoyment in any of them

“O lord of the earth! For Arjuna’s sake, I can slice off and give my own flesh. This tiger among men will also lay down his life for my sake.

O father! This is our understanding, that we will protect each other”

And you expect me to believe that they were “just friends” ??? We know that Krishna is at the very least bisexual (He married Aravan, after all). Who’s to say Arjuna wasn’t too ?

It’s not even subtext at this point. It’s just text. Plain goddamn text

[brielledoesastrology]

asteroid oppenheimer (67085) in your astrology natal chart

By : Brielledoesastrology (tumblr)

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" - J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting from the Bhagavad Gita

asteroid Oppenheimer code number : 67085

When i was hunting asteroids i actually didn't expect an asteroid to be named after him since he is a very controversial figure of history. Before this post started i just wanted to say that I do not idolize or sorry even respect this person since i am aware of what his creations have done to hundreds of thousands of people. By the way the picture above is cillian murphy not him.

This asteroid is named after J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was an American theoretical physicist. He is often credited till now as the "father of the atomic bomb" since he is the one who is responsible for the research and design of an atomic bomb. the atomic bombs were used on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which to date remains the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Did he regret it?

only 11 days after the bombing of Hiroshima, on August 17, 1945, he expressed in writing to the US government his desire for nuclear weapons to be banned. Two months later he would tell President Harry S. Truman that blood was on his hands.

Oppenheimer became an advocate of nuclear disarmament and spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. He also had his security clearance revoked and was accused of being a security risk due to his past connections with communist sympathizers. Many historians attribute this in part to his opposition to nuclear weapons and the arms race. 

Overall, it is clear that Oppenheimer had mixed and contradictory feelings about his involvement in the development of the atomic bomb, and certainly had some regrets about the consequences. 

(if there is any incorrect information above please correct me by reblog or commenting, so many sources have different stuff about him even big sources now i am just confused)

(for the regret or not part i am not sure if it is correct or not since a lot of big different sources said different stuff about what he felt, please correct me by reblogging or commenting if i made any mistakes on the sources i posted above)

In astrology the asteroid Oppenheimer (67085) could represent : where u could feel u have blood on your hands, where you could or not feel guilty about ur creations/actions, where ur creations cause massive destruction.

If i even have to be honest i kinda hate that there was an asteroid named after him. 🥲 Like seriously everytime when an asteroid is named after a historical figure i always get nervous.

⚠️ Warning : i consider this asteroid as prominent and brings the most effect if it conjuncts ur personal planets (sun,moon,venus,mercury,mars) and if it conjuncts ur personal points (ac,dc,ic,mc), i use 0 - 2.5 orbs (for conjunctions). For sextile, trine, opposite and square aspects to asteroids i usually use 0 - 2 orbs. Yes tight conjunctions of planet / personal points to asteroids tends to give the most effect, but other aspects (sextile,trine,square,opposite, etc) still exist, even they produce effects. If it doesn't aspect any of your planets or personal points, check the house placement of the asteroid, maybe some stuff/topics relating to this asteroid could affect some topics/stuff relating to the house placement . ⚠️

[emkini]

Y'know what screw it I haven't seen Oppenheimer but I've seen plenty of jokes and I have two thoughts about this quote from a rhetorical and linguistics perspective:

"Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds."

"I am become" is the archaic form of "I have become", a.k.a the present perfect tense. It is not grammatically incorrect- just old as balls. As far as I know (and feel free to correct me), this quote is Oppenheimer's own translation from the Bhagavad Gita and therefore one he would have put a great deal of thought into. You can see similar phrases in Jane Austen novels and Shakespeare scripts, as well as in the King James bible. "I am become" is absolutely not on the level of "I haz cheeseburger" and I am getting REAL TIRED of seeing the two compared.

The nuance of "I am become death" is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from alternate phrases such as "I have become death" or "I am becoming death." "I am become" gives a sense of finality without being in the past tense; a sense of continuity without being imperfect. Using this archaic form of the present perfect is a rhetorical choice, and a very intelligent one at that- in other words, it sounds fucking cool and there's a reason all of us remember it to this day.

In summary: "lololol famous Oppenheimer quote has bad grammar" is a VERY SIMILAR sentiment to "Maybe the curtains are just blue" and some of y'all need to do 5 seconds of research before saying things on the internet because that's about how long it took for me to confirm my thoughts on this.

[emtornado]

So, I was reading parts of the Gita today (as one does) and one of the quotes reminded me of the Jedi teachings.

ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।

सङ्गात्संजायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते

This basically says that attachment leads to desire, and desire leads to anger.

क्रोधाद्भवति संमोह : संमोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः ।

स्मृतिभ्रंशानुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति

This other passage says that wrath leads to complete attachment (ego). The ego begins to lose its memory power, so the intellect is destroyed, and the human being degrades when the intellect is destroyed.

Now, according to Star Wars, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hatred, and hatred leads to suffering (which is your basic path to the dark side). You get fear through ‘attachments’, which the Jedi are famously against.

So, basically, Jedi teachings and teachings from the Bhagavad Gita are pretty similar, and I'm a little bit shook right now.

I really wanna delve deeper into this and figure stuff out more, like how similar were Jedi teachings to the teachings we get from our scriptures? And if they are similar enough, could there have been ways and means to work around Anakin’s ‘darkness’, help him control it in a sense maybe?

Because the Bhagwat Gita, and in fact a lot of teachings in Santana Dharm and Hinduism, stems from learning how to let go of worldly attachments, which is quite similar to the Jedi, no?

But the religion ofc adapts itself to the ‘normal’ people because you can’t just let go of attachments and love (ig the Jedi were more like sages than normal people tho) but like there could be some sort of balance they could’ve helped Anakin find. Like how we have the four stages of life, where marriage and having children is quite essential.

Or at least we (or the characters) could figure out the difference between love and attachment, which is pretty fucking vast in my opinion, and is left quite unexplored, from the little I’ve seen in canon

Idk I might be cooking but I’m just contemplating stuff rn haha. It’s just super interesting ✨

[sgiandubh]

“Amateurs seek the sun. Get eaten.Power stays in the shadows."

Amateurs ; Sam

Power ; caitriona

Dear Oppenheimer Anon (with a European circadian rhythm and no knowledge of the proper use of a semicolon),

If you think your paltry quote from a movie I am in no particular hurry to watch is going to fill me with dread, you are wrong. To that effect, you could have quoted Oppenheimer's Bhagavad Gita's reference (And now I am Death, the destroyer of worlds) during the famous Trinity Test of the atomic bomb, in 1945. But I digress, as usually.

So what is your point, girlfriend? To point out again that S is an amateur, doomed to be eaten alive by your mob, as opposed to consistent, supremely intellectual and feminist icon C?

Fuck me, I am stupid, for refusing to get this Pravda slogan in my head! So since you don't get it, I am going to write it down as clearly as I can. For you and any other twat who thinks she can scare me with movie quotes:

S loves C. C loves S. C and S are parents. I am fascinated by S &C; not particularly by S , C, or any other combo. I am also very glad to be part of a group of witty, funny and kind women who happen to think the same. I am very sorry S upset you all so much by not behaving the way you wanted him to. These people are not your toys and they live their life and their truth as they see fit. Right now, S is in the United States of America promoting his new gin. This is a business side project of his, not a campaign for alcoholism or juvenile prostitution, nor a money extortion operation from gullible fans. This is work. This man is minding his own business: learn a bit from example, Anon? The best places where you could promote a new spirits beverage are clubs, bars, restaurants and specialized retailer venues, with some media coverage added for increased impact. In the meanwhile, C's movie projects are delayed by the Hollywood strike. I am very sorry for her and for them, by the same token, and I wish this situation to be soon over and with as little damage as possible.

But really, I shouldn't have gone to all that trouble, Anon. Your spelling told me everything I needed to know, because you see, Freudian slips are bitches, like that. You used a capital letter to spell only the Amateur's name, while the Power remained minuscule.

That capital letter is the emotional ROI you never got, bitter Anon. Finally, allow me to quote my favorite Christmas movie. Avec le sourire de la crémière:

[denimbex1986]

'If you’ve ever read an interview with the Irish actor Cillian Murphy, you might think him shy, irritable, or even neurotic. Journalists love to write about how closed-off he is, that if you ask him anything too personal he’ll shut down and give one-line answers. This makes their job very hard, they say. But what those interviews don’t tell you, is that if you let Murphy talk about a subject that he actually wants to talk about – such as his epic new film about the father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer – he’ll go on for ages. And he’ll be very open and interesting while he’s doing it. He might even make a joke.

He does this when NME meets him at a posh hotel in Soho. We’ve just walked into the room. Murphy is sat down, wearing a black v-neck jumper over a white t-shirt, black trousers and a pair of very pointy Chelsea boots. He seems relaxed, and greets us with a cheery “hello!”. Then he recognises the thick paperback tucked under our arm as a copy of American Prometheus, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography from which Oppenheimer is adapted. We’d intended to read a quote from the book later but Murphy cuts in on our explanation. “No, you brought it in here to be pretentious,” he grins. “Would you like me to sign it for you?”

There are people who would sell their grandmas for a mere glimpse of Murphy, let alone an autograph. He’s been dogged by screaming fans since the early days of his career – when he broke out as often-shirtless apocalypse survivor Jim in Danny Boyle’s 2002 horror hit 28 Days Later. Brummie gangster series Peaky Blinders made him a global star, but his most famous film roles are notable because they’ve often come from collaborations with the same director. Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi blockbuster Inception, war thriller Dunkirk and his Batman trilogy all featured Murphy as the supporting curio – a side character that pops up every so often to steal your attention from the main protagonist. But in Oppenheimer, the duo’s latest creative partnership, he finally is the main character.

And he’s a good one too. Oppenheimer was an American scientist who made vital discoveries in quantum physics during the 1920s and ‘30s, going on to oversee the creation of the atomic bomb for the US Government – two of which were dropped on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, killing an estimated 220,000 people. Oppenheimer spent the rest of his life campaigning for disarmament, appalled at the weapon (his preferred term was “gadget”) he had helped to give the world. He also drank heavily and had a reputation as a womaniser, despite being quiet and sometimes socially awkward. Murphy calls him “contradictory” and “complex”, which is like saying Suella Braverman doesn’t like immigrants. “I do think that he believed it would be the weapon to end all wars,” Murphy continues, attempting to explain how a left-leaning humanitarian could spend two years perfecting the ultimate killing machine. “He thought that [having the bomb] would motivate countries to form a sort of nuclear world governance.” Murphy pauses. “He was naive.”

Was that naivety a choice though? Oppenheimer had an explosive ego, once attempting to poison a university professor who chastised him when he was a student. Could his desire to achieve such as historic breakthrough have led him to ignore his own better judgement?

“That’s an interesting take,” says Murphy. He runs his hands through his hair, which is styled into wavy curtains. He does this a lot when thinking a question over. “Chris used this amazing phrase. We were talking about Oppenheimer’s arc and he said, ‘You know, he’s dancing between the raindrops morally.’ That unlocked something in my mind when I was preparing.”

To play the role of Oppenheimer, Murphy went very deep. He read the Bhagavad Gita – a 700-page Hindu religious text that the physicist famously quoted from (“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”) Then he started “skipping meals” in an effort to slim down to Oppenheimer’s rail-thin frame. During the actual shoot, Murphy smoked so many fake cigarettes that he worried it harmed his health. “They can’t be good for you,” he told The Guardian. Oppenheimer himself died of throat cancer in 1967.

On top of the physical strain, Murphy delved into some pretty dark emotional places. He had six months to research before filming began in February 2022, and during the 67-day production he often worked 18-hour days. War, genocide and the nuclear holocaust are unpleasant to think about at the best of times, never mind your every waking moment. It must have been brutal.

“You always have to take a holiday after a job,” he concedes, as though being a Hollywood actor is no different from plumbing toilets. “It’s not because… as some journalists like to think, you’re a method actor or whatever. It’s because you give so much time to the job and then suddenly you stop. You have all this displaced energy, you know, so you kind of don’t know what to do with yourself… But I’m a very easygoing sort of person. It doesn’t weigh me down.”

We suspect Murphy isn’t being entirely truthful here. Such is the intensity of his performance – all simmering discontent and wide-eyed panic attacks – that it’s difficult to believe he just shook the weight of global armageddon off each night before climbing into bed. Emily Blunt, who plays Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty in the film, has said Murphy regularly skipped cast dinners because of the “monumental” pressure he felt. “Of course he didn’t want to [eat] with us,” she told People magazine. Matt Damon, brilliant as mustachioed military boss General Groves, agreed: “His brain was just too full.” When we push Murphy on the subject, he reveals a little more. “I didn’t go out much. I didn’t socialise much, mainly because of the amount of work I had to do… I became so immersed in the role.”

To make the experience yet more profound, cameras rolled only “a couple of days” before Russia invaded Ukraine. The West united to impose stringent economic sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his people. The value of the Ruble plummeted, Russian billionaires were booted out of London and Moscow became a cultural ghost town with the likes of Green Day and Iron Maiden cancelling gigs. Putin’s response? To start lining up tactical nukes along his borders. Armageddon seemed closer than at any moment since the Cold War. Murphy (and his castmates) felt the heat. “It was everywhere, and we were fully aware of that,” he says. “The threat [of nuclear war] has escalated and receded over the years since 1945… and now it’s back. It’s always there, this Sword Of Damocles that is hanging over us.”

Murphy, 47, knows what it’s like to exist against the backdrop of conflict. He grew up during the Troubles in late 1970s and ‘80s Cork, Ireland, where reports of sectarian violence in the north often dominated the news. His mum was a French teacher and his dad worked for the civil service. As a teenager, he was obsessed with music. He read NME and loved Frank Zappa and The Beatles. To illustrate his fandom, he tells us about a trip he took to Liverpool, later in life, to see the legendary Cavern Club, where the mop tops first cut their teeth on stage. “I walked down to [the street where the Cavern Club is supposed to be],” he says, “and it wasn’t there. It was somewhere over there!” He gesticulates with his hands. “It’s not the real Cavern. It’s just a mock-up!”

Inspired by John, Paul, George and Ringo, Murphy and his brother formed a band: The Sons of Mr Green Genes, named after a Zappa tune from the avant garde groover’s 1969 album ‘Hot Rats’. The songs were similarly experimental, filled with “wacky lyrics and endless guitar solos”. Eventually, an indie label based in London, Acid Jazz, put a five-album deal on the table. He and his brother turned it down, citing reasons of artistic independence, but for a while rock and roll appeared more inviting than the movies.

Murphy is often disparaging about his songs to journalists, but they must have been doing something right. He’s also self-deprecating when we bring up the underrated 2002 short film Watchmen, which he co-wrote with BAFTA-winner Paloma Baeza – his only attempt at a screenplay. “I just never thought that I was good enough really,” he says. “It’s why I haven’t, you know, pursued the music either… I like to do one thing quite well.” He adds that it’s unlikely this will change in the future.

Murphy will be far too busy to write songs or screenplays for a while anyway. The first reviews for Oppenheimer are out, and some critics have him earmarked for an Oscar. He’ll charm his way through awards season no doubt, just as he does at the Paris premiere the night before our interview. Done up in a black suit with mustard shirt and matching oversized tie, he looks a bit like the handsome English teacher your best mate had a crush on. Walking the red carpet, he is happy to answer questions, speaking at length about Nolan’s genius and the “amazing” reaction to Oppenheimer so far. You can tell he’s enjoying himself.

Murphy’s not on duty tonight though, with London’s premiere scheduled for the day after our chat. Then he’ll be waiting to get on with his next gig, the dark indie drama Small Things Like These, adapted from Claire Keegan’s bestselling 2021 title, in which he’ll take the lead role. Following his breakthrough blockbuster with a low-key Irish drama is typically understated of Murphy, so not unexpected. More box office projects loom on the horizon – a standalone Peaky Blinders movie and the long-awaited horror threequel 28 Months Later – but he says he has “no new information” on either.

It’s difficult to say what Oppenheimer means for Murphy. He is a household name in the UK and Ireland, but less so in the States, where some still see him as a ‘TV actor’. In a recent interview to promote the film, Robert Downey Jr. talked of Murphy’s life “changing” after Oppenheimer, as if he’s a fresh actor on the scene. In a sense, Downey Jr. is right. This is Murphy’s first lead role in a sure-fire smash. And the parts he gets offered now may be a bit starrier. But don’t expect to see him in spandex on a Marvel soundstage anytime soon.

“I like unknowable, ambiguous, kind of enigmatic [characters],” he says. “To me that’s human life: the knotty, weird grey areas… A good man’s life is wholly uninteresting.”'

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

from AMY/rainbow Buddha facing the enemies of awakening :: [Red Pine (translator) :: Bill Porter (author)]

* * * *

"There is one thing that, when cultivated and regularly practiced, leads to a deep spiritual intention, to peace, to mindfulness and clear comprehension, to vision and knowledge, to a happy life here and now, and to the culmination of wisdom and awakening. And what is that one thing? It is mindfulness centered in the body."

~ Ravi Ravindra, 'The Bhagavad Gita: A Guide to Navigating the Battle of Life'

+

"Body means reality. Sometimes the body is an abyss and one gets engulfed, while spirit flutters around by itself like a butterfly. A dangerous separation ensues that leads to death, for one lives outside of reality. Vitality in its fullest is experienced when one lives totally within the body and with the body!

Every spiritual progress includes a better connection to the body."

~ Jung, quoted by Sabi Tauber, 'Encounters with Jung'

[mariacallous]

As he witnessed the first detonation of a nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945, a piece of Hindu scripture ran through the mind of J. Robert Oppenheimer: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” It is, perhaps, the most well-known line from the Bhagavad Gita, but also the most misunderstood.

Oppenheimer, the subject of a new film from director Christopher Nolan, died at the age of 62 in Princeton, New Jersey, on February 18, 1967. As wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, the birthplace of the Manhattan Project, he is rightly seen as the “father” of the atomic bomb. “We knew the world would not be the same,” he later recalled. “A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent.”

Oppenheimer, watching the fireball of the Trinity nuclear test, turned to Hinduism. While he never became a Hindu in the devotional sense, Oppenheimer found it a useful philosophy to structure his life around. “He was obviously very attracted to this philosophy,” says Stephen Thompson, who has spent more than 30 years studying and teaching Sanskrit. Oppenheimer’s interest in Hinduism was about more than a sound bite, Thompson argues. It was a way of making sense of his actions.

The Bhagavad Gita is 700-verse Hindu scripture, written in Sanskrit, that centers on a dialog between a great warrior prince named Arjuna and his charioteer Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu. Facing an opposing army containing his friends and relatives, Arjuna is torn. But Krishna teaches him about a higher philosophy that will enable him to carry out his duties as a warrior irrespective of his personal concerns. This is known as the dharma, or holy duty. It is one of the four key lessons of the Bhagavad Gita, on desire or lust; wealth; the desire for righteousness, or dharma; and the final state of total liberation, moksha.

Seeking his counsel, Arjuna asks Krishna to reveal his universal form. Krishna obliges, and in verse 12 of the Gita he manifests as a sublime, terrifying being of many mouths and eyes. It is this moment that entered Oppenheimer’s mind in July 1945. “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one,” was Oppenheimer’s translation of that moment in the desert of New Mexico.

In Hinduism, which has a non-linear concept of time, the great god is involved in not only the creation, but also the dissolution. In verse 32, Krishna says the famous line. In it “death” literally translates as “world-destroying time,” says Thompson, adding that Oppenheimer’s Sanskrit teacher chose to translate “world-destroying time” as “death,” a common interpretation. Its meaning is simple: Irrespective of what Arjuna does, everything is in the hands of the divine.

“Arjuna is a soldier, he has a duty to fight. Krishna, not Arjuna, will determine who lives and who dies and Arjuna should neither mourn nor rejoice over what fate has in store, but should be sublimely unattached to such results,” says Thompson. “And ultimately the most important thing is he should be devoted to Krishna. His faith will save Arjuna’s soul." But Oppenheimer, seemingly, was never able to achieve this peace. “In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatements can quite extinguish,” he said, two years after the Trinity explosion, “the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.”

“He doesn’t seem to believe that the soul is eternal, whereas Arjuna does,” says Thompson. “The fourth argument in the Gita is really that death is an illusion, that we’re not born and we don’t die. That’s the philosophy, really. That there’s only one consciousness and that the whole of creation is a wonderful play.” Oppenheimer, perhaps, never believed that the people killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not suffer. While he carried out his work dutifully, he could never accept that this could liberate him from the cycle of life and death. In stark contrast, Arjuna realizes his error and decides to join the battle.

“Krishna is saying you have to simply do your duty as a warrior,” says Thompson. “If you were a priest you wouldn’t have to do this, but you are a warrior and you have to perform it. In the larger scheme of things, presumably, the bomb represented the path of the battle against the forces of evil, which were epitomized by the forces of fascism.”

For Arjuna, it may have been comparatively easy to be indifferent to war because he believed the souls of his opponents would live on regardless. But Oppenheimer felt the consequences of the atomic bomb acutely. “He hadn’t got that confidence that the destruction, ultimately, was an illusion,” says Thompson. Oppenheimer’s apparent inability to accept the idea of an immortal soul would always weigh heavy on his mind.

[ultfreakme]

Are you team barbie or oppenheimer?

Barbie 100%. I ain't watching a movie by pretentious white people (who I hate) make a movie about nuclear weapons that destroyed two cities that THEY MADE(which I despise with a burning passion that makes me insane) where apparently quotes the fucking Bhagavad Gita (which I abhor from the depths of my soul with vitriolic fervor, i will use that book for fire even when i have a functioning stove beside me) are used.

That was pretty intense sorry, it's not directed towards you anon i do not think you were expecting that response. Barbie's also an obvious marketing thing but lesser evil.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Oppenheimer is not really an all out war movie though. Its about the creation of atomic bomb and the physicist who helped make it. WWII isn't the main focus of the movie. I'm hoping we get to see the fallout of using the bombs, if the people who created it felt any guilty about it because of devastation caused by it.

Oppenheimer felt very guilty and conflicted about the bomb. Even while he was leading the development of it, he felt intense misgivings about the whole endeavor. He was a scientist trying to solve a scientific problem (atomic fission), but he was always wary that his work was going to be used to kill people.

There's a famous moment where Oppenheimer once related that when watching the first detonation of an atomic bomb in 1945, a quote from the Bhagavad Gita went through his mind: Now I am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.

This man was completely overwhelmed with the ramifications of what they had done.

[gothicprep]

today my wife told me that the death/destroyer of worlds quote that’s typically attributed to oppenheimer is something that’s interpolated from the bhagavad gita. i guess krishna says it to arjuna when he’s being persuaded to go to war.

to paraphrase part of what she said: “for some reason, the germans were obsessed with that text. himmler carried a copy in one of his pockets.”

I can’t believe this quote became an entire meme, and this is the first time I’m hearing this footnote.

[newluddite]

Oppenheimer the movie.

I may not bother to see it. I know the story. The birth of the A-Bomb is a great and terrifying story. I grew up in the duck and cover age. If you do not know about that google it. Feeling fear makes one want to know why. The movie explosions may be fun, but my wife hates things like that and so its go alone or not at all.

The Manhattan project was huge, dangerous, and expensive. It established towns built for the job that were not there before. In Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Los Alamos, New Mexico new towns eventually small cities were made. One because there was abundant electrical power the other because it was so isolated and remote in case something happened.

Money was no object it was war.

First thing to note is that it was not the most expensive WW2 project. Developing the Boeing B29 bomber cost more. That is just one plane type.

The B29 is the plane that dropped the two A-bombs in Japan. It is also the plane that firebombed cities in Japan which actually killed more people and destroyed more homes that the A-Bombs. I do not say that to minimalize the impact of the A-Bomb. It was horrible, but many other horrible things were done as well by the winning side.

I want to talk about the Bhagavad Gita. Hard turn there? No not really. Much is made of the Oppenheimer Quote "Now I have become Death destroyer of Worlds". As in many things there are layers to see that superficial people will miss. That is a line from the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna who is a powerful god avatar shows his "true" form of Vishnu to Arjuna the prince. In doing so he recites those words.

At issue is Arjuna, a Prince in command of an army who does not want to fight the battle as the other side is powerful and has his friends and relatives and revered teachers in it. He knows many will die and is racked by guilt and reluctance. The back story is long and complex and beyond knowing this immediate situation is not necessary to get into.

I am far from a scholar, but Oppenheimer was. He read and translated the story from Sanskrit. He also spoke German Fluently as he was of German Jewish heritage which is why his family moved to the US. He studied Physics in Germany and wrote several papers in German and that is where he got his PhD in 1927. He knew most if not all the people working in Germany in advanced Physics. He had friends there.

When a few scientists during WW2 wrote the US president a letter noting that a huge new bomb was possible and that the leading experts were in Nazi Germany the math was done. It was a race. It was war, and I am still talking about the Bhagavad Gita.

The core issue is Dharma / Karma and well as I said I am not a scholar, but I take those as a mixture of Fate and Duty. The battle Arjuna must fight must go on, it will go on. That is Fate. He must do his best as a soldier and general that is duty. There is no choice. Krishna is explaining in detail why he must proceed.

So here is a man deeply conflicted with the skills and knowledge to do a hard thing who must actually do it even though others, many who he knows and loves may die.

Oppenheimer knew that the bomb was possible. He knew the people on the other side who were working on it and could do it. He knew it would be done. As it could be done it must be done. All that is discussed in the Bhagavad Gita and was deeply known to Oppenheimer.

So the simple line about destroyer of worlds is not as simple as simple people would have it.

Oppenheimer became a proponent of nuclear disarmament. He was also caught up in the red scare of Joseph McCarthy. He knew communists. They were for a long time just a political movement. Then they became the Enemy in the USA. Just as Jews were the Enemy in Nazi Germany. A convenient hate target for small people who craved power.

[blessed1neha]

What is Krishna's love word?

Krishna's love word is "Radha." Radha is his beloved and the embodiment of his own love for himself. Krishna's love for Radha is unconditional and infinite.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, "I am the source of all love, and all love flows from me." Radha is the purest and most intense form of love, and she represents the soul's journey towards God.

When we chant "Radha Krishna," we are connecting with their divine love. We are asking them to help us to develop our own love for God.

Krishna's love word is a powerful mantra that can help us to transform our lives. It can help us to let go of our ego and to surrender to Krishna's love. When we chant "Radha Krishna," we are opening ourselves up to the possibility of experiencing true love and devotion.

Here is a quote from the Bhagavata Purana that describes Krishna's love for Radha:

"Krishna's love for Radha is like a vast ocean. It has no beginning and no end. It is the purest and most intense form of love." (Bhagavata Purana, 10.31.10)

Krishna's love word is a gift to all of us. It is a reminder that we are all capable of experiencing true love and devotion. When we chant "Radha Krishna," we are inviting Krishna's love into our lives.