--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > Shiva's figure rests on another figure in the same pose who is > Shava, > > > the corpse. This figure, which is not in contact with the feet > of the > > > Divine Shakti, looks the same as Shiva but has closed eyes, no > > > erection, and no expression. He, too, is covered in ashes but > rather > > > than a brilliant white like Shiva, he is pallid and without > life. The > > > philosophical decoction of the image is, of course, the Absolute > > > (Shava) which is wholly transcendent and quiescent comes alive > (as it > > > were) to Itself (Shiva) when it comes into contact or awareness > of its > > > own Shakti, and It's reflection in That (Ma Kali) is the > expression of > > > Divinity in the world, the Divine Mother. "When Consciousness > becomes > > > Conscious, then Intelligence becomes Intelligent." > > > > > > Zimmer points out that the transformation in devanagari script > from > > > Sha-va to Shi-va is the addition of an element that changes it > without > > > really changing anything. > > If a syllable, like here "shi", contains a *short* i-sound, > the diacritic, if you will, for 'i' comes *before* the consonant > character, so that if one is not accustomed to reading DN, one > might read "shiva" actually like it was "ishava". > There are special characters for vowels as first sounds > of a word (after a pause), so that "ishava" would look totally > different from "shiva". >
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/devanagari.htm Compare for instance 'pi' and 'pii' (pî)
