#with 32 on this is a creature that should not exist in the world

[bobokitty]

Brain woke me up in the middle of the night and forced me to make this

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

[icarusignite]

An Eye for an Eye Masterlist

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Fem! Velaryon!OC

Summary:

Lucerys Velaryon was a coward who did not wish to die, but die he did, with all the bravery his young heart could muster.

A true dragon rider's death.

With his death, the war of ravens and envoys came to an end, and the war of fire and blood began in earnest.

Daenys Velaryon no longer knew the difference between sacrifice and self-slaughter, nor where the violence against oneself ended. A Kinslayer, a rabid dog; such creatures had no use in a world of peace. Such creatures did not deserve peace. She was a tall child with no lap to crawl into, for who would wish to hold a thing like her, shame clotting in her blood like a curdling sickness. She, with the incessant need to apologize to everyone who ever knew her, for the inconvenience she caused them by making her existence known, walking into a room and searching for an empty seat so no one had to go through the painful act of sitting with her. Velaryons were supposed to be of the sea, but she was a burning ship, a vicinity one had to always flee. If anyone deserved to extinguish themselves in a kamikaze blaze, it was her, the one who would be missed least of all, who was needed least of all when the realm finally knew peace.

Aemond Targaryen was not the same person he used to be. He couldn't possibly be, and yet a part of his very being still belonged to his wife, as it always would. Though he had been absent too long, and the graveyard of old bones and lost kin that spanned between them was far too vast, he still held onto the memory of her, cutting into what he meant to only hold. He was a hunter whose trap had mangled the wrong creature, but it was the law of the world, for a knife and a wound to seek each other out, because they spoke in a language of damage no one else did, and now he owed her a debt. 

An eye for an eye. 

A brother for a brother.

An Eye for an Eye: ao3/wattpad

Before the Sky Falls (prequel): ao3/wattpad

Aesthetics

Fanart 1

Daenys Velaryon fanart

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Epilogue

A/N: I posted this fic for the very first time here on tumblr, and now that it's almost complete (46 chapters have been posted on ao3/wp) I decided I should probably repost it on here because it has been given a complete rewrite since the first version yall saw. I will try to have all the parts posted on here eventually.

This fic has a prequel that explores Aemond&Daenys's childhood together and it is fully complete on ao3/wp.

If you wanna be added to the taglist, feel free to let me know!

Taglist:

[violetpurpleviolet]

Supernatural , Season 6, Episode 9

Clap Your Hands If You Believe

How old are Sam and Dean now?

I'm gonna look it up. Okay, Reddit says, 32 and 28.( Why are they so old?)

WHAT THE INTRO? X-FILES? "The truth is in there"

"What, flying saucers not insane enough for you?"

"If you want to add glitter to that glue you're sniffing, that's fine, but don't dump your wackadoo all over us."

HAHAHAHA Soulless Sam.

Oh my god this episode is so unhinged and funny.

Ah, the newspaper name they claim to be working for "The Mirror" Reminds me of Once Upon A Time, again, Sydney's newspaper is called The Mirror right? Also, the Pinocchio reference immediately after they talk to a man in a workshop who says his son is missing.

"I think the fourth kind is a butt thing." Sammy! Also, whenever I say Sammy I can hear him telling me not to call him that. :( He'd prolly hate it.

"I've had time to adjust" "Did it happen when you were kids?" "No, like half an hour ago"

I think if i decide to quote all the stuff sam says here, I'd be typing the entire episode.

AHAHAHA, I find it funny every time I see Sam's jeans, he's already so tall, how does he get jeans that are bigger than him? The boot cut-ish jeans, I don't know what they're called, sue me.

Okay, I'm not taking feet pics, I just wanted to show his jeans. Also, Dean just got abused by aliens? or was about to?????? What?

'So you're saying having a soul means suffering?" "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Is that a fairy? fayre? What? Why's he look at it and say nipple?

Okay, so the fairy was naked. Hahahaha this is hilarious.

Does SPN have AUs? Like..Marvel? (Don't answer if its spoilers)

I mean, even I know fairies hate iron. How did Sam and Dean not figure that out?

I got a haircut on Sunday, and I just realised my haircut matches Sam's. Am I horrified or honoured? I don't know.

Buddy, you have got to be fucking kidding me, what in the Once Upon A Time cross-over is this? I don't know. What? I hope Dean is just going crazy, I don't want to accept that fairies exist in the spn world.

"I mean, hell, I didn't know better, I'd say you have a bunch of elves working for you." "Except, I do know better, you have a bunch of elves working for you." Why is the line so unhinged. I love it! Go soulless, Sammy! We support Winchester's rights but also Winchester's wrongs (soullessness).

Leprechaun? Or was he Scottish? Wait, leprechauns are Irish. I just wanted to link this to Crowley too badly. I'm sorry, my bad.

They only take firstborns? AHAA I'm safe! @thedeadliestdeathtoeverdie beware!

Ah no, Dean attacked a short person? "FIGHT THE FAIRES, YOU FIGHT THOSE FAIRIES" "FIGHT THE FARIES"

Cream hits them like tequila. Okay. Cool.

LEPRECHAUNS AND FAIRIES ARE REAL IN THE SPN WORLD????

hahahahahahah blue fairy, real boy again. I love this epiosde , but i also hate it.

I thought he was going to make a fucked up deal with a leprechaun next, that god, that didn't happen. Demon deals all over again.

They have to count grains of salt, damm goofy, also, wouldn't Sam have thought to have that way sooner? Why did he let the fight happen in the first place? Or did he not believe in it? But then salt works for most creatures, he should have tried it earlier on, at least.

"When's a deals ever been a good deal?"

Literally what I thought!

He's having second thoughts about getting his soul back isn't he?

"You're not having second thoughts are you?

"No"

Why is every damn episode ending with one brother lying to the other.

[je-dood]

If you could visit any location from Lovecraft's fictional settings, which would you choose and what would you hope to discover there?

Man hard question, for this I'm going to assume you are just mentioning the Lovecraft books themselves, so I won't factor in series like The King in Yellow, or any other Lovecraft-inspired work not that they would make that much of a difference in the first place.

There are 2 main issues when tackling this question, the first and most prevalent issue is that many locations in the Lovecraftian mythos [that I have read, as I have only finished 32 of his works], just straight up present danger to your life. Dagon, The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Festival, and The Unnamable, are a small list of examples of settings in which hostile creatures or creatures fit to harm you or turn you into something beyond your present self. Although it may be then easy to claim to avoid all the locations that may present some direct threat over the sanctity of your life when you start to question and factor in your sanity, you start to realise just how miserable a lot of his works are to live in. As the events depicted in Pickman's Model, The Music of Erich Zann and Polaris would most definitely make the most ordinary person go insane. So in the case of trying to persevere in your life, continuity of self in a biological sense, and your sanity, most options but not all are completely restricted to you.

The second biggest issue you would face is that outside the realm of cosmic threats, there isn't any reason to go to many of the locations. Lovecraft loves to create stories which not only have the main character be confronted and challenged by unknown horror, but then be pushed into the ordinary world in which no one understands or believes them, making even the reader question whether the events happened or not. So if you decided to simply for example not go to Innsmouth or one of the other cursed locations, you are pretty much gonna live an ordinary life with some ordinary if not slightly more racist individuals as your neighbours, there isn't any remarkable way you would be able to make your life interesting unless you were either to:

•A. Get a hobby, or

•B. Be absorbed by the unknown and occultism and try your damn hardest to reason with being whose intentions are as mysterious as their existence.

So overall there aren't any "beneficial" aspects, like gaining superpowers or becoming cool, if you travel to any of these locations as your average person. I mean the concept of unlocking the pineal gland exists but I have no understanding of how that works.

However, if I had to choose one place to live, out of all his stories it would probably be, Celephaïs. I mean who would want to be king of their dream and become some immortal celestial warrior? I mean there is the consequence of having to disregard reality become an active narcoleptic, and potentially die on the street, however, I'm sure the eternal pros out way the mortal cons. If I weren't the main character of Celephaïs, I would probably choose "The Other Gods", but unlike Barzai the Wise, I would be cool with it and try and befriend the early gods and vibe with The Other Gods that is if they didn't kill me instantly. Maybe I could potentially go to Cats of Ulthar, and try and learn magic somehow, that would be fun, maybe at some point try and find the Necronomicon. The choice would mainly be those, however, to conclude.

Lovecraft's worlds at first seem impossible, unpractically power-scaled, and overall cruel, which they are, there is still a reason that humans exist to that day, mainly due to human ingenuity and determination, so, so long as you don't hit yourself on the foot on purpose you should be fine.

Although at some point all good things do come like humanity, such as referenced in Memories, so perhaps, the worlds are as impossible as they seem.

[baxtersworld]

GAP THEORY, THE GREATEST CONSPIRACY THEORY, May 15, 2026

According to the Gap Theory, God had already created a fully functional earth with all creatures (Genesis 1:1) but was then destroyed (Genesis 1:2) by an unknown phenomenon, causing a gap of billions of years before the second creation, as described in Genesis 1:3, commenced.

GENESIS 1:1, 2

(1) In the BEGINNING GOD CREATED the HEAVEN and the EARTH.

(2) And the EARTH was WITHOUT FORM, and VOID; and darkness was upon the face of the deep…

In Strong’s Hebrew #8414, the word “form” means “desert, empty place, wilderness,” while the word “void” in #922 means “emptiness.”

The formless and void state in Genesis 1:2 was being illustrated akin to the end of the world, which was likewise void as of a wilderness.

JEREMIAH 4:23, 25-26

(23) I beheld the EARTH, and, lo, it was WITHOUT FORM, and VOID; and the HEAVENS, and they had NO LIGHT.

(25) …there was NO MAN…

(26) …the fruitful place was a WILDERNESS…

Hence, the scripture plainly disproves the Gap Theory, for there is no possibility of any creatures prior to the beginning of creation foretold in Genesis 1:3.

If there was an existence of life billions of years prior to Genesis 1:3, there should have been archeological evidence such as fossilized remains to support such claims, for genuine faith will only be established when there is genuine evidence (Hebrews 11:1).

Adam was clearly considered in the scripture as the first man whom God had created, and likewise the first father, just as Eve, Adam’s wife, became the mother of all creatures on earth.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:45, 47

(45) …The FIRST MAN ADAM was made a living soul…

(47) The FIRST MAN is of the EARTH, earthy…

ISAIAH 43:27 Thy FIRST father hath SINNED… have transgressed against me.

GENESIS 3:20 And ADAM called his WIFE's name EVE; because she was the MOTHER of ALL LIVING.

Similarly, Adam has committed the first sin, which prompts the first death (Romans 5:16–19, 6:23), indicating that no creature had ever died before God created Adam and Eve.

ROMANS 5:12, 14

(12) …as by ONE MAN SIN ENTERED into the WORLD, and DEATH BY SIN; and so DEATH PASSED upon ALL MEN…

(14) …DEATH REIGNED FROM ADAM to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of ADAM'S TRANSGRESSION…

Additionally, Gap theory only considers the six days of creation as literal 24-hour days, for Genesis 1:5, 31 reckoned it having morning and evening, unlike the seventh day, which had not been specified, as it indicates an eternal rest. (Genesis 2:1-2).

The word “day (Genesis 2:1-2)” in Hebrew #3117 means from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next, which constitutes a literal period of one day.

LEVITICUS 23:32, 38

(32) It shall be unto you a SABBATH OF REST… FROM EVEN UNTO EVEN, shall ye CELEBRATE your SABBATH.

(38) Beside the SABBATHS of the LORD… and beside all your freewill OFFERINGS…

2 CHRONICLES 2:4 …and for the burnt OFFERINGS MORNING and EVENING, on the SABBATHS…

Hereupon, the seventh day Sabbath, which God commanded everyone to observe, as He likewise rested and sanctified it, is not symbolically referring to an eternal rest but rather a literal 24-hour period.

GENESIS 2:3, 4

(3) And God BLESSED the SEVENTH DAY, and SANCTIFIED it… had RESTED from all his work…

(4) These are the GENERATIONS… in the day that the LORD GOD MADE the EARTH and the HEAVENS,

In Strong’s Hebrew #8435, the word “generations” means “birth, decent, family, history.”

Consequently, there has been no other occurrence prior to the creation recorded in Genesis 1:3–31, whereby living creatures had been created and flourished, for generations of all men had only birthed as the heavens and the earth were finished.

In the Hebrew Tanakh, “ELOHIM” or “GODS” in Genesis 1:1 was mentioned 2,602 times, a flipped figure of 2026, the exact year of Christ’s return.

Thereby, the Gap theory is absolutely a conspiracy theory fabricated by several Bible scholars in order to undermine the Creator and the seventh-day Sabbath, which is the everlasting covenant (Leviticus 24:8).

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

[the-hem]

"Meru." From the Gopala-Tapaniya Upanishad “The Exploration of the Mysteries of the Ascetic Cowherd.”

Now we find a curious reference to Seven Cities, very likely the same mentioned in the Torah, except there they are called the Seven Days or Seven Laws.

The Laws were born right after the god Brahma, the creator was made by Vishnu whose name means pervasive consciousness. The text says Brahma sprang from Vishnu’s heart meaning creation is an act of benevolence and operates based on certain intimate affectionate principals. As soon as animals and men become desperate and sacrifice their affection for the sake of survival the laws of creation are violated and creation will fold. As the text says, all sane persons seek and maintain law and order for the sake of protecting those by whom that are affected.

We are too warped for this, however. We have allowed sickos and weirdoes access to our lives and the entire planet is paying the price of desperation because they were not dealt with swiftly:

29. He said: In the beginning only Lord Narayana existed. In Him the material worlds are woven as thread on a loom. From His lotus heart the demigod Brahma was born.

30. When Brahma performed severe austerities, Lord Narayana granted him a boon.

31. Brahma chose a question.

 32. Lord Narayana granted his request.

33-34. Brahma said: Among Your many incarnations, which is the best, the one that makes humans and demigods happy, the one that, remembering Him, they become liberated from repeated birth and death? Why is this incarnation the best?

35. Lord Narayana said:

36. As on the summit of Mount Meru are seven cities that fulfil all desires, so on the Earth are seven cities that fulfil desires and grant liberation. Among them the city of Gopala Puri is directly the spiritual world.

37. In this city the desires of the demigods and all other creatures are all fulfilled and everyone attains liberation.

Meru which is the same thing as Sinai in the Torah is Hebrew for "memories of merits."

"The noun μερος (meros) means share, part or portion. It ultimately derives from a vast Proto-Indo-European root "(s)mer-", which is traditionally presented as having two separate branches:

(s)mer- I, meaning to remember or care for, hence the Latin noun memoria and thus our English word "memory", and

(s)mer- II, meaning to assign or allot, hence the Latin verb mereo, to deserve, and thus the English words "merit" and "emeritus"."

At the top of Meru is Gopala Pur, "the purification of the demigod."

The goal of the journey of man up the mountain in the Upanishads is the same as in the Torah and other religion, to put an end to tryrants and fucktards and the conditions that spawn them and liberate society and nature from unnecessary suffering.

Bullshit crappers like Dick Cheney and Donald Trump, the Pope, and those Hamas freaks, they do not belong here. Their animal man behavior is repugnant and it is objectionable that so many people are miserable, dead or dying because of them given the otherwise natural beauty of this world. I do not feel Kamala Harris or her former Administration took these prospects as seriously as they could have and the public should pressure her to source the country of all traces of the Republican Party and its filth.

The entire planet is a mess because of us and we must employ the merits of the law and liberate it from the consequences of our Tamas. The Republicans and fundamentalists have taken cues from this that their behaviors are all right, and have fun amok, enforcing their religion wherever they feel the whim.

I am so eager to return the favor, to unleash the god of justice and bring Him down the Mountain, right to their doorsteps.

[thenewdeadseascrolls]

Judges 9: 30-33. "The Class Ring."

What is wrong with believing in and following a toadie? He will never love you or anyone for that matter, he is far too in love with being loved for that. This is why toadies make terrible governors. They do not understand the bottom line of human existence depends on how well one is loved and also shows love to others.

Now the Evangelicals will say theirs is a God of Love but for this there is no evidence. They are tyrants and oppressors, incapable of explaining the love of God for His Creation or acting as its vessel. A story about a massacre on a cross is all they have and this does not pass muster.

We are in the midst of an historic Passover, during which we must be able to explain what it means to be governed by love and not sacrifice.

In the previous frame we met Zebul, "the manuring" of society with Gaal of Ebed, "disgust with slavery." The Governor believes this is sufficient to lay siege to the territory that is the cause of the trouble. He says to do so at night. Night is the time that is the most decisive. Man is a peculiar creature, he prevaricates all day, and thinks at night. In the section below, the Governor says "no, not this time at sunrise, things are actually going to change":

30 When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. 

31 Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, “Gaal son of Ebed and his clan have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you. 

32 Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields.

33 In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them.”

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 30: The Governor of the City was very angry. Cities are the active experiences within us. All at once we can feel our toes, the hair on our heads, detect temperature, hunger, remember our pasts and plan our futures. Sentience, an instinct for what is good and kind drives all of these sensations and gives them divine purpose. Sentience is the Governor.

An angry governor is insensed by what is right vs. what is wrong. We know we are all in violation of the UN Charter and Declaration of Human Rights by ignoring what is happening in Ukraine, Israel, Africa, South America, North America, etc. We know all of this is completely wrong but it is not bothering our consciences. Why not?

The Value in Gematria is 7695, ז‎ו‎טה, "a zot in miniature."

Zot means "to who belongs the Glory." We should find ourselves utterly incapable of mistreating each other if we believe in God. All is God, God is in all. This is why the Shoftim says He is found "under cover". While the world appears to be comprised of separate persons and objects they share a connection and resemblance to One God:

v. 31: Under cover he sent messengers. The Torah is composed of what are called "messengers" that stir the City and its Governor into action, and this action is called Shabbos. Shabbat is the absence of action, so first comes the realization of the Sentient Self, called the Jewish Identity by the Shoftim, and then the work of the Jew is done.

The Value in Gematria is 6563, ו‎הו‎ג‎, "and hog", "the class ring."

Looks like someone's going steady!

v. 32: But wait in the fields. Why wait in the fields after one gets the class ring? There are two ways a Prince or a King finds his way into the field. One is because he wants to meet the people on his own. The other is because he has been driven from his home. Once a Prince gets his Signet, he goes into the field. A real prince knows why he is going into the field the next day. A toadie would never do this.

The Value in Gematria is 5154, ה‎אה‎ד, the ahd, ‎"that's the one."

v. 33: In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. Seize the opportunity to attack them. The Value in Gematria is 7584, ז‎ה‎ח‎ד, "This is the eighth, this is the one."

The Day After Shabbat is Day One of Mashiach. Once the world's governors decide to end the disgusting practice of slavery, a product of deep delusion about the importance of human equity to the success of civilization, Shabbos will be achieved. Then will come Shabbat, and the day after that a new era called the Age of Mashiach, "Global ethical responsibility." This process will need to be repeated the moment every human being thereafter comes of age.

Unfortunately it probably also means we are witnessing the end of fundamentalist Christianity which must no longer be tolerated, but no big loss.

The decision to crucify Christ when amnesty was on the table was not ethical. This should not be celebrated as a means to eternity when it almost certainly implies the destruction of the soul. Humanity's insistence on this must end, as this thought can no longer be a habit after the onset of Mashiach.

[denimbex1986]

'A scene in the film “Oppenheimer,” in which the physicist is quoting a Bhagavad Gita verse while making love, has upset some Hindus. The information commissioner of the Indian government, Uday Mahurkar, said in an open letter the scene was a “direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus” and alleged that it amounted to “waging a war on the Hindu community.” He also said that it almost appeared to be “part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces.”

It is hard to say how many Hindus were offended by the Gita quote in a sexually charged scene, but there were those who disagreed with the views expressed in the tweet. Pavan K. Varma, a former diplomat, wrote that the controversy was a “misplaced outrage.”

Some others were not offended, just disappointed that the context of the lines quoted from the Bhagavad Gita was not brought out well. I should also add that Hindu texts composed over 1,000 years, starting around the sixth century B.C.E., have Sanskrit mantras for every occasion, including reciting some ritually before having sex. But they are context-specific, and certainly the Bhagavad Gita would not be used.

Overall, the controversy brought attention to the words quoted by J. Robert Oppenheimer while looking at the erupting fireball from the atomic bomb explosion in Los Alamos, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945: “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” These words are a a paraphrase of Bhagavad Gita 11:32 where Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu – whom many Hindus think of as the supreme being – says that he is kala, or time.

Kala also means “death.” Oppenheimer’s teacher, Arthur Ryder, a professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley, had translated the verse as “Death am I, and my present task Destruction.”

Beyond the sex squabble, the biopic can be a good starting point to understand how Oppenheimer’s deep knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita and other Sanskrit texts helped him with his assignment in New Mexico. It can also be a catalyst for the public to have some hard conversations about weapons of mass destruction.

Wisdom of the Gita and the Panchatantra

As an undergraduate at Harvard University, Oppenheimer read Hindu texts in translation, but at Berkeley, he learned Sanskrit from Ryder, meeting in his teacher’s home on long winter evenings. On Oct. 7, 1933, he wrote to his brother Frank that he had been reading the Gita with two other Sanskritists.

This text was special to Oppenheimer, more than other books. He called it “the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue,” and he gave copies to friends. When talking at a memorial service for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he quoted his own translation of Bhagavad Gita 17:3, “Man is a creature whose substance is faith. What his faith is, he is.”

Oppenheimer’s reaction, when he looked at the mighty explosion, seems to be close to what the German theologian Rudolf Otto called “numinous” – a combination of awe and fascination at this majesty. His reaction was to think of the Bhagavad Gita’s verse 11:12: “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.”

Oppenheimer also read many other Sanskrit texts, including the fifth-century Sanskrit poet Kalidasa’s “Cloud Messenger,” or “Meghaduta,” and his letters show familiarity with “The Three Hundred Poems of Moral Values,” or the “Satakatrayam,” a work from the sixth century C.E. From his quoting the text in many contexts, he seems to have been fond of the Panchatantra,“ a text of animal fables with pragmatic morals. Ryder, Oppenheimer’s Sanskrit mentor, had also translated this book of charming stories with sometimes cynical messages.

Oppenheimer’s familiarity with the Panchatantra is also evident in the naming of his new car Garuda, after the eagle-vehicle of Lord Vishnu. He explained the name to his brother, not with the bird’s well-known connection with Vishnu, but by alluding to a lesser-known story from the Panchatantra, in which a carpenter makes a wooden flying vehicle shaped like the mythical Garuda for his friend.

Oppenheimer loved a Sanskrit epigram from the Panchatantra: "Scholarship is less than sense, therefore seek intelligence.” The line is a rueful reflection at the end of a story in which four men go to seek their fortune.

Three of them were learned scholars who held the fourth in low esteem. On their path, they came across some bones. On seeing those, the first, believing the bones to be of a lion, said that he could put the skeleton together. The second said he would the graft skin and flesh on it, and the third said he would make it come to life. The fourth – believed to be the less learned person – warned them against it. However, when they insisted on going ahead, he asked them to wait until he could climb a tree for safety. The lion came to life and devoured the three scholars.

Oppenheimer used the Sanskrit verse that followed this story often. From the Gita, he learned and rationalized that it was his duty to build the bomb, and it was the leaders’ duty to use it wisely. In other words, Oppenheimer went along with government decisions not because they were government decisions but because he thought political decision-making was the duty of government leaders, not scientists.

A missing discussion

It is hard to know director Christopher Nolan’s motivation for juxtaposing the Gita verse with an intimate scene – it could be creative license or simply Orientalism, or the West’s stereotypical description of the East. Given Oppenheimer’s deep love for the Bhagavad Gita, he would not have, I believe, quoted the text with disrespect.

As for the Hindus who are offended, there could be multiple reasons: It could be the centuries of a colonial gaze that was fascinated with and horrified by the erotic in Indian spirituality.

For example, the 10th-century temples of Khajuraho – where only about 10% of the sculptures are erotic – and texts like the Kamasutra informed early missionary views on Hinduism. It could also be that some Hindus valorize the spirit of renunciation and the ascetic impulse of some Hindu texts.

But beyond this controversy, this film offers an opportunity to reflect on more profound issues. The detonation of atomic bombs led to the death of possibly 200,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and horrific effects on survivors. Kai Bird, coauthor of the book on which the biopic Oppenheimer is based, said that he hopes the film “will initiate a national conversation not only about our existential relationship to weapons of mass destruction but also the need in our society for scientists as public intellectuals.”

While that would be valuable, an important discussion, left out from the narrative, is about the ethics of American leaders who knowingly caused harm at the time. The atomic test explosion led to devastating health consequences for about 13,000 New Mexicans who lived within a 50-mile radius and were not warned beforehand or afterward. This exposure to radioactive material took a toll over several generations.

In the end, the lesson is that the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita have to be balanced with the pragmatic lessons of the Panchatantra. Despite Oppenheimer’s quoting the Panchatantra about common sense being more important than intellectual scholarship, his own interpretation of duty gave undue credit and power to political leaders.

With the atomic explosion in New Mexico, the lion from the Panchatantra story that Oppenheimer cautioned about did come to life, and some may say it lives in a straw cage.'

[beviebamm]

Romans 1 23-26 is often used by Christians to justify homophobia as law but I could easily interpret it to bash the "good", "traditional" marriages I have seen and a lot of the modern binary-gender-assigned behavioral patterns

The full chapter is linked if you would like to read Romans 1 for yourself (WEB form so you can openly use it as you wish without copyright) but let me pull that specific section plus some extra for context:

20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. 21 Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves; 25 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. 28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, 30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

This section starts by telling you that God is within all the things made - unseen unless looking directly at the creations - aka God is the intelligence of nature. Everything made in nature is God. Then people through the attainment of free will and knowledge arrogantly assumed they understood how to handle the designs of nature. Then they began to idolize and idealize select people and creatures as equivalent to God (so many examples of this from celebrity worship to people who like animals over other humans) instead of God directly (which is available to humanity through all things created by nature). God seen it happen and never corrected their behavior instead leaving humanity to correct itself.

Instead of correcting themselves and respecting nature in its many, many facets, people started looking for how they could take advantage of the existing social structures to become the main leader - as close to God as humanly possible - and this caused people to start using sex and intimacy as tools for power instead of the way nature designed - a way to further bond with a fellow human you really like and respect. In this current state of society, heterosexual men are more concerned with how to get emotional intimacy with other men and they due it through predatory sexual behaviors (ex. "locker room talk", revenge porn, group attacks, catcalling, pedophilia, etc.) - these are not natural because you are naturally designed to be a social being who's body fully releases when you are with someone you actually really like. Instead these men treat these behaviors as bonding with each other, incapable of bonding with a woman thereby making the whole act of sex unnatural. But to be honest, there is room for it to to also be condemning women who have sex solely for money (nothing about how many people you sleep with, just about having a natural connection to whoever you are sleeping with which is determined by if you are showing true love for who that person is as designed by God).

People who keep going down this path of tying in sexuality with greed, power, and fail to understand the true intimacy and respect that sex deserves are worthy of Death according to this text.

Like how did any of you get homophobia from this when God has mapped out homosexuality, gender-bending, etc. in multiple species? Some of you need to instead accept the fact that the reason your sex life isn't fulfilling and you're miserable because you are having sex with someone that you don't really like, they just check the boxes for social status/comfort that you mentally decided you needed based on other people's opinions. We have created a society that thinks it's normal to exchange sexual favors/intimacy for survival so people pick partners based on the social constructs they made up: primarily money. Then to satisfy their unnatural choice for something made my humans, many enjoy seeing people who genuinely like their sexual/romantic partner get hurt and the most mentally screwed up go out of their way to find people capable of natural sexual attachment and hurt them so that they cannot feel that full satisfaction ever again.