Originally fused in Afghanistan in Babur's period, the Mogul core symbolizes the sun factor, India the moon or moderating factor. The Taj Mahal has been an integrating, rallying point in India. Overlooking the Yamuna (Jamnu) River, which connects upstream Delhi to downstream Varanasi, the Taj in white marble is stately. Its chief architect was Isa Khan of Shiraz, Persia (-Crowther & Raj: India, 1993). Shah Jahan ordered the project upon his Persian wife's passing at 1630 A.D.; his mother also was Persian. The Taj's integration of yin and yang resound. Diverse India has had much need for such unifying. Nathaniel Hawthorne declared "Life is made up of marble and mud." Or dawning day and night's hush. Is the heartcore the marble and the rest mere mud? We relish marble-definite clarity--enduring yet plastic to conception, plaintive, marble catches the light sharply while mud is lax, hardly resonant, less cohesive. The way of marble infers wholeness, thoroughness, resolution--requiring keenness of poise and perspective. Marble involves precision whereas brickwork is rather more routine. Marble is pristine dream, mud is relaxation. The Mogul dream has had the Afghan rugged stellar directness of character. I think India respected and showed welcome to that dream, became somewhat devoted to its core purpose. Thus the lonely impossible dream/dreamer fused with raw elements toward new life. A Taj amid silence and river-harmony laughed to be, to be whole! India by its range and depth affords a mine of material, pool of energy and much naturalness of character. The Moguls brought in fresh will and vision. Great testing went into the process of 10:00 vision on the part of the Moguls. Raw India has seen this process again and again--great archetypal calls of deep theme and strong current. India was the receiver of opportunity to the Mogul core purpose. The upper Ganges carries ethereal Himalayan currents and strengths while the Ganges Plain affords practical trial and multifaceted usage. The Mogul naturally affinitized to horses, fresh air, high drama and silences. India was the proving-ground. The Taj stands today because an embassy of love has been rejoiced in. One returns to one's own camp and campfire. It is there that certain reflections mellow and deepen. Out of the cradle of quiet spring forth new potentials. Like the American wild west, the northwest from India has called forth renewed daring and freshness. Yet, the surge of enthusiasm and high hope no doubt has also wrought some havoc in India, or in anyplace caught in that surge. Perhaps expectations tend to undermine realities. Severe testing then is life's necessary balancing/integrating method. Attempts on a smaller than Mogul scale must then play a part. If men can fairly dream, the work will proceed, and it will not remain slavework but will breathe freshly.

   I.  In 1370 B.C. Pharoah Akhnaton and his consort Nefertiti launched a new cycle from the Egyptian captol known by its Greek name Thebes, then called Waset, now called Luxor.  To overcome conditions of all kinds, the one root--life--is available.
   Others do not know we must pass away
   but for those who know this, contention
   thereby ceases.  -Gautama Buddha:  Dhammapada (Pali:
   Statement of Principles) trans. Cleary, 1:6
   Fire properly employed both compels and releases from compulsion.
Akhnaton chose to bring matters to a head in that setting, when the spring equinox was at 23 degrees aries (see appendix A following; the precession of the equinoxes goes full cycle in 25,800 years via earth's slight wobble on its axis).  Aries dramatizes the principle of selfhood:  I AM (Egyptian:  Nuk Pa Nuk; Hebrew:  Yahweh).
   The traditional deity concept at Thebes was Amon (or Amun) but Akhnaton followed a concept rooted at Heliopolis (now Cairo) that honors the sun-principle (Ra or Re) which he refocused as Aton.  He and his consort shifted the capitol downstream to a pristine location; this had many repercussions.
   For one who is docile as the earth, a
   pillar of good conduct, like an unpolluted
   lake, there are no more compulsive routines. -ibid., 7:6
   The life/light forces are coordinate, unified, orderly, consistent; man and his use of energy is oft another matter.  Contention and compulsion forces were prominent during Akhnaton's reign and its aftermath.  To what degree were those forces overcome thru proper use of light/life?
   Each person faces the issue of correct usage of life/light oneself.  The requirement of harmony is at all levels and thru all modes.  Egypt at 1360 B.C. became engulfed in a severe polarization wherein there was much disharmony and challenge.  When the energy flow is balanced and thorough, this is masterly.  Sunlight itself is an example of high efficiency of energy-flow.
   Efficiency can be rated in terms of design, tempering, coordination, consistency.  Practically speaking, levels of potential of life can be employed.
   Finding and revealing a design for the operation of energy is the leader's task.  Uncompromising adherence to clearcut principle is vital.  Akhnaton took a determined stance and a determined course into the testing phase.
   Let us consider again the overall perspective about 1370 B.C., Egypt.  Joseph and his fellow sojourners from the Holy Land had entered Egypt about 1550 B.C. or earlier and they left under Moses about 1300 B.C.  Being monotheist, this group helped to set the stage of Akhnaton's experiment and to cause a ripening of opportunity.  It must have been Akhnaton and Nefertiti's decision, though, to face the great dissent and skepticism/scorn of their day that sprang from the rooted Amon tradition and from the two leaders being each about 20 years of age at the dramatic onslaught.
   Crisis will come, however:  the unknown must be braved.  Twixt a minor vision and a greater, one prefers the greater if realization chances are possible.  Whole-hearted exercise along a perfectionment direction is better than 50 tentative speculations.  Akhnaton must have been very weary of paltry tries in order to dare vast experiment.  On the other hand, is it not harder to get thru a challenge than to get into the thick of one?
   
   II.  A fresh step is useful.  Shall we?
   Aton, this is A (primacy) plus ton (tone) or At-one.  Amon deciphers to either "hidden one" or A-m(any)-on(e).  The common root twixt Egyptian and English goes somehow back to the Atlantean tongue Senzar....Now Amon or Aton--who cares?  A key principle should be tested; clarity is vital.
   The true balance amongst many parts cannot be designed or realized till the key or integrating principle at stake be realized and appreciated.  True conception of the crux then.  Contrasting the US civil war to this Egyptian one, in both cases it was no mere quibble but rather vital principle at stake:  liberty.  Both Lincoln and Akhnaton looked to higher purposes and both felt that the land should not break from what it was consecrated to at root.  Steadfastness thru concern for and adherence to truth remains the crux.

   III.  Measure by measure, mode by mode,
         level by level, attuned life goes well
   Circa 1360 B.C. the grand vizier at Thebes was Ay(e), son of Hapu, chief scribe, etc.  Helper to the dynastic house, he was an exponent of opportunity in that Nile valley of decision.  One may consider that opportunity also allows blunders and permits the drawing of blundering factors into fires of transmutation.  Large-scale dramas apparently involve this.  The Akhnaton experiment may also have been a kind of farewell to pharoahland on the part of some monotheists.
   Empty this boat, o mendicant.  When it
   is empty, it will travel lightly.  Having
   cut off passion and hatred, then you will
   enter nirvana.  -ibid., 25:10
   Motivate yourself by yourself; examine
   yourself by yourself.  Thus self-controlled
   and fully conscious, you will live happily.  -ibid., 25:20
   Ah, the sphinx is still around.  About 1620 A.D. Lord Bacon emphasized that Aristotle's maxim:  "Man is the measure of all things" is wrong.  Man is a measurer, not the measure.  The true measure is of the Logos thru its christic or pure principle radiated forth.  Without the light man is nought.  Even with the light man requires great perspective if he is to unscramble the scramble of energies.  One can try, the true one does try.

appendix A:
            date:             event:
             3100 B.C.         12 towns of Sumer

              2050 B.C.         Abraham leaves Ur

              1600 B.C.       Joseph+ move to Egypt

              1360 B.C.         Akhnaton reigns
              830 B.C.        Elisha in Israel
               500 B.C.        Gautama et. al.
                  4 B.C.         birth of Jesus
             400-450 A.D.     Hypatia at Alexandria; 
                           St. Patrick to Eire; fall 
                                             of Roman Empire            1200 A.D.      Notre Dame at Paris begun
             2000 A.D.