Panchangamblogs

Guru Purnima Speech, Calgary, July 16, 2011

2011-07-20T14:28:00.001-04:00

It is wonderful to see many people gather here to pay their respects to their gurus on this auspicious day of guru purnima. In eastern religions, particularly in sanatana dharma or vedic dharma also known as Hindu religion, a guru is given a high position, even higher than God sometimes. A guru is given such a high position because his primary job is to help us accomplish the highest purpose of existence, not just the life.

Guru is typically translated as a teacher, a mentor, or a spiritual preceptor. His/her primary function is to impart Knowledge to his/her students or disciples. What knowledge is the Question. Or what is knowledge?

The Sanskrit word for knowledge is jnana. It comes from the root word jna. Jna is perhaps a common root word for both jnana and the English word ‘know’. Jna and ‘know’ sound similar, don’t they? Jnana has been limited by Vedas only to the knowledge pertaining to individual soul (atma) and the supreme being (paramatma) – atma-paramatma sambandham. Knowledge about everything else is called ajnana. Ajnana doesn’t mean ignorance. It is the negative knowledge that takes you away from what needs to be known. There is also another word vijnana. Vijnana indirectly takes one towards the final goal. The distinction is very important. I will give an example. Carpentry has lot of knowledge in it. You can make living out of it, but nothing related to the supreme being or individual soul. So if it is used only for livelihood and enjoyment it is ajnana. However while providing livelihood it can also provide you the time and comfort needed to pursue the ultimate purpose. In this case the same knowledge is providing indirect support for achieving jnana. That is vijnana. Arts are good example of vijnana. Indians believe the primary goal of arts is to attain the Supreme Being. But it is indirect, so vijnana.

One who teaches vijnana like science teacher, music teacher, or dance teacher is also called a guru. For distinction, let us call the guru who imparts vijnana as a vijnana guru, the other one that gives us true knowledge, a jnana guru. A jnana guru is also called a satguru. Sat means the Supreme being.

Om tat sat iti nirdEsaH brahmaNaH trividhaH smritaH
…Bhagavad Gita

It means, om, tat, and sat are three (3) names of the Supreme being. Sat guru is one whose teachings are directed towards the sat, the Supreme Being. On the other hand, vijnana guru is also very important, because he provides indirect tools to accomplish the highest purpose. Both are essential to life. So when it comes to respecting or valuing a guru there is not much distinction between a vijnana guru and a jnana guru.
The only difference is, you find a vijnana guru by yourself and jnana guru finds you. When an opportune moment arrives, when you are destined to meet your sat guru, he or she will come to you.

Imparting knowledge is not the only function of a guru. Everyone is familiar with the term karma. It is a grossly misunderstood word in the western world and mostly misunderstood in the Eastern world. Karma simply means the ‘sum total of the results of all actions performed by an individual’. Karma is like a mountain that was accumulated over countless births. Out of this accumulated karma a chunk is removed and set aside and that causes the present birth. This chunk of immanent karma, the karma within which we operate is responsible for this birth, it must be completely exhausted within this birth and nothing to be saved for future. This immanent karma is called prarabdha karma. The one left behind, the accumulated karma is called sanchita karma. There is another third type of karma called agaami karma or prospective karma. Prospective karma comes from our new actions that arise either from a reaction to the experience of immanent karma and/or driven by the mountain of sanchita karma. Of these three karmas, immanent karma or prarabdha karma must be exhausted within this birth, no exception what so ever. However, the only way to mitigate it or exhaust without really experiencing it is possible only through a satguru’s grace. This long intro of karma is to give you an idea of this important function of guru. I am pretty sure many people here have experienced such grace of guru. In fact, the primary reason most people among us seek a guru is this purpose of rescue from prarabdha.

So far, I told two (2) major functions of guru, namely, to remove ignorance and give knowledge and to remove karma.

Ajnana dhwAnta rOdhAt, aGha pariharaNaat

Like these, there are eight (8) primary functions for a guru. Since a guru performs these 8 functions, Vedanta Desika, a preeminent Vaishnavite guru declares,

AchAryaH sadbhiH pratyupakaraNa dhiyA dEvavat syAdupAsyaH
---- Nyasa Vimshati

Meaning a guru should always be worshipped as if God. Where should we worship not like we worship a deity in a temple, but in our minds… “dhiyA”.

Here I brought another word Acharya. Acharya and guru are similar meaning words. Guru is much broader definition. There are many definitions one very meaningful is,

gukaraH aMdhakArasyAt rukarastannirOdhakrit |
aMdhakAranirOdhanAt gururiti abhidhEyatE ||

‘Gu’ means the darkness of ajnana. ‘Ru’ means the one who dispels it by giving jnana. Guru means remover of negative knowledge. Acharya just describes another role of guru. It means ‘Acharati iti AchAryaH’. One who practices and then teaches is an Acharya. Acharya is one who walks his teachings.

To such a guru, the student owes an obligation. First, student must have faith in the guru that what the guru teaches is truth and correct. Then student should practice what guru asks him or her to practice. Without doing this there is no meaning for the learning process. Everyone agrees with that, right? This is the meaning of worshipping the guru in the mind. Unshakable faith in the teacher and practice what he or she says to the word.

Does guru also have an obligation then? Of course, he or she must impart knowledge, remove or help to remove any obstacles in front of the student and thirdly, ‘Átma sAmyAvasatvAt’, one meaning of which is, to make the student at least as good as himself or herself. This is the third of the eight functions I mentioned before. Thus, there are mutual obligations that form the basis for a teacher-student relationship. This is called guru-sishya sambandham. In olden days knowledge is transmitted orally from teacher to student. And guru as an Acharya would provide a live illustration both to clarify and to inspire the students. Thus students will learn from the examples and teachings. More likely than not, the students would become as good as the teacher.
Now the student must fulfill another obligation, that is to transfer this knowledge to the next generation. In sanatana dharma every individual must perform five (5) duties or five yagnas. Compulsory. One of them is called Rishi yagna. It means we owe a duty to the learned people of the past who gave knowledge to us. The duty is to learn it well and pass it on to the future generations. So the student should pay it forward by himself or herself teaching the same knowledge to the next generation. Of course, only a few people do that. But at least an ideal student must do that.

So now the student has become a teacher. Like that there is a succession of gurus. This is called guru parampara. This chain cannot be broken. In all the Hindu traditional rituals, it is customary to say the lineage of gurus or the guru parampara.
Whenever Hindus take a sankalpam where they state the decision and purpose of doing something they always say ‘I’m performing such and such as an instrument in the hands of my Guru by the order of my guru, Acharya PurataH. And then they read the guru parampara. ‘Asmad grubhyO namaH, Asmad parama gurubhyO NamH…’

The guru parampara varies from tradition to tradition. For example, in Vaishanava Tradition, Narayana Rishi, one of the twin sages nara and narayana is believed as first guru or Adi guru. In nath tradition Swamy dattatreya is believed to be the adiguru. Those are the starting points of the guru lineage.

Most Hindus regard sage Veda Vyasa as jagadguru, meaning, universal guru. He performed the highest task of compiling Veda and dividing the body into four (4) Vedas, Upanishads and also authored 18 puranas that clarify the principles mentioned in Vedas. After doing this extraordinary task he also wrote the epic Mahabharata and later authored 18 sub puranas or upa puranas. He taught all these to his students and sent them to propagate and preserve them well. That’s enormous service to humanity. That’s why we celebrate guru purnima on his birth day. Veda Vyasa was born on Ashadha Purnima, full moon day in the lunar month of Ashadha. It is also the day he completed brahms sutras, the aphorisms on Brahman. This is extraordinary and one of the most important works in Vedanta.

Beginning from today a lot of gurus undertake a diksha or an observation for 4 months called chaturmasyam. For these four months, they stay at one place without wandering anywhere, studying, teaching and discoursing.

Students pay their respects to their gurus. We, Indian don’t have Mother’s day and Father’s day, but we have a guru’s day and also another Teacher’s day, which I believe a public holiday in India. That is the respect the culture has placed on a Teacher because the teacher-student relations is so vital to the learning process.
It’s not just paying respect. Teachers and student get together to discuss the progress they made the past year and chalk down what can be done in the next year.
Efforts of Sri Anagha Datta Society are really commendable in organizing this guru purnima observation. I’m certain that this will uphold the spirit of teacher-student relationship for Calgarians. Calgary has a wonderful tradition of keeping the classical art forms vibrant and alive. I hope the spirit of guru purnima will flow high among the teachers and students of Calgary thereby enriching everyone’s life.

Seeds of Culture - Part II

2011-04-07T10:48:00.000-04:00

Isha: Upanishad defines the words Isha and Ishvara. It means one that controls from within. Usually a controller or a master is from outside, but this Isha controls everything, including the smallest of small to the largest of large, from within. The controller is imperceivable and the entity being controlled doesn’t even know that it is being controlled.

Since we are discussing Isha we might as well know the meaning of another word that is widely popular. In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna is referred by many names except Krishna. That is, you will never see ‘Krishna Uvacha’! Many a times he is referred to as ‘Hrisheekesha’. ‘Hrisheeka’ means the ‘Indriyas’ or the sensory faculties. We know the meaning of Isha already. Here Krishna is called the controller of all our sensory faculties from within.

Vasyam: We heard the word ‘vasu’ many times such as in ‘vasu deva’. Vasu means, one has everything in him and at the same time H/Se is inside everything.

Idagum: Whenever you say Idam it means, this phenomenal manifestation. Anything beyond ‘this’ is ‘that’ or in sanskrit, ‘tat’. So, ‘tat (that)’ is a name for the supreme being and ‘Idam (this)’ is a name of His (Her) manifestation.

Sarvam: all of this

Jagatyam: Jagat means something always on move. To change always, is the fundamental trait of this phenomenal world. Hence ‘This or idam’ is ever changing.

Notice the beauty here, the mantra doesn’t stop after saying ‘This’. It says, ‘This’ is ever changing. It further says ‘yat kim ca Jagatyam Jagat’, meaning everything that changes in ‘This’ ever changing world.

So ‘Ishavasyam .... Jagat’ means everything that changes in this ever changing phenomenal world is pervaded by that supreme controller and everything, at the same time, is in ‘That’.

Tena: Hence

Tyaktena: This word needs lot of clarification because there is so much misunderstanding around this word and its derived words, like ‘Tyaga’. Tyaktena can mean ‘with detachment’, ‘with sense of sacrifice’ , and/or the like terms. ‘to sacrifice’ some thing doesn’t mean that you just give away some material goods as in the case of money or wealth. It means, the thought of ownership should be given up. This is fully a notion, not a physical act! Of course, the notions do reflect in physical activities but the converse is seldom true!

If one thinks that, this is my money and I giving it away as charity, then that is not ‘Tyagam’. If the same act is done with the notion that, this money belongs to (and controlled by) the Isha and the so called my body and the other person’s body also belongs to (and controlled by) the same Isha; and the very act of giving is inspired by and the will of that Isha; thus giving a charity is changing an object from one hand of Isha to another hand (of Isha) by the will of Isha; then it becomes‘Tyagam’. Our left hand doesn’t think it is doing charity or sacrifice when it transfers an object to the right hand, does it?

It is easier said than done. Who will do that way? This is where one should pay close attention to the next word.

BhunjeethaH: Enjoy everything that comes rightfully to you or rightfully earned by you with the above notion.

Combined, ‘Tyaktena BhunjeethaH’ suggests that everyone should carry out their life, the activities, and enjoy their life to the fullest with the sense of ’Tyagam’ as mentioned above. When done this way, there is no room for all the malice we see everywhere in the world today. When you enjoy the life with this ‘tyaga’ sense there is no greed and any malice that derives from it.

Just to reconfirm, the mantra also says, ‘ma gridhaH kasyasvid dhanam’

ma: do not

Gridhah: steal or takeaway wrongfully

kasyasvid: anybody’s. It doesn’t mean just your neighbour or some one specific. No body’s means not even that belongs your own people. The range of this word is broad, it even means that do not misplace any thing - do not remove one that belongs in one place to put it elsewhere (like, bringing a monkey from the woods as a pet).

dhanam: It includes everything that can be owned. It could be money, happiness, peace, freedom or anything.

Meaning, do not covet anything that doesn’t belong to you.

Obviously, a good number of people don’t buy it or like to buy it. The present economic model of the world is based on greed - some super greeds are fed by micro greeds of many. This greed-fuelled machinery is the present economic factory. In Vedic times, in Indian subcontinent, societies were mainly agrarian. People worked hard and relied on nature. Now people stress out hard and break the nature. There are stark differences between the cultures spawned by these two different notions - namely act with a notion of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ vs Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’. The earlier one will have zero counts of conflict of interest while the latter will have, at the least, N(C)2 (N being the world population, to understand this idea better, read my other blog at http://panchangamblogs.blogspot.com/2009/08/paropakaarardham.html).

Coming back, the culture of a group is based on its basic set of notions and beliefs, but not in the way they dress, dine, and dance. The dressing and eating habits are mostly based on the geographical area the people live and the sources of food and many other factors. Of course, the food habits are also influenced by some of the basic beliefs and notions. For example, Indian do not eat as much meat and meat products as North Americans, primarily because the emphasis Indian culture places on the principle of ‘Ahimsa’ or non-violence. I will write about these aspects in the next part.

(To be continued...)

Gayatri Mantra

2011-03-19T08:46:00.000-04:00

Gayantam Trayate Yasmat Gayatri Iti Abhidheeyate. Meaning, one that protects by singing it - is called Gayatri. Gayatri mantra was extolled by countless gurus and sages since times immemorial for its potency and its beauty. Gayatri meditation is typically done during Sandhya (dawn, noon, and dusk) for thorough internal purification. Gayatri is used widely for purification, for example in pranayama and purifying food.

Do you know this immensely powerful mantra? Its meaning? Do you know why this mantra is so important?

I am offering a 3-hour workshop on Gayatri Mantra. Please attend the workshop on March 20th in Glemorgan Community Centre in Calgary to learn More.

Seeds of Indian Culture - Part 1

2010-11-07T13:41:00.000-05:00

For generations, India had inspired the whole world with its culture, religion, philosophy and, to some degree, with material wealth although India never considered material wealth as real wealth. In the modern world, India’s contribution in terms of wealth is not much if not, negligible, but in the past few centuries India denigrated so much culturally also. It’s quite urgent to remedy that and stop further denigration. Remedy should reach the gross root level, but it should and will start at the elite level and propagate into other levels. After all, this denigration began at the elite level when this class failed to practice its own dharma that eventually resulted in total failure of the system. I will stick to culture in this article and will not dwell much into dharma and other areas. Furthermore, I will stick to the Indian word for culture, i.e., samskriti, for reasons that will be evident soon.

Culture, per western thought, is often defined as 3 d’s. Dressing, Dining, and Dancing. Abandoning that definition is essential to appreciate this article. Furthermore, someone quoted humorously :

If one person commits a mistake at one time and in one place, then it is a mistake
If one person commits a mistake at multiple times and in multiple places, then it is a habit
If multiple people commit one mistake at multiple times and in multiple places, then it is a custom
If multiple people commit multiple mistakes at multiple times and in multiple places, then it is a culture.

We will abandon such thinking as well.

Then what is culture? Here is where I abandon the word culture and bring up samskriti.
Although dictionaries equate culture and samskriti, they are really not equal. samskriti means something that is well-done (samkyak kurvanti iti). samskriti is like a tree that grows from a seed. The seed here is a finite set of beliefs and values that spawn the entire tree of samskriti. This includes not only the 3-ds it also includes singing, arts, languages, customs, rituals, social interactions, personal lives and everything. So what is that seed for Indian samskriti? That is the main focus of this article. I will discuss a few such seeds all being equal (just to give multiple approaches) in this article.

First verse of Ishopanishad:

Mahatma Gandhi once stated, "If all the Upanishads and all the other scriptures happened all of a sudden to be reduced to ashes, and if only the first verse in the Ishopanishad were left in the memory of the Hindus, Hinduism would live for ever." Its no exaggeration! I believe every word of Gandhi’s assertion. Let’s see that verse.

“IshAvAsyamidagM sarvaM yatkiMca jagatyAM jagat
tEna tyaktEna bhunjeethaH ma gridhaH kasyasvit dhanam”.

ॐ ईशावास्यं इदगुं सर्वं यत किंच जगत्यां जगत |
तेन त्यक्तेन भुंजीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्वित धनं ||

The meaning of this mantra* might sound simple, but it’s the summary of the entire knowledge contained in vedas and Upanishads. In simple words it means: Whatever is there in this universe, all that is pervaded by the supreme being. Thus enjoy it with a sense of sacrifice and never covet anyone’s wealth. It’s no big deal with such a simplified translation. I will now discuss the meaning carefully with word-to-word attention.

(To be continued...)

*I am not calling it a verse as Gandhi called it. It is a mantra. Isha or Ishavasya upanishad is a mantropanishad. Its verses should be read like mantras.

Ayodhya Verdict

2010-09-30T15:58:00.000-04:00

Allahabad High Court gave the long awaited verdict today (Sept 30, 2010). The verdict divided the disputed land equally among three groups, namely, Hindus, Muslims, and Nirmohi (another Hindu sect). Both Hindus and Muslims announced of their intentions to re-appeal. I think this verdict is the best possible verdict on a long standing dispute like this, no matter how the parties like to haggle.

I like to support my claim that it is the best possible arrangement. Muslims must understand that their religion is alien to India. It is height of bluffing to pretend that Babar peacefully constructed a mosque with all good intentions and that too in a place unrelated to Hindu’s holy site. The mosque might have existed there since 1528 (Babar’s time). But a temple existed there for at the least thrice as many years before that mosque. All things being equal that site should belong to Hindus. You got this much of allowance so be reasonable. Don’t ruin your already ruined reputation further.

Some, so called, intellects divert the topic saying there is no proof that Rama is a historical character. Agreed. there is no proof! But who cares. Is there a proof that Hindu Rishis heard the Vedas from the Brahman? Is there a proof that Allah spoke to Mohammad? Is there a proof that Allah exists in the first place? These arguments are B/S and aimed at confusing people. This trying to make themselves look good and create some Tamasha. The character of Rama for Hindus is much more than an historical person. Stories of Rama and Sita have inspired generations of Hindus for thousands of years and shaped Hindus lives and History. They do that even in the recent times (remember Gandhi). If the story of Rama should be of no value to the intellects and secularist so should be Islam on any grounds let along on Indian grounds. That should be enough for them.

Hindus must understand that you are not those lucky people to walk freely away from the dispute. When the invaders destroyed Indian temples, Hindu ancestors were unable to protect what is valuable to them. True, many died. True, Hindus were harmless and they are defence less. They were occupied in their own petty deferences. They were lost in impractical dogmas. Now Hindus lost the chance. They can only be cautious and they can only collect the pieces and rebuild. The mosque is important for those Muslims continuing in India since the Babar’s time. Destroying a mosque that came into being for whatever reason hurts their feelings and they are our brothers now. You have to coexist in India with them. So you cannot ask them to simply walk away or terrify them. Practically speaking, you got two thirds of the land. After all, Rama doesn’t live in temples. He should live in your hearts. Adapt Rama’s way. Carry yourself in the path he showed. Adapt the patience of Sita, she forgave Ravana for 11 months even after repeatedly behaving in unforgivable ways. For now, accept this verdict and continue with your lives. Fill your lives with such character that is suitable for Hindus.

Upavasam

2010-09-08T15:21:00.000-04:00

‘Upavasam’ etymologically means ‘upa’= near and ‘vasam’= to stay. It means to stay near. Near what? Obviously, near the Divine. Thus Upavasam means to stay near the Divine. That Divinity could be anywhere, within ourselves, in a prayer room, or in a temple. Wrongly enough, Upavasam is often translated to and mistaken as fasting - complete or partial abstinence from eating and drinking. But fasting is different. Fasting is known as ‘asanam’, meaning abstinence from food. It is not Upavasam.

Complete fasting might reduce the body weight, but there are consequences [Fazel M. J R Soc. Med.1998; 91:260-263]. Consequences arise from the gastro-intestinal and endocrine systems. In that regard, a partial fasting is better than a complete fasting. Properly done partial fasting while reducing the calorie intake allows beneficial bodily adaptations and improves the efficiency of the bodily systems.

Staying just without eating anything is a form of self-inflicted suffering ‘Kritaka daridram’. According to the eternal (Sanatana) philosophy, this is simply the experience of a ‘prarabdha’, consequence of a previous bad karma. Those that ate without giving to others, either in this life or in a previous life, face this consequence of fasting, either by self-infliction or involuntarily. This applies to limited fasting as well. Overall, a mere fasting (‘asanam’), complete or partial, is only a self-inflicted punishment, an exhaustion of past bad karma and along the way there are some health benefits. On the other hand, Upavasam is much more than a simple exhaustion of past karma.

During Upavasam one is supposed to eat ‘sattvic’ foods (food that promotes calmness and piety) like milk and fruits, only as much as needed to maintain the body and the bodily functions and spend all the remaining time in penance. The penance could be in any form such as meditation, chanting, worship or listening to stories that promote the ‘sattvik’ qualities. When done this way, Upavasam not only brings about all the health benefits of a well-done fasting, it also destroys even more old bad karma and also adds new good karma. It allows for due reflection and improves self-control and a healthy mind set.

Mere fasting without penance cannot bring any of these positive changes. Moreover, as there is no check on the senses, you will be fighting the urge to eat and get tired by the end. At the end of the fast, you will have an exhausted and bruised mind and reerupting senses. As soon as the fasting is done, you will ingest copious amounts of sweets and other unnecessary foods. Ultimately, you will find that it is not working for you and become more averse to fasting thereafter.

Trying to repress the senses (‘indriyas’) without penance is highly dangerous. Because the repressed senses will surge back up with much greater force and we will be succumbed by their power. Thus doing Upavasam properly is not only essential for proper physical health but also for a healthy mind set and for any tangible beneficial effects.

12 Mile Coolie Hike

2010-07-05T11:36:00.000-04:00

This is a 6.2 km hike in the city of Calgary, yet takes you close to nature. It is beginner level hike.

location: < >

Take Tuscony Blvd Exit from Stoney

Take left on Tuscony Hills Rd

Immediate left on crescent. And another immediate left on to Mews. Park anywhere and trial is visible.

Canadian Healthcare is Better!?

2010-06-23T14:46:00.000-04:00

Canadians find their Free Healthcare System (so called) terrible. Since there is no free lunch, a free health care system does cost something - you pay more taxes and wait in long queues. And when you finally catch hold of a doctor, she is already in her way to meet her next patient. Perhaps this inaccessibility is good because it forces Canadians to take good care of their health, by eating good and exercising well - you know a balanced life.. blah blah blah. Another bright side is that there is someone else who make Canadians feel better in comparison, by trailing behind us in every respect except the quality of the care (they are last-but-one and we are the last, see recent report). In the list, although Canadians are faring poorly in all respects, they still seem to have long, healthy, and productive lives, whatever that means. Now suddenly, Canadian start feeling better by comparing themselves to their neighbours.

Depression and Addiction (casual document not cleaned up yet)

2010-06-19T13:23:00.000-04:00

Depression and Addiction are two sides of the same coin. Lack of feel-good factors lead to depression and addiction is a way to cope up with long-term depression.

“A distractive mind finds ways to keep distracted”. While distraction is a good way to revitalize the brain (brain actually doesn’t need rest, it just needs to get distracted time to time or shift focus from one to the other time to time). A mind that is not producing enough neuro transmitters such as serotonin need to distract more and more to revitalize itself. This starts the state of depression and slowly the brain will become addictive.

Ways to deal with it:

increase vitamin intake. Depressed people are low in essential vitamins such as B6, B12, iron etc. Consume lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. Some times these vitamins are low because of stress, decreased sleep etc. Do regular excersize to deal with stress and sleeping habbits.
eat food rich in omeag-3 fatty acids and anti oxidants. These help you better deal with stress.

If you experience crankiness, fatigue and mild depression, you may be able to boost your mood by changing what and when you eat. Here are some tips:

Eat approximately every four to five hours to provide your body with a constant source of fuel (energy) and nutrients.
Limit your intake of refined or “sugary” carbohydrates such as soda, candy, fruit juice, jam and syrup, which can create spikes (and drops) in your blood sugar.
Avoid white starchy foods (refined carbohydrates) like crackers, bagels and rice. They are metabolized into sugar quickly and cause the same effect on blood sugars as sweets.
Eat high-quality carbohydrates, such as vegetables, fruit, legumes, brown rice and oatmeal.
Consume soluble fiber-rich foods to slow down the absorption of sugar in your blood such as barley, apples, pears, strawberries, sweet potatoes and legumes.
Incorporate protein into each meal and snack to slow down the absorption of carbohydrates into your bloodstream, which will keep you energized, upbeat and productive longer.

Omega-3 fats to lift your mood

There are specific nutrients that may play a role in brain health. Some scientific research has supported the ability of omega-3 fats to be mood lifting and possibly alleviate depression.

Add foods rich in omega-3 fats to your diet, including oily fish (salmon, mackerel and sardines), ground flaxseeds, canola oil, walnuts and omega-3 fortified eggs.

Vitamins to normalize your mood

Studies have also shown that low blood levels of either of folate and vitamin B12 may be related to depression. These vitamins are believed to be used by the body to create serotonin, one of the key neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) that help normalize mood.

Consume foods rich in these vitamins such as fortified whole-grain cereals, dark green, leafy veggies, beans, oatmeal, beets, broccoli, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, oranges, shellfish, wild salmon, lean beef, cottage cheese, low-fat dairy and eggs.

Vitamin D might help relieve mood disorders because it seems to increase the amount of serotonin in your brain.

Foods rich in vitamin D include fish with bones, fat free/low-fat milk, fortified soy milk and egg yolks. Because vitamin D-rich foods are limited, make sure that your daily multivitamin provides 400 IU of vitamin D.

If you suffer from any mood disorder, it is important to follow your doctor’s treatment recommendations and if you experience serious anxiety and/or depression that stays or worsens, see your doctor for the proper diagnosis right away. Always speak with your physician before starting with supplements.

References:

“How food benefits mood.” BBC Health News, September 2002. Available online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2264529.stm.

“Fish oil Eases Depression.” WebMD Health News. Accessible online at: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/52/50229.htm.

Sulphur Spring Trail Hike 10-05-23

2010-05-28T17:54:00.000-04:00

You can see the map of Sulphur Springs Trail in the Kanaskis country. It is a beautiful 13 km hike, 275 m elevation, took about 4 hours to complete.

We had excellent guide Dan and Lowess both were professional hikers.

We drove to Station Flats (45 min from Calgary*), parked there to proceed for the hike.

* Drive Hwy-1 W take 22S exit and then access HWy 66.

Some photos:

Nobel Peace Prize Again

2009-10-09T09:05:00.004-04:00

Less than a couple of years ago, I was dismayed by the announcement of Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and so I expressed. I was somewhat criticized for suspecting the judgement of the Nobel people. Two years down the line, Nobel Peace Committee got me once again.

Well, the Peace Prize has the reputation of being a political prize rather than a 'real peace' prize. As a common man I don't know the exact criteria for the peace prize, but seems that the prize should be given to influential political figures who work toward reducing international conflicts in some vague sense. The peace prize always appeared to be a 'misnomer', this announcement is one extra shred of proof.

I don't have anything against Obama. I do like his policies and was swayed time to time by his charismatic speeches. I also like to believe that Obama has good intentions and would like to alter the way Washingtonians think. Other than that, he doesn't have any concrete results and no indication that his methods are bearing fruits. One thing he is advocating to do, but hasn't done yet, is to clean the crap from the Bushes - a good thing to do. He also want to reform the healthcare in US, but don't know whether it will improve anything yet. But how do all these things make him even a candidate for the prize, let alone the winner? Only the panel knows, I guess. Of course God knows it too.

One thing I always failed to understand is the Nobel concept of 'peace'. Nobel himself was a rich businessman who made tons of money by making explosives. He donated his explosive money to prize people working in the areas he liked - physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. He did have a flair for finances which made him a big industrialist selling explosives for profit, but nothing towards that end was coded into his will. It was a Swedish bank that went on instituting a prize for economics in his memory. Anyways, the Physics and Chemistry prizes live up to the reputation of world's most prestigious awards of excellence in those fields. Still it is not clear to me why these two closely related fields and not mathematics!? Well, it is his money and his will. Medicine prize stays up well, and, perhaps to some degree, the Literature prize does it too. But this Peace prize throws me off all the time. Probably I will never figure it out in my life-time, I guess, you need a Nobel mind to figure that out. So, I just give a hand for Obama, after all he is humbled (by this burden).

Paropakaarardham

2009-08-07T13:45:00.002-04:00

This is a famous saying by the great poet Kalidasa from Raghu Vamsham (one of the five great poems of Sanskrit). The saying goes - Paropakaaraardham idam sareeram' - this body is to help others. Lot of people reject this idea as Utopian, but I beg to defer. Here is my argument.

Let's assume that the cardinal principle of human life is to "cater for ones self". Now apply the rule equally to all humans. As an example, I will go to pick a bunch of oranges (for myself) to eat. Since I look for my best interest, I want to get a dozen for me to eat today and a hundred or so the rest of the following week. After all who knows whether there will be any left for tomorrow. When I got there, there are thousands of like-minded people at the farm. There are enough fruits for all the people to eat for today, but there aren't enough to meet the one-week demand. By the cardinal rule, everybody resorts to fight in order to take care of their individual interest. Soon, people were killing each other!!

As you can see in that example, in a community of 1000 people (say) the cardinal rule of "cater for yourself" gives at the least 1000 counts of conflict of interest. At the end, no one had their interest fulfilled. Such principle is self-violating!!

Let us now change the cardinal principle "cater for others". Now everyone at the farm are asking if everyone else got enough. Everyone's motto is to take care of the rest. Miraculously there is not a single count of conflict of interest. The group quickly arrived at the best solution and every one met their cardinal principle. Nobody got a hundred, but every one got food and every one is happy that everybody else did. So this principle is self-sustaining!!

This argument can be proved with mathematical induction!

Though "paropakaarardham..." is by Kalidasa, that is the fundamental principle by which wise people live their lives. The rest lead their lives by self-violating or self-destructing principles.

Democracy makes progress

2009-05-16T21:55:00.009-04:00

I was stunned by the election results this morning. I felt that the results were trying to tell something deep. My first reaction was a terrible disappointment. Later I felt, maybe I was too hasty. I will explain.

The first disappointing thing was that Congress got full majority. The second and the biggest was to find Lok Satta got only one seat with JP the only victor. However, it is understandable if we understand Andhra as Andhra, not as Alberta. Common man in that part of the world spends 90%, or even more, time in earning his meal. There is a small proportion of people who can save a few bucks after meal. And then there is a thin minority that do not have to do anything for food, it is just there for them and even much more than they ever need. Hence, the majority have no time to think of lofty ideals and clean politics. They spend probably a hand full of hours in the entire year, or even in the 5 year term, to think anything that has to do with their future, their kids' future and their kids'. They spend most of the time making ends meet. You cannot expect them to fully support those great ideals. They naturally drifted to some one who can give them a little support by giving out a few goodies. Of course the giver is not giving from his own pocket. They know that the goodie-giver takes for himself humungous chunks directly or indirectly, but they are willing to pay that price.

Once I understood that, it is really relieving to see how remarkably the comman man balanced the equations. There was surprisingly large popular vote that went to Lok Satta, although LS did not bag significant number of constituencies. Secondly, the voter appears to look for consistency in their future leaders. Those that were inconsistent and minced words, changed them on daily basis were shown the exit door. Even if the contestant is corrupt top to tow, they looked for a degree of consistency. Look, everyone is corrupt there! Those that are not, do not have anything other than strong morality. The voter must choose some one from a pool of corrupt leaders. They naturally opted the one who is at the least consistent, have some integrity (within the boundaries of corruption), one who doesn't shake too much, and one who speaks directly.

Sure, the comman man loves his little dream world, but only to forget his harsh reality briefly and to remind himself once in a while that he is alive. He knows that the dream world is a short lived one. So he pointed the vain glamour a fitting exit. There were some ignorant bunch who believed that dream world is for good, but it is well before long that dream is shattered by the hammering reality.

Overall, I feel that the collective decision of the people of Andhra Pradesh displayed sharp wisdom and made a subtle, but clever choice, given all the conditions. I think India, or at least Andhra, can use democracy appropriately, but it needs time. Lok satta should continue its efforts to make people understand, what they have lost by not thinking carefully about themselves and their surroundings, and more importantly what they can do to improve their conditions. It migh not be a day when democracy won, but it certainly is a day when democracy made progress.

The Bhakthi Drug

2009-04-27T12:36:00.004-04:00

Bhakthi is simply blissful, selfless, and overwhelming love towards God. Bhakthi Yoga is widely recognized as the one of the easiest paths to liberation. Certainly, much easier than Karma Yoga or Jnana Yoga. Krishna says in Gita, "Bhakthiman yah sa me priyah" - dear to me is the one with such a devotion. In a traditional setting, people don't question Bhakthi. It is simply good. But is it unconditionally good? I belong to a widely-practiced tradition of Bhakthi and know a thing or two about it, so I share a few original ideas here.

Bhakthi is love towards God. Like love itself, Bhakthi is pure madness. It leads the individual through a long mental practice to enter certain blissful conscious states where the individual feels oneness with the Omniprescence. In principle this is also oneness or indistinguishability between the individual and the fellow beings. It's is infact the ultimate goal of life and hence Bhakthi is a good thing.

Then historically, Bhakthi had promoted certain degree of sluggishness in sub-maximal Bhakthas, taking them away from rightful action. This left our nation and our culture in a great vulnerability to foriegn invasion and oppression. History is a testimony for that. These unfortunate events happened when Bhakthi movement was at its peak. During the Islamic invasions, several Bhakthas offered their lives at the invaders' swords without much resistence. Some even suggested that it was God's will. Sure did Krishna spoke highly of Bhakthi, but Arjuna still had to slay his kin and kith at the end of Gita lecture. Bhakthi should not result in Karma Sanyaasa, certianly not for the ones still plugged into the system. If Bhakthi takes one away from his/her Karma, then that is certainly not doing the job right.

Bhakthi should also be practiced in a group and should never be done in isolation. After all it is a Yoga. It is not one of those products you bring home, read instructions, and administer it yourself. Bhakthi practiced in isolation can make things illusionary and can take the individual away from the primary purpose - the oneness with every being - the very goal of Yoga. Some people practice Bhakthi is stagnant group. That is also dangerous, but perhaps not as dangerous as practicing in isolation. I think practicing Bhakthi without svaadhyaya (self study) and satsanga (group activity) is in general not advisable at all.

Although some careful practice is required, Bhakthi is a very good thing. People practicing Bhakthi, even very little, enjoy a lot of meaning and fullfillment in their lives than those completely truned away from it. Practicing Bhakthi everyday is like falling in love with someone a little bit every day. And that someone is God. It rejuvenates, it satisfies. The only difference between Bhakthi-love and worldly-love (to a lover) is that the Bhakthi-love goes in an upward curve and does not suffer any inevitable separation. Yet another perk for bhakthi-love is there is an unslakable longingness, 'viraha'. Viraha is very sweet! At times it is sweeter than the union with the object of yearning. In Bhakthi you enjoy the 'viraha sukham' all life-long. At the least! But the lurking danger is that you can be a 'Deva Das' all your life. Make sure you take the right dose at right time. Better yet, do right action at right time!

Mending our differences

2009-04-23T11:25:00.008-04:00

About a few years ago Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, the leader of the Lok Satta Party, felt that India is at the verge of a great political transformation and started Lok Satta party to facillitate that great change and to do his part of the pie. He expressed optimism that in the next 5 - 10 years, things will change and we Indians will have a clean, fair and just political system. He also represents to this optimism in a video interview with the Devil's Advocate in "People Who Matter".

I think JP is too optimistic! I am not that optimistic. Depressingly enough, many people aren't either. But I understand that changing some political institutions can bring the magic change. I think we, Indians, will not fit into the present outfit of democracy. The stressed out forebearers of our modern nation saw the white people wearing all-beautiful outfits, got delighted, and brought one home for ourselves. They stitched all the beautiful pieces, embroidary taken from France to Netherlands onto this foriegn outfit. And since then we are struggling to look good in that ridiculous thing. I am not exaggerating, belittling or far-stretching. This is exactly the condition of our constitution and our democracy today.

They simply assumed that we are exactly the same people as europeans or as every one else are. Even JP says so in his interview. "Indians are same as Americans, British or Germans". I will have to disagree with JP here. We might all have been made up of same materials and belong to one species but we are not the same. The great mistake all these so called visionaries starting from the Father of the Nation to the Child of the Nation make is that they ignore the influence of the environment and the culture. Sure we are all humans when compared to a different species, but this 'we are all human' complex is irrelevant when we compare between humans or between nations. The fact that we are humans matters only when we need to drop all our differences and unite species-wise, no when we are talking about Indian Economy, Poverty Index, or Space Race. In these matters every social difference matters.

We should wear and eat what suits us. You are a vegetarian for 30 years; you get upbeat with the idea of 'we are all human'; and go eat the big American Beef burger! What happens? You could end up in a hospital for few days for food poisoning. Your system just can't take it. You have to ingest it slowly over a period of time until your system get used it. The only difference with our democracy is, we are still getting hospitalized and God knows how long it takes for our system to get adjusted to these alien ideas. I am not saying democracy is alien to us, but the present system of India democracy is. Mark my words, if we continue on this self-ingestion of alien principles, give the system all the time it needs to adjust, we still can't reproduce American or British in India. You will only have a slightly modified, bruised India. India has been taking new ideas and assimilating them without much change to itself for a very long period of time, much much longer than any one life time. Trying to change India allover like America or British can not only be disastrous, it is simply impossible.

Having one process for all and one system for all, has never been a motto of India. Not even a single district in India has that characteristic. India is a collection of widely diverse groups holding to a fine thread of commonness. That fine thread of commonness is not really the feeling of Indian nationality. It is rather enveloped in a very small set of values and beliefs that spawned our entire philosophies, religions, and life styles. But unfortunately, these items of commonness have been disrupted in the past few centuries, thanks to the Muslims and Europeans. So if there is any common thread we must hang on to, that would only be the feeling of Indian Nationality, which is not quite common still. What India needs, and what India is, is the diversity. Today our political system is crying out to us to recognize that fact. We have a political party for each interest group and each social group. Diversity is the soul-blood of India, please don't take that away. Thank you. As long as we have the constitution that tries to take us away from our diversity or make us into one Indian, there is no hope of progressing as a country.

What India needs is decentralization. Not a nationalized police system, nor nationalized banks. We should let every smallest geographical region, every village, every town and every city to take care of itself. To become self-reliant. To have their own systems that work just fine for themselves. And then a way to integrate all these into a state-level or a nation-level system. If we want a raising India, we need a happy India. If we need a happy India we should not rob its soul from it. Our growth and development, and even our survival is in minding our differences and mending them appropriately, not in eliminating them. The differences come and go as a process of evolution. Too much intervention in the form of centralization and serious and hasty attempts to change system overnight only increase the differences and granulate us to extermination.

To make the right step in the right direction we need to design a new constitution that suits our character, that leaves our soul intact, that allows us grow freely and that allows us to walk the path of Satyam (True, yet Practical), Sivam (Auspicisous, yet Prosperous) Sundaram (Beautiful, yet Satisfying). On a hindsight, probably JP's optimism might help us to go that way.

నీ లీల పాడెద దేవా

2009-03-27T15:56:00.010-04:00

ప|| నీ లీల పాడెద దేవ
అ|| మనవి ఆలించ వేడెద దేవా
నను లాలించు మాపొద్దు దేవా ||నీ||

చ|| ఇందూర రాగంపు దేవా
దివ్య శృంగార భావంపు దేవా
మళ్ళీ చెలువాలు నిను కోరు నీవు రావా, ఎలమి ||నీ||

చ|| అనుపమ వరదాన శీలా (2)
వేగ కనిపించు కరుణాల వాలా, ఎలమి ||నీ||

స్వ|| సగమపని నీ..

నీ సనిదపమా గా మగరిసనీ పా నిసగమపా మగరిసా నిదమపా గరిని నీ....

సా, రిసా నిసరీ సా నినిసా పపనినిసా మమపపనినిసా గగస గగస నినిస పపని మమప గగమమపపనినిసస గరినిస నీ...

పానిద పమగరిసని సగాగ సగాగ సగమపగరిసని సగసా, నినిపా మమపా నీప నీప సాప నీపస నిద పమ గరి సగసా
గామపనిసా నిసగరి సరినీ 'సారిసనీ రీగరినీ సారిసనీ', గరినీ గరిగ నిరిగరి నిగరినీ, నిరిరి నిసస నిరిరి నిసస నిదపా, నీనిస ఆఁ...

రీనిస పానిమాప గామ 'పనిసరి' ఆఁ...

సానిపాని 'సారిసనీ సారిసనీ పానిపసా పానిపనీ మాపమ పానిప నీసనిసా'

'పానిపనీసనిసా' మా గా పా మా 'సారిసనీ నీసనిపా సారిసనీ సారిస సారిస సారిస' గా రీ 'గరిసనీ గరిసనిసా'

రీసనిదపా 'పమగరిసా' నిదపమ 'పమగరి' సగమప 'దపదపా' సనిగరి సనిద రీ 'సనిసా' గరీరిస నిదమపని ||నీ||...

మనసే అందాల బృందావనం

2009-03-27T11:02:00.010-04:00

ప|| మనసే అందాల బృందావనం
వేణు మాధవుని పేరే మధురామృతం
అ|| కమ్మని నగుమోము, కాంచుటే తొలి నోము (2)
కడగంటి చూపైన కడు పావనం

చ|| రాధను ఒక వంక లాలించునే, సత్య భామను మురిపాల తేలించునే (2)
మనసార నెరనమ్ము తనవారినీ ఆఁ....
కోటి మరులందు సుధలందు తనియించునే

మనసే అందాల బృందావనం.....
దని సస నిని దద, మద నిని దద మమ, గమ దద మమ గగ, సగ మమ గగ సస,
నిస, గస, మగ, సమ, ని.సమదనిసగ బృందావనం...

మా, దామగస, దా, మాదమగ, నీ, దానిదమ, గమ మద దని నిస,
ని.దామ, ద.మాగ, మ.గాస, సమదనిసగ బృందావనం...

సమగ, సగమ దని, గదమ, గమద నిస, మనిద, మదని సగ ఆఁ.. ||మ||

The Ultimate Truth!

2009-01-26T15:53:00.007-05:00

It is always important to discriminate between what is observed and what is interpreted. In Science, we always have to untangle what is actually observed from the properties of the instrument used to make that observation before interpreting anything. A good example is a thermometer. When there is an increase in temperature, what we actually observe is an increase in the length of the Mercury column in the thermometer. From that observation, we think backwards - since Mercury expands with increasing temperature, the temperature must have been increased to cause this increase in length. Hence we interpret the observation as an increase in the temperature of the thermometer surroundings. Similarly when the length of the Mercury column decreases, we will interpret that as temperature being dropped.

The volume change of mercury in the temperature range of daily life is pretty linear, so we are pretty confident about our interpretation. But can we say the same thing when water expands at the freezing point? Definitely not! Because we know that water expands, counter-intuitively (!), when it is cooled near the freezing point. Had we not known that and had we used water in the thermometer instead of mercury, could we interpret our results accurately? Definitely not! The theme here is, to make any interpretations, we are heavily dependent on the tools we use to make those observations. If we don't know the tool well our observations can be erroneous - like we could conclude that there was temperature increase while in actuality there was a drop.

Let's use this analogy to understand our own perception. Thermometer is a simple, linear, or a first-order system. But our perceptive organs, our eyes, ears etc. are of much higher order (5th order or greater) and much more complicated systems. Then how can we be sure of what we see and what we experience is what was actually out there? I could be feeling extra chilly, but it doesn't mean that the weather is cold - I could be having a bad fever that made me shiver even at room temperature!! In a different instance, when we had just finished some vigorous activity, the same room temperature would make us feel hot!! That means our body is experiencing the same thing differently in different scenarios based on the prior history.

To make it even more complicated, the interpreter, which is our brain, is even more complicated system. Not even 5% of the full functional scope of the brain has been charted. Then, wow will we trust the interpretations made by such an uncalibrated interpreter? When even a simple interpretation such as the temperature of the surrounding is such complicated, how can we interpret the reality around us objectively?

Let me describe a dream I had recently, the dream goes as follows:

"I was sitting on a chair next to a table with my blue coffee mug. Mohammad, a childhood buddy, comes by, sits in my next chair and admires at the blue mug. After some time, Rachel, a colleague, also comes by and makes a comment on the red mug I was holding. Yes, you got me right; she saw that mug was red! We argued about the color of the mug for a while and looked at it again. Interestingly, it was red, not blue! "

I woke from the dream and wondered – ‘what weird dream!’ I neither knew Mohammad nor Rachel. There were no common memories with these characters whatsoever, as appeared to be the case in the dream. The whole thing including the characters, the room, the table, the chairs, and the mug were all imagined by my mind. But I never realized the imaginary nature of the dream while dreaming; it was all real as long as the dream lasted. I realized it was a dream only after I woke up and remembered the dream and the reality prior to the dream. If I did not have any memory of the reality before the dream, would I be able to tell that I dreamed? Or if the memory of the dream itself was not there, would I be able tell that I dreamed?

During the entire dream, I was not aware that I came in to the dream's reality from a different reality. Such are majority of our dreams - we do not know while dreaming that it was dream, we think it is completely real. We can only tell after we wake up. Means only when we come out of that dream reality and enter into another wakeful reality that has been continuing from a point before the dream.

In that case, can we tell objectively that what we are seeing is the actual reality. The city I live or lived, my wife, my friends and my career - are they real or are they some sort of a sub-reality like a dream?

At a different time, I am in a beautiful palace watching the paintings. Harry, the manager of the palace, came by and admired the paintings in front of me. Does that mean the painting and Harry are real? Or could that all be my imagination – the whole palace, paintings, Harry and his remarks? Is there a way to tell that I am not imagining Einstein, Atom Bomb and George W. Bush? A Tom might come and say it is real because he also confirms the existence of Einstein, Atom Bomb and Bush. But who is telling whom? Who is listening? And who is convincing whom of what? I could be imagining Tom endorsing about those observations. At the end it can all be a dream like the mug – it is all my imagination. Is there a way to find out what is ultimately the reality? Is there a way I can ever realize what reality really is? Truly speaking, there is no way!

As long as I and the observer inside me are the same, then there is no way to tell about the objectivity of any reality. Everybody that comes and talks to me about the finances, politics or anything could all be my own imagination. If there is no I, then there is no concept of reality either.

Although the paradox is so cyclical, the very fact that this thought arouse, indicates that there is certainly one observer and one reality. That's all we can say with certainty! Anything else is uncertain and transient and hence not be Ultimate Truth! More concretely, the statement that there are two individuals in this universe is an Error! Similarly, the present life can be only be a sub- and transient reality like a dream or death. Hence reality of life is also an Erroneous thought! Multiplicity, life, dream and death are all true only momentarily. Hence they are not the Ultimate Truth!

NaamaRamayanam

2007-10-25T19:07:00.000-04:00

नाम रामायणम्

Naama Ramayanam is a narration of Ramayana by describing the major events of the story in an aphoristic manner. Each line ends with the name 'Ram', and hence the title Naama Ramayanam. This is meant to be a stotram, a prayer song. This poem is organized in to six Kandas or chapters in the same way as in Ramayana. Some prior familiarity with the story of Ramayana is expected. Note: You can see this better in IE.

The Bala Kanda (बाल काण्ड)

शुद्ध ब्रह्म परात्पर राम
Ram is the pure Brahman itself that is the supreme to supreme

कालात्मक परमेश्वर राम
Ram is the embodiment of the eternal time that supremely reigns over everything

शेष तल्प सुख निद्रित राम
Ram is in His yoga nidra on the eternal serpent Shesha

ब्रह्माद्यमरा प्रार्धित राम
Ram was prayed by Brahma and all the demigods (for rescue from Ravana)

चंड किरण कुल मन्डन राम
Ram takes birth in the Sun dynasty (surya vamsham)

श्रीमद्दश्ररथ नन्दन राम
Ram takes birth as the son of King Dasaratha

कौसल्या सुख वर्धन राम
Ram makes her mother Kausalya proud and happy

विस्वामित्र प्रियधन राम
Ram is the dearest wealth to sage Viswamitra

घोर ताटका घातक राम
Ram slays the demon Tataka

मारीचादि निपातक राम
Ram fells Mareecha and his followers (Mareecha survives)

कौश्रिक मख संरक्षक राम
Ram protects the ritual performed by Vishwamitra by guarding his ashram

श्रीमत अहल्योद्धारक राम

Ram uplifted Ahalya, the one cursed to become a boulder by her own husband, the Sage Gautama

गौतम मुनि सम्पूजित राम

Ram was duly worshipped by sage Gautama, who since cursing his wife had been repenting and waiting for Ahalya to be freed from that curse

सुरमुनि वरगण संस्तुत राम

Ram was praised by the demigods and sages after Ahalya had been released from the curse

नाविक धावित मृदु पद राम

Ram received a respectful ablution at his gentle feet from a childhood friend and a fisherman named Guha

मिथिला पुर जन मोदक राम

Ram was exhilarating to the citizens of the city Mithila where is goes for Swayamvaram of Sita

विदेह मानस रंजक राम

Ram elated the heart of Sita's father the king Janaka (the clan members of Janakas are known as Videha because their clan originated from the dead body of a king named Nimi)

त्र्यम्बक कार्मुक भंजक राम

Ram breaks the Lord Shiva's (also known as Tryambaka, the three-eyed one) bow

सीतार्पित वरमालिक राम

Ram receives the garland from Sita symbolizing that Sita chose Ram to her husband

कृत वैवाहिक कौतुक राम

Ram married Sita in solemn ceremony (called kautuka) after the swayam varam

भार्गव दर्प विनाशक राम

Ram destroys the pride of Parashuram (often called Bhargava, since he is born in Bhrigu's clan)

श्रीमदयोध्या पालक राम

Ram returns to Ayodhya and undertakes his princely duties

राम राम जय राजा राम

राम राम जय सीता राम

Victory for King Ram and victory for Sita

The landscape of after-life market

2007-10-25T17:16:00.000-04:00

The intention of this blog is to have some fun and sarcasm. In no way does this represent my actual religious ideology

Recently, I met a graduate student who argued with full conviction about why every non-Christian is banished to hell and how they can escape that fate by signing up an after-life deal. The deal, like every other business deal, is very simple. You provide your ID, in this case that would be your heart or soul and then sign the ‘terms and conditions’, in this case, it is your acceptance of Jesus as your savior. The deal asks you to do nothing afterwards, period. You just continue with your normal life. If you are interested and have time, spend few hours in listening to enlightened weekly chats in a nearby cathedral. Shake the hands of your neighbors, if you care. Curse the bad guys, if you can. Well, it sounds like a deal, but what other options do I have? A brief summary of a comparative study of 4 major religions, 2 western and 2 eastern is given here.

Pre-packaged after-life deals are not a new phenomenon. Every organized faith offers such deals. While eastern deals are very old and out-dated, western deals are innovative and keep up with the changing needs. The actual benefits offered for the loyal patronage differ widely but there is an unmistakable influence of the contemporary culture and expectations when these deals were born. For example: the Islamic heaven (the territory where after-life of Muslims will be spent) has lots of oases, unlimited supply of virgin women and perennial rivers of wine and a few divine camels are not completely ruled out. Christian heaven allows you to farm, to tend cattle, to drink fine wines, and they have lots and lots of bright light. Eastern (Hindu and Buddhist) heavens also contain a variety of sensual pleasures, food to bed. While western heavens and hells are very specific, eastern counterparts are less-specific and virtually unlimited. There are thousands, if not millions, of theme-heavens and theme-hells each offering variety of pleasures and pains.

The bottom-line is these pre-packaged deals require you to DO a set of prescribed things and NOT TO DO another set of prohibited things. Western religions assure that a failure to accept their faith as the ultimate truth or a failure to do things from the prescription will automatically results in some sort of a judiciary trial followed by severe and irrevocable punishments duly enforced upon the conviction. Eastern religions are not so sure about such things. In contrast to the western religions, the after-life of eastern religions is not permanent - the benefits or punishments expire after a certain amount of usage equivalent to a dollar amount (good cash or bad cash) that was earned in the present-life. So, it is not like, you sign it and enjoy it forever, but it is like, you earn a certain quantity of a particular type of benefits and you spend it. When ran out of the cash you return to earth and start over.

When Muslims entered this market about 14 centuries ago, they offered outrageous promotions. A popular one, one ongoing even today is: after you sign your agreement you go ahead and ravage the patrons of other organizations and take the loot all for yourself. No questions will be asked. As a token of appreciation of that fine camaraderie free coupons for virgin women and wine will be given in the after-life for an unlimited period of time. Of course, the number of people taking advantage of this lucrative deal became limited now due to the risk of being branded as terrorists in the present-life. They also figured out early on that raising the switching costs (a death penalty) is a great idea to retain patrons.

This business is often called as soul-harvesting business. The top two western players conflict with each other most of the times. Sometimes it becomes important for these players to engage in negative campaign on the other side besides campaigning positively for their side. These negative campaigns sometimes become gory. Unfortunately the field of soul-harvesting is not level. For some reason, Hindus and Buddhist always play the game with their hands tied in the back. They just play it disinterestedly and don’t care much if they loose.

The distribution channels, access networks and a dedicated sales & marketing team are always important in any business. Capitalistic western minds realized this fact at a very early stage and got a head start on that front long before any body could step in. Like an old merchant relying upon conventional business wisdom, Hindus continue to loose. They don’t make their methods relevant to the times, don’t improve their products, don’t even brush up their basics well and even if they do, their fundamentals are too complex that their own members have hard time understanding. They are totally hopeless on marketing side. They add no new members but maintain a steady rate of loss. They don’t even have a mechanism to add new members and all their products are for existing members only. But they don’t seem to care much.

Hindu and Buddhist contracts are non-renewable but you have unlimited number of second chances. On the other hand, Christian and Islamic contracts are perpetual so, understandably, there are no second chances. Based on this information, one must be really complicated or clueless to remain as patrons of the eastern religions. The cost-benefit analysis is simple and not complicated − the western religions simply win in the soul-harvesting business.

Somebody asked, what is the meaning of a perpetual after-life in the western religions? I mean, won’t the person get bored doing same things over and over with no end in sight. It is too much of peace. Won’t people loose fun when there is little spice? The relief comes right away. Some people think that there will be a war between the forces of heaven and forces of the non-heaven or the hell. In simplistic terms, for example, the after-lifers of Christian faith will fight a battle with the after-lifers of all its competitors. Every one knows the end result of such battle. Now comes, the tricky question, what happens to those people who have already signed the perpetual after-life agreement and die fighting for their side in that war? I mean what is after-life of these after-lifers? What is their ‘after-after-life’ situation?

And that is ‘A Good Question’! Nobody thought that far yet.

BhavayamiGopalaBalam

2007-10-12T20:20:00.001-04:00

भावयामि
I am (always) imagining (or meditating upon) …

गोपाल बालम
The cowherd boy (krishna),

मनः सेवितं, तत्पदं,
the one worshipped at the heart, and
His lotus feet,

चिन्तयेयं सदा
always pray to (such) Him

चरणं 1
(I am imagining….)
कटि घटित मेखला खचित मणि घंटिका पटल निनदेन विभ्राजमानं
The one with the glorious jingles emanating from the gem studded bell-ornament around his waist

कुटिल पद घटित संकुल सिञ्जिते नतं
The one who is sprinkling his sight all over (or the incoherent shake in the tip of the peacock feather in his crown) due to the sharp movement of his feet (while dancing)

चटुल नटना समुज्ज्वल विलासं
The one who is reveling in a sparking (cosmic !?) dance

चरणं 2
(I am imagining…।)

निरत कर कलित नवनीतं
The one whose hands are always filled with butter

ब्रह्मादि सुर निकर भावना शोंभित पदं
The one whose abode is grasped only by meditation even to the Gods like Brahma

तिरुवेँकटाचल स्थितं
The one who sits atop the tiruvenkatachalam

अनुपमं
The Uncomparable one

हरिं
The Hari

परम पुरुषं
The Supreme Being

गोपाल बालं
The cowherd boy

Pea(ie)ce prize

2007-10-12T10:57:00.000-04:00

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to learn about the Nobel Peace Prize. An American friend of mine, also expressed her surprise, she thought that the Nobel Peace Prize is for people signing treaties. She almost felt that, Gore signed a secret treaty! I assured her that was not the case, and that he received it for making a good movie. She was even more surprised that the Peace Prize can be awarded for movies. Imagine how baffled the Republicans would be. It must have thrown them completely off, for in their view, the peace prize should have been awarded to someone like G.W. Bush for his efforts in curbing the so called WMDs. I personally would not be surprised at all, if the prize were awarded jointly to Bush and the Iraqi prime minister or even to a combination of Bin Laden and Bush , because that would have been consistent with the history of Nobel Peace Prize.

One thing for sure, the definition of Nobel Peace and the definition of World Peace are two different things. In terms of meaningfulness, the Nobel Peace Prize often sits at the opposite extreme of the Nobel Prize in Physics or in Medicine, although, the prize money (reputation, as well) is almost the same. I think the Nobel Peace Committee is making some effort to understand the meaning of the word ‘peace’, or at least giving such impression to the world. Previously they implied that, signing treaties would be followed by treats, but now they seem to indicate that encouraging others to look around would attract treats. Nonetheless, the Peace prize was distributed in pieces, as it has been done most of the times. Although, the peace prize is broken in to pieces, the peace remains intact. I guess, the word ‘peace’ is a very complicated word, and people may take ages to understand this word. It is not as simple as Physics or Medicine, you know! So, I guess I understand why the Nobel Peace Committee did what they have been doing. I will not be surprised at all, even if they take another 100 years to figure out what peace really means. Meanwhile, we shall stay tuned to what all Al Gore and IPCC have to say, because there is some truth in it, however inconvenient it is.