Maha-maya

A portion of 'The Matrix’ movie script:

"…
Neo: Right now we're inside a computer program?
Morpheus: Is it really so hard to believe? Your clothes are different. The plugs in your arms and head are gone. Your hair is changed. Your appearance now is what we call residual self image. It is the mental projection of your digital self.
Neo: This...this isn't real?
Morpheus: What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. This is the world that you know. The world as it was at the end of the twentieth century. It exists now only as part of a neural-interactive simulation that we call the Matrix. You've been living in a dream world, Neo
…
"

Coming to think of it, what is reality? Is what we see real? What if our eyes are deceiving us? What if the color of this wall is not white but something else that our human eyes cannot register? Does Bats see it better because they do not see light but see sound! Bonzu the dog's vision is blurred where it is two dimensional. He cannot see photographs or watch television, but sometimes barks at nothingness....ghosts?
So who can see really? Us or them? I read once that cats see in black & white, so is that the real reality of the world? Are our eyes distracting our real vision of reality with 'unreal' color?
Elephants can hear sounds that are on one extreme end of the sound spectrum; Bloodhounds and bears can sniff out their objectives many tens of miles away. We cannot. So are we incomplete in our concept of reality?


Now read this para about solidity by Deepak Chopra:

"...
At a deeper level, there is really no boundary between ourselves and everything else in the world. When you touch an object, it feels solid, as though there was a distinct boundary between it and you. Physicists would say that we experience that boundary as solid because everything is made up of atoms, and the solidity is the sense of atoms bumping against atoms. But consider what an atom is. An atom has a little nucleus with a large cloud of electrons around it. There is no rigid outer shell, just an electron cloud. To visualize this, imagine a peanut in the middle of a football stadium. The peanut represents the nucleus, and the stadium represents the size of the electron cloud around the nucleus. When we touch an object, we perceive solidity when the clouds of electrons meet. That is our interpretation of solidity, given the sensitivity (or relative insensitivity) of our senses.
..."

So we perceive solidity wherever we 'feel' a force-field AND when we 'see' there is something to touch?

Sense organs scan the surroundings and send the information, within their limit ranges, to the brain which then create the experience of the world around. How are we to know that this experience is the right one? Are our instruments of reality sensors ineffective or inadequate? Was this a deliberation or isn’t there anything called reality?

Are we dreaming?! Are we living in a (virtual) reality that is only a generation by our brains?

Are we blind and sizing up the elephant?!

A buoy in the water

Pai spent what seemed like ages on a sail-less (row-less & motor-less) boat floating helplessly in the expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Though he had initially thanked all the stars for providing him with the presence of mind to run for the safety boats while the ship was tilting, he now curses all the gods for putting him through this misery of slow death. The safety boat, that he is on, moves very slowly only with the little movement on the ocean surface. The boat seems almost still. Pai wishes that the relentless sun would at least fry-off his noisy brains at least. Severely dehydrated, hungry, sun-burned and hallucinating, he contemplates suicide. He once jumped out of the boat to drown himself only to instinctively swim and pull himself back in…curses his father for teaching him to swim when he was six. His father had taught him never to give up in life.

After a few more miserable days: He sees something on the surface. He was just able to sit upright only because his thirst was quenched by a drizzle that blessed his boat’s location a few hours ago. What’s on the ocean surface is flotsam…a piece of tarpaulin…a sail! It’s what was lost of the safety boat in the violent drop into the water. This will certainly help the boat move at least in some direction. Something is better than nothing. Some progress is better than being stationary. Pai realizes that it is coincidental that the sail & boat crossed (in the least of probabilities…considering the sheer expanse of the ocean area). There should be some surface current carrying what floats towards a particular direction. This current carried the boat and sail in the same direction.

[After a few more weeks] Pai was sure the boat is moving now; but was it still in circles….towards nowhere? Pai could make out the difference in the water color and the surface choppiness. Wondered where the hell in the world he was, was he near land? He could see nothing in the horizon except water. He was starting to give up hope.

[After a few days (?)] He was sleeping too much the last couple of days, so was up when the first lights came up the horizon. Pai almost sees something and then it disappears. Was it hallucination? Whatever it was that's his only glimmer of hope, he has to try and reach whatever it is. Energy explodes into his being and he tries his best to use the sail to direct the boat faster towards that possibility. Occasionally he uses his hands as row. After what seems like an eternity, he sees it clearly this time…on the horizon…it's a top of a coconut tree! Thrilled and now brimming with optimism we works as an athlete would. As luck has it one of the rows, that was also lost earlier in the violent fall, is also found floating...this is too much of a coincidence, does the ocean have intelligence? He picks it up and put it to use like a man driven by a vision.

Pai has to reach close enough to bring himself to the notice of the few people on the island. He gets the feeling they would soon leave on the yacht anchored close. He shouts, waves and beats the water frantically with the row until one of them finally sees him. He is saved ! And he praises his stars repeatedly for getting him back to civilization.

 

Musings: Life is meaningful in pursuit, else it is like a flotsam

Self-Imprisonment

Maintaining the quality of the relationships within one’s network maybe quite useful. Not really for altruistic reasons, but useful for at least one’s own good living. The better the relationship maintenance coupled with the depth of one’s reach within their network, the better it is for one’s own quality of life; while it may be not presently the situation then definitely in good time. By reach I meant one’s network being as big as possible. Knowing more people and keeping good relationships certainly helps in generating ‘good luck’ – opportunities for better life/helping hand/good fortune etc. In short, it pays to have a high likeability quotient.

It can also be said that doing the opposite can provide the negative results too. This is clearly apparent with individuals who are generally bashful, inconsiderate to the people around them, with few friends and/or pessimistic to life itself.


I know of a fortunate yet unfortunate person; a very experienced yet immature person; an educated yet ignorant person. Hmmmm…aren’t we all this way?

Fortunate I say because at the time I began closely observing this person he seemed to get the best things in life very easily while the majority of us had to struggle very hard for the same. Some of us had agreed then that he is in the right place at the right time. He earned in tons, got his way in situations, everybody knew him and used to command the steering wheel of life. That would make him wealthy, successful and famous in our envious eyes.

Unfortunate I say because nobody actually likes him. At least nobody that I know who also knows him. The person I am talking about, to say the least, is arrogant, a corporate bully, extremely manipulative, irritatingly talkative and flamboyantly egoistic. And the worse part: his act in life (in landmark education terms :-) ) is “I am right and all the useless rest of you are wrong”. Yup it’s hard to change him. The guy never listens and he adamantly believes he is right. in fact he once adviced me: “Making enemies is the norm in a successful corporate career. What’s wrong?”

How long can the stray good fortune go on for people like this? And here is my observation.

Like the person mentioned above, when one start the interesting phases of life (like career) they are in a space like the white space in the box. The space can be as big as the box boundaries. So many possibilities in life, so many opportunities, endless vistas and there is excitement.

Naturally, very soon one would encounter a problem: an obstacle in their way in the white space. For the kind of individual like the above person, the problem would almost always be a relationship issue. The momentum in excitement and confidence would not allow the individual to bow down. And if not resolved one creates a virtual fence. A fence that cuts that leg of our relationship network; that limits the opportunities in one’s life from that network; that which is only an interference to the positive opinion signal across the relationship network; in the macro level, limits our luck factor. "But so what?! Who the hell needs that relationship anyway? One has the rest of the space around it for life." So, the haughty one go ahead in full steam.

What next? The attitude lands one in yet another problem in life. Promptly he creates another fence for himself.

“Bah! Just another fence in the infinite space. The opportunities are endless.”

 

And a few years later …

Guess what are loud taglines at this junctures:
“Life is this way, it sucks” ,
“Shit happens”,
“Everyone is a fool”,
“I don’t need anybody”,
“Who needs friends anyway”, “What good they bring?”,
“You know my child, I have learnt not to trust anybody in life”

Slowing down

One perspective to the Recession:

 

This is a corrective phase...correcting the collective greed that was prevalent during the bulldozing and hyped-up economic situation that was before.

The corrective intensity is directly proportional to the amount of collective greed (conscious or subconscious) that was prevalent in the earlier period.

Its victims are individuals and the systems that surfed the greed wave. But the 'corrected' would be the individuals or systems that totally disregarded, in order to achieve their selfish needs, either the connection to the basic principles (ethics) or the connection with the grassroots(ordinary people).

 

If there will be no learning or change the recession will visit again. It is relentless and ruthless.

A new order and learning has to come out of every such phase.

A recession can also be within the personal scheme of things and this personal phase need not have anything to do with the outside world scenario.

तत् त्वम् असि

Who am I?

The landmark education series evangelizes of one’s life being something of ‘the act’ that one puts on. This act is defined quite early in one's life and then reinforced over the formative years. The rest of one’s life is nothing but the play of this act and one would never realize this fact ever!

But why this act in the first place?

What forms my identity?

Using a familiar model, the relationships-network model, one could try simplify: this model has the all-familiar node-circles for entities (persons/individuals) and linking-lines for relationships associated with a particular entity. In this way one can draw the web (of relationships) centered on an entity (person).

•  Imagine yourself as the center node
• Spikes (links) out of this node in all directions equivalent to the number of people you know
• Link the end of these spikes with other nodes (people you know). Everyone you know: directly or indirectly; know a bit or know a whole lot; Love or hate et cetera. It would be fun to know how many nodes you are linked to.
• Continue to build the auras of spikes around these linking nodes (of people you know) also. Yes, you share some of their links too (common friends, relatives). But definitely some of their links you may have no connection to (friend’s friend).
• If anyone could complete this web with all the people on earth, we could find out if the six degrees of separation concept is really true ;) And with facebook very soon this visualization may soon be a reality.

Yep, and if one can finish it or at least visualize it, no matter how isolated you are (or think you are or have made yourself to be) you still end up with a complicated circle of connections. No escaping this. Sales people know this fact very well: studies have shown that opportunities in life (some call this luck) is directly proportional to the number of links one maintains … maintain positively though. I also read somewhere: life is all about the quality of relationships (the solid links) one maintains.

Even with common sense, we all know our networks are important.

So how does this model make my identity?

Let there be a new node somewhere in the web: the newborn Adam who is with no links flowing out of him. But his surrounding links: parents, siblings, grandparents etc. would impose upon this infant node their version of the ‘to be’ of this identity. And the rest of the web (environment) also will not leave this infant-node free-spirited; they reinforce their expectations and continue to mould the clay that is Adam’s identity. This ‘to be’ impress is the genesis of little Adam’s identity.

The superset network is one big living entity and therefore theoretically the intent to create this particular Adam with this particular identity was ‘destined’.

 

The nodes in the web eventfully trigger information to propagate through each of its links and thus across the network … like a ripple. Like if you have just won yourself a lottery everyone you know will know soon. If you just got fired from your job everyone would know … sooner or later. If you just started your own venture everyone around you would know and appreciate. Everyone you know would also know as soon as your company goes bust. If you are accused of murder, everyone you know and a lot more in the bigger network will label you a murderer. If you are good at something, this propagates as part of your definition (identity) through the network. In short, we continuously declare our identity (Who am I? actively or passively) through the networks. Net-worked!

Propagation and/or broadcast of something new or something unapparent/unconvincing with a node (like the declaration that ‘I am not crazy’) is matched with high impedance within the network. Trying to be something or someone is therefore tougher and tiring than just being.

 

The Network also reinforces back to each node what the network’s definition of the node (Who you are?) is (or was), reminding of each node of its place (and limitations) in the network. The network has memory; the node’s past is collectively stored in one or more of the link nodes. The network continues to tell you back things like : one are not good enough; one has failed in the past; you are bonkers; you can do it; you are the child of Mr. XYZ and so it is expected of you; Humans can’t fly etc. etc.

 

In short, the network continuously also limits us to what we are, reminds one of whom one is and expects of what is supposed to be. With this reiterations one’s future (in the network scheme of things) is also more or less predictable….or destined.

Negatively speaking, our lives are trapped in this net!

The Ugly side

Cultured, humane, civilized and chosen even are we human beings while the rest of the beings are ‘animals’. Or are we ... yet?

The Homo sapiens, like any other in the animal kingdom, have always been competing for survival. Competing with other animals and competing with similar animals. It was instinctual for our shaggy forefather apes hunt, fight, kill and procreate on a regular basis. Over the million years, this allowed the survival of the fittest and the survival of the species.

 Showing-off strength, reinforcing dominance and being ruthless were very important (especially masculine) human traits … to ensure survival. If not: one could go hungry, get hurt, lose their breeding partner or worse lose their life. So back in the Stone ages: One would kill & hunt when one wished; grabbed thy neighbour's food or partner if need be or just kill if one didn't like that jerk. So in a way life was quite ‘simple’ cause and effect J

A little later in history: larger groups of humans, called communities, slightly changed the scene for the greater good. They enforced certain norms to maintain order within. But an individual’s violent side was quite useful; very frequently in the still tough and wild times.

Forward thousands of years: civilizations had sprung up and died; cities and societal-structures increased in complexity; generally security had greatly improved but only within the cloud of a kingdom but the violent-side of Homo sapiens was still active. How can what was conditioned over a million-year be reversed in a shorter time? The species just found new ways to keep alive the animistic subconscious of the past. Why else should there have been invasions, plunder, imperialism, tortures, roman-circuses, wars, inquisitions, genocides, apartheid and orgies? These are manifestations of the instincts of dominance, hunt, greed and competition … but with only more ‘civilized’ labels. Even sport is but a non-violent release for human violent-side!

Enter the space age: We look back to see how far we have come. From shaggy bent apes to the hairless, straight and obese Homo sapiens. Food and personal security is at its best ever. Violence is a trait relegated to savages. The kings are dead; Democracy and citizen-rights are the new religions. We have progressed and civilized a lot ... but only externally. Internally still not far away.

The unfortunate side of these new-world paradigms is that it acts like cages. The time-span, across many millenniums since being ‘civilized’, has still not liberated us from our urges but rather only suffocated them in more claustrophobic mental cages. And so we keep alive our forefathers’ cravings: Carving for all things material (we never had enough) and craving for power (the shortcut to control the others). We are still not cleared off from the scars from the past. Behavioral patterns forged over time by our forefathers still lie dormant (until piqued) in our sub-consciousness’.

The animal instincts from that very difficult past have not erased from the centuries of civilizing but only make us behave or act in very odd ways. Sometimes this programming from the past can manifest within an individual in very anti-social ways. Actually one shouldn't be surprised by the horrific reports of physical abuse, gang-wars, rapes, and psychopathic murders etc. that continue to this day. One could argue that these heinous crimes are not committed by us but some minority others. Yes true, they are committed by the ‘active-program’ runners (the violent-side resurfacing) only.

The rest of us passive runners only read or watch...while somebody else is doing it! Ever wondered why the newspapers and news channels gives all the obscene or disgusting details? It is because the public ‘need’ or rather demand for it. Movies enable us to (at least) watch simulated violence and perversion. Why is pornography so in vogue? Because it sells! Pornography gives us the option of relishing on ANY sexual perversion you can possibly think off without the guilt of actually performing it! Wondered why there were so many cabaret dances and rape scenes in Indian cinemas? Same reason: We wanted it!

And what are these reality shows after all? They are nothing but entertainment drawn from the exposure of the ‘normal life’ of people (mostly celebrities). And by the normal we mean to expose of the people’s vulnerability to the dark side … in real time: greed, lust, power, desperation etc.

Take the other example of the competition shows littering the channels. It is all about dominance again. C-O-N-T-R-O-L, as if the judges decide somebody’s fate or career. And what is it that we the audiences are most interested in here? Not the gleam on the faces of who wins but the defeat on the faces of who is out! A funny side of these types of shows is that the sponsors almost always manage to get judges who are third-grade in that particular field of expertise :-)

 

 

Consider simple everyday things as a joke: realize that almost always a joke is centered on putting down one of the characters in the joke! Belittle, embarrass or ridicule. Funny isn’t it? Ever wondered why we crack jokes and laugh in the first place? It is our way of expressing our own superiority over the other. Baring teeth (while we laugh) is common in the animal kingdom also … for the same reason!

Technolo-ch'i

Economists, Financial Analysts, Statisticians, Demographers, Climatologists, Astrologers and of course Business consultants do this all the time...Assume (make an ASS out of U and ME) and then predict the future. The whole world eagerly wait to eat up what they are about to vomit; ultimately sending economies to recession, share prices berserk, dumb public to panic, create new trends, countries to war and people generally direction less.
Another observation is surprisingly we do not challenge these predictors when their advices, which are almost always wrong, don't work. Obelix comments 'People are crazy'.
 

I have a few armchair (ass-at-rest) predictions too ... without any assumptions. They are so obvious that I am sure that I am safe :-)

• In a few decades, we will have dumb terminals hooked to the one big server: 'The Web'. No more operating Systems, no more pirated MS-Office, no more installation CDs & drivers and no more Hard disks. So we will see the end of the 'Personal' Computer.
• Many customers will realize that the entities: computers, automation, software, hardware and consultants had taken them for a ride. The implementation wizard was a lie, Business never improved, processes never got streamlined, the softwares were not easy to use, it was neither adaptive nor flexible and Total Cost of Ownership was always high. They will feel cheated and will seriously challenge the sales of the then software houses.
• The Age of custom developments and in-house software will return.
• Technology changed so fast but not its acceptance! Customers (sometimes excluding the IT manager) still don't understand whats ERP, Business Intelligence, work flow and pervasive technology. These concepts were too futuristic for today but they will sell tomorrow.
• Like the electronics industry the world will then have just a few big software giants. The minnows will either be swallowed by the giants or will perish.
• Entrepreneurs and software houses will then stop developing out-of-the-world and way-over-the-head applications but instead will pursue the development of very basic databases, integrative applications and infrastructures for the web.

Anyone dare challenge these? ;-)

Narcissist Era

George Romero should be smiling at the way the world is progressing or rather regressing. The situation now is almost like in one of his creations: it is hell on earth. Though a fan of horror flix, I first watched one of his zombie movies with a sense of disgust; I thought: whose perverted imagination is this? But in 2004 when I watched one of the most mind-troubling movies I have seen, Dawn of the Dead *, I realized! The seemingly nonsensical theme turned interesting, as I was able to sync with its creator's mind.

Maybe the concept of the Kaliyug is right; it seems everyone (not excluding myself) is now vehemently only after money, power, respect and recognition.

• We want money to be able to indulge and to buy respect
• We want to control but not to be controlled
• We want to covet, we covet and want to be coveted.

Unfortunately the motivators and their liners have only added feul to the raging fire: the "Just do it", "I make the rules", "Do whatever" and "Go get it" attitude we have imbibed from the environment around us has only fostered self-centeredness and ruthlessness.

If that’s on one end what’s happening at the other?

One does not not see much morality prevailing anywhere let alone spirituality. Not even in the new-age reformists/apostles let alone the traditionalists. Faith is lost, distrust is in.

As if it isnt chaos already out there we are all also becoming like the zombies, infected by the majority around us. Hope in the near future is bleak but some serious damage to mankind is probable. Detachment seems like the only prevention from insanity; Surfing the chaotic waves seems like the only way to live.

On the bright side, everything that has a beginning has an end. Epidemics, slowdowns, fads et al should eventually dip. At least thats what Malcolm Gladwell’s and Steve Levitt’s books infers so. Such situations cannot be last but that they can do a lot of damage before they subside. Fungi colonies (watch them on rotting food) are like these. They spread/multiply and grow astonishingly fast. But one fine morning they seem to disappear. The most common reason for this sudden disappearing act is that the very base on which they grew got transformed. Sad thing is this will take some time in such a world situation.

 

* The apocalyptic feeling and the hopelessness portrayed in the film were too nightmarish for me. To top it all, in the theatre seat I forced to sit put while I was being bitten and sucked blood off…. all over my body by bugs :-)

Spiritual Zombie

The title makes no sense and so does the ‘faiths’ of the times. Not targeting the mushrooming Christian evangelist sects alone, which of course am not in agreement with. It is widely known that the situation in other religious streams are not any soulful. But it’s always easier and accepted to criticize one’s own.

There is no faith left, religions have become redundant. Church seems like a mass drama. The clergy is looked upon like a bunch of clowns. To 'save’ mankind from these deteriorating religions and the chocking intra-religion politics, we have now even more Preachers, Pastors, Philosophers and Priests. Not over: blind fundamentalists, bigots and fanatics; the noise from their rallies, media channels and conventions; their littering posters, pamphlets and banners; and their chauvinism, persuasiveness and narrow-minded reasoning.

I suggest one does some introspection and a course in spirituality before looking for these new-age quick fixes. To start with read H.G. Well’s book 'Country of the Blind’. The work gives insight into the difference between religion and spirituality.

Spirituality and faith, I feel, are very personal things and are not other peoples’ business. Spirituality is one’s journey to find the truth. Religion, on the other hand, is like a generic ‘template’ for spirituality, which suffices for some for whom habits and routines are powerful enough to transform. But for many this approach with spirituality is evidently ineffective. Then religion becomes only the hinderance to salvation and a mask one puts on for identity.

My stand: There are as many paths for spirituality as there are the numbers of humans!

One savior or prophet or church may not be the only way. Religion is but ONE path for spirituality and on the flip side it breed can chauvinism. The act of persuading another to spiritually think/act alike is as stupid as persuading another to like one’s favorite foods.

The Hubulkok Effect

The hubulkok is a colourful bird. It travels a long distance, on an instinctive route, to mate and nest. En route this long flight, only some 700 kilometers before touch down, it passes over the hot and sunny beaches near the Great Pillar cliffs. Here, if the sea lashing the cliffs brews up something special a few hubulkoks may stop for a travel break. An oceanic rubbish sludge current sometimes crosses the local gulf eddies to cough up a humid stench. A very thick storm of flies hovers over the seas. The swarms of flies and the stench also attract fishes of all kinds and in turn these fishes attract the sharks. The situation normally stays only for a couple of hours or a day if it happens at all. If coincidently the hubulkoks fly over this place at this time, then the some of the hungry hubulkoks dives down into the fly clouds to swallow in mouthfuls. Then these snacking hubulkoks with their bellies full are unable to continue with their overhead friends on the remainder of the journey. They decide to nest on the nearby land itself. They fly an hour inwards into the greener parts of this land and settles near a farming village. A reason to select this place is also the access to seeds, grains et al in plenty in the barns. Just before the mating there is a cooing-the-female ritual with a display of its pinkish wings and a cry that goes 'hulhulhul'. Now, the villagers who heard this cry are tense! The elders of the village have taught them that to hear the 'hulhulhul' sound is inauspicious. And it is not wholly false; they were hit the following day with the news that one of their beloved was killed in a shark attack the day before!

Local Superstition: Hubulkoks augurs death.

How can the harmless hubulkok signal deaths?
The islanders here are mostly agricultural and close knit, mostly related one way or another. They have their own religion, traditions and superstitions. One such superstition their grandparents passed on to them is the relation between death and hubulkoks based on actual sea death incidences observed through the centuries. Many islanders have also lost their fishermen folks to the notorious whirlpools. This too happened after sighting the hubulkoks nesting near their villages. They accused hubulkoks to be death itself.
The reality is that: it is the time of year when the islanders' produce are brought to the old market ten miles off the beautiful sandy white beach near the Great Pillar cliffs. Having made their sell many of them decide to take a day off and go swimming or boating. Normally it is quite safe but not if it is the sea mood is as explained above.

Rationality: Hubulkoks sightings on that island may signal dangerous seas nearby.

Musings: Thankfully, for this particular case we can observe and understand the whole scene on a macro level. It can be explained with appropriate scientific principles we know. But imagine a situation where it involves sciences beyond our understanding or maybe even those we haven't yet formalized. Then superstitions and omen readings could just be reliable.

Morals of the story: Don’t ignore everything you can’t explain today, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Am Back…

…after more than an year of hibernation.

I may never use this facility to log my daily moods as many others do but I will definitely write once in a while. Problem is I am not gifted with writing fluency. I wait to well in my head to fill up before I can 'flow' it out; each of my post is the culmination of many man-years of observance, discussion, thought and experiences.

Guide us ignorant

Snapped this picture very near to the Stonehenge when in UK. The sheep were absolutely still as if in some rapture. Every time I look at this snap I get the feeling, like below.

We are:
Like excited mice nibbling tunnels through a cheese block
Like short-sighted frogs in a dark well
Like sail less boats drifting in expanse of the ocean
Like blind earthworms processing mud in earth
Like characters in a computer game

Like we have any clue
Like we know it all
Like we have seen it all
Like we see any end in sight
Like we have any control!

We are…

More like goldfish in an aquarium. We know a wee bit of the environment we are subjected to but neither has any control over it nor any clue of what’s beyond it!

≈ Mirage

At the beginning of the 20^th century most physicists believed they soon would come up with an explanation to everything in this universe i.e. A Theory of Everything. Arising to the occasion came Einstein, Neil Bohr, Heisenberg with his Uncertainty Principle, Schrödinger with his Cat and many more. But the theory didn’t come. Instead we saw a series of new discoveries, more mysteries, more explanations and more theories. A section of classical physics had to even break off to become a new field of research known as Quantum Physics. When things started to look more complicated than before the physicists declared that it would take 'a little more time' before the Theory of Everything is out. It seemed the more they strived for the ultimate truth the more mysteries propped up.

Well, if that was a century ago then lets see what is the state of physics in 2005:

• We still can’t figure out what the fundamental particle is. Weird. And new sub and sub-sub atomic particles keep propping up

•  Sub-atomic complexities are on the rise. If my understanding’s right, there are some particles which have Spin 1/2 i.e. that need to be spun 2 complete revolutions to bring it back to it's original state. Duh! :-{
• We still can’t figure out where solidity begins. At sub-atomic levels there is no ‘balls’ or ‘beads’ of electrons and protons as we were shown in the school physics textbooks. So what we touch is just a force field?!

 

Trillions of dollars and man-centuries of work must have gone into quantum physics researches alone. The expenditure in the other streams must only be more. Imagine how much time and money is being spent throughout history to get to the ultimate answer.

 

Will we ever find the answer? I feel the answer is like the mirage; we will never reach it. The depth of any subject will continuously deepen the more we focus on it and it will deepen to infinity. One will be lost in the never-ending labyrinth of knowledge streams with the new discoveries, new insights and new dimensions.

All these researches may just be skimming the surface of ONE endless ocean.

 

"Stay in thy matrix! Dare not come close to Me. Dare not understand Me" maybe the Almighty's intent :-)

 

Orangensaft Zing

K7 is a bundle of optimism and an epitome of positivity.

People call him the Happy-go-Lucky guy. And it’s a joy for people to just be around him. Getting to meet him is exciting and chatting with him is fun. Even a phone call from him cheers you up. He is bubbly, always merry, is optimistic in all that he undertakes, surprises everyone with his ‘bindas’ attitude and exudes his youth energy into all around him.

Highlighting some of the important observations on K7:

• He believes he is the LUCKIEST guy on earth,
• ONLY good happens to him,
• Bad circumstances are temporary and TURN GOOD for him ultimately,
• His decisions are ALWAYS RIGHT, and
• Anything’s POSSIBLE with him

It can be noticed that Lady Luck is always inclined to offer her blessings to K7. K7's attitude reinforces his luck base and for this reason persons with such personalities become even more successful.
 

Some behavioral scientists relate this ‘angelic’ effect of K7 is maybe due to his cheerful face. The psychologist Richard Wiseman has explained how being positive and cheerful has direct proportionality on luck. So for the unfortunate few of us who are depressive and negative by nature, our salvation (or success) in this life may depend on point in time when we learn to acquire this K7 personality.

 

Sometimes, many born with small amounts of K7-ism lose it when life turns into a bumpy road after it had been a long smooth superhighway. I think we should never lose our hope and our optimism…ever. We just cannot afford the loss. The difficult period is meant only to test the personality’s elasticity.

Being optimistic is the ONLY way forward.

ΰ Fountainhead

Nobody can really own an invention or a discovery or even an idea. My opinion. That finding was supposed or rather waiting to be come into existence. We (as in humans) just took time to come across the finding. And most of the time one doesn’t go out to invent or discover anything … its just chance that one stumbles across while trying to find something else! The inventor/discoverer/innovator is just credited for his/her effort.

Everything, I feel, is and was already there in the Universe. The universe I consider is the Superset; the sum total of everything. And humans are a piece of this universe. This may be the reason that some mystics say all the answers one need is in one-self.

“Seek and ye shall find” ....what you look for if not yet found. Or more even.

The universe being the ONE and only all-inclusive entity; all answers, ideas, patterns and structures already exist within. No invention/discovery/idea is therefore in my view original to anybody.

Having said all that I would have to add all hats are off to the inventors for their inventions; discoverers for their enterprise and discoveries; and smart people for their ideas. They have made our lives easier. I keep reminding my friends what an amazing invention the braking system of the car seat belt is, same with the ubiquitous Nut and the Bolt, or something even simpler as the Safety Pin!

C♂ncept of C♀nsorts

Thank you Dan Brown for sweeping the path for me :-)

There exist many entities in this big universal soup. But most of these entities exist as the complements. There can be in the 1-to-1 association; 1-to-many and sometimes even many-to-many. The tendency of each of the complements is to search, reach and assist in the completion of the whole. Until then there is yearning and incompleteness.

 The Siva-Shakti form fascinates me. The familiar Ardhanareshwara form is a good (visual) representation of this Siva-Shakti union. It is the form that shows one half as Shiva, the male principle, and other half as Parvati, the female principle. Each half in the divided states supports, inspires, tickles, irritates, complements and supplements the other in a sort of playfulness. The union brings the bliss and stillness in a sort of everlasting orgasm. In Hinduism, the concept is easily acceptable by any common man because of the way Hinduism loads and codes the answers to the riddles of universe with deities, symbolism and myths.

 

In Hinduism most (if not all) of gods in the pantheon have one or more (1-to-many) ‘consorts’ (Note: They were not wives but 'consorts'. Marriages are for the society and unnatural :-) ) In the polytheistic pantheon gods-goddesses combinations existed across cultures like with the Egyptians (Isis-Osiris), Greek (Adonis-Aphrodite) and more. The many-to-many structures seems to be prevalent in some old rare uncategorized societies like tribes, new-age pagan revivals etc

Completion is the way forward.

Comrade Jesus

Jesus was a revolutionary, and one of the prominent such icons in history. But that’s only the secondary reason why I like him.

It was such revolutionaries that brought about the much-needed change whenever entropy tightened its grip on societies. It would have been very different world today if there weren't any Karl Marx, Martin Luther, Che Guevara, Gandhi, Mandela, Malcolm X and such. The world would have had more difficult and slower progression without them.

Changes, through revolutionaries, war or catastrophes, happen at appropriate points of time in history. The situation forces it. Reason is that nobody likes or wants change. Prevailing social/religious norms and laws provide security for sometime but not for long. They gather static and slowly but surely become redundant. These frameworks will be so restrictive that it calls for shelving/ amendment/ or revamp. Revolutionaries, philosophers and such thinkers may be the Design's (God?) way of shampooing and then conditioning such institutions (society or even whole cultures) and thus bring about the much-needed 'upgrade'.

Anyway back to my topic. Undoubtedly the first reason why I adore Jesus is because he epitomized LOVE. No, even beyond love; it’s about compassion. Another God-figure I consider quite similar to Jesus in the compassion front is Krishna. Krishna probably was the lord-allocation for that geographical area called India as Jesus was to Judea :-)

Consider these facts justifying my second reason:

• He dared to modify the commandments. NOBODY (Israelite at least) dares to change the centuries old law or tradition. Would we dare to even try such a thing in this age enlightenment and freedom?
• The fact is that he blasphemed! Blasphemy, especially within a monotheistic religion, is the Papa-Sin and the crime is punishable by stoning. So wasn't he radical or what?
• He ridiculed the ecclesiastics publicly. That’s a death wish within any community.
• He, consciously or unconsciously, was the reason for a new faction within Jews and almost stirred up an uprising. It projected him as a coup leader.
• I do believe he had a soft corner (that much at least) to Mary Magdalene. Even if not, he dared to associate with outcasts - lepers and prostitutes. That’s really bold of him. In all probability his relatives must have ostracized him. 
• He had a natural inclination to break most social rules.

Now why would somebody do all this? Because he was a FREE man, loved his freedom, was fearless and was absolutely focused on his karma to free others too.

Jesus (my personal Jesus) was a free man. He had he guts to live and speak the way he wanted. He spoke freely and acted the way he wanted. He had a definite goal/message oriented life; inspired the masses; gave his unbiased free love to all who asked; and had the courage to change whatever he deemed necessary. Finally he died in style...as a martyr to a cause.

Salute to one of the greatest socialist that walked the earth!

Singularity

The Yin-Yang: It looks like two distinct forces or entities trying to dominate each other as well as try become/consume the other at the same time. Each is in continuous action in doing so. But either of the two would have no objective or movement without the other. Call the two forces/entities whatever you like: White & Black; Passive & Active; Light & Dark; Good & Evil.

 

The Yin and the Yang are enclosed or rather confined into ONE circle. The ONE can be regarded as Singularity (Adwaitha Vedanta) while the Yin-Yang forms represent Duality (Dwaitham). The two are inherent of the ONE and ONE manifests into the two. And this is the simplest representation of the relationship between duality and singularity.

 

Extending the above concept a little further: In the beginning there is nothing else but the ONE; after all ONE is everything. Then ONE stopped being and within itself two things manifested. The action between these two in turn churned out the rest of the complexities. So in my understanding: all intricacies, harmonies, clashes, causes and effects that we can imagine arise from and exist within the ONE big system.

 

I would call this ONE the Universe as a whole. Some prefer to call the bigger system the Universal spirit or Universal consciousness or God. Most religious books also corroborate this concept.

 

The question is why did ONE complicate itself by dividing into two by its own intent? Probably just for entertainment ;-)

The cry for Islam

Once upon a time in a hostile arid land far away there was chaos, battle, pain and uncertainty. And no hope for the les miserables. Blood spilling and women looting were a part of every day life there.

 

Barbaric tribes and warlords killed all men and raped all women (and children and sometimes men too!) for entertainment and for power. In those days mothers (the few that were left alive) bore the pain of childbirth for two outcomes: either to create men to be sent to their deaths in battle or to watch their female newborns be buried alive. (Because females served no other purpose, in those cursed times, except be objects of sex-slavery).

And as for the leaders they indulged when they were alive. In food, orgies, and intoxicants until one day somebody else slaughtered them.

And fishing in these muddy waters were wacky wizards...those who instilled fear in the minds of everyone (as always) with the help of their soulless stone gods (which numbered just over a few thousands).

In this land it was a period of darkness, hollow-idol worship and blood sacrifices of history's ugliest.

Then in the 7th centutry a glitch occurred in the system. A bug in The Matrix called Mohammed : The ONE who managed to radically reform everything in this land with a new idea. Reminds me of a verse:

“yada yada hi dharmasyaglanir bhavati bharataabhyutthanam adharmasyatadatmanam srjamy aham paritranaya sadhunamvinasaya ca duskritamdharma-samsthapanarthayasambhavami yuge yuge”Translation:
“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in dharma, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself. To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles of religion, I Myself appear millennium after millennium”

This illiterate and simple spiritual man, who is now called respectfully as Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him), based on The Almighty’s words that was revealed to him through the Angel Gabriel, brought about radical changes in the most impossible of situations:

1. Abolished intoxicants or mind-influencers of any kind by labeling them 'Haraam'
2. Safeguarded females and created a sense of respect towards their kind. How? Asked females to wear the purdah in order to avoid the leerings of men. Polygamy was introduced in order to take care of the widowed masses (Most men were dead remember?). On one condition: that each wife be treated equally.
3. Brought the perpetual inter-tribal warring to a pause by introducing the concept of ‘brotherhood’
4. Brought criminal activities to the lowest levels by the strict use of Shari-at, the Islamic law. Rob and off goes your hand; kill and off goes your head. Ouch!
5. Inculcated cleanliness into the local DNA. Muslims will have to now wash their bodies or clean parts of it at least 3 times before entering the mosque. Washing was almost unheard of in the pre-Islamic barbarian land and that too in a desert!
6. Instilled discipline to every Muslim life by fixing routines and timing for worship, fasting and pilgrimages
7. Curtailed greed by abolishing interest on money and forcing alms to poor
8. Gave a quantum leapboard to the spirituality process. Moved forward from worshipping multiple idol gods, the first stages of faith, to the advanced stage of a Formless, Omnipresent Allah

 

Was he a leader or what?

True, as usual with any religion, all of the above rules may have been twisted by now. Still Islam was clearly a necessity at those turbulent times. In my view Islam (and Buddhism) is a true religion in the true sense of the word religion.

One can observe Islam’s beauty if one manages to get into the marrow of the Word. Islam preaches the beauty of everything in nature and that God is in its details. In fact Islam is so nature-accepting that they have chosen green as their religion's colour!

 

Some gyan for the Islam-ignorant:

• The word ‘Allah’ literally means ‘God’ in Arabic. So it doesn not mean another Entity which is different from what is in your religion. Understand?
• Contrary to popular beliefs: unlike Christians, especially the new-age fundamentalists, Islam do not allow proselytization. An individual should willingly volunteer to convert to Islam.
• Circumcision is not Islamic but Jewish in origin. If not for whatever ambiguous that happened in the New Testament we would find most Christians circumcised too!
• Sometimes I feel they respect Jesus and the Virgin Mary more than the Christians. Jesus is mentioned as the ‘purest of the prophets’ in the Koran
• While Europe was in its darkest ages Middle East was shinning golden bright with researches in alchemy, mathematics, calligraphy etc. Trade flourished. For those who consider that Muslims and/or Arabs to be stupid go read history and count the contributions that came out of this Golden age. If I remember rightly even the numerals we use now are of Arabic origin.

 

Inspirations

1. Manoj VS
2. Islam for Beginners
3. Eaters of the dead by Michael Crichton

Welcoming Yama

What would be your feeling if your Doc told you this : You are dying. You don’t have much time.

...

Fear? Anxiety? Grief?

 

Most of us are paranoid of death. Some put up a brave face by convincing others that they don't fear it if death will be painless. I feel these people are either lying or just consoling themselves.

Why this Thanatophobia? Its because we never LIVED life the way we wanted to. A person who lived life will not fear death.

And why haven't we lived till date? Because everytime we procrastinated life for tomorrow.

We never loved like we always wanted

We pushed away reconsiliations 

We never saw the world

We shied away from challenges for security's sake

We shooed away opportunities

We never laughed wholeheartedly

We never did anything outrageous that we always wanted to do because we were afraid what others might say

We never took the courage to follow our dreams because we didn’t want to fail

We have never seen, felt, smelt, touched, listened and we never even ate or drank in peace!

People normally procrastinate life for a better tomorrow. Save money today for a luxurious life tomorrow. Move ahead ruthlessly above the corporate ladder for a better life tomorrow. Follow society’s norms so that security, honour and respect are safeguarded...for tomorrow.

Living life now, the way we want, will not leave any pending urges/wishes/tasks. Then death will be like just another experience that we may look forward to. It may only be a door to the next level in the game that God has programmed. We may not fear it. We may even welcome Death! It is the natural continuum to our birth and life.

“That’s what makes death so hard – unsatisfied curiosity” – Beryl Markham, West with the Night