"The idea of you"

Lets do some basic definitions first. Lets define the mind, keep it simple.. it is something which has acquired certain qualities based on prior experiences and you 'see' the world through it. On a very plain note, it is mostly like a look-up table, where in, if it sees something it has previously seen, it looks it up, matches with the already existing data and returns a 'match found' signal if it finds a match, else a returns a 'no match found'- pigeonholing- as they call it technically. i.e., say it (mind) sees a dog. It has learnt from childhood days how a dog looks like and as soon as it sees it, the mind finds a match with its look-up table and identifies it. Knowledge flashes on it and you call this 'perception' or 'recognition'.

Say, you come across a strange animal which you havent seen before.
The mind still does the search, cannot recognise it, so it is confused. It has no prior information and what it will most probably do is to try to find out what the thing was.. may be the first act is to ask someone and then try to google it out, to confirm (because these days we rely more on internet than what people say. Unless google or wiki says something, I dont trust it kind of a thing!). It then adds this new entry to its look-up table, so that the next time you see the same thing, it is no longer new, and you immediately recognize it, without any delay. So, we have in some crude sense, defined 'recognition' or 'perception' and lets call our first look-up table as a "table of objects".

Now, we come to the more complex 'interpretation'. I am mostly referring to interpretations you do when you deal with sentient (conscious) beings than with insentient things (like objects), so to put it in plain words, when you deal with living beings. You come into this world with your mind. The way you 'interpret' a thing might be completely different from the way I interpret it, which could inturn be totally different from what it actually is. So, when you are reading people's faces, unless you have the art to read their mind, I feel, it is very hard to interpret them right. The reason is this: when you are recognising an object, it is very easy to do it. It is just a look-up table like I said, and if you see a lion, you map it to a lion and you see a monkey, you map it to a monkey, because some ancestor of us has defined that an animal which looks like 'xyz' should be called a monkey. So, everyone started calling it monkey and it became an universally accepted name. You learnt it in your school and you defined an element in your look-up table as monkey and map it to it. The logic circuit for recognising such things, is very simple.

But when it comes to 'recognising' other's minds, which means, you are trying to interpret an act or a behavior or in short, call it "interpreting people", there need to be so many combinations in your table. First of all, there are so many tendencies in people, so very different kinds of nature. Each mind has its own conditioning and ways of looking at things. There are so many emotions/feelings- happiness, sadness,anger, hatred, love, friendship, shyness,guilt,deception,trust,disbelief, humor and so on. There's a saying that the face is the index of your mind. I think you can make out some basic things from people's faces. Like, for example, if somebody is happy, you can make out from their face and you map it in your mind to one of these feelings and recognise that the expression on their face maps to happiness and hence you know that they are happy. So, here we form our second look-up table- a "table of emotions". Similarly, when some incident has happened to someone, which makes him angry, you can make out almost with complete certainty from his face that the person is angry, especially because you know some history behind what has caused him anger. But you can never be totally sure what is the extent of anger, or how much the anger has taken over him, unless he goes wild like a mad person or shouts or something. He might show anger on you but could still have complete control on himself and might not be affected by it. This thing which happens in his mind, you can never know for sure.

Some people are good in pretending. Like for example, if my friend has achieved something great, I am ideally supposed to feel very happy for her. But because I am not perfect and am a human, I might actually feel some jealousy for her. On the outset, I might wish and congratulate her happily, but how happy am I really for her, nobody knows. If lets say a person dies, and his son is crying and all. You never know if the person is really feeling sad, or just pretending because he IS supposed to cry. He might have always wanted his dad's property and might have been waiting for him to die! You never know. So, it is a tough thing firstly to form an idea of a person and also interpret him/her perfectly.

Also, it is hard to judge people by just meeting them or hearing to them for a few minutes. You might get sufficient idea about them, a rough sketch- like the person is
A- smart/dumb,
B- ok to approach/not,
C- friendly/not,
D- shy/open,
E- talkative/silent/reserved,
F- jovial/serious,
such kinds of things. So, thats your first impression and you start making an idea or a picture of the person as a combination of one or more things. So, that means, your mind is trying to create a new entry in its new (third so far) "look-up table of impressions" with a logic circuit of these or more items. Say for example- you have met an open/smart/friendly person- so our logic circuit is D2-A1-C1. Now the next time you meet the person, you mind maps him/her to this logic and the more you talk, you add your impressions to this logic. You start building more impressions as you get to know the person better. Now, this is where your logic might get complicated or even broken. As you get to know better, you start to 'interpret' the person. And you interpret based on the impressions you have already formed in your mind, which is completely dependent on the way your mind has been trained to interpret. When you get to be friends, you get more connected and build a more complicated logic circuit in interpreting one's actions, get  involved in emotions or whatever. You started with a simple logic expression of first impression (which can be said as almost always right- atleat wrt to the items I have described above), and now you end up being emotionally connected.

This calls for a lot of things. Firstly, you would be interpreted for every act of yours, and you would be expected to behave in a certain way so that the other person would not interpret you in a wrong manner. Till now, we have been talking about the involvement of just 2 people. Now, you are not living in a world that's closed. You meet a lot of people everyday who have a lot of tendencies of their own. If you have to reason out everytime on how to act or respond to a certain person in a certain scenario, and if you have to do this with all the people, life gets too complicated. I can, at best act true to my conscience. The moment I know I am doing or behaving in a wrong way, my conscience warns me, and I dont perform the act. Or to be honest, most of the times, I perform the act and then get warned that I did something wrong! But I cannot keep reasoning out before every act of mine, keeping in mind how the other person or even the world would interpret me, because it is simply impossible for me to even think how others might interpret me. It would get into some deadlock kind of a situation- me trying to interpret the other is simply impossible and me waiting to act based on that interpretation would put me in a never-ending 'wait' statement'. So, to evaluate the 'wait' statement, I need to use a condition, which might again be different each time I evaluate it. So, this whole sequential logic of behaviors and interpretations and dealing with people, breaks down at some point. At this point, I give up, I just dont interpret. I just act, and leave it at that.

Thus, each one has his own image of the world, or the 'idea of the world' and thats essentially the 'pattern' of the world set in his mind or as 'seen' through his mind. We are all living in our own universes- parallel universes as I often call it. I am in your universe and I have so many more people in my universe who inturn have their own, so I call them nested parallel universes. And what are these universes formed of? They are formed of ideas. "It is not about you, it is the idea of you" a friend told me, and the moment I heard it, I was excited about this statement. "It is not about you, it is the idea of you!" I get excited to write a whole book on this sentence, if I probably read this sentence 10 times a day, I can get inspired enough! I like it!

So, the ideas form this universe of mine and I live in it. I get attached to these ideas, find it difficult to imagine myself in any other world of ideas. But when I find a new world of ideas or rather create a new world of ideas, the old one would drop off on its own or gets transformed into the new one, thus the new one takes over. We thus move from one creation to another.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeonholing

Reflecting..

Since its been quite sometime since I wrote, I am thinking of giving a whole new look to my blog, firstly the title is changed :-) making it a bit more sensible. Then I am thinking of refining the way I write stuff, so that it makes sense to me when I read it a few months down the lane.
Just reflecting on one of the old questions- 'What is it that makes apparently possible something thats inherently impossible?" And the answer was - 'Maya' as told in one of the books. Now I dont know what that means, but atleast what I feel is that, we are all limited by our own minds. The world we see is the world existing in our minds and there is no doubt that each one lives in his own world. Instead of abstract thoughts, I am thinking of writing down my own experiences in this blog, for a change. I am just writing my thoughts down as they come..

When I was doing my 12th standard, I had no idea whatsoever on what to do next. I never thought about it, in fact, I didnt know it was high time to think about it. One fine day I realised that the exams are coming and it is really important to do well since it will decide almost my life! And I was very poor in Physics, I could never understand this subject. But since I realised it was important to do well, I had no option but to study and put in more effort to study this subject. I painfully put in so much effort that in a few days it became my favorite subject! As I read the last chapters- it was on 'Semiconductor Physics'. I read this chapter only once and understood it so well that I fell in love with it.. At that very moment, I realised that the subject was called- Electronics, and I came to know that there is a field called 'Electronics engineering'. I ran to look at the different colleges that offered this subject and called up the entrance exam cell to find out what were the kinds of ranks I was supposed to get in order to secure a seat for B.E Electronics in Bangalore.. And and I decided that I am going to study electronics engineering. One day I saw students walk by my house with PESIT written on their shirts (that was the name of the engineering college near my house) and I went to the college to check it out... I got passionate about it (dont know for what reason) and I decided I had to get in there!! So, all the activities in my life were decided by such kinds of instantaneous actions and decisions..

And today when I look back, I am surprised that I was so ignorant in the 12th std that I had no idea what engineering was. I dont know if I was living in a different world altogether. At different instances of my life, I think I have been in different kinds of worlds :-) But reading that one chapter decided the whole course of my life.. my mind was completely tuned to that pattern called 'electronics' that I never for a moment thought about a profession without it. Such a small incident making such a huge impact.. really amazing!! And when I think of it, the world of electronics is so huge and the world other than electronics is infinitely more huge.. and what do we know in this world, what can we ever know amongst what there is.. forget about knowing that which is beyond, you cant even know and learn completely- a part of what you are passionate about..At every point, I got inspired by something and that inspiration just took me away along with it, everywhere- whether it is education or work or whatever. In my engineering, I suddenly got passionate of working for Infosys that I thought I would work only there.. and when I got hired by Infy during the final year, I thought my life's goal was fulfilled!! (how foolish).. and then a few weeks later I realised I was being stupid, why the hell did I have to study electronics to get hired by Infy? My passion died there. One thought for the passion to kick in, and just one thought to let it die..

When I was doing my B.E project, I got inspired looking at the 'Intel' logo :-), yes seriously..I asked my friend if Intel has an office in Bangalore (I was in final year engineering and I didnt even know Intel existed in Bangalore, again being ignorant).. and I got mad about it.. that I had to get in there somehow. Again, I felt my life's goal was fulfilled (again foolish!!) and also one fine day left it somehow realising I was being stupid :-) One thought for the passion to kick in, but of course for me, it took sometime to get out of it in this case!

At every point of time, there was a new world that got created by those passions and I lived in those worlds created by myself; those passions got so much hyped up by myself that there was really nothing in them to hype them up so much. I guess we all go through these kinds of situations.
Once we are in any experience, we again get into a different world, only to realise later (perhaps), that it was just one of those experiences we created for ourself and there was probably nothing originally or inherently so fascinating about it..If at all there was any fascination, it was a product of our own imagination.. ( I have edited some contents of this para after I was being misinterpreted for no obvious reasons!)

This is probably a long explanation of what I began with- 'that which makes apparently possible, something thats inherently impossible' ; god knows how many experiences we have gone through and how many there are waiting ..
'kaalah kreedathi gachhathi aayuh' (I dont know what are the english words that come close in meaning to this, but I will try- "Time plays with us, carrying away with it, our life span..") 

Various patterns

When we observe people around, we find that we can categorise them based on some common features- esp their behavior which depends completely on their nature. So, basically we categorise the different natures. And I think, that's how the different states, countries or the worlds that we see around us have been formed. For e.g., If you observe the thought process and nature of the Americans, you find a commonality in most of them- that is, when you say you are an American, we get an idea of what sort of a person you 'could' be- like- independent-living, fun-loving type. When you say you are an Asian, people generally are subtle and obliging type. These are just examples, but in general, depending on the kind of nature you have, you create that kind of an environment around you. When you say you belong to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, North India etc., we again find a similar trend- "similar patterns of nature". We immediately form an idea in our mind about what sort of a person you could be.

Also, an interesting thing is that- people who believe in astrology assume that planets and their positions have an influence on their lives and many can even predict future direction. I think your nature has a direct connection to the time in which you were born and the associated planetary positions during that time or atleast, we can try to link it up. Given that you are born with a certain nature and some inherent tendencies, your life or the likely path you might tread in your life are mostly dictated by those tendencies or patterns. People can generally get to know what kind of a person and what kind of a life you will 'tend' to lead if they know your tendencies. But people cannot read your patterns unless they know how to read your mind. So, instead they can read planets!

Now, the planets also follow some trend- they probably go through some changes in positions based on which the different astrological signs are created. If there was a way to link up the tendencies (which in turn lead to some events in life) and the planetary movements, man can predict consequences in life through planets and I think that's how astrology should have been born, although I dont know if people ever look at it from that point of view. So, when he knows your bith star or horoscope, he can predict what's the likely path you can tread. Now that's a great thing, but he attributes all this to the poor planets- and says that planetary positions cause such and such a thing in life. That's when I would disagree. If your nature is under your total control, who cares for the planets. If you are capable of changing your nature to adapt yourself to happenings in your life, why care for planetary positions? So, basically I am trying to say that- astrology can also be seen as linked to your "patterns" and depending on the different patterns, you find people getting categorised in astrology under different astrological signs.

Again, here, you will find commonality between people under the same sign. And people say- If you are born in December- you are likely to be acting in a particular way, if you are born in July- in a different manner etc., So, we categorise people with certain nature into certain signs. This again goes back to our first example of how we categorised people in different countries based on their nature.

The same can be observed with respect to animals- the ones having majestic and dominating nature being born as tigers/lions, the ones with a tender nature as a sheep or a deer etc., So everywhere there is this categorisation- some boundaries within which you have defined your nature.

I would just reword the common statements that people make. Instead of saying- you are the way you are, because you are an Indian or a Cancerian born in a certain village, I would say- Because you are the way you are, you chose to be an Indian and a Cancerian in the village you are!
It is the same case with different professions. When we find a professional, we say that he has certain qualities because he is an MBA or a lawyer or a theatre artist etc., but I would say that because his nature already had those tendencies for those qualities, he could become an MBA or a lawyer or an artist.
It is really amazing the way the countries and states and castes and in general - the world has got demarcated based solely on "nature", on their "patterns".

A chess talk

The venue was awesome- one of those halls in the Chinnaswamy stadium. And it was meant to be a chess event! It was the inaugural NIIT corporate chess championship held under the guidance of United Karnataka Chess Association. Nearly 180 participants from about 30 organizations participated in a 4-day event from 17th to 20th December and we understand from UKCA that this is a 'Record by many lengths' in the history of corporate chess in Karnataka. The big deal was that the top 20 players from the individual events would get to play Viswanathan Anand in simultaneous chess!
We participated in team and individual events and one of our team guys getting to the top 20 was the spotlight. And it was an amazing experience to watch Anand.

He wouldnt think about his moves (and if he thought, he cant be the Grandmaster that he is), and if he paused near a board for a couple of seconds, that meant the opponent made a good move and that was really when we could hope to take a picture of his. Otherwise, he would just move so fast that we couldnt get a proper snap.

Depending on the opponent's move, he would either give him a cold stare or a mild smile! He played for 1 hr and 15minutes and the game stopped irrespective of the positions. And then he walked to each board, rearranged the positions to that of the middle game and analyzed the game, explaining how the position could have been improved. He told a few opponents- 'I dont see how I have an advantage. We are equal on positions'! It was amazing that he remembered the positions of all those 20 boards and could re-arrange the board himself to explain the opponent.

And now came the best part of the event- his talk. I am quoting some of his words here, which I was impressed with:

"You can relate chess to life or business. It is not about how to get to a good square, but it is about winning a game. You need to learn how to be dettached from the results. The best players are those who have learnt to forget their defeats and get along. Some are even able to do that in a game after they have made bad moves. At any point, you should think what is the best move givene current position, instead of reflecting on the bad moves you have made.

And you shouldn't think about the outcome of the game when you are playing. If you are more keen on the result, misery is sure to follow. And if you let the defeats play on your mind, chess is sure to fall off the cliff.

Some people asked me if I remember every move I made on all boards. Honestly, I don't. But I remember the positions. If you have seen 1000 boards, the positions are bound to repeat. And as soon as you see the same pattern, you would recognise and know what's the good move to make. When you come across a pattern that you haven't seen, sometimes you make a move out of intuition. At the point of making the move, you wouldn't know why you made it, but when you go home and analyze, you will realize that it was the best move. This kind of intuition comes naturally to you after years and years of repeated hard work and practice. And all the practice you do is really to get this intuition!!"

At this point, I felt he was talking the highest philosophy!

An amazing person, he gave autographs and posed for snaps with all the people who requested for it, he played the simulatenous game and analysis for 2 hours and still gave a 30-minute talk and participated in a close-to 1.5 hour prize distribution ceremony, and told the players that they were all playing almost equal to him!

Something different this time..

Just realising that reading newspaper is not a waste of time after all..

This was an article in the 'Deccan herald'- 'Open Sesame'- Oct 9 '09 - written by a Class-5 student. It is a biography of a 'five rupee coin' :-) Sounds funny, but this is the first time I have read something so creative.
..and it reads thus:

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Hello! I am a five rupee coin. I have had many interesting adventures so far and would like to tell you about some of them.

Here goes! I was first owned by a little girl named Nandita (hehe, yeah- this was the name used by the student, I was like- 'wow, ok..') who was very forgetful (and now-I was like- 'oops!'). One day she put me in her pocket and went to the backyard to skip. She forgot all about me and did not even realize when I fell out of her pocket. When she finally realized, a wild goose chase started. She hunted for me all round the backyard. “Will she ever realize I’m on the window sill?” I wondered. After what seemed like ages, she found me.

Nandita had a friend named Aarya. Both their families were close friends. Aarya’s father was an umpire. One day he asked Nandita if she had a five rupee coin in return for two 2’s and one 1 rupee coin.
So I was given off to the umpire, who took me to the next cricket match he attended. I was used there for the toss. I actually got to be flipped by Dhoni and watched by the other greatplayers! After the match was over the umpire was walking home with me in his pocket. On the way he stopped at a small roadside shop.
I was given to the shopkeeper for a cup of tea.

Now I was really tired of being given from one person to another.
Thankfully, kind Mr. Shopkeeper kept me in his table drawer for a few days. Then I was given to a girl called Shruti as change. She put me in her pocket and took me home. So here I am now, sitting in her piggy bank with loads of other coins and rupee notes.
I have made a lot of new friends here. I’ve heard that Shruti’s saving up to buy a present for her cousin, Aditi. I know that one day I will be used to buy something that will make Aditi very happy, and that I’m going to have many more adventures that I’ll tell you all about.
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The name of the student who wrote this was Aditi and the name of the article was: 'Dhoni and the five rupee coin!'
Imagination knows no limits.. Wonder how she got the idea to write about a coin and how much time she put in to imagine all this.. I would say- 'Well written, kids of this generation really have a lot of talent in them!'

Another awesome number..

A must listen.. Here's another awesome song by Annamayya. Extremely melodious..

This link has lyrics of almost all Annamayya keerthanas in pdf format- in 5 languages. A great collection worth having..

In this kIrtana, "chUdaramma satulArA", Annamayya narrates to the ladies...(Oh! SathulArA !) about the great qualities of Goddess AnDAL (Padmavathi) , the consort of Lord SrInivAsa. In every stanza, Annamayya uses the word "chUDi kuDutha nAnchAri", which melodiously fits in to the song... (This word is actually a Tamil word and familiar to Sri Vaishnava sampradAya , which refers to "AnDAL")

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"chUdaramma satulArA" lyrics

pa :
chUDaramma satulArA sObAna pADaramma
kUDunnadi pati cUDi kuDuta nAMcAri

Oh ladies ! See HER (AnDAL) and sing for HER well being. SHE (AnDAL) is now with HER consort (Lord vEnkaTEswara).

ca 1 :
SrImahAlakShmiyaTa siMgArAlakE marudu
kAmuni talliyaTa cakkadanAlakE marudu
sOmuni tObuTTuvaTa soMpukaLalakEmarudu
kOmalAMgi I cUDi kuDuta nAMcAri

SHE is "SrI MahA lakshmi"(Goddess of wealth) HERSELF, where is the paucity of wealth to HER. SHE is the mother of "kAmuDu"(god of romance), then where is the paucity for HER Beauty(chakkadanamu). SHE is the sister of "Moon" (god of 16 beautiful arts), then where is the paucity of HER beautiful artistry (sompu kaLalu). Thus chUDIkuDutha nAnchAri is so beautiful with all the above qualities.

ca 2 :
kalaSAbdhi kUturaTa gaMBIralakE marudu
talapalOka mAtayaTa daya mari Emarudu
jalajanivAsiniyaTa calladanamEmarudu
koladimIra I cUDi kuDuta nAMcAri

SHE is the daughter of "kalasAbdhi" (god of milky ocean with humble nature) , then where is the paucity of HER humility (GambhIramu). SHE is the mother of the whole universe, so where is the paucity of HER mercy(towards all the creatures). SHE resides on the Lotus (Jalaja nivAsini) , then where is the paucity of HER cool nature (to take care of HIS devotees). ChUDikuDutha nAnchAri is thus incomparable (matchless) in the above said qualities.

ca 3 :
amaravaMditayaTa aTTI mahima Emarudu
amRutamu cuTTamaTa AnaMdAlakEmarudu
tamitO SrIvEMkaTESu dAne vacci peMDlADe
kaumera vayassu I cUDi kuDuta nAMcAri

SHE is praised by all the gods (amaravandita), then where is the paucity of HER power. SHE is the relative of "Amrutamu" (the symbol of bliss, immortality), then where is the paucity for HER bliss. Knowing that SHE has all these great qualities in HER, lord SrI vEnkaTEswara directly came in love of HER and married HER (As SrI RanganAtha of Sri Rangam). Such a young beautiful goddess is chUDi kuDutha nAnchAri.

Annamayya song- the language so close to the heart

This is an awesome song by Annamayya where he describes symbolically the cycle of creation as the divine sport of the Almighty. He visualises the swing as the cosmos with Dharma as base.

The lyrics themselves are full of content, but it seems that the song has derived its beauty from the richness inherent in the language of Telugu, so beautiful that the language comes extremely close to the heart. The language adds melody to the great song composed by this great person. I consider it my great privilege to have been acquainted with this great language.. It seems to me that language is extremely important to convey an idea and I almost consider this language equal to Sanskrit.

The song is available here and the lyrics+meanings follow:
alara chanchala maina - madhyamAvati -Adi
P
alara chanchalamaina AtmalandunDanee yalavATu chEsE nee uyyAlapalumAru nuchvAsa pavanamandunDanee bhavambu delipe nee vuyyAla
Oh Lord,You shine in all souls and also in the air we breathe.The transcient nature of creation is your divine leela and splendor. It is the divine swing.

C 1
udayAsta Sailambu lonara kambambu lainauDumanDalamu mOche nuyyAlaadana AkASa padamu addou dulambainaakhilambu ninDe nee uyyAla
The dawn and dusk are mountain-like pillars and the sky itself is beam across, bearing the swing-like cosmos.

C 2
padilamuga vEdamulu bangAru chErulai paTTi verapai tOche uyyAlavadala kiTu dharma dEvata peeThamaimigula varNimpa narudAye vuyyAla
The Vedas are golden chains holding the swing safely.The seat of the cradle is Dharma.It is indeed an amazing swing.

C 3Melu kaTlai meeku mEgha manDala mellamerugunaku merugAye vuyyAlaneela Sailamu vanTi nee mEni kAntikinijamaina toDavAye vuyyAla
C 4 pAlinDlu kadalaga payyedalu rApADabhAminulu vaDi nuchu vuyyalavoli brahmAnDamulu vorigenO yanibheeti noyya noyya nairi voochi ruyyAla
C 5kamalakunu bhupatikini kadalu kadalukumimmu kougalimpa jEse nuyyAlaamarAnganalaku nee hAsa bbhAva vilAsa mandandu chupe nee vuyyAla
C 6 kamalAsanAdulaku kannula panDugaigaNutimpa narudAye vuyyAlakamaniya murti venkaTa Saila patineeku kaDu vEDukai vunDe vuyyAla

The panaromic clouds enhance your brilliance, shining like a blue mountain.The clouds are your your ornament.Beautiful women feared that the cosmos would tilt but they continue to push the swing swiftly.The scary movement of the swing made you embrace your consort. The celestial women found your delight and happiness in the swing.It is a rare feast to Brahma and other celestials to worship you. The magnificient Lord of Venkatadri is extremely delighted with the swing.

"Tumhara tyag tumhara bhushan hoga"

“Tumhara tyag tumhara bhushan hoga’’

These words were scribbled by Gandhi while signing an autograph for a 16-year-old girl on January 13, 1934 at Vatakara in Kozhikode. The ‘tyag’ that the Mahatma wrote about was the girl’s renunciation of all the ornaments she wore when he went there in connection with the fund raising for the Harijan Sahaya Nidhi. The girl was Kaumudi, or Kaumudi Teacher as she came to be known later.

I had not heard of her till I read this news article and this blog posting is mostly taken from that article. How many of us have heard this before?

Gandhiji himself wrote about Kaumudi’s gesture in ‘Harijan’ as well as other journals. Here’s how he described it.

"..I cannot recall a scene more touching than that of the Harijan cause. I had just finished my speech at Badagara. In it I had made a reasoned appeal to the women present for jewellery. I had finished speaking and was selling the presents received when gently walked up to the platform Kaumudi, a girl 16 years old.

She took out one bangle and asked me if I would give my autograph. I was preparing to give it, when off came the other bangle. She had only one on each hand. I said, “You need not give me both, I shall give you the autograph for one bangle only.” She replied by taking off her golden necklace. This was no easy performance. It had to be disengaged from her long plait of hair…!!

“But have you the permission of your parents?” I asked. There was no answer. She had not yet completed her renunciation. Her hands automatically went to her ears and out came her jeweled ear-rings amid the ringing cheers of the public, whose expression of joy was no longer to be suppressed. I asked her again whether she had her parents’ consent to the sacrifice.

Before I could extract any answer from the shy girl, someone told me that her father was present at the meeting, that he was himself helping me by bidding for the addresses I was auctioning and that he was as generous as his daughter in giving to worthy causes. I reminded Kaumudi that she was not to have the ornaments replaced. She resolutely assented to the condition.

As I handed her the autograph, I could not help prefacing it with the remark, “Your renunciation is a truer ornament than the jewellery you have discarded.” !!

These words from Gandhiji kindled an undying spirit of sacrifice in Kaumudi teacher who got the honour of being the first Hindi teacher in Malabar. She retired from service in 1972 and worked in the ashram of Vinobha Bhave in Thiruvananthapuram. Kaumudi teacher’s heroic sacrifice has been included in text books as well. She remained unmarried and has been honored by Gandhian organisations.

Wow! Such lives are a real source of inspiration. This land of ours has had many such people and needs many more such... They are remembered, though not as well as they deserve to be.

My favorite tune

Vara leela gana lola...

I have been listening to this awesome one. Enthusiasts of classical music would love the tune.

The song sung by Unnikrishnan can be found at this link and the meaning/lyrics here. Wait..

I recorded this song sung by a couple of young girls and uploaded it here. (I wasn't familiar with any site where I could upload audios. So, I found this 'zshare' site. You might encounter some nasty ads! Pls recommend a better place to upload audios if you are aware of) You might encounter some background disturbances in this recording, but I would recommend listening to this, concentrate on the song and the tune- no instruments, no editing, more natural and simply superb. I have been playing this non-stop. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Pallavi:

vara-līla gāna-lōla sura-pāla suguna-jāla bharita nīla-gala hrdālaya śruti-mūla sukarunālavāla pālayāśu mām

Charanam:

sura vanditāpta brnda vara mandara dhara sundara kara kunda radana indu mukha sanandana nutananda nandanēndirā vara

muni cintanīya swānta narakāntaka nigamānta carana kānta kuśa lavānta rahita dānta kuja vasanta santa tāntaka stuta

vara bhūsa vamśa bhūsa nata pōsana mrdu bhāsana ripu bhīsana nara vēsa naga pesana vara śēsa bhūsa tōsitānagha

sukavīśa hrnnivēśa jagadīśa ku bhava pāśa rahita śrīśasura-ganēśa hita jalēśa nayana kēśavāśamīśa durlabha

ranadhīra sarva sāra sukumāra budha vihāra danuja nīra dhara samīrana karunā rasa paripūrna jāra cōra pāhi mām

nara raksa nīrajāksa vara rāksasa mada śiksaka sura yaksa sanaka riksapati nutāksa harana paksa daksa śiksaka priya

raghu rāja tyāgarāja nuta rāja divasa-rāja nayana bhō jagadava nāja janaka-rāja jaya virāja rāja rāja pūjita

Few thoughts

I have hibernated enough. Resuming now, after realising that blogging is not a bad habit after all. For those of us who have mostly been working in the IT industry, we might hardly find time to do anything else. Amidst all this, there are people who continue to pursue their passions as their main goal and are able to treat their job as just an occupation. Hats off to them.

But anyway, I feel we may not find many people who say that they have enough time on their hands. When I got some time off work, I found I had plenty of time, with absolutely nothing to do. I dont remember the last time I found myself so free to do anything. No, not even the summer vacations during schooling, not even the break after the college, this was something different. I was thinking, what are the other professions I can choose, what can I do other than staring at the computer in a cubicle for the rest of my life. You could be working on an advanced technology, could be involved in an Apple notebook design or could be designing a silicon like 'Atom' that would go into handhelds and netbooks, but a question comes at the end of it all, a strange one indeed. I was generally observing the daily happenings in and around my house, people doing different kinds of jobs -rushing back to their homes at around 5pm, generally observing 'lives' and things around. It seemed as if I was doing something strange at 5pm that I never did for the past 5 years! What have I done all these years inside the air-conditioned office infront of my laptop was the question. It seemed as if the whole of the time that has gone past is gone so fast. Why are we so addicted to the computer, one day without broadband and we are handicapped. Look at our dependencies..And we are talking of some billions of interconnected devices by 2015, each individual owning a PC- atleast for basic browsing purpose like a netbook (I am not doing an advertising for Intel's Atom here!), each student having a mini PC etc. Schools might not see a library anymore, there may be no more written exams, no visitors to book shops, just imagine where the world might be heading with the so-called technology.

Slightly digressing... now, there are thousands of villages in India. There are villages in which there are many old people who have been abandoned by their children, have no basic amenities, no way to earn and they cry at the sight of someone giving them a 10 Rupee note. Yes, this has happened and I am not exaggerating. There are people even in the so-called well developed cities like Bangalore who think that sending their girls to college will spoil them and stop their education at the school-level. They get them some work and get them married, making them slaves for the rest of their lives. And it is very difficult to change the minds of these people. There are people involved in building constructions who take their kids along to play in the heaps of mud and stones, who would never see school or learn to write or read. There are places where there is only one school without any proper facilities. Are there no rural development authorities or can nothing be done about it? Talk about NGOs- of course they do a good job, but there are remote places where they don't approach. These are basic problems and they will remain so, forever in this great land of ours.

And on the other hand, we will continue to enhance our technical knowledge, develop more concise, smaller, thinner, power-saving processors and laptops and handhelds with higher performance, continue partying, visiting countries, making more and more money and become technologically well advanced. We will continue to spend millions of dollars on sending someone for space walk, while these people in our villages will continue to be in the dark not able to digest the value of a 10 rupee note. It sounds ridiculous. How do we bridge this gap? Who will strive towards it? Who wants to strive towards improving this? How selfish we really are. We are sitting within our own small minds, thinking of how to better ourselves either technically or personally, but how do we attain overall growth? Why shouldn't we think big? When it comes to thinking big- we think- 'Ok, I will write GMAT and do an MBA from Harvard or do an MS from MIT and work for Apple in Cupertino!' Really big! Too big infact! Just some schooling and professional advancement? Is this all we can come to? Where is the real growth? Of course, we cannot go build a nation or change the lives of billions, but I feel we can definitely do something more than what we are doing. It requires a heart, some effort and if we are able to touch the hearts and lives of even a few people, it would give us immense pleasure and growth than designing a Macbook!

Strength

I wonder why can we not have some strength in us first?

Strength to grow, remain calm, to be dignified, strength to become the change you want to see, strength to live the way you want to, strength to control emotions, strength to talk sensibly, work intelligently, strength to be able to dettach ourselves to whatever at will, strength to be able to forgive, and the list goes on.

Basically, strength over the mind that will distinguish us from any other animal, strength that will let us face any situation without losing ourselves to it, yes, anything. Why call ourselves men and women when we hardly find some basic common sense in us, character in us, some morality in us? Doesn't this strength determine your so-called personality?

Oh yeah, some hint at the incident that made me say this, there was a funny incident (atleast to me it looked so)- when people laugh at something when there's actually no joke in it! I see this happen quite often though!
Applaud at some incident when there's nothing great happening. Going about wishing 'congrats' and 'great job' when there is actually nothing done (this is another common sight).. come on, why not ask ourselves if it makes sense first? I feel that some basic awareness of our behavior is a must! And some intellectual growth that will help us strengthen..

Anyway, does it really need so much strength to be able not to laugh when that is not a joke?!

Idea of classification

The idea of classification or should I say, the classification of ideas? Does an idea happen first or the classification? I dont seem to understand!

I happened to read an article that said- 'We humans do or speak or think wrong which is a sin'.

I am actually a bit confused on this and I tend to disagree on the intention of this statement.
Do we really know what we mean when we say- "Your thought is wrong and will result in sin" ?

We say- wrong, because we have a 'pre-conceived idea' that a thing is right and anything else is wrong. When we are not in a position to decide, we simply go with the ideas formed by a majority of the people and assume that they must be right. And they inturn would have assimilated those ideas from others and so on.

So, basically how do we define a 'right' or a 'wrong'? The definitions, of course, will always be relative. It is a common experience: if X talks about a behavior of Y that X didnt like, Y gets hurt, doesn't like the comment and says- 'X made a wrong statement and is a sinner'. This inturn hurts X, because he thinks he is right and he says the same thing to Y and they are in an endless loop. Now Z comes into the picture, analyses based on his owns conceptions and supports one of those, and so on.. which results in certains ideas being classified as 'right' and 'wrong'. So, each one comes in to a situation with his own ideas or his own great 'mind'..

..and it tries to filter out stuff!

I guess, the problem is that, the moment you start thinking, the idea already gets classified into one of those. The feeling of 'I thought a good thought', or 'I just had a bad thought' just happens along with the thought, most of the times. Thats probably why they say that- the moment you start thinking, you are in duality. You cant help it..I dont think you can help the situation.. I tend to keep asking myself- 'whose fault was it that I got to think?' But I keep getting the same answer-'that my question is incorrect'! It is the same as asking-'how did the one become two or many' and an answer cannot be expected..

I believe, that it is best if you can remain without trying to classify a thing as good or bad, high or low, because you know it must be relative.

The 'current'

I was discussing with my friend that we are never sure if the project we are working on today will not change tomorrow. We might actually end up working on something else tomorrow, so in this industry we are never sure.
The response I received - 'We always operate to our current target'. And yeah, isn't it obvious? The "current" might change tomorrow, but then we would still operate to our tomorrow's "current" target.

So, no matter what, whether we wish or not, we always live working on our "current" problems. We make a decision that is the best as per the "current" conditions. I would never repent for a decision that I took 10 years ago, although that might look silly today, because that was the best decision under the then "current" situations.

I believe that the "current" always remains the same for everyone, although the situations faced in the "current" changes from person to person. And it is this, I guess, that probably results in the so-called relative differentiation. But the "current" is all that remains constant...And I love this word 'constant'!

Evolution..or whatever..

It is but a very common experience in our so-called 'lives', that we have this habit of sometimes thinking about our past. And although our experiences would be different, we all invariably end up most of the time concluding that- we, for some reason were just a bit immature yesterday than what we are today ; that we could have faced a situation better, that we were so kiddish or silly or some such thing. And this, we sometimes call by the high-sounding terms like 'evolution'; that I have evolved! ..whatever that means, God alone knows..


We might complain that we are not happier or peaceful than what we were yesterday, but we somehow think that we are not as kiddish.. who knows, but I might come back to this blog tomorrow, only to think that I was still so kiddish today to write this out here..


Well, to be frank, I read a couple of my earlier blog postings, and felt they need not have been written and most of the content was rather immature, except for a few lines, which were sincerely straight from the heart..
They might be unnecessary now, but they made sense when they were written, so I think I can be fair to myself..

I guess that's the problem with the mind, that it dwells in the past, not knowing that even to think of the past, it has to make it the present and think. So, invariably, whether you are aware or not, whether you like it or not, you always live in the present, the 'NOW'..

As a result of googl-ing...

...I ended up finding a few good ones that succeeded to impress me..

From whose calm centre Thou, through height or depth,
Mayest penetrate, wherever truth shall lead;
Measuring through all degrees, until the scale
of time and conscious Nature disappear,
Lost in unsearchable Eternity! ('Excursion' of Wordsworth)

th' immensity of space;
that infinite diffusion, where the mind
Conceives no limits; undistinguish'd void,
Invariable, where no land-marks are,
No paths to guide imaginations' flight. (David Mallet)

Is there a God? I do not know. Is man immortal? I do not know. One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact. It is as it is, and it will be as it must be. (Robert G. Ingersoll, an agnostic)

Wax isn't wax because of its color, texture or shape, as all of these things can change and the substance still be wax. If a substance such as wax can be known in this fashion, then the same must be of ourselves. The self, then, is not determined by what we sense of ourselves.. (Rene Descartes)

Archimedes used to demand just one firm and immovable point in order to shift the entire earth; so I too can hope for great things if I manage to find just one thing, however slight, that is certain and unshakable. (Rene Descartes)

Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being. … This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all.. The Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect. (Newton)
(who else could talk gravity!)

A song by a sweetheart

The original song is in Bengali I guess and was sung by the sweetheart Swami Vivekananda:

Let us go back once more,
O mind, to our proper home!
Here in this foreign land of earth Why should we wander aimlessly in stranger's guise?
These living beings round about,
And the five elements,
Are strangers to you, all of them; none are your own.
Why do you so forget yourself,In love with strangers, foolish mind?
Why do you so forget your own?

Mount the path of truth,
O mind! Unflaggingly climb,
With love as the lamp to light your way.
As your provision on the journey, take with you
The virtues, hidden carefully;
For, like two highwaymen,
Greed and delusion wait to rob you of your wealth.
And keep beside you constantly,
As guards to shelter you from harm,
Calmness of mind and self-control.

Companionship with holy men will be for you
A welcome rest-house by the road;
There rest your weary limbs awhile, asking your way,
If ever you should be in doubt,
Of him who watches there.
If anything along the path should cause you fear,
Then loudly shout the name of God;
For He is ruler of that road,
And even Death must bow to Him.

"The" Albert Einstein

This is how Einstein would begin telling a story: "Once upon a space-time..." !

To read Einstein is simply highly inspiring and am glad for it.
Here is a gist of his quotes which I thought were a great ‘statement of facts’:

His thoughts on relativity: Click here for the original- 'a must read'
Two hairs in my cup of milk is too much and two hairs on my head is too less, now that's relativity for you!

* You can say that you go and all else is at rest, or you can say that you are at rest and all else goes. It all adds up the same both ways. But old Al then said not only that, but that you can't even tell if you have a pull on you or not. So, at no time, in no way, can you act so that you can't be seen as "at rest". You can go this way or that way or jump up or down or what.. you can say that you are at rest -- and it will all add up just the same.

* "Not only do rays move at c if what puts them out is held fast or not: they move at c even if you are held fast or not." What this says is that you can move as fast or as slow as you want, and rays will go by you at c all the time. So, you can see how fast the rays go by you, and how far off that is from c will tell you how fast you move! Hell, you don't even need the sun for that!

* 'We all start from naive realism, i.e., the doctrine that things are what they seem. We think that grass is green, that stones are hard, and that snow is cold. But physics assures us that the greenness of grass, the hardness of stones, and the coldness of snow are not the greenness, hardness, and coldness that we know in our own experience, but something very different. The observer, when he seems to himself to be observing a stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the stone upon himself.'

Thoughts on Religion/Society:

* Einstein refers to cosmic religion, as a seeking on the part of the individual who feels it "to experience the totality of existence as a unity full of significance"

*That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God!

* Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

* It was the experience of mystery--even if mixed with fear--that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms--it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man!!

* To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.

*A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest- a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.

* Without language our mental capacities would be poor indeed, comparable to those of the higher animals; we have, therefore, to admit that we owe our principal advantage over the beasts to the fact of living in human society. The individual, if left alone from birth, would remain primitive and beastlike in his thoughts and feelings to a degree that we can hardly conceive!

* Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

* Concept of 'I': We are succumbing to illusions produced by our self-created language, without reaching a better understanding of anything. Most of so-called philosophy is due to this kind of fallacy.

* The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility...The fact that it is comprehensible is a miracle.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe!

* Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen! :-)

(Albert Einstein on the occasion of Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi's 70th Birthday in 1939)

A leader of his people, unsupported by any outward authority… a victorious fighter who always scorned the use of force; a man of wisdom and humility, armed with resolve and inflexible consistency.. a man who had confronted the brutality of Europe with the dignity of the simple human being, and thus at all times risen superior. Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked on this earth. (Albert Einstein, 1939)

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

..'Nothing'

I was thinking about the "nothing", yes I was really thinking. And a small conversation happened between the two in me and here's how it went:

1st I : I have understood nothing.
2nd I : Good. You have understood something then!
1st I : (frustrated) What do you mean? I have understood nothing.
2nd I : Yes, I understand. Can you please teach me?
1st I : What can I teach? I say, I have understood nothing.
2nd I : Yes, I want you to teach that 'nothing'.
1st I : (now acting smart): I already taught you.
2nd I : (surprised) What did you teach?
1st I : The thing that you wanted me to teach.
2nd I : (confused) When?
1st I : Just now.
2nd I: But I didn't understand anything.
1st I : Yes, I taught you nothing, so you could never understand anything.
2nd I : Now, I know that you do not know anything.
1st I : That is the same as my first statement- "I have understood nothing"
2nd I : No, they are not the same.
1st I : How?
2nd I : When you say that you "have" understood nothing, you are asserting it positively. But when you say that you have not understood anything, you are negating it. Negation is the way to go. You can never say- 'you are that', you can only say- 'Not this, not this...', that is the famous: "Neti, neti thing.."!!
1st I : Whatever.. both of us know something now- "that we do not know anything"
2nd I : So, we are not two, we were really one always.

If you understood what I wrote, then you have understood 'nothing'.
If you did not understand, even then you have understood nothing! :)

The race is not for the weak

Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program, Pune 23rd June, 2008, by Chetan Bhagat: (Click here for Original speech)
"You have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first"
He meant to say something to the new college entries, but the statement means something more.

1. Is it better to run the race with the marble, knowing that the marble might fall off somewhere?
2. Or is it better to have the marble and not run the race?

I think case 1 makes sense: run the race, lose the marble, but it is important to figure out that your spoon is empty before you end the race. It might fall a hundred times, but everytime, if you realised that it fell, gain it back and re-run the race. I think you are then making a decent progress than running the race with an empty spoon and coming out first.

But that needs a lot of guts. The race is not to be run by the 'weak at heart'.

"Na Ayamaatma balaheenena labhyahah"

You alone are responsible for the loss of the marble, and you alone can gain it back. No one will run the race for you. You have to run it yourself.

"Uddhareth Aatmanaatmaanam Naatmaanam Avasaadhayet"

But irrespective of whether you lose the marble or not have it or have it, the nature of the marble remains the same all the time.

X-Y-Z

Was browsing through a book and came across this diagram. Just a thought.. may be I dont understand it correctly, but thought I will put it down here.
If X-Y-Z relate to the so-called "Desha-Kaala-Nimittha" or the time-space-causation and if the circles represent the various so-called planes, then does it mean that if you are at the centre, you become conscious of all planes?
Or in other words, you perceive the oneness of all, so that means, there is really no 'all planes', but just the 'one'?




And this picture really looks more 3D-ish and probably conveys my idea better. (I am not really analysing the colors in the picture! It is just one of those nice 3D diagrams that the tool shows up..)

So, if you pick any point in the graph other than the centre, does it need to have a 'form'?

It will need to have all 3 components- X,Y and Z. Or.. can one of them have a value of 'zero'?

I think- if you pick a point on X(say,space) axis, y=0, z=0, so does it mean, space isn't caused(z=0) and it is beginningless (time=0)
Similarly, pick a point on time axis- so, time isn't 'caused' and isn't limited by space.
And on z-axis, causation is beginningless and not limited to space.

Any point anywhere else, will have to have all these 3 components. (I think..)

So, overall if you consider X-Y-Z as one unit, it is meaningless to ask a question like-'Who caused X,Y and Z'. Because any causation is within X-Y-Z and who caused X-Y-Z is a question that is being asked from within X-Y-Z and cannot be answered within this. Beyond X-Y-Z, the question doesnt arise. I guess it doesn't hurt to say that the X-Y-Z is the so-called 'mind', so why mind is a useless question and it's answer can be anything.. and need not be right or wrong.

Anything imagined by the mind calls for an idea, a form. (this is nothing new.. everyone knows it)

Also, the centre - is (0,0,0), so it is not caused, beginningless and not limited by space (or present everywhere) And it is 'ONE'... Hmm... so it cannot be defined, because any definition calls for an idea and any idea is within the network of X-Y-Z/mind. And this centre 'knows' everything else! That is why it is called the 'great one' (as it is only 'ONE') or the 'eternal' (time=0), or the 'omnipresent' (space=0), 'uncaused great cause' (causation=0 and everything looks like emerging from this), omniscient 'being' (knows everything else- being the centre) and so on..

Anyway, not sure what I was trying to make out of this, but I am not sure if an idea within X-Y-Z necessarily calls for a 'form' or an 'appearance'..