Some perspective

Conversations with the Unknown

It was a quiet evening, the storm had passed and the wind was no longer bellowing. A soft smell of the rain was lingering in the otherwise still night. I was sitting on the patio watching the drizzle and wetting my face with accidental rain drops but now with the showers slowing and the familiar heat back, I decided to move back into the house.

With the evening meals done and dishes washed, the kitchen was quiet. My stomach almost turned in the darkness as I flipped the light switch on. Almost on cue, there was a loud noise outside, a sort of boom, louder than a firecracker or a bullet. I had never heard a bullet so wonder how I knew that. Hell! It was louder than anything I had ever heard, so much so that the windows shattered as the glass came crashing down on the floor. I ran outside drawn to the noise, which was still reverberating through the cracks of the old house. 

Back outside, I saw the glass sitting at the edge of the patio with the last few drops of the water I was drinking trembling in fear. I looked in the front and then glanced sideways, my head moving at break neck speed to identify the source of the noise. I saw nothing, but a roving din caught my eye as I looked heaven wards to the dark and ominous sky. They looked like rain clouds, black and threatening but then they were moving too quickly. Or was it something else? A light surreptitiously moving revealed itself behind the massive expanse of smoky clouds that had almost wandered away taking the rain with them. A light, so bright; its intensity was burning my eyes. I was hypnotized, the desire to stare was powerful but the acute pain was causing my eyes to water. 

I stood there beneath the dark sky, lit only by the bright object directly above my head, the wind blowing the hair all over my face. I was in a trance, spellbound by this all-consuming, light. It was talking to me, telling me who I was. It was in my head, reading my thoughts, running through my body inching slowly in every crevice, tingling my nerves until I could no longer hold still and trembled in its wake. It was permeating my every cell causing both pleasure and pain. It was mocking me but was also showering praise. 

Who are you; I managed to ask this light. I am you, it replied. I am that, which you forgot when you entered this state. I am that which is obscured within the several layers of desire, malice and greed you have accumulated. I am your most subtle part, I am your essence.  

I lay buried within you. I am you but this clouded world has cast its shadow and hid me deep inside. You and I were once one; but now this world pulls you towards itself and you drift away not knowing me. You drift away not knowing you.
A long time ago things were different; you were different. But now you have cast a veil on your mind and hid me from your being. Your delusions have blinded you from seeing me, knowing that I am the way, the truth and the love. I knew your dreams for they were mine; they were interwoven. Alas, now this world cloaks your real dreams and has ensconced you in its reality.
We were harmony, we were bliss. We traveled the vast expanse of this universe in love, but now you prefer to live in this house. This house that will one day not hold up to the travesties of nature and be destroyed; this house that will, in the end, betray you. You love this house.
But as all grains of sand shall slowly merge with the ocean one day so shall you willingly merge with me. Until then I shall shine my light on you. Go on, weary traveler. I will await your arrival. I will await the end of your journey. And then we shall be one again.

I stood there dazed and confused, the light still shining, struggling with my mind to accept this dialogue. It spoke the truth that I knew. Then why was it so hard to approve its presence? Why could I not comfort myself and bask in its eternal shine? What pulled me towards it but also away from it? I tried hard to let go of my thoughts and flow in its formidable rhythm but the urge to stay grounded was extreme. Perhaps if I could abandon this impulse, it would be easier. I stood motionless, my mind in a conflict, torn between the two worlds until the telephone rang and the spell was broken as I turned around and headed back inside.   

Magnificent time lapse video of earth and sky

Cyclic Universes?

I believe in the notion of recycling - everything from plastic, paper, history and our bodies is recycled. So why must the universe be left out? Indian scriptures tell us the universe we live in is cyclical and what is life today must come to pass and pave the way for the next generation of stars, planets, galaxies and other life forms. 

Science is coming around to this idea, slowly but surely. We know the point of view of the scriptures. Now, it would complete the picture if we can scientifically as well, some day, prove it. 

The Splinter from Matrix

I love the Matrix trilogy - there is something mystical about the movies that even today when they show it on TV I MUST watch it! I must have seen the movies, God knows, how many times and each time it teaches me something more - something new, something different. It strengthens my belief in the Gita and tells me I'm on the right path! I need to ask these questions and protect what I believe in. Simply beautiful. 

Source: IMDB

Source: Bhagavad Gita, US

Given my long time affair with the movie, this morning when I came across an article comparing the Gita and the Matrix I had to share. Click the link below for some parallels between the two. By the way, the closing credits song in The Matrix is an ancient Rigveda prayer. 

Asato ma sat gamaya

Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya

Mrityo ma amrutam gamaya

Means:

Lead me from the unreal to the real  (sat=truth)

Lead me from darkness to light (jyoti=light)

Lead me from death to immortality (amrut=immortal)

Article is here. 

Fall Everywhere

I love Fall - especially at Bryant Park. Everyday the park has something new going on - through the summer and fall and winter when the shops line up until New Years, along with the skating rink in the back. 

Every morning and evening I walk through the park and hope some day I will have time to sit back down and enjoy the quietness amidst the noise. In the mean time, I can only hold on to images thanks to wonders of modern technology. 

A Cosmic Flying Pencil — with Hair!

A spectacular image of the Pencil Nebula flying through space!

Pencil Nebula (NGC 2736) captured by ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO

This odd-shaped cloud of gas and dust is nicknamed the Pencil Nebula, as the brightest part resembles a pencil. But this pencil looks like it has hair, flying off into the breeze! But that’s no simple breeze: these glowing filaments in NGC 2736 were created by a supernova explosion that took place about 11,000 years ago, and they are moving through the interstellar medium at about 650,000 kilometers (403,000 miles) per hour.

For more, go to:  A Cosmic Flying Pencil — with Hair!:

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Living with others

Living with others: 

The young man crossed the desert and finally reached the Sceta monastery. There he asked – and was given permission – to attend one of the abbot’s talks.

That afternoon the abbot spoke about the importance of farm work.

When the talk came to an end, the young man commented to one of the monks:

“That really impressed me. I thought that I was going to hear an illuminated sermon on virtues and sins, but the abbot only spoke about tomatoes, irrigation and things like that. Where I come from, everyone believes that God is mercy: all you need to do is pray.”

The monk smiled and answered:

“Here we believe that God has already done His part; now it’s up to us to continue the process.”

Animals Have Consciousness

About a month ago, a group of scientists got together in Cambridge and proclaimed --

“The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states. Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.”

-- Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness. 

i.e. animals, like humans, possess consciousness.

While a lot of us might find this declaration shocking, I only think it natural. In the Gita, as in many other religious scriptures, it is declared that all living things (animals and plants included) have a consciousness. The Gita goes a step further and says the actions of previous births determine your next life. So if you've been bad, you may be dropped to an animal level. Consequently, being born a human is one of the biggest blessings as it is only in this state than one can achieve moksha or Nirvana. 

While I am not too sure about de-humanizing anyone (animals or plants), I do think animals have a certain level of intelligence and ability to perceive things that are beyond us. How else can you explain bird migration during winter or dogs howling before a natural disaster? Obviously, nature is letting out subtle cues that we are closed to but animals are able to grasp. Plants, I think, share a similar ability; they simply go unnoticed because they are immobile. Ask a gardener who watches his plants everyday  and he will tell you his plants let out moods and convey emotions.

While humans are on top of the food chain, this does not at all mean we understand everything. Scattered in this universe are a lot of ideas and concepts that we have not grasped yet; some of them right here on Earth. 

Awesome Power of the Sun!

Huge Eruption on the Sun Revisited in Spectacular HD:

Courtesy: Universe Today.

Moon Landing Due to Cold War?

I came across a very timely article to Neil Armstrong's passing. A young boy asked a Harvard professor if the moon landing would have occurred had there been no cold war. Its a very interesting question and certainly gave me some food for thought. 

Here is the professor's response.

Robert Frosch, a former NASA Administrator who is now a scholar and teacher at Harvard University, sent the following response (links are added for context) to a question posed to Dot Earth blogger Andy Revkin by his 14-year-old son, Jack.

After flipping through “Paper Astronaut: The Paper Spacecraft Mission Manual,” Jack asked: “Would we have gone to the Moon if there hadn’t been a cold war?” (From 8/25 post on the passing of Astronaut Neil Armstrong)

I thought it sensible to do a little thinking over the weekend before I tried to answer your son’s very interesting question.

I’m skeptical of the possibility of tying a particular event or sequence in history to a definite cause. History seems to me so contingent, chaotic, and noisy that it is probably not true that even when one sees a cause that it means much. It appears that evolution is the same: there are big pieces of chance and chaos in the system.

Keeping that in mind, I do think the cold war competition was a very important push to have going-to-the-Moon happen. However, it is also important to think about the Werner von Braun effect, along with the other imported Germans, and the push for ballistic missiles, as a logical weapons follow-on to the von Braun work during World War II. In addition, there is the effect of the immediately previous era of science fiction, including the movie “Destination Moon,” which more or less followed the plot of Robert Heinlein’s rather Ayn Rand-ish novel “The Man Who Sold the Moon.” (I was the right age to have been an avid reader of that kind of physics- and engineering-based science fiction, which was popular at the time, possibly because of the World War II developments in science and technology.)

It was strongly rumored that Jerome Wiesner of M.I.T., who was Kennedy’s science adviser at the time, was opposed to the whole Moon business, because it was (only?) engineering, not science.

I suppose my point is that there were a lot of potentiating pieces in place, many of them familiar to the general public, particularly the youngish public. Put these all together with a young, new president looking for something to give the country a push, at a time of obvious external competition, and they spell: Moon. I’m not sure the idea would have gone anywhere if the other pieces had not been in place, or if the opposition had been somewhat stronger.

Bottom line: I think the Cold War competition and Sputnik came together with the other pieces that were in place to push possibility into reality. The Cold War competition was a catalyst, but perhaps another catalyst might have come along.

The original NASA was ARPA, which was set up in the Department of Defense as a response to Sputnik (as I was told the history when I was in ARPA). It was later decided that a space effort should be civil, and not tied directly to military interests.

I met and talked with Jim Webb during my nomination period for Administrator of NASA. He was a very canny and careful financial and management guy, with no technical background, but likely to take a broad view of anything he took on. As far as I can tell, Webb’s response to his own lack of technological knowledge was to link up with Bob Seamans, and hire him. I suspect Webb was advising the president that any Moon push should be part of a move to learn about and use space possibilities in a broader way.

The Space Act of 1958, as originally written, certainly took a broad view, and set out the complete menu for NASA in a very succinct way. I think that was the doing of Hugh Dryden (of NACA), or President Eisenhower’s Science Advisor at the time, James Killian of M.I.T., but I don’t really know the history, and am certainly fuzzy on the details. I suppose there is an official NASA history, and many details must be available through the NASA history office, but I never got around to looking at that in detail. When I started with NASA, I just made it my business to know the Space Act of 1958 -- a remarkable document.

One other piece: From my own observation when I came to ARPA in the fall of 1963, Vice President Lyndon Johnson had taken up the role of spokesman for space, but I don’t know whether that was cause or consequence. The biographies probably say.

-- Bob Frosch, 8/27/2012

I am inclined to agree with Prof. Frosch although I do think that the landing would have been deferred several years had there been no Cold War; which was perhaps the biggest catalyst.

Barely Tinkered

Tinker Tailor took over 2 weeks to finish - the story that started out as a drag (I had to almost skip the first chapter) sort of ended the same way. By the time I had over a 100 pages left, I started to skim through the words. The in-between was not bad but really not anything out of this world either. 

An honest assessment of the book would be that it was disappointing. For reasons unknown, I wanted to like the book; I really did. However, I have to confess that I didn't. I loved the Constant Gardener movie and am very much looking forward to watching Tinker Tailor with Gary Oldman. But the book did not live up to any of the movie's hype. Seldom does it happen that a movie is better than a book but I guess John Le Carre's stories make better movies than books. No matter how hard I tried, it remained a very difficult book to read.

Moving on, a few days before Sophie arrived I started reading Triple by my favorite Welsh author - Ken Follett. Amidst all the excitement and nervousness, I could barely go past the first 3 pages but now I am ready to try it again. Follett wrote this story pre his Pillars of the Earth days. On his website, he says, "It is based on a true story about the Israelis stealing uranium to make their own nuclear bomb. I was intrigued by how the Israeli's had gone about this and I saw the potential for a very good action climax where a bunch of commandos take over a ship. The style was known as "faction", meaning fiction very closely based on fact, and it was fashionable in the 1970's."

A good spy thriller is just what I need after the failed action of Tinker Tailor. So lets see how Triple tickles my imagination. 

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Reading Thich Naht Hanh’s powerful message made me want to practice being mindful so I decided to take a break from the heavy reading and venture into something a little more light hearted. During one of my trips up north, I had borrowed several books from my in-laws (they generously hold on to all new books until I have plundered through them and taken my pick) so I looked onto that pile for inspiration and found Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre staring back at me. 

Gary Oldman starred in the movie of the same name and when Netflix diligently dropped off the movie as our next pick, I boycotted it (leaving the husband to watch it alone) in lieu of reading the book first. The movie, according to the husband is extremely good so I will move in that direction once the book is done. So far, I haven’t reached far – you know how British authors are – they go on and on for no explained reason. While at the first chapter, serious consideration was given to abandonment – I couldn’t even understand what he was talking about, but the second chapter changed my whole attitude! I am totally immersed in the book. After thoroughly disliking his latest novel, Our Kind of Traitor, I am pleasantly surprised at how well Tinker, Tailor is holding me. 

The story, part of a trilogy, is about Smiley a retired agent from the British intelligence called back to hunt down a Russian mole in the MI-6. I’m about 60 pages in and it is highly conversational so the story will take its sweet time to develop.  So far a scene is depicted where a young agent is describing an affair, he was engaged in, with a Russian agent in attempts to have her defect but instead she ends up presumably dead or at least very hurt. The story is set during the Cold War; however, this hasn’t yet been established in the book. 

While I get my spy game on, hum on a nursery rhyme from where the name was borrowed. 

Tinker, Tailor,

Soldier, Sailor,

Rich Man, Poor Man,

Beggarman, Thief.

Practicing Mindfulness

In Living Buddha, Living Christ Thich Nhat Hanh talks about how to be present. He says when you are doing a task you immerse yourself into it. You are aware of everything around it and simply do not do it for the sake of it.

This message is so apt for people living in the modern world, in a city like New York, where life is constantly on the go. We are so busy planning our days, nights, weekends that we oft find ourselves living in the now. A while back, I wrote about a message I saw from him when I was at Ridgely - do your dishes to change the world - where he emphasized how one could derive pleasure and reach God through even the simple task of washing their dishes. You reach God because your heart is in it, you are in it. And when you perform a task that way, you reach the eternal Spirit and become One with it. This gives you pure, unadulterated joy. It is hard, very hard because your mind wants to go back to doing what it was, it wants to wander - it loves to wander but there is no joy in it. The joy lies in being aware. 

I started thinking, since Sophie came along I love being around her and I enjoy her company immensely. One of the reasons, of course, is because she is my daughter and as a result I naturally love her; but the other reason, I think, is because I am present when I am with her. In order to enjoy her every movement, I am focused on her so much I am not aware of anything else around me. This brings me joy! I am present with Sophie and that brings me pleasure; unlike any other I have experienced. 

Thich Nhat Hanh talks about how he looks at Buddha and Christ as his saviors - despite being two different religions he worships and adores both of them. They are both his teachers because in the end they both promoted the same message - love, harmony and awareness.

Every time I go on vacation, I slow down because there is no need to rush. There is no bus to catch, no reports to deliver - I am on a hiatus. It is easy to slow down, I want to slow down and live the so called moment. But Hahn says we can be on vacation even when we are living our every day life - just by being aware. Watch your breath every time you feel you are getting lost. He advocates a simple exercise to help with keeping the mind in check .

Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in this present moment,
I know this is a wonderful moment.

I have observed people in other countries know how to live - for instance every time I visit Jamaica I am amazed at the pace at which things move. People do not need to rush; same thing when I travel to India. Some would say, we North Americans don't work that way; we are more efficient - but you know what that's why people here are dying at the age of 30. It has almost become a necessity to slow down and smell the roses. People in other countries do not give so much importance to being on the go but rather taking their time and enjoying their day. 

As Thich Nhat Hanh says "To breathe and know you are alive is wonderful. Because you are alive, everything is possible. Please don't waste a single moment. Every moment is an opportunity to manifest the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".

Isha Upanishad

Some of my favorite verses

All this is full. All that is full.

From fullness, fullness comes.

When fullness is taken from fullness,

Fullness still remains. 

Those who see all creatures in themselves

And themselves in all creatures know no fear

Those who see all creatures in themselves

And themselves in all creatures know no grief

How can the multiplicity of life 

Delude the one who sees its unity?

The Lord is enshrined in the hearts of all.
The Lord is the supreme Reality, 
Rejoice in him through renunciation.
Covet nothing. All belongs to the Lord. 
Thus working may you live a hundred years.
Thus alone will you work in real freedom.

Those who deny the Self are born again
Blind to the Self, enveloped in darkness,
Utterly devoid of love for the Lord.

Death as a Teacher - Katha Upanishad

The message beyond words

Though hard to hear

Seems to be screaming

To be perceived

It tells me a tale

Of a young boy

Who chanced upon death

And made it his teacher

Pray tell me, o death

Wherein lies the path to liberation

How do I achieve the holiest of holies

And redeem my soul to the eternal One

Why do you worry so hard, spoke death

And stress your young mind with such mysteries

Many sages have lived lifetimes

To realize this eternal One

This resplendent world offers you

Many carnal joys

With a thousand comforts waiting on you

Do not ask me to reveal

That which is futile to understand

Do not ask me the secret to death

Those desires are but fleeting

Why do I wander there

My heart craves for this immutable truth

Do I die when this body dies

Death looked upon this young traveler

Realizing his genuine longing, thus spoke

I will give you the word of the scriptures

And reveal a truth greater than the greatest

Realize yourself in the self

And you shall be free from the clutches of death

This self that resides within you

Was never born and shall never die

It lives on hidden in the heart of every creature

Unified, at peace, with the cosmic love

Do not run after sense pleasures

For these will only trap you

In the endless saga

Of life and death

Instead meditate on the self

And see the unity in all living things

Meditate on the self

And dissolve in the universal joy

Rise above this city of eleven gates

To attain the unitive state

Separate yourself from the ego

And know yourself to be pure

You will see you are immortal

You will conceive your boundless beauty

At once beyond all desires

You will live in perennial joy

Thus having learned from death

The young one lived

Separate from all desires

And attachments
He won immortality

The Deathless Self

The Upanishads mainly talk about realizing the one truth - we are a part of Brahman and we are deathless. By "we" it, of course, refers to our eternal soul -- the immortal self. Identification with the body causes chagrin, disappointment and sadness leading one to be born again and again until we successfully embrace the universal reality. We are not born, neither do we die. This central idea also forms the core of the Gita, where Krishna teaches Arjun to stop mourning the loss of his family. The wise do not cry for their beloved for they know we never cease to exist.

Of course such talk is easier said than done. When we lose someone we care about, sadness and tears are bound to flow. Even if one accepts the idea that we are deathless,  we still lose the person in that "form", don't we? So then we as humans must be placing an identity on the human form, rather than the spirit. The spirit, one might say, does not have a face or a body so even if our loved ones went back to that form, how would we recognize them? That's where the difficult reality comes into play - if we realize Brahman, we would live with our loved ones forever. There would never be a feeling of loss because we are all One.

As a lump of salt thrown in water dissolves and cannot be taken out again, though wherever we taste the water it is salty, the separate self dissolves in the sea of pure consciousness, infinite and immortal. Separateness arises from identifying the Self with the body, which is made up of the elements; when this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate self.

-- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

The Self is the ear of the ear,

The eye of the eye, the mind of the mind

The word of words and the life of life.

Rising above the senses and the mind

And renouncing separate existence,

The wise realize the deathless Self.

-- Kena Upanishad

The evergreen treasures

You are your deepest driving desire

As is your desire, so is your will

As is your will, so is your deed

As is your deed, so is your destiny. 

--Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

The meaning of everyone's life is succinctly explained by the verses above. With remarkable grace they highlight the importance of choice and how we ourselves are creators of our destiny. Desire leads to will, which in turn leads to deed at last forming our destiny.

The Upanishads were one of the earliest texts produced in India after the Vedas. While the Vedas propound the external forces, i.e. the elements of nature; the quest of the Upanishads is to drive one towards one’s own self. It advocates the practice of looking within to find bliss and immortality. 

Over the years I’ve read them several times but with each reading something hitherto undiscovered has emerged. A shining gem reveals itself every time I walk on the path of the Upanishads making me rely on them, along with the Gita, to find solace and solitude every time my heart so desires or when I feel wobbly. 

Who wrote them or when is unknown. Several thousands of Upanishads were written and subsequently lost without being properly documented. The authors’ main purpose was not glory; consequently they preferred to remain anonymous. The only intention was to spread the teaching and their experiences of attaining the supreme goal, Brahman. Brahman is the universal Spirit, the one Supreme that pioneers the universe and governs us all. It is all pervading and cannot be seen, heard or touched but its nature can only be realized through the development of the self.  The relationship between Brahman and Atman is that of a one and a whole; the Atman representing the Brahman at an individual level but never distinct or separate from it. We human beings simply need to realize this eternal truth; we are one with the supreme, the Atman being an individual’s gateway to the Brahman. This, otherwise abstruse reality,  is the central idea of the Upanishads delivered through various tales.  

Over the next several weeks, I will share snippets of this book’s awesome power and learning. Hopefully, it will once again succeed in surprising me with a new lesson; a new truth I can accept and perhaps integrate into my reality. 

OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI