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.