Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary - Reinhold Niebuhr
Thursday, January 31, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 30, 2008
When we are unable to love and appreciate ourselves and our efforts, we run away from our mistakes and failures, rather than learning from them - Meredith L. Young-Sowers
My Album-14: "Distant View of Pillayarpatti Temple Tower with Tank"
This is another view, a distant view of the Pillayarpatti Temple with its tank. This was also clicked by my son using his Nokia N70m.
My Album-13: "Sri Karpagavinayagar Temple, Pillayarpatti"
This is the main entrance to the famous cave temple of Pillayarpatti, near Karaikudi, Tamilnadu, india. The presiding deity of this temple is Sri Karpagavinayagar. It is one of oldest temples in Tamilnadu. The photo was clicked by my son using his Nokia N70m.Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Blogs to Watch-12: Blooming Writer
"Blooming Writer: A ruthlessly eclectic cottage garden of thoughts, tips and occasional tantrums on gardening" The title itself gives a good idea about what to expect from the blog. The blogger is Jodi DeLong, Canning, Nova Scotia, Canada, who is a freelance writer and very compulsive gardener in Nova Scotia.
Her first book, The Atlantic Gardener's Greenbook was published in 2005 by Saltscapes Publishing. She says: "My three bad habits are cats, books and plants; this is a perfect place to frolic and share thoughts about these passions. I hope you enjoy and feel welcome."
Well, I share at least one bad habit with her: BOOKS. Further, I also consider myself as a would-be writer, though not a blooming writer. Colourful and beautiful flowers make me happy. So I enjoyed visiting the blog and reading her posts, with some nice photographs. The flowers and the birds are beautiful. It is one of the best blogs I have seen. I, as one who finds the winter of my place (never less than 23 deg) cold, am really plain curious how places like Nova Scotia would be and how people manage to live there.
Congratulations Ms Jodi DeLong!
http://bloomingwriter.blogspot.com/
A Thought for Today : January 29, 2008
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are - John Wooden
Websites to Watch-6:
The Bhagavad Gita Online website is a real boon to spiritual aspirants and seekers of the ultimate truth. The Gita is the storehouse of the transcendental knowledge of profound spiritual nature and it reveals the goal and purpose of human life.
In this website, one gets the verses and their meaning in audio format as well. Another great attraction of this website is it gives the commentaries of various great seers like Sridhara Swami, Sri Ramanuja, Sri Madhvacharya and others. Further, articles by great souls on the Gita and Reflections by renowned people on the Gita are also given.
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 28, 2008
Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect - Ralph Waldo Emerson
A Thought for Today : January 27, 2008
Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade? - Benjamin Franklin
Saturday, January 26, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 26, 2008
Love endures only when the lovers love many things together and not merely each other - Walter Lippmann
A Thought for Today : January 25, 2008
There is a transcendent power in example. We reform others unconsciously when we walk uprightly - Anne Sophie Swetchine
Living without Violence by Usha Jesudasan
Gandhiji made non-violence a political weapon and showed its power to those who were captive to violence and oppression.
On January 30, we remember the anniversary of Gandhiji’s violent death.
Violence. How we fear it. How we hope that it will not touch or those we love. But it does so often. The violence we face may not be brutal or physical; It may not be on our streets; or with bombs and guns; but nevertheless it is there. We find it lurking in our everyday relationships, attitudes to each other, words, thoughts, looks and feelings.
For centuries men mostly, and those in authority, marginalized the idea of non-violence as it did not help them prosper or succeed in getting what they wanted as much as violence and fear did. Then came people like Gandhiji, Martin Luther, Vaclav Havel and others who made non-violence a political weapon and showed those who were captive to violence and oppression, its power.
Since then, people all over the world have discovered the power of non-violence as a political weapon. But the non-violent life is more than just a political tactic. It is a way of life for every single person and that is both challenging and meaningful. The idea of non-violence is revolutionary and feared by those who cling to power, because it is an idea that can completely change the nature of society, and thus is a grave threat to the established order.
Non-violence or ahimsa living, is not just for activists; it is for us ordinary people – we all need to transform our minds and hearts to embody non-violence. This is a huge challenge because our society surrounds us with violence – in the media, in our workplaces, relationships and way of life. So, unless we train ourselves to consciously unlearn all the habits of violence we use, our first response to a crisis is violence.
We need to practise the art of “ahimsa living” every day. We need to store within ourselves a repertoire of non-violent actions, thoughts and words, so that when we do face crises, we can draw upon these practical, ethical, and spiritual ahimsa resources.
Could you make a commitment to an ahimsa way of life for a day or week? Which areas of your life would you have to specially target to live this way?
- “Living without Violence” by Usha Jesudasan, Young World, Supplement to The Hindu, January 25, 2008
My grateful thanks to Ms Usha Jesudasan for the wonderful article and to The Hindu for publishing it.
On January 30, we remember the anniversary of Gandhiji’s violent death.
Violence. How we fear it. How we hope that it will not touch or those we love. But it does so often. The violence we face may not be brutal or physical; It may not be on our streets; or with bombs and guns; but nevertheless it is there. We find it lurking in our everyday relationships, attitudes to each other, words, thoughts, looks and feelings.
For centuries men mostly, and those in authority, marginalized the idea of non-violence as it did not help them prosper or succeed in getting what they wanted as much as violence and fear did. Then came people like Gandhiji, Martin Luther, Vaclav Havel and others who made non-violence a political weapon and showed those who were captive to violence and oppression, its power.
Since then, people all over the world have discovered the power of non-violence as a political weapon. But the non-violent life is more than just a political tactic. It is a way of life for every single person and that is both challenging and meaningful. The idea of non-violence is revolutionary and feared by those who cling to power, because it is an idea that can completely change the nature of society, and thus is a grave threat to the established order.
Non-violence or ahimsa living, is not just for activists; it is for us ordinary people – we all need to transform our minds and hearts to embody non-violence. This is a huge challenge because our society surrounds us with violence – in the media, in our workplaces, relationships and way of life. So, unless we train ourselves to consciously unlearn all the habits of violence we use, our first response to a crisis is violence.
We need to practise the art of “ahimsa living” every day. We need to store within ourselves a repertoire of non-violent actions, thoughts and words, so that when we do face crises, we can draw upon these practical, ethical, and spiritual ahimsa resources.
Could you make a commitment to an ahimsa way of life for a day or week? Which areas of your life would you have to specially target to live this way?
- “Living without Violence” by Usha Jesudasan, Young World, Supplement to The Hindu, January 25, 2008
My grateful thanks to Ms Usha Jesudasan for the wonderful article and to The Hindu for publishing it.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 24, 2008
Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it - Lou Holtz
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 23, 2008
Ennui has made more gamblers than avarice, more drunkards than thirst, and perhaps as many suicides as despair - Charles Caleb Colton
A Thought for Today : January 22, 2008
Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way - Edward de Bono
Five Surprising Reasons to get More Sleep
Of course, in a less busy world, we would all grab extra shut-eye. But it could have more effect on your health than you think.
1. It could make you thinner
Research in the USA has found that the less sleep you get, the higher your body mass index tends to be. An English study may have the explanation: People who sleep five hour a night were found to have 15% more ghrelin (a hormone that boosts hunger) in their bodies and 15% less leptin (which suppresses it) than those sleeping eight hours.
2. It could boost your memory
Sleep plays a key role in making new memories stick in the brain. A Harvard experiment showed that subjects taught complex finger movements like a piano scale recalled them much better after 12 hours’ sleep than 12 hours’ wakefulness. Another study showed that working into the night slowed thinking skills, both at the time and during the next day.
3. It can fight colds, ulcers, even cancer
Good sleep boosts the immune system. A study of elderly people suffering depression found that those with disturbed sleep had fewer disease-fighting cells in their blood. Moreover, melatonin, produced when you sleep, is a cancer-fighting antioxidant. Night-shift workers, whose wake/sleep rhythms are disturbed, may have up to 70 times greater risk of breast cancer. It also seems the chemical your body makes to repair damage to the stomach lining is secreted during sleep: going without could raise your risk of ulcers.
4. It can slow down aging
Persistent sleep debt has been shown to affect carbohydrate metabolism and hormone function in a way that may increase the severity of age-related chronic disorders. In fact a large-scale study concluded that people who sleep 6-7 hours a night lived longer than those sleeping less than 4-5 hours.
5. It could keep you on the straight and narrow
If you are a child, that is. The depression and low self-esteem often associated with just being a teenager actually correlate with sleep shortage. And young kids who sleep poorly are more than twice as likely to take to drink and drugs in adolescence.
Courtesy: RD Health, Reader’s Digest, January 2006, p.162
1. It could make you thinner
Research in the USA has found that the less sleep you get, the higher your body mass index tends to be. An English study may have the explanation: People who sleep five hour a night were found to have 15% more ghrelin (a hormone that boosts hunger) in their bodies and 15% less leptin (which suppresses it) than those sleeping eight hours.
2. It could boost your memory
Sleep plays a key role in making new memories stick in the brain. A Harvard experiment showed that subjects taught complex finger movements like a piano scale recalled them much better after 12 hours’ sleep than 12 hours’ wakefulness. Another study showed that working into the night slowed thinking skills, both at the time and during the next day.
3. It can fight colds, ulcers, even cancer
Good sleep boosts the immune system. A study of elderly people suffering depression found that those with disturbed sleep had fewer disease-fighting cells in their blood. Moreover, melatonin, produced when you sleep, is a cancer-fighting antioxidant. Night-shift workers, whose wake/sleep rhythms are disturbed, may have up to 70 times greater risk of breast cancer. It also seems the chemical your body makes to repair damage to the stomach lining is secreted during sleep: going without could raise your risk of ulcers.
4. It can slow down aging
Persistent sleep debt has been shown to affect carbohydrate metabolism and hormone function in a way that may increase the severity of age-related chronic disorders. In fact a large-scale study concluded that people who sleep 6-7 hours a night lived longer than those sleeping less than 4-5 hours.
5. It could keep you on the straight and narrow
If you are a child, that is. The depression and low self-esteem often associated with just being a teenager actually correlate with sleep shortage. And young kids who sleep poorly are more than twice as likely to take to drink and drugs in adolescence.
Courtesy: RD Health, Reader’s Digest, January 2006, p.162
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
How not to be a Workaholic
Do you eat, sleep and breathe work, weekends and holidays included? Do you find anything besides work a waste of time? If yes, then you are a workaholic, and the sooner you realize it the better.
Love vs Addiction
Don’t confuse a genuine love of work with an addiction. Work addicts suffer withdrawal symptoms if detached from their job and find that work alone defines and controls their self-esteem, public image and well-being.
Family vs Work
Workaholics are detached from the emotional concerns of the rest of the family. While critical of every detail of housekeeping, they are reluctant to help with chores, because it takes them away from their “real” work.
Health Hazards
Workaholics are often stressed out plodders, perpetually swamped in paperwork and routine chores. They are sitting candidates for heart disease and other physical and psychological problems.
The Cure
If your organization forces you to be a workaholic, get out while you can. Return to the hobbies of your youth. Renew old friendships and make new ones. Join a group or club that shares your interests.
Be Realistic
If you equate relaxation with idleness, a drastic change of pace will be hard at first. Ease yourself into a new lifestyle. Slow everything down. Take up something that does not immediately seem productive, like meditating or bird-watching.
Courtesy: Reader’s Digest, Feb.2006, p.175
Love vs Addiction
Don’t confuse a genuine love of work with an addiction. Work addicts suffer withdrawal symptoms if detached from their job and find that work alone defines and controls their self-esteem, public image and well-being.
Family vs Work
Workaholics are detached from the emotional concerns of the rest of the family. While critical of every detail of housekeeping, they are reluctant to help with chores, because it takes them away from their “real” work.
Health Hazards
Workaholics are often stressed out plodders, perpetually swamped in paperwork and routine chores. They are sitting candidates for heart disease and other physical and psychological problems.
The Cure
If your organization forces you to be a workaholic, get out while you can. Return to the hobbies of your youth. Renew old friendships and make new ones. Join a group or club that shares your interests.
Be Realistic
If you equate relaxation with idleness, a drastic change of pace will be hard at first. Ease yourself into a new lifestyle. Slow everything down. Take up something that does not immediately seem productive, like meditating or bird-watching.
Courtesy: Reader’s Digest, Feb.2006, p.175
Monday, January 21, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 21, 2008
I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Facts & Figures-17 : Our India-1
* 38% doctors in America are Indians.
* 12% of Scientists in America are Indians.
* 36% of NASA Employees are Indians.
* 34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
* 28% of IBM employees are Indians.
* 13% of Xerox employees are Indians.
Courtesy: 'Yuva Bharati', English monthly from Chennai, July 2001
* 12% of Scientists in America are Indians.
* 36% of NASA Employees are Indians.
* 34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
* 28% of IBM employees are Indians.
* 13% of Xerox employees are Indians.
Courtesy: 'Yuva Bharati', English monthly from Chennai, July 2001
A Thought for Today : January 20, 2008
Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty - Tacitus
My Album-10: "Tower of Lord Shiva's Temple at Paganeri"
Yet another photo clicked by my son using his Nokia N70m. Taken on Pongal day, January 15, 2008.
Life, Death and Consciousness
What is death? Is there life after death? Where is consciousness? And can science find the soul?
….Today, medical advances have allowed doctors to resuscitate people who in earlier times would have been irretrievably dead. In effect, medical intervention has pushed back what we call death….Nobody anticipated the number of patients who would come back with ….tales of out-of-body experience, travels down tunnels and encounters with angels or deceased loved ones. This phenomenon has labelled ‘near-death experience’ (NDE).
At first, all doctors dismissed such reports. The conventional medical explanation was hallucination, brought on by changes in the dying brain. Yet there was a problem with this interpretation. Such hallucinations could only occur if the brain maintained some function. One flat lined, the brain would be roughly analogous to a computer with its power source unplugged and its circuits detached. It could not hallucinate; it could not do anything at all.
That apparent paradox – that perceptions occur during NDEs when there is no functioning brain through which to perceive them – has scientists, theologians and ordinary folks groping for answers.
Such experiences should simply not happen if currently accepted scientific theories about life, death and consciousness are accurate. The NDE, some argue, should move science to make room for the possibility of a soul.
…..
While most medical researchers would not be caught dead uttering the word soul, some find the idea that NDEs are triggered by a failing brain to be inadequate. They speculate that NDEs may be evidence, not of an afterlife, but something as stunning: CONSCIOUSNESS DOES NOT SOLEY RESIDE IN THE BRAIN.
In a study published in December 2001 in the British Medical Journal, The Lancet, Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel recounts the NDE of a clinically-dead, 44-year old cardiac arrest victim. He was rushed by ambulance to a hospital where doctors restarted his heart with defibrillators. A nurse removed the man’s dentures so a breathing could be inserted in his throat. Once stable, the man was moved to intensive care.
A week later the man saw the nurse who had removed his false teeth and recognized her – though during their only prior encounter, his condition had ranged from coma to clinical death.
“You took my dentures out of my mouth,” he told the nurse, and went on to accurately describe other details he claimed his disembodied self had viewed.
In an attempt to the gauge the frequency of NDEs, van Lommel and his fellow researchers interviewed 343 others who had suffered cardiac arrest and survived. “18% have a story of a very clear consciousness,” van Lommel says. These patients described everything from a general feeling of peace to full-fledged NDEs.
A study by British researchers published in the journal, Resuscitation, found that 11% had memory recall of the unconscious period. 6% of those resuscitated after cardiac arrest reported NDEs. Both van Lommel and the British researchers believe that these findings suggest consciousness could exist in the absence of a functioning brain. “You can compare the brain to a TV set,” says van Lommel. “The TV program is not in your TV set.”
So where is consciousness? Is it in every cell of the body?
“I think so,” says van Lommel. “We know that each day, 50 billion cells die.” He points out that intensive cell turnover means that, eventually, almost all the cells that make up “me” or “you” are new. And yet we don’t perceive ourselves as being any different from what we always were.
To van Lommel, it follows that “there must be a kind of communication between all your cells”. In other words, all your cells – not just brain cells, but trillions of others in muscle, skeleton, gut, skin and blood – “talk” to one another in a kind of network that keeps our experience of the consciousness going seamlessly even as billions of cell die and billions of other are produced. If that is so, then those cells still alive when someone is declared brain-dead may perceive events that are otherwise inexplicable.
That hypothesis may lead us away from the interpretation of NDEs as evidence of an afterlife. But it opens up fascinating horizons and a Pandora’s box of its own.
What does it mean if the mind persists after the brain is dead? Should we, for instance, rethink the harvesting of organs for transplant from the “brain-dead”? The NDEs force us to re-examine questions we thought we had the answers to: What is death? Where is consciousness? And can science find the soul?
Excerpts from “Life after Death: The Scientific case for the human soul” by Anita Bartholomew, Reader’s Digest, October 200
….Today, medical advances have allowed doctors to resuscitate people who in earlier times would have been irretrievably dead. In effect, medical intervention has pushed back what we call death….Nobody anticipated the number of patients who would come back with ….tales of out-of-body experience, travels down tunnels and encounters with angels or deceased loved ones. This phenomenon has labelled ‘near-death experience’ (NDE).
At first, all doctors dismissed such reports. The conventional medical explanation was hallucination, brought on by changes in the dying brain. Yet there was a problem with this interpretation. Such hallucinations could only occur if the brain maintained some function. One flat lined, the brain would be roughly analogous to a computer with its power source unplugged and its circuits detached. It could not hallucinate; it could not do anything at all.
That apparent paradox – that perceptions occur during NDEs when there is no functioning brain through which to perceive them – has scientists, theologians and ordinary folks groping for answers.
Such experiences should simply not happen if currently accepted scientific theories about life, death and consciousness are accurate. The NDE, some argue, should move science to make room for the possibility of a soul.
…..
While most medical researchers would not be caught dead uttering the word soul, some find the idea that NDEs are triggered by a failing brain to be inadequate. They speculate that NDEs may be evidence, not of an afterlife, but something as stunning: CONSCIOUSNESS DOES NOT SOLEY RESIDE IN THE BRAIN.
In a study published in December 2001 in the British Medical Journal, The Lancet, Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel recounts the NDE of a clinically-dead, 44-year old cardiac arrest victim. He was rushed by ambulance to a hospital where doctors restarted his heart with defibrillators. A nurse removed the man’s dentures so a breathing could be inserted in his throat. Once stable, the man was moved to intensive care.
A week later the man saw the nurse who had removed his false teeth and recognized her – though during their only prior encounter, his condition had ranged from coma to clinical death.
“You took my dentures out of my mouth,” he told the nurse, and went on to accurately describe other details he claimed his disembodied self had viewed.
In an attempt to the gauge the frequency of NDEs, van Lommel and his fellow researchers interviewed 343 others who had suffered cardiac arrest and survived. “18% have a story of a very clear consciousness,” van Lommel says. These patients described everything from a general feeling of peace to full-fledged NDEs.
A study by British researchers published in the journal, Resuscitation, found that 11% had memory recall of the unconscious period. 6% of those resuscitated after cardiac arrest reported NDEs. Both van Lommel and the British researchers believe that these findings suggest consciousness could exist in the absence of a functioning brain. “You can compare the brain to a TV set,” says van Lommel. “The TV program is not in your TV set.”
So where is consciousness? Is it in every cell of the body?
“I think so,” says van Lommel. “We know that each day, 50 billion cells die.” He points out that intensive cell turnover means that, eventually, almost all the cells that make up “me” or “you” are new. And yet we don’t perceive ourselves as being any different from what we always were.
To van Lommel, it follows that “there must be a kind of communication between all your cells”. In other words, all your cells – not just brain cells, but trillions of others in muscle, skeleton, gut, skin and blood – “talk” to one another in a kind of network that keeps our experience of the consciousness going seamlessly even as billions of cell die and billions of other are produced. If that is so, then those cells still alive when someone is declared brain-dead may perceive events that are otherwise inexplicable.
That hypothesis may lead us away from the interpretation of NDEs as evidence of an afterlife. But it opens up fascinating horizons and a Pandora’s box of its own.
What does it mean if the mind persists after the brain is dead? Should we, for instance, rethink the harvesting of organs for transplant from the “brain-dead”? The NDEs force us to re-examine questions we thought we had the answers to: What is death? Where is consciousness? And can science find the soul?
Excerpts from “Life after Death: The Scientific case for the human soul” by Anita Bartholomew, Reader’s Digest, October 200
My Album-8: "Paganeri Girls High School"
This is where my wife did her high-schooling. A chettiar's house converted as school.
Letters-4: "Hunger Speaks"
(1) It is sad that while rats eat grain from overflowing godowns, the poor all over India go to bed hungry. ..There are even reports of starvation deaths. As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Freedman said: “If a government were put in charge of the Sahara Desert, within five years, they would have a shortage of sand.”
Letter to the Editor, Reader’s Digest, (October 2003) from D.K.Vasudevan, via email
(2) Poverty remains our greatest problem. Economist Amartya Sen, too, describes the problem of poverty as one of “entitlement of access rather than the scarcity of good.” Government must solve this menace instead of ignoring the plight of its needy citizens.
Letter to the Editor, Reader’s Digest, (October 2003) from Shadaan Alam, Aligarh
Letter to the Editor, Reader’s Digest, (October 2003) from D.K.Vasudevan, via email
(2) Poverty remains our greatest problem. Economist Amartya Sen, too, describes the problem of poverty as one of “entitlement of access rather than the scarcity of good.” Government must solve this menace instead of ignoring the plight of its needy citizens.
Letter to the Editor, Reader’s Digest, (October 2003) from Shadaan Alam, Aligarh
Eyecatchers-51: 'Trees dying in Sunderbans'
A species of trees that gave its name to Bangladesh’s Sunderbans, home to the Royal Bengal tiger, is dying off following a cyclone late last year.
The Sundari species, from which the name was derived, are dying of a disease called “top-dying, that has intensified following the cyclone.” The Sunderbans, 400 km southwest of Dhaka, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Cyclone Sidr struck the coast on November 15 with winds of 250 kmph. It killed around 3,500 people, made millions homeless and destroyed a large part of the Sunderbans. At least 60 per cent of the 6,000 sq.km. mangrove swamps that are home to more than 400 Royal Bengal tigers was devastated by the cyclone.
Top-dying was already endemic among Sundari, but the disease has spread and intensified since the cyclone, threatening the existence of the forest, a forest official said. - Reuters
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, January 19, 2008
The Sundari species, from which the name was derived, are dying of a disease called “top-dying, that has intensified following the cyclone.” The Sunderbans, 400 km southwest of Dhaka, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Cyclone Sidr struck the coast on November 15 with winds of 250 kmph. It killed around 3,500 people, made millions homeless and destroyed a large part of the Sunderbans. At least 60 per cent of the 6,000 sq.km. mangrove swamps that are home to more than 400 Royal Bengal tigers was devastated by the cyclone.
Top-dying was already endemic among Sundari, but the disease has spread and intensified since the cyclone, threatening the existence of the forest, a forest official said. - Reuters
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, January 19, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 19, 2008
When you see a good man, try to emulate his example, and when you see a bad man, search yourself for his faults - Confucius
Friday, January 18, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 18, 2008
It has been my philosophy in life, That difficulties vanish when faced boldly - Isaac Asimov
Thursday, January 17, 2008
One Paragraph that explains Life
Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player, was dying of CANCER. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease?"
To this Arthur Ashe replied "The world over 5 crore children start playing tennis, 50 lakh learn to play tennis, 5 lakh learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach , 50 reach the grand slam Wimbledon, 4 to the semifinals, 2 to the finals. When I was holding a cup, I never asked GOD "Why me?" And today in pain I should not be asking GOD, "Why me?"
Happiness keeps u sweet.
Trials keep u strong.
Sorrow keeps u human.
Failure keeps u humble.
Success keeps u glowing.
But only God keeps u going!!!!
With grateful thanks to:
Mr.Chetan Hegde M
Librarian, Amrita School of Arts & Sciences,
AVVP Mysore campus,
#114, 7th cross, Bogadi 2nd stage,
Mysore - 570026
Blog: http://lismysore.blogspot.com/
"As Long As I Live, So Long Do I Learn"
http://www.agloco.com/r/BBFT1310
A Thought for Today : January 17, 2008
Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise - Sigmund Freud
Letters-3:"Time of Value"
Reading Subroto Bagchi’s “Go, Kiss the World” (Reader’s Digest, December 2005) was a journey to an era when people saw their parents as models of human values. Calling maids, sweepers and other workers mausi, amma or kaka was not just a sign of respect, but also our first lessons in human relationships. One such lesson remains etched in my memory. In the early 1960s, the sweepers in our area used to collect one roti from each household every afternoon. Many people threw the rotis into the sweepers’ baskets from a distance. My parents felt this was a humiliating practice. They taught us to respectfully hold the roti in both hands and place it in the sweeper’s hand or basket.
I wonder if we can instill such values in the younger generation today in a world ruled by materialism, hypocrisy and snobbishness.
Letter to the Editor, Reader’s Digest from Veena Bashani, via e-mail - Letters from Readers, Reader’s Digest, February 2006
I wonder if we can instill such values in the younger generation today in a world ruled by materialism, hypocrisy and snobbishness.
Letter to the Editor, Reader’s Digest from Veena Bashani, via e-mail - Letters from Readers, Reader’s Digest, February 2006
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Eyecatchers-50: 'Hearts from cadavers beat anew!'
US scientists have coaxed recycled hearts taken from animal cadavers into beating in the lab after reseeding them with live cells, a study released on Sunday (January 13, 2008) said.
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, January 14, 2008 (Newscape)
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, January 14, 2008 (Newscape)
A Thought for Today : January 16, 2008
We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death - David Sarnoff
A Thought for Today : January 15, 2008
Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it - George Bernard Shaw
A Thought for Today : January 14, 2008
"When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself." - Isaac Bashevis Singer
A Thought for Today : January 13, 2008
Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be outraged by silence - Henri Frederic Amiel
A Thought for Today : January 12, 2008
We can change our lives. We can do, have, and be exactly what we wish - Anthony Robbins
Friday, January 11, 2008
"What is Wrong and What is Important?"
…. The lack of a value system, self-respect and decency is what was apparent during New Year celebrations this year. Uprooting road signs, trashing police booths, driving around drunkenly and generally creating mayhem, wanton destruction of public property – Behaviour like this does not “just happen”. It is programmed to happen because personal integrity is not given as much importance as , say, academic achievement; because children have too few role-models outside cinema and television; because the law is too lazy to track down the vandals; and, above all, because the disapproval of society is not expressed loudly and clearly.
On the first day of 2008, the only people who were not thoroughly disgusted with these graphic pictures of wanton destruction were probably those same youth. They may have been pleased to have made it to the front pages!
Why is it that violence and destruction are the chosen ways to express a whole range of emotions for some youngsters? When a popular political leader dies, they break windows; when they are protesting a new rule, they burn buses and break into shops; and when they celebrate, they break whatever comes to hand. And every time, they brazenly break the rules!
What is wrong?
There may be a temptation on the part of some, even the police, to let this New Year eve vandalism go as “harmless fun”. This temptation must be resisted, because such behaviour is neither harmless nor fun.
There are three major things wrong with this behaviour.
One, they equated ‘celebration’ with destruction and dangerous behaviour.
Two, they did not care who saw them and they did not fear punishment.
Three, they did not regret their actions even in the clear sober light of the following day.
The first shows lack of a good value system; the second shows lack of self-respect and accountability; the third shows lack of decency and a willingness to change.
These young men have probably done this sort of thing before, and will probably do it again. There are others like them, many others, who will be encouraged to join in, if society or the law-enforcers display indulgence and apathy. Just like a few discordant notes can ruin the music of an orchestra, elements like these debase society. When these things happen often enough, we all get “used” to them, and after a while we don’t even stop to think about it. It becomes part of the “scene”, part of society as we know it.
Mindless vandalism masquerading as “fun” is every bit as a dangerous to society as major crimes… in fact, more so, because they sneak in “under the radar” as it were, and eat away at public standards of decency.
- From the article, “Breaking in the New Year?” by Malini Seshadri in the ‘Young World’, The Hindu, January 11, 2008 (My grateful thanks to Ms Malini Seshadri for this lucid, analytical, thought-provoking and wonderful article)
A Thought for Today : January 11, 2008
Don't waste time learning the 'tricks of the trade'. Instead, learn the trade." - Jackson Brown
A Thought for Today : January 10, 2008
When we cannot bear to be alone, it means we do not properly value the only companion we will have from birth to death - ourselves - Eda LeShan
A Thought for Today : January 9, 2008
Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists when you can ignore them like wise men? - Natalie Clifford Barney
A Thought for Today : January 8, 2008
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer - Gandhiji
Facts & Figures-16 : Civilian Death in Iraq
About 1.51 lakh civilians have been killed in Iraq since US occupation of that country three years back.
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, January 11, 2008
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, January 11, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
'Purpose of Life in the light of Vivekananda's Teachings' by P.Gupta
According to a tale told by Anatole France, the history of mankind has been summarized in seven words – men are born, they suffer, they die. A man may be sitting on a mountain of wealth and prosperity but he still lives a life of worry, anxiety and dissatisfaction. The paradox of our time is –
We have bigger houses but nuclear families,
We have more degrees but less sense,
More experts but less solutions,
More medicines but less wellness,
We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values,
We have learned how to make a living but not a life,
We have added years to life, not life to years,
We have conquered outer space but not inner space.
We are always getting ready to live but never living. The above paradox is mainly due to the fact that in an uncertain and chaotic world it appears that for many people value are dead.
How to get over the situation? Swamiji’s (Swami Vivekananda) teachings will guide us as he integrated Religion and Karma.
Each soul is potentially divine. Religion is the manifestation of Divinity already in man. The best karma is service to humanity. Throw away everything, even your own salvation to help others. The nation is sinking as the curse of the unnumbered millions is on our heads.
Sage Veda Vyasa was given a unique assignment. He was asked to study all the philosophies and spiritual literature and sum it up in short. After intense study with the help of his yogic power, he issued a one-liner: The act of greatest merit is to help others and the greatest act of sin is to cause intentional pain to others. Therefore, the first principle that we have to remember is that devotion to duty is the highest form of worship to God and the most sacred duty is service to mankind.
The second important aspect to remember is that there is ocean of infinite powers and blessedness within you. Swamiji exhorted, ‘Do you know how much energy, how many powers, how many forces are still lurking behind that frame of yours? What scientist has known all that is in man? Millions of years have passed since man first came here, yet only an infinitesimal part of his power has been manifested’.
The third aspect to remember is the great need for building character. Swamiji said, “the basis of all systems, social or political, rests on the goodness of man. No parliament enacts this or that but because its men are great and good.” Swamiji’s hope for the future lies in the youths of character, intelligent, obedient, renouncing all for the service of others.
The fourth aspect is national reconstruction. Swamiji’s dream of the future of our country was an India, spiritually united, economically strong, socially stable and imbued with ethical passion. India has to become Jagatguru again.
All this depends on how we live and how we act. There has never been nor will ever be a gift greater than the gift of life. Life is likened to a bridge between birth and death. We have got this life to become perfect and to go back to our real abode and get liberation from birth. But moksha is not freedom from action but freedom in action. We have to keep our face always towards the sunshine and the shadow will fall behind. One is a sad and unproductive person when he sees difficulties in every opportunity. But he is successful and creative only when he sees opportunities in every difficulty. Let not the seeds in the grape spoil the enjoyment, spit them out one-by-one.
Courtesy: Yuva Bharati (Monthly), January 2008 - Published by Vivekananda Kendra, Chennai
We have bigger houses but nuclear families,
We have more degrees but less sense,
More experts but less solutions,
More medicines but less wellness,
We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values,
We have learned how to make a living but not a life,
We have added years to life, not life to years,
We have conquered outer space but not inner space.
We are always getting ready to live but never living. The above paradox is mainly due to the fact that in an uncertain and chaotic world it appears that for many people value are dead.
How to get over the situation? Swamiji’s (Swami Vivekananda) teachings will guide us as he integrated Religion and Karma.
Each soul is potentially divine. Religion is the manifestation of Divinity already in man. The best karma is service to humanity. Throw away everything, even your own salvation to help others. The nation is sinking as the curse of the unnumbered millions is on our heads.
Sage Veda Vyasa was given a unique assignment. He was asked to study all the philosophies and spiritual literature and sum it up in short. After intense study with the help of his yogic power, he issued a one-liner: The act of greatest merit is to help others and the greatest act of sin is to cause intentional pain to others. Therefore, the first principle that we have to remember is that devotion to duty is the highest form of worship to God and the most sacred duty is service to mankind.
The second important aspect to remember is that there is ocean of infinite powers and blessedness within you. Swamiji exhorted, ‘Do you know how much energy, how many powers, how many forces are still lurking behind that frame of yours? What scientist has known all that is in man? Millions of years have passed since man first came here, yet only an infinitesimal part of his power has been manifested’.
The third aspect to remember is the great need for building character. Swamiji said, “the basis of all systems, social or political, rests on the goodness of man. No parliament enacts this or that but because its men are great and good.” Swamiji’s hope for the future lies in the youths of character, intelligent, obedient, renouncing all for the service of others.
The fourth aspect is national reconstruction. Swamiji’s dream of the future of our country was an India, spiritually united, economically strong, socially stable and imbued with ethical passion. India has to become Jagatguru again.
All this depends on how we live and how we act. There has never been nor will ever be a gift greater than the gift of life. Life is likened to a bridge between birth and death. We have got this life to become perfect and to go back to our real abode and get liberation from birth. But moksha is not freedom from action but freedom in action. We have to keep our face always towards the sunshine and the shadow will fall behind. One is a sad and unproductive person when he sees difficulties in every opportunity. But he is successful and creative only when he sees opportunities in every difficulty. Let not the seeds in the grape spoil the enjoyment, spit them out one-by-one.
Courtesy: Yuva Bharati (Monthly), January 2008 - Published by Vivekananda Kendra, Chennai
A Thought for Today : January 7, 2008
We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death - David Sarnoff
A Thought for Today : January 6, 2008
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation - Pearl S. Buck
The Secret of Happiness
The great secret of true happiness is this: the man who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish man, is the most successful. It seems to be a paradox. Do we not know that every man who is unselfish in life gets cheated, gets hurt? Apparently, yes. ‘Christ was unselfish, and yet he was crucified.’ True, but we know that his unselfishness is the reason, the cause of a great victory, the crowning of millions upon millions of lives with the blessings of true success.
Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you – but do not think of that now. It will come back multiplied a thousand fold – but the attention must not be on that. Yet have the power to give: give, and there it ends. Learn that the whole of life is giving, that nature will force you to give. You come into life to accumulate. With clenched hands, you want to take. But nature puts a hand on your throat and makes your hands open. Whether you will it or not, you have to give. The moment you say, ‘I will not,’ the blow comes; you are hurt. None is there but you will be compelled, in the long run, to give up everything. And the more one struggles against this law, the more miserable one feels. It is because we dare not give, because we are not resigned enough to accede to this grand demand of nature, that we are miserable. The forest is gone, but we get heat in return. The sun is taking up water from the ocean, to return it in showers. You are machine for taking and giving; you take, in order to give. Ask, therefore, nothing in return; but the more you give, the more will come to you. The quicker you can empty the air out of this room, the quicker it will be filled up by the external air; and if you close all the doors and every aperture, that which is within will remain, but that which is outside will never come in, and that which is within will stagnate, degenerate, and become poisoned. A river is continually emptying itself into the ocean and is continually filling up again. Bar not the exit into the ocean. The moment you do that, death seizes you. (Swami Vivekananda)
Courtesy: ‘World Teachers on Education’ edited by T.S.Avinashilingam anmd K.Swaminathan. Published by Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Coimbatore-641020
Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you – but do not think of that now. It will come back multiplied a thousand fold – but the attention must not be on that. Yet have the power to give: give, and there it ends. Learn that the whole of life is giving, that nature will force you to give. You come into life to accumulate. With clenched hands, you want to take. But nature puts a hand on your throat and makes your hands open. Whether you will it or not, you have to give. The moment you say, ‘I will not,’ the blow comes; you are hurt. None is there but you will be compelled, in the long run, to give up everything. And the more one struggles against this law, the more miserable one feels. It is because we dare not give, because we are not resigned enough to accede to this grand demand of nature, that we are miserable. The forest is gone, but we get heat in return. The sun is taking up water from the ocean, to return it in showers. You are machine for taking and giving; you take, in order to give. Ask, therefore, nothing in return; but the more you give, the more will come to you. The quicker you can empty the air out of this room, the quicker it will be filled up by the external air; and if you close all the doors and every aperture, that which is within will remain, but that which is outside will never come in, and that which is within will stagnate, degenerate, and become poisoned. A river is continually emptying itself into the ocean and is continually filling up again. Bar not the exit into the ocean. The moment you do that, death seizes you. (Swami Vivekananda)
Courtesy: ‘World Teachers on Education’ edited by T.S.Avinashilingam anmd K.Swaminathan. Published by Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Coimbatore-641020
Saturday, January 05, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 5, 2008
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man - Benjamin Franklin
Friday, January 04, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 4, 2008
Going to the moon isn't very far; the greatest distance we have is still within us - Charles De Gaulle
Thursday, January 03, 2008
A Thought for Today : January 3, 2008
A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline - Harvey Mackay
A Thought for Today : January 2, 2008
Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief - Joseph Addison
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Facts & Figures-15 : Water Crisis
At the close of the 2nd millennium, most countries can just about manage with the water they have. But depletion is fast and widespread because of waste, pollution, the drying up of wells and springs, and the strangling of rivers through short-sighted exploitation.
Modern agriculture and industry require increasing quantities of water. New dams and reservoirs are unlikely to provide these because the environmental and social dislocations they cause make them counterproductive. The only solution to the looming crisis is to devise ways of conserving water, avoiding pollution, and stopping wasteful usage. There is not even a beginning yet towards such urgent measures.
Courtesy: India 1000 to 2000 : A Millennium Book of Reference, Express Publications (Madurai) Ltd
Modern agriculture and industry require increasing quantities of water. New dams and reservoirs are unlikely to provide these because the environmental and social dislocations they cause make them counterproductive. The only solution to the looming crisis is to devise ways of conserving water, avoiding pollution, and stopping wasteful usage. There is not even a beginning yet towards such urgent measures.
Courtesy: India 1000 to 2000 : A Millennium Book of Reference, Express Publications (Madurai) Ltd
...
For Wikipedia's article on Water, all about water, like types, properties, distribution in nature, water cycle, storage, effects on life, water politics and water crisis, references, further reading etc :
A Thought for Today : January 1, 2008
It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods - Margaret Fuller
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