PRANAYAM

PRANAYAMA : (Preparation for death with awareness)

Life begins with an incoming breath which goes out but keeps returning till the last breath which goes out but does not come in. Thus the practice of observing once breath goes a long way to prepare us for that last breath which goes out but does not come in.

Breath holding after breathing out comes closer to the situation of death. It simulates death. At the time of death when the intangible is leaving the tangible and the breath has gone out and the Prana has abandoned the body there has to be a great turmoil in the body which leads to complete loss of awareness and one dies unaware and unconscious. If one is able to observe the last breath leaving the body there is no total death only physical death.

This type of death wipes out the memories of previous births leading to the continuation of wheel of birth and death. An aware fully conscious death may go a long way in preparation of our future births.

If we observe the changes happening in our body when the breath is out they simulate death although Prana has not actually left the body though it may leave the body if the breath does not come in. This is a time of agitation and uneasiness which we can perceive and feel a little bit before we allow the breath to come in or the breath forces its way in.

Taking the breath in or keeping the breath in , is life as it is the only happening which ensures continuation of life.

SUJAYI PRANAYAM

1. Breathe in with alternate nostrils and breath out with alternate nostrils. Continue till comfortable. Stop immediately with slightest discomfort.
2. Go on breathing in alternately with each nostril till you can take no more of it. Then leave the breath with alternate nostril till you cannot force any more out. Repeat this cycle without any discomfort. In between take normal breaths.

3. Take breath with alternate nostril and hold it for a second in between. Leave the breath out again holding for a second. Do it with great comfort.
4. Take breath with alternate nostril. During the breath holding continue to breathe in against the closed nostril. Breathe out with alternate nostrils. During the breath holding continue to breathe out against the closed nostril. Do not be violent in any breath holding pauses. The forces which we are dealing with are extremely powerful beyond imagination. Slightest discomfort is a signal to either breathe in or breathe out according to the situation.

This Pranayam can be done almost anytime and as many times as it feels comfortable. At no point of time should any kind of discomfort be endured. The duration of each pause has to be comfortable and the installment of air taken in or given out should be comfortable. It varies with the moment in time.

This pranayam influences the space in human body.

CENTRES:

Main centers in the human body are three. Each centre representing one of the three primordial forces in nature. The mooladhar represents Brahma or the force of creation. The nabhi represents Vishnu or the force of maintenance. The ajnya represents the Mahesh or the force of destruction.

The universe is represented by human body and all the three forces are active in the universe. Pranayama is befriending the Prana behind these three primordial forces.

Breathing in is Life or Brahma. Breathing out is Mahesh or destruction. Holding the breath is Vishnu or maintenance. One cannot hold on to any of these positions for long or one is not able to voluntarily prolong the state indefinitely. Prana forces us to alter the state.

Sujayi pranayam takes us to the limit of each of the forces of creation and destruction and the force of maintenance in our body.
At the end of a few cycles of this Pranayam one experiences a state of centering which is a balance of three tangible and intangible elements in our body.
1. Body mind and spirit
2. Satva Raja Tama
3. Brahma Vishnu Mahesh
4. Inside Outside and in between

It has special effect on the coordination faculty of human body or the element of space. Thus the exercises for five elements are as follows :
1. Earth : Strength : Weight training
2. Water : Flexibility: Yoga
3. Fire : Speed : Any kind of sprinting activity
4. Air : Endurance : Any prolonged repetitive activity
5. Space : Coordination : Sujayi Pranayam

CONJECTURES

Sujayi pranayam leads to Prana flowing in Sushumna
Adjusts the intracerebral milieu of both the hemispheres
All energies can operate only in space. This Pranayam offers them space and they can interact with each other and balance each other better.
Skill improves because any skill is essentially an intra and intermuscular coordination in space.

WHAT IS AGING?

WHAT IS AGING ?

It is almost a Zen Koan. The body is formed of organs which in turn are formed of tissues, cells, protoplasm, molecules and atoms. Molecules and atoms do not age. They simply move from one body to another body and get organized by life force. Life force does not age it simply assembles another body and moves on as a traveler who moves form one abode to another.

If atoms do not age if life force does not age then how come a combination of these two which forms the human body age ? Aging is reality or is it? If it is aging where does it start ?

In Human body it is the connective tissue which apparently ages. All the other tissues do not “age” as such. Connective tissue is made up of proteins which show alterations in their configuration depending on the age of the tissue. These proteins are made up of amino acids which again are made up of atoms of nitrogen and C H and O.

Is it the interface of body (matter) and life force(energy) which ages ? Interface is ill defined. It may be some space.

Does “space” age? If so what element in space undergoes aging?

Atoms are known to contain energy which holds the elements in atom together. Thus there is energy inside the atom and some external energy called life force is directing the atoms to perform various tasks. The atoms take their place in human body according to some prearrangement which is under the control of life force. The atoms get out of the human body if the life force ceases to occupy the human body. Nothing can stop them from doing so.

The external appearance of the body changes. The cognitive functions become less functional. The motor functions show some decline in function. This happens although the constituent atoms forming the body are same.

The body is the interface of external and internal environment. It is affected by things inside and things outside. Is it possible balance the external and internal environment in such a way that the quality of the interface remains unchanged?

Breathing is the sign of life force residing in the body. It is thus the sign of energy occupying matter. Matter contains this energy called life force and energy contains the matter called subatomic particles.

Physics tells us that matter and energy are inter-convertible. Where is the place of life force in this convertibility? Is life force a kind of atomic energy released by matter in an unknown way? This energy then self regulates, till mysteriously, this self regulation is no more possible and the organism dies.

Is it possible to explain life in quantum mechanical terms? How will life explain life ?
Mechanical things also age. They have no facility of a life force residing in them. They age because of mechanical friction with their external or internal environment. Their function thus suffers. Apart from friction there is no other force which ages mechanical contraptions.

Human body counters this friction through healing. A chalk will reduce in size with friction against the blackboard but a joint cartilage will regenerate due to life force. Apparently this is gradually insufficient and the aging starts. Gravity greatly assists in aging as it is vital for joint friction to occur.

Plants take lifeless minerals and convert them or bring them under control of their life force. Animals first release the life force from plants or other animals and then eat them and then bring the same lifeless molecules under their own life force. Thus atoms and molecules which were part of a deer soon are under control of the life force of a tiger. How come this life force allows the animal to age ?

How to control or direct this life force? Life must know how to influence life. Where is the key?

THE GREAT INDIAN BUBBLE

Indian economy is the toast of the world, so think most of the Indians. This Indian economy is vibrant. The field of Information Technology is leading this Indian Economy. There are big companies,their CEO’s are coming in the list of richest men in the world. Hoards of Indian Graduates are entering the IT field for better prospects in life. They are getting starting salaries which their father’s are getting close to retirement. They are using branded articles for their elegant life styles. They are swallowed by a great wave of branded products from under-wears to pizzas.

This IT industry which is the vanguard of our Economic recovery is not doing any original work. As far as the ignorance of this writer goes, all known IT people use the word “Service” and rarely the word product. We are not producing anything which needs service but we are servicing products which are already produced in other countries. We as Indians are not producing anything worthwhile in India which can be termed as “Our” product.

All the big MNC’s are loyal to profit and nothing else. Service Industries are dangerous. Anybody who gives same service for less money gets the job. Rarely anybody who gives better service for the same money gets the job. China had a great handicap as far as English language was concerned. Indians were far ahead of them in this field. Culturally Chinese are more hard working, less complaining than their Indian counterparts. Their diligence in work is legendary and they can work more for less pay. Their Government is in no nonsense mood, intolerant of any kind of protests right or wrong vis-à-vis development. China already has a big manufacturing base unlike India. If China surges ahead in Service Industry India will be nowhere either in Manufacturing or Service sector.

Once this disadvantage of language is overcome, which will soon be the case, Chinese will simply run over the service industry. They will quote lesser price for better work in quality and quantity and all the Indian Czars will look askance at what hit them. Their shine will vanish. The hoards of Computer graduates will have no skills for survival as they know only soft options like software in their life.

To make matters worse the Indian Infrastructure is in shambles. The road conditions are horrifying, the time it takes to travel is inordinately long because of congested roads. These roads are congested because of encroachment by people who are least bothered about Indian Economy. Their aim is immediate survival by hook or crook. Government is either in “least bothered” mood or pampering them by deception.

The Indian Service Industry, with all the big names included, have never ploughed in their profits in a big way either in fundamental research or manufacturing laptops or any newer tools required in Computer industry. Indians are content to wash the dishes proffered to them by US computer giants. They do not think of producing the dishes themselves.

Thus this Great Indian Bubble is at the mercy of Chinese holding a needle to burst it. People inflating this bubble are not unaware of this future scenario. Still they are following an Ostrich policy sticking their necks deep into the profits made by washing the dirty dishes.

Immediate steps must be taken to give sops to manufacturing sector and all the bottle necks like excise and other problems which prevent smooth export. IT industry is unnecessarily pampered when it is in no way contributing to any basic and fundamental development either in Manufacturing or in Research.

Kindergarten to Olympics

KINDERGARTEN TO OLYMPICS

Dr. Rajiv C. Sharangpani

MS(General Surgery)

Diplom Sports Medicine (Cologne, Germany)

1. Background

2. Social environment

3. Priorities of the Government

4. Educational System

5. Sports Syllabus

6. Restructuring of the existing Sports Format

7. Planning for the year 2024

8. Talent Search in Sports

9. Health, Fitness and Performance

10. Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation

11. Training, Testing and playing equipment manufacture

12. Team Olympics

BACKGROUND

The only background of our quest in Olympics is one of repeated disasters. These so called disastrous results are because of false expectations much like expecting a calf from a nonpregnant cow. If at the appointed time the cow does not deliver it is not at all a disaster but simply wrong assessment of the situation to start with. This being the case it is very essential to appreciate that we all are responsible for the present situation vis a vis Olympics. Olympics are simply a mirror of our attitude towards performance and efficiency in present social environment. There is no use of finger pointing and blaming athletes, coaches, trainers, associations, office bearers etc.

We must become aware of the present situation.

Awareness is continuous, simultaneous, nonjudgmental and total perception of our internal and external environment. We must, without break, perceive our internal or mental attitude towards Olympics and the external situation as it is now. This perception should be simultaneous; because the external environment always affects our internal environment and both modify each other for the better or the worse. We must be nonjudgmental in our perception; because judgmental attitude leads to perpetual loss of vital energy. Appreciation and judgment are two different things. We must appreciate that we are breaking our heads against a wall but we cannot say that this wall is the cause of our trouble. If at all it is possible, we must perceive things totally as they are inside us and outside us. This of course is the enlightened state. I doubt if any society was ever so enlightened. All the same we must try.

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

Disadvantages: Olympics require a very specific attitude towards performance. This is essential in the preparation and execution of the given task which in this case is winning medals. Here is what our society has to learn a lot of things from the major medal winning nations. Our society has no appreciation of performance because well directed discipline is not our strong point. Our society was described by John Kenneth Galbraith as “Working Anarchy” There is no description that is more apt. We are fun loving people in a general way. Our way of managing things is extremely uneconomical. We do not appreciate talent as such but we appreciate the label attached to that talent more than the talent itself. Cast, creed, religion, and connections take precedence over talent in most of the cases. The story of Eklavya is repeated in Indian sports. You do not get medals because you are related to somebody or you are from the same cast as the selectors. Efficiency is not a word in our vocabulary. If it were so all the office bearers of various organizations which are directly related to our efforts at Olympics would have relinquished their posts after one term. On the contrary people stick to their positions till death much like the old man in the house who doesn’t give the keys to anybody else till his death. Abiding rules is something we laugh at. We have forgotten that the agitation launched by Mahatmaji involved breaking rules of a foreign power. We are continuing to break our own rules. We do not obey traffic rules. Red light, no entry carries no meaning for us. Olympics are if nothing else extremely disciplined sports events on the earth. We do not come and go on time. Olympics are all about perfect timing. We are experts at developing short cuts. There is no short cut to Olympic success.

We celebrate festivals and do not compete properly because there is no need of any particular discipline for the celebration. Chaos and not order rules our lives. Olympics are all about order and competence.

We are all emotional people. Our social responses have little logic to back them. Thus we do not have the ability to critically analyze our failures. We erect monument for our victorious athletes and destroy them the moment they lose. If we cannot analyze we cannot synthesize either. The success stories are synthesized from the analytical demolition of our failed strategies. We do not appreciate this and go on repeating the same strategic mistakes which have given us a rich harvest of failures.

Women who form fifty percent of our population and who are probable more capable of management than men in India have always taken a backseat in social context. In Olympics even now women can make us proud earlier than men as the gap between Indian level and Olympic level for men and women is still manageable in women’s events. However dress codes so stringently applied in our country for ordinary women restricts their psyche in such a way that no Indian woman can be comfortable in the dresses worn by women in many disciplines. The male attitude towards participating women is more of ogling than of encouragement. On top of it women are harassed by various people on their way to anything simply because they are females.

One of the sentences written on the walls of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi says“Participation and not winning is important” It is ascribed to Pt.Nehru and it must have been taken out of context. At kindergarten level participation is more important than winning but at Olympic level winning is all important. This attitude of “participation only” is disastrous to say the least.

We take decisions by consensus. Even if we have Einstein amongst us he will have one vote as far as policy decision is concerned. Everybody may agree to what he says and then use the word” but” and vote against him. Success stories are written by one visionary and not by a politically wrangling committee or group.

Advantages: Our sheer number will be overpowering to all the sporting nations. Our ability to respond emotionally to any situation if well directed can cause serious challenge to world athletes.

PRIORITIES OF THE GOVERNMENT

Sports is obviously not the priority of any government which has ruled the country and rightly so. In fact no government has any priorities whatsoever. Priority is something which is not there in our dictionary. Otherwise health would be our top priority. We are experts at exploding bombs, sending rockets, developing software, but not at giving clean air and water to people, building safe roads, giving clean unadulterated food, giving good housing, giving good education. I forget that there is a priority of every single government and it is unadulterated incessant politics. One, obviously, gets the government one deserves. Thus we must indict ourselves.

Health is the first step towards fitness which then can lead to performance. If we are a sick, undernourished, dehydrated people how on earth are we going to achieve fitness?

There has to be one concerted effort towards health. It is not by distributing medicines and vaccines that we are going to be healthy but by giving clean air, water, food and housing as a first step and then giving free access to various enjoyable physical activities to a vast majority of population.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Our educational system is biased towards mental gymnastics than physical gymnastics to an unhealthy extent. We learn by rote”Healthy mind in healthy body” but never practice it. In fact preaching without practicing is the motto of our educational system. We know great ideas, theorems, concepts and we enjoy discussing them till our bodies are tired but never once do we think of adding those in our day to day life.

This has to change. Half of the time children should be in the class room and half of the time they should be on the ground, if available, from kindergarten till they are bachelors.

Fifty percent of the credits should be for mental disciplines and rest for physical disciplines. There should be as abundant a choice as possible for selecting either of the disciplines for the students which will automatically throw up immense talent in mental as well as physical disciplines.

SPORTS SYLLABUS

“How early is early?” is a good question for the introduction of a sports syllabus. The answer is immediately after birth. Theoretically this is alright but practically in our country a child is considered a ball of clay which needs molding with little consideration to the fact that ball of clay is lifeless and a child is alive and literally kicking. A child may be compared to a living plant. Our job is just to give correct quantities of air water and manure the rest will be managed by the tree. We must be observant that any of the things which we are providing the sapling is not harming it.

A sports syllabus involves introducing the child to various enjoyable movements as her life progresses. Immediately after birth a child can float. Gradually running, jumping and Gymnastics are introduced as mother disciplines and then by the age of eight to twelve ball games etc are introduced. In this introduction emphasis is on enjoyment and the game child enjoys most is the game of choice.

A Sports Syllabus for Your Child written by the author of this write-up with Mr. G.S. Hasabnis in 1985 is probably the first book of its kind.

To the best of my knowledge there is no sports syllabus worth mentioning in our country’s schools.

RESTRUCTURING THE SPORTS FORMAT

The existing format of the sports disciplines in our country is in shambles as is evidenced by our performance at international level. It needs to be restructured. All ancient relics like NIS should be properly dismantled and out of the pieces new organization should be allowed to evolve. We must prioritize our sports expenditure.

Olympic disciplines take top priority and even in those games individual games take the highest priority. This is from purely cost benefit point of view. At the moment we are not in a position to make one person fit enough claim a gold medal in Olympics. It is misplaced optimism to think that we can produce a team of fit individuals to get a gold medal. Even if such a thing happens all the money spent on these individuals gives us only one medal. If the same amount of money is spent on as many individuals we stand to get that many medals. Even in individual games; games which require skill like shooting and archery take topmost priority as these games come close to Indian psyche.

Thus games like hockey and football should be left to fend for themselves. Government should not spend even a single rupee for these disciplines.

Second priority should be for Indian games. However only those disciplines which can be modified into an Olympic individual discipline should be sponsored by the government. Thus wrestling and Indian martial arts should be encouraged but team games like kabaddi and kho kho should not be sponsored by government.

Foreign coaches are paid exorbitant sums to train our athletes. This is a serous mistake. If at all these coaches must train our coaches. Our athletes must be in our hands whatever the merit.

Exposure to competition must be a routine affair till the approach of Olympics preferably in the same climate as the Olympic city.

Training, testing and exercise equipment must be manufactured in our own country. Every industry in the top hundred industries must choose among the equipment necessary for our athletes and produce top quality equipment. Government can give tax exemptions or other incentives for the same. Our dependence on foreign equipment is frightening. This equipment must be made available to our sportsmen in a large quantity.

Sports and culture should totally separate as their requirements are different in the Indian context.

PLANNING FOR THE 2024 OLYMPICS

We must start for the 2024 Olympics right now. Any earlier target is ridiculous given our mediocre status. To elevate the whole structure will take minimum twenty years if not more. It will start with identifying individual discipline which should be our priority in the 2024 Olympics. Establishing training and testing all over the country is the next step. Then the talent search should begin for the said disciplines in the relevant age group which will be around 18 to 24 years of age in the Olympic year.

This group should be gradually refined by eliminating lesser talent till the year 2016. From the year 2016 training should be started in earnest for the next eight years.

In this way we can start establishing ourselves as a big player in international sports field.

TALENT SEARCH IN SPORTS

Talent in our country is abundant. We have a mine of different body types suitable for individual disciplines. It must be obvious to any keen observer that athletes from various disciplines look entirely different. Thus sprinters, marathon runners, gymnasts, weight lifters, wrestlers, all look entirely different. One cannot fit into any other discipline.

If we identify these athletes when they are six to twelve years of age then we can say that we are on the right track. If we wait for the chance to throw up top class athletes we will get them once in ten years. We must look for them and then look after them.

If one lakh children participate in any one sport then eventually a world class player emerges. We must make our numbers our asset.

We have a vast number of physical education colleges till date useless as far as our Olympic quest is concerned. They produce BEd’s and MEd’s worth nothing. They can be gainfully employed to reach a large population of children in talent search.

HEALTH FITNESS AND PERFORMANCE

As already mentioned the chosen children must be looked after as well as our own children. Most of them are never going to make to the Olympics as they will fall by the wayside as the more talented will surge ahead. Only very few will reach world level and fewer still will succeed as gold medalists at the Olympics. They should be gradually directed towards more suitable careers.

Health is the ability to enjoy life. We do not enjoy life on a day to day basis, hence we need festivals artificially arranged to enjoy. Sports’ training is paradoxically hard but very enjoyable. This aspect in our athletes is just not emphasized enough. Our training is only hard resulting in burn outs, injuries, overtraining; all leading to poor performance. The technical aspect of training e.g. How to throw a javelin has to be enjoyable so also the non technical aspect like improving strength in the body to throw it longer.

Our fitness training methods are exceptionally poor because those who teach them do not know how to combine physical, mental and spiritual aspects of training for a given athlete and a given discipline.

Actual performance needs extremely careful preparation regarding the above three aspects and other aspects like biorhythms, diet, sexual management, jetlag, sleep rhythms, social adjustment, media management, and many more technical aspects depending on each individual.

Fortune favors the brave. If it is true; the performance has to be spontaneous and only the brave can be spontaneous. All said and done an honestly aware preparation regarding health, fitness and performance is all that we can do rest is our fate. Here it is best to understand the relationship between fate and effort. Both are interrelated and finally one realizes; one is the other.

PREVENTION TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION

Our sportsmen show a lack of understanding and confidence in our own technical experts.

This situation is partly due to the inability of real experts to show themselves up even as fraudulent experts with no knowledge masquerade as sports medicine experts. Sometime the original is difficult to separate from the copy. We do have good people but they need proper training. Simply being a player and then becoming doctor does not automatically make you a sports doctor.

We must organize a national level training facility to train all our doctors the principles of managing and preventing sports injuries.

TRAINING TESTING AND PLAYING EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURE

Now a days no Olympic discipline is simple. Every single Olympic discipline requires either some sophisticated equipment for training, testing or actual participation. Unless these equipments are manufactured with highest quality and in large quantities in our country at a cheap price we have a real challenge in Olympics.

We have all the necessary technological expertise in high performance technology. We must exhort our top hundred industries to manufacture these items. These items will be from running shoes to biochemical testing machines to badminton rackets and special playing surfaces. Once these are available in plenty our children will take to high standard sport like fish to water.

These units must be made available according to regions and their anthropological characteristics. For example in Manipur and Mizoram mesomorphic body type predominates. Here weight lifting, wrestling equipment should be manufactured. Kerala predominates in athletically suitable body types so that equipment should be manufactured there.

TEAM OLYMPICS

A Team Olympics should be configured which will coordinate the above mentioned activities for twenty years under the guidance of a visionary, competent, non political person with least desire for self aggrandizement.

Team Olympics should start with establishing either one or all three facilities namely, a four hundred meter track, Olympic swimming pool, Gymnastic hall in all the district places.

It should identify areas for establishing training, testing and playing equipment manufacturing units.

It should coordinate efforts for talent search in sports.

It should establish a national center for Prevention Treatment and Rehabilitation of Sports Injuries.

An entirely new set of training Institutes should be established at places where the climate is moderate and suitable for training.

Coordination and interaction between foreign coaches and our own coaches should be supervised by this team Olympics.

EPILOGUE

The above mentioned project is obviously a team effort. This team needs guidance from a visionary. Although in Olympics we should not participate in team disciplines the preparation of each and every athlete in individual disciplines requires a team effort. Given our individual brilliance it should not be difficult for all the like minded people to lift our nation from the abyss of nonperformance due to inefficiency in Olympics.

Tai Chi of Market

Tai chi of market is a concept if understood properly will result in frictionless experience for buyers and sellers. Each market needs two entities. One entity gives and the other entity takes. One who gives goods is called a seller and one who receives goods is called a buyer. However each buyer gives money to the seller and the seller receives the money. Each buyer is a seller of something else and each seller is buyer of something else. Awareness of these facts is vital for an honest transaction.

If sellers become dominant the buyers suffer and if buyers become dominant the sellers suffer. It is not a question of dominance at all but of some intelligent cooperation between two really speaking complimentary entities that apparently look antagonistic. This is so because each individual is a
buyer as well as a seller. Nobody in his senses will weaken his one arm for fighting the other arm.

This chain of buying and selling really extends to infinity. The seller in the market buys from the manufacturer. The manufacturer buys from the farmer or some such person who “buys” from Nature.

The buyer in the market buys it for personal use. He uses it till he is disgusted with it or till it becomes unusable. Sells it to some other person who uses it till it completely breaks down. Spare parts may be used some where or recycled or simply given back to Nature or “claimed” by Nature.

Thus the real buying and selling starts and ends with nature. If this fact is kept in mind some mindlessness in marketplace will become less. If a seller thinks that he is superior to the buyer or if a buyer condescends to buy from a seller as if to oblige him the Tai Chi is disturbed. Complimentarity of each others existence has to be appreciated.

Any kind of disturbance in the form of barriers is certainly detrimental to the market. Anybody who thinks of raising a barrier to prevent sellers from selling or buyers from buying what they want takes the life too seriously and apparently thinks that he or she knows what he or she is doing. Tai chi is a flow and obstruction to any flow will result in a new alignment of forces again on the model of Tai chi but with the barrier in place.

Ideally every seller must place himself in a situation where part of his sales are here and part of the sales are there. This ensures that there is no overdependence on buyers either here or there. The buyers should also position themselves in this fashion.

Governments the world over have tried to regulate the normal trade in any market in the name of ideology, economics, politics or as a means of bullying tactics. Free market as understood by many is taken as a kind of Jungle Law where might is right. This concept of free market is devoid of the desire of wishing well for many. Free market idea is utilized to make money and more money only.

The limits of individual human existence let us know that all of us are equal before death whether we are buyers or sellers. We have bought our body from mother earth and we have to give it back. We got it free and we give it up for free. This is Nature’s Free Market. This is one market where the concept of profit or loss is nonexistent.

Thus when we sell we must feel for the buyer and when we buy we must feel for the seller. This is the Path of Heart.
Such transactions create everlasting friendships. Bargaining ends for ever. Buyer implicitly believes in the seller and seller never ever betrays the faith. Buyer pays for the goods without any delaying tactics. This enhances the quality of existence for both parties.

Today this kind of feeling must rise within markets as the world is becoming a small village.

SACRIFICES ON THE ALTAR OF SCIENCE

Human beings have sacrificed animals since ages for various reasons. They have sacrificed animals to propitiate Gods, to pacify evil spirit, to bring good luck to a venture or just as a ritual. We believe that animals do not have their own existence beyond their usefulness to us. Our behavior with animals is simply extremely selfish. We do not believe that life as such is sacred whether it is a human life or any other life.

In the struggle for existence all animals survive by defending themselves against other animals. They may need to kill them in order to eat them or protect their territory. Human beings are the only animals which kill even when they do not eat them like in a hunt.

People against religious practices that sacrifice thousands of animals in rituals apparently do not see similar irrationality when thousands of birds are asphyxiated and killed extremely cruelly by stuffing them in bags. Animals apparently cannot be killed for religious reason but they can be mercilessly killed for “Scientific reasons”. The religious people at least eat the animals they kill. These scientists who have gone berserk in their “scientific wisdom” simply burn them.

Not long ago thousands of cattle were killed in Europe ostensibly to prevent foot and mouth disease. Now with the threat of bird flu thousands of birds are being sacrificed at the altar of science for an extremely doubtful method of prevention of this disease. The strongmen of science are entering poor villages and destroying their live stock with or without suspicion of bird flu.

It is not difficult to imagine people with western scientific wisdom killing hundreds of white, black, brown or yellow people with this method of preventing diseases. Rich people killing poor people because they spread disease. So called healthy people killing all the people with AIDS so that it can be prevented. Even communities where one person gets AIDS should be destroyed completely according to this wisdom.

The most surprising thing is that people working for animal rights are keeping mum about this. Not one single human being or organization has protested against this terrorism against animals. Sensible human beings must know simple facts about viral or bacterial infections.

1. Exposure to any disease producing agent does not automatically produce disease. It is as yet not known if hundred men sleep with one female having AIDS, how many actually get AIDS and die due to it.
2. We do not know whether virus is living or not. So killing a virus is a doubtful thing to start with.
3. Pettenkoffer stated that the disease producing agent, the readiness of the persons internal environment to allow it to grow and the timing of introduction of the disease producing agent are responsible for the disease to occur.
4. Thus in great epidemic not all people die; some survive with their immunity enhanced because of their contact with the disease producing agent.
5. Hundreds of people live in such conditions that any person living in developed country will die simply seeing it let alone living in it. They do not die because their body interacts with all the germs and then both stay together without killing each other.

The whole idea of eliminating diseases by exterminating bacteria comes out of the notion of devil and god without realizing that black and white exist because of each other. Let’s not kill innocent animals to save another bipedal animal. This is wisdom. The scientists have gone berserk in their scientific advice to kill thousands of animals. Stop them. There must be some better way of preventing bird flu.

PATRIOTISM

PATRIOTISM

Patriotism is the curse of this mother earth. This beautiful undivided earth is divided by Patriots into different countries. Each patriot thinks his part of this divided earth is better than the other parts. The people living in that part are better people and the people living in other parts are obviously either enemies or inferior people. The patriots then go ahead and produce National Anthems, National Flags making them into symbols worth giving this beautiful life for.

Clever patriots make idiotic patriots lay down their life to defend the honor of their so-called country. Then they are called martyrs. The parents and wives and children of these dead patriots are later neglected in all the so called nations.

All this is extremely childish or why should we say childish? Children are much better. They know no boundaries. The adults inculcate this poison of patriotism when they are so young and so impressionable that they grow to believe this division of Mother earth to be real. These children as adults don’t think twice to kill another patriot but of some other land hence worth killing.

If the human beings think that they are at the pinnacle of evolution and that they are better than amoebas and frogs and monkeys they should find one patriotic amoeba or frog or a monkey. They live on this earth as one entity. They do not create artificial boundaries. They do not need visas and passport to travel in other nation. How uncomplicated is their life!!!

Nationalism and patriotism are names of the same thing. This is one poison which gives a definite sense of superiority to a group of people who do not think twice to drop an Atom bomb not once but twice on a hapless people. These Nationalist turn Nazis and kill Jews. These Nationalist then evict Palestinians and kill them. These Palestinians then kill even school children as suicide bombers.

All nations must start erasing boundaries between them if this earth is to become a paradise. This should start by completely stopping the use of National Anthems, National Flags and any other sign which makes people believe in their separate identity. This does not mean that we destroy the diversity of people. Diversity is not animosity. Diversity is the flavor of life. This needs delicate operation which can happen with Awareness.

Politicians have a vested interest in perpetuating the myth of Patriotism. Politicians will exhort people to die so that they can live. This is ultimate politics. No politician has ever died fighting for his country. They have always made other people die. They have said “Give me blood and I will give you freedom” Of course it is your blood and his freedom. He governs the freed Nation and a dead you are freed of all life problems for ever.

Remove all the trappings of Patriotism from your mind. Inform others of this stupidity.

SCIENCE IS WRONG RELIGION IS WRONG

Two pillars of the world, one a bit older and one a bit younger, are proving to be disastrous for the modern world. World is evolving with every single revolution of the earth around itself and around the sun. However the “evolution of the species” is turning out to be “devolution” in actuality. Humans have lost many attributes of the monkeys like climbing trees, jumping long and high, eating all kinds of leaves. They have lost keenness of their senses. They have retained the violent nature of monkeys as far as destruction of environment is concerned or their sexual behavior is concerned. Monkeys kill the young ones of the females they have conquered for themselves as easily as they destroy the garden they are in. Humans are destroying the earth much the same way and behaving with their females in much the same way under the pretext of religion.

Every single life form goes towards pleasure and moves away from pain. Religion has taken people away from pleasure towards pain. Science in its arrogance of unraveling the nature has made people weak in their body, mind and spirit. Science has devised weapons of mass destruction and these weapons have become pretexts for starting many a war. So called developed societies in their effort to give pleasure to the body and joy to their mind are going away from these very things. Underdeveloped societies are aping developed societies in the belief that they have what it takes to be happy. Religion is trying to lead people to bliss by discarding pleasure and joy.

Therefore it is no surprise if the world is mostly unhappy. Religion opposes scientific truth clinging to its own “truth”. Science rejects religion little realizing it itself is becoming another “religion” sacrificing happiness on its altar.

Both have gone wrong. Both need to reform. Science is developing as islands, unconcerned how development in one aspect affects the other. Religion was always an island excluding others to start with then forming smaller islands within.

Science must look at macroscopic and microscopic things together as they depend on each other. Scientists must look at their own bodies as amazing conglomeration of atoms trying to solve the mystery of other amazing combinations. They must appreciate the continuous fabric of life and desist from any voluntary destructive tendencies in their research.

Religions must destroy the walls built between them and liberate human spirit from debilitating notions and concepts used to keep humanity in bondage.

If science and religion transform themselves; i.e. we transform ourselves, because we are what it takes to make science of something and we are what it takes to form a religion; world will be a better place.

Quest for knowledge

Every single living organism has tried to understand the universe around with the help of perceiving apparatus inherent in its system. It could be the five senses as we have or some other unnamed or ill understood senses that of an amoeba. We presume that a rock or stone does not try and understand the universe around it. We presume that we understand it better than any other living form because we presume we are the most evolved creatures on this planet at least.

We analyze and measure things around us and try and come to conclusions regarding the nature of things forgetting we ourselves are things. In essence something is trying to understand something else. Analysis has gone to absurd levels in physics where a stage has come when language and its expression for observed phenomena has gradually become incomprehensibly and hilariously funny.

We are made of atoms , we accept this fact without even once seeing an atom. Then these atoms are made up of particles, we accept this without a murmur. These particles are made up of particles and some of these particles are such that they can “understand” each other even if the are millions of miles apart. Some have mass but no charge and some have charge but no mass. They come out of nothing and vanish into nothing in nanoseconds. We accept all this with full faith in the scientists.

Gradually every single scientific paper in any discipline from immunology to cosmology is becoming so incomprehensible that one cannot understand a sentence. In a few years from now one may not understand a word and then may be one cannot make head or tail out of a letter. Why is this happening? Is science the only method of understanding the universe?

Anyone who observes the universe observes it with the senses. Senses are under the influence of mind. Mind is not understood at all but is under the influence of “internal environment”. We do not feel good sometimes. Conclusions are drawn out of observation using mind as a tool; which in its turn uses senses as tools; which in their turn are seated in sense organs; which in their turn are made up of atoms; which in their turn are made up of particles; which in their turn are made up of further particles; which in their turn come out of nothing.

What is the value of such conclusions? Every time science declares its earlier observations as wrong and presents new set of observations as right. It simply means science is wrong today in terms of tomorrow. If this is the case how should I go about understanding the universe?

Mind is chain of thoughts. No thought-process means no-mind. Direct perception of universe without the senses and without the thought process has to be the way. Language is a barrier to expression. Language is formed of words. Words express notions, experiences, concepts etc. All these things are continuous or analog and the words are digital. Words break the continuity of actuality. Words supplant actual experience if one is not careful enough. Different languages and their dialects add to the confusion in communication between different individuals.

Silence and not science is needed to understand anything around us. There is too much noise. We must sit, stand, walk, sleep in internal silence. This silence will accumulate direct perception. It will synthesize the accumulated perceptions; transforming our internal environment which in turn will transform our external environment. When internal and external environment are congruous there is knowledge in true sense of the word.

Something is going to be unknowable forever. Enjoying this journey from known to unknown is what we can do without ever really knowing the “known”.