Formality!

In an old Hindi movie, I remember a scene where a hero, beckons an elderly lady, while playing chess in a tone to indicate ‘something important/serious’, and as she approaches close to him, he bends a little, from sitting posture, and while making a move of a chess-coin/chessman, extends his left hand brings it near her feet, and touches his chest, without even moving his gaze/attention from the chess board. The elderly lady reciprocates with a look of satisfaction and even gratitude (the facial expression seems to say ‘Good, that at least some of these youngsters of today still remember good traditions!). I was a school going kid, and even I ‘fell’ for that act, since I had very few occasions to ‘touch’ the feet of elders, except when asked to do so! I also got confused, when people later tried to teach me “It is better to do something, someway, somehow, instead of not doing it at all!”. When I go through school lessons in that ‘somehow’ way, it did not work, it did not fetch marks, and more surprisingly, reverting to correct way seemed a Herculean task!
Formality also seems to be an elusive concept. “Informal”, is used to commonly mean as ‘casual’. And “formals” are for ‘formality-sake’ (not really keen/sincere/honest/etc….
Then when are we going to be intense or sincere about such ‘formal’ rituals/traditions/etc?
Or, should we really work towards removing this mental block, created by ourselves?
When a close junior colleague of a army commando group lays down his life, fighting the enemies, the senior gives a heartfelt, tears-filled-eyes, last salute to the lifeless bullet-ridden mutilated body of that soldier, even when no one else is around to ‘evaluate’ the ‘form’ of that salute. But to me, this salute means a lot more than the reciprocal salute of a nation’s monarch to a whole army marching past on a day like republic-day/independence day, though media coverage, journalistic coverage etc showers praises on the gaiety/glamour/splendor of such colourful occasion!
We also link ‘dignity’ with formality. A hard work, feels less dignified, when it not formally recognised by the ‘formal’ head, in the prescribed official ‘form’, and the compensation/incentive/etc is not in the acceptable ‘form’ that is ‘commercial-value’!
Please see, when ‘formalities’ like ‘thank you’, ‘good/good-morning’ etc seems too ‘formal’ amidst close-relatives/friends, inadvertently, the ‘dignity’ gets somehow ignored for the ‘self-less’ favours, and relationships erode for want of proper emotional evaluation! For instance, we are simply incapable of even imitating that innocent child who reciprocates a wide-eyed-glance when we give an unexpected chocolate. It seems quite stupid, when the embarrassed parent tries to persuade that child into mumbling something like ‘thank-you-uncle’ or so! The facial expression of joy-gratitude-love (all-in-one) seems to say it all !
While formality seeks to ‘ensure’ dignity to substitute any lack of awareness/ignorance, the non-formal or in-formal understanding of the concept seems to demolish that noble emotion of ‘due recognition of dignity’ either ways! To quote a typical example, the newly wed bride, when she makes her first visit to her parents house, heaves a sigh of relief, being left to her ‘normal’ self again, though for a brief while, as a sense of relief from that act of being ‘formal’ while interacting with the in-laws, till she ‘gets-used’ to being ‘only-formal’ for the rest of her life! No wonder, such ‘formal’ attitudes ‘caves-in’ like a feebly supported structure, sometime or other! And her parents find it ‘obvious’ to support recouping the ‘stress/strain/tensions’ of being casual for that brief visit, misconstruing ‘informal’ to be a ‘let-go’ recouping session! The delusion here is the mutually-supportive-emotions that replace ‘dignity’ with so called ‘love’! The parents did not really ‘enjoy’ parting their daughter, and the daughter did not really endure being ‘formal’, and so that ‘mutual-benefit-scheme’ which seems like tons of emotion-filled-love!--Even that does not work for too long! That is why we are trying to look at the subtle effect of ‘dignity’, and not the ‘formal’ display of recognition of ‘dignity’. As if to support my theory, the ancient concepts of bestowing ‘dignity’ to evolved beings through various rituals and spiritual practices seems to have gone un-noticed, and due to lack of proper strong foundation(i.e. deeper perceptions to feel/experience the un-noticeable subtle presence of the ‘dignitaries’ invoked, like ancestors/divine beings, etc) , such practices got reduced to mere formalities, and when paucity of time and money throttled us by the modern pace of life, even these formalities fell in line with the way we look at other formalities, and ultimately got dispensed with!

I still keep the options open, to view it any other way.
And so, to look at
The word itself,
In Indian languages(as an example), it is translated as......
Malayalam—“Aachara-prakaram” (more or less means a tradition)
Tamil—Shadangu (a deformed version of a subtle and higher version shat-Anga, the six limbs of a spiritual aspect—not going into details here)
Hindi—upcharik/Oupcharik (ritualistic sense)

Perhaps, in English itself, it takes a form from ‘form’. ‘Form’ is for uniformity sake, more or less to ensure that the ‘prescribed’ form ensures avoidance of inadvertent omissions of any kind!
(With this, it seems like I have ‘formally’ wound up this year, 2009! A sigh of relief to readers! If so, I would love to ‘informally’ just vanish! The call from mystic ‘dignitaries’ have been echoing a subtle whisper for too long!)
Regards,Psn(31st December, 2009)

THE 'wisdom-philosophy'

I am all admiration for this question!
And,
As I ‘declared’ in the answer, I ‘resist’ any elaboration ..
Regards,
Psn (30th December, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091227074854AARpajQ

The question:

What concept must we add to the criteria of philosophy as science to form the idea of philosophy as wisdom?

My Answer:
Oh! What a question!
It is almost like a ‘wake-up-alarm’ to those who seem to be just going in circles, under the illusion of moving forward!
And, this question does suggest (at least as a hint/clue) as to why, when all other scientific pursuits reach a point of academic study, they all are invariably called as “PhDs”/s !!

Well, in a nutshell, the concept to be added is the ‘element’ or ‘essence’ of “meditativeness” to form the idea of philosophy “as wisdom” !!

I suppose the “expansion” of the ‘nutshell’ (elaboration) is not at all warranted here, though it would indeed satisfy the few eager and thirsty! (The bewitching mystic ‘Spell’ of ‘wisdom-philosophy’ forbids it!)

In my deep experience, my saying mere a ‘thanks’ for this question, would look ridiculous! Yet, I submit an humble ‘Thanks’ which seeks to be beyond a formal one!


Another Very Good Answer:
Wow! What a question!OK. I think that the main ingredient is twofold. First and foremost,I think that the the philosopher must have an intimate knowledgeof himself/herself. Since we are human and share many common traits with all other humans, we are our own raw material fromwhich our philosophy can be forged. When we take an honest andthorough inventory of ourselves, we can see all aspects of all ofhumanity expressed in our being. The second is the practicality of our philosophy. If we ask ourselves "can this philosophy actually work' and if the answeris no, there is little point to holding on to it. If it can work then we can ask our selves if its basis is objective fact or is it personally motivated by subjective desires. If based on facts seen objectively, then it might be a usable set of ideas. If, on the other hand, its self serving then it will be subject to the influencesof our own minds and will be distorted as a result. I don't think of philosophy as science. For me, its my perception of life and how I live it day in and day out without going starkraving mad. Its basis is whats "good" or whats "bad" and goes against the empirical approach of the sciences whichtry to establish the cause and effect of our little world ofphenomena without being concerned as to its moral or ethicalvalue.Great question. A person who would ask this question can,in all likelihood, adopt a most productive and satisfyingattitude about life and how they would choose to live it.Thanks.

Interdependence

Interdependence on traditions to then look for innovations (and innovations, not due to lack of clarity about traditions! Even a “musically-challenged” person(I am one such!) can have a grasp about what it feels like to be an ‘accomplished musician’ after reading this, and if the article ‘goes though the reader’, not the reader ‘goes through the article’!)
A wonderful rejoinder (link given below…)
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/12/27/stories/2009122750120300.htm
T.M. Krishna's rejoinder…

The rejoinder refers to this article…..
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/12/27/stories/2009122750110300.htm
(ANIL SRINIVASAN responds to the article “Between tradition and evolution” by T.M. Krishna, published last week. .)



And the same person quotes the clarity of yet another innovative traditionalist ….
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/12/27/stories/2009122750050200.htm
(Carnatic vocalist Aruna Sairam, who received the Isai Perarignar award last week, chats with fellow musician ANIL SRINIVASAN about inspiration, tradition and innovation in music. )


An innovative look at the traditional myth about what constitutes “ a hero “ …..
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/12/27/stories/2009122750060200.htm
(He did not write a book, direct a film, stop a riot or save a river. But he combined heroism and spirit to be truly outstanding...)


We reflect by ‘comparisons’ usually. And when even one of those whom we seek to compare happens to be a ‘deep’ person, there is scope for their being ‘misconstrued’ !
There was a question about how we get into the confusion, and why at all?
When a pen and a sword gets compared, there is an interesting interpretation by a surgeon, who says, Surgery is writing with a scalpel in living tissue. There are no rewrites. And second chances? Almost never!”
(the link:…. http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/12/27/stories/2009122750030200.htm )


I tried to look at how to get clarity about it.

I quote below the asker’s question, and my answer.

Regards,
Psn(28th December, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091225091900AAWf6nw
The question:
Why is it that every time others do things, is a time you reflect on yourself?
Does it always have to trigger like that? Is there only a floating Iman, without direction and strength to understand what you have been given as a mercy and guidance unto thee?So what is going on around you, is more important than what you have going on around for yourself?If you made a life for yourself, why are you bothering looking at what others have? Isn't that the problem there, is that you don't have direction or didn't make a life for yourself yet?What does someone else have to do with me?


My answer:
It is a deep, subtle and strong interdependence that 'drives' us so. The doubt arises only when it comes to evaluating with other human beings. But when it happens to all other life forms (especially that which touches us very obviously), we have no doubts about it. The doubtlessness is not exactly due to clarity, but the entire lack of it mostly(and the assumption of its redundancy too)!

And the asker’s comments:
Dinomite Job!If you are in submission then you have no doubt, and all that goes away.Al hamdoullah Rub AlameenSalam

Bad Sectors!

The early users of the ‘floppy-disk’ would remember, how they struggled to get a data transferred from one stand alone PC to another!
The retrieval was almost a torturous experience!
The data in the floppy invariably ‘chooses’ the only available ‘bad-sector’ to get itself lodged into!
And when we were ourselves quite new to floppy disks, no amount of care, packing during transit seemed to suffice to ensure safe transit of floppy. The error messages were also quite confusing, with jargon like “lost chains, clusters… ?” There was that ‘yes’ or ‘no’ option, which we were not sure how to answer! ‘All we want is that stupid file data, and what are we going to do with chains, clusters and all that scrap-iron-junk-garbage?’ was the thought!

Even the ‘Good students’ of earlier classes find it puzzling, when it comes to reproducing a quality answer in exams of higher classes, however hard they mug, revise etc…
Those who get easily discouraged, become early ‘drop-outs’ from that ‘above average’ slots. Then it is all ‘chains and clusters’ lost! Though a bit late, it does occur to the ‘previously-above-average’ students that they failed to grasp the ‘essence’ of the subject which was what the examiner was trying to look for, while awarding the ‘extra’ marks for an above-average-answer.

This ‘essence’ is essentially the basic concept of the subject itself, which keeps hovering over the entire subject like that spy satellite that keeps a perpetual ‘watch’ over a large continent, inconspicuously. In law, we call it ‘Jurisprudence’. At higher level of studies, it is the ‘essential’ grasp of the essence of the theme, theory, subject that decides the eligibility for doctorial qualifications! That is why the ‘treatment’ of the theme in a thesis fetches results even when no big tangible result is churned out. When it comes to hard, cold, and precision oriented logical subjects like Chartered / Cost accountancy, the ‘abstract’ theme is more elusive than ever, which explains for the very small percentage of even just pass rates(To briefly illustrate with a simple example, an alert ‘cost-expert’ would look into the possibility of the ‘process of storing inventories’ as a money spinner, instead of restricting oneself to the traditional ‘expenditure-item’ view while tackling it ‘cost-consciously’)!

In fields like Banking, finance etc, experience makes up to a large extent for lack of theoretical grasp, and that explains for the phenomenal rise of people with low academic profile. They get that non-verbal-form of the abstract essence directly into them through sheer experience.

The question itself was not very clear, yet, I made an attempt to guess, and then dealt with the answer, hoping, it would help yet others at least who could not ‘coin’ a question thus.

I am tempted to leave a ‘chain & cluster’ in mentioning here that, usually it is more of girl children who ‘drop-out’ of the above-average-slot when they go for higher studies, for a very ‘natural’ reason!
Regards,
Psn(26th December, 2009)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091225160940AAI5mSu

The question:
What things that are important but you may not remember?
i idea of things that are important but you may not always remeber plz i need help on science


My answer:
It is the concept that does not get stored into the memory, and / or it does not get recalled in times of need, as apart from the 'text' or technical portions (informative aspect)....
If this is the query,
then the answer you seek is for "why is it that something we already know to be important when we store in memory, does not get recollected/recalled"......

The reason could be, when we pre-conclude something to be very important (saying to self "This, I should take extra care to remember"), part of our attention (or focus of mind) gets diverted towards the anxiety/worry about remembering it, and the process of image-storage is not sharp and clear! When it comes to a 'concept', please see, already 'a concept ' is an abstract thing, and if the mind is not clearly focused while we try to store it, the memory will have something like 'bad-sectors-in-a-computer-had-disk' and the data retrieved from that memory location will not be clear, even if we press the 'refresh' button any number of times! Nothing prevents us from re-storing it any number of times! The effort is wasted if we do not "set-the-conditions" of storage properly! These conditions are basically from inside us, and outside conditions can support and supplement, only if needed!
Any further elaboration here, would only distract the focusing of mind, and hence dilute the purpose...
So, I conclude the answer here leaving it open for exploration by self.
Thanks for this question.

What is in a name?

We find that these sort of ‘expressions’ come up quite often!
“Please make sure that my ‘name’ does not ‘get mentioned’ anywhere!”
“Why does my name ‘figure’ always, when something goes wrong?”
“Don’t ‘name’ somebody, just put through the comment in a generalized way, and everybody would easily guess ‘whom’ you are meaning!”
And so on…
Already, the world has become too crowded a place. We don’t know our neighbour’s name even, residing side by side for over years, since it is an “apart—ment” though in then same building! We are just a ‘face’ in that large crowd. And yet, most of us seek anonymity!
There was a time, even recent few years ago, when all faces were quite familiar, and smiles of gentle acknowledgements are exchanged all through our way when we walk out of our home even on a brief errand.
Why do we seek anonymity, even though we are already just another face in the crowd, a ‘non-entity’, just one out of that ‘cattle-class’?
The technology is already doing its best to reduce us to numbers…. PAN id, Card id, Unique id, Social security Number, (even that ‘idea’ to use just a mobile number to dissolve our ‘class-identities’, known by the slogan ‘what an idea sir jee!).
And global brand names are swallowing country brand names with mergers!
Call centers answer with just ‘brand’ name, though the person ‘manning’ it is usually a woman, and yet not quite ready to disclose her own name, quite obviously so!

To remind ourselves briefly of a contrast, Dr. Abdul Kalam had ‘lent’ his name to his junior when a launch failed at ISRO, and then later when another launch was successful, he clarified that this time, in his name, everything was done wonderfully by that junior! Gautam Gambir, the emerging ‘God’ of India’s religion of the youngsters(Cricket), re-wrote his name on the cheque for the ‘man-of-the-match’ at Eden Gardens, on 24th December, 2009 in favour of ‘Virat Kohli’, a rare gesture that stands taller than all the victories….. I bow humbly before his(Gautam’s) noble parents!

This tendency of trying to run away from our own name, eventually ends up losing our identities, like a fast-forward through a by-pass-highway! The philosophy of a great saint Ramana, “Who am I” becomes redundant!

A question that seemed to ‘represent’ the agglomeration of such ‘non-identities’ came up, and I got into it, trying to look for my answer to it ….
Regards,
Psn(25th December, 2009)


http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091224154454AAh51Tt

Can you legally change your name to either "John Doe" or "Anonymous"?
Additional Details
And is doing so unethical?
Can you change your name to absolutely no symbols whatsoever, a complete blank, because that is how you prefer to spell it, and you pronounce it however you like


My Answer:
When the spark of divinity within grows a bit more, it would be the other way around.Our name, and only that would be available for others to do what they like with it, we would not be! For instance, all saintly persons remain untouched by what happens, least of all, their own names!God is known by several names, forms in several religions, but only the name is available, to what we like with it, the ‘Being’ being what it is, is being with ‘our being’, only when we like being only the being!

Memory Recall

I was not quite sure, if this ‘opinion’ of mine had any sense of appeal.
So I had just sent it as a suggestion to two students, I knew closely.
When the parent responded to the “c.c.” of the mail, with a comment that it was ‘informative and easy to practice’, I felt it might as well deserve a glance by others too.
Perhaps, the readers/recipients might bring it to the notice of interested children.
Regards,
Psn(23rd December, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091221170350AAgvNJ2
The question:
How can I remember memories more clearly?
Just wondering if there's any ways to recover memories?

My answer:
Storing and recalling are the two components of memory.The recalling of something occasionally refreshes the stored data for easier access. That is what students do when they 'mug-up' something.Now, some learn it by-heart in just one reading. That is because of clear, single-focused 'storing'... It happens more easily when we see a very good interesting movie. We are 'into' it , fully involved, intense, and the storage is sharp clear visuals. When reading a dull academic book thrust upon us, the recalling after even a couple of moments is very difficult. The storage this time is with least clarity, and with great reluctance.

When we subsequently try to recall something, as a consequence of realizing its importance only later on, we need help to recall the seemingly lost details. A professional like a skilled police officer, investigation personnel seems better at asking the right kind of questions which seems to simply light up the dark areas of our memory at once! Here again, it is the experience of 'how to get the mind focused' (a sort of 'zoom-in' function) with the right kind of questions. We too can develop this skill with some practise, and it will help us to learn focusing better. The best thing is to improve our 'default' alertness to be at peak levels with a well relaxed mind, so that the storage is excellent even in the normal course! A preoccupied mind is the usual stumbling-block to clarity of storage.

The 'Vital' space!

We all clamor for space. When we are located at a metro-city, owning some space means money, wealth, investment, and a source of inheriting luxury!
But rare is that little space within ourselves, though it does not really cost anything. But we end up paying a very heavy price, for the lack of it! Some times the consequences are a bit irreversible.
I felt a little overwhelmed when I read this question, because this asker is trying to withhold the sorrow simply because it might add to the ‘global-environment’ of sadness needlessly, especially when/because this asker is able to ‘enjoy the present moment’, though there is sadness! And the asker amply clarifies, “not everyone enjoys being sad” !!!

The vital space is the mystic factor, that enables a person to ‘en-joy’ being a witness to one’s own self, manifesting a precious emotion of being sad, when it is quite appropriate to be sad (as for instance, at a condolence meet of the demise of a very noble person).

It is simply not possible here to ‘deliver’ the know-how of this kind of ‘space-technology’. The technology transfer itself is through some kind of wireless-local-loop or so! Some of us have been fortunate to know it by the name ‘Bhaava-spandana’ (sympathetic vibration due to emotion—like that tuning fork in our school-physics-lab, that induces a vibration)…

Almost every one of us did have a chance occurrence some time or other, where we had that feel of a subtle space within (when we say, ‘my mind’ is confused instead of ‘I am confused’… etc). It is up to us, whether to take note of this factor and make conscious effort, to first create a quality time-space within the fast pace, to then work towards a space within!
Regards,
Psn(23rd December, 2009)

Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091222174700AAitdXG&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc
The question:
Do you think being sad adds suffering to the world?
Gandhi said "Be the change you want to see in the world..." And I'd like to see all the people of the world not suffering.

However, I've found that you can't always be in a happy mood. I mean, take tonight for instance...I'm feeling down... I still very much love life, and I'm enjoying this moment, even though I'm sad, so I guess you could say I have a happy outlook? I've learned to accept my feelings, and I've found being sad makes me feel alive, which I enjoy, if that makes sense.

However, I feel that, by being sad, I will sadden my loved ones. I have a hard time sharing my sad feelings for this reason. I mean, not everyone enjoys being sad, do they?Does being sad actually add suffering to the world? Because I don't think there's a way to get around facing sorrow...=/ And not everyone has a happy outlook, and I'm not sure everyone enjoys feeling sad.
Help?
Thank you.


My answer:
"Being sad" by itself, does not add any suffering....
It is the 'residue' that we carry, and needlessly bemoan, re-living it, even when it is redundant, that actually adds to the suffering!

I was amazed to see the faces of my colleagues brighten up suddenly when they see suddenly a fresh batch of customers walk in, dripping, being thoroughly wet in the abrupt mid-summer rain (the rain which suddenly occured out of no-where in the mid of hot, horrid summer)!..... People inside working in totally sealed air-conditioned hall, sealed off from even day light, have no way to know what it looks like outside! So the dripping in-comers are not even entirely rejoicing being caught in the rain unawares, and get annoyed, when my colleagues fail to hide the joyous exclamation when they ask " OH! Is it raining outside? !!! "......

(Here, I am amazed by the words of the asker! A rare attitude.... quote:" Enjoying this moment, even though I'm sad....".... that is a very vital clue to the rare level of perception. Great!)

The body has its own joyousness... When we are healthy after a good digested meal, and well rested with a deep sleep, for no apparent reason, the body feels bouncing and light next morning. A residue of past sadness, simply pulls down this wonderful occasion, pumps blood sugar due to created tension (of past memories), and the negative vibration simply permeates around right into the minds/bodies of people around, needlessly adding that "suffering to the world"....

If people are willing to look into such a possibility with an open mind, perhaps, we would improve the overall mental health of the Global environment, and then the task of saving the greenery of the planet (the ‘Copenhagen’ effort) might look less tough for negotiations!

Dilated eye concept!

Whenever I looked into the eyes of people, it seemed to tell everything. But as a kid, it required a lot of looking, observing, seeing, beholding, perceiving and what not, to just look into the eyes of a person and ‘guess’ what ‘stuff’ the hidden being inside is made up of! Somewhere quite innocently, I had started off with this eye-watching. Then it was the alert ‘gaze’ that attracted me ‘way-beyond’…

One of the bye-products of meditative practices is that we get to have a ‘feel’ of handling our eyes, the receptivity, the focusing, and many other wonderful things! (What an ‘eye-dear’ sir Jee!)

I least expected that a question of this sort would come up!

There was a ‘technical’ answer, which is by all means ‘professional’ and hence does ‘matter’ as an answer. But as they say, when it is an issue of “Mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it does not matter” !!

Since I am not involved here, in an eye-for-an-eye tussle, “ I ” wind up as also my ‘eyes’ to quote the question/answer.
Regards,
Psn (23rd December, 2009)

Quote:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091222155922AAM1xRu

The question:
How do pupils dilate to someone you have interest in, as opposed to shades of light or dark?
They say pupils get smaller in the light, and bigger in the dark, then what's the concept of it getting bigger when you have an interest in someone?


The very good technical answer:
when pupils constrict or dilate from light or dark it is because ganglion light receptors on retina(tissue in the back of the eye), send a message to the occulomotor nerve which controls pupil size via the parasympathetic nervous system. when you have interst in someone, pupils may dilate as effects of the sympathetic nervous system, for example, release of epinephrine. (adrenaline)
Source(s):
ophthalmic technician and student nurse

My ‘diluted’ (or, was it dilated?) answer:
Almost very much like the auto focus camera, where there is a choice of 'manual-settings' too !!!Left by itself, the eyes test only the light, to decide the aperture size...When "we" decide to let in a person, we take over partially, the 'deciding' factor of how much of that person to be let in us, and the aperture size gracefully 'bows' to our wishes! When it is a new born innocent charming, enchanting, never-tiring-to-look-at face of a baby child, the eyes cooperate beyond the "call of duty", refusing to even blink out of its own physical urgency! Otherwise, forget the aperture, we don't even see "eye-to-eye"!!

My experience at Yahoo Answers…

I feel a lot of hesitation, when it comes to doing something that tantamounts to an ‘advertisement’ (in the commercial sense of the word).
When this ‘hesitation’ occurs, I keep tossing the idea in my head, to weigh the options, whether to talk about it or not.
Even with my experience at a very significant formal training on the spiritual path, I myself had the hesitation to tell others about it. And as if to confirm my way of looking at it, our Teacher too held the very same opinion! “The change in you should be noticeable enough to speak about it by itself”……, he used to say something to this effect(He was very much opposed to publicity or advertisements, but later on had to ‘give-in’ when the popularity became overwhelming, and the followers multiplied into astronomical dimensions!).
Yet, the subtle guilt of failing to inform others of a wonderful experience keeps tugging me to persuading me to at least make a brief mention.
The mention here, on my blog page is a sort of compromise, within myself, between the hesitation to canvass, and the sense of duty towards people who love me to be informed…

The links:
http://www.yanswersblogin.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Indiahighlights09_ebook.pdf

quote:
“Yahoo! has notched up a very high benchmark of social service” is all I can say! Answers
represents an autobiography of the present day generation! Participation in Yahoo
Answers led to a miraculous discovery of hidden potential touching the very fundamentals
of life. The rewards, recognition, contacts, and even the fine-tuning of communication
skills seem purely incidental, when compared to the immense satisfaction of having
touched real people, in a real way, in real time!
P. S. Narayanan – Answers Top Contributor


(Earlier, I was also asked to participate in “Ask the planet” where luminaries and celebrities were at the platform…)
Quote:
http://in.promos.yahoo.com/atp/index_narayanan.php
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070208220358AAKxgNe


The entire efforts at ‘Yahoo Answers’ is in the nature of a ‘volunteering’ as far as I am concerned, and perhaps, you too may feel persuaded to give out your experiences by way of questions or answers for the benefit of others!Psn(20th December, 2009)

Shaping Life

Even the most well-shaped person is not entirely satisfied when looking at oneself into the mirror, and seeks to better the ‘image’ if possible!
Shaping ourselves intrinsically occurs as a desire only when the futility of trying to shape the appearance becomes clear! How soon, is quite another ‘matter’. Now a days, it envisages surmounting strong ‘foundations’ that we start with for a ‘face-uplift’!
It is therefore that I feel a strong invitation to work together, when someone asks a question about ‘shaping’ the being!
Even a small dent seems a great reward, to begin with at least, when it comes to ‘shaping’ the interiors! The subtle changes seldom get noticed on a day-to-day basis!
The complexity of the work involved offers the greatest challenge! Most people admit defeat too soon even about selves, so where is the question about teaming up with others for others! That is why it is important to catch them when they are young! Other wise, even I try to keep a ‘safe’ distance from the youngsters, right from my own youth! (It took some time for me to make out the comments ‘sdfjkl;’! Encryption at the Digital Fortress!)
Regards,
Psn(19th December, 2009)



http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091215215436AAK4iBq
Does life shape us or do we shape life?
what does it mean to see something through someone else's eyes? how do life experiences shape who we are and why is it so important to consider someones else's point of view?


Answer:
When we talk about 'shaping' our life, it is just about our attitude towards life. The events, incidents, the results, the gain, losses, failures or achievements etc have never been entirely under our control. We have some control only, along with many other external factors.

To get this clarity, let us take an instance. Suppose a person decides not to have any big ambitions, and attempts with a simple, contended peaceful life, for which he rigidly/strictly restricts his wants/desires/ambitions to just two simple meals a day. This is the most reasonable of the least things to expect from life. His attitude is now fixed. Two meals a day is all he wants, and as long as it happens, he is the best example of a very happy contended peaceful life! Suppose he does not get that meal on a particular day? His misery is much more than a millionaire who lost half a million! The two meals mean everything to him in life!

That is why, seeing through someone else's eyes helps to shift our attitude for a positive outlook.

This shifting our view involves almost 'becoming' the other someone else. We happen to include that person within us, even if to just try to look through his eyes! And then we expand ourselves, beyond our own body/mind. When we do that often, some where, somehow, our emotional bonds grow stronger, and we 'happen' to shape our life (through that expanded attitude!). Empathy creeps in, and fellow considerations pour out effortlessly. We become more loved by others. Our life gets shaped well too!

Less!

‘Less’ of something seems to suggest that it is just about inadequacy, and not totally bereft of it. But when it comes to a ‘childless’ couple, it seems so hard to look at it that way! The experience of such couples is two pronged. On the one hand, the very issue of being ‘issueless’ envelopes the emotional capability to a great extent, and on the other, the issue of dealing with people around who look at them only as ‘childless’ couple, most of the times! Perhaps it is good that the word is suffixed with ‘less’ to suggest a scope to improve upon it. The ‘less’ is felt ‘more’ by people who keep begetting a girl child, while they struggle to hope that may be the next one would be a boy, and the less-ness seems to extend with even more and more of children!

Having known closely several such couples, I could ‘feel’ their feeling of some kind of ‘emptiness’ in their family lives only too well. I would say, it was just my good fortune that when I chose not to mention it at all, about their not having a child, I was ‘regarded’ in a better way by them, even amidst their own close relatives. But I kept wondering as to why this ‘issue’ steadily maintains the number one position throughout their lives, when it comes to counting their short-comings! Can no other joy or achievement overpower their emotions to make them forget this for a while? Having a child of our ‘own’ means so much in one’s life! Even the parents of childless couple suffer no less, in sharing the sorrow of their children! Adoption has never been known to really substitute the want of an ‘own’ child. And as if to re-emphasis this, if the adoptive parents later have a child of their own, this two-pronged thrust re-appears afresh in a stronger way! This time the adopted child develops symptoms of distrust, and on-lookers would add ‘elements’ of doubts to it! All this dissuades newer couples from ‘thinking’ of adoption as a solace!

I least expected myself to land upon a question on this ‘issue’, knowing that I find myself witless, when it comes to offering comfort to childless couples! And yet it did happen. The asker seemed to even appreciate the ‘practical’ approach. Having given out the reply, I discovered a ‘factor’ that seems to offer some help, which could even solve other ‘less’ things in us! I hope you would notice that. That is what prompted me to present it here.
Regards,
Psn(17th December, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiBNFikmWycfr1I.tX3y.VWRHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091214040016AAhfJhe&show=7#profile-info-MTdMCfmlaa

The question:
How does it feel when people treat you differently when others treat you a certain way because,,,,,?
You're unable to have children. For example, some people look at those of us who can't have children as though we're not fit to survive or we're defective like some product from wal-mart that should be returned to the manufacturer as soon as possible. Or in some cases, some people who do have children don't want to be very much associated with us anymore, especially if your single.

My reply:
It does feel very uncomfortable. But it can't be helped. We cannot change or force the way bulk of the people look at us. We have to seek comfort from the few among them who try to support us. Another way is to perform so well, that this 'basic' view gets heavily out-shadowed! For example, if we do something for all the kids around, something that helps their well-being in a remarkable way, then the very same people would say "Perhaps, nature had planned for this couple to be parents to so many children, and therefore did not earmark just one or two of their own!!"... or something to that effect! Please see, when a farmer looks at a plant, tree, shrub or so, which does not bear fruit even beyond its maturity age, it does sadden the farmer a little. Some farmers even cut them down (perhaps due to some sentiment that the nearby tree should not 'follow-suit'!). This is more or less 'natural'. True, human beings when looking at other human beings should look beyond such 'materialistic' aspect, but practically, it seldom happens! The easier thing would be, "to shift our view, of looking at what should be their view" (or, shift our expectations or desires about the expectation or desires of others!). Animals and plants usually never fail at reproduction, but human beings can. This is so because of the complexity of various other factors which are a matter of choice at each stage of life! Having chosen something (whether through awareness or ignorance), we have to move on to what is possible in the given situation. The choice is always there about future, if only we are keen about it!

Fast Forward!

Trust begets trust!
I leave it to the readers to guess, who ‘initiated’ the trust, as far as this question is concerned (whether it is the asker or the answerer :) …. !)
And to retain the flavour of the rare type of brevity, I elaborate no more.
Regards,
Psn (16th December, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091208062323AA8b4TQ

The question:

Trust nobody ?
right... good luck trying to see that through....

My answer:

Fast forward towards death.

Enchanting comments (asker’s):
tack....

Subtle presence!

We seek a chance to squeeze in something when there is really no occasion to mention it due to the inaptitude of the situation.
The “presence” of a person is felt in proportion to the esteem we hold for that person. A child who realizes having lost himself, simply ignores the crowd into which it is lost, and the eyes keep searching for only the people who offer that sense of security back (usually the parents, caretakers or so…).
At work place, the boss makes sure that his/her presence is felt as much as possible.
At schools, teachers, the Principal etc ensure their presence being felt.
At spiritual places(places of worship, especially), the ideal situation would be to ensure the presence of some kind ‘divinity’ being felt.
During school excursions, I have seen my classmates wishing, if that caretaker-teacher were to vanish for a while, then we would have some ‘real’ fun, being left to ourselves! When the same kids, reach college, ‘now it does not matter’ to them!
When a question of this sort came up, I wished to ‘squeeze-in’ a concept, which I was all along waiting to find a way to drive into a wedge!
To get your ‘kind’ attention, let me remind ourselves of a joke about the desperation of ‘seeking a chance to squeeze in’ something very urgently!
Till recent years, there is a tradition, amongst the Namboodiri’s (a class of people in ancient Kerala, who dedicated themselves to Tantric practices for general good of the entire society), when they dine, the person serving food was expected to guess whether a particular dish was needed to be served more or to be stopped. The diner was not allowed to specify whether he needed more of it, or has had enough of it. This tradition presented very embarrassing situation, when the people serving were inept. So, the people chosen to serve were very carefully ‘hand-picked’ to avoid trouble to diners. More importantly, leaving food uneaten was forbidden!
Once a young Namboodiri kid insisted that he would join the band of servers during a session. No amount of convincing would dissuade him. Ultimately, he was assigned the least troublesome dish “Rasam” to be served. This item is watery, and a brief course with rice, easy to judge its adequacy when being served since it simply would flow out of the plantain leaf (the sacred eating plate). Very unfortunately for the kid, one of the diners, an elderly Namboodiri, put out his upturned cupped palm to contain the liquid ‘rasam’ to avoid the undirected-free-flow out of the leaf. Once filled, he slurped the contents out of his palm with great relish. The kid mistook the upturned palm to be an ‘indication’ of needing it more, and kept pouring it out. The elderly namboodiri had no choice but to show the cupped palm yet again to avoid spillage/wastage. This went on for a while, with the belly of the elderly diner reaching a ‘breaking-point’! The kid happened to make a casual enquiry to the elder “How many members does your family have Sir?”. The elder was in great desperation to squeeze in his own priority into the answer, and said “If I happen to survive this endless gulping of ‘Rasam’ being forced into me, then, including me, it is about 8 members” !! Needless to say, the kid’s attention got riveted on his folly! Namboodiris are very resourceful, quick-witted, and an abundant source of humour!
Regards,
Psn(16th December, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091214170858AAL4UvK

The question:
Wat would happen to the world if people 20yrs and up disappeared?

My Answer:
Nothing much, other than what is already happening!To the bulk of the up-to-20's the others are as good as 'they-don't-exist'. Get into a group of below 20 and spend some time when they are all by themselves and there will be no indication that there are people in this world above 20!

When a person reaches a certain level of perception on a spiritual path, the deepest emotion is the feeling of inadvertently having 'neglected' the subtle presence of all those great beings around us, all the time! Once this presence is felt even in a fuzzy way, the need for morals and ethics become redundant! This part of the answer is obviously redundant, but not entirely out of place! (Just seeking an opportunity to squeeze in something that is worth taking notice of, with a bit of an open mind, as a possibility, taking care not to blindly accept or negate!)

Ego ka sawaal ! (The question by / of the ‘Ego’)

This time, the question that I loved answering seems (to me) to be engaging the top gears!
Questions occur to a person at various levels.
The child’s simple innocent question looks more and more graceful, and appeals to our emotion, only because of its innocence ! The more funny(or odd) the question is, the more fragrant it feels!
Not so, when we adults ask, be it more sane and pertinent ones! I used to wonder, why the questions from a toddler seldom evokes ‘repulsion’ from elders! At best, it might cause only slight annoyance, when the elder is other wise too much pre-occupied (inside or outside!).
Now what is it that actually gives rise to questions, is itself the question.
When the asker happened to ‘coin’ an abstract algebraic-type-of-name ‘ego’ (instead of ‘x’ , ‘y’ ), to the mystic source(of the question), I found some ease at addressing the issue.
Of what practical use is it, in going into the ‘mechanics’ of such questions, is yet another pertinent question. Well, the mind is like a vehicle which allows us the control of steering only once in a while! So, it is worth knowing the ‘potential’ bhp (to in turn keep our BP in its limits), speed, torque, unladen weight, engine’s cc-power and the basic power transmission mechanism, emergency exit avenues(!!) , the latch-mechanism of the safely-seat-belts ( to free ourselves of it in case of need!)… and so on! Remember, that air-hostess briefing the ‘emergency-drills’ as the very first thing during ‘flights’(if only that ‘plastic’ smile were improved upon, we may also ‘grasp’ the conceptual significance too!). Any way, this answer of mine is just yet-another-attempt to get a fuzzy picture of what could be the nature of that ‘ego’.
Claims of efficacy of this answer or the infallibility of the theory are obviously ridiculous. It is just an humble attempt like a child’s little finger pointing towards the vast horizon, and in all innocence. Even if the ‘innocence’ part of it finds appeal, it is an ample reward in itself!
Regards,
Psn(13th December, 2009)

http://selfseekers.blogspot.in/2009/12/ego-ka-sawaal-question-by-of-ego.html

The question:
It's your ego asking the question here?
Is mine? I think we can tell if questions are arrogant or mean, meant to insult or simply too silly. Want I really mean is... whats the best way you identify the the negative part that tries to express itself. I think it is simply paying attention to our thoughts and the feeling and not letting it happen, gradually I get better. What do you think?
Additional Details
Oh my spelling is horrid sorry. I should really read my question before I hit submit ha. Did you ever have the fear of words put into you? I did when I was very young. Do you have a similar story?

My answer:
More precisely, it the "apprehensive" ego that is 'manifesting' the question!The 'bundle' like thing that we call as ego, has its 'inside' as a quite turbulently active contents. Some of it supports the bundle as a whole, and some of it attempts to rip it open. Yet some others remain a bit dormant as a second line of defense. Spiritual Masters have attempted to describe it in wonderful varied ways!This bundle gets smashed in one go (very rare!).The unbundling by itself is not of much use, it rebundles itself yet again, in a newer stronger form!With the unbundling, the bits and pieces have to get dissolved (the bit by bit dissolution of the "ego").It is our own dear 'ego' and so the process too, obviously touches our core being (whichever way, whatever manner we deal !).The question comes up from a 'knot' which is getting 'dealt-with' at this moment!A person who has evolved into a deep sense of awareness, sharp alertness, rejoices watching the process, as an intense but non-participating witness! (We are not talking in terms of 'situation-oriented-action' when we are referring to 'non-participating' witness. The non-participation is at its best when there is no residue to be collected, that is all!).The question is manifested like a an arrow shot out of this turbulence, and it even does not bother about an answer, unless of course, there is another or the very same knot that 'feels' apprehensive about its dissolution out of this bundle!)...I am full of admiration when I look at this question. This has arisen after carefully ‘peeling-off’ itself off any kind of 'residue-gathering-material-like-things'… The wonderful words carry the fragrance of innocence.... quote: "I think it is simply paying attention to our thoughts and the feeling and not letting it happen, gradually I get better. What do you think?" (unquote)....Thanks, Regards & very best wishes.

Emotional Maturity

Many people find themselves unable to manage the people around, at a work place, though they are technically very competent at the job. Often this ‘human-interactions’ has a fall-out, affecting their performance adversely, and even affecting their career when appraisals carry a significant confidential ‘note’ about their inability to ‘get-along’ with co-workers/customers/clients, etc! When just a small correction is needed to their emotional manifestation, they are simply categorized as “lacking communication skills”, and are denied the due elevation in organizational ladder! Emotion-management is just one of the many aspects of ‘communication skills’ but very noticeable enough, and therefore quite significant where the nature of work is ‘commercially’ affected due to lack of ‘proper’ interaction with people. It would not be out of place to mention here that most youngsters engaged in “BPO-call-centers” now-a-days, tend to go ‘mad’ or ‘insane’ in trying to put up with patiently responding to abusive hysterical in coming ‘calls’ from customers! Recently, I came across one such youngster who presented the problem as insurmountable, and hence agreed with the trend that most people quit too soon, only to be replaced with ‘freshers’ who are eager to first land at some job to start with! I jokingly retorted to that youngster that after all, they do not ‘face’ the customer, they only listen, and that too, from a safe distance. What about the elder generation, who used to manage the maddening crowds with manual handling of work ‘across’ the counter, face to face? Then I further mounted an argument, what if this youngster has to ‘face’ the ‘same face’ for the rest of their life, like for instance, in the form of a mother-in-law? The youngster was somewhat confused at this logic. I now delivered the final blows with 'stretching of the argument', what if they have to face an irrational spouse? Okay, may be divorce is a choice. But if the offspring is to be ‘faced’ (the emotional bonds are often one-sided!!). Thinking of such possibilities might give some strength to face with relative ease, the occasional “rough & rude” customers at a distance, more cheerfully, I said. Please take it as a ‘training’ session (just in case), I added, concluding!
I felt a bit guilty, having had an unfair advantage at the youngster with my experience at play of verbal logic. But, the ‘seeding’ to move towards an emotionally mature adult was invariably done! Whether it was some intuition or premonition, I do not know, but very soon thereafter, I was to learn what was in store for that youngster (A very trying, irreversible, knotty situation, which would rigidly test the emotional ‘balance’ decisively, to affect for the rest of the life!). Yet again, I seemed to be prevented by unseen hands, from interfering with ‘nature’s work’. That is however, a personal or rather subjective matter. Let us proceed to look at the general question quoted below.
Regards,
Psn(12th December, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuxYU_dmmDygiiDmdGrDiGSQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091211161624AAtZHvf&show=7#profile-info-NuLIDK6maa

The question:
How do you become more emotionally mature?
I'm 26. I've been told a lot that I'm immature for my age. My bosses also say I show my emotions too much. Did some research on it and a lot of the signs describe me. I also seem to have a fatal flaw of logic and misinterpret a lot of social signals. I'm tired of it. Now that I'm aware of this, how do I become more emotionally mature?

My answer:
When we relate 'emotions' and the show of it, at work place, then we have to look at why we are at the workplace in the 'first' place.The relationship is basically contractual, materialistic, and therefore more logical than emotional.The emotions at the workplace do not warrant much of manifestation. The love for the work we do, for instance, is the deepest of emotions that gets excellent recognition in an 'ideal' situation. But commercial logic prevents such recognition, due to apprehensions of 'taking undue advantage'! The reason is, in commercial obligations, the element of 'trust' is kept at barest possible minimum level, replacing it with other verifiable means, like documentation, pre-conditions to be complied etc.When we human beings need to interact with others at a work place, we do not literally 'switch-off'' our emotions. And when we 'experience' deep emotions, an onlooker who is having other priorities would often fail to appreciate our 'inner' situation, and 'read' it as over-emotional. Take an extreme example. In a battle, the boss, the "Major" commands a soldier to forsake a dying wounded soldier and proceed to 'capture' a vital position, to get control over the battle. But this soldier is 'emotionally' stricken to help out his colleague who was with him for years like an own brother. Logically, staying back to help this near-dying soldier is very risky for the soldier and for the country(loss of one more soldier --vulnerability of getting shot/killed like a 'sitting duck'!). Logically it is sound reasoning to obey the Major. But, leaving the wounded soldier to die alone, uncared would leave a permanent scar like memory in our friend-soldier. That is why very 'intense' training is given with stress on 'obedience'.At work place, a worker has to choose, to decide priorities, and manage to stay intelligently at a job. Emotions have to be contained, understanding the priority of the situation around. With sustained practice, a person can become 'mature'. An emotionally mature person has sufficient control over emotions, about whether to manifest it or not. It is not about becoming insensitive/unemotional. It is about allowing logic to prevail where the situation does not warrant emotional outbursts.

Control to 'improve'?

Control in any form does not contribute to improvement by itself. Control is a kind of limitation, a restriction, looking at it one way or other.
Self control, and self improvement, is a popular concept.
I was wondering if my answer would find any appeal at all! Right from my childhood, I had been holding myself out of reach on any kind of control. We try to control something which is likely to ‘go out of control’. Why at all go out of control was my way of looking at it. The outside situation has always been beyond our control, not just ‘out of our control’. So now, the mind says, control the self… if nothing else comes under our control. This is how we tend to drive ourselves crazy and towards frustration! Once we decide to blend with the situation, choosing to do what is appropriate, then, the concept of ‘control’ itself would become redundant! I would suggest ‘regulate’ as a milder form instead, if at all needed. Children naturally repel any attempt to control them in any manner. And when they grow up, it is their turn to control us now. But they take pity now-a-days, and dispose us unto old age homes, instead (please rot there, no point in trying to control a stale vegetable!).

Please see if the answer affords a little relaxation of the controls we inflict upon ourselves and others.
(The question is about reaching the ultimate freedom but through some kind of control! How am I to subscribe to it?)
Regards,
Psn(9th Dec., 2009)

Quote:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AguAxsQ0fmefZfZeDYiatpuQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091113131214AA3vh7m
The (wonderful) question:
Does self control and self improvement lead to enlightenment?
Should I renounce the world as an illusion or are our very bodies and minds the site of enlightenment?
My answer:
Oh! Mere 'self'' realisation would be enough!Only that, to realise the self, perhaps, all that circus is needed, that self-control, self-improvement, etc!The "child-like" innocent get it just-like-that! They have nothing astray to control, or improve upon!Statistics give evidence! The bulk majority of those who 'made it' happen to be mostly unlettered ones!

Privilege of Guests to honour it!

Many of the present day’s ‘left overs’ of that wonderful culture and way of life known as Hinduism are quite understandably very much concerned about this problem of retention.
But the mystic way it is, a person who embarks to grasp it gets so absorbed that the purpose of retention and then to spread it dissolves the very person, most of the times, conclusively! Very few really care to stay back. And those who do, hardly resemble any known marketing strategist!
Any way, I yielded to the temptation to answer this question.
Regards,
Psn(9th December, 2009)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091209023953AAupkjP


The question:
Which is the best way to retain and spread Hinduism ?

My answer:
Become a living example of what can be attained by attaining it.
That is what attracted maximum intellectuals, seekers, philosphers from all over the world , from time immemorial. These wonderful people know how to sift the fine contents from superficial appearances. There is no need to spread this 'way of life'. It can survive on its own! We need it for our personal salvation.

But please see... it is 'others' who have contributed more to spread this wonderful 'way of life called Hinduism', more than Hindus themselves!

I wish to quote a rather lengthy 'forward' but a quick glance through it would prove the point...

quote:


Very very interesting and thought provoking discussions indeed ! There are points where, according to me, you are right and there are areas where perhaps you could be wrong! It is essential to differentiate between God and religion as rightly brought out by both of you!
Instead of indulging in the thesis I believe in, I am forwarding here some "quotable quotes" from some high intellectuals, respectable world renowned persons for your reading pleasure please !!
I would like you to kindly remember the following aspects before you read them, if you may !!

(1) Each one of these person is famous well respected professional, known world over for their work in diverse fields like science, art, politics and so on

(2) Each one has achieved far more in their lives -- than all of us put together can claim -- and hence their views deserve respect and consideration to that extent!

(3) None of these are professional religious Pundits, paid to promote the interests of any given religion for money or livelihood, but giants in their own profession and hence their views are not financially or otherwise motivated!

(4) I have deliberately excluded the very many quotes from Hindu monks, priests, who may have a vested interest to promote Hindu religion! Thus each one whose quote you are going to read is from Non-Hindu scholars and nothing more can be said about objectivity or bias!

(5) Many ridicule God or religion on grounds of science and technology! As soon as logic and scientific explanations are available God is given a go-by, and His influence questioned! Fair enough!! But these quotes from world class scientists, Nobel Laureates on religion--not necessarily on God --especially the Hindu religion -- need to be considered in that light !!
(6) Don't just read the quotes but Introspect a little! Believe me it is too difficult to gather the full impact of what is being stated ! To make this kind of profound observations or express an opinion how much reading and getting to know about an alien religion ( Hinduism) was necessary for them, given their own busy schedule in their diverse fields!
(7) It goes without saying that when you read the scriptures of another religion-you do subconsciously compare and analyze what you read and reject especially if that does not find favour! Your speaking favorably is indicative of your genuine appreciation/ acceptance in some cases if not all !!



Quotes on HINDUISM



The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn – Alwin Toffler

Quotes by eminent persons of great repute & Nobel Laureate

1. Albert Einstein, (1879-1955) physicist. In 1905 He published his theory of Relativity.

When I read the Bhagavad Gita and reflect about how God created this universe, everything else seems so superfluous. We owe a lot to Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

2. . George Bernard Shaw, (1856-1950) a vegetarian and Nobel Laureate in Literature.
The Indian way of life provides the vision of the natural, real way of life. We veil ourselves with unnatural masks. On the face of India are the tender expressions which carry the mark of the Creators hand.
The apparent multiplication of gods is bewildering at the first glance, but you soon discover that they are the same GOD. There is always one uttermost God who defies personification. This makes Hinduism the most tolerant religion in the world, because its one transcendent God includes all possible gods. In fact Hinduism is so elastic and so subtle that the most profound Methodist, and crudest idolater, are equally at home with it.

3. Annie Besant { Annie Wood Besant (1847-1933) was an active socialist on the executive committee of the Fabian Society along with George Bernard Shaw.
After a study of some forty years and more of the great religions of the world, I find none so perfect, none so scientific, none so philosophic, and none so spiritual as the great religion known by the name of Hinduism. The more you know it, the more you will love it; the more you try to understand it, the more deeply you will value it. Make no mistake; without Hinduism, India has no future. Hinduism is the soil into which India's roots are struck, and torn of that she will inevitably wither, as a tree torn out from its place. Many are the religions and many are the races flourishing in India, but none of them stretches back into the far dawn of her past, nor are they necessary for her endurance as a nation. Everyone might pass away as they came and India would still remain. But let Hinduism vanish and what is she? A geographical expression of the past, a dim memory of a perished glory, her literature, her art, her monuments, all have Hindudom written across them. And if Hindus do not maintain Hinduism, who shall save it? If India's own children do not cling to her faith, who shall guard it? India alone can save India, and India and Hinduism are one.

Nobel laureates

4. Niels Bohr, (1885-1962) Danish nuclear physicist who developed the Bohr model of the atom. His received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1922, for his theory of atomic structure
I go into the Upanishads to ask questions.

5. Werner Heisenberg
After the study of Indian philosophy (derived from Vedas), some of the ideas of Quantum physics that seemed so crazy, suddenly made much more sense (father of Quantum Physics Werner Heisenberg).

6. Erwin Schrödinger (1887--1961) Austrian theoretical physicist, was a professor at several universities in Europe. He was awarded the Nobel prize Quantum Mechanics, in 1933. During the Hitler era he was dismissed from his position for his opposition to the Nazi ideas and he fled to England. He was the author of Meine Weltansicht
This life of yours which you are living is not merely apiece of this entire existence, but in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance. This, as we know, is what the Brahmins express in that sacred, mystic formula which is yet really so simple and so clear; tat tvam asi, this is you. Or, again, in such words as "I am in the east and the west, I am above and below, I am this entire world."
The unity and continuity of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of wave mechanics. In 1925, the world view of physics was a model of a great machine composed of separable interacting material particles. During the next few years, Schrodinger and Heisenberg and their followers created a universe based on super imposed inseparable waves of probability amplitudes. This new view would be entirely consistent with the Vedantic concept of All in One.
Vedanta teaches that consciousness is singular, all happenings are played out in one universal consciousness and there is no multiplicity of selves.
Nirvana is a state of pure blissful knowledge.. It has nothing to do with individual. The ego or its separation is an illusion. The goal of man is to preserve his Karma and to develop it further – when man dies his karma lives and creates for itself another carrier.
There is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction....The only solution to this conflict insofar as any is available to us at all lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishad.
The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view, unless strong prejudices stand in the West.

7. Alfred North Whitehead
Science in the most advanced stage now is closer to Vedanta than ever before -- (Alfred North Whitehead)

8. Romain Rolland (1866-1944) French Nobel laureate, professor of the history of music at the Sorbonne and thinker.·
If there is one place on the face of the earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India....For more than 30 centuries, the tree of vision, with all its thousand branches and their millions of twigs, has sprung from this torrid land, the burning womb of the Gods. It renews itself tirelessly showing no signs of decay.

9. Octavio Paz (1914-1998) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990.
The Hindu genius is a love for abstraction and, at the same time, a passion for the concrete image. At times it is rich, at others prolix. It has created the most lucid and the most instinctive art. It is abstract and realistic, sexual and intellectual, pedantic and sublime. It lives between extremes, it embraces the extremes, rooted in the earth and drawn to an invisible beyond.

10. Dr. Carl Sagan, (1934-1996) famous astrophysicist.
The Hindu religion is the only one of the world's great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still.
The most elegant and sublime of these is a representation of the creation of the universe at the beginning of each cosmic cycle, a motif known as the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva. The god, called in this manifestation Nataraja, the Dance King. In the upper right hand is a drum whose sound is the sound of creation. In the upper left hand is a tongue of flame, a reminder that the universe, now newly created, with billions of years from now will be utterly destroyed.
A millennium before Europeans were wiling to divest themselves of the Biblical idea that the world was a few thousand years old, the Mayans were thinking of millions and the Hindus billions.

11. Julius R Oppenheimer- (1904-1967--Father of Atom bomb)Scientist, philosopher, bohemian, and radical. A theoretical physicist and the Supervising Scientist for the Manhattan Project, the developer of the atomic bomb. Graduating from Harvard University, he traveled to Cambridge University to study at the Cavendish Laboratory.
Modern Physics is an exemplification and a refinement of old Hindu wisdom- contained in Vedas

12. Julius Robert Oppenheimer
Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.
The general notions about human understanding… which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place. What we shall find [in modern physics] is an exemplification, an encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom.
The juxtaposition of Western civilization's most terrifying scientific achievement with the most dazzling description of the mystical experience given to us by the Bhagavad Gita, India's greatest literary monument.

13. Robert R. C. Zaehner (1913-1974) British historian of religion.
In the family of religions, Hinduism is the wise old all-knowing mother. Its sacred books, the Vedas, claim, 'Truth is one, but sages call it by different names.' If only Islam, and all the rest of the monotheistic 'book' religions, had learned that lesson, all the horror of history's religious wars could have been avoided. Which other religion has its God say, as Krishna does in the Bhagavad Gita, 'All paths lead to me.'

If only the Church had the sense to allow so many different and seemingly contradictory approaches to God, how much saner its history would have been!
It was the sublime ancient tolerance of Hinduism that he often stressed, that was the true proof of the wisdom and mature dignity of the Hindu tradition.

14. Klaus L. Klostermaier professor of Religious Studies at the University of Manitoba.Hinduism has proven much more open than any other religion to new ideas, scientific thought, and social experimentation. Many concepts like reincarnation, meditation, yoga and others have found worldwide acceptance. It would not be surprising to find Hinduism the dominant religion of the twenty-first century. It would be a religion that doctrinally is less clear-cut than mainstream Christianity, politically less determined than Islam, ethically less heroic than Buddhism, but it would offer something to everybody. It will appear idealistic to those who look for idealism, pragmatic to the pragmatists, spiritual to the seekers, sensual to the here-and-now generation. Hinduism, by virtue of its lack of an ideology and its reliance on intuition, will appear to be more plausible than those religions whose doctrinal positions petrified a thousand years ago.

15. Sir Charles Eliot (1862-1931), British diplomat and colonial administrator, a famous scholar and linguist of Oxford. ·
Let me confess that I cannot share the confidence in the superiority of Europeans and their ways which is prevalent in the West. European civilization is not satisfying and Asia can still offer something more attractive to many who are far from Asiatic in spirit.
I do not think that Christianity will ever make much progress in Asia, for what is commonly known by that name is not the teaching of Christ but a rearrangement of it made in Europe and like most European institutions practical rather than thoughtful. And as for the teaching of Christ himself, the Indian finds it excellent but not ample or satisfying. There is little in it which cannot be found in some of the many scriptures of Hinduism..."
The claim of India to the attention of the world is that she, more than any other nation since history began, has devoted herself to contemplating the ultimate mysteries of existence and, in my eyes, the fact that Indian thought diverges widely from our own popular thought is a positive merit.
Hinduism has not been made, but has grown. It is a jungle, not a building. It is a living example of a great national paganism such as might have existed in Europe if Christianity had not become the state religion of the Roman Empire, if there had remained an incongruous jumble of old local superstitions, Greek philosophy, and oriental cults such as the worship of Sarapis or Mitras.
Compared to Islam and Christianity, Hinduism’s doctrines are extraordinarily fluid, and multiform. India deals in images and metaphors. Restless, subtle and argumentative as Hindu thought is, it is less prone than European theology to the vice of distorting transcendental ideas by too stringent definition. It adumbrates the indescribable by metaphors and figures. It is not afraid of inconsistencies which may illustrate different aspects of the infinite, but it rarely tries to cramp the divine within the limits of a logical phrase.
The Hindu has an extraordinary power of combining dogma and free thought, uniformity, and variety. Utmost latitude of interpretation is allowed. In all ages Hindus have been passionately devoted to speculation. It is also to point out that from the Upanishads down to the writings of Tagore in the present day literature from time to time enunciates the idea that the whole universe is the manifestation of some exuberant force giving expression to itself in joyous movement.

16. Queen Fredricka of Greece (1931- 1981) The wife of King Paul of Greece.
It was my advanced research in physics that had started me on a spiritual quest. It culminated in me accepting the non-dualism or absolute monism of Shankara as my philosophy of life and science.
You are fortunate to inherit such knowledge. I envy you. While Greece is the country of my birth, India is the country of my soul.


17. Alfred B. Ford grandson of Henry Ford (founder of the Ford Motor), and Trustee member of Ford Motor Company.
For me the most important thing is to spread the Hindu knowledge about the soul. This is more important than any other knowledge and is my main priority.

18. Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) aide-de-camp to George Washington and first secretary of the Treasury.
When we read in the valuable production of those great Oriental scholars...those of a Jones, a Wilkings, a Colebrooke, or a Halhed, - we uniformly discover in the Hindus a nation, whose polished manners are the result of a mild disposition and an extensive benevolence.

19. Christopher W. B. Isherwood (1904-1986) Translator, biographer, novelist, and playwright.
I believe the Gita to be one of the major religious documents of the world. If its teachings did not seem to me to agree with those of the other gospels and scriptures, then my own system of values would be thrown into confusion, and I should feel completely bewildered. The Gita is not simply a sermon, but a philosophical treatise.

20. David Frawley
The Hindu mind represents humanity's oldest and most continuous stream of conscious intelligence on the planet. Hindu sages, seers, saints, yogis and jnanis have maintained an unbroken current of awareness linking humanity with the Divine since the dawn of history, and as carried over from earlier cycles of civilization in previous humanities unknown to our present spiritually limited culture.
The Hindu mind has a vision of eternity and infinity. It is aware of the vast cycles of creation and destruction that govern the many universes and innumerable creatures within them.

21. Muhammad Dara Shikoh (1627-1658 AD) the favorite Sufi son of Moghul emperor, Shah Jehan.
After gradual research; I have come to the conclusion that long before all heavenly books, God had revealed to the Hindus, through the Rishis of yore, of whom Brahma was the Chief, His four books of knowledge, the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda.The Quran itself made veiled references to the Upanishads as the first heavenly book and the fountainhead of the ocean of monotheism.

22. Sylvain Levi (1863-1935) French scholar, Orientalist who wrote on Eastern religion, literature, and history.
From Persia to the Chinese Sea, 'from the icy regions of Siberia to the islands of Java and Borneo, from Oceania to Socotra, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales and her civilization.
She has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim in universal history the rank that ignorance has refused her for a long time and to hold her place amongst the great nations summarizing and symbolizing the spirit of humanity.

23. Solange Lemaitre author of several books, including Le Mystère de la mort dans les religions d'Asie and Râmakrishna et la vitalité de l'hindouism
The civilization of India, at root purely religious, is only now becoming known in Europe; and as the mystery surrounding it is unveiled it emerges as one of the highest achievement in the history of mankind. By the very breadth of the outlook it affords on to the destiny of man the Vedic religion offers in abundance the spiritual experience that has inspired the Indian people since the dawn of their history. The vocation of India is to proclaim to the world the efficacy of religious experience.
Stephen Cross, in his book on Hinduism, pg 1, says, It is no secret that we in the West live in a time of spiritual crisis. Western civilization has been guided by Christianity. Now it appears that this period is drawing to a close. Both religious institutions and social structures are in disarray. A great many things that were considered basic assumptions of western thought are being challenged. The reality of the external world, the soul, the linear nature of time.

25. W. J. Grant India indeed has a preciousness which a materialistic age is in danger of missing. Some day the fragrance of her thought will win the hearts of men. This grim chase after our own tails which marks the present age cannot continue for ever. The future contains a new human urge towards the real beauty and holiness of life. When it comes Hinduism will be searched by loving eyes and defended by knightly hands.

26. Will Durant (1885-1981) American historian.
It is true that even across the Himalayan barrier India has sent to us such questionable gifts as grammar and logic, philosophy and fables, hypnotism and chess, and above all our numerals and our decimal system. But these are not the essence of her spirit; they are trifles compared to what we may learn from her in the future.
Perhaps in return for conquest, arrogance and spoliation, India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of the mature mind, the quiet content of the unacquisitive soul, the calm of the understanding spirit, and a unifying, a pacifying love for all living things.
India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all. Nothing should more deeply shame the modern student than the recency and inadequacy of his acquaintance with India....This is the India that patient scholarship is now opening up like a new intellectual continent to that Western mind which only yesterday thought civilization an exclusive Western thing.
"As flowing rivers disappear in the sea, losing their name and form, thus a wise man, freed from name and form, goes to the divine person who is beyond all." Such a theory of life and death will not please Western man, whose religion is as permeated with individualism as are his political and economic institutions. But it has satisfied the philosophical Hindu mind with astonishing continuity.
Even in Europe and America, this wistful theosophy has won millions upon millions of followers, from lonely women and tired men to Schopenhauer and Emerson.

27. Vecente Avelino who was the Consul General for Brazil in India in 1930. India is the only country which has known God and if anyone wants to know God he must know India.

28. Mark Twain (1835-1910) also known as Samuel Clemens, one of the most widely loved and celebrated American writers since his first books were released in the late 1860s.·
Land of religions, cradle of human race, birthplace of human speech, grandmother of legend, great grandmother of tradition. The land that all men desire to see and having seen once even by a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined.
India had the start of the whole world in the beginning of things. She had the first civilization; she had the first accumulation of material wealth; she was populous with deep thinkers and subtle intellects; she had mines, and woods, and a fruitful soul.
Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India.
"Land of religions, cradle of human race, birthplace of human speach, grandmother of leagacy, great grandmother of tradition. The land that all men desire to see and having seen once even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined."

Count Hermann Keyserling (1880-1946) philosopher, author, public speaker. He is the first Western thinker to conceive and promote a planetary culture, beyond nationalism and cultural ethnocentrism, based on recognition of the equal value and validity of non-western cultures and philosophies.
Hinduism at its best has spoken the only relevant truth about the way to self-realization in the full sense of the word.
Hinduism has produced the profoundest metaphysics that we know of.
The absolute superiority of India over the West in philosophy; poetry from the Mahabharata, containing the Bhagavad-Gita, “perhaps the most beautiful work of the literature of the world".
Benares is holy. Europe, grown superficial, hardly understands such truths anymore.....I feel nearer here than I have ever done to the heart of the world; here I feel everyday as if soon, perhaps even today, I would receive the grace of supreme revelation...The atmosphere of devotion which hangs above the river is improbable in strength; stronger than in any church that I have ever visited. Every would be Christian priest would do well to sacrifice a year of his theological studies in order to spend his time on the Ganges; here he would discover what piety means.

Dr. Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975) the great British historian. His massive research was published in 12 volumes between 1934 and 1961 as `A Study of History'. Author of several books, including Christianity: Among the Religions of the World and One World and India. Toynbee was a major interpreter of human civilization in the 20th century.
It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in human history , the only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way. Here we have the attitude and spirit that can make it possible for the human race to grow together in to a single family.
So now we turn to India. This spiritual gift, that makes a man human, is still alive in Indian souls. Go on giving the world Indian examples of it. Nothing else can do so much to help mankind to save itself from destruction.
There may or may not be only one single absolute truth and only one single ultimate way of salvation. We do not know. But we do know that there are more approaches to truth than one, and more means of salvation than one.’’‘‘This is a hard saying for adherents of the higher religions of the Judaic family (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), but it is a truism for Hindus. The spirit of mutual good-will, esteem, and veritable love ... is the traditional spirit of the religions of the Indian family. This is one of India’s gifts to the world.
At the close of this century, the world would be dominated by the West, but that in the 21st century "India will conquer her conquerors."

Huston Smith born in China to Methodist missionaries, a philosopher, most eloquent writer, world-famous religion scholar who practices Hatha Yoga.
The invisible excludes nothing, the invisible that excludes nothing is the infinite – the soul of India is the infinite.
Philosophers tell us that the Indians were the first ones to conceive of a true infinite from which nothing is excluded. The West shied away from this notion. The West likes form, boundaries that distinguish and demarcate. The trouble is that boundaries also imprison – they restrict and confine.
India saw this clearly and turned her face to that which has no boundary or whatever.India anchored her soul in the infinite seeing the things of the world as masks of the infinite assumes – there can be no end to these masks, of course. If they express a true infinity. And It is here that India’s mind boggling variety links up to her infinite soul.
India includes so much because her soul being infinite excludes nothing.” It goes without saying that the universe that India saw emerging from the infinite was stupendous.”
While the West was still thinking, perhaps, of 6,000 years old universe – India was already envisioning ages and eons and galaxies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. The Universe so vast that modern astronomy slips into its folds without a ripple.”

Alan Watts (1915-1973) a professor, graduate school dean and research fellow of Harvard University
To the philosophers of India, however, Relativity is no new discovery, just as the concept of light years is no matter for astonishment to people used to thinking of time in millions of kalpas, (A kalpa is about 4,320,000 years). The fact that the wise men of India have not been concerned with technological applications of this knowledge arises from the circumstance that technology is but one of innumerable ways of applying it.
It is, indeed, a remarkable circumstance that when Western civilization discovers Relativity it applies it to the manufacture of atom-bombs, whereas this Oriental civilization applies it to the development of new states of consciousness.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American Philosopher, Unitarian, social critic, transcendentalist and writer.
In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.--Walden
What extracts from the Vedas I have read fall on me like the light of a higher and purer luminary, which describes a loftier course through purer stratum. It rises on me like the full moon after the stars have come out, wading through some far stratum in the sky.
Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climes and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I am at it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.
The Vedas contain a sensible account of God.The veneration in which the Vedas are held is itself a remarkable feat. Their code embraced the whole moral life of the Hindus and in such a case there is no other truth than sincerity. Truth is such by reference to the heart of man within, not to any standard without.
The Hindus are most serenely and thoughtfully religious than the Hebrews. They have perhaps a purer, more independent and impersonal knowledge of God. Their religious books describes the first inquisitive and contemplative access to God.
One sentence of the Bhagavad Gita, is worth the State of Massachusetts many times over.
Most books belong to the house and streets only, . . . .But this(Bhagavad Gita) . . . . addresses what is deepest and most abiding in man. . . . Its truth speaks freshly to our experience. [the sentences of Manu] are a piece with depth and serenity and I am sure they will have a place and significance as long as there is a sky to test them by.

3-in-1

Three in “one”.

This is a very common ‘present-day’ feature with teen-age-children. The parents try to attribute the irritable nature, tiredness, sleepy nature etc to the overload of books, syllabus, the crowd at the outside life, etc…. Pampering this irritable nature only goes to accentuate the problem (subtly giving the seal of ‘approval’ that it is quite ‘natural’ in the present day situation!).

In fact, I was rather sort of ‘waiting’ for this question, where I can link up this fairly common ‘phenomenon’ , though ‘technically’ these three cannot be linked together (anger, tiredness, sleepy tendencies).

Not that the adults are left out of this problem (perhaps, I may end up irritating them further, if I suggest that it is a bit ‘late’ for them to correct themselves at a ‘tangible’ speed!)

It would be more prudent to stick to brevity on subjects of anger, tiredness and sleepy-ness, for obvious reasons, so I simply wind up here, quoting the question and my answer hereunder.
Regards,
Psn(9th December, 2009)

Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlyYi6kIxlu6ds2r2P7iiTeRHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20091208160535AAx8IVt&show=7#profile-info-AO9AF7gtaa
The question:
Why am i angry, tired, sleepy all the time?
i've been sleeping from 7 pm till 5 am (that's when I have to get up) and i'm still tired and sleepy. And i've been irritated at everything. For instance, someone could ask me a question and i'll just get randomly irritated. I don't understand why?

My answer:
Resistance, intolerance deep within can cause anger when we are unable to remove the obstacles that cause this resistance or intolerance.The rigidities caused at nervous level when we 'recognise' our helplessness increases within our body, and keeps growing subconsciously (in the background, in a subtle manner), causing stress, tension. Small doses of mild anger flares up when there is already stress/strain built up. As a contrast, please see, when we are over joyous, we gently say 'Oh! it is all right' when somebody in a crowded bus steps on our toe!Continuous rigidity and resultant strain/stress/tension drains the energy levels drastically, making a person tired too soon, and induces sleep tendencies, in its humble effort to restore the energy from its reserves (the food digests very slowly in a 'rigid' body!). Anger also contributes little bit of draining of energy, but the larger damage done by anger is pumping of blood enriched with lots of blood sugar. In turn this unused blood-sugar attempts to spend itself in vain. Invariably, it seeks an outlet. The process of seeking an outlet resembles the pressure in water breaking open at a weak point of the pipe-line. The weak point is what we 'inherited' as a weak organ, or what we neglected to become a weak organ... may be liver, kidney, heart, lungs, stomach, head(!) etc.....The reversal process may be a bit slower, but one has to do it by a conscious choice, & with concerted effort.
Best wishes.

Key 'holding' during Travel

Soon after I had managed to ‘stand on my own legs’ I got myself enmeshed into a desire to travel. Somehow I felt that to make the most use of my waking time, I have to visit as many places as possible, visit places of worship in particular, and the places which had been very significant in the lives of people who lived centuries ago. The idea was to gather the essence of experiences of people who live now and those who lived previously, thereby deepening my own experience of life. I never had an occasion to share my ‘key’ learnings from the travel experiences. This question made me look at that aspect of my travels. There is nothing much to share about it, and travel-preferences or priorities are individualistic. So no prescriptions are ‘tailor-made’. Yet I thought, it would amuse you to know how I looked at it.
Regards,
Psn(8th Dec., 209)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091202134209AAaoVWt&cp=2
What are some of your key learnings from your travel experiences?
It's going to be vacation time soon and most of us will be planning trips to different parts of the world. What have you learned from your previous travel experiences? Is it to remember to check all your documents and tickets? Is it to remember not to pack sharp objects? What do you ensure you do before you leave home and start the fun times?

My answer:
The planning part is very good to make a travel comfortable. But implementation of the plans should be selective, so as to make our alertness and awareness more 'available' to experience the place of visit. Most people just 'see' the places, and mention having visited them, and carry visual images in memory, or store captured images in celluloid or digital form. But they grossly miss the experience of the place! The experience of the place is the essence of travel. We should feel as if now we 'own that place' for ever, deep within ourselves. For this kind of experience to happen, we need lesser distractions(unnecessary luggage items, clothes, valuables, gadgets, undigested food in stomach, heavy fat content in storage areas of our body, worries in our mind, lack of sleep, disinterested co-travellers, etc). And then, a little bit of spirit of adventure would help us to explore unexpected potentials of the place of visit, and give our selves that unique surprise gift of amazement, to cherish, remember and 're-live' them at will for the rest of our lives. It would be a bonus, if we happen to make a difference in the lives of people living in the place of visit, sharing joy through our intense involvement in their concerns, however brief that may be. It is like leaving our fingerprints at the places of visit for ever, in the sands of time! The conclusive 'test' of our fruitful cumulative travels is that over a period of time, the urge, the need to travel gradually satiates like a hungry stomach feels satisfied after feasting on variety filled meal, and yet keeps feeling the heightened taste right from the pit of stomach in its belches(the best ever feed back that the tongue can have)!