Changing 'Values'

A person with a very good handwriting was ‘invaluable’ in offices, a few decades ago. The issue of a University degree had to be postponed, if that ‘expert’ in cursive special style of writing, recruited for this purpose happened to be ‘indisposed’. I don’t know how the ‘handwriting’ experts(both types, at writing, and at ‘matching’) are going to survive in the future? Good face(movie-hero) can be had with plastic surgery, and a good voice is sent behind the screen as a dubbing artist(nothing more)!

So also, totaling wizards in Banks are ‘redundant’ now. In wars, those hefty muscular heroes are replaced by slim, skinny and bony but brainy experts who handle guided hi-tech weapons, from a distance.

A rice cooker decides how much water is needed for the rice to cook, and spits out the rest through the tiny pores into outer container. Earlier, when new stock of raw rice arrives at home, ‘trial-cooking’ was needed, and then a discussion and debate, about the ‘behavior’ of this rice with water right now, and then projected guesses as it ages, was needed to decide the right proportion to cook it without wastage of starch. The cook-and-drain method obviated the bulk of indecisiveness.

What kind of ‘expertise’ is going to keep us afloat in this ever-fast-changing world is perhaps the toughest question! (The crowd behind us does not allow us the time to even feel the pain, when we fall due to a road accident, and starts honking, “asking us to get the hell out of their way”)! The simple change in the ‘version’ of a software makes the end-user-data-feeding-operator to begin “all over again” to get familiarized with the new ‘screen’ to ‘show’ his superior-speed-capability to retain his job! Should we learn a little bit of everything, just in case….? Oh! We are reminded of ‘Jack of all trades, but master of none’. ‘Still water runs deep, but if the bottom is too stuffy, this water becomes stale too soon, and might stink!


All this brings us to one basic question, what to do with these changing values?

A learned professor had given a wonderful talk, the gist of it is still circulating in emails (‘Have breakfast or be the breakfast’). Things and people both get outdated & replaced alike!

Well, like that precious metal Gold, we have to retain the flexibility, adaptability to accept a little of another rigid metal like copper to become a firm ornament, and also be prepared to re-heated, re-melted, re-cast yet again to become a ‘latest’ ornament in the society. It calls for a thorough grasp of that(concept of) abstraction of mathematics called algebra, so that we become a variable of all sorts in ‘simultaneous-equations’! I cannot help wondering at the wisdom of ancient Masters. Long ago they had said, not to be stuck to just the ‘decimal’ system. It is just a base for convenience. Better become adaptable to any base, binary, five-digit etc. They gave us the ‘formula’ too! It is the ‘vinculum’ which converts the decimal numbers into 5 number base, do all the jugglery and reconvert it back to decimal form for easy ‘reading’ of the results. The Sanskrit formula, (“Sutra” - a very deep word for ‘formula’, for this vinculum was ‘Eka adhikena poorvena”, or “one more than the previous one”. Translations are too restrictive to its intrinsic meanings, and consequently arrest its wider applications!). Already one branch of physics is working on expanding the ‘devices’ to work with more than ‘binary’ forms of computing. If this concept of a flexibility of mathematics seems acceptable, then perhaps, there is scope and hope that our mind is prepared to shut down its ‘logical’ workshop for a while, and allow its intuitive aspect to grow a little further, afford the balance of emotions, and let dexterity of handling ‘life’ flourish!

Somebody asked, “Do you think that moral values should change with changing times...as man makes new discoveries? ...to deal with new problems, hitherto unseen? Now, in this Scientific Age of Technology, information is available to all at a Click of Mouse. With new experiences come new thinking...So should Morals adapt too?!?
(http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai6eMmHBBwd5SXBPG6HfFRyQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100603231240AAsjst5 )

My wild guess was, that it was not about ‘Morals’ or ‘ethics’ like honesty, integrity, etc, but the ‘adaptability-values’ , the concepts that affords our flexibility to get along comfortably with innovations, that was being looked-out for, in the answers. And so, I gave this answer:
There was a sport called 'hunting' to prove 'manliness'. Even 60 years ago, they posed for a photograph, using that popping flash bulb, and slow film with manual shutter control, using a lid cap over the lens. Today, we had to ban hunting, for preserving the animal species.Eating camel meat in a desert was needed for survival. Today, it is not needed, since air-planes can air drop food. And there is the precious oil to sell to bring in greenery in middle east.Even though the religion permits a man to have four wives, people do not exercise this as a right, and find it difficult to support just one wife. May be it is time to re-look at this permission. It was relevant to protect the excess population of women who outnumbered the men once upon a time (men used to get killed in large numbers due to frequent inter-tribe-wars).A clerk with very good handwriting, and accuracy at adding (totaling) was considered great asset, and was given preference for employment and promotion. Today, computers do it flawlessly (including the spell-check/grammar)!Large turbans(many layers of cloth in that head-gear) was needed to preserve the 'head' from getting heated due to climate (sun-stroke). Today, travel is inside an air-conditioned vehicle, so head gear is a wastage of cloth.

Unquote:
(I cannot help looking yet again, at the clarity, when they divided values in the ancient days, calling it ‘Vaideekam’—destined-to-be-natural—and, Loukeekam—worldly, and hence time-specific, or time-relevant)
psn(13th June, 2010)

Love interrupted!

Somebody happened to misspell it inadvertently. And I was amused to find that, often, the ‘interpretation’ by elders, to remove the delusion, the ‘infatuation’ that comes with teenage, actually works like an interruption!

Elders struggle to convince youngsters, when the issue happens to be about ‘deciding’ a life partner. It is not about the ‘method’ of choosing, that can help us to resolve the issue. But, the concepts we hold, about the ‘compatibility’ features. Even without any serious bug, some programs lack compatibility, and do not get along together smoothly for long. On the other hand, some bugs in one program are left unattended, simply because there is that other program which is so beautifully compatible, that it quietly ‘fixes’ those bugs without hampering the end use, and ‘seamlessly’ weaves itself to cover up any shortcomings resident inside the primary program.

A friend told me of a case where a couple had ‘chat’ relationship growing and well ‘tested’ for compatibility for 6 long years. They decided and got married, only to get divorced within 3 months! True, an isolated case simply does not prove anything at all! But nothing should prevent us from taking additional inputs, to make our own case yet stronger. That is how we make use of the experience of others, to improve our own quality of life.

What is going to decide our priorities during the next few years, is a very fuzzy, delusive and evasive question. If we try to approach an emotional-compatibility issue with the attitude of a ‘prudent’ buyer who looks out for those safe-buys, going in for ‘branded’ items, seeking comfort of an insurance camouflaged in risk-insulation(saving brand name at all costs), by multinational companies, it may not work, unless a great fluke coincides! But that is what people do today! The HR people do the filtering, in reputed companies. So, picking a life-partner from there seems a safe bet. Some others, under the delusion of a very good grasp of emotional values, look at ‘long’ relationships of the past, and presume sustained emotional bonds. They too fail to take into account that the illusion of this emotional stability was simply because they were yet to ‘test’ it in the real war of life, where you are ‘on your own’ (not like those care-free youth days, where parents took care of all other priorities of life, like those movie-heroes who look ‘lovable’ because there is a dummy for stunts, makeup-man for cosmetics, script-writer, director etc for other things!).

It would be futile to appeal by taking ‘sides’, either ways. The choice has to naturally occur, the hard way, when a person truly evolves, and ‘re-invents the wheel’ if we are to truly benefit from the rich cultural and traditional values. ‘Copy-paste’ doesn’t work for too long (some where a slip would give away, like that joke where a student copied an answer from a hidden text book, inadvertently adding ‘for figure 142, look at page 366’!).

So, the answer is with a deep acknowledgement of an ‘interruption’ but with a noble intent.

Regards,
Psn(12th June, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100611205624AAcYuu7
Can you please interrupt what this means for me?
This guy feels a connection with me from high school, he has passionate feelings is too do with us being in high school together about 9 yrs ago, which means these loving feelings he has for me are feelings and images of high school when the two of us were together.

My (interruptive) reply:
Yes, it does amount and "interruption" when somebody's interpretation happens to bring us to a world of 'ground' realities, from that 9-year-long-fond-memories.
It works too well as long as we dwell in those memories.
Even if one of us happens to take an occasional look at the 'present', we will find that priorities have shifted, and now our view, attitude, and needs of life has changed a lot. If we do not take a look 'afresh' at what we are now, these old memories would not give sustaining support for that 'togetherness'.

To find out the possibility of a cordial 'compatibility' to continue further into future, the concerned people are better judges, than the opinion-givers. Others can give only suggestions of general nature, and common application. But relations are individual-specific, when compatibility is the issue. There are no 'standards'. Because, irrespective of any type of short-coming/lacking in one person, it is abundantly compensated by the other person if that person is rich in that aspect, and supplements this partner out of pure unconditional love. When priorities of material life compels, conditions of peaceful co-existence take over, and peaceful co-existence is at stake. That is why partners sometimes wonder "what went wrong with us?"

Punishments

Law looks at punishments with a purpose. Social ‘order’.
The question came from a “professional” in psychology.
Let us see, how well my answer fares (the unconventional, non-professional, that I am)!
It would be nice, to get your feedbacks as well.
(Oh! Self-restraint, from elaboration, in itself this time, feels like some ‘self-imposed’ punishment to me. Do I deserve some reward for this?)
Regards,
Psn(12th June, 2010)
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100611180651AATOg1l&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc

Behavior, Punishment, and Reward?
Briefly, Operant learning is characterized by punishing a person (usually a child) when he performs an unwanted behavior and rewarding him when he does an encouraged behavior. Rewards could consist of positive reinforcements (addition of something nice) and negative reinforcements (removal of something bad) while punishments could be positive (addition of something horrible) and negative (removal of something nice) similarly. The issue I'm pondering over is the following: What are suitable forms of punishments and rewards? The reward/punishment has to be equally as powerful as the behavior. I'm not a fan of spanking, but what do you think about it? Is it the only solution for extremely unwanted behaviors? Last but not least, what are some methods to utilize Operant Learning on adults? Surely i can't go on spanking them every time they do a wrong deed.Please think for a moment before answering, and try to elaborate as much as possible (but don't make huge essays). I, myself, am a student of Industrial Psychology, so if there is any scientific data on this subject please make sure to post it,and if you're a fellow psychologist don't hinder yourself from using technical terms. If you're not a psychologist then your answer is welcomed as well but please make sure to think well about the subject as i have already pondered over it extensively.

My answer:
Basically, the very theory of punishment is well contemplated in law(compensatory, exemplary, deterrent, preventive etc), rather than psychology. Yet, law does not neglect the aspect of reformation. That is done either in a prison, or by the local police station incharge, who has to keep a 'tab' on the offender.

So, punishment is rather a 'quick-fix' solution, out of urgency for some social order, when other priorities do not seem to afford us the leisure to reform a person, and then have the luxury of such 'now-reformed-person's' proximity.

At homes, 'punishing' a child, we do find, is a very common feature. Yet, psychologically, it happens to be a 'copy & paste' action by the parents who are the 'fabric' of the very same society that has framed laws, and it is the punishment of law, that gets noticed too often amongst all other 'news'.

For evidence, please see, traditionally, it is the punishments of a society that is looked at, as a barometer or 'yardstick' to measure 'how well evolved ' a culture or a society is! (Even in some 'well-knit' organisations, employees who 'happen' to glance at 'punitive' clauses find it amusing that they were never even looked at for a long time, leave alone invoking it! The 'HR' does the trick!)

This 'positive/negative' reinforcements, rewards(negative/positive) seems to appear somewhat 'insufficient, and not a long term solution' , is simply because, we are dealing with the situation only with a logical approach, and in pure materialistic aspect, and in commercial terms (barter-system, give and take). We are unable to even remotely 'touch' the intuitive aspect, the human emotions in a positive way (instead, we may end up 'hardening' or 'freezing' the relationship-distance between humans! Psychology is perhaps the only branch available, as a great hope, to 'bridge' the gap of scientific approach, and the emotional human approach. In isolation, emotions, sentiments, etc seem to always defy logic. And science doesn't ever tolerate negation of logic.
..

(A story, made as brief as 'my' language permits, to demonstrate 'punishment' theory: A King, his minister, and his charioteer, had a son each, and the sons were friends. Together committed a crime, punishable under law. King delegated adjudication to minister, who gave different punishments to each, for the very same crime. It was challenged by people, invoking partisan 'behaviour' clause. The king asked minister to 'explain' differential treatment. Minister requested a months time. But people didn't have to wait. They got the wonderful explanation, it got manifested by itself. The king's son, who was given a casual warning, unable to bear the insult committed suicide. The minister's own son, asked to remain confined on a chair for the entire day, felt almost as bad, and left the kingdom, became a mendicant, on a spiritual path. The charioteer's son, imprisoned for a week with hundred lashes each day, saw that it was quite bearable, and repeated the crime, soon after release!)

Right questions or Right answers

We hesitate, to ask, pondering whether we have the ‘Right’ to ask. And then whether we are capable to wrought right-questions, when we attempt to write questions, when asking face to face seems embarrassing.

Youngsters, while learning the answers, find it exciting to store as much as possible to empower themselves, from the class lessons to the wide encyclopedia, and end up as large data-banks, with great strenuous efforts. Yet, when it comes to competitions, they are surprised at the success of others who seem not-so-well-informed. The question that now comes up is which is more important, to ask the right questions, or to give the right answers. Of course it is a lot debatable. But to get along in practical reality of life, winning debates do not offer much help. This very question is the adequate proof, that it being a vital question (and not an answer), it is asking the right thing that helps.

At Banks, when that irksome balancing of Cash Book (the ultimate of problems during manual-accounting-days) eats up a lot of time, a clever official asks the right question at last, “Who wrote the subsidiaries, and who checked it?”. Now the evasive solution lights up itself. The ‘unique’ unimaginable type of errors that only some people are ‘capable’ of committing, occurs to the memory, and the work progresses! Even at homes, when we are searching for something, we ask ‘who used it last’ and then we know that, this person keeps it at a wrong place, the most inconspicuous place each time!

The very structure of FAQs reveals the mind of the designer(irrespective of whether it is frequented or not). It is the questions that appeal to the reader, rather than the answers. (I am still bogged by the question, ‘why my question’ when I recollect an incident that happened in our school, when I was in 4th or 5th class. That famous mathematician “Shakuntala Devi” was invited to our school to motivate the children by demonstration of her exceptional computing capabilities, without the help of paper/pencil, within moments of being asked a ‘sum’ (mathematical problems posed was called a ‘sum’, by our teachers, at least then!). It was more of a compulsion by the ‘respective’ class teacher, that I was victimized to ask (teachers were ‘instructed’ to persuade as many ‘sums’ as possible, to be evoked. We were new to ‘asking’ questions at that age! And, sandwiched between ‘inexperience to ask’ and uninitiated into ‘refusing’, for the teacher, it was just ‘aim and shoot’ at the nearest sitting ducks in the class. I was a front-bencher. I wrote the first thing that came to my mind, (it was copied from an ‘ad’ at the Bank(SBH), nearest to our school, and I was familiar with it, having read it over and over, each time that I pass by, my daily route, school to home). It so happened that the mathematical Wizard required some extra moments to give out the answer. I never even did the ‘long-method’ calculation to verify the answer. Just gulped what she spelt out. But, at the end of the ‘show’, she asked the owner of this ‘chit-of-paper’ to be produced before her on the stage. She wanted to meet the ‘scoundrel’ who managed to ask such tricky ‘sum’! In a moment’s time, when she lay her gaze upon me, she turned into ‘compassion’ itself, (I am unable to forget that ‘look’ in her eyes, and I couldn’t even manage to make a mental note of the words she uttered to appreciate the question (Oh, it was the ‘sum’). But she concluded with ‘best wishes’ for ‘bright’ future. Here I got my first lessons about the importance of ‘asking’ right questions. This lesson did play a very significant role in shaping me later, when I turned towards the ‘pathless path’.

Okay, too lengthy a narrative, already. (But, I feel like a toothpaste tube, there was a question that ‘squeezed’ it out of me!)

Regards,
Psn (10th June, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100609221546AA5fE3W&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc

Which do you think is more important: a) to have the right answsers, or b) to ask the right questions? ...?
In life?... On Y!A?... Why?

My reply:
Not just "more" important.....
If we are able to ask the right questions, it become THE most important capability.
No body has ever been able to replicate "Socrates" just because he was the "most" capable so far, to be able to ask SUCH right questions that the unlettered simple village folks around him were 'blessed' enough to discover that all the answers were present, right there, just within them, all the time!!!

Scaling down, for commercial purposes, it the lawyer who can ask the right questions, who breaks down the witness of the opposite side.
It is the expert who can ask the right question, who gets the best coveted job in that HR (Human resources), and is able to get the best candidate possible as a Hire.
At the reception counter, it the right question that gets the correct and complete information (about anything, like at airport, Railway station, etc, delayed flights, alternate arrangements, food, accommodation, etc) since the answers are ususally on a 'need-to-know-basis'.

Even the Honourable "Learned" Judges give out favourable judgements only when right questions are asked during final arguements (example: There was a case of compelling a spouse to 'stay' with the appellent spouse-partner, invoking the provision of marriage Act, where in, the "restitution of conjugal rights" was enacted. The clever lawyer asked the Judge whether the fundamental rights in constitution of the country was superior or the provisions of marriage Act. Now, if that constitution is superior, how does the law that restrict the freedom of movement ("staying" with spouse) hold valid? The Judge simply smiled and declared that this provision of marriage Act was ultra-vires the constitution, and hence void! Many other divorce cases collapsed when this Judgement was pronounced. Such is the power of asking a right question!)

Asker Vs Asked

We often face questions. We also ask. Only when children ask, we are reassured of an element of ‘innocence’ and we don’t try to ‘view’ that question. We just ‘look’ at it, and give out an honest answer (unless the child is yet to grow enough to ‘take the answer’ and stay healthy too!).
When adults ask, the first impulse is to find out the ‘hidden’ agenda behind that question! And invariably, the defense-mechanism within us sets itself into motion ‘by default’ and the answer takes a crooked shape, quite encrypted, and most of the times, utterly useless!
But in some places, things have to work, like, at reception counters. They have ‘stock-replies’ and the asker starts turning away, even before the last syllable of the curt-one-liner is fully spelt out! Answers to even simple queries beget too many ‘insurance policies and disclaimer clauses’ attached to it!
Some people who are eager to share their rich experience shy away from elaboration, for fear that they might turn out to be ‘borers’ to the others, with too much of unsolicited elaboration.
At school, we had some teachers, who thought of ‘preparing’ us well by warning us that the lesson is going to be dull, but important. And, instead of invoking better focus and concerted efforts to fight back a dull inattentive listening, we prepared better than ever to doze of prematurely! We used to admire our teachers, more for their ability to withstand fatigue, of repetition of those dull lessons over years, than their grasp of the subject and its knowledge.

The asker of this question reminded me of those ancient sophisticated, dedicated and well evolved teachers of ancient times. No wonder, they were not subject-wise teachers. They were ‘object-wise’ and otherwise, quite wise too! The main subject that they taught (handling emotions!) is now omitted from syllabus itself, as a helplessly-choice-less ‘choice’(our kids, during the last minute preparation for exams, decide to handle some ‘un-revisable’ portions by ‘leaving-it-out-in-choice’ if it occurs in the question paper)!

Regards,
Psn(9th June, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100609040053AANaKoB
Does it seem to you, that most people ask questions, expecting a certain answer?
Do most of the questions that you read, seem like the person that is asking has already made up their mind and they are simply looking for someone that agrees with their decision?

My answer:
To a large extent, yes.
How else to judge the answer, unless we can compare with what we already know. The flight of knowledge is from 'known to unknown'. Only the permutation and combination looks new, and affords some attraction towards an acceptance (with a 'let me see').
Traditionally, in the east, in ancient India, the process of imparting knowledge was quite sophisticated and well evolved. They could easily place a new student (the asker, the inquisitive, the learner, the thirsty for knowledge).

Most of them want to know how much the other person knows.

A few want to know a little more(just the information part, not the underlying concept etc).

A few want to know and also learn, if it suits one's comfortable disposition (there are dull lessons, boring lessons, etc which they distance themselves from).

There are a very few, who are intensely thirsty to know, learn and possess the knowledge. These few are ready to do "what ever it takes". They usually 'handover themselves' into the care of the Teacher, placing great trust. It is such students that the Teacher looks out for, and abundantly reciprocates with unmatched compassion!

(Now, I wonder, if I have ended up with too much of unsolicited details! Anyway, loved answering it, and may be some other readers, some time later too, would enjoy looking at this aspect of asking-seeking. Thanks for the question!)

Effortless Humility

This time, I enjoy to quite effortlessly and very deeply acknowledge this ‘post’, and also dedicate it to a very dear and close relative of mine.

This relative, too shy of herself, is not going to express this wonderful idea by herself. But fortunately, she does voice her opinions to me quite often. She is the best critic around me, to keep me well under check, when I tend to be too much of a nuisance to others around.

Her observation was : “ I find that all these great people, invariably, are able to maintain humility so effortlessly. Where as, those who make that too-obvious-an-attempt at humility end up displaying that vulgar ego quite inadvertently. It struck to me, that perhaps, when the knowledge deepens, and ripens well, they also know now, so well, that it is all there, all the time, for anybody to just get it, any time, and none of it was ever their’s”.

See, no point in even dedicating this post to her. It is already hers!

Jai Ho!
Psn(8th June, 2010)

Flowery words

Somebody raised a question about the significance of using flowers to chant, the belief being these flowers gain some spiritual type of energies, due to the very chanting. Obviously, the answers are not going to be chewable at all, leave alone the palatability or digestibility! It calls for ‘blind’ belief, if one is determined to stay stuck to sensory levels of perception.

My answer was through an exchange of personal mails. But I felt that there could be yet some others who might like to spend time to laugh at the idea, being assured of some vicarious pleasure, at the least. My own reasoning is that, the effort could get well paid for, as a reward in itself, if it so happens, that some of us stumble into some such mystic experience, quite unawares, unprepared, some time later. Then, this stored data will rebound into forefront, and ‘in a flash’, it will all be too clear.

The gist(after editing out the personal references):
Quote:
The query: Can anybody enlighten me on the significance of chanting Mantra Pushpam? I tried to do some research but didn't quite get the answers I was looking for.

Reply: For proof, all we need to do is to go and stay for a few days in that cold place Tibet.
There are still some traditional doctors (vaids, vaidyan, etc... ayurvedic).
Very little variety of vegetation grows there due to sub-zero temperatures for half the year. Only a few flowers. This native doctor gives the same few flowers as medicine for almost any type of ailment. And it works! He holds the flowers gently enclosed between two palms, for a while, does some meditation, and hands it over to the patient, who consumes it/applies its essence externally as per directions. Now if a youngster desires to become 'qualified', an elder and experienced doctor has to pronounce him as 'passed'. For this, the youngster has to stay under open sky on an entire full moon night. The temperature would be minus 30 or so. And standing on a hill top, doing nothing, he is expected to sweat profusely! A volunteer would come to him every hour, wipe of the sweat, and check for fresh sweating. Such is the 'Ushna' (a different kind of heat) that this candidate has to generate by mere focusing the energies within with mind's meditative practices. When a person is so capable, he becomes efficient enough to transmit his vital energies into the flowers, by placing them between palms for a while.That is why the same flowers do different treatments with different wave-types of energies.
Our ancient people used to chant and transmit energies in a more sophisticated manner. If you remember, during the Bhagawati sewa, a portion of the very same flowers are used to absorb negative energies, and the vadhyar (family-preceptor) instructs us to bury them or cast them into flowing water carefully.The rest of the flowers are used as prasaadams.
All this is quite difficult to 'digest' (accept logcially), unless, there is some personal experience of these energies beyond the sensory level perception. Yogic practices done intensely can bring us to such level of perception. Till then, if our logical mind permits, we may stay consoled with some trust and blind faith (the consolation is that there is no tangible side effect or ill-effect or loss!)

Response: Thank you for the reply. Yes, I have seen a couple of programs on TV [either on Discovery/TLC] on the Tibetan monks walking around bare feet, with just a dhoti and even sleeping on ice, which melts due to heat generated from their bodies. Indeed, they do possess some unique powers they must have acquired from constant meditation. I didn't quite know that the remedies for human physical ailments would be cured by the same set of 'medicated flowers'. Very interesting.

Addition, encouraged by the response: It was quite encouraging to get your kind and prompt reply.There is also a mention of pollen grains in the third sloka of Soundarya Lahari (Adi Shankara's). The indicative reference is that it brings "chaitanya" in a "Jadam" (againit is about energiszing! And there was a story that Germans who took away oursanskrit works, learnt them, experimented them, found the hidden meaning, and usedpollen-grain-tablets as medicines to revive the memory of their spy-agents who were caught, imprisoned, brain-washed to the extent that they lost memory, and then leftwandering, having become useless to anyone without memory! (But our ashtaanga of Ayurveda does have references of flowers, its petals and pollen grains to contain medicinal properties. Basically, even the presence of lots of flowers feels good, fresh and energizing!
Unquote:

So, that was about “After all, what is in a flower, what ever its name!”

Regards,Psn(8th June, 2010)

Patronising God

Religion, the way it is propagated presently, tends to become at times, vulnerable to turn out into a ‘self-defeating’ gadget.
The reason is the sharp focus towards the logical aspect of mind. Elders seem gratified to find children of “this” generation (it has always been the ‘THIS’ generation about children, since quite a few generations!), to be more brilliant, ready-witted, quick-grasping, and what not, than the previous one. True. But then, why is there a complaint, when we find ‘some values’ deteriorating? There is no time to ponder about it, in the fast paced life, chasing material priorities. Is it not the ‘disillusionment’ of an all-round growth, when in fact, it is the lopsided growth of just the logic, forsaking the precious emotional balance, the intuitive evolvement?

It was nice, to find a question, that is inquisitive about ‘God’, the term itself, not the concept. (I am reminded of Bruce Lee’s dialogue, with a knock on the student’s head, “Don’t focus on the finger (the pointing finger), or you would miss all that heavenly glory”.. the giant-movie “Enter the Dragon”).

We know, it is a name, and that is why we dismiss it, with the consolation, that it signifies a higher being, what ever the name given to it. In doing so, what we miss is the concept that stays behind that nomenclature. There is a subtle distinction, from the concept of other types of nomenclatures. It was not for ‘nothing’ that there was(and still “is” with traces!), a tradition in India of naming children with names of Gods! (What was that again? That ‘nothing’? Oh! “nothingness” is the most elusive of all concepts! May be it was FOR “exactly” THE nothing, for THE knowing of that “nothing” that the ancients named(children/off springs) with ‘something’ that was very much a ‘thing’, more emphatically everything, but too closely subtle! Yes, right under our very nose, and yet subtle—the breath itself!). The stupid looking 33 crores of names assigned for Gods in the Hindu-way-of-life(not a religion, please,) was the closest, one can come, to choose the most suitable form(to oneself) of manifestation from, of that un-manifest One! Yes, I agree, this is too taxing. That is why, I did not put it in that answer.
Regards,
Psn(8th June, 2010)

The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100601210954AAeL9lS
Is “God” too patronizing a word for the ultimate meaning of the universe?
My answer:
Oh no! Just a symbolic reference, till the experience happens.Like we use the alphabet 'x' in algebra more often,(though all other 25 alphabets are available), but never forgetting the concept, the attribute, the unlimited value of the 'variable' attribute, otherwise we miss the wonderful experience of the abstract concept of mathematics. And, when we experience this abstract nature of 'x', we know it is not a mere alphabet, and yet we are comfortable with the name 'x'.
Please see, our confidence about the word 'God' seems to be firm, reliable, reassuring, when used by true spiritual Masters, and when some other 'unacceptable' person uses it, for some selfish gain by asserting with a false swearing, it saddens us a bit(we 'wish' , that this person would have spared at least 'God's name'). This is the simple meaning at 'earth level'. At universe level, the experience would speak for itself. Sitting here, with a limited sense of perception, it would be mere guess work.

Teenage Anger

When I came across this question, I don’t know why, but I felt it to be ‘logically’ irrelevant to be reminded of that saying “A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend”. There is no enemy or a friend involved here. And this is no way to keep an open mind (spelling out the idiosyncrasies that occur within my thought processes!).

Be that as it may.

It is ‘fortunate’ if the kids happen to ‘feel’ that they ought to tell the parents that they have ‘anger-problems’. It reassures, highlights many wonderful things. Their level of self-awareness, their love for their parents, and what not!

(It is usually the mother, especially from a teenage daughter, that receives the sudden early signs of that typical teenage-anger surging, when the kid pops out “Mom, please don’t be stupid!”. And usually, the mother chuckles, the first time, and it is too late, when she realizes that she is unable to bear it!)

Having answered, I felt that it is appropriate to seek concurrence of other experienced elders (irrespective of whether they ‘missed’ their bus or not).

With youthful regards,
Psn(8th May, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100607191409AAMJVzw


The question:
How do you tell your parents that you have anger problems?
i'm a 14 year old and i don't know if this is just teenage hormones or something worse. but i'm always losing my temper and getting mad over the smallest things. i'm afraid to tell my parents because they may not believe me.

My answer:
Oh!You don't have to tell them. They already know it. For parents, their child (YOU) are the priority. For you, your anger has now become a forced-priority. They know, telling you that you have anger problems would only aggravate it! Like, telling a mad "see, you are mad"!! .

But, now, you can tell them that you have recognized this problem (that is a great comforting thing). They would most lovingly participate to help you out of it. Just choose the right time, like when both are together, cheerful. (It is risky to discuss anger when we are vulenerable to anger, it is like lighting a matchstick with the air around rich with petrol fumes!).

It is not teenage hormones. It is the 'self-awareness' gushing in, like a volcano reversed into itself, During the transition into adulthood, the self-awareness that has dawned long ago, with that first pain-instinct somewhere in toes, fingers etc, is now growing a bit fast. The concepts, the abstract ones especially are the ones that subtly causes the mischief. (We notice only the incidental consequences of this 'self awareness', but not its root-cause, that is why it is bit difficult to understand! Try calling a 2 year old kid "fool"... it does not feel 'insulted'. Call the same to a kid of 10 to 16, it would react instantly. Call a 30 year old successful businessman the same 'fool', he would choose to hear it as 'cool' and may be charge you 5% extra, knowing, you are too busy, 'fooling' others around, to notice the over-billing!) It is wonderful that we are aware of the anger problems. Some unfortunate people even realize it a bit too late. Just the awareness of the problem itself solves 80 percent of it. For the rest of it, we need a bit of patience to allow that awareness to sink a bit deeper. Acceptance would deepen, allowing us, affording us to realise the "inevitability" of the situation. Please see, this acceptance deepens by itself, but too late, after crossing over the middle age, when it is quite useless, and that is why elderly people seem to offer no resistance to 'created' problems! When it deepens at youth, the right age, we retain the youth's power to use it accurately, skillfully, never to re-coil upon oneself (that is what 'being cool' is all about)!

(To try out an inexpensive, harmless trial-experiment, please try maintaining breath-awareness, especially when you sense that anger lurking around! It has to work. But any disbelief or belief even in this 'method' is the actual hurdle in its 'working'. Try with an open mind, saying, 'let me see')
Best wishes.

Devise a divisive device

I tend to look at mathematics as a device to divide first, and then do something else about it. Suppose…… (please try to create a very strong visual), suppose, we are just floating, drifting aimlessly, purposelessly, hopelessly, endlessly, or helplessly in that vast emptiness of space, far, far away from any galaxy, milky way or any source of light. We would be surrounded by utter darkness. We see nothing. We would be just a pure consciousness, just a pure joyousness, divine, pure awareness, and nothing else!

Here on this planet, we need to identify everything in its proper perspective, to support ourselves, to further our life, our kind, and propagation of all forms of life that support our kind. The identification starts with dividing. When we say, this is this, that is that, we are into the process of dividing things, separating it from others. Logic, when at its best, makes us at our best, to handle the material aspect of life. But when emotion divides us instead of uniting, trouble brews! We become attached to money, separating ourselves, dividing ourselves away from other ‘values’, we get heavily ‘grounded’. In India, there is (or better to say now, as “there was”) a tradition to apply a little moistened mud on the lips of a person whose life seems to be struggling to leave the body(when it is quite obvious that there is no scope to revive that person back to normal life). The belief is that we suggest to the departing soul “okay, your problem is that you are too heavily grounded, to leave this earth, so, here it is, take a little bit of the ground with you by tasting it for the last time”!

Oh! I am sorry. I apologise. I seem to have started off with too intense ideas. Let us come to normal senses. We need a ‘dividing-line’ between our likes, dislikes, sentiments, false-sentiments, addictions, weaknesses, etc on the one side, and the ‘need-of-the-situation’ (what is to be done practically, keeping aside those divisive forces from within, to deal with the situation effectively and successfully). Medical practitioners seem to be quite good at it at least while sitting on their ‘professional-chair’ within the ‘consulting-room’ (but try to shift their allotted window seat on a plane to that aisle, and they would re-act quite quixotically, forgetting that both the seats would take them to the same destination at the same time, perhaps a couple of seconds earlier, when in the aisle seat, since the window seated has to wait till the other makes way for him!). The good doctor just sifts the extraneous narratives, the painful details, to grasp the symptom accurately to arrive at the correct diagnosis. The busy Banker hurries to prompt the prospective borrower from the details of emotional woes due to financial turbulence, to get to the ‘net-worth’ of the borrower as early as possible, to be able to take up the next case. The ‘new-mother’ struggles to find the logical root cause of that abrupt outburst of intense crying of the baby child, by sifting through the deafening noise, peeping around the place where the child is lying. Now, if this mother gives way to her own sentimental affection, she would waste the precious time to put an end to the cause of the innocent child’s suffering. This is where the divisive device is needed to be devised, if no other experienced elderly lady is around. In business management classes, they put it simply “It is prudent to hire a squirrel, instead of training a horse to climb a tree!”. An intelligent entrepreneur needs to have a clarity to effortlessly divide the need-based-competence, cost effective outsourcing, while trying to manage the available resources and person(nel)-power (man-and-woman-power). There is a jocular or sarcastic way of putting it in Malayalam language, when they compare a cost-illiterate person, saying “Namboori enna theykyana poley” (Ironically, the most intelligent category of people are popularly the victims of traditional jokes. Before having a bath, there is a tradition to apply oil all over the body. They start with head. They pour out oil from the can into a cupped palm. It inadvertently exceeds the cubic capacity of the palm and drifts into the wrist heading towards the inner elbow, in a tiny stream. The abruptness of this spillage leaves no time to ponder. The sporadic act is to throw up the arm, over the head, to wipe the fore-arm on the middle of the top of the head, to salvage the spill-over. But the oil that is carefully cushioned in the cupped palm has not been fastened with a ‘seat-belt’, and it is left to have a free-fall to the rear! The bulk of the oil is lost! So the saying “Like that ‘X’ applies the oil to oneself”, when somebody thoughtlessly incurs huge loss to save some trifle wastage.

In the name of grooming a child into a brilliant performer at academics, the parent inadvertently creates an ‘emotional-divide’ between the child and self, which seems to grow and last the life-span. The intolerance that sprouts in the child, eventually drives the parent to an old-age home, to wait for the natural end, to conclusively deal with the ‘problem’. The mother-in-law fails to notice the ‘dividing’ line where her role as a mother has ended when the son now ‘heads’ a family of his own, and the wrong attachment for his well-being, the over-protectionism creates a virtual device that acts as a divisive force. I put it as mildly as possible, when I quiz the parents thus : “Is your affection / love for your children your strength or your weakness?”. I do not insist on a reply or answer. It is now up to them to devise a divisive device, that would help them to avoid a virtual ‘divide’ within the hitherto well-knit family.


(Tail-piece: Sometimes, we have to divide to rule! I, for instance, distanced myself from a popular example, which the reader would have been reminded of, and would have fitted well somewhere, when I quoted a ‘doctor’. I omitted it, to gain the reader’s liberal pat “Good, in fact there is another better example, perhaps it did not occur to this fellow…. A gynaecologist, in some complicated deliveries, asks routinely, though knowing too well the expected reply, ‘Only one can be saved, either the mother or the child. Now what do you choose’… that is the dividing-line-clarity!” )

Psn(6th June, 2010)

Music Meherbaani

Those who are blessed with an "ear" for music do not always fully realise its worth!!! Though difficult to "measure" it logically/mathematically, I would be tempted to use an example. For instance, if that 'feeling' of togetherness amidst like-minded, loving people is on a scale of 1 to 100, then people who are music-deaf oscillate between 1 to 10 when they are alone/lonely and when they are amidst a pleasant company of people/work-they-like/pastime etc... And those who have an ear for music oscillate between 70 to 90 ..... !!! Alone, or when lonely, even an echo of a good song noiselessly within would ensure that they do not slip below 70. And usually there are above 80, very easily scaling up to 90 quite often. (That 100 is utter joyousness, the peak, a state of meditativeness, exclusively reserved for the fortunate few, where silence is the ultimate form of Music!!!

Musically yours,
psn(6th June, 2010)

Manipulation

If there is one word that can be used quite freely, almost anytime, and to our advantage, to invoke a sense of guilt in another, it is ‘manipulation’. And it is quite difficult to refute, without getting engaged into a lengthy debate. It is almost like a double-edged sword.
Intelligent accountants invariably manipulate accounts to their own advantage. Lawyers manipulate cases to win over the mind and heart of the judge, and turn the case on the others. A clever student manipulates just the key words (only which he remembers), and churns out an answer to create an impression of a thorough knowledge about the subject. A crafty astrologer manipulates the ‘subtle’ factors to justify and refute the claim about bad prediction due to his lack of knowledge. And most of the office-goers (the bulk amongst us) need no further reminder as to how to go about with ‘manipulation’ whether we do the task, reach the target, etc or not. There is an inexhaustible list of reasons available for late coming, non-performance, etc. Between spouses, who is it that usually wins an argument, who has the last laugh? When there is too much of it, or an over-manipulation, it is time to implore thus “Please, at least this, don’t politicize” . We know what makes a ‘good’ politician.

Such endless engagement in deceit-game, day-in-and-out, demands quite a heavy price from our very way of being. It corrupts the core being, our very basic attitude. And then our very mind functioning becomes ‘manipulative’. The moment we mention something in a casual talk, the other person responds only with some kind of manipulation! Plain, simple, and straight forward or to-the-point answers seldom come out. The trait gets so deeply embedded that the default acknowledgement-response to even a simple appreciation gets badly mangled with some stupid manipulation! Unwittingly this acknowledgment might make the humble appreciation or the person feel even a bit guilty! (Why the hell did I engage myself into appreciating this fellow?)!

Manipulation, by itself is not bad. Sometimes it comes very handy, as a life saving drug! Only care to be taken is we do it in full awareness, very consciously, each time, otherwise our mind gets manipulated. I am reminded of the joke. There is a tradition amongst ancient Namboodiris, of Kerala (South India), that when food is being served, they do not mention ‘enough-please’ to the person serving. It is upto the person serving to guess accurately and stop when it is enough for the diner. So, every care was taken to assign the task of serving food to only intelligent people. A young inexperienced Namboodiri managed to gain entry into the serving group. The item(dish) he chose to serve was ‘Rasam’ ( a tasty tamarind pulp with spices preparation). The food was served on a banana leaf. Rasam was to be mixed very loosely with plain cooked rice and ‘slurped’ in a hurry, to free the eating-hand, the bare right hand to first gather the flowing rasam first, trying to run away out of the borders of banana leaf, and then scoop the next watery hand-full for the next ‘slurp’. An elderly Namboodiri, being unsure about quick response with aged feeble hands, tried to cup his palm while it was being poured, and slurped the unmanageable excess of plain rasam first. This act was grossly misunderstood by the novice Namboodiri, and he repeated the pouring with another ladle-full, thinking that this elderly took a special liking for this dish! This went on for sometime. The stomach of this elderly was making gurgling noises with the punch of ‘asafoetida’ that would have got polarized inside the stomach with the abnormal dose of rasam. At last some source of respite appeared to the elderly Namboodiri when the youngster quizzed politely “Sir, how many members in your Illam(family)”…. The youngster just meant to become more ‘customer-friendly’ with courtesy enquiries, nothing more. This elderly Namboodiri seized the only available opportunity, MANIPULATED the simple reply and blurted out, “If I happen to survive this overdose of Rasam, that I am helplessly gulping, then including me, there are 17 members in my family”. Needless to add, the novice got his first lessons in serving!

Even in a seemingly inextricable situation, a victim of human-sacrifice happened to escape death, using the manipulation technique to his advantage. He was asked “Who are you”, and if he lied, he would be eaten raw or if he told the truth, he would be roasted and then eaten by the cannibals after their ritualistic sacrifice/offering. This fellow manipulated cleverly and replied “I am a liar”. They had to let him go free, since they could not decide whether he told the truth or lied!

As usual, I too ‘manipulate’ a simple question to my advantage. And to repeat a famous dialogue that I adore, “please try to find a way to forgive me for what I am about to do”

Regards,
Psn(30th May, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100529145226AAWSFEo

Can You Manipulate People Into Loving You?
and being your best friend, giving you money, helping you out etc...Can you honestly do that? ... If yes, did it work or fail? If no, what do you think it takes to manipulate others?I dont think manipulating is bad, it depend if your using it for evil or good. Some people can sense others and can get what they want out of manipulation. It doesnt mean its bad, it means they just good at it. Anyways..can you manipulate Anybody? and i mean Anybody!

My answer:
Well, we find this 'manipulation' look like a problem, or, it looks like a 'feeling of guilt' only because we 'manipulated' the use of words like 'evolve'. When a violent person gets 'reformed' by the influence of a spiritual person, this erstwhile-violent person starts loving the spiritual person out of a sense of gratitude and even give one's own life (not just help or money). This spiritual person 'manipulated' the chemistry of this violent person, re-formed him into a 'human' being once again (this time in full awareness of this violent person... he was a cheerful, loving, lovable, wonderful human being once upon a time... when he was a small baby !!!).
Temporary superficial adjustments do happen for some petty gains, and they too look like 'manipulations' but they are only cosmetic. A little nudge, and the original nature would surface too soon. Such manipulations are not worth the name. True manipulations are a complete 'transformation' (not mere change). It is not at all 'bad' if we have one more good human being around us on this planet at least till we are around! The spark of that divinity is there in each one of the living beings. For human beings, it is possible to 'kindle' life, using this spark. If that is liked to be referred by the name 'manipulation', then, long live such manipulation!
You are right, business men manipulate the likes and dislikes of customers to their advantage. They are just good at it, and unless they get what they want out of such manipulation, their business does not survive. That is why there is a popular saying "A good salesman would manage to sell a refrigerator to an eskimo"! (Manipulation at its Best, in the most unfavourable weather conditions, in the most unfavourable terrain!)

Power-err-full

I had a wonderful professor for teaching that fuzzy logic/concept about Jurisprudence. Sometimes, I did even feel that we the students of a small district headquarters did not deserve such a powerful lecturer. His lectures would have had a wider reach, if he had been teaching at a larger institution, in some metro-city or so. I had to feel contented by ensuring fullest grasp of what ever he taught, and never missing any of his lectures, not mere attendance-wise, but content-wise even. It fetched me good results. But again, it was a total loss, commercially. I never happened to put it to any ‘gainful’ use. He gave wonderful concepts which contributed to my faster inner growth.

He gave simple examples of how ‘power’ corrupts. A local magistrate, he quoted, normally would award a minimum sentence for petty crimes like theft, but when some theft takes place at the house of this magistrate, then, for the next one week he would hand out ‘maximum’ punishment possible under the law! The accused, his lawyer and even the public prosecutor would be left gaping at this abnormal attitude of the judge(quite helplessly, since it would be futile to incur the time, effort and money for an appeal). This is human psychology, the lecturer explained. We have to live with it, and with such people, and with such possibilities.

A mother-in-law is dreaded simply because she has no other place or scope to assert the little power that she ever enjoys in her life. The situation is most convenient. The son has the ‘natural’ weakness for her. All along, she was just an unpaid domestic help slogging for her family, her own mother-in-law, her husband, her children, her in-laws etc. Now is the time to have that ‘feel’ of some power, that little power, left in her. And by the time she becomes a mother-in-law, the ‘invoking of wisdom’ (or even that ‘common-sense’) takes too long a time (the age takes a toll on the response mechanism, like that last lap of 3rd stage of hypothermal state, where a person’s actions are decided only by the last few thought processes preceding that stage). Only the fortunate mothers-in-law retain the wisdom of putting their experience to better use, the purpose of playing a responsible role of an experienced elderly person in a family to shape the destiny of the family to higher levels.

A person who had to struggle to get a promotion, seeks an easy outlet of his/her frustration by setting about to ‘feel’ the magnitude of power acquired by trying it out on harmless innocent subordinates around. Worse is the case of a politician, who is in a great hurry to first recover the large amount spent to get elected, and then to proceed to ensure perpetuation of self and his ‘own’ people on the seat of power.

Even in the movies, when a villain enters a small-arms-shop, and is shown a new weapon, he is tempted to immediately try it on the only available victim, nearest at that time, the helpless salesman! Such is the nature of power. In those fictional stories/movies, a newly acquired boon or power is frittered away, trying it on helpless victims in the vicinity.

Quite often, I struggle to convince people around me that my purpose of arguing is not to demonstrate my ability to outwit the other by using word-power/logic-power. Very few remember that during the first or better half of my life (the ‘power-full’ youth), I mostly remained a bit inconspicuous though right at the hub of life-activity. Even now, the inclination is more towards moving out of the way of others. I have enough within, to keep myself blissfully happy, and most harmlessly peaceful, to others around.

It takes a lot to harness the power than the efforts to acquire it. Benevolent and compassionate spiritual Masters invariably ‘plug’ even the key-hole-views of such powers surging into their disciples, very cautiously, consciously and compassionately. That, the person who causes hurt invariably feels greater pain than the person who receives it, is the painful truth that outlives the hurt-injury or even the scar itself. It is just a question of time.

Well, a youngster asked a question which triggered some thoughts about how it feels when we are reminded of our power (it is already latent in all of us, awaiting to be discovered)! The epic story tells us that this power was capped in the case of Hanuman, who requires to be reminded of his own power, in times of need, by people around Him. The least misuse of power happens usually, in the cases where the muscle power is built up. Big accomplished ‘pehelwans’ (wrestlers) seldom use it on people who are examples of “a straight-line without thickness”.

(with Power-full) Regards,
psn (29th May, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100528173517AAkzqRP

Lust for fighting?????
I have practiced boxing and a bit of mma, but never had an actual match (inside the ring, i've had a few outside). Because of this my body aches for a fight. It makes me feel sick how I act, but I can't change it. I will contemplate beating the **** out of people who disrespect me or annoy me. I know its wrong, but I don't know what to do, please help. Thanks

My answer:
The most wonderful part is when you say "I know its wrong". There are yet others who are not so fortunate to even know this, leave alone declaring it courageously! Now, why call it 'wrong', when we can look at it as "it is not needed really, every time". There are many legendary fighters who are adored more for their 'effortless' self-restraint, than their prowess!It is not altogether bad or wrong to feel the 'ache' to fight. It is just that we need to evolve a little more beyond the basic natural instinct of self-preservation/survival. This self-awareness which is quite unique to we humans only, tends to 'overdo' this instinct of self-preservation/survival. It is fortunate that boxers, wrestlers can feel this 'overdoing' much earlier. What about the rich who use money power to harm others needlessly and regret it too late in their life? What about people with high power due to position/designation/authority who misuse the power to satisfy their ego, hurt others, even their country/society/etc and then regret it later (unable to even confess)? That is why the popular saying ""power corrupts".
All we need to do is to look a bit more deeper, when you are reminded (of this 'ache' or this 'wrong'), and reassure that this capability looks better when put to use to defend ourselves, the needy, and the weak against some other 'power-ful' fellow who is yet to realise the correct way to use this power(that is why, even in legendary movies, stories, the hero is portrayed to give many chances to the villain taking a risk of yet another needless confrontation!).
Nice to have you on 'human' side. Thanks. Very best wishes. May you become yet more powerful boxer.

Urge

It is a queer emotion that goes deeper than our physiological structure! I had written some time ago, about a ‘natural urge’ being handled more sensibly with a balanced emotion.
Most of us just look at it a bit casually. We do not consider the urgency to look at urge. Then it simply emerges into an emergency!
There was a joke. A lady found it embarrassing when her kid announced loudly that he needed to go for a ‘pee’, in the presence of other ‘posh’ ladies, when they were at some get-together, or such occasions. She found a simple solution. She got the kid to agree to say, "I want to sing" whenever he felt the urge. Now this kid used this as an excuse to get away from the crowd when ever he felt bored, though the urge was not yet urgency. But the arrangement worked quite well. It so happened that the kid had to stay with his dad, when his mother was away to visit her folks. In the middle of the night, he woke up suddenly and nudged his father, saying "Dad, I want to sing". This dad was not informed of this arrangement, and took it literally, and tried to pacify the kid saying "Look dear, it is middle of the night, and it is inappropriate to disturb the neighbors, please wait till daybreak.". Thus some time was lost in the kid trying to plead the urgency, and the dad trying to pacify the kid. All of a sudden, the kid yelled "Now I want to sing very loudly". The father felt, there is no scope to pacify any further, and very reluctantly conceded, saying "Okay, if you must, then sing into my ears, but gently and slowly, not too loudly".
We adults yield to many kinds of urges. We do not even pay attention to the nature of such urges. In no time they become urgent. And when we are unable to fulfill, they emerge into emergencies! No joke. Please see. Why at all are those adult nappies in great demand? Is it not just that the urge does not take place. The translation of the message into an ‘urge’ does not happen, due to loss or lack of ‘connectivity’. When we are not well connected with a child, we yell at the child "what is the big urgency to open the wrapper now… Can you not wait till we reach home, to look at how the toy works?" Mahatma Gandhi had confessed, having felt an urge at an inappropriate occasion, when there was the body of a close relative waiting funeral rites, and he happened to think of some physical urge towards his spouse. Such honest admissions get applause no doubt, but usually fail to inspire most of the readers, who would dismiss it very casually, distancing oneself from it one way or other. Spirituality does not allow any such privilege. The discipline of this path insists that we look at each and every ‘urge’ very consciously, in full awareness, and deal with it equanimous-ly, not emotionally!
(I even wonder, if that Indian form, "urz suno zara, meri bhi " emanates from the ‘urge’ to be heard! And then there is that "Urjee"(an appeal) being submitted to the Englishman(pre-independence days of India), for his ‘kind’ consideration, when he likes to please a subordinate to ensure his loyalty to the master. Or, quite possibly, it is a sheer coincidence, when the majestic form of delivery of a couplet, "Arz kartaa hoon, Arz Hai,….. "(I hereby render), responded with an equally majestic ‘Irshaad"(please/pleasure is ours to listen, etc…..), got deformed when it was delivered by lesser beings to their master )
One may dismiss with some repugnance towards this ‘urge’ factor, at the very mention of spirituality aspect. But, even for a balanced mind, for avoiding the surge of an emotional imbalance, it is worth looking at the way our emotions evoke some of the non-urgent urges. Anyway, sometime or other, introspection would take over, and keep haunting us needlessly, now with a negative urge. And, it is not just about those socially acceptable actions which are the translated forms of the urges that we are talking about! It is about the very thought processes of those urges. We are quite clever. If only we had not learnt to keep most of our urges under check, we would have shared the condemned cells in those prisons, where hard-core criminals are lodged permanently! The only difference is that those poor fellows were in a great hurry to translate those urges into action. Is there a single crime that we too have not committed in our mind, our thoughts some time or other? Ah! Some people even keep restraint, not exceeding beyond a few ‘pegs’ fearing inadvertent spilling out the innermost urges, thoughts, secrets etc!
(That is exactly why, this spirituality is said to be a pathless path. Most of our paths are made up of urges, desires, result-driven-goals, expectations, anticipations, cravings, etc. Even the ‘urge’ for spiritual growth might be a deterrent at a stage for further growth! We have to handle this urge, shape it into a sublime form, and then pursue it. That is mysticism! The presence of a guide, a spiritual Master, makes the task quite easy, simple, and effortless!).
A tail-piece: Like that famous punch-line by the also famous Shri Navjot Singhjee "Better tighten your belt, or you may lose your pant", I am persuaded to say, "better tighten your urges, or you may lose your cool"!
With Urge-full-regards,
Psn(25th May, 2010)

Liberty or Freedom?

Many tourists take a look at that statue of Liberty, capture its glory into their cameras, narrate its splendor, and sometimes, attempt to amplify its inner significance too!

But when it comes to choosing “to be or not to be”, we all seem to be back to square one! The eligible bachelors/spinsters(now-a-days, bachelor is substituted quite acceptably for spinsters of yester days! Maybe, they are not too keen to ‘spin’ now, with the fast paced modern life taking everybody for a ‘spin’!),….. find it difficult to decide whether to give up the freedom that they had before(and become just a ‘statue’ of the liberty), when they are faced with the question of getting married(at the materialistically-right-age!

The ‘guess’ list of questions that should occurring at least at initial stages, while considering whether to get married or not, are quite basic. In fact, these question occur even when we decide to share a bachelor’s apartment with another bachelor to share the prohibitive cost of rent, when we decide to take in a business-partner, when we decide to swap our reserved berth in a train, to a needy person (or just that the other fellow prefers to have better luxury !), etc. The sample questions that occur in our mind is thus:

1) I am comfortably well off, with adequate ‘start-salary/income’ to take care of my basic need, with lots and lots of leisure, a little left-over of the money to indulge in a few of my idiosyncrasies (Sync’d with letting loose the mind for a while by loosening up the body-mind coordination, indulging in nervous stimulants of sorts). How much of this freedom am I going to give up?
2) Nobody lays a claim on my leisure, and sharing it would mean less of ‘peace of mind’!
3) Am I going to feel lonely, some kind of emotional depression, for no reason, if I do not concede to this social pressure and succumb or yield to this ritual of sharing my life?
4) What causes this loneliness actually? Where does it stem from? Is it just an inevitable ‘fallout’ of present day lifestyle, or is it the consequence of suppression of a deep urge, the deep sense of ‘belonging’? Oh! It is not adequate with that possessiveness, to manage a lifetime, since we have to struggle to ‘equip’ ourselves to ‘possess’ what we like to have? Most things can be bought with money. Emotions can be bought with our ability to fulfill the other’s emotional needs (indeed a very big challenge!) Where does this ‘sense of belonging’ pop-up, to pose a formidable threat to our very peace of mind? Is it that unless I feel that I belong to some ‘one’ ( ‘1’… o – n – e… at least), am I going to become vulnerable to that crushing ‘loneliness? What if it gets too late, if I stall the decision of ‘sharing’ life?
5) What if the person with whom I end up sharing, does not ‘provide’ me with that opportunity to feel ‘a sense of belonging’? Is it really in the hands of the other? Am I being stupid, trying to assess, judge, etc whether our mutual ‘chemistry’ sync’s well? Why didn’t the blokes who started this thing called ‘marriage’ also give a fool-proof handout of ‘how to …’ / why to… / where to…./ when to… etc for this concept? Those meaningless (seemingly at least), procedures of match-making, preceded by yet another ordeal of horoscope-matching, etc do not seem to work at all! There is no one trust-worthy around to provide a fool-proof system. And all those oldies just vanish out of the scene, not bothering about ‘after-sales-service’ tying two helpless people into a knotty-problem, gloating about to call it a marriage! It is not even worth that ‘marriage-of-convenience’ !
6) Is that sense of ‘belonging’ more distinct, unique, and quite INDESPENSIBLE, to confront the problem of imminent ‘loneliness’ at some point of time? Oh Hell! (What am I thinking? Inadvertently, am I invoking ‘hell’ even before it is due?.....) Why not practice this sense of ‘belonging’, trying it out a few times, in a safe, harmless way, just giving up ourselves a little bit, for others? (Testing it in ‘safe’ waters?).
7) Oh! Somewhere, a funny, fuzzy thought springs up… the more we feel that we belong to everything and everyone around, we may become less available to that loneliness… Is it so?

A question came up .. or rather, I bumped into it. As usual, I churn out lots of attributes to an innocent, simple question, and then set about to stir a ‘hornets-nest’ and the rest is done by others themselves, to spoil their ‘rest’(well-poised-mental-rest, ‘Rest In Peace, etc)!

By now, the urge to even take a look, at the question might have subdued. Yet, let me be ritualistic once a-gain.
With be-longing-Regards,
Psn (25th May, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhHoVe7h9QVfbTgXSvUpvTSQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100524182419AApmXTj&show=7#profile-info-XbuUGDmIaa

How much liberty should a person have?
How much liberty should a person have? When, if ever, should society restrict individual liberty?

My answer:
Let us try to look at it upside down, for a change!Alone on an uninhabited island, cut off from the rest of the world, but with excellent survival resources to last many generations ahead, what decides the liberty that we should have?Now, if a person drops in after some time, is it not that this new person is most likely to be concerned equally about his/her own survival too? And if so, then the liberty question comes up with just one "equation". How much are we prepared to share and co-exist? How much is our need for mutual emotional dependence? Alone, we enjoy everything, but we lack that sharing of deep emotions. But when we compromise on emotional need, the resources (the material aspect of life) gets diminished to that extent (qualitatively and quantitatively.... please see, EVEN time becomes a material, we share our quality time, forsaking a little of our OWN in favour of the other!
Well the very purpose of this 'upside-down' exercise is to EASILY reach to the very root of the problem, the question, its solution ...... what actually decides the mutual liberties we afford for each other?

Passion developer for 'dummies'

During the school days, I was ‘instructed’ to provide ‘security’ services to the elder sister of my very close friend and class-mate. This sister adopted me too as her own brother, but could not get rid of the nuisance value that came as an ‘attachment’ virus, with me, due to the very way of my being. The story is not about her. The movie came as a surprise. It was about a he-ghost, which lingers around the girl during her next birth too, having failed to make it during their earlier life time.

It was the introductory speech, with a deep voice and biblical tone, at the opening scene of the movie, that made a lasting impression on me. “For those who believe in (….), no proof is necessary. For those who do not believe, no proof is ……”

Now, I have an occasion to use a similar dialogue, when I am tempted to offer my answer to a very interesting, deep and basic question that I came across.

My say on it is, “this time, I consciously choose, not to offer any elaboration. Let those who are in need of it, delve into its inner meaning, and then decide its worth, decide to seek further of their own, for their own, and own it then.”

Regards,
Psn (25th May, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100524082901AA8eCBx

At which age are we supposed to develop a passion for something in life?
My Answer:
Deep self awareness decides the age. Normal level of self awareness dawns in early childhood, due to some pain/injury, if nothing else precedes. But for that extra depth to happen, support from others, parents especially would be of great help. It is a matter of fortune, for the child, as to how evolved the parents are, and also how much of quality time they can afford to give to their children.

Otherwise, the "passion" which has to happen and develop ONLY within us, has to first show us that we have the ability to feel a deep passion at all. Only a powerful, deep and conscious self awareness can light up this area of passion. Once we can feel this passion, it would naturally bring us close to 'that' for which we are 'made-for'. A close look at the lives of accomplished people, achievers, would tell us how they had their close encounter with for the first time, which later became the passion of their lives.

(A bit 'unbelievable' and 'incredible' piece of information.... There was a whole structured science, methodology, technique evolved in eastern philosophy, Ancient-India, which took the shape of a 'ritual' to ensure development of this passion for 'something' of lasting effect in and after life! When something is made into a ritual, there is an inherent 'risk'--- anywhere, any slackness would bring down the effectiveness drastically. That is how this 'ritual' lost its purpose, glory, and value. The 'process' was to invoke the right person into the capable receptacle, the womb, during the 6th month of pregnancy! Elaboration here and in this answer is quite redundant, but was helplessly 'poured out' due to some mystic sense of it!).

Mind-Game

At times, mere recognition accorded, to appreciate somebody’s words would invite enough trouble!
Quite understandable!
Like, if we nod too visibly, trying to whole-heartedly agree with someone who says, “It is so embarrassing to keep standing in a bus when there are lots of vacant seats! So I pick up an over-crowded bus to commute”, the whole audience would instantly guess, that the heavily nodding heads commonly share the malady (chronic and acute piles!), and in proportion to the oscillation of the head while nodding! (You guessed it right, I am no exception, but I also look at the ‘silver-lining’ that the extra-shutter affords the exclusive extra ‘golden-period’—we talk of that precious ‘golden period’ within which it is safe, to rush to a hospital in case of a massive heart attack—when others can’t hold long enough for their turn in a queue at a ‘public convenience’).

It is not even this sort of trouble that I looked at when I hesitated so long to write this post. People can read alone, chuckle quietly looking the monitor, in solitude and privacy. It is a deeper kind of trouble. It might turn out to be like ‘opening of the whole Pandora’s box!” It is the period of hesitation that afforded me a chance to feel a deeper appreciation to great ancient Masters, who skillfully chose very brief words to give out the essence of their experience, well assured that each would understand, only and also, according to the shock-absorber that they have, in-built inside them! And so, I would proceed to write about this instance of ‘mind-game’ that I came across, using the same technique of a ‘passing-reference’ in all humility, and effort to retain the nobility of the purpose (of retaining that mystic spice!).

About a month ago, I chanced to visit an elderly person of very familiar acquaintance. He did not wait for formal enquiries of well being to precede his urgent query. His query was thus : “Why is it that I suffer heavy wheezing, when I come back after a very brief visit just up to the toilet for urinating, whereas, when I arm myself well with inhaler, and walk up to the nearby post office, I don’t even have to use the inhaler once?” This gentleman is past 75, an asthmatic, depends quite heavily on inhalers, steroids, and such other medicines constituting a large medical kit. He has seen lots of ups and downs in life, and is well balanced emotionally. He would not engage in frivolous conversations. A very practical person. He prefers to handle his problems by himself, and hesitates to even mention it, leave alone asking for any help. He holds me in great esteem, and hence the query. I knew it was not easy to get away with guess works. It so happened that, I could at once and all so clearly was able to see the reason, but had to pause to find appropriate sequence of logic to communicate it. Though I elaborated the reply, amplifying the abstract concept, out of respect for his age, his genuine anxiety to unravel the mystic reason, etc, I now consciously choose to make a very brief mention of this concept, the reasons for which, I have mentioned in the earlier paragraph. I said, "Sir, it is mind-game. The actions needed and the brief journey up to the toilet precedes ‘virtually’ in the mind, and even concludes before the actualization. Where as, the mind affords more leisure for that short trip to post office, to precede any attempt to foreclose with those visuals about it, knowing too well the uncertainties when we step out of the house”. It is the instance of body getting pushed around too much & too fast, maybe quite unawares, which triggers the wheezing.

I had my share of experience to lean upon, before trying to attempt at a credible reply. I find ‘experienced’ cashiers run into errors of short-receipt rather than first-timers. Another instance of contrast to prove the very same concept is that when there is a shuffle of work, or a person is assigned a change of work at work place, there is an initial period of slackness in terms of out put. The knowledge may be already there, but the physical motions to execute the work, causes that unexplainable time-delay. A classic example would be the thumb rule advocated for trainees during the induction into coast guard duties “be clear about the next set of actions in your mind, when stage-3 of hypothermal condition is about to set in. During the last available 15 minutes of precious life saving swim, it is the last of thought-process prior to those 15 minutes that decides how we act, mechanically, quite unconsciously while drifting fast into physical unconsciousness (Cellular metabolic processes shuts down)”.

( I don’t mind mentioning a story about Buddha, I got from my own spiritual guide. Once Buddha was found repeating the arm motion of driving away a fly that was seated on his nose. When asked, he explained, ‘I missed the experience, so I re-enacted it again’)

I feel a great relief, having attempted to ‘electrify’ this post for the blog (we used to say, ‘penned’ the article, when we used to have manuscripts. Now, it is binary forms of zeroes and ones, so all I do is alter the circuitry, semi-manually still, using keyboard)!
Psn(19th May, 2010)

Now, what am I up against?

Yes, that is exactly what happens most of the time, when we step out into this uncertain world!

We stretch out our arms towards a baby lovingly (mostly, only to please its parents). But the baby gives a puzzled, uncertain, hesitant look, unable to decide at what of time it has to spell out its protest with a loud cry.

A girl is facing the visiting viewers from groom’s side for girl seeing. She takes an uncertain look at them, asking within, “what am I going to be up against, if these people happen to ‘approve’ me?”

A new manager takes over from the outgoing one, and the entire staff takes an anxious look at the incoming one, asking themselves, ‘what are we going to be up against this time?’

A new dish is proudly presented by the waiter, taking that extra privilege with regular customer, and unable to ask about it out of embarrassment, the guest takes a look at the dish, thinking “what is my stomach going to face, when I manage to swallow this?” (Okay, …… this could even happen at home… I thought it unwise to embarrass the fair gender)

When a staff, just out of a training session for customer service, in all sincerity, but all of a sudden attempts to greets that regular customer with an unusual broad smile, would end up in actually scaring the customer(same problem, same quiz.. what is this fellow up to now?)! See the point? That is why these reforms in police is unable to take off that fast, these police men are unable to scare us any better than before, when they try that people-friendly approach(we already keep a very safe distance)!

How soon, how well or even if at all we deal with this problem from our within, decides our own mental health, attitude, the traits into which we evolve, the levels of acceptability amidst others that we grow into, etc. Most proverbs try to reassure us, with hope, trust in humanity, etc. Most jokes try to soothe us, teach us to laugh at such ‘taken by surprise situations’. Sales-experts hurry to reassure us and then skin us alive at leisure(those ‘conditions-apply’ clauses in fine print evade our glance, and consequently our own routine check list of ‘what am I up against’).

A highly busy mind, prejudiced mind, angry mind, confused mind, etc… seldom manages to grasp the ‘correct’ picture of what we are up against, and we know the rest of the story. Right from giving out answers in an exam, even up to putting up with a wrong choice for a spouse for the rest of the life, we find that chance to rectify a bit too late.

I don’t know why, but my dad never had thought of ‘preparing’ me to look out for what I am up against. Maybe, he was busy protecting others from me during my childhood. It is not a blind guess. The confirmation came a bit late though. He even announced it during the daughter-in-law selection-session, very much in the same style of that ‘John Rambo’s’ colonel who reassured that he had come to protect the army/policemen from Rambo, and not Rambo from them (the purpose of this girl seeing, my dad clarified, was to make sure if this innocent girl would be able to put up with his son!). Might be, that he compared as to how we both faced the same woman (my Mom) for years! Sympathy pours in favour of my spouse incessantly, but armed with those tiny bullets and pellets, it hardly makes any dent on my hide. And now I know why since ages, spouses try to dissuade their husbands from taking up too much of Yoga, spirituality etc! Not that I am really ‘all-proof’. I am very much busy not only in facing, but even trying to find out more about the most formidable person I can be ever up against, myself!!
Psn(18th May, 2010)

Impatiently ‘patient’.

It was touching, when a 17 year old appeals to “elders”, asking for a clue to handle the patience of the mind.

Another wonderful question was about the ‘hearing’ of the words inside us.

People are too impatient to even read, leave alone responding, and so suffice it to give (you) just the ‘web-link’. Even the ancients gave us ‘sutra’s or just the ‘thread’, for us to weave out a garland with flowers of our choice.

Psn (9th May, 2010)

The link:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100508023222AAcek76

A tribute to Nature

I was fortunate that a rare combination of people occurred in the hierarchy who managed to see to it that I found it unwise to continue till my superannuation. Or else, I would have become “indifferently-abled” by then! I was left with enough ‘taste’ for good food.

Mangoes are the tastiest of fruits. That is how I feel. There is a small backyard at the ancestral large house where my spouse hails from. There was a call to inform that fresh-plucked ripe mangoes are waiting. I handed her a large carry bag, with lots of crumpled old news-paper bits to ensure that these mangoes do not sit tight-squeezed when filled in the bag. Each mango was ‘housed’ amidst overstuffed cushion of these loosely-squeezed newspaper bits. Just 3 of them tilted the needle of our domestic spring-balance to indicate 1.25 kilograms. I was thrilled to learn that the seed was quite small. The fragrance from the mangoes laid out with the care that a new born child gets, simply permeated all around the kitchen and its vicinities.

I decided to re-live the memorable taste of “Aam-Ras” (mango-pulp), that I had while in Maharastra(north India).

The largest and most fragrant of the mangoes were chosen, washed, dried, retaining the stem intact. Gently, I proceeded to squeeze the sides of the mango like we do with the rosy tender cheeks of a baby. It takes time, but the fibre and the juice blend right inside the ‘original’ factory and we start feeling the ‘baby’ turn upside down inside the womb. (Yes, the seed is freed from the fibre and rotates within quite freely!). Now, gently nip the stem, squeeze out the pulp into a bowl. Any additions to this to have an enhanced taste of this pulp should never be at the cost of diluting the mangoes original flavour. So the additional ingredients have to be bare minimum, and a carefully measured out dose. We can have a few grains of sugar, a little of thick multi-flower-yielded-honey etc. But the best addition comes from cardamom(just a little). I would love to have that huge truck tyre (like that monster-vehicle of “Terminator-II” carrying tons of nitrogen, with atleast 18 huge tyres) to crush the cardamom seed beneath it carefully placed in a polythene cover. But since it is not feasible, I compromise to roll the rolling pin over it several times to and fro, on the wooden stand that bears the brunt of it. The idea is that each molecule of cardamom seed is freed from its neighbour to liberally let out its fragrance to permeate into the juice when directly sunk right into the middle(to arrest the fragrance within) and then stirred. One more item can be added, but only at the appropriate time.

We now take liberal amount of chakki-fresh-atta (fresh ground wheat flour), spread it on a strong wide steel plate, make a small crater in the middle of the mound of that flour. Add a pinch of salt, a negligible quantity of turmeric powder (to give that faint yellow colour, without allowing any taste of it). Pour little water into the crater, allow the salt to dissolve while the little turmeric simply vanishes. Now gently bring the flour to blend well with water. Water should be added as if we are very miserly to part with it to a fellow traveler while in the middle of Sahara desert. Blending has to give way to tough kneading. The longer it takes, the better. It is helpful if we can remember our worst enemies, and punch the dough occasionally hard enough to ensure excellent molecule-to-molecule bonding. Water added little by little, to that thirsty dough ensures that each molecule gets soaked well, softens to its limits. Leave the kneaded dough aside for a while (say at least 15 minutes). Meanwhile, it is useful to pour out home-melted ghee out of cow’s milk/butter into a small bowl, and gently heat it to a melting point.

Use corn flour or that refined wheat flour called ‘maida’ to spread out the dough after making it into small balls of 1.5 inches diameter. The flattened dough in a circular shape ready to be baked on the iron plate is the primitive stage of chappati/roti. Dry baking it (without oil) is the best type to suit our present side-dish. So, the iron plate (tawa) gets heated up. The thinly spread-out dough is placed on this tawa for just 5 seconds. Turn over this chappati after 5 seconds. The second side heats up to form small blisters of air-pockets all around it uniformly. The second side also gets reddish tint below these blisters. Now use tongs to lift the chappati, remove the tawa aside, flip the chappati and place it on the flame so that the first side faces the wrath of the flame directly. Since the first side retains little extra moisture than the second side, the chappati would bulge out like the stomach of a person who dedicates his life entirely for eating. Within about 5 seconds, the chappati is ready to be placed aside away from the flame, the bulge not to be disturbed if possible. It is the turn of warm fragrant ghee to bathe this warm bulging chappati a liberal bath. So pour the ghee right on the peak of the bulge, allowing it to drip-flow to all sides.

Unless we are alone at home, it is advisable to take turns to prepare chappatis thus, so that everyone gets to eat it while it is still warm.

The mango pulp is waiting. Pour it out into a small bowl, place it in the middle of dining plate, and pour a spoonful of that warm cow-milk-ghee right in the middle of the bowl. Take care not to disturb the mango pulp here after. Take a pinch-sliced bit of that chappati, hold it folded gently between thumb and index finger, dip it where the ghee sank into the mango pulp. People with shaky fingers need not stir the pulp. Otherwise, a small nudge into the pulp would ensure the fresh (just a moment ago) exquisite blend of ghee and pulp to be painted liberally to that chappati bit. The only place this chappati has to go is to the tip of the tongue, where the taste buds have secreted enough saliva to dissolve the pulp-drenched-chappati. (I was initiated into ‘Aam-ras’ when I was 22 years young, so, that little left over of ‘human’ consideration surfaced only after I had at least 12 such chappatis, and I try to squeal out ‘I think I had just enough’ and offer respite to the grand lady who incessantly rolls out chappatis. But that was just the first quarter of my regular meal. Rice and its assorted layers of side dishes, pickles, curds are yet to follow.

Now, the only civility that has happened with age, is reduction in quantum of food intake. The insistence on quality has become barbaric. The only way I can offer tribute to mother-nature for having gifted these wonderful eatables(bring out the fullest flavour, taste, etc out of these fruits, vegetables, spices, grains etc, to the best of my abilities, eat them so leisurely that time seems to stand still).
Psn (10th May, 2010)

Thinking Herd

The question raised some serious questions ……. In fact they were ‘side-effect-questions’.
The question was innocent looking “Can you hear yourself think?”

I usually look at myself, and the answer pops out, if there is any.

The process of ‘looking’ , this time, refreshed a few memories. During early days of schooling, the thinking language was mostly a mixture of Hindi, Urdu, Malayalified-tamil, a little of telugu and Hinglish. Then good English crept in slowly. The fallout was disinclination to look at Grammar when it was formally taught. The rules got a back bench during the learning, but the marks were full when it came to ‘correct the following sentences” (I used to wonder, why it was not asked thus “what is wrong with these sentences” instead! ‘Correction’ was a teacher’s job, not we kids.) Now with withering age, the thinking has almost blanked out or at best it is a bit abstract or non-verbal!

Anyway, I regard thinking process to be a powerful tool to learning, if properly harnessed, and children should be taught early if possible the tricks of the trade.

I did enjoy answering this question, and the choice of the asker, to pick it up as a satisfying one came as a bonus.

Please try to see if we belong to the same herd.

Regards,
Psn(10th May, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100508193705AAzHX9r

Can you hear yourself think?
Is it rare to literally *hear* yourself in your head? Like, when I read, I literally hear my voice, but it's just inside my head. I just started reading about this, I haven't read much but I intend to. Anyway, I decided to test myself to see if I was really "hearing" and I said different words and letters in my head and indeed they sound exactly as I would say them out loud. It's a quiet voice, but it's loud enough for me to hear at all times. The only thing I can't do is scream, I mean I can kinda scream but not really...haha so yeah...:P

My answer:
Unless you take efforts, this voice is the same as yours, of the same gender that we belong to!!! That exactly is the measure of our adamant-ness! We even refuse to change the gender of our imaginative voice. Only when we visualise with a strong effort, we attribute that voice to somebody we know. Children, though quite unawares, listen to the words in their head, using the same voice which taught them those words the first time. That is how the mannerism of pronunciation gets 'aped' with repeated learning. Over a period of time, with concerted efforts, they struggle and manage to pick up that shifted accent, and if they manage this quite well, the scores are better at TOEFL !!!

(We may add to the question, "what about songs, famous songs? Whose voice echoes inside?" and what about deep-engraved-abuses from disliked persons? The hi-fidelity of the voice is closest to 'real' when it echoes too often, and without our own permission!!!!????) A "punch-line" proposed to this answer as an addition is ....: "This noise of the voice inside is just like that "Fart", it is more lethal when it is less noisy or silent. That is why spiritual practices begin with chanting aloud, then chant inside with voice, and then go deeper into silent meditativeness"

Syntax

A queer question was asked about something to do with the words we use.
I got the opportunity to ‘spell’ out my observations out of eagerly and curiously watching the shifting attitude that I have been noticing in the youth (especially pursuing study of IT related subjects, circuit branches), when they even find quality time to re-look at deeper concepts of ‘life’ itself(consequently, a look, also at the fundamentals of life).

The bulk of feedbacks that I get out of interactions with these youth is that the ‘essence’ of what we discuss simply passes over the head, at times. Good! ( I rejoice when this happens! Out of deep love, not out of that sadism of having ‘needlessly’ tortured their brains! The need is fuzzily fulfilled. Well, this ‘need’ that I refer to is a bit mystic-need, and stupid-looking from the worldly-ways of looking at it.) What they note a bit later is that the words used for these interactions seldom need any reference to a dictionary. And yet, the essence doesn’t feel ‘chewable’ easily.

Some of the ‘elders’ around seem to ‘feel’ that the present day youth are trying to return to the precious ancient ‘values’ and rich cultural heritage of our country, Bharat. What triggered this turn-around could be various factors. But I can speak of one such factor with ‘logical evidence’.


My answer is about such one of the factors. (Those youngsters who have been fortunate to have been ‘victimized’ by this factor are awed, baffled, and what not, when they find that our ancient scriptures are bug-free, and do not need updating of ‘soft-ware’, OS , do not even need disk-space, etc, and have stood the test of time for centuries!)

Psn(6th May, 2010)

Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100505165101AAayJIO
This is an amazing answer. What do you think?
"None of these words really fit -- it's more like synchronicity, but not. I wish there was a better word. I know exactly what you mean, like when you've never heard a word before in your life (you think), until you learn it, then you see in 5 times in the next 2 days, it's following you around!"I love how the web allows children to express themselves! (and gives us an off switch:-) They are the way and we have to hear them, if we do not then there is only one other way.

My answer:
After this computer came in, it has done a very good thing to us.For a long time, we have got away with using words to mean anything, nothing or everything. Now that syntax error, semantic error, bugs etc has forced a change into our attitude. We have learnt to use the exact word for what we mean. The side-benefit is that we learn to look deeper into words. The next level of side benefit is that our perception "tends" to deepen helplessly. We can see the evidence from all sorts of mind-boggling questions being asked in the sections of R&S, philosophy, psychology, etc!