Mysorean

Thanks to Viky. I realised that ToI was not always wrong. Here is an update:

There is a Refresh Bangalore project going on, where ToI is requesting readers to contribute their dream for Bangalore. The article above, also quoted by Viky and the ones Shastri wrote about, are a reflection of the author’s dream for Bangalore in 2025.

PS: Viky is also a Mysorean! Yay!

Quoting an article in the Times of India on 9th August 2006:

Vayu Express, the bullet train between Bengaluru and Mysooru, has been speeded up. This means that the travel time between these two cities will now be reduced by 5 minutes. This is a major step forward for India’s only bullet train.

Introduced last August at a speed of 300 kph, it enabled you to reach the
City of Palaces from the state capital in 28 minutes…

I never had a high opinion about this newspaper. This is yet another instance of the depth to which journalism at ToI has plummetted.

Thank God I live in Chennai and subscribe to The Hindu at home. Every now and then to assure myself that I am reading the best possible newspaper I pick up the newly-launched Deccan Chronicle. [Hyderabad's #1 English Daily Newspaper a few years back. Now I don't know]

What I also don’t know is whether to believe this or not. ToI on Mysore again:

It was the first city in the country to go Wi-Fi, now it is all set to be the first to put electric buses on its roads.

…Electric buses (also known as trolley-buses) are vehicles that are powered by electricity from two overhead wires. These buses draw power using two trolley poles (like the electric trains) and run on pneumatic tyres…

Click here for the full version of the article.

God save ToI!

[Via email from suchetha]

In the world of romance, one single rule applies to the men:
Make the woman happy. Do something she likes, and you get points. Do something she dislikes and points are subtracted. You don’t get any points for doing something she expects. Sorry, that’s the way the game is played. Here is a guide to the point system:

SIMPLE DUTIES

You make the bed (+1)

You make the bed, but forget the decorative pillow (0)

You throw the bedspread over rumpled sheets (-1)

You go out to buy her what she wants (+5) In the rain (+8) But return with Beer (-5)

You check out a suspicious noise at night (0)

You check out a suspicious noise, and it is nothing (0)

You check out a suspicious noise and it is something (+5)

You pummel it with iron rod (+10)

It’s her pet (-10)

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS

You stay by her side the entire party (0)

You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with a college buddy(-2)

Named Rita (-4)

Rita is a dancer (-6)

Rita is single and is really beautiful (-80)

HER BIRTHDAY

You forget her birthday (-50000)

You take her out to dinner (0)

You take her out to dinner and it’s not a sports bar (+1)

Okay, it’s a sports bar (-2)

And it’s all-you-can-eat night (-3)

It’s a sports bar, it’s all-you-can-eat night, and your face is painted

the colours of your favourite team (-10)

A NIGHT OUT

You take her to a movie (+2)

You take her to a movie she likes (+4)

You take her to a movie you hate (+6)

You take her to a movie you like (-2)

It’s called ‘DeathCop’ (-3)

You lied and said it was a foreign film about orphans (-15)

YOUR PHYSIQUE

You develop a noticeable potbelly (-15)

You develop a noticeable potbelly and exercise to get rid of it (+10)

You develop a noticeable potbelly and resort to baggy jeans and baggy Hawaian shirts (-30)

You say, “It doesn’t matter, you have one too.” (-8000)

ENJOY THE ‘BIG’ QUESTION

She asks, “Do I look fat?” (-5) [Yes, you LOSE points no matter WHAT]

You hesitate in responding (-10)

You reply, “Where?” (-35)

Any other response (-20)

COMMUNICATION

When she wants to talk about a problem , you listen, displaying what looks like a concerned expression (0)

You listen, for over 30 minutes (+50)

You listen for more than 30 minutes without looking at the TV (+500)

She realizes this is because you have fallen asleep (-10000)

My wife was supposed to do some puja today and the poor thing has no idea how to go about doing one. It’s the first time ever that she is conducting a puja on her own. I belong to the category of “What puja? Why Puja?”.

She came out of the Puja room, after completing the puja, and exclaimed, “Oh Adi, I forgot to break the coconut!”

I broke into peals of laughter. Almost fell off the chair I was sitting on. If some elder had been in the house I can imagine what they would have made of my wife!

Why force rituals on people? Why does she have to do it without knowing what she is doing but knowing that she HAS to do it?

Continued from Part I

Achieving Divinity is:

To recognize the Eternal amidst the ephemeral
And to recognize that force or power that gives the fruit of actions
effortlessly alongwith grace.

This power to achieve Divinity is recognized by “Dheera“. Eternal peace is for those who recognize the underlying Unity.

“Dheera” is a very familiar word to one who is familiar with Sanskrit Holy scriptures. “Dhee” means higher intellect.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa has an interesting similie to distinguish higher intellect from intellect. An intellect which is used for simple things like calculating profit and making money is like “thin curd”. Chchaas in hindi, Majjige in Kannada, Majjiga in Telugu and Mor in Tamil. An intellect that is focused on achieving God is like “thick curd”. Dahi in Hindi, Mosaru in Kannada, Perugu in Telugu and Thayir in Tamil.

“Dhee” appears in the Gayatri Mantra also. “..Dheeyo yonaha prachodaya aath“.

Somebody once asked a learned monk, “What is the immediate benefit
of living a morally upright life?”

The monk answered, “It sharpens and brightens the intellect. Thus making
it ready to achieve Divinity”.

To achieve the higher intellect we could start living a morally upright life.

“Dheera” is a person who has turned his attention within to make the discovery of inner Reality. “Dheera” is one who is a “viveki” (One with the power of discrimination).

The Mind is an interesting thing if you can call it one. It has the ultimate power of discrimination. But that power is dependant on the atmosphere in which the Mind is. Outside that atmosphere the mind might not be able to attain the same level or power of discrimination.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to give a simple example to illustrate this: A sail boat in ordinary condition can be easily directed with the help of changing the direction of sails. But when the wind is blowing heavily, it is tough to control the direction of the boat.

Similarly the wind of Senses hijacks the “Buddhi” to somewhere else. Senses are the means to identifying the external world. Once the senses become our Master, we become their slave. Senses are like Horses tied to a chariot controlled by a charioteer called “Buddhi”. If the horses begin driving the Chariot then the charioteer should start controlling. But usually, it doesn’t happen. The horses go where they want, the charioteer just follows.

Wherever the “Buddhi” dominates the power of will is seen. It is the “Buddhi” – the Power of discrimination to be cultivated to attain the higher intellect. The greater the Self-Control, the Greater the Buddhi.

People are generally heard saying, “Kathopanishad says God is everywhere, then why cannot we see God?” In simple words, not everybody can see God. We are not competent “Yogyata” to see God. We need to develop the competence to see God. When a person has developed that “Dhee” – intellect and courage – only then can he make the search of Shashwatha Shantihi – Eternal Peace.

In their ignorance people make the sin of considering, the changing as the Unchanging, impure as the Pure, Source of unhappiness as happiness and loss of Eternal Reality is mistaken to be Eternal Reality (meaning that Body is considered to be The Aatma) .

The Original Sin is to consider the Body as the Aatma. After this sin happens, everything else just follows. Once a person is into this Sin, he gets only ephemeral happiness.

Camels have this desire for thorny plants for food. Whenever they eat those plants they are happy that they are eating what they wanted. But those thorns prick their mouth and they start bleeding. This is ephemeral happiness.

He, who has the ability to discriminate the Eternal from the ephemeral, destructible from the indestructible and is able to find Nitya amidst Anitya is the one will experience Shashwatha Shantihi eternal peace and not the others.

After a long time I attended the discourse at Ramakrishna Ashram on Kathopanishads by Swami Atmashraddhananda. Here is a write-up of whatever I understood there. Swamiji started off with reading out the sloka and then started explaining it in his inimitable style of raising questions and answering them.

Those who have not known the (nitya in sanskrit)Reality of eternal truth will never find peace – eternal happiness in other words. As long as we think that Reality and we are something different we will never see it. Reality is inside us, rather reality is us and we are reality. This Reality is permanent, it has no beginning and has no end. Hence it is the ONE. Eternal peace is for those who see the Reality and not for those who discriminate.

Spirituality is a quest for the Reality. It begins with the question “Is there something Real in this world?” and finding the answer is the end of the journey. Let’s take the learning curve of a child for example. He begins with an understanding of the moving and the non-moving. A cat moves and a table doesn’t. Pleasurable and not-pleasurable is the next stage. Here he does not think whether it is beneficial or not, it is all about pleasure. Next stage is Good or Bad. And so on there are various stages. But very few people can come up with the question of Real or Unreal.

More often than not, when a person undergoes a very strong experience is when he comes to this question of Real and Unreal. For others it is just between pleasant and unpleasant. For others it is all matter(that which can be sensed through our senses). But as per our Upanishads and other Holy writings of the Hindu Religion and according to the Lord Yama, it is Nitya from which everything has come. All material is a form of thought. The Upanishad thought varies from the mechanistic thought in this manner about Nitya.

He, who has the ability to discriminate the Eternal from the ephemeral, destructible from the indestructible and is able to find Nitya amidst Anitya is the one will experience Shashwatha Shantihi eternal peace.

A small story to better understand eternity and the ephemeraless. The Lord of Rightenousness Yama wanted to teach the Pandavas a lesson. While under exile, the Pandavas wandering in the forests felt thirsty and so they rested under a tree. Yudhishthira instructed Nakula and Sahadeva to find if there was any water source nearby.

Nakula and Sahadeva climbed to the top of trees and surveyed the surrounding. They couldn’t find any water per se but they saw a certain kind of trees that grew only near water sources. This also points to the knowledge of flora and fauna that the people of those times had. They inform Yudhishtira about the same and they proceed towards the spot to find a lake.

In the meantime, Lord Yama has taken the form of a stork and is standing nearby the lake. Sahadeva proceeds to get water for all of them. Then the stork speaks. Ok, let’s just assume that they understood each other’s language if you find a stork speaking to be so illogical. It is an altogether different topic that we don’t understand a fellow human being’s language itself! A stronger indication of the harmonious living between the flora and fauna and the human beings.

The stork says, “I will ask you a few questions. After you answer them
successfully, you may take water from here and go”.

But Sahadeva is in such a thirsty state and also seeing his family members state he just ignores the stork and bends down to collect water. As soon as he comes in contact with the water, he falls down dead! The same fate befalls Nakula, Bheema and Arjuna.

After waiting for an inordinately long time, Yudhishtira himself makes it to the lake and encounters the stork. Immediately he realises that it’s not an ordinary stork. And he pauses to take the quiz voluntered by the stork. This quiz is the famous “Yaksha Prashna” that we have come to know of. One question in that quiz was related to eternity and ephemralness.

The Stork (in-the-form-of-Lord Yama) asked, “What is the latest
wonder?”
Yudhishthira answers, “People die daily around us yet no one believes that
he is going to die”

Later on, Lord Yama shows his true form to Yudhishtira after being pleased with his answers. And also brings all his brothers back to life.

The point here is that, we are Eternal (Nitya). But this Body is not. We realize that we are eternal but restrict the understanding to our body-mind consciousness and hence we are fearful. When we approach Divinty we become fearless. Identification with Anitya is why we never see the Eternal Truth.

Continued in Part – II.

I can share the document across e-mail addresses and also controlwhat the other person does. (Read Only/ Read & Write)
Catch is that the person to whom I have shared the doc withcan only edit it after registering with zohowriter.com
I can also publish this onto my blog I am told.. Let me try. Itsays “Problem in posting to blog.

” Don’t know what happened!
I can also make this public and allow others to give theircomments! Similar to a blog!