Science and Yogic Culture - Tasting the same divine

I happened to see some people under the guise of scientists making fun of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's comments on Twitter, by selectively taking them out of context and making videos out of it.

It is ironic that technology can be used by anybody to suit their needs but if one pays sufficient attention, the bluff can be easily called off.

Here is gem #1.

“Today modern science has admitted that it’s an ever-expanding universe or an endless universe, rather ever expanding is a yogic term, they are calling it a endless universe" ... admitted 😁 

Let's explore this first before going into others.

Till 1998, scientists did believe that the universe CANNOT be ever expanding. Till then, most popular Physicists thought the expansion of universe after the big bang would slow down and that eventually gravity would pull the parts of the cosmos back in. But then, they found that not only was the expansion not slowing down, it was speeding up. The universe was expanding at an accelerating rate.

Saul Perlmutter shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate. Perlmutter explains how supernovae and other astronomical artifacts are used to measure the expansion rate, and explains what physicists are learning about "dark energy" — the mysterious entity thought to be driving the acceleration.

The source for all the arguments above has been Published by National Public Radio (USA): https://www.npr.org/2013/05/10/182861376/exploring-an-ever-expanding-universe

Apparently, the critics of Sadhguru indeed have no clue that physicists themselves have changed their stance fairly recently and 'admitting' that this is an ever expanding universe.

Though the discovery was done in 1998, further studies were conducted thereafter and the Nobel prize was given in 2011 only. However, the expanding theory of universe was not an unknown phenomenon even before 1998. Professor Arthur Holmes (1895-1965), a geologist & professor at the University of Durham, writes regarding the age of the earth in his great book, The Age of Earth (1913) as follows:

"Long before it became a scientific aspiration to estimate the age of the earth, many elaborate systems of the world chronology had been devised by the sages of antiquity. The most remarkable of these occult time-scales is that of the ancient Hindus, whose astonishing concept of the Earth's duration has been traced back to Manusmriti, a sacred book."

Mr Holmes had already mentioned in his 1913 book about the Hindu calculation of the present age of the earth and the expanding universe theory from ancient Hindu calculations.

Dick Teresi is the author and coauthor of several books about science and technology, including The God Particle. He is cofounder of Omni magazine and has written for Discover, The New York Times Magazine, and The Atlantic Monthly. Here are his words about Indian culture's contribution to cosmology:

"Indian cosmologists are the first to estimate the age of the earth at more than 4 billion years. They came closest to modern ideas of atomism, quantum physics, and other current theories. India developed very early, enduring atomist theories of matter. Possibly Greek atomistic thought was influenced by India, via the Persian civilization."

One should go through Teresi's book from 2002 "Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science - from the Babylonians to the Maya" to better understand the intertwining of scientific and cultural aspects in ancient civilizations.

In the yogic culture, there are countless stories about the cycle of destruction of universe through Pralaya and Srushti the creation. Lord Shiva's Thandava dance is supposed to be a symbolism of the cyclical nature of creation / destruction and expansion / contraction.

According to Hindu Vedic cosmology, there is no absolute start to time, as it is considered infinite and cyclic. Similarly, the space and universe has neither start nor end, rather it is cyclical per Vedic cosmology. 

Modern scientists are making an assumption that what is infinite can only be cyclical, ascertaining their view of universe, deriving their theories out of Vedic scriptures.

The current universe is just the start of a present cycle preceded by an infinite number of universes and to be followed by another infinite number of universes. Modern Science, on the other hand, is still dealing with only the current universe. Actually, the ultra-modern theory of parallel universes originates from the idea of infinite number of universes.

Ancient Hindu scientists predicted that the cycle of creation and destruction continues forever & symbolized it in Shiva's form, as one who holds the drum that sounds the universe’s creation in his right hand and the flame that, billions of years later, will destroy the universe in his left.

In  his landmark TV series Cosmos, Carl Sagan called Hinduism as the only religion whose time-scale for the universe matches the billions of years documented by modern science. Sagan filmed that segment in a Hindu temple (Chidambaram Nataraja temple) featuring a statue of the god Shiva as the cosmic dancer, an image that now stands in the plaza of the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva.

So, clearly the joke is on those trying to make fun of Sadhguru with half-baked knowledge of both science and ancient Indian culture. 

True Science does not bother where its inspiration to genius comes from, only some fake scientists do. 

Vardah and Digital Economy

The Central Government wants us to go towards a #Cashless economy. Sure .. great idea!

But let's see some very valid points from Chennaiites against going towards completely digital economy.

(1) Before #Vardah, we were very patient taking only 2000 rupees a day max, even though we had to pay our rents and the landlord is refusing to take online payment.

(2) Before Vardah, did you see how orderly the entire state of Tamilnadu was, even while mourning for the loss of our CM Ms Jayalalitha? We did not hoard cash during that time also.

(3) After Vardah, there is no power supply for four days now. Er ... how do we pay our bills online?

(4) After Vardah, petrol bunks and even water lorries are not accepting cards because their bank networks are not working!

(5) After Vardah, cell phone networks are still getting up on their knees even after 4 days and there is no data connectivity most of the time. Paytm options are gone ...

(6) It is only the 50 & 100 rupees that our mothers & wives had saved in kitchen boxes that is helping us run the day now.

This is a harsh reminder that unless the critical #infrastructure, including electricity / water / road / bank networks is set right, all the talk about going Cashless is just big BS. Hope the Government (both State and Central) sits up and takes notice.

We have been very supportive of #Demonetisation and #DigitalDrive so far.

Now our patience is really running thin, since we are onto our bare minimal survival and this state cannot continue for long. Hope the State government and PMO India are listening.

Demonetisation and arm-chair critics

Unfortunate attitude of many Indians now-a-days:

(1) Why should I pay my #taxes in Chennai? What has this Central Government done to me?

(2) Why should I pay my taxes in Coimbatore? That money is being used for feeding somebody in Rajasthan.

(3) Why should I suffer from #demonetisation when I am not hoarding any black money?

(4) Why should I declare my income and pay my taxes in Andhra? That money goes to laying of roads in Assam!

Let's just assume everyone starts doing this - violating all rules set by the Government.

Can you imagine a 'ruleless' life? Would you even feel safe to venture out in the streets? 

Let's remain sensible. Rather than questioning everything from "me, me, me" perspective, let's start giving constructive suggestions to the government as to what can be done better for society as a whole. 

There are enough forums made available by this Government at least! If we are not contributing to our own governance in a constructive manner, we have no right to complain - for it is us who have forsaken our democratic responsibilities.

If this post strikes a chord within you, it is meant to be :)

Tree plantation drive: Some truths

This is my response to the mockery of tree plantation drives:

One needs to understand that nobody is planting 'trees' - they are only trying to grow 'plants'.

How many plants do you think survive in each tree plantation drive? The maximum percentage reached is about 70%. So, if you grow 100 plants, maximum of 70 would only survive and that too only if great care is taken.

Just take a look at this article:

http://indianexpress.com/…/2-cr-trees-plantation-drive-buo…/

To reach merely 33% forest cover, we need "400 crore" trees. So, all these tree plantation drives are actually not sufficient enough to cover that. We are not even talking about 50% forest cover, just 33%.

Everybody can plant tree saplings. One very important factor most of us conveniently forget is the rate of deforestation:

http://time.com/4019277/trees-humans-deforestation/

We have 400 billion trees of which 15 billion trees are cut every year. This means, if nobody plants anything, we will be out of trees in the world in just a few years - within our lifetime! The plants that you grow today will not become trees by tomorrow - they take their own time.

So, my request to such people who mock is that if you don't plant trees, it is fine. Please stop making fun of people who do! This is not just for our generation but for our children as well that such tree plantation drives happen and flourish successfully.

I offer no proofs, just complaints!

Breaking my blog silence after a long, long time! It has been 7 days since the controversies have been raging around Isha Foundation.

If a sane person looks back at these events, avoiding all the media hype created and emotional drama, let's see who has actually complained?

(1) A parent whose daughters have become monks against their wish
(2) A parent whose kid was expelled from Isha Home school for bad conduct
(3) A parent whose son has become a monk against her wish
(4) A police officer whose elder kid was again asked to be taken off by Isha Samskriti management

In all 4 cases, there is a clear vested interest. One may argue that anybody who opposes some XYZ organization will have a vested interest. Let me ask you a couple of questions:

"How many times have you changed your job because you did not like the manager? In that case, did you become dead against the organization as well? If so, would an otherwise emotionally balanced person call your anger against the organization professional or unprofessional?"

"How many times did you take your kid off the school because his / her teacher scolded them for some mischief they did? If you did, would an otherwise emotionally balanced person call your anger against the organization professional or unprofessional?"

If in both cases your answer was that it would be called 'unprofessional', why is the same logic not applicable to these allegations against Isha Foundation as well? Just because their sons or daughters did not listen to them or could not be controlled by them, they have turned against Isha Foundation.

Mind you, all of them have based their allegations only on their supposed personal experience but have not produced any proofs for it!

What the media has done with it though is take the allegation, blow it up several folds with emotional drama and made it all appear like facts. People need to understand and separate facts from fiction, before coming to a conclusion.

Once all the dust settle from the hue & cry raised by media, hope thinking minds and sanity prevail!

Best Thanksgiving Ever!

I clearly remember the day I met the boy - 18th October, 2014. He was explaining his thoughts about inventing a motor bike that will reduce the environmental pollution using electrical batteries. His dad does repairs of electrical equipment and that he would garner more knowledge about them as he grows up.

I was stunned at his clarity of thought, given that he is only in his 7th standard and might not even fully understand about environmental pollution or the engineering complexities involved. Yet his vision is crystal clear!

But what surprised us was his next answer and it just completely moved us. Abi casually asked him how he feels about studying in that school. The boy replied jubilantly that he loves the school, his teachers and above all would like to contribute the high marks in his school subjects to ... the donors of his scholarship. Yes, he studies on scholarship because his parents cannot afford even the minimal fee the school charges and he is 'thankful' to the donor. You can see one of the videos on YouTube like this one...

How many of us have cared to thank our parents for helping us with the most precious gifts of our life, our exposure to the world, our education,  college graduation, career, etc.? And here is a 12 year old boy who innocently (and with absolute sincerity and clarity) contributing his marks to his donors for sponsoring!

Tears well up in my eyes just thinking about it. This is not just my experience. Dozens of people who have visited the Isha Vidhya school in Sandhegoundampalayam at Coimbatore have a similar thing to share.

This Isha Vidhya school houses hundreds of students who come from such poor families that cannot afford couple of meals properly for a day, forget about quality english education. Yet the school provides no less to these students in terms of either quality educational aids, English classes, math labs (seriously!), computer labs or library books. More than 60% of the school's children are studying under scholarship provided by generous donors like you and me.

Do my colleagues know me well enough to wish me good always? I doubt it :)

Will my neighbours wish me good always? Probably no.

Would my very best friends wish me good always? May be, May be not.

But I can be absolutely certain that the kid I am sponsoring for school, will wish me good always in his / her life. What I am doing by a few thousand rupees is actually transforming a life! 

When I see the children greeting us with a loud & clear 'Namaskaram', folded hands, wide smile, following perfect orders without monitoring of any teachers, absolutely confident, jubilant and conversant fluently in English, I am assured of the dream that 'yes, India can be a super power'. It might just be that these kids will be driving us towards that dream even if nobody else does.

They come from poor families but their spirits are so high, it will be a crime not to encourage them further in their lives!

Please donate whatever amount you can for these kids. No amount is less for lighting the lamp of education in a child's life.

I have created a page "http://www.giveisha.org/rajasekharv" for the cause. This might just be the best use of money you have ever put to in your life!

(Re)Defining Law

Abi was petrified when she learnt on the day of her audit that the actions taken against some key risks in her IT project team had not been documented so far. Of course, her project auditor would quickly figure that out and grill her, leading to escalations and her senior managers jumping up & down! This is not an uncommon scenario for most of us who have been in IT for a long time. The designations could vary and scenarios could slightly vary, but you get the picture mostly.

When someone asks what would you do on encountering a problem (a risk), 99% of sane people would respond that they will fix the problem on hand now (also called contingency action) and also put a fix so the probability of the problem occuring in future is minimized greatly (called mitigation action). All of this is common sense, well ... mostly.

Why then is this common sense / knowledge not being applied to law? Let me draw a parallel from the above IT management scenario and show the link.

As a common citizen, I want law in my place (city, state, country) to be enforced in such a way that:

- First, a problem (lawlessness) can be identified and reported smoothly
- Secondly, a quick solution, even if temporary, be put in place to resolve the situation for now
- Thirdly, a long-term solution be put in place that acts as deterrent for anyone who tries to create such problems

At the risk of getting hit with some negative comments from readers, let me take the latest legal sensation - Ms J Jayalalitha, ex-CM of Tamilnadu (acting CM at that time) being jailed in a corruption case. Her bail pleas were also rejected. This led to some potential unrest situations in several cities and definitely impacted public life, even if the media claims it as minimal.

First, the reporting mechanism is not smooth under current law. As a common citizen, is it even possible for me to think of reporting against someone in that position? Definitely no. It need not be the CM, I cannot even go and lodge a legal complaint against the next door person who creates lot of nuisance to everyone in the street, at least not easily under the current system.

Secondly, the temporary solution that was put in place in this case was to arrest her and make her pay 100 crores as a fine.

Thirdly, what is the long-term solution that the legal system is putting in place for such crimes? Am ok with taking the money back part of it. In fact, take 200 crores and keep them under house arrest. At least, if THAT money goes to the country (properly used), it will be of some use. Strip a person convicted in a crime from their position and rank. All is well so far!

But why would you want to jail them? The legal / judiciary system would have to pay somebody to monitor that person, pay for their food, take care of their medical expenses, etc. Who would bear the brunt if something happens on medical grounds to that person in jail? Why should someone who has taken lot of money enjoy all such comforts with my tax-money!?

It has already become a joke (many a movie can confirm it) that if you do not have any money, do some petty crime and get into jail. You will enjoy food and comforts that you cannot find outside. I have begun to suspect that probably many crimes happen because of this!

We need to redefine the legal system in this country. The law has to be made simple enough for everyone to understand. We should not complicate things too much by putting many restrictions. Just give the guidelines that X, Y, Z has to be adhered to. If somebody violates it, accordingly the punishment has to be delivered & quickly.

I fully understand that any system when put in place, will look nice but will have to changed slightly over time. I understand that punishments will have to vary for a similar crime don't keep customizing the punishments every now and then, definitely not so many times within 70 years of the formation of such a system itself!

Will put in more thoughts about it soon ...