Was the dinosaur extinction a moral tragedy as well?

We  see reptilian men people in fiction, usually villains, emotion less, cold blooded, calculating cut throat evil and Ugly to boot 😊

Human imagination seems to think that If intelligent life( i.e humans :P )  evolved out of reptiles instead of mammals, that  would be low life, much worse than us. Obviously we would think like that, self serving bias and all, but what does evidence suggest????

Which animals in the world right now are naturally moral?

Monogamy

Equal rights between male and female

Both partners take care of young

Big groups with no conflict - able to get along beautifully in close quarters in huge numbers

Big groups co-ordinate with out any apparent leader hierarchy and not even kin.

Who? Birds.

There are huger groups with matriarchal structures in insects, but those seem to be more automated. Also too far removed from us to actually understand correctly. There are scifi books about insectoid intelligent life with hive mind as well - Enders game. ... too out there for me to consider. so sticking to Dino vs Mammals.

So Birds are actually Dinos right? And Dinosaurs are actually reptiles right? When we studied evolution in school in 80s, We didn't know that birds were descended from dinosaurs and now that we know that .. wouldn't bird people be more beautiful, more egalitarian, warm blooded and much nicer people than us??  even tho they would probably have only 2 fingers like T rex :D ;-)

Did dinosaur extinction wipe off that nice possibility and we evolved from very hierarchical, male exploitative/competitive ( cant say male dominant, It seems to be huge number of females to small number of males. ) territorial, aggressive mammals?

Thoughts from Osterly park lake after I saw huge number of Australian geese fly off in beautiful formation .... Of course its not based on any science or study, its based on my subjective observation. Its pseudo science :D

Ps: Also Bird are kinda sexist but pro female way, look at the beauty requirements of male vs female Himalayan Monal :D

By AJIT HOTA - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57993244

By Dibyendu Ash - This species Himalayan Monal (an adult female ♀) had been photographed at Tungnath, Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand, India on 14th June 2013 during the bird photography tour of GoingWild.Previously published: Yes, this file has been published in some other social networking sites, ornithology portals and biodiversity portals; I am yet to share this file with other portals and sites and it may be available in print media if required for future use., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34855825

Poor - taboo?

We all have different dictionaries, they all contain the same words but slightly different meanings.
 Ocean Waves a beautiful movie by Studio Ghibli, has a scene, the 1960 version of the heroine, goes out of the house without shoes and her father hits her. the one and only time he hit her.
Whats so bad about going with out shoes? Is it Japanese cultural thing? Is it perceived as being naked - bare foot considered as sexy? Kinky Japanese  :-)  I looked up.
Apparently, Poor didn't have shoes and Rich did. So if you went out without shoes its like being poor.
Isn't that shocking? I mean looking poor being considered so demeaning.
I did have an insight about how whatever is considered beautiful actually is just a showcase of being rich, but this is more shocking in a way - being Poor is a Taboo!?
Shouldn't actually be shocking, I have been thinking about this for some days
Swear words like Bewarsi in Kannada - actually just means Orphan. Biknasi literally means pennyless.
Not showing that you are poor is a value in many cultures.
Isn't it really sad, instead of pitying someone situation we actually consider that a taboo a shameful condition. Cultures are ashamed of being poor and we actually look down upon poor people?

My granddad  was poor ! ha ha! See I say this I am extremely proud of the fact how my Uncles and Dad came up in life in-spite of my grandfathers situation.  So tho I mostly dont talk about myself I do say this out many times
How does it sound to other people??? I have never given this thing a thought!  How does it sound to my parents? Do they feel ashamed? Obviously not, I think they are the ones that instilled that pride in our background.
This nagging feeling that everyone does not see this as shining example of positive came to me when someone commented - Oh but you were poor! like in some kind of slur! It didn't register then but its been at the back of my mind.
In Titanic Rose refuses to call Jack Poor. she does not say it. That I couldnt comprehend at that time!
Are other people judging me? Lot of people talk about their ancestors wealth, I am the only one who seems to talk about poor ancestors  !LOL Not true, actually I have some friends who do talk about how difficult it was for their parents and I did appreciate it - had respect for them!
but isnt it so sad, I think its changing, I think now people dont look down, except may be some snooty upper class families and such? no?

My parents are the opposite who look down upon wealthy :))) 

Osho

Is horrible. At least what he says just doesnot gel with me. What Buddha said... Introduction to Buddha was quite accurate, He is a scientist etc. Except it was told in 10 times more words than necessary. Ok.

When talking about Buddha, He talks about how a child are most comfortable in mothers womb and how he(HE)  is not free from the womb untill he find a wife. How mother can never forgive a wife bla bla bla such shit. This is Ekta kapoor serial level shit, What about daughters? I dont see any mother holding a grudge against a son in law? He talks of this shit as if it is absolute truth
If Buddha is a scientist, Osho is a rubbish B grade story teller :-)  Just so full of bull shit.  This is just one example, I tried to listen to one hour talk, It didnt have even one minute of What Buddha said, It has full hour of shit about celibacy, this kind of jealousy crap and , bramhins(?) and all sorts of rubbish. How to people tolerate him??!
This is my second and last attempt, I had to take second chance because some people I really respect seem to feel he is good. He just seems like a crap charlatan on drugs to me. So angry :-) 

unconscious racist

When we were youngsters, Having a boy friend/girl friend was considered a bad thing. There were lot of rumors/talks about She( yeah always She) has a boy friend, used derogatorily to tarnish someones' image. I was filled with strong self righteous values about not gossiping, Lol! yeah I didn't have any friends! so?  :-P So I refused to accept any such rumor, No they are just friends they are not going out together. I don't accept your silly gossip and rumors.
The question is, Am I better person than them?
Definitely, for not gossiping and for not wanting to talk "bad" about others, yes!
but No in another way. There is a subtle aspect to this. Look at the "bad" part of it. I deny that she is dating - she is not dating so she is good, if she was indeed dating she is bad.  I am still stuck in their same belief system, that dating is bad like the other gossiping losers.
The completely better person would have the argued, She may be or may be not dating, - so what?

I find the same happening with identity politics. Serena Williams caricature, She being black and a woman, most people are finding it really racist and sexist. I didn't find it either.
However  I cringe and I cringe and I cringe when people, even black people are calling that portrayal, sub human beastly and all that. Caricature exaggerates certain characteristics of the person. So if someone exaggerates black specific characteristics like full lips or curly hair  and to you it started looking sub human?  Who is racist here??
Tho There is history to it, I understand.

World is clever and changing

When I ( we also - the media and such )  look at trends, dangerous/annoying/stupid trends, We assume that this trend will go on for ever, we draw conclusions about what will happen if this trend continues indefinitely. And these conclusion turn out to be dire.  The graph of such trends tends to end with end of the world ;-) SCARY!!!! We make noise on the social media, media makes noise bla bla. I am not saying we should not do this... but I have started noticing that..
Even tho we assume that the  world is stupid, world is in fact clever and sentient and it learns it adapts
so trends don't continue on to their(our!?) destruction, but they stop.
(may be this can be attributed to all that shouting we did in the above paragraph. so it may be necessary to draw dire conclusions and shout anyway)

Last few years I notice the world adapting and giving up trending and learning.
First its a small group of outcasts making a noise and pointing out that something is not right, there is lot of ignoring, then opposition then with in a year or two, it actually becomes fashionable and mainstream! ,
the dire consequences predicted by the small group never come about because people learnt and people changed! Phew! Thank god!!
Few examples - are gender based kids toys - market segmentation tactics
use of social media - people have become smarter, I dont see the same type of posts any more
gender equality
Most pleasing is the plastic usage

I wrote a blog about my aunts niece doing computer science to get married, that is also an example.

Hinduism gyan

There are two aspects of Hinduism.
Just like there are apple users and apple developers , there are Hindu users and Hindu developers
The day to day people who follow rules and worship in temples - users. Just follow the rules.
Yoga and Tantra - the science which tells how to control the mind and how to design the religion which the other people are using - Tantra - the developers/architects and designers. Understand.
This is why there seems to be such a big gulf in the two aspects, Yoga is the programmer and day to day Hinduism is user.

attraction to assholes and submissiveness

The Top Two in my hate list :)
When other women behave like this, I just blow my top. I cant believe how some(lot of ?X-( ) women find assholeness totally sexy. Aggressive, brash, insulting, patronising - this is the popular kind of hero in movies,novels, series and women just seem to lap it up. Fifty shades of Puke anyone! Its not just in fiction, even in real life, lot of girls seem to think this is ideal. Why else would they lap up that crap ( hehe! I admitted my hate okay! :-P )
Ever wonder why? It comes down to evolution and survival again ( Ok, I am skipping all the "I thinks" and peddling my pseudo science confidently! people! I am watching Brooklyn 99 and I am inspired by Gina!) 
What kind of person is the Top guy in any company, the Alpha? The top dog? - Ass hole. The aggressive seems to be a successful personality type, especially in the old cave man person days, Violent aggressive abusive man who beat up people had a higher odds of survival and making a living than a Mr nice guy, right? When a man is violent and bad to a woman, she decided that he is even worse to others so has higher survival rate? Is that why all those stupid women are attracted to jerks and assholes?
This is why it becomes so important to be self reliant and earning woman, would change their whole outlook and psyche and make them go for the nice guy! Yeah this may not be cutting edge science but you know this effort goes towards trying to understand people and all that.
Submissiveness - I watched this movie about makers of Wonder Woman. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. It is about the really unconventional and controversial life of the writer of wonder woman and the women in his life. Professor Martson, his wife and girl friend are clearly all feminists and very strong and intelligent people, leading a very controversial life in that day and age. They were obviously very courageous as well. Well, inspite of all that, What struck me in this movie was how one of the women, the girl friend, the wonder woman liked to be submissive. When the wife is as outraged as I was about How she or anyone could like being humiliated, the organiser says This is what she is - a submissive. Okay, I do not understand the BDSM concept at all. But it made me think. Is it possible that some people are wired to be submissive ( in normal day to day life non kinky way) and it is not an indication of subpar intelligence or lack of courage or confidence( am I pushing it with confidence?) Just like expecting gay people to be straight is wrong, Is it wrong to expected these people to be non submissive? Should I rethink the number two on my hate list as well? 
Not yet taking these off my hate list, but trying to keep an open mind.

normal distribution 2

It is very satisfying when the theories I thought about are kind of confirmed by science(? haha not sure that happened, anyway it was mentioned in Sam Harris podcast, and if you want citation and all that nonsense you know what u can do to yourself :D :-P ) The normal distribution ( for any characteristic ) difference between men and women, How I think women fall more into the average , where as men are spread out across the spectrum, I also think the average for men is usually lower than women. You can read all about it here. Basically how someone else put it is - mens distribution have fatter tails.
Interestingly I didn't read into the implications of this as much as they have, they used it to justify why there are less women top scientists. For example - discounting the gender stereotyping, prejudice and everything else, this can also be explained to an extent by the normal distribution. There are less nobel prize winning women because, even tho there may be more brilliant women, than men in this world, there are more brightest men than brightest women. There are more men in 99.9th percentile? and These win the Nobels? Don't know if this is proven, but it seems a logical hypothesis which can be pondered about.
Also now that I think about this, does this also explain why 98% of prisoners i.e criminals are men? We know that ( at least my theory is that ) mens distribution has a fatter tail at the bottom end than the top end, and also we know that prisons are keeping the worst of the worst - the worst percentile of people? bingo more men :-)  I know there are other explanations like testosterone and increased aggression in general in men etc. however this is a good fit for the fat tail phenomenon :-) What else can be explained by this? 

prepare for old age gyan

Control and will power are great when you are young and/or strong, When you get old and weak, the will power fades. All the aspects we controlled, start getting out of control and start ruling us. Mindfullness, relaxing and accepting on the other hand are just perfect things for times when we are weak, When old age strikes we should be practised and prepared with these skills. Its like floating on water, u cant learn it in panic, but if you know already you dont need much strength to do.

Ps: I seem to be preparing a lot for old age wouldn't it be really ironic if god forbid I don't make it? ;-) Gulp! 

La la land is Whisper of the heart with adults instead of kids! Love both movies...  love inspiring life - to be the best they can be... I like that even with heart breaking ending of la la land. 

Teen movies

If it is not all about looks then why does the ugly duckling girl with great personality get the totally handsome guy and not another ugly duckling guy with great personality? :-P
Moral of the story is - NOT - looks dont matter. personality does!!
It is - Dont worry if you are ugly duckling there is a totally handsome guy for you?

Teen movies!! Sheesh!

Wood cutter's pots

I am a microcosm of the macrocosm!

Once upon a time there was a wood cutter, Wood cutters make excellent heroes for old time stories because they go into forest so much alone and you know, good opportunity for gods to contact them and all. Anyway this wood cutter went as usual into the forest and did a good deed, like the heroes do. He didn't cut a branch which had a nest, or saved a rabbit from wolf or may be it was when he went to cut an old tree the tree said please don't cut me, I am a cursed goddess. The nest, rabbit or the tree goddess was pleased with the wood cutters good deed and blessed him with 7 pots of gold.  Poor wood cutter was very happy, he carried the pots home. His wife saw the gold pots and exclaimed loudly! wow!! I can't believe our luck! We are rich! and Then she saw, one of the pots was only half full! ( as the old story writers were misogynistic) She said Oh no!! Why is this pot only half full!?
Wood cutter used the money got a big house, car, carriage may be, ate wonderful food and invested money made more money and was very happy. Wife kept nagging, we are so rich but one of our pots is still half empty! So he decided now that I have money I should fill that bugging half pot with gold! He bought gold now, lots of it and put it into the half pot. Come morning the pot was half empty again!! Wife taunted him! Aha You are a rich man, famous man, powerful man but our 7th pot is half empty. He worked really hard, made more money, more investments and then more gold and half pot... remained half empty! That was annoying! He sold his house, all property bought gold and tried to fill the pot, it still remained half empty!  His wife was crying on the street that they were ruined.
Then the goddess appeared to the wood cutter and she said, haven't you noticed that there is something strange about The half pot? No matter how much you put into it, it always remains only half full? You had everything and 6 full pots of gold, but you decided to focus on the half pot! Instead of feeling happy about what you have, you decided to cry about what you don't have! This had ruined you. I will take away all your pots.
Then the wood cutter started going into to forest cutting wood and decided to be happy with what he had, living a happy life. There was no half pot to fill anymore. ( His wife also I presume :-P )

Why I remember this is, We as a society have become like this. Earth as a whole now has enough prosperity for everyone to lead a good, healthy and comfortable life. Never in the history of humanity did anyone have such good health care, so much food, so much warmth, so much safety, so much peace. But are we happier than before? No, we are as miserable or as happy as before. If we look at the news and the media, what we hear is about what all is wrong with us. We cannot shop, we cannot go on vacations abroad, we don't have a 3 bed house and a garden. There is discrimination, there is inequality. I am not saying there isn't. There is! but It is not the outside things that will make us satisfied, It is a state of mind. If we do not appreciate what we have, How can we be happy? We cannot change the inequality and discrimination until we stop being insecure about our half pots.
We should tell the world that this is the case, that we have everything! we should look at what we have and be happy ! :-)
Then I realise, Do I know this? I know it intellectually but Do I know know it? Do I know how safe, how warm, how healthy, how peaceful, how full I am? Am I thankful?
I am the microcosm of this macrocosm, I am the bellwether, If I know this, others will know. I should tell myself first about this half pot, that it is unfillable. Then.. others.

a fairy dies every time u...

Going into a forest feels like a rejuvenation, staring from top of a mountain at the horizon feels freeing, safe, like some long held tension is released. walking barefoot... looking at the stars...
When we dont do these things, we lose a small tiny part of our soul. Its not noticeable because we have backup options, something else in our very developed mind compensates for it... but the sum total of it all.. that shows..it shows that our soul has stretched thin.  depression, cancer, stress, tension, autoimmune problem etc...or ok need not be something major like that but vague uneasiness and muscle tension, Its like the background noise of the AC or the motor road, u dont notice it, but u notice how nice it is when it stops.

Concrete roads, houses, cities, artifical lights even agriculture, wheel, fire... was it one step away from nature? Where do u draw the line? Crows use a stick to get insect out of the crevice, termites build mounds.. is that away from nature? Do they lose tiny pieces of their souls too?  ;-) 

Today news paper listing all autustic people - Einstein, Newton, Charles Darwin!!?? hello?
Makes me think many of the mental "Illnesses" are just different brains rahter than Ill brains?
offcourse some of the problems are real
or are they! hmmm...

Draft from 2014 

You meditate and you are still like this?
You are like this and still you dont meditate? ;-)

 #goodcomeback #obviouslynotenlightened :D :-P

Am I a hypocrite

People who insist on using separate vessels for meat and veg, who want to use separate vessels for festivals all this irritates me no end.

But according to pranic healing, energy permeates everything and this even if you wash it, if you cook meat in a vessel the energy stays. I believe in this. So basically I know the reason behind why they are doing it, I believe the reason to be true. Then why the irritation?

1) I believe that the nuisance and ill feelings such fuss causes far outweighs it benefit
2) the spiritual development of such people is minimal ( :-P yeah I know :P ) and such hygiene is required for serious and advanced yoga practitioners. Not for people who do maggie style sandhyavandane ;-)
3) Also I am not sold on the value of prana hygiene, It reminds me too much of un-touchability and all the social evils. nothing good could have caused it or could come out of it. I feel anyone on the path shud be beyond such small selfishness.  

4)  Is it because I think, They are using it for material benefits and not for spiritual? 

This comes under the general umbrella of my irritation towards many old customs, done ignorantly, causing more harm than good etc etc.  

Blogger is a graveyard of blogs, all dead since years, no posts since 2011,2013...
I am feeling like an apocalypse survivor :-D

I am a puppet( and is there such a thing as a boatsman? )

x

I wish I was a poet,
so I could write this as a poem, this feeling is poem worth,
Alas I am not. I am however a puppet,
I am pulled constantly by invisible strings,
Sensations and feelings, like waves of the sea, gently and not so gently pushing me to the shore.
The strings so subtle, the currents so under the surface
There is more than one puppet master and more than one wave, I go hither and tither rather than a straight line
 I am the master of my fate, I am a boat with a sail and rudder, or so I sometimes think
Am the boat or the boatsman?
 Is there a boatsman?  or is it just me and the waves? or just the waves, no boatsman and no me?

DO NOT correct peoples opinion on social media. Its a trap. Its a bait and every time we fall for it, They( THEY!!! the boogey men )  get our data, attention and time.

Or In real life for that matter, Its as much waste of time in real life as on social media. May be ask questions and try to understand why they have that opinion, there is absolutely no point trying to argue/correct people.

Yes yes Cow breaths out oxygen! :-) :P

They are all doing it for relief, I am going it for enlightenment ;-)
On meditation
  - my ego 

Autobiography of a yogi has a quote by Meera Bai - She was a woman saint in medieval India. When some men didnt allow her into a spiritual place because she was woman she said - Dont u know you are all female too and the only male is God?

One of my friends once told me that when Sufi saints die - They perform Urs, which is a marriage of the saint with God! The songs of the Sufi are always sung as love and longing of a woman for the man who is god, It is sung my men mostly.

Different religions same spirituality :-)

The contrast - between the spiritual and the normal. In all of our cultures where calling a man a woman is one of the worst insults,  these men willingly/openly go around calling themselves women/female. It is very touching, Bhakti movement is a very tender movement, so full of heart! 

Do you become stronger or weaker on going thru an ordeal?

The thai boys who were stuck in the flood ed cave for 15 days - One of their friends commented that He will learn from the boys how to face adversity, he said they would have become so much stronger after facing the ordeal.
This is in contrast to how the survivors of Grenfell town fire were treated in UK. Like an adversity damages a person and they need extra care and help to get back to normal. The popular psychology today takes this kind of view that we get damaged by ordeal, where as the traditional way of thinking was ordeal makes us stronger.
Which of this is true? Is what we believe true for us?
I think  there an optimum amount of ordeal untill which we become stronger and more than that damages us?  I think this optimum level depends on our upbringing and beliefs. I think thai boys will have a much higher threshold for damage because of the expectations of their society and their beliefs. Where as the western counterparts would get damaged more easily because of being treated delicately by the society and expectation by everyone that they get damaged.
The same symptoms may be treated differently by cultures. It is possible that trauma symptoms may be denied by the thai guys where as western kids would speak openly about it. Also possible that thai boys will overcome the symptoms by mental strength of their beliefs.

equal pay for women

Same argument as the last post.
Is it the main problem that women are paid less than men? It definitely is one problem, But shouldnt we also have to start thinking about why a Fire Fighter/Farmer/Postman/Nurse are paid less than a CEO/Pop Star/Sports man?
I am not advocating communism or marksism but Just like we are thinking its unfair that women are paid less than men, we should start thinking why food is the cheapest commodity for us when it is the most critical for our lives? Why are the people who produce food the least important? Why are our values so screwed up? 

New Bramhin caste is already here have u noticed it?

Just heard the news that the boys stuck in the thai caves are saved after weeks of heroic effort and death of one navy seal. This is happy news and at the same time tinged with sadness. Rishi remarks - These dedicated people who risk their lives for their job are paid less. While we in cushy jobs with asses on warm chairs earn well?  :-(
This calls for bringing back this old draft blog. ( I did write this before reading Yual Nova Harare :P )

Why does a doctor get paid more than the nurse? People just dismiss this question as a stupid question!
Ha! its obvious! A doctor has a more critical job, doctor studies for long years! A doctor is more important than the nurse. Its easier to be a nurse than a doctor. More people can be a nurse than a doctor.
We as a society value scientific people more than say compassionate or caring people. You may think wtf! Offcourse scientific brain is most valuable. I am not questioning that, but it does not have to be like that. It is our conditioning speaking no?
 Its a made up scale. Forget doctors we have too much respect for them. What about software engineer vs a nurse. Why does a software engineer who is making a software for tv earn more than a nurse? Somewhere along the way we decided that - Yes! The scientific and maths oriented minds are more precious and that has set the stage.
The science minds are only middle of the grade in the new caste system.
brokers or middlemen or people who facilitate and who dont actually add any tangible real value to the baseline are valued the most.  stock brokers / bankers/ Arbitrators/CEOs . The people who do tangible work are minions and are valued the least. Is this system correct? I m questioning this.

I am also questioning how if I do the same work in UK it is more value than in India, if you ignore all stories like economics and money and pure value added by the work to earth in both cases is same.
Its not like the differences are little, the differences are in orders of magnitude different.
A nurse earns 1/4 the salary of a doctor who earns 1/100 ish the salary of a CEO. If all are in the same country. An Indian nurse earns 1/40 of a British doctor and 1/1000 of a low income CEO.
nurse salary in india 2000£ per year
nurse salary in uk 20,000£ per year
doctor salary in Uk 60,000-100,000
junior doctor is 30,000
stock broker 60,000-100,000-500,000
investment banker similar

ftse 100 ceo salary in uk 5,000,000£ 5 million I hope i have the right number of zeros.
are they adding that much value to earth or its self inflated importance and salary.

Salary is one thing, The respect I have in my mind ( yea i m guilt of favouring a scientist, but I am questioning my bias)  for science maths n logical ability which we call intelligence, Is it rightful. ( My mind is so conflicted, It is sure of superiority of logical brain n looks lowly upon illogical ones)
but is it right? isnt that as wrong as caste system, I really valued and saw what nurses did and what qualities they had. patience, compassion, connection with people( not all, some of them, but they are not paid more than others)
Is it at all possible to come out of such biases? Or are humans doomed to  just keep going from one caste system to another?

me too

Ok this is controversial. I am being devils advocate.

There are arguments that addicts are not responsible for their behaviour, They are programmed that way. Depressed people are not responsible for their suicides. Its chemical imbalance. If we agree to this, Then.. setting aside all the mental blocks and prejudices - Are sexual abusers and perverts responsible for their behaviour? Can they help it?
I dont know about serious abuse and rape, Keeping asise such serious issues. This is about groping.
 I can say that when I see a cute child or animal like my cat, I have intense desire to squeeze it. We, without any regard to what the animal or child wants usually pick up and cuddle/squeeze cute things. and nobody calls us a pervert. What if the groping instinct is something similar? What if the perpetrator is overcome by desire to grope when they see an attractive body?
and also just like my cute aggression is directly proportional to the cuteness of the cat/puppy, this instinct as well. So to an extent the sexually attractive person does instigate the behaviour. This statement is repulsive to us modern people but if we think about it objectively, Is there truth in it? Why is groping not a mental health condition and why is this case different from addiction or depression?
A transgender person said that both men and women groped him/her and thought that it was funny.

Another question is what percentage of men would grope or not grope? In the western society outwardly it is minimal, 2%? in India 20%? but would the men who dont grope behave in the same way under all circumstances? What if they were in another town and nobody was watching? If lights were off, if the girl was drunk? What about in a strip club and what if the women were prostitutes? What if they were just dolls in a sex shop? how many would grope? 70%? 90? I think the number is very high - normal population has 10% gay men and another 1% asexual out ot the remaining 90% I think 70-80% would behave badly if in a Westworld like scenario, where everything is allowed, if the women were all robots or dolls or whatever. I think whatever they say, most men know this. So This being the case, How harshly should we judge the men who actually grope us?

I am not saying men will be men, The first statement I said was let us set aside our conditioning - I cannot . I m totally repulsed and disgusted by Patthabi Jois groping women who did yoga with him. I am all for punishing very harshly men who behave disgustingly towards women. But the questions do remain.

why are u carrying a backpack

You know how I loath handbags, non ergonomic inefficient and your hands are not free! and too small and people end up carrying multiple bags! seriously! What kind of person carries those! Anyway! So, me being this logical practical efficient liberated by society standards woman carries a backpack.

Each and every Shop - Madam leave your back with security! Why? That lady is carrying a bigger handbag and u didnt stop her?! Purse is allowed madam! Why!? Its easier to steal things in a handbag, Its harder to slip things into something on your back than on your arm?!? Sorry rules madam! X-(

Each and every person I meet, Why are u carrying your laptop! I am NOT!
Why are u carrying such a heavy bag? Its not heavy.
Why do u have a backpack? I have water and umbrella in it. Why dont u carry it your hand! :-O X-( Beacause I like my hands free!? :-O and I dont want to lose things!?!
Leave the backpack in the car. No! I have my purse in it. ... and if these bloody "ladies" jeans had pockets.. :D u know how it goes..
Anyway in spite of being a 'liberated from society' type of woman, this got to me, I got really edgy - Your back...  GRRRRrrr bow bow bow Bite! :-D
Ok time to do something about this nuisance. Be gone black backpack and Welcome white one with flowers on it ! ;-)
Problem solved :D No one so far has riddled me about my "backpack" "laptop bag" "rugsack" :D Even tho it is 1 1/2 times bigger than the black one :D ;-)

Peoples will be peoples! Silly peoples! 

Attitude towards tax

 What is your attitude towards tax?
From when I am young all around me the attitude was that we shud pay tax as an obligation, we try to save as much tax as possible. Mind you my parents were honest people who paid their taxes, still tax was something to be avoided.
Not just the people but the government also made out tax as something to be avoided if possible. Giving us tax breaks, tax incentives not just to people but to companies to increase profit etc.

Now that I am an adult and I am thinking, It hit me. Tax is my good karma. Tax is an ultimate act of altruism. It is my contribution to common good. It is my charity. I am paying for other peoples children's education, old peoples' poor peoples' medicine, for roads, pavements, social housing, for electricity and gas, for basic infrastructure,for conservation of forests. 40% of my monthly salary, I am spending for doing good to others. It is a great social act and a charity. Wow! I and most others who pay tax, why didnt someone, anyone else present this perspective of tax to me? Most people I have tried to tell this to, looked at me like I was nuts, or they laughed thinking I was making a joke. but no - this is true.

Why are we all finding ways to save tax? Why is the government treating it as if it were looting me? Why do I resent the tax, instead of feeling this peace and joy when tax gets deducted every month? All the good that is happening because of my tax, why am I not thinking of all the people who will be benefited by me and feeling good?

May be in corrupt countries you may be entitled to feel bad about your tax, that someone is cheating you. but in developed countries where we are actually seeing our tax being used, we shud give with joy. We should appreciate the government which is forcing us to get over our selfish human nature and contribute to common good. Companies also should give happily, Why do to tax haven, why think about your bottom line only? Think about your duty as well, for others, for mother earth.We should all give because frankly we have enough. more than enough.

My tax - I have enough and the rest I give with joy for greater good. Blessings to people who are benefited by this, that includes me as well.

advanced yoga course summary

Self learning

visualisation if you cant do the asana visualize - shockingly effective
struggle of the ego, let go and go with the flow instead of resisting.
When things dont go our way, if we dont resist the new way, we will see that the new way has lot to offer.
Study of the essays - tattwas, tantra, vajroli amaroli sahajoli

Books read

Yoga Sutras
HYP
Geeta
Tattwa shuddhi
Astama/Diabetes cure
Sahajoli/Vajroli/Amaroli
Saundraya Lahari - begining

Asanas

SuryaNamaskara
Advanced Suryanamaskara,

• Closed eyes
• Hold breath, twice.

Sthiram sukham asanam/Praitanya shaitilya
Shankaprashalana exersices
Advanced Asanas
-Vajrasana series
-Standing Balancing with Padmasan type things
-Sheershasana with out arms
-crow variations

Pranayama

Anuloma Viloma
Nadi Shodhana
Bhastrika - One alternate nostril breath
Ujjayi - breath in thru both breath out thru left
Bharamari - inhale and exhale
Sheitali/Shitkari with Bhramari Exhale/Plain Exhale

Mudras

Manduki
MahaMudra
Kechari, Kesari
Shanmuki

Cleansing techniques

Neti
- with nose -> mouth
- with mouth -> nose
Rubber Neti
Vaman
Danda Dhauti
Vastra Dhauti
Shankaprashalana

Kapalabhati
Agnisaara
Nauli

PanchaKarma - cant do at home
Basti - eye one
Trataka - we didnt do

Misc and Little things

Om Dharana
-Kechari mudra during asana and meditation/

HeadStand alignment - ariel
shoulder exersice - sharon
Fasting one day - dedicating it to shiva - rupa
Bhakti yoga - rupa
Attachment to food - rupa
Daljit
-gratitude
-forgiveness
wash veggies before putting in fridge
deo :D
creative visualisation
aversion to things, get over it - vrittis
exersices to balance hip
tablet for knee

fear of suffering

Fear of things is greater than the thing itself.
I am so afraid of feeling hungry, feeling cold in cold weather, of cold shower.
Our feelings keep us in a tight leash :-D very much in control ;-)
We go to great lengths so as to not feel these feelings. Especially in the modern civilized world we are not used to feeling unpleasant feelings at all.

It would be a good training to slowly, allowing ourselves to experience and explore the unpleasant feelings and learn to relax into them. to be done kindly very slowly :-) Or the feelings will rebel.

lessons from the ashram 1

I am fasting ( Fruit fast) to
get over the fear of hunger
get over the attachment to food

(This is the motivating factor there are others reasons like  may be lose weight and better health and all that as well) 

3 rules of weight loss

Only 3 simple rules

1. Eat Only when u are hungry
2. Eat only untill you are just full
3. Chew very well, like a cow

We can follow these rules only once our bodies are cleansed. Otherwise our cravings dont let us get correct gauge of hunger and fullness.

3 day cleanse Day  1 fruits and Raw veg, Day 2 only lemon water, Day 3 only juices and soups- liquid diet.

It is good to do this in spring and autumn

https://www.yogapoint.com/yoga-poses/yoga-for-obesity.htm

Weekly fast- Weekly one day start with soup for dinner, then slowly reduce to only soups and fruits for the whole day. 

my past lives

In my last life I was a colonial british living in India, born 1900s and lived in India 1920s-1940s. Lived in those colonial buildings I love so much, in Dehradoon? may be even until 1970s when I died? lived in England too, on the moors, enjoying the rare sunny winter days, climbing oaks.  Countryside, middleclass family.

I have lived in China before and offcourse tibet, ( thats why I like all those Chinese artists and Jackie Chan :-P )  I have done vipassana before. and offcourse India. Himalayas. More lifetimes as Buddhist than Hindu, so more in South east Asia than India, the pull of the culture says it, I must have been Shinto too, and a Witch in UK. I love the witch lore. In Europe, the only connection is to UK, none of the other countries, Same with the Americans - no connection either to the Native Americans or the recent USA/Canada. Even tho the native American spiritual side is fascinating and I was drawn to Aya. 

Considering we all came from Africa must have had a few lifetimes there but they must be long time ago, as I dont feel connected, even tho I love so much, the music, the rhythm, the language, the dance.

Middleeast, sufi yes, I have been there and done that. The music and the culture, sufiness, definitely in the last 1000 years I have been born in the middle east.

ps: This is all pure speculation and fun, please don't report me to the psych police :D :P

I am coming back

My friend ( western hence christian tradition brought up ) told me to not waste time on something and about life being short.
I said I am Hindu and I am coming back :-D His life is indeed short and he will be sitting there twiddling thumbs, while me will be having birth after birth all over the world, may be in other worlds too, and that too for eternity - the way my mediation is going I am not going to get Moksha anytime soon ;-)
He said immediatly how do I become Hindu :-D 

Almost all the artists I have liked on Facebook and insta are East Asian!! Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia, Singapore etc Even tho at first look their art is not obviously Asian style at all and I didn't even know their names, I liked the pictured first and then looked up the artist, many have western names and Some I thought were Russian artists as I like the art that looks like Russian books from my childhood :-) ( Were my childhood books illustrated by Siberians? it is close to Mongolia and Japan after all? :)
So strange, Subconsciously I have a type, I do love Chinese and Japanese art and decor to bits, I love their anime, jewellery, kawaii things etc etc, but I guess the liking and the art style goes deeper than what is obvious, the artists from there have it and I see it. 

unconsciousness

Everybody is acting out of unconsciousness, me and you and them, everyone.
Only thing to remember when interacting with people, they are unconscious thats why they behave that way, the more horrid the behaviour the more unconscious they obviously are.
Also I am unconscious and I may be acting out unconsciously and don't even know it :-)
Past is easier to see, easier to recognise unconscious behaviour in our bad past behaviour.
but what about good? Is it always conscious? Or is it habit pattern taught my parents and society?
It is easier to forgive ourselves and others if we remember our unconsciousness.

 - Some gyan from youtube.

This year I shall be humble, I shall not be ashamed of not knowing and requiring to learn. The shame of not knowing is the biggest impediment to learning for me. 

observation

I was shocked when people in America showed atmost prejudice against Atheists, more than towards other religions which are against their religion, like Islam or Hindu. Recently I realised that lot of people in my day to day life also believe that people who believe and fear God are more righteous, less likely to cheat etc! God fearing people are more trust worthy!

This is such a shock me to, Daily we read in the news paper corrupt people donating huge amounts to temples, Godmen horror stories, priests abusing children and what not ? Are they not reading this? 

There are people on my facebook declaring religion and hence god, is the root of all human problems. They are so vocal, I almost believed that such a view  is much more common than it actually is. Its is a very small percentage who have that kind of view.  The consensus in not only in America but India as well is that god fearing person is somehow better

:-) 

So if you want to create a good image better to keep you Godlessness to yourself my friend, along with your voluntary childlessness, partnerlessness, dislike of dogs/cats/children/chocolate/ice cream and feminist views :D

Tim Farron was the leader of Liberal Democratic party in UK, He has recently declared that his previous statement that "gay sex isn't sin" is false, He has confessed that he does indeed believe that gay sex is sin, as he is a devout christian.

I am thinking how much like a gay person he is. I mean being a christian and believing in sin and such and then being a liberal. No camp will accept him. Liberals would want him out, what kind of liberal doesnot support LGBT rights? And conservatives and the right wing - may want him in, but He wouldnt  want to be with them because he is, well, a Liberal. Such an odd category and stereotype defying person. Who cant fit in anywhere.  Just like a gay person would be ( in pre 2010 world? )  :-)

Inheritance - selfishness

Buddha is criticised by some people for leaving his wife and kids and going in pursuit of enlightenment. Selfish. Is it selfish?

Caring for our child and our wife is our duty. Caring for our parents our family. 

What happens if you are enlightened and you start treating everyone as your own? What if you have same amount of love for any stranger as for your own? If you care for yourself more than your family you are selfish, if you care for your family more than for strangers you are still same level of selfish, but it helps keep the society running and stable. 

So when some people transcend the level of family group they may come across as weird or selfish to us. 

To an extent because of governments and taxes we are caring for strangers indirectly.

I was asked a question in a course, if your neighbours child is very smart and your child is average, would you pay for your neighbours child to go to medical school rather than yours? We do it today, by paying taxes and the govt subsidies the seats for children based on merit. Taxes are somewhat of an equaliser that way. 

We are doing it because we are forced to do it, if we were asked to do it voluntarily we would be accused by family for being selfish. 

When things become critical we start being more reasonable, if it became vital for our survival that the best kid becomes doctor and our lives depended on it, we would obviously all pay for education of neighbours kid to be a doctor. 

Our values and morals have very small context, they are not universal. It is to make the present society work, they dont apply to all and everyone. Ever the modern liberal values.

so many billions of humans - If they turn around, we have so many people to do the work to fix this as well... so may be cancer cells can become stem cells :)