How it all fits

It feels like its all part of a big jigsaw puzzle. Each part getting clear at some point, slowly see that they may be joining in and merging into one thing. We dont know what the final picture is. Wait and watch. 

mirror mirror on the wall

Shit! The biggest illusion of all times has been staring at us in our face all the time and we didnt even know it! Literally staring at us in our face - in - the - mirror!

Stand about arms lenght from the mirror and look at your face, It looks life size? Now reach forward and meassure the size of the head (in the mirror not your own :-p ) with your hand, You will see that the reflection is actually tiny, only half the size! 4-5 inches!  You can compare the meassure with your real head and see that.  Even tho we know this, Our brain compensates for this size and we will not be able to accept that, the head in the mirror is small :-)

Fact by Betty Edwards in the book - Colour. She calls it size constancy, We need to get past this illusion to draw realistic drawings.
She is the same lady who wrote Drawing from the right side of the brain. I love her. Her perception of  how the brain works with respect to vision is just amazing. She is enlightened in that aspect :) Many artists over ride all these illusions naturally and draw, paint beautifully but they are not aware of it, Its instinct so they wont be able to tell you. She is exceptional in that, she is so analytical and aware of all these processes that are happening when she/people draw and paint accurate, So she is able to teach others how exactly to be like a natural artist! She is amazing :) I find her books fascinating and eye opening. 

Narratives not history, Narratives not news

We only have narratives not reality - Just like Ulidavaru Kandante :-) Life is just like Ulidavaru Kandante!
What is the origin of Sufis? One person said, Its Islam influenced by Hinduism, I saw a documentry which said Its Christian monks who got converted to Islam and continued thier monestic life, The book I am reading links then to Persiab Maggi. who were esoteric Zorashtrian priests from over 3000 years ago. I said, I am open to multiple narratives.
When talking about some other contemporary incident again I found myself asking, What is his narrative, Not - "what happened?" but  "What does he say happened?", Then I realised this and thought with social media, we hear so many versions of a story, there is no fact any more, only Alternate facts ;). There are only narratives, no truth.
But then, this is true, of everything not just "these days" and "social media". Whole of history is like that, narratives, not facts.  Our memories are like that! Its all narratives.
Two people can have totally different versions of the same incident and its perfectly fine because its all narratives. If facts are so questionable and variable then what about opinions and such? 

I am a philosopher

I am a philiospher :) This is a pompous thought but If I have to categotize my self, I would put myself up as this.

Reading this book about Isabel Dalhousie who is a philosopher, Its P G wodeshose type fiction, written mostly to voice out his thoughts by the author, Alexander McCall Smith. Nice easy going light read, I find, I too indulge in the same kind of reasoning and thinking as Isabel, wondering about the morality of things, thinking about differences between people and why, chastising myself for uncharitable thoughts but still thinking them, Basically enjoying thinking.

Wonder if that makes me a Philospher :) 

Wheel of life

Indian Moghal art was inspired by Persian Art, Which was Inspired by Chinese Art, Which was inspired by Ancient Indian Buddhist art!
Nepali and Tibetan Buddhist art is inspired by Chinese Art and Indian art. The Diety is drawn using Indian style, The surroundings in Chinese :-)

More on this art ...coming soon.
Sacred Geometry, Mandalas and Yantras and the effect of Geometry on our brain ( our software ) is fascinating! Cant wait to dig in and find out more.

CANCEL CANCEL = Not cancel :D

Cancelling of classes on my gym website is not working!
Grrr I should complain about it.
How come others are able to cancel? I know others are able to cancel because slots are being opened up on fully booked classes and everything.
I have tried about a 100 times, from my phone and PC
Is it only me? Is it the i-phone? Why is it failing both on my PC and phone?

Ok I am going to write them a mail

Hi Gym people,
 I am not able to cancel my classes .. bla bla bla
I even get the popup which says are you sure u want to cancel the booking.
Nothing happens when I press CANCEL! ....  CANCEL! CANCEL???  Oh Shit CANCEL! :-D
I have been pressing CANCEL on that popup each and every time.
Ha ha :-)
Actually you know its not stupid, Its a trick question :-P
Are u sure you want to Cancel the class?  two options
CANCEL  OK
Does CANCEL mean CANCEL The class or CANCEL the pop up? :-P It should be YES and NO.

Its NOT my fault :P The UI is not intuitive :P 

how does feng shui work

I finally figured out how Feng shui works, How blessings work, How mantras work!
Do you actually think they don't work?
Try a small thing, Ask a friend to point a finger at your face , and keep moving closer. Like it?
experiment two, Open the door of a cupboard and sit under that door, feel uncomfortable?
Not enough? Hand a big sword, very securely from the roof, and sit under it.
All these feel very uncomfortable, even tho they don't touch us or harm us. The anticipation of danger? The danger posed by the sharp object is enough to make our subconscious uncomfortable.

Feng-shui and yoga say that the pointed fore finger has a very strong energy, thats why pointing at anyone is not recommended. How is it possible for our finger to emit energy? yes Physically it is impossible, but - But the finger not only exist in the physical world, does it?  It also exists in your mind. Actually from our perspective, it only exists in our mind. .and this object in our mind, is perceived as a threat by our subconscious, this perception of threat emanating from the finger is called energy by the ancients.
You know what, this is not the only thing that exists in 'mind only',  what about beauty? Does physics explain beauty? :) Beauty doesn't exist in real world, It is subjective and exists only in our mind, so does the most sought after commodity of our times - Love and of course God.  so something that exists only in the mind is no less valuable or tangible than physical objects, sometimes even more important.
Anyway, so spaces bedrooms houses exist in our mind and these are subject to "energies" orientation etc.
The mandalas and yantras - Sacred geometry, Basically are designs which affect our sub conscious.
http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1991/bmar91/mym.shtml
Mantras are the audio equivalent of this.
what basic sound has what effect and what basic symbol has what effect on our mind is studied in tantra. We need tremendous amount of awareness to feel them affecting us, but in general we can feel the difference in "energy" when we change the furniture arrangement for the better, or when we go into "good" homes.

You improve small things and it makes big difference, like I sprayed lubricant on my curtain track and now I realise how horrible and grating it was before. Throwing away or fixing broken things,  taking away trip hazards ( your house may not have them, mine always does :P )

Jana gana mana was selected as the best national anthem

He he, It wasnt. Actually I just told off my mother for forwarding a message like that. Then I doubted myself.. what if? This is a freak stupid age.. may be? I googled and Offcourse still no award by UNESCO.  I was laughing about this and my friend says Italian national anthem is the best! grr!( He is  from Venezuela, its not boasting. Clarifying before you judge)
All this made me check out the national anthems of different countries, You know what? They are all so damn similar! They are all designed to produce the same feeling, pride and belonging and nationalism and greatfulness in you! I bet I have heard every one of them before, in some form or orher, probably as  patriotic songs in movies etc?y
I felt teary eyed and ready to die for my country after every single one of them, even tho I didnt understand the words! :D It was too hard to continue as I got so emotional and overwhelmed!  :D I know! Totally crazy!
Someone more musically knowledgable will probably tell me they are all the same raaga or the same some damn thing. Most of the western ones are based on western classical music, not surprisingly. Even the Chinese and Pakistan national anthems sounded similar to this to me. Were all nationsl anthems created begining of this century? They seem like military song of early 20th century and all inspired from each other. Indian one is different in tone but not in quality.
I am not a musical expert but I can also clearly tell that Its either the tempo or the increasing pitch which makes us feel like this.  I shud ask someone to analyse this for me
Israel national anthem - slow emotional high strung. 1920s feel. Nostalgia, war, soldiers on snow. feel like crying, hope, discipline, want to work for my country. Reminds me if russian/japenes songs . playing in background wgen thier soldiers git ready for war. meloncholy, I like
South Africa - western classical, glory pomp and show
australia - sound of music, bit lighter on emotion, feel good
polish choir+military+ western classical
Afghan - familiar, .is it similar to Indian?
Pakistan - ok this is so familiar, Its not the british one but not able to place
russian similar but more urgent and emotional
This is really challenging my not so musical ear! ha ha ha! so interesting but I am not abke to place then wrt to each other
China- western classical!?  up beat! duty, march ahead
south korea - slow, choir. same old! doesnot reflect their culture! or is eastern music also like this?
North korea - army song, more high pitch emotional
Japanese - grim,slow sad sun rise, praise of king, choir respect, eastern feel for the first time. The song u would play when brave queen died at the end of movie :)
Indonesia- patriotic, military, similar to afghan? pride
So far, If Unesco did give a prize, it shud be to Indian one, it is the only different one so far?  not based on western music? Also more importance to vocal than instruments. most unique one for sure.
Nepal - Vocal upbeat non western classical, but again one of the patriotic tunes.
Mongolia - strts uniquely with a gong - but same later on
Iran - Oh my god! I gave surely heard this :)

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/02/why_do_all_national_anthems_sound_the_same.html

Indeed they originated end of 19th century
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_anthem

blogger is horrible on ipad- i m going to edit this only when i am next on pc. X-(

Daffodils are like batteries, basically all root bulbs, The speed with which they grow in spring! wow!
Save up energy and go up in a burst! 

Ikea effect

What is hell?

Hell is a place where you get what ever you want without any effort.

This is some story I read

Little Prince also is teaching me this, in its own way -"The water is the well was sweet like no other, The sweetness was born of the walk under the stars, the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms.It was good for my heart like a present."

I learnt this lesson a little bit when I started gardening, I didnt like my garden at all, only when I started tending to it myself, every leaf became precious. 

May be this is why I pity the kids for their thousand gifts and their genie parents who give them everything, I wonder if they are missing tasting the sweetness of effort.

May be my grandma thought the same about us and may be she was right. 

This reminds me of Dan Arielys book and his Ikea effect, offcourse this is the Ikea effect !!!!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_effect

 :-)

LOL, It this why parents over evaluate thier kids as well? ;) Incidentally The paper is called Ikea Effect: when Labour leads to love. 

what is the difference between Agnisara and Nauli?

Agnisara and Nauli both involve exhaling fully and sucking back our abdomen into this concave shape and then moving the ab muscles. In Agnisar you move the abdomen in waves up and down, This is comparatively easy to do, It is the beginner version. In Nauli you move the abdomen left and right! This is what Dr Raj Kumar does in the movies :-) He is soo cool! :-) Nauli is an advanced practice which needs lots and lots of control of the ab muscles to do.
Udiyana Bandha is the first part, You exhale fully and then such the abdomen back into the spine and pull it up  to push the diaphragm up and cause some kind of lock.
All three involve holding the breath out untill finished.

Check out Nauli at 1:42

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.

bad science

I wrote this post a couple of months ago, Science Blindness,  I wrote this after I offended a few people by telling them.. Ahem!.. the Truth. I corrected them, publicly on Facebook or Whatsapp. Not even rudely at that. I said look this is not true, this is hoax etc, just plain and simpel. but it was not taken well :-P People took offence. They thought I was saying things to put them down or to show that I was more intelligent. I mean it was not a personal offence, They took offence against my whole "type".

But Just look at this....

Rajasthan education minister claims cows exhale oxygen; leaves Twitterati baffled

This poor man has gone and made an epic fool of himself at the National level. This would have never happened to him,  if he had me as his Facebook friend ;-) 

 I corrected my cousin about the exact bloody same forward about cows inhaling and exhaling oxygen - I said science committed suicide after reading this :-P  You know I drew a lot of flack for that but actually, in reality, I am doing a great social service!!! Even tho I may not be liked for saying it, I am doing it, A sacrifice :P  They may be blind but I am opening their eyes instead of being nice and allowing them to be fooled!?! Isnt it?

( Dear God!! Guess what the writer of that article has written  "Here’s a fun fact, though. Cows do not exhale oxygen! In case this statement should lead you to question your education. Rather, they are known to exhale methane, an asphyxiant gas known for bringing down oxygen levels in the atmosphere. " I am suppressing my strong desire to find that guy and murder him, science blindness being a true handicap not withstanding! X-(   )

confused priority of our times

Rani Padmini was( may be) insulted and a film producer was slapped.
Sashikala has become the PM of TamilNadu.
Trumph has become the President of US and is bringing in, laws against the environment.
There was an attack on a mosque in Quebec by a French man, 4 people were killed.
There was a knife attack by a Muslim man in Paris and he was shot dead by soldiers.

I have an opinion about all these, and I wasted a lot of time expressing it on social media.
The point is, the priority I give to each of these is directly proportional to how much coverage it gets in social media. If my friend list people post something reactionary on this, I react.
The intensity of my reaction is not at all dependent on how important that issue is,  it is more of a reaction to what is happening on facebook and watsapp. 
Its not just me, Everyone is swaying with the tides of social media viral posts. No one is sailing with any purpose or direction. It is so easy to manipulate the poor souls ( including me , ok me a little harder Cynical B that I am :D )
For example, no body talked about or cared about the Quebec Canada shooting, except some Canadian friends liking a few sympathy posts, no for-against debates, no controversy, nothing. So I didnt react to it at all.
But a similar shooting of normal people by in Paris has caused a huge hue and cry and people changed profile picture to France flag, Why no Je sui Quebec Mosque victims? That is not the point.

Shouldn't we pick and chose our battles rather than let our energy be diluted by giving equal importance to each and every new item. In the context of things, How important is the Padmini issue? I have wasted thoughts and words on it. How many news bites were wasted on it? It is totally irrelevant to me.

In one of the courses I went, they asked us to question things when we got upset, Will I care about this incident in 5 days? In 5 months?  in 5 years? If the question to atleast first 2 questions is no, is there really any point in getting upset about it?
May be same kind of filter should be applied to the news issues as well, 

Along with that, How much can I care about? Earth is huge and there are problems in all corners. so How do I filter that? 

What I see as the most eminent problem and most important issue is exactly this, the ease with which people are swayed and manipulated, the lack of self awareness among us and our reactionary nature. Nothing, Nothing else is a bigger problem than this. 
So - at most priority should be given to mindfulness of myself and work towards it? Try to notice and observe my reactions towards these and continue on this life. Thats what I should do. 
Others peoples awareness? We will see. I cant tackle that without being aware first.

Fluid not Fickle

We need to be fluid with our ideas not fickle.  Fluid as opposed to rigid, ready to mould and change, not hard and brittle.  not change like a fickle weather cock to  fit in with what others think.

When others have the same goal as you, how do you feel?

Do you feel happy about meeting a kindred spirit or do you feel competitive?
This is because, me was feeling uneasy and uncomfortable and full of self doubts after some people declared they have similar goals like me. Its not like I felt competitive, It was like WHAT? This person? It gave my ego a little bit of a jolt by saying 1)everyone is doing it 2) even people like this are doing it, are all those who do it ( including probably me) are fake.

When some people are interested in the same things as me and have the same goal as me, It makes me really happy. You like yoga? I like yoga too! You want to simplify things? I want to, too! What all are you doing? tell me! give me tips, I want to be better. Lets do something together. etc.
But when some other people say the same thing, I can feel my face getting smaller. Oh Is it? Oh you did Yoga with this personal trainer for 6 months? Such a materialistic and manipulative person, Yoga didnt change him?
Oh you are mindfulness instructor? That is great! In my mind? Such a fake person! Inspite of doing mindfullness. Is mindfullness useful at all.
You believe in being less materialistic? In my mind - but this woman is such a show off, Is always interested in showing others how well off she is! so materialistic and she believes in simple life? *roll eyes*

I feel like these things have become buzz words, just like people dropped buzz words during meetings, now people drop buzz words during personal conversations as well. These things Yoga, mindfulness and environment and everything have become such cool things that everyone seems to  want to be seeing doing it.
Fittness too - In that case more people are more genuine ( atleast I can accept more people are more genuine)
Still makes me too feel like a sheep! Am I like this? Am I a buzz word generator, Am I also just doing the in things? Am I a fad follower!

I also feel these people compete with me when I talk to them, The tone seems to be like - Oh u do it? I do better. I dont know if this is in my mind or if the attitude is in them. In any case it is bothering me.

It really bothers me that mindfulness is only seen as something for stress reduction or yoga as only for fitness.
It really bothers me when materialist and manipulative people drop words like mediation and consciousness.
It really bothers me that some of them even seem to be into it quite deeply.
It really bothers me that it bothers me :-D I feel like -  I should welcome them, but I dont, I hate them.
It really bothers me that this may be bothering me, because it is taking away my USP from me
It really bothers me that all this is a fad
It really bothers me that all this may be a fad and I am into it, also because of the fad. :-D

Uffff!!!! These people have really bothered me today!!!

7 year itch

Actually Its  8 years since this blog has started! First post was on 19/01/2009.
It was when Obama became president and my heart had leapt with joy.
Incidentally Yesterday it was Trump :-)

Full circle shall we say?

Now TBD is like a dear friend who I come back to ever so often, conversation between the me I was and the me I am.  I am glad I kept this blog. 

Demystifying mindfulness assignment 1

Instructions

Write a short reflection about which of the stereotypes discussed in this module means most to you? Which is most similar to your own opinions, which furthest away? Do you recognise yourself in any of them? Are you a mindfulness ninja? Do you fear becoming a zombie? Do you have a view on whether such stereotypes have use or value? Are they useful for you? Write 250-500 words.

How do you relate to the grand preconceptions?

I find the 4 archetype preconceptions of mindfulness really accurate and relatable, When I tell people I meditate, I am guaranteed to get one of the prejudices listed under one of the archetypes back. The jokes like "Do u levitate?" and "Can you tell me what I am thinking?", The moans like "I cant meditate I cant sit in lotus" , those that offer you a joint!! :)  those that assume that you are going to run away to Himalayas and warn your mother, those who keep their meditation secret to avoid controversy with religious relatives, I seem to have met them all !! 

What about me? What are my prejudices? I have been doing mediation and mindfulness practices for a long time, I think I first came into mediation from the ninja angle. I do believe in super powers and magic and I believe in Yoda from star wars ;) Okay, I don't actually believe it, But I am curious and I want to find out, so What drew me in was the curiosity towards the esoteric and magical. Also the spiritual, the need for calm, the need for more control over emotions and drama, this can relate to the monk and also to the ninja. For me meditation and mindfulness are inseparable from spirituality. I am from India, the birth place of Buddhism and yoga. As I see it, these practices were developed by the yogis and by Buddha to find out about the nature of reality, to find enlightenment, and Not to reduce stress or to make us happy. So may be I am more monk than a ninja at this point in my life. My main driver is curiosity and goal is probably enlightenment. lofty eh ;)

 I find that I do not have any negative preconception about mindfulness at all, I do not fear being mindless or being irresponsible like the hippie at all. I have a lot of respect for knowledge from all cultures, especially Indian and Buddhist, unlike the scientist archetype who views all non European knowledge suspiciously. I am very scientific and I find the cultivation of curiosity and  experimentation with the self a scientific pursuit, Why does the scientist archetype only trust peer reviewed papers and not his own experiences and experiments? He would have been mindful 40 years earlier if he didn't wait for someone to research on it.  
 Being still un-enlightened, I find myself ever so slightly annoyed (:-p) by the people who think mindfulness and detachment will make you a zombie, It is exactly the opposite, we are almost zombie now and we need to be aware! 
I do encounter a lot of hippie archetype people in the mindfulness and meditation circles, my view of hippie is neutral, neither positive nor negative.That being said, I too am looking for self transformation by mindfulness like all the archetypes 

Got a comment that this reads more like a blog than an assignment! very perceptive of that reviewer :-) 

Pushing myself gyan

few tricks to start new practices like exercise meditation etc etc
 Pushing myself is good - It brings about a drastic change. This attitude change happened after running.Last year or so I m being easy on myself...hesitant to push .  I have learnt the benefits of pushing myself beyond myself by that one run. we ran like crazy and I was making weird noises from my mouth while breathing but still ran and that HUGELY increased my stamina! which was just refusing to budge inspite of mild runs from 6 months. so yo! :-) let us push it!

Also taking body and mind into confidence rather than trying to trick them also helps. Ask mind and body for cooperation and help, When body says too tired, legs paining, instead of saying just one more step, say see let us run till home, it will help me feel good and build body stronger.. Is it really the state that we cant take one step forward? Only then lets stop. body didnt stop. Sometimes mind makes excuses like -boring lets stop etc.. then talk to mind also.. see it will make us feel good.. let us do it.or just notice that mind is trying to get out of it... Instead of trying to distract and lie to mind may be taking them both(body and mind) into confidence will improve performance.
( I wonder how sometimes it so much fun that all this is not required ! Ah that state! I wonder how to get their volunterily)
Strategy for any new practice is - to begin with - just do it, goodly/badly doesnot matter, do it half baked what ever.. then once u get slightly comfortable then concentrate on doing it right. once that is done then performance and pushing. Also one more thing I learnt is never to compromise fun for ..for anything. they day I started counting number of laps in the swimming pool - swiming became less fun, it was more about 20/30 laps..  pushing is good, but statistics and numbers are ok as long as they dont stop the fun,

true value

Does anything any inherent value or Is value of something always context sensitive?
If I write the code in India I get paid 1000£  a month and in UK 5000£
If you clean houses you get paid 1£ for an hour in India and 10£ in UK.

Economy is not real, capitalism is not real, how can the price of something go up because more people want it? price which is governed by demand and supply it is totally wrong.
Or is it?
Anti snake venom is useless to me now, but after I have been bitten by a snake, it is most valuable.
but if I were selling snake venom, would I charge exorbitant rates for people already bitten by snakes and low prices for people who haven't?

Inherent value of an item is the time and effort required to make it/get it.
That also somewhat goes up and down with demand, For example things which are in great demand sometimes are cheaper because it is easy to mass produce ( this is true only after industrial revolution? ) but still remains the same. Should things be priced more like this? price = cost + little bit more for my sustainance. The definition of little bit more may be varies based on the greed( or need? ) of the person.


Another type of economy is need based. Basically venom in priceless. I make anti venom and I give to you for free when u get bitten. in exchange I get food water shelter. somewhat like our body, liver is not asking for money to clean our body and white blood cells are happy with oxygen and nutrition and do the killing for you. Brain gets more blood than most other parts because it needs it, not because it wants it.
Is this economic model better? Healthier? Can this kind of model even work for humans?   Or will Human nature get in the way of this Utopia.

The cells and organs dont get vacations, dont get weekend off even :D who will pay for the weekends and holidays and the fast cars? :D can we have luxury in such an economy? How do u divide the tasks? Some tasks have to be forced on some people. or use robots to do tasks no one wants to do? or  u do it like karma yoga i,e all tasks are equal, Its easy to say but is it practical?
Is it at all possible to get rid of this unfair system we have now?

JalliKattu

 In spirituality (meaning in philosophy, new age, meditation related books/articles/courses etc) They say dont fight with things u want to get rid of, It gives it more power and makes those things more powerful.
For example when you are trying to meditate dont try to fight your toughts
when you are trying to be virtuous dont try to fight your desires
when you are trying to be calm dont fight your anger etc

In prancing healing they say dont fight negative energy, when u oppose it, you energize it. Its like newtons 3rd law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, like walking, you push the earth to move forward, If earth didnt resist we wouldnt move forward. Its like Judo, the opponent can use ur power against you.

So the main trick to learn for spritual advancement is to let go of resistance and the quality of fighting.

JalliKattu reminded me of this, It was probably a dying practice followed in a few small villages in TamilNadu, Dont know about TamilNadu but rest of India or the world surely didn't know or care about it.
PETA went and created a hue and cry about animal cruelty ( they may have a point  ) and they got it banned by the supreme court. See now what has happened, The whole of Tamil nadu is behind JalliKattu, The practice which probably would have disappeared in 10 years by itself ( Dont know if that would have been good or bad, but atleast thats what PETA wants) has become the identity of a Tamilian.
This is one tight slap to by "Rebel" attitude, Isnt this a good example that diplomacy is better than open rebellion?!
 I am not ready to accept that, my heart still hates diplomacy, it is after all treachery. :-P 

What is the solution then? In case of thoughts or desires or negativity, the solution is to observe and understand them, apparently they desolve. There is a difference between doing nothing ( which is denial) and observing and understanding ( which may look like doing nothing, but the effect is different)  instead of fighting or resisting them.
Same goes here, people should look for a common solution, not a solution which involves tricking people into giving up Jallikattu which diplomacy would achieve, but finding a common ground. Save the Indian Cow Breeds, Dont judge the local culture but try to understand why they do what they do.

( Inspite of all this gyan,  I hate Karva Chout , It is sick and anyone who "chooses" to follows it, is still  a stupid ass woman, Same goes to Burka, any one who chooses burqa is  ****** ;-)   :D )