Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya is a very interesting concept but also a dry one. At least in initial stages it feels dry, but later on I don't know what exactly happens. But still it is interesting, you really get transformed bit by bit by practicing Brahmacharya, self control, it obviously helps rising above you body. It has a clear logic and it works too.

Most people are misinformed about the meaning of Brahmacharya. It is commonly thought to be celibacy. It is not celibacy, in fact celibacy has nothing to do with Brahmacharya. But let's first see what this Sanskrit word mean-

"Brahma" means the Supreme reality, God, or your true self and "charya" means proceeding with. Typically it suggests a virtuous life in line with God. You think what an ideal life would be and you live like that. An attempt to lead a perfect life, a God-like life, rising above your body and mind and continuously being with your true self or soul whatever you call it. A life which will make you understand God, will help you seek God. You cannot seek God if you are stuck with fullfilling the needs of your mind and body. It does not mean you completely ignore them, just that they are not priority. Earning wealth is not a priority, sensual pleasures are not priority, with heart completely focused on God. "To dedicate yourself with Brahma". That is why you see most "Brahmacharis" becoming Sannyasins, becoming swamis. You cannot remain focused completely if you are leading a social life, at one point you have to give it in the world. Tension will come, worries will come. Also you would be forced to commit small crimes which your soul doesn't absolutely allow. Since now you are a brahmachari you cannot ignore you voice, you have to live. That's why people ought to move away from the society, because it is a huge buzz, you cannot remain focused. Once in a while you will be definitely dragged down, you cannot commit yourself fully. Though it does not mean normal people like us cannot practice Brahmacharya. We can and in fact we should.

Now, first to understand what it is, we see what it is not. It is not celibacy. It was meant to rise above your body. It was to unify with your own true self, rising above the physical desires. But people misunderstood it to be celibacy. Because they have long tried to supress sex. We all know that the desire of sex is prominent in mankind and since we have tried to suppress it forcefully, it has risen to our minds. Now it is a very dangerous thing, if a desire rises up in the mind. If you have a desire to earn money it is a different thing. But if all your energies are spent solely to earn money, if your entire mental passion is money, then it is a problem and this is the rule for everything, including sex. Suppressing sex brings nothing. Suppressing anything brings nothing, because it is in its nature to rise back again. The more you suppress, the greater is the force with which it comes back. Now the entire mind is involved into thinking how to avoid it and it is just as good as the mind who lies lowly in desires. It is one and the same thing- both minds carry the same concept, polarity does not matter. Mind is obsessed about the same thing, It cannot rise above body, it cannot be in meditation. Now, since due to long suppression of sex by religious people, it has entered in to the mind and now everything is seen from the perspective of sex. When brahmacharya was said to be avoiding physical pleasures, people understood it to be avoiding sex. It is because their thinking is so sex polarised, everything "physical" meant sex.

Brahmacharya meant renouncing physical pleasures including sex. But if keep struggling with suppressing your desires, it does not bring anything. You become a battleground, for the ones who have not gone beyond, fighting with their own nature is senseless, but this madness in the name of religion continues. Brahamcharya has a meaning only when you transcend the desires, if you are good at suppressing it means nothing. You should be such that feeling should never arise, that's true practice. Keep suppressing all through the life brings madness only. Celibacy can bring madness but a normal sex life can never bring madness.

In India, people also consider brahmacharya as remaining unmarried. This is also wrong. Brahmacharya typically means celibacy till marriage and fiedlity after marriage. It is not necessary that a person practicing brahamacharya will not marry. The mechanical characteristic of your life means nothing. Whether you are married, or unmarried it means nothing, What resides in your heart is the one which matters. You may be a celibate monk but if you are not able to transcend it, it brings nothing. J Krishnamurti once said, "You want to know what my secret is? I don' care whatever happens". If you rise above your world, the desires will automatically dissolve. It happens naturally, celibacy will immediately follow, you will realize there is no need, it's all illusion. It does not mean denying sex, it means transcending sex, transcending every physical desires including sex.

Brahmacharya was one of the yamas of the Yoga Sutras. Self restraint is very important for spiritual progress. I realize this as completely true. Materialistic mind worries about the connection between this peculiarity, but there is indeed a connection. Only if you stop spending your energy towards wavering desires in a continuous loop, you have to give up on some task. Then your mind will automatically work towards its own nature, its own liberation. Only when you rise above it, you can cross it. While remaining in a ditch and looking upwards the sky won't make you reach there. Sky won't even take out a finger to lift you up, you only have to rise and it takes immense courage. It takes immense courage to deny your natural pleasures. It is simply heroic. This is why saints are highly revered, because the respect given to them on the basis of their renunciation is deserving.

Yamas and Niyamas are the complementary guidelines in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali. Now, everybody must have known about the Baba Ramdev brand but nobody knows the real historical man- Patanjali and it will be a sin to write anymore without mentioning him. Now, Patanjali has been one of the most important figures in the history of mankind and not just Hinduism. Patanjali was a man of huge intellect. It is said that just how Einstein is for science, Patanjali is for Yoga. He is the father of modern Yoga, almost everything we know about Yoga today is due to the work this man did to revive Yoga for the mankind. His writing in Yoga Sutras is simply blunt. You see the title, it is "...And Now Yoga". Just simply put. We have been doing this and that and then we realized all are nonsense and then we decide for Yoga, hence the title. The thought is directly written and everything in it is written by purely step wise method. It looks like a science textbook. He was the most scientific person in Hinduism. He brought the religion to the level of science. He used intellect for the spiritual path and has used it so cunningly that no word of appreciation is enough. If you follow him, you simply get the results. He says in his Sutras that practicing Brahmacharya brings immense courage. You realize you are the consciousness which is universally present. And this brings a fearless life. Lack of courage and fear only comes through fear from mind, if you rise above it there is no fear. Bringing inner peace is a different and higher thing, it comes later but getting courage through this is spontaneous and throbbing.

Initially, brahamcharya brings very strange feeling. In fact every spiritual practice brings strange feeling initially. Your all preconceived notions fall apart, all what you have thought about the world, when you really see it through attention, it seems all different. All the answers are now useless, all theories,all theology, all philosophy falls apart and it creates a void and it is confusing. It does not bring satisfaction to its fullest. Because now what you have gathered since centuries is of no use suddenly and the void in life is impactful, you know that you are moving in a correct path but you feel something missing. Because we had imagined life to be something else so it takes time to adjust.

Brahmacharya involves conscious tasks. Whether you do it or not, it does not matter. What matters is whether you let it to disturb or not. If you are involved in the act, then it means your are simply in the ditch. The whole concept of tantric sex is to be conscious about it. To make realize that you are even above the pleasure. You are not receiving pleasure, it is a body need and it almost vanishes when you become old. Just how we feel kids as running behind toys, old people see youngsters as kids running behind these desires. You realize its all a matter of few time only. Just rising above is true practice. If you see the history of Hindu mythology, you will find sex all over it. It may mean two things, one is that they were having a open and natural attitude towards it or they had minds which had long suppressed sex. Now if brahmacharya was an ideal life and if it meant celibacy then what about the Gods involved in the sexual activity? Almost all gods are married and have kids. And then there is a guy known as Hanuman. He is widely known as a brahmachari. Even in some of his temples, women are discouraged to be entered or touching him. It is just uncontrollably amusing that they fear their God will get "dirty" if women enters there. That the chastity will be lost. I simply cannot stop laughing at this. He is a brahamachari since long time, he is supposed to be unaffected by ladies. And people don't allow women to go near him. This is the proof that man construct his god according to his own nature. Because man also fears women because he cannot control his desires and his constant religious conditioning that sex is bad, he is in a tussle. So he believes that Hanuman must also be in a tussle. Just like how a man may induce desires if a woman comes near him, he thinks Hanuman must also have same problem and that he will get angry.

 Forced celibacy to me does not make any sense. It does not make any sense to me that a God will make us like this and then without informing expects us to work our way out though it. If such is so, then he is a tyrant. It is funny how people just convert a character to suit their own understanding and purposes and builds their lifestyle around that concept. Hanuman's life can be huge ideal. How his devotion was, his bravery, focus and strength. He is also shown meditating, but nobody will meditate. They only want to pray.

                                           

And all other Hindu Gods are sexual too. All have kids. Now how is this explained? And how can one even explain Krishna? It is impossible for them. That's why now gods are worshiped in a limited way. Gods have been limited to have been doing only what suits the society. Surdas will write brilliant poems on the child Krishna but the adult Krishna is dangerous. He unites with numerous ladies.So Surdas does not go there, his Krishna is only a kid, he never grows up. Because nobody got the message. Krishna's message was to fully accept life as it is. To accept every aspect of it. Even when he knows this is all illusion he says in Geeta that he does his task religiously. He says that he knows the future but still actively involved in the present. People only understood that he knew the future hence he must be God, but they never understand the message why he is living in the present? Why is he performing his duties? Why is he even bound by duties? That's the recipe for his glory. Even while being a god he choses to so human like but in fact being a complete human. Almost one thousand interpretations of Geeta is written. Scholars have endlessly criticized, praised and what not, still we are not able to understand the man. That's how mysterious he is.

That's why Patanjali did not write Yoga Sutras in poetic form or in a literary form. Because then scholars must have jumped in, they would have twisted it. So, he wrote in a complete lucid manner and in a absolutely blunt way with almost no literary qualities. Usually we think, he did not know the art, but actually he was a master in it. Otherwise he would not have thought upto this level. He is symbolically depicted in the famous half-man, half-snake form indicating that he has risen above the duality of life and attained to ultimate oneness, and in doing so, has opened the door for others to achieve the same. Half of his body has been symbolically made into snake, because he is not seen as a person anymore.

                                                

In Yogic system and Jains, sex is not viewed as bad or sin, Brahamacharya is in fact practiced to preserve your sexual energies. The semen is said to be present in subtle form all over the body and it is very instrumental for the spiritual realization. That's why Brahmacharya is held as a supreme virtue. Lord Shiva also actively advocates Brahmacharya. Now, Shiva is a very interesting God. He is always shown meditating. Numerous stories about him is written, his accounts of long stay in Samadhi. Now here lies a question, he is a Supreme God, Vishnu, Brahma and all other myths worship him but he still meditates. He is the ultimate destroyer and still he is in constant focus state. Upon him does he meditate? This is a radical question, and the answer to it I say will bring revolution in Hinduism. Shiva being a Supreme Lord, all other worship him but still he meditates. For what?

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Carl Sagan

I would not hesitate to say that he is one of the most spiritual and loving person I have ever seen. Yes, a scientist can be a spiritual person and be proud of it because his understanding about spirituality is neither narrow-minded nor any less than extremely profound depth. He was a man who will have your feel deep reverence and humongous respect.

For those who don't know him, he was an American astronomer, astrophysicist,a professor at Cornell, a science popularizer and an author. He was a founding member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly known as CSICOP - the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal). He has written hundreds of research papers and his work in astronomy is of very important significance. He initiated one of the most famous skeptical principles, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". And how can we forget Cosmos? His brilliant way of communication, soul-soothing voice and deeply humble nature, his sheer dedication towards work, his scientific understanding and inquisitiveness about nature makes him a complete package. There have been many brilliant scientists till now but very few touch the hearts of people- Carl Sagan is one of them and probably among the top of them.

His quotes are a fresh reading, very intriguing, profoundly written showcasing his exceptional skills. I am absolutely sure that a single article will never do justice to describe a man for whom the appreciation surpasses all the limits of English vocabulary. He time and again reminded us about the scarily large nature of our Universe but with added wisdom. He taught us to be a skeptic without losing wonder for the "vast and deeply humbling" Universe. I absolutely love this man and his smile.

If you want to know him, read this exceptional piece from him. When Voyager 1 spacecraft left from the planet to explore the solar system, engineers on Sagan's suggestion made it to turn back at take a photo of Earth and they got this-

 The absolute tiny dot is Earth. You probably need to look at it again to determine it. Now this surely can be a devastating picture completely redefining what we know about ourselves. It was the first time, somebody took a picture of the planet from this far. At this frightening picture Sagan wrote in his book Pale blue dot-

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.” 

Please please listen to this historic piece with added charisma of his voice as well!

Pale Blue dot

• Here is Carl Sagan taking on religion!

“How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.”

• And Carl Sagan taking back on a very widely prejudiced thought about scientists being "dry" because they try to break things too much- 

“It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works — that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason that the sunset is red? It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.” 

• An excerpt taken from his one of the many essays-

There is a wide yawning black infinity. In every direction the extension is endless, the sensation of depth is overwhelming. And the darkness is immortal. Where light exists, it is pure, blazing, fierce; but light exists almost nowhere, and the blackness itself is also pure and blazing and fierce. But most of all, there is very nearly nothing in the dark; except for little bits here and there, often associated with the light, this infinite receptacle is empty.
This picture is strangely frightening. It should be familiar. It is our universe.
Even these stars, which seem so numerous, are, as sand, as dust, or less than dust, in the enormity of the space in which there is nothing. Nothing! We are not without empathetic terror when we open Pascal’s Pensées and read, “I am the great silent spaces between worlds.”

• He was a noted skeptic. After an unbiased study, he concluded that there is not enough evidence about any alien activity on Earth, but still for the trash people are- 

• And now it is time to look back at the pale blue dot quote- 

“Ann Druyan suggests an experiment: Look back again at the pale blue dot of the preceding chapter. Take a good long look at it. Stare at the dot for any length of time and then try to convince yourself that God created the whole Universe for one of the 10 million or so species of life that inhabit that speck of dust. Now take it a step further: Imagine that everything was made just for a single shade of that species, or gender, or ethnic or religious subdivision. If this doesn’t strike you as unlikely, pick another dot. Imagine it to be inhabited by a different form of intelligent life. They, too, cherish the notion of a God who has created everything for their benefit. How seriously do you take their claim?” 

• He was a very beautiful thought generator.

• Wish people understand this simple yet insightful message!

• Well that's "true"!

• Cosmic chemistry mixed with spiritual wisdom! My personal favourite

On religious terrorism and the importance of human

• This one shows his humble nature hammering the rude skeptics!

• And this is touching

Care for humanity!

• And what to say anything else for this than simply amazing?!

• With added benefits of well- refraining from pseudoscience, bad science, non-science and nonsense!

Here is a video of him describing astrology as bunk or bogus- His voice is simply touching!

Carl Sagan on astrology

He was indeed a great person, a reformer, brilliant scientist, a noted skeptic and a celebrity. His work for his students, the revolutionary Cosmos series and his amazing books will always be remembered. He is one of the most famous guardian of real science with deep insight and wisdom. 

This post is a second person-specific post. I have earlier written a similar style post for a brilliant philosopher Epicurus. Do check it out.

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The JNU issue.

The more I read about it, the more I realize that it is a "grey" issue and not just black and white. I assume you are already aware of the obvious popular facts.

People need to really understand that why many Kashmiris(mostly Muslims) would actually have an emotional touch with Afzal Guru and would consider him as a "martyr". First because he is Kashmiri and he is a victim of an "unjust" judicial killing punishment. Kashmiris usually believe that India is largely unjust to them and don't let them live with proper conditions.

"Unjust"?

 Up to what I came to know there were very less evidences for Afzal being a part of the attack. Supreme Court literally stated that Afzal needs to be hanged to "satisfy the collective conscience of Indians" So, loosely it means this- Here, we have a person who seems to be involved with circumstantial evidence. There is a lot of outrage in the public. Let's kill him so we could be relieved. Afzal first confessed his crime. But ofcourse he later wrote in a letter to his advocate that he was forced to confess because his relatives were claimed to be held captive and he was tortured(including electrocuting his private parts).

Now, there are good number of reasons to believe that Supreme Court ordered a death sentence not merely for mitigating the issue. Afzal was hanged in 2013 and the attack took place in 2001. This is so much time. A time when a person can be freed if found not guilty enough. Guru tried every, and I repeat every provision given to him for mercy. The President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy application after giving it a fairly large amount of time to consider reducing a punishment for somebody who has a death sentence against less evidence available. 80 witnesses were for prosecution, to state facts.

Very little is known to Indians about the conditions in Kashmir. Indian Army literally(is it necessary?) messes with civilians, openly insulting them with profanity, checking them for weapons continously. There have been reports for Security guards raping several women and murdering many civilians in either delusion of them being militants, or to suppress any ongoing violent protest. Kashmiris are misbehaved with. Although, a "proud Indian" would ofcourse say " Kashmir is part of India since 65 years" and "Kashmiris would be never satisfied with anything India does" but this hasn't changed anything since all the time. There were very violent protests earlier but now they are fairly reduced. But the Indian Government really does not seems to be excited about improving the condition of Kashmiris. But that raises an important question, how could they?

Obviously, Pakistan is pressing hard to incite protests so that it could force India to enter a negotiation. It has been verified that many protests were avcually motivated and funded by Pakistan. I am not saying talks in air, there. Pakistani fucktards also use unscrupulous tactics of spreading false lies about the abuses by Indian Army(which is not cleaned either as stated earlier), and at the least spreads it  with fabricated misleading figures to increase the resentment among the people. Claims were of "thousands" but CBI reports it 200(The number of innocents killed by Indian military). Now, one cannot imagine the number of innocents killed by militants in Kashmir. The number is just unthinkable for this period of time. The militant separatists are very much offically Islamic.And from what I know about the religion is that any Islamic militant groups should be taken very very seriously. Not that other religiously motivated groups aren't violent, but Islamic forces actually mixes politics with their religion. For the fundamentalists, no country is a "nation" if it does not follow Sharia law. They don't even respect the national anthem. They spread lies to their children that the song is "anti-Islam" and you might have heard about the recent incident that a teacher was beaten because he tried to implement singing National Anthem every morning. When Islamic "scholars" were called on a news debate, they said "Which religious place gets national anthem in their schedule?" One side they want to consider a stupid Madrasa trained children to be called as "educated" and on the other side, they speak out this bullshit which sounds really terrifying to me.

 And again they would have mostly an innocent destructive and absolutely non-progressive attitude towards building a society. Innocent because they really believe the shit they are talking about. The so called "leaders" can very well brain wash the public in the name of religion. Mughals did it, they used their religion as an excuse for their political agenda to expand their empire. Mohammed did it. There are several Muslims who actually believe that Osama is really a nice person and is helping the society. If this does not convince you for my concern, I don't know what will. You are free to call me a "Muslim hater" or "Islamophobic".

Kashmiri pandits want to unite with India. Many Kashmiris are confused as to how to get out of this. Idiots with a hidden agenda and benefit to "promote Islamis culture" favor going with Pakistan(which any sane individual would laugh at) and majority wants freedom. Although Kashmiris are really smart and they would immediately enter in alliance with a country to forward their economic growth and I doubt that it is really any good political move, especially if you Pakistan as your neighbor and you are well, a poor state.

Now, summing this up, repeated incites by Pakistan, a public outrage over the Indian Army, Islamic brain wash, lack of attempts by Indian Government to improve the condition are the main reasons why Kashmiris are "against" India. 10 Kashmiris went to JNU and made "antinational" statements. A JNU student on quora now says that the terms like "bharat ke tukde hazaar", and "azaadi" means in different context. This linguistic gymnastics which he is playing should be handled with skepticism. Although I may accept that to Kashmiris, "India" is the people in uniforms who at worst, abuses them. If we believe in reports, it was the Kashmiris who raised those slogans and not JNU students themselves, BUT if you are organizing the meeting(which was against an initial permission), you ARE responsible for whatever happens there. You are saying me that it wasn't decided before hand? Umar Khalid was preparing this so called protest in various places since months. Another point to consider.

I do understand free speech, I understand that killing of Guru was probably against human rights but certain slogans were clearly anti national. Which should not be chanted and which is something you should be held responsible for.

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You are because of Love

We exist because of love. It's not that we exist and then love, it's actually the reverse case. Love made us. What we call "love" in our general language is simply a puny expression of the true love, simply to progress the breeding, to progress through evolution. Love is the driver of our race, it is the driver of our existence. We all are simply but expressions of that love, and this individual expressions(us) express a reduced and disguised form of that love to others. This is artificial love.

The "attraction" or lust of this artificial love is a bodily concept. It is man-made and the love which I am talking about has nothing to do with it. My argument is for the completely unconditional love, which connect us, which makes us see the essence of beings. When you are in a conversation, you or your consciousness instantly get connected to the essence, to the flavor of the conversation. All who are deeply shared is united through a conscious experience. Whenever you listen to music, have it been occurred that you become the music? There is no listener of it, there is no music which is being listened to, just one existence- the music itself. There is no subject-object split, only One. The listener disappears, you just enter in to music- you become music. You forget your "self" and unite with it. This is the true love. Which does not lure for any physical pleasures. Instead, it lures for unification. It has attraction, but that attraction is not lust, the attraction is not for physical pleasures, it is simply for unification.To become One. Similarly, if you are involved with coding, if you are involved with may be sports of any passion, which you are attracted to unconditionally, it is love. You unite with it. You don't need any extra pleasure from it. Just the very act itself is bliss.  If, you are an expert at it, if you do it extremely well, it has been scientifically defined as "flow", in sports it is famous as "zone". There is no distinct selves. They are only separated physically, but in experience they are one. You may not do it that well so as to get into the "flow" or "zone", but if you do it unconditionally, you disappear and only the unification exists, there is no extra pleasure required. Unification is the only pleasure in itself in the case of true love. And this same love is what exactly have created us.

Christians are right. God is love. He is all perfect being, beyond comprehension, beyond understanding, He does not not lie within understanding, He is not bound by limits and He cannot be described by any words. He is all contained and is all perfect, He does not need anything or anybody. But He wants you because He loves you. Such is His love that He does not need you but still want you. The rest of the passages in the Bible are simply non-sensical and at least barbarous, but this is extremely profound.

This love is the most natural thing we possess. Men inherently is good, it is the evil which is secondary. We, in the purest essence are love. It is different from, how we describe it in real life like "I love her" or "I love him". It is slightly different experience. You are love which means it is completely unconditional. It is spiritual.

Spirituality is just peeping inside yourself. The thoughts are the cover of mind, when you stop them you dive deeper and deeper.You outer self which you show to others or live thinking it as "self" is simply a cover, it is just a reflection of you which is visible to the surroundings. But your inner life is actually the reflection of your surroundings to your heart. Once you turn your eyes towards this mirror, everything which your mortal eyes perceive automatically becomes crystal clear. And when it is completely done, you find there is nobody. You start by seeking yourself, but in reality there is no self. Neither the finder is found, nor is what was to be sought is found. It is One. This is the point where Adi Shakara comes with his work on Advaita. The whole existence is One, and the actions being done are for unification driven by love. It is the true love.

In several religions, love is considered as "impure", it is not love which is impure, it is their mind which is. Males having higher dominance earlier built religion around themselves considering females as secondary, a weaker section or at very worst "doors to hell". It was because they did not know true love. They did not even like to touch women, see women. They try to be as far as possible, If you don't have any urges, why do you run away from women? Women is passive, you are active. You are not running away from women, you are running from yourself. It is stupidity. And these stupid people get acclaimed because the general public is also entangled in the artificial love, hence they considered these "saints" as very special, because to them "renouncing" love is a heroic task, a task which is very difficult hence deserved applauds when committed.

 But real spiritual leaders always emphasized on love. This is where Sufism gets it right. Sufis, Mystics have repeatedly preached free love. A love which is pure, unconditional, not directional but universal, not bound but limitless. Spirituality is seeing what is naturally present inside us, beyond human concepts of thoughts, emotions,etc. And if you go on to silent your mind and go on to dive deeper and deeper, you will find One which is Love. Love which created us.

By the way, in scientific world, there is a consensus that gravity created the Universe. And gravity means "attraction".

Ohh!


(Article compiled over ideas of Osho)

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The Pseudo scientific Hinduism

Few friends of mine raised an objection towards my criticism of Islam, and not being equally fair for Christianity or well my own religion- Hinduism. Some even started sharing me the "islam love" photos that how people should treat Muslims "well".  I told them that criticizing a religion and hating a religion are two different things! Also, as some wise men correctly pointed out on twitter and later got shared with Dawkins, "If I hate cancer, it does not  mean I hate people with cancer!" I promised to them that I will do a piece on Hinduism too so here it is!

In the rising wave of secularist world, it is now the trend to market "science" in the religion to make it sell to the gullible.  Although there are also many books and lectures delivered to depict "science" in Christianity and Islam(Yeah its the Zakir Naik who will eat your head!), but in Hinduism it as at a completely different level.

A completely baseless opinion is established and then the all the 'facts' corresponding to the wishful thinking is first presented in a slow manner and suddenly a big leap is taken  just right at the crucial point and the guillible falls prey. It is a matter of strong base that we should stand up to scrutinize these facts when it is thundered down upon us. I find a lot of bad science arguments put in the favor of Hinduism which steals away the spiritual treasure it contains and make it a mechanical practice which seriously needs to be addressed.

Speed of Light is calculated in Vedas more accurately than Einstein did

This is literally the topic of an article. It takes special amount of guts to write, but it seems that the author don't give a damn about the modern science. The claim goes like this-

Ancient Vedic science “Nimisharda” is a phrase used in Indian languages of Sanskrit origin while referring to something that happens/moves instantly, similar to the ‘blink of an eye’. Nimisharda means half of a Nimesa, (Ardha is half).

In Sanskrit ‘Nimisha’ means ‘blink of an eye’ and Nimisharda implies within the blink of an eye. This phrase is commonly used to refer to instantaneous events.

Below is the mathematical calculations of a research done by S S De and P V Vartak on the speed of light calculated using the Rigvedic hymns and commentaries on them.

The fourth verse of the Rigvedic hymn 1:50 (50th hymn in book 1 of rigveda) is as follows:

तरणिर्विश्वदर्शतो जयोतिष्क्र्दसि सूर्य | विश्वमा भासिरोचनम |

taraNir vishvadarshato jyotishkrdasi surya | vishvamaa bhaasirochanam ||

which means:

“Swift and all beautiful art thou, O Surya (Surya=Sun), maker of the light, Illumining all the radiant realm.”

Commenting on this verse in his Rigvedic commentary, Sayana who was a minister in the court of Bukka of the great Vijayanagar Empire of Karnataka in South India (in early 14th century) says:

“ tatha ca smaryate yojananam. sahasre dve dve sate dve ca yojane ekena nimishardhena kramaman.” which means “It is remembered here that Sun (light) traverses 2,202 yojanas in half a nimisha”

NOTE: Nimisharda= half of a nimisha.

In the vedas Yojana is a unit of distance and Nimisha is a unit of time.

Unit of Time: Nimesa.

The Moksha dharma parva of Shanti Parva in Mahabharata describes Nimisha as follows: 15 Nimisha = 1 Kastha.

30 Kashta = 1 Kala,

30.3 Kala = 1 Muhurta,

30 Muhurtas = 1 Diva-Ratri (Day-Night),

We know Day-Night is 24 hours So we get 24 hours = 30 x 30.3 x 30 x 15 nimisha, in other words 409050 nimisha.

We know 1 hour = 60 x 60 = 3600 seconds.

So 24 hours = 24 x 3600 seconds = 409050 nimisha.

409050 nimesa = 86,400 seconds,

1 nimesa = 0.2112 seconds (This is a recursive decimal! Wink of an eye=.2112 seconds!).

½ nimesa = 0.1056 seconds.

Unit of Distance:

Yojana Yojana is defined in Chapter 6 of Book 1 of the ancient vedic text “Vishnu Purana” as follows:-

10 ParamAnus = 1 Parasúkshma,

10 Parasúkshmas = 1 Trasarenu,

10 Trasarenus = 1 Mahírajas (particle of dust),

10 Mahírajas= 1 Bálágra (hair’s point),

10 Bálágra = 1 Likhsha,

10 Likhsha= 1 Yuka,

10 Yukas = 1 Yavodara (heart of barley),

10 Yavodaras = 1 Yava (barley grain of middle size),

10 Yava = 1 Angula (1.89 cm or approx ¾ inch),

6 fingers = 1 Pada (the breadth of it),

2 Padas = 1 Vitasti (span),

2 Vitasti = 1 Hasta (cubit),

4 Hastas = a Dhanu,

1 Danda, or paurusa (a man’s height),

or 2 Nárikás = 6 feet,

2000 Dhanus = 1 Gavyuti (distance to which a cow’s call or lowing can be heard) = 12000 feet 4 Gavyutis = 1 Yojana = 9.09 miles

Calculation: So now we can calculate what is the value of the speed of light in modern units based on the value given as 2202 Yojanas in ½ Nimesa = 2202 x 9.09 miles per 0.1056 seconds = 20016.18 miles per 0.1056 seconds = 189547 miles per second !! 

First of all, they contradicted their own title. The speed of light is NOT mentioned in the Vedas but the attempt of indicating it is done by Sayana who was a courtier in 14th century while commenting on the RigVeda.. Then, the source of "nimisharda" is questionable. One myth takes value from ArthaShastra and another like this takes from Mahabharata. BOTH are NOT mathematical textbooks. Plus, the value of the unit "Nimesha" is questionable. I literally spent 3 hours straight trying to figure out the mathematical values they derived from the scratch and found out that it gives out contradicting values. Also the blink of an eye is not 0.2112 s, it is around 300 milliseconds but ofcourse this value which is calculated by "modern science" will not be used because the desired result will not be obtained. They just knew the final value and then inserted back the units to as to come to "close enough" answer. Also, the value of "Nimesha" arrived through the system of Vedic units, the value is 0.43 s. Funny, because they are not using the value which is mentioned in Vedas(and Wikipedia) to derive at the conclusion of what Vedas say!

Then again, why on earth would Sayana state a fact of such high importance in a so casual manner? The whole context of the phrase also is not presented. Plus, the verse is about Sun, and not light. And Science have to declare what are the methods which were used to come at the value, rather than just dabbling with figures.


                                        

Distance between Sun and Earth is Mentioned in “Hanuman Chalisa”- An Ancient Prayer

This is just a crazy one. Even Amitabh Bachchan tweeted about it once.

Two lines of Hindu Prayer ” Hanuman Chalisa” computes this distance with great simplicity.

“! जुग सहस्त्र योजन पर भानु, लील्यो ताहिमधुर फल जानू !”

This means that Sun (भानु) is at a distance of  Juug Sahastra Yojans (जुग सहस्त्र योजन- Distance Unit in Hindi)

According to following conversion practices that are in use as per Hindu Vedic Literature-

1 Juug = 12000

1 Sahastra= 1000

1 Yojan = 8 Miles

Thus

12000 X 1000 X 8 =  96,000,000  miles

1 mile = 1.6 kms

This further implies that distance is  96,000,000 * 1.6 kms = 153,600,000 Kms

 Before, my readers go further, I would like to go back and read the statement again. If you cannot point out the mitake, then either you are blind or didn't study Physics well. They multiplied time with distance to get distance! Jug is a unit of time(Also, the value 12000 is questionable because we don't know if it's Deva's years or human years) and Yojan is a unit of distance. They just multiplied them together because OH Why Not?

Also, funny that Yojana now became 8 miles. When they had to prove about the speed of light, Yojana was 9 miles.

Throwing coins in rivers

There is a tradition to throw coins in order to get your wish fullfilled. But may be these proponents have a rather brilliant wish- May people believe my nonsense.

The general reasoning given for this act is that it brings Good Luck. However, scientifically speaking, in the ancient times, most of the currency used was made of copper unlike the stainless steel coins of today. Copper is a vital metal very useful to the human body. Throwing coins in the river was one way our fore-fathers ensured we intake sufficient copper as part of the water as rivers were the only source of drinking water. Making it a custom ensured that all of us follow the practice.

Simple chemistry will tell you that Copper, like most metals undergo oxidation and it will form a protective layer over it so the coin won't let release copper for long time and it is a waste of- MONEY!. Also, I think drinking water in a copper vessel would be a lot useful method rather than making this stupid custom and wait for the lineages to realize the 'actual importance' of this years later!

Wait a second! They said river! River! River! River! How on Earth will throwing coins in the river which flows will make you intake the metal? Bad science as well as Bad logic Booooo........!

And this is just not it. They have all kinds of woo laden "Science" behind the namaskaram(acupressure for removing germs and also you can stay away from the germs of others ) , and by touching feet, how you can "transfer" the "energy" from one man to another(shaking hands gives germs but touching feet doesn't. Because "circuits" and "cosmic waves"), or whether kumkum is a sniper target for all the "peaceful energies" of the cosmos, and how we it turns out the plants and trees we worship like Tulsi and Peepal(Sorry, Neem bruh I feel for you!) are extremely important for their medicinal purposes(I thought ancient Hindus did it the other way around) and so on. Ayurveda propounders have practically convinced the public that everything which is natural is good for health and everything which is made through "western"(yeah in India we divide Science too!) science is bad and is a conspiracy to rob off the India from its wealth. In a lot of research conducted Ayurveda does not seems to be so effective anything more than a placebo. Yes, the herbs are of certain value and the credit seriously goes to the one who discovered them but Science actually works on them to tune up their qualities so that they are more beneficial. Although I don't see much harm in Ayurveda(and it is not as silly as Homeopathy) but blindly believing it will not take you anywhere. As I always point out, Hinduism is great, only if you care enough to understand it. It is vast and deep and magical. But I like to separate spiritual treasures like Upanishads and Geeta as Dharmic and  Vedanta literature to not club them up with some nonsense like this.

Since the New Age people are more popular with their crap like The Secret and quantum woo, you probably won't find these myths in the Internet you use. But, due to some past life "Karma" if you happen to come across things like Vyamanika Shastra(inspite of being proven wrong again and again) you are aware. 

No, I am not ridiculing any tradition nor undermining it. I consider that the tradition should be preserved through honest means and for it is, rather than being guided by magical thinking. One more thing, my dear friend has started a technical blog where he is writing about his projects and he will be sharing the Arduino cookbook by Jeremy Blum if you subscribe him here-  The Free Electron

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