Stay in the moment

गते शोको न कर्तव्यो भविष्यं नैव चिंतयेत्। 

वर्तमानेन कालेन वर्तयंति विचक्षणाः॥

One should not regret the past, nor worry about the future. Wise men act by the present time.

पूर्ण

पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥

यह श्लोक ब्रह्म के स्वभाव की और इंगित कर रहा है या गणित की ऐक मूलभूत अवधारणा (concept) - अनंत यानी infinite की परिभाषा बता रहा है ?

इस श्लोक का शाब्दिक अर्थ / अनुवाद करने की कोशिश करते हैं। 

पूर्णमद: = पूर्णम अद: ~ यानी वह पूर्ण है 

पूर्णमिदं = पूर्णम इदम ~ यानी यह पूर्ण है

पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते = पूर्णात् पूर्णम् उदच्यते ~ यानी पूर्ण से पूर्ण उत्पन्न होता है 

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय  = पूर्णस्य पूर्णम् आदाय ~ यानी पूर्ण का पूर्ण ले कर 

पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते = पूर्णम ऐव अविशिष्यते ~ यानी पूर्ण ही शेष रहता है । 

श्लोक का अर्थ हुआ 

वह भी पूर्ण है, यह भी पूर्ण है । पूर्ण से ही पूर्ण उत्पन्न होता है । पूर्ण का पूर्ण ले कर भी पूर्ण ही शेष रहता है । 

यह गणित के अनंत यानी infinite से कैसे सम्बंधित हो सकता है ? 

पूर्ण यानी पूरा क्या है ? १-२-३-४….की गिनती कहाँ जा के पूरी होती है ? -१०००००००००००००० पर ? या ९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९९ पर ? नहीं, इसके बाद भी इसने ऐक जोड़ कर उसका अगला अंक बनाया जा सकता है । यानी ऐसा कोई भी अंक जिसमें कुछ जोड़ कर ऐक नया अंक मिल सकता है, वह अधूरा है पूरा नहीं । जब ये गिनती पूरी होती है तो उस पूर्ण कहा जा सकता है । इस पूर्ण के क्या गुण / characteristics होंगे ?

शाब्दिक अर्थ में देखे तो इस इस श्लोक में पूर्ण के गुण समझाए जा रहे है - answering FAQ कि यह ये पूर्ण आया कहाँ से ? पूर्ण तो सिर्फ़ और सिर्फ़ पूर्ण से ही आ सकता है । ये पूर्ण किसी साधारण अंक में ऐक जोड़ने से नहीं आ सकता । 

वह भी पूर्ण है और यह भी पूर्ण है । पूर्ण ऐक unique संख्या नहीं बल्कि ऐक अवधारणा / concept है । 

अगर पूर्ण में ऐक और पूर्ण जुड़ जाए तो भी ऐक पूर्ण ही मिलेगा - दो पूर्ण नहीं । पूर्ण में से उसका ऐक ऐसा अवयव यानी घटक (constituent) जो स्वयं पूर्ण हो, अगर निकल जाए, तब भी शेष पूर्ण ही रहेगा । 

This is so similar to the characteristics of mathematical term infinite. समसामयिक (contemporary) गणित के दृष्टिकोण से गिनती तो अनंत यानी infinite तक जा सकती है, उसके बाद आप अनंत में यदि १ जोड़ो या १०००००० जोड़ो या अनंत ही जोड़ दो , कुल जमा यानी total अनंत ही रहता है - अनंत से अधिक नहीं होता । अनंत पर ये गिनती पूरी यानी पूर्ण हो जाती है । 

On a side note 

पूर्ण यानी complete sounds better than infinite (अनंत)

infinite (अनंत) is not finite - gives a feeling that infinite is a number set that we are still counting. 

पूर्ण has a sense of finality, completeness. It’s much more relatable. 

 १+१/२+१/४+१/८+१/१६+…till infinite = २

I used to wonder how can you add an infinite series and come to a finite number. Saying that you are adding these terms this till complete sounds better to me. “Till Infinite” as a term should be replaced with “till complete”

What if ....there was no death, no disease and no hungry mouths to feed.

Have you ever wondered what would happen, if humanity could conquer natural death and hunger ?

Let's assume, a breakthrough in science takes away natural death altogether. A single shot of super immunity given to every kid before birth that alters the DNA, to make the child virus proof and slows down aging and halts it completely after a certain age. 

Further in this utopian world, lets assume that food problem has been solved. Scientists have created disease resistant plants that bear fruits forever in every season, and can be grown very fast without much effort or care. 

In short what if we had - a new world, where there was no death, no disease and no hungry mouths to feed. What kind of a place would this new world be? Lets try and probe deeper in this thought experiment.

Since the new human knows s/he will last forever, would s/he still need to work?
No, certainly not for survival. जब राम दे खाने को , तो कौन जाए कमाने को
So what would he want to do?
Enjoy the life. 

But then if everyone wants to "Enjoy life", who will create products and services that help you enjoy life?
To put things in perspective, today for you to enjoy simplest things in life, like watching TV, a lot of WORK has to go in, the whole society MUST WORK, right from the factory where your TV was produced to the people who act/direct/record/create sets in those programs that you watch ...Or for that matter electricity generation / transmission /and also the work that you have to do to earn money to pay for these goods and services.
Same is true for the Book that you read / or the music that you listen to / or cars you drive to travel.
If no one NEEDS to work, would they still work?

With no death, there is no need to leave a mark on history (after all you wil be here for eternity), - every thing that this new human will do will be for himself ( स्व अन्त सुखाय - or to make himself comfortable) and with no sense of urgency ever.  Would commerce remain as the way we know it ?

Lets broaden the perspective - would they want to have kids? And the Governments(if there is any government left at all) may actually try to ban addition to the population.

What will happen to growth and development ? Since nobody HAS to work, most likely it will slow down to crawl at snail's pace. Only the truly interesting / intellectually stimulating work will remain. Nobody would want to work in the sanitation department / pick your garbage/ drive bus for you / construct house for you.
Even not many would want to put effort to reach a stage where they can be the scientists to create further such research.
Would life come to a standstill ? No one dying, and not many being born, no one working, just idlig away their time? 

May be for some .. but not for all. Survival of fittest has been hard coded into the code of life. 

So how do you find the Fittest when there is no disease or natural death or hunger ? Ofcourse Wars.

War will be the reason for society to work / and the governments to exist and progress to be made.

Even this is true to some extent in current world order.

And to some extent this is what is happening even now, where ever life expectancy has risen and certainty over next meal has increased (food stamps or otherwise), the inclination to work hard in menial jobs has gone down. Today a lot of such work is being done by third world, China and India are doing much of the labour whose fruits are being enjoyed by the first world. Not many are working in developed countries to become scientists, they are importing people in these areas from third world.

Wisdom

We shall be dead in a hundred years, and what will anything matter than? Let us have a good time while we can.
-Somerset Maugham, Cakes and Ale

Time : the root currency

The only currency we have is time, spend it wisely on what you value.
Life is like a theme park where you have entered for a specific time, similar to a day pass in a theme park. How you spend time in this theme park is you choice. You can keep stressing out on score you make / keep cribbing that the game is unfair and still keep playing same game / or play multiple games, take it easy and just have fun in that park/ sit next to your coplayers in one game..

Anything and everything that you do in such a theme park is taking away some time - which is limited - it’s just a day pass. 

You can be spending an hour in a queue (studies, Uni) to ride a big roller coaster or start playing small games.
Everything you earn, $, gold, property, .. are like score in a game in that theme park. You will leave them behind when you leave the park. And you have to leave this park for sure. So no point of just getting fixated on the score and forgetting the experience. Make friends, spend time with your coplayers, enjoy the view, take a look at the entire theme park - may be the game you have been playing is not as enjoyable as the one on other side of park.
And incase making a high score (earning) in one game is the only thing what makes you happy -go for it. But just because you are scoring well in one game, that should not prevent you from leaving that game and explore other games. 

Avoid physically dangerous rides that can cause accidents, you want to maximise the time you have here.  

The objective of entering a theme park is to be happy. Same true for your purpose of your time on earth. 

Spend this currency (Time) on achieving the end objective-happiness.

Just do what makes you happy.

Maya !

ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति ।
भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारुढानि मायया ॥ 

अर्थात्

हे अर्जुन ! ईश्वर सब प्राणियों के ह्रदय में विराजमान है । 

वह सभी प्राणियों को, अपनी माया के द्वारा यंत्र की तरह घूमाता रहता है । 

तुम ऐक यंत्र यानी machine हो, जिसे माया चला रही है। 

Deep meaning. 

Krishna is telling Arjuna not to hesitate in fighting. The truth is that these relatives, friends and foes - all have same God ( him) at heart and are machines controlled by Maya. This is similar to what a video gamer would call fighting a “non-player character” (NPC). NPC in a video game is a character not controlled by a player but by the computer, like the zombies that attack you while playing a game. These Characters are controlled by computer (माया) via algorithmic predetermined responsive behavior and have no free will in true sense. 

Looking at the people fighting petty battles, choosing predictable & less than ideal paths -  like zombies in a video game. 

Makes me wonder, are we all NPCs stuck in a game. 🤔

What is valuable

पृथिव्यां त्रीणि रत्नानि जलमन्नं सुभाषितम् ।

मूढैः पाषाणखण्डेषु रत्नसंज्ञा विधीयते ॥
पृथ्वी पर जल, अन्न, और सुभाषित - ये तीन रत्न है । (किंतु) मूढ लोग पत्थर के टुकडे को "रत्न" संज्ञा से पहचानते हैं !

Was Shiva an Alien

Recently I watched a program on “Was Shiva an Alien?” Interesting hypothesis, but not good analysis/reasoning at arrive at conclusion. They missed out on interpretation of the literature on Lord Shiva, which could have made the claim to be more plausible. So here is my take on that ...

One of the oldest description of Shiva, is in Shiva Strotam - composed by his one of most famous worshipper – Raavan.
So let’s try and decipher, how Shiva Strotam (original text below in Sanskrit) describes Shiva.

जटा कटाह सम्भ्रम भ्रमन्निलिम्पनिर्झरी-
विलोल वीचि वल्लरी विराजमान मूर्द्धनि ।
धगद्धगद्धग ज्वल ललाट पट्ट पावके
किशोर चन्द्र शेखरे रतिः प्रतिक्षणं मम ।।
(btw you can listen to this shloka in the starting of the song "Kaun hai wo" from Movie Bahubnali. Click Here to listen to it.)

This shloka, is describing someone who is wearing a helmet with his thick locks of hair giving an illusion of moving milky way. The helmet has a moving wave on a display above it, it has a fire emitting gun at the center of helmet, and a torch light on top of helmet.

How do I come this interpretation? By translating it word by word. Let's do it together.
जटा means long locks of unkempt hair. //  कटाह = कढ़ाई ie a large circular pot.
सम्भ्रम – is सम भ्रम. In this सम =समान means "equivalent to"; भ्रम means illusion.
भ्रमन्निलिम्पनिर्झरी = भ्रमण + निलिम्प + निर्झरी
भ्रमण = Traveling. ;निलिम्प = Godly, heavenly; निर्झरी = River; निलिम्पनिर्झरी = आकाश-गंगा ie milky way.

Next line - विलोल वीचि वल्लरी विराजमान मूर्द्धनि
विलोल = लहराता हुआ, अस्थिर //  वीचि = लहर, तरंग,  किरण , चमक = shining wave.
वल्लरी = बेल ie a creeper   // विराजमान = Seated // मूर्द्धनि = upper part of the head.

Thus first shloka means "The long locks of hair in a pot, give an illusion of a moving Milkyway. An unsteady creeper like shiny wave is seated on very top of the head."

Next shloka
धगद्धगद्धग ज्वल ललाट पट्ट पावके
किशोर चन्द्र शेखरे रतिः प्रतिक्षणं मम ।।

धगद्धगद्धग ज्वल = धक् धक् करके जलता हुआ ie burning intensely
ललाट = forehead ; पट्ट = flat area ; पावके = Fire ; किशोर = young ; चन्द्र = Moon  ; शेखरे = top
किशोर चन्द्र शेखरे= One who has young moon on his top of head
रतिः = love  ;  प्रतिक्षणं = every second  ; मम = I

So the complete translation of both shlokas
The long locks of hair in a pot, give an illusion of a moving Milkyway. An unsteady creeper like shiny wave is seated on very top of the head.
The forehead has an intensely burning fire, and has a young moon on top of his head, - I wait lovingly every second for him.

Could it be describing someone who is wearing a glass helmet (कटाह) that is reflecting the milky way (भ्रमन्निलिम्पनिर्झरी) which has a moving sinewave display (ie unsteady creeper like wave =विलोल वीचि वल्लरी) on top (मूर्द्धनि) of helmet (कटाह ) and a fire emitting gun (धगद्धगद्धग ज्वल ललाट पट्ट पावके) mounted at the center of helmet and a torch light (किशोर चन्द्र शेखरे) on top of head/helmet.

Do these lines describe an alien; or a person from future; or a God is upto you to decide.

Assuming that these lines describe someone from future or an alien, lets see if the description makes sense. Nearest known thing to a torch light to a person few thousand year back would have been moon. Our space travelers as well as miners have a torch on their helmet. A helmet mounted gun that emits fire would have appeared like a third eye which burns when it opens.Now the question is why would anyone mount a gun on helmet’s forehead ? Well because it will help him aim better, and free the hands and also reduce reaction time. Very practical design I would say.

The way Ravana ( or whoever wrote these)  has described Shiva, it appears that he too has not seen Shiva, but is longing to see him.  Based on the verbal description in form of shlokas passed on generation to generation, an image of Shiva has been created. Maybe you can re-imagine the image of Shiva, by re interpreting the same words.

You only see what your eyes want to see

You only see what your eyes want to see...Madonna – from song Frozen.

Some of my friends support Modi all the way and some other see no virtue in any move that Modi makes. Some believe Kejriwal is the most honest person in the world and some believe exactly opposite of that. And they stick to that – against all odds, they are not even willing to consider new information if it is against their stand.

What is the thought process of a Bhakt.
Whats in your head... in your head... Zombie Zombie Zombie.. what's in your head ( Love that Cranberries song... good lyrics) 


Both Modi and Kejriwal had a very high decibel personality based campaign and had polarized the opinion about them. The opposition was shallow, and also had skeletons in their cupboards – and accordingly found it easy to attack personality rather than issues.
The trouble with personality based elections is that it results in binary supporters - either you trust/like someone or you don’t. There is no middle ground in a personality led election campaign.


But then the elections that brought these individuals to power are over. New information is available for both these politicians in terms of how they have behaved over last year or two.
Also why are their supporters/ detractors wearing their support/criticism on their sleeve all the time.
Why are these supporters using facebook / whatsapp to express their opinion all the time – and at times putting their personal / professional relationships at stake? Why are they so charged up and trying to convince others?


 This I believe is result of cognitive dissonance.
(Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs.)

In order to minimize the discomfort, they try to deny any and every information that conflicts with their existing beliefs. They go out of their way- and start selling their own ideology / try to convert others. This reduces their dissonance.


People who believed Modi is evil / communal / feku ...are at a loss when they see something good attempted by him. A Modi hater will go out of way and use his/her personal reputation / relationships / friendships at stake - to prove Modi’s good activities are actually very bad. Doing this minimizes their dissonance. Infact if Modi was not doing good work, his detractors might have been less vocal about their opinions.


People who had a belief that Kejriwal is the most educated & honest person, find it very difficult to find fault with his policies / lack of actions now.


What can be done - well, there are tried and tested approaches to reduce cognitive dissonance- well that is a topic for a larger blog post....and frankly not my area of expertise.


In US, Trump also had a very similar personality focused high decibel campaign, and globally almost EVERYONE has a stand on Trump. If Trump starts doing something logical, he will face a lot of backlash / every good step will also be criticized.

Alternate Truth

Today's head line says

Pakistan Taliban: Peshawar school attack leaves 141 dead

So who benefits from this attack?

Don’t tell me you think that Taliban benefits from this sad event.  

Does PakTaliban believe that they can bully Pakistan Army? Can’t they see that they are going to get a backlash?

Could there be more to it than what meets the eye?... let’s hypothesize there is more to it.

Let’s go back in time, and try and to re-create a secret discussion between USA and Pakistan.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

USA : We want you to curb these Taliban folks from operating on your soil.

PAKISTAN: We too want to limit their powers - they are a threat to us. These folks are becoming too powerful and have been able to galvanise the public sentiment. We won't be surprised if they win elections. Once they do that, they will elect the Army head / entire hierarchy of their choice. Once they are in full control, I don’t know what they will do with the nukes, but I am sure it will lead Pakistan to destruction.

USA: Why don't you clip their wings right now, the way we did? If we can come in Pakistan and kill Osama, you can certainly do better- if you want to.

PAKISTAN: Public sympathy is a big problem. They have informers even among Police, Army and Intelligence agencies to help them, Local media highlights our actions as human rights violations. ISI is dominated by Taliban and is becoming independent, they at times keep army and rest of Pakistan in dark. Despite all this if we still attempt a strong action by Army, it can cause rebellion in ranks -and even make public sympathy go in Taliban's favour. If we do a crackdown on them now, it will be seen as Pakistani Army is US slave.

You in US had a 9/11 as an inflection point to justify your actions. Pakistan does not have one.

USA: So you need a 9/11 kind of an event to justify your Army to carry out a crackdown on the Taliban. OK.

Let’s see what that 9/11 for Pakistan should look like - this event should be targeted at Army, so their actions can be justified. It should not be killing of Army men- that is seen as victory in the war they want to be seen as fighting, and will glorify them. The act should be so cowardly that every sympathiser of Taliban / human right activist should get silenced. In should galvanise popular sentiment in favour of action against Taliban. The event has to be big - especially if we want it to change the course of history.

Hmm... Let me see what we can do, we have a few operatives embedded in PakTaliban from Osama times, who can help.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coming back to published reality ie news today. The news says Pak Taliban's attack on Army Public School leaves 141 dead - 132 of them Children. This has created massive public outrage.

Killing kids, this act is seen as act of cowardice, not bravery. Public sentiment will go against PakTaliban in next few days from shock to anger. My guess is if Pakistan Army kills even 500 PakTaliban militants in next one week, they can do so without any human right violation noise. Even if they don't kill any militants, this event is likely to reduce volunteers for the PakTaliban, and hence arrest growth in number of militants. This event has changed PakTaliban's label from a rebel - (warriors fighting for Islamic cause, without caring for their life) to a rougue & cowards who kill inoocent helpless kids.

The chances of them/politicians with their support getting elected are lower. This has reduced probability of Pakistan becoming a rougue Nuke nation -which could have led to Pakistan being attacked /nuked/ more bloodshed in any case.

In all probability this event has altered the course of history for Pakistan.

Coming back to original question, so who benefits?

Answer: Pakistan benefits, US benefits, neighbouring countries (INDIA) benefits, & world at large benefits. PakTaliban loses.

(PakTaliban could have benefitted if they had attacked Army garrison rather than a school.)

Cost : 141 lives in collateral damage.

Potential Benefits :

USA - Random attacks will go down, Rogue Nuke Nation avoided

India : Same as USA, more amplified. India could have been the first target.

World at large: Less militants to get recruited for ISIS.

Pakistan : Current regime remains stable, can focus on growth. Individuals may get more benefit / rewards by USA. The event may even help create a future dictator aligned to USA (Zia ul Haq types).

Politics at international level is not about winning wars, but about avoiding wars with minimal bloodshed.