Can we tap the abundant energy of the Universe for our development?

The world is made of energy, say the scriptures. So then why do we need to burn up fossil fuels and play around with dangerous nuclear fuels to feed the needs of our world?

May be there is a way to tap all that abundant energy for our needs, without upsetting the delicate balance of nature and bringing untold suffering to all living beings. May be there is a way to fuel our development without leaving the planet as a trash bin for posterity.

I don't know, but we can do that only if we get rid of the "scientism" that has got ingrained in our mindsets. We need to accept that there is more mystery to the universe than we care to admit. We need to get out of our matter-entwined world view and think of the universe as energy, and then be open to explore ways to tap that energy.

The sages and yogis have shown us -- for ages -- that it is possible. But our "modern, scientific" mind refuses to accept the possibility, dismissing everything we cannot understand as humbug!

That needs to change for the planet to be saved.

And there is the question: do we really need all that we are craving for?

Can we live a life where we can do away with all the trash stuff that we're madly accumulating? Doing that will go a long way toward helping Earth from becoming a trash bin.

For both the things to happen we need to develop the right attitude and follow it through.

It is possible and we need to work to make it possible.

A society in harmony with Nature: it really existed in India!

This is one issue that has always recurred in my thoughts: how long can the world's resources last if we go at this pace? Not that long, I would say. Now consider this: modern society measures success with more consumption and possession and every nation in the world is out to increase its GDP and per capita income. Which means the pressure on our limited natural resources would get even worse. How long can the world provide for its people as more and more of them try to get more and more of those resources in their grasp? I am horrified to think of what is going to happen to this world.

Already we are hearing of many species going to disappear, ocean life and food chains collapsing, global warming, food and water scarcity and a lot more. But no one is paying any attention as we all try single-mindedly to get more wealth for ourselves and our families.

I have always wondered what an ideal world would be like. Should it be a socialist world with common ownership or resources? For a long time I thought such an arrangement could solve a lot of the problems faced by a world racing for more security and prosperity. But there are two issues here: one the socialist utopia can easily degenerate into an authoritarian regime, as happened in the erstwhile Soviet Union. Second, we are still considering nature and other living beings as resources -- to be consumed by humans.

That is where the problem is: as long as we consider that everything here has been created for our consumption, we are going to run into this wall of scarce resources and an inhospitable world sooner or later.

So what is the answer? Did a society ever exist that had tackled this problem? My search suddenly got an answer when I found this blog. 

This blog talks about what Pandit Rajmani Tigunait said about village life as it existed in North India a few years ago. Imagine how ideal such a society would have been, and the biggest surprise in this for me was that it had managed to survive the Islamic regimes and the British Raj in India. As materialism sweeped across India following its Independence, and as age-old social systems collapsed (some of the practices in those rural societies, such as untouchability, had to go anyway, but I would assume those practices were corruptions that crept in later into the system), the ideal and close-to-nature life that Indians had managed to preserve also were swept away.

With that went, I would say, the the wisdom of the sages from Indian society.

But here, finally, I think there is a blueprint that can be used to re-create such a society. Not just in India, but all over the world. For, if the world needs to survive, it will need to learn to live in harmony with Nature. My dream, nay, the Himalayan sages' vision of a Centre for Vedic Culture and Civilization would be the first step in re-creating such a society!

Civilization is under threat; we need to alter course -- fast!

A recent New Scientist article carried an alarming warning about the implications of global warming for the world and humanity, in much more clearer terms than anything I have read till now. It also included a link to an interactive map. The article says "Bangladesh, south India and Pakistan will be largely abandoned, though isolated communities will remain".

I feel bad that this ancient land will become a desert soon (there is a big 'if' here as many scientists still think these are alarmist views), but can't understand how we can avoid this unless we do something to change the competitive conspicous consumption and self aggrandizement that is sweeping the world. Many intervention techniques are being discussed by scientists all over the world to slow down and roll back global warming but I think they could invite disaster on the planet as they still do not understand the dynamics of this phenomenon and, more important, they are not trying to address the basic triggers -- human greed and ego -- that have brought this calamity on. 

I think while attempts to slow down global warming are welcome the main thrust of any effort to save the planet and civilization should be at changing the way humanity think and works, from a narrow, self-centred perspective to a broader all-inclusive one. Only such a back-to-nature approach is going to make any serious difference and help us prosper without endangering the very existence of future generations.

I believe it is the right time to start some kind of a worldwide movement that will work at the level of human consciousness to change the collective consciousness and impel humanity to go back to a lifestyle closer to nature. My dreams of an Vedic educational movement center around this but I am not sure if I am prepared enough to start on this. My fervent hope is that Himalayan sages are not unaware of this impending calamity and would be planning something drastic to keep the human civilization and life on earth from being thrown back to the stone ages.

But before any work at the level of consciousness can take effect, I guess the material scientists should be first given an opportunity to try and fail spectaculary in their efforts. Then and only then will the masses start to think of an alternative approach to life that is more harmonious than the current 'I can conquer nature' one that has been created and nurtured by modern science and education.

The educational initiative I dream of should be strong enough to take over from where Science failed and move humanity to a higher level of understanding,  or there is a great danger humanity could fall into the grip of ignorance and fall back to superstition and helplessness. I am still dreaming and trying to tap into my inner powers using the key that Panditji recently provided me. Hope I will be ready soon to start on this initiative.

Up close and personal with a Master

Searching for the ideal job has brought me back to Indraprastha. Delhi, that cradle and graveyard of many empires, seems more agreeable to me now that I have seen more of India! At least I am closer to the Himalayan masters here - closer for a person who still does not have access to the wonderful inner world.

Well, a couple of weeks back I took the opportunity to visit Allahabad and meet a great Yogi, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. The trip also allowed me to get a glimpse of the great work that this great disciple of Swami Rama is doing among the underprivileged, in both India and Africa. I observed Panditji and found him a sharp observer, of both nature and man, and also a wonderful human being with great knowledge. The greatness of his vision is evident in his work in Cameroon, Africa, which is being spearheaded by his son, Ishan Tigunait -- another great soul who is highly focused on his work. 

The day I spent in Prayag also allowed me to see how the disciples of Swami Rama lead their lives, quietly remembering God and working hard. 

One thing that impressed me while at the Himalayan International Institute's premises in Allahabad was the eco-cottages that Panditji was building for the group of disciples he was expecting to come over from America soon. He had created his own little city of those cottages and how charming they looked as the Sun slowly set over the Ganges!

But there is more to these cottages - they are made from a grass called 'Khus' that grows locally and are highly eco-friendly and at the same time comfortable. The creation of these cottages, Panditji explained, creates rural employment and once the seminars are over the material will be used to make houses for the homeless - houses which can last for 2 years. And the leftover material can be turned into compost. Panditji was taking pains to reduce the carbon footprint of his activities. And I was wondering how much it would help rural India if all our political parties and marriage shamiana makers started creating these eco-cottages. The savings in terms of money and the kick it will give to the rural economy are obvious. 

Also, while at the Institute I had the opportunity to closely observe the high level of pollution in the Ganga. The holy river flows right in front of the Institute. While taking a walk along its banks, I saw how polluted the waters were, especially as some bathing mela was in progress 2 miles upstream. And, least expected, I saw a dead body in remarkably preserved condition float by. And even more surprising, I saw local village people taking their bath in the river among all the filth.

Mother Ganges, when will you be free of this curse?

Stay tuned, I will be writing more on the great master, his disciples, their work and their knowledge here. And also about the nuggets of wisdom I managed to pick up during those few hours!

Idol worship is a "kind of corruption" but who cares?!

A recent search on Al-biruni led me to this page. What struck me was what the Persian traveler wrote about the religion of the Hindus. Biruni, aka Baruni, wrote :

"The educated among the Hindus abhor anthropomorphisms of this kind, but the crowd and the members of the single sects use them most extensively."

"The Hindus believe with regard to God that he is one, eternal, without beginning and end, acting by free-will, almighty, all-wise, living, giving life, ruling, preserving; one who in his sovereignty is unique, beyond all likeness and unlikeness, and that he does not resemble anything nor does anything resemble him."

Biruni argued that the worship of idols "is due to a kind of confusion or corruption." He writes:[68]

"The physical images are monuments in honour of certain much venerated persons, prophets, sages, angels, destined to keep alive their memory when they are absent or dead, to create for them a lasting place of grateful veneration in the hearts of men when they die."

Now, if we tell our hysterically religious Hindu masses that this is what real Hinduism is (what Baruni wrote was essentially what the realized masters from the Hindu religious tradition have always said, and still say), will anyone listen? In fact, I fear if anyone dares to utter such blasphemy in our religiously-charged times, he or she can expect to be lynched and, maybe, even a Vatican-style inquisition!
Hinduism, as separate from Vedic dharma, today is the opium of ignorant masses, which need it in its current form to stay addicted and hysterical.
If you are looking for salvation from such a religion, God save you. And that goes for most other religions on this Planet, as they are practiced now.

A theory designed to discredit the glory of India, and supported by our historians

If you choose and screen your friends carefully, I have found that Facebook can become a sort of provider of information filtered to your interests. Whatever your friends comment upon, or post, on this social networking site can be a easy reference for you to keep updated on what is happening of interest to you in the clutter of cyberspace. It was through Facebook that I came across this article.
"Story of India" Misses the Mark on India's History, Hindu Watchdog Group Announces
And that has reopened in my mind the question: how can this theory, never substantiated and whose only claim to authenticity is that it was articulated by some half-informed European and British colonial historians, become the dominant theory about India's past? And how can it still be tom-tomed about when there are numerous other theories of equal validity, some of them articulated by better informed historians with better evidence?
That says a lot about how our so called historians have become tools in the hands of politicians of different hues who want to discredit the Hindu civilization for narrow political gains. These politicians and academics are no better than the colonial historians but the ill-informed Indian masses -- and the government -- give them a kind of credibility which they hardly deserve.
The Aryans never came to India; there is enough evidence to prove that India was the cradle of the Aryan civilization, that is, if you have the will to open your eyes and look at the evidence with and open mind. One of those proofs, a more scientific and recent one, is mentioned in the article whose link has been posted above.
How sad it is that we call those people who discredit our identity and history as great historians!
How can this state of affairs change? To my mind it can happen only when people who want to understand the propagate the truth come together and form organizations that will sponsor studies on such topics, and also expose the current crop of pseudo-historians.
It seems an uphill task, considering the many groups of various hues who will try to usurp the stage if such an effort is made. But such an effort can succeed it it has the blessing of the Himalayan masters. Again, we need to be wary here. The Himalayan masters shun the limelight; and it is easy in the world we live in to fall for the machinations of pseudo-swamis who may try to usurp such a platform.
Which means, such an effort cannot be undertaken in isolation; it needs to be part of a holistic movement to revamp Indian society and politics, along with religion.

Let us start by cleaning up the Holy Ganga!

This is my first post in the year 2009, and here I want to return to my favourite theme: cleaning up the Holy Ganges. The more I think about it, such a cleansing would be symbolic of the cleansing of Indian, especially Hindu, society. Mother Ganges has become a super-drain of the Gangetic plain, and no one really cares about it. The so-called secular leaders who govern this country would have no reason to care and so would the many pseudo-holy men in the country. But if India and Vedic dharma have to be revitalized, I have a feeling it needs to start from the Holy Ganges.
Such a massive exercise cannot but affect the lives of every human being and animal in the Gangetic plain and, by extension, a major part of India. It will, automatically, turn into a cleansing process for our society and body politic.
Which is exactly why none of the powers that be want Holy Ganges cleaned up.
Apart from the need for hygiene and cleanliness, cleaning up Mother Ganges would also be a washing away our accumulated bad karma, cleaning up Hindustan for higher achievements in the grand scheme of things.
I hope I can contribute something towards the cleaning up of Mother Ganges this year.

Listen to the Message of the Himalayan Masters

The more I read about the tradition of the Himalayan Masters, the more enchanted I become. This lineage of great sages has been guiding life on earth of eons now. And we poor mortals have the gall to think we are the ones who are the smartest on earth!
Consider the few thousand years of known human history (most of which is anyway pretty cloudy and sketchy). We the 60-odd years of comparative peace following World War II is a great achievement. But when you compare our timelines with the planetary ones, those 60 years seem like a second, even a fraction of a second. And we think we have achieved something!
Already the tenuous peace that held is fraying. The world is headed inexorably to another period of war and suffering. So much for man's haughtiness.
Yet, for the discerning, a little bit of probing will suffice to know that behind all this drama is the hand of the great sages, doing their work silently.
The more I think of it, the more I am certain civilization as we know it is headed for doomsday. Even our exploitation of earth and its natural resources have reached the point where they are being taken faster than they can be renewed.
The only option for right thinking individuals who want to change this course of doom is to seek out the ways of the great sages and practise what they have taught. The teachings have been there always; only we need to practise it.
We talk of religious dialogues, tolerance, etc. And come to think of it, we don't even know why we are here. Are we running after something completely useless by following the way of life? I am more and more convinced that we are. And I am taking the message of the sages to heart seriously. Let me practise, and the rest is in THEIR hands!

Post-Mumbai, India has few choices

Am out of Bangalore, too! Or almost.
But more on that later.
I have been watching the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks with a sense of deja vu. Remember the Parliament attack? The same sense of inability to do anything really concrete still haunts the Indian political establishment. The only difference is that it is the Congress, and not the BJP, that is in power now at the Centre.
The choices, or lack of thereof, facing India in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Mumbai are worrisome. The fact is, despite all the hard talk, the government of the country can do precious little to force the Pakistani army and the rogue elements in its intelligence establishment to desist from supporting Islamic terrorists fighting India.
Indian leaders and military chiefs can talk about hot pursuit, but if India really tries that in Kashmir it would be risking a nuclear war in the sub-continent. The US can do that in the Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, but if India tries the same trick it is bound to invite a swift and strong military response from Pakistan.
The fact is, a nuclear-armed Pakistan has made it safer for the terror elements operating from that country to strike with impunity at India.
All the talk about cutting trade and cultural links with Pakistan is not going to solve the problem. Pakistan has survived Indian embargoes earlier, too. Besides, forcing Pakistan into an economic crisis will only strengthen the hands of the jihadists and no country in the world, let alone India, would want them to have access to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

What is the solution? Try the same tack that Pakistan has used with great success against India – foster insurgencies in that country taking advantage of the many ethnic fault lines that fan across its landscape.
The recent explosion of protests from Pakistan against a map that was doing the rounds in the United States, showing present-day Pakistan divided between India, Afghanistan and an independent Baluchistan shows how much Pakistan’s ruling elite fears such an outcome is possible.
India needs to reply in the same coin to what Pakistan has been orchestrating against this country. The question here is can the weak-kneed politicians with their eyes on vote banks conceptualise and execute such a strategy?
It doesn’t sound easy, but if ever there is a time for India to launch such an operation, it is now. And the community of nations, having seen the damage a rogue Pakistan can do, would be only too willing to help!

In Bangalore for a second Innings

From Amchi Mumbai to Bangalore!
Yes, six months in Bombay was enough. I got tired of the crowds, the squalor, the commute...
Wonder why people like that city so much. Maybe it's me, that I don't see what other people see.
Anyway, here in Bengaluru for my second innings.
And right away I can say I don't like the laid back life here, or the total lack of road sense in Bangalore's drivers.
But I guess the divine has some reason for bringing me here; will wait and watch for things to unfold.

Being A Non-Hindu Is Good For The Environment In India!

It may never be too late to mention the Sethursamudram Project, to link the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar. Because the forces who want it, despite the end users and the environmentalists saying it would be a disaster, are still at work. From my recent talks with a colleague, I understand it is DMK chief Karunanidhi's personal ego that is making him push for the project. That is what today's democracy is for you. Even if it means wholesale death and destruction, a megalomaniac masquerading as a popular leader can do whatever he wants to!

The Sethusamudram Project will be an environmental disaster, will cost a bomb to maintain and will be of no real use as a shipping lane. Still we are spending crores on it on a daily basis. The fact that it would hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus hasn't been taken into account either. Just imagine, if it was the religious sentiment of the Muslims or Christians the project would not even have seen the light of the day. The same would have happened if it was a really good project, unlike this one is. That is secularism for you!

Just one question: is being a Muslim or a Christian good for the environment in India?!

VHP to Wash Away Sins in Holy Ganga

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is teaming up with godmen again. But wait, before you say what is new, these are not the bunch of rabble rousers and ultra-conservative set of ochre-clads who had dominated the VHP's ranks all these years. And this time it is for an environmental cause - clean up the Ganga. And these godmen are some of the most influential personalities in today's moderate Hindu society - Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev, Asaramji Bapu and Morari Bapu. They are not exactly pushing a religious agenda in today's Indian society either. (Read story in Mint)

The VHP's agenda is, of course, to reach out to moderate Hindus and thus remove the "untouchable" status it has acquired over the Babri Masjid demolition and riots. But the godmen say they are in the tie-up because it is for enviornmental causes that need immediate attention.

I wish the VHP's agenda fails and the godmen's agenda wins!The Ganga or Ganges needs urgent cleaning up - no doubt about that. The river has nurtured Indians for thousands of years, and now we repay that by polluting and destroying it. The government, and various political parties, with their votebank agenda, are squarely responsible for this state of affairs. If they had any concern about the well being of India, its culture and heritage, and its environment things would not have come to such a pass. What I am saying is if India had a Hindu religious government it could not have allowed the Ganga to be destroyed this way. But I am also saying you don't need any religious affiliations to keep the Ganga clean. Any government which has genuine concerns about its people and country would not have let this happen.

I am really happy this is happening. Of course, there will be people who will try to find an alliance between the VHP and these godmen worrisome for national harmony. And given the VHP's track record they shouldn't be blamed either. But I am sure these godmen, who have proven over the years that they are more humanitarians than religious fanatics would keep the VHP firmly on track and won't let them hijack the movement for narrow political gains. If they manage to do that, the whole nation will be thankful to them and they will get the blessings of Mother Ganges. And the blessings of Mother Ganges could go a long way in washing away the VHP's sins, too.

Cracking the cheap energy puzzle, finally!

Is this the future? Yes, MIT professor Daniel G. Nocera has found a way to replicate the photosynthesis reaction used by plants to make oxygen and hydrogen, to work in the real world - cheaply.
http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/07/30/nocera-solar-power-biz-energy-cz_jf_0731solar.html. Here is the article in Science journal
The experiments are still in their early stage, but Nocera's team has cracked the toughest part of it - the oxygen and hydrogen generation. This should be a landmark in mankind's quest for alternative energy. And if it really takes off, then we are in for an era of cheap and clean energy. Unbelievable but true!
Still the question remains. This won't be the end to all our environmental problems. With no more need to worry about greenhouse gases humans are going to increase their plundering of earth's riches and the pollution of its bounty to life. I am talking about the many chemicals and other stuff we create, use and release into the ecosystem in a day. Well, Nocera has helped us take a giant leap forward. Now each of use need to evaluate what we really need, and separate the need from the greed for building a really sustainable civilisation.

When we dumped those wood-fired stoves ...

The energy crisis made me think of how we used to live in our village - the women used firewood collected from the trees, especially the dried leaves and other matter from coconut trees, to cook food. As I grew up and the country progressed economically, the ease of getting a cooking gas connection increased and at the same time such a connection became affordable to more people. And then, people stopped using firewood - entirely. The results were immediately visible. The dried leaves and stubs from the coconut palms, and even the dried husks, suddenly had no takers. Earlier, people used to run to grab the dried coconut palm leaf or other parts that fell on the ground. Now those were left to rot on the ground. The immediate effect was the coconut groves became untidy and as soon as rain fell the decaying biomatter led to an increase in the number of millipedes and other such insects. More importantly, useful biofuels were being left to rot while the people were paying money to pay for LPG.
Of course, buring those firewoods is never a clean solution but they could easily have been turned into biogas. In fact, some people in my village were considering setting up biofuel plants when the whole thing was made irrelevant by the easy availability of cheap cooking gas.
And now, we have a problem - there is suddenly not enough of that gas and its price is climbing!
Who will we blame here? I don't know.
Maybe we should never have gone to exploiting natural gas reserves, considering the long-term and as yet unknown dangers that could create to life on earth. Does sucking out all that oil and gas make the earth prone more to earthquakes? I have heard such arguments and scientists dismiss them as baseless. But can we really say that? As more and more oil and gas is sucked out, wouldn't it create imbalances in the earth's crust? Isn't that simple logic?
And buring fossil fuels and petroleum products are adding so much of toxic substances to the air and water around, I am not sure what kind of consequences they would bring to life on earth in, say, 50 years. In fact, no one is sure.
Makes me think the simple village life that we had a couple of hundred years back was preferable to the toxic environment we have now, despite all the comforts of the modern life!

Carbon: From Life Giver To Villain

Today I was reading about how plastic bottles are good for the environment. Sounds counterintuitive? But this is about wine bottles, and the story says transporting wine in glass bottles emits more carbon and, hence, plastic bottles are a better proposition. Well, the talk now everywhere is about reducing your carbon footprint. Imagine, suddenly an element that is the building block of life on earth and a gas that has helped keep the earth's atmosphere warm enough for life on earth to flourish are being looked upon as life's worst enemies! The irony here is that however much we hate carbon and carbon dioxide, they are really needed for life to survive on this planet. The current cause of this crisis is human activity, nay, greed. And unless we learn to cut back on competitive consumption and greed I see no end to this crisis.
You can introduce more energy efficient technologies, better alternative fuels, and a lot more, but they will all serve only up to a certain extent. Human greed will soon find even the slack afforded by such technologies and fuels aren't enough - we will soon be back on square one as far as global warming is concerned.
In this context I remember what Mahatma Gandhi had said about how earth has enough resources to fulfil the needs of everyone but not enough to fulfil the greed of everyone - or words to that effect. So that is it: if we don't cut back on our greed, all our policies and emission limits will soon come to naught.
And putting limits on our greed is not something that is easy to implement. I cannot foresee our governments and leaders calling to the people on earth to limit their luxuries and greedy lifestyles. How will they, when their very survival as power wielders depend on fostering such greedy ambitions of the masses?
It will all boil down to changing our leaders, and for that we need to change our own outlook on life. So the ball is back in our court; each individual will have to take responsibility for global warming. That is a tough ask. But once it happens, I guess most of our problems will be solved as well - including that of global warming!

From gracious guests to looters and killers

I recently read somewhere in ancient India, whenever you took something from earth you said a prayer to Mother Earth that whatever you take grows back and enriches the biosphere. Just compare that with what is happening now. Human civilization has become a group of exploiters, digging ever deeper into earth to keep their greedy lifestyle going - from iron and oil to natural gas and even heat! Someone who is accustomed to the many economic theories and geological sciences will ask, what is wrong with that? The only trouble, they would argue, is that we may run out of many resources such as iron and oil, but we can either dig deeper or even spread our search to the neighbouring planets in the solar system.
The only problem with that argument is that we don't recognize earth and even the whole Universe as a living entity, which feels and reacts to changes around them. Such a shift in our viewpoint would mean a lot: for example, if we think of Earth as a living being much like us, it would follow that we are just robber barons trying to loot whatever she has. But if you advance the logic further, we could say we are staying on Mother Earth and enjoying whatever she offers us. In that case, we need to be gracious guests and not parasites. Because if we observe Nature, we can see that in most cases it is only a matter of time before an host organism gets tired of creatures in a mutualism, or symbiotic relationship, that turn parasites and kick them out.
We have turned parasites from guests, and we are plundering our host. But we forget that our host is immensely more powerful than all of us combined. If she just shakes her coat a bit violently, all of us will be no more! We are plundering on merrily as if there is no tomorrow. And we have created so-called sciences to backstop our greed. How long can this continue?
Every day, when I see the destruction around me cause in the name of development, I wonder where all this is going to end. I pray to the Himalayan masters, Divine Mother and Mother Earth to protect us from any calamities that are coming our way, and to show us the right path forward.

Needed - A New Paradigm Of Development

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced human civilisation cannot continue on our present path of development for too long. The paradigm of development we have, which encourages and is sustained by limitless and conspicous consumption of everything - including the animals that co-exist with us on this planet - is inherently flawed. We are leaving too much toxic debris around for us to continue far this way.We may invest in cleaner fuels, we may shun plastics... but all that is not going to do much other than postpone the inevitable for a few more years or, maybe, decades.
There needs to a new paradigm of development, and there needs to be strong political will to enforce it. Enforce it because there is no way a people bred on a culture of greed and self-aggrandisement can be made to wilfully adapt such a new paradigm for the common good.
There are several obstacles to achieving this. First, the new paradigm need to be drawn up by someone with enough foresight and perspicacity. Second, the political will cannot come from our current political system, with the leaders who rely on appeasement of the masses and who have mutualistic relations with businesses, which would be highly interested in continuing with the current paradigm.
If we can overcome these obstacles, then we can say with confidence that human civilisation will survive the crisis it is creating for itself. But it is a tall order, and if we fail, we are eternally doomed.

How A Neuroscientist Discovered Yogic Bliss

This is a wonderful story of a neuroscientist who had a brain haemorrhage and stroke. She recovered fully, but found out some interesting things about her brain. Basically, what she experienced (though that is not the case for all such patients) is akin to one of the higher states of bliss induced by Yoga. Very interesting read. Her book on her experiences, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, is availabe in Amazon now.

Slowly, as our solar system travels closer to the magnetic centre of the galaxy, I think science is understanding some of the science behind the teachings of the ancient masters. And it is high time (though Time is only a concept within our minds) because of all the suffering we are going through, and all the suffering we are inflicting on the ecosystem through our ignorance.

God Works, Through Radical Muslim Youth, This Time!

The hunt for fake godmen that has intensified over the last few weeks in Kerala is something that should be sustained. I had read a few years back about some great sage, forgot who it was, saying the fake godmen are the scum of Indian society and when the society starts to become dynamic, they will be washed away. I think it was Vivekananda.
And now that time seems to have come. These self-proclaimed godmen thrive by instilling a sense of fear and dependence on people who flock to them; those are the very opposite of the qualities you need to discover and realize yourself, according to the Himalayan masters. I personally know of a fake godman in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, who claims to be Hanuman.
He was a perfectly ordinary guy, with a little bit of intuition, before his marriage. Then the mutation happened - he decided that he was Hanuman, and he got mad at me when I questioned it. He still runs a thriving business in Thiruvananthapuram, complete with personally selling women's underwears in a textile shop supposedly run by his brother-in-law.
The campaign against these godmen are spearheaded by Solidarity, a movement of radical Muslim youth. But in this case I think they are doing a wonderful service to society. These godmen are a curse on society - whichever religion they are from - and need to be rooted out. For once, I think, the agenda of these young Muslim activists is in perfect harmony with a national need.
And, after all, God is in them as well as every one else!

The Challenge We Face

A recent report says the huge amounts of carbon dioxide being added to the atmosphere due to human activity is making the ocean waters acidic. While that was known for some time, what is causing concern is that those waters, hitherto restricted to the depths of the big oceans, are now finding their way to the coastal shelves. And these acidic waters are thinning the shells of corals and other animals.
We have gone on polluting our air, water and other resources regardless of the fact that pollution is never confined to the area of pollution. We live in a connected eco-system and the pollutants and other toxins we add to one part of the earth will, sooner or later, find its way around the globe.
If we look at the pollution in some of our industrial cities and compare that with the serene air of the Himalayas or the Amazon, we may think only those living in highly polluted areas need to worry about the problem. Not so. Those pollutants are going to find their way to you, and affect to coming generations all over the earth.
We have been so short-sighted about this problem; and polluting and greedy businesses have glossed over it. But I read in a book about Swami Rama that the Himalayan sages were aware of it even at the beginning of the last century!
We had gone on polluting merrily and now we really do have a problem on our hands: we can continue to do what we do and condemn ourselves, the coming generations, and the whole ecosystem itself; or we can stop this madness and try to mend our ways.
But the second option would mean we change the way we live, and put an end to this conspicuous consumption we had taken for granted in the last 100 years. Are we up to the challenge?