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Few months ago, I posted in my Tamil blog about how human beings have been indiscriminately exploiting and misusing the natural resources in the past fifty years or so, how such indiscriminate activities have contributed to things like global warming, climate change, environmental pollution, etc., how it is affecting us today and how, if we as individuals can make small changes to our lifestyle and outlook, can significantly contribute towards improving the situation.

One person who commented on the post couldn’t accept the fact that global warming is caused by human activities. He said,

What about the other side of the coin? Earth is about 3 billion years old and just 50 years of human action could change the world climate - total farce. Don’t get me wrong, if this the only way we reduce carbon emissions, the change is more than welcome but the premise is still debatable.

Here is my reply to the comment:

Let’s be clear about one thing here. It’s not that just 50 years of human action is affecting 3 billion year old Earth. All the climate change caused by human action doesn’t affect in a significant way the Earth operates. But this climate change caused by our activities does affect in a significant way our life on Earth. Am I making myself clear? It’s like a mosquito sitting on your hand and sucking your blood. It’s not of much significance to you. It takes less than a second for you strike a blow, finish the life of the mosquito and carry on with your work. But you getting rid of the mosquito is very significant from the mosquito’s point of view. It’s a question of life and death for the mosquito. In much the same way, we are sucking away earth’s resources resources in an indiscriminate manner and polluting the environment, the result of which is climate change and this climate change has become a life and death issue for us human beings, but it doesn’t mean a thing to Earth.

Debates have happened over this issue in the past, but now it’s been proved and widely accepted that climate change is caused very much by human activities. So, there is no point in further specluation. It’s time for action. And it’s utter foolishness to say that we have to ’save the Earth’. But we definitely have to take action and save our own lives on this planet.

Few days ago, I stumbled upon this very unique and interesting video. This is a talk by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor on her ‘Nirvana’ experience. In the morning of December 10 1996, Dr. Taylor had a brain stroke, a blood vessel in the left half of her brain exploded, and that’s when she experienced a great shift in awareness, she found Nirvana!

The way Dr. Taylor explains her experience is very similar to the way yogis and spiritualists explain their ‘enlightenment’ experience. Dr. Taylor says that we all can have such experience when we can switch off our ‘I and mine’ness, the sense of individuality, the thing more popularly called as ‘ego’. In almost all spiritual traditions, we are advised to renounce our selfish ego (or at least have conscious control over our ego) in order for our awareness to shift higher into more spiritual realms.

But it’s very unique to have a ‘brain scientist’ explain her ‘enlightenment’ experience. We know that there are two halves of the brain, left and the right. From what Dr. Taylor says, the left part of the brain is that which gives us the sense of individuality. The left part of the brain thinks sequentially, it’s the logical part of the brain, it’s that part of the brain which stores and analyses your past experiences and plans for the future. While the right side of the brain is what connects us to the universal consciousness, it’s the intuitive part of the brain, it’s all about the (present) moment, it’s all about Love, Peace and Joy. Dr. Taylor explains in the video how the dominant part of our brain controls our awareness.

Dr. Taylor says that we can willfully switch our awareness back and forth between the universal and individual consciousness when we can have control over the ego. She says that any of us can do this, and when when everyone living in the world can have this conscious control over themeselves, she pictures a “world filled with beautiful, peaceful, compassionate, loving people who knew that they could come to this space at any time.” A beautiful vision indeed!

Watch the video.

Visit Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s website

Of late, I have been reading the book Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Abdul Kalam, as we know, is not just a missile scientist and a rocket engineer who went on to become the 11th President of India, he is also a nation builder, a visionary, motivator, a management guru, a philosopher, a poet, and above all he is a deeply spiritual person and an ideal karma yogi. Needless to say, his autobiography, Wings of Fire is one of my all time favourite books. I have nothing more to add to all that has already been wonderfully said about the book. So, let me just quickly share a few quotes from Kalam that I have collected from his book.

I wonder why some people tend to see science as something which takes man away from God. As I look at it, the path of science can always wind through the heart. For me, science has always been the path to spiritual enrichment and self-realisation.

the best way to win was to not need to win. The best performances are accomplished when you are relaxed and free of doubt.

… Continue reading ‘Quotes from ‘Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of Abdul Kalam’’ »

Anybody who visited my site during the last week of March would have found that it was temporarily down as it exceeded the monthly bandwidth limit. Not that my site suddenly got popular overnight, nor is it due to any digg effect or stumbling upon. It’s due to a monster called MSNBot coming to my site and sucking away all my bandwidth in a span of two and a half days. … Continue reading ‘A monster called MSNBot’ »

“As many faiths, so many paths.” It can be said that this one little sentence reflects the whole life and message of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Today, 9th March 2008, is the birth anniversary of Ramakrishna (according to Bengali calendar), a perfect day to ponder over the message of Ramakrishna. Here are some quotes from Sri Ramakrishna.

I had to practise each religion for a time — Hinduism, Islām, Christianity. Furthermore, I followed the paths of the Śāktas, Vaishnavas, and Vedāntists. I realized that there is only one God toward whom all are travelling; but the paths are different.

Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament, and name. A lake has many ghats. From one ghat the Hindus take water in jars and call it ‘jal’. From another ghat the Mussalmāns take water in leather bags and call it ‘pāni’. From a third the Christians take the same thing and call it ‘water’. Suppose someone says that the thing is not ‘jal’ but ‘pāni’, or that it is not ‘pāni’ but ‘water’, or that it is not ‘water’ but ‘jal’, It would indeed be ridiculous. But this very thing is at the root of the friction among sects, their misunderstandings and quarrels. This is why people injure and kill one another, and shed blood, in the name of religion. But this is not good. Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they have sincerity and longing of heart.

… Continue reading ‘It’s Ramakrishna Jayanti today.’ »