If you accept them, there is no question!
If you really want to know, there are millions of doubts!!
If you really want to know, there are millions of doubts!!
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Chinese history - Confucius and Lao Tze
Two great thinkers with far-reaching infl uence on Chinese history emerged
in the Spring and Autumn Period—Confucius and Lao Tze.
Confucius, named Qiu and style-named Zhongni, was a thinker of the State
of Lu. His thoughts were mainly recorded in The Analects of Confucius, a book
compiled by his disciples. The essence of Confucianism is Ren (benevolence)
and Li (ritual norms). He advocated the idea that “the benevolent loves his
fellow people,” and requested the rulers experience and observe the situation
of the people. He was against tyranny and arbitrary punishment. He advocated
the codes of loyalty and tolerance, and called for “not doing to others what you
don’t want to be done to you” (do unto others as you would have them do unto
you) and understanding others as a way to harmonize personal relationships
and stabilize the social order.
Confucius also valued “ruling by morality” and “ruling with the ritual
norms.” He saw that one could maintain the political and educational system
of the country by encouraging self restraint, restoring rituals, and practicing
moral behavior. He attempted to correct the chaotic social class order in
accordance with the ritual system of the Zhou Dynasty and make it perfectly
justifiable, reflecting his conservative political ideology. However, Confucius
was not against improving and reforming obsolete ritual customs and
political orders on the basis of maintaining an outdated social class system.
Mencius and Xun Zi in the Warring States Period inherited and developed Confucius’ theory and made the political ideals and moral norms of Confucianism the mainstream of traditional thought in China for more than two millennia.
Lao Tze, surnamed Li, named Er, and style-named Dan, was a thinker of the State of Chu. Erudite and knowledgeable, he was once the historical official in the royal court of the Eastern Zhou, responsible for managing collections. Confucius once asked Lao Tze about “ritual norms.”
The Tao Te Ching, a book compiled by the followers of Taoism in the Warring States Period, records the thought of Lao Tze and is replete with the philosophy
and wisdom typical of the oriental world. Lao Tze denied the absolute authority of destiny, advocated following natural laws, and ruling without intervention. “Ruling without intervention” means not intervening arbitrarily. Lao Tze
warned the rulers not to oppress the common people too much.
However, his ideal that “though the noises made by the chickens and dogs can be heard, the people do not contact each other until death” and his concept of “making the people ignorant and without desire” led to some negative effects.
His philosophy sides, for example—high and low, front and rear, existence and void, difficult and easy, life and death, noble and humble—and everything could shift to the opposite. Lao Tze has been regarded by later generations as the founder of Taoism. His thought has had and continues to have a great influence on Chinese culture, including philosophy and ethics, as well as the mode of thinking, morality, and personality of the Chinese people. is rich in dialectic thinking. Lao Tze pointed out that everything has two contradictory Lao Tze on an Ox. It is said that Lao Tze, seeing that the Zhou Dynasty was declining, rode an ox out of the Hangu Pass and vanished from the earthly life.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Shakespeare and Science
By the Favor of the Heavens
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
November 19, 1572
6:05 p.m.
“Father!”
A middle-aged man turns to greet his son, one of a dozen schoolboys making their way out of the King’s New School and onto Chapel Lane. It’s getting cold; the man pulls his cloak to his chest. He’s thankful to be wearing his new fur cap rather than the felt one he’d had to make do with the previous winter. The boy, as full of energy as ever, doesn’t seem to mind the cold.
“You don’t need to walk me home, Father. I’m almost nine years old.” The boy’s breath is visible in the crisp winter air.
“Eight and a half is not ‘almost nine.’ But you’re right, William, you are a young man now,” the father replies. “It happens that I had some business at the church, and I was just on my way back. Let us make haste now, your mother and the children are waiting. I hope you didn’t give Master Hunt any trouble today?”
“Master Hunt had to leave for Alveston, on account of his mother being sick.”
The father is taken aback; usually he is the first to hear any news of that kind. “Is that so?”
“But another teacher took his place,” the boy continues. “Master Jenkins. We still had to do all of that Latin grammar. But we also talked about the Bible, and the children in the upper form read a poem by Horace, and got to act out a scene from a Roman play.”
“Horace was my favorite. Can you remember a few lines?”
“Let me think.… There is nothing that the hands of the Claudii will not accomplish—”
“Not in English. Horace isn’t meant to be read in English. In Latin, William, please.”
“Oh, Father, school is out. And I don’t like Latin.”
“Whether you like it is hardly the point. You must learn it to be a gentleman—and, for the next few years, to escape the birch. Now continue. In Latin.”
“Um … nil Claudiae non perficient manus, quas et … um … benignus numine Iuppiter—”
“Benigno numine,” his father interrupted, correcting the boy’s grammar. “It means ‘by the favor of the heavens.’ That’s enough for now. You did very well, William.”
The pair turn from Chapel Street onto High Street. It is now growing dark; the long winter’s night stretches ahead. The full moon will provide some relief, but it is only just creeping above the eastern horizon. It has been a cloudy day—a little snow fell earlier—but as the wind blows, the clouds finally begin to part. In the southeast shines mighty Jupiter—the same Jupiter the Romans had put their faith in as they marched into battle; the same Jupiter that Horace had rhapsodized over. As they reach Henley Street, William stops and gazes upward.
“What are you looking at, son?”
“It’s something Master Jenkins told us about. He said there was a new star in the sky. He said he had been in Oxford yesterday, and everyone was talking about it.”
The father lets out a hearty laugh. “Don’t be silly, William. I heard some talk of it also at the guild, but the reverend said it couldn’t be, and of course he is right. It could be a comet perhaps.”
“But Father, Master Jenkins said it was a star. In the constellation of—the queen with the funny shape. The queen shaped like an ‘M.’”
“Cassiopeia,” the father replies. In spite of himself, he turns northward to see what may be there. His son turns to follow his gaze. “The Lord doesn’t just create new stars, the way Mr. Smith hammers out horseshoes. God created the world thousands of years ago, and he doesn’t need to make improvements.”
A pause.
“I think that’s it!” William points to a bright star, eastward from the pole, just visible now that the clouds have passed. It stands just to the left of the unmistakable “M” of Cassiopeia.
The father has to admit there is something there. Whatever it is, it’s even brighter than Jupiter. Brighter even than Venus had been that morning, as far as he could recall.
“Father—what does it mean?”
“I don’t know, son. And I don’t know that it really is what it appears to be. It could just as well be the devil’s work as the Lord’s. And now we really must carry on, or supper will be cold. Not to mention my fingers.”
“I’m coming, Father.” But the boy lingers for one last look as his father heads off down the street. “It’s beautiful,” he says, and then runs to catch up. “I don’t think it’s a comet, Father, because comets have tails.”
“More nonsense from Master Jenkins? Well, cats have tails too, but Mrs. Olden’s cat doesn’t have one, and it’s still a cat.”
The boy pauses, seemingly deep in thought. “Why doesn’t Mrs. Olden’s cat have a tail?”
“They say Mr. Olden’s dog bit it off,” his father replies.
“Well, maybe a dog bit off the new star’s tail,” the boy offers.
“That’s quite an imagination you have, son. And how many dogs are there in the sky, William?”
Another pause—and then a wide smile. “Two, Father! You showed them to me last winter—the big dog and the little dog!”
The father laughs. “You do have quite a wit, don’t you, son? Now say their names in Latin, please.”
“Oh, Father! Canis … Canis Major and Canis Minor.”
“Very good, son. By Jove, I swear you’ll make a fine lawyer one day!
People think as scientifically as their world around.
Children then are more science oriented than the elders.
The above is a dialogue between the bard as child and his father.
Is it not interesting?
Don't squirm when a child asks an uncomfortable question.
Try to think like the child.
Not like your father.
That takes you further!!!
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
November 19, 1572
6:05 p.m.
“Father!”
A middle-aged man turns to greet his son, one of a dozen schoolboys making their way out of the King’s New School and onto Chapel Lane. It’s getting cold; the man pulls his cloak to his chest. He’s thankful to be wearing his new fur cap rather than the felt one he’d had to make do with the previous winter. The boy, as full of energy as ever, doesn’t seem to mind the cold.
“You don’t need to walk me home, Father. I’m almost nine years old.” The boy’s breath is visible in the crisp winter air.
“Eight and a half is not ‘almost nine.’ But you’re right, William, you are a young man now,” the father replies. “It happens that I had some business at the church, and I was just on my way back. Let us make haste now, your mother and the children are waiting. I hope you didn’t give Master Hunt any trouble today?”
“Master Hunt had to leave for Alveston, on account of his mother being sick.”
The father is taken aback; usually he is the first to hear any news of that kind. “Is that so?”
“But another teacher took his place,” the boy continues. “Master Jenkins. We still had to do all of that Latin grammar. But we also talked about the Bible, and the children in the upper form read a poem by Horace, and got to act out a scene from a Roman play.”
“Horace was my favorite. Can you remember a few lines?”
“Let me think.… There is nothing that the hands of the Claudii will not accomplish—”
“Not in English. Horace isn’t meant to be read in English. In Latin, William, please.”
“Oh, Father, school is out. And I don’t like Latin.”
“Whether you like it is hardly the point. You must learn it to be a gentleman—and, for the next few years, to escape the birch. Now continue. In Latin.”
“Um … nil Claudiae non perficient manus, quas et … um … benignus numine Iuppiter—”
“Benigno numine,” his father interrupted, correcting the boy’s grammar. “It means ‘by the favor of the heavens.’ That’s enough for now. You did very well, William.”
The pair turn from Chapel Street onto High Street. It is now growing dark; the long winter’s night stretches ahead. The full moon will provide some relief, but it is only just creeping above the eastern horizon. It has been a cloudy day—a little snow fell earlier—but as the wind blows, the clouds finally begin to part. In the southeast shines mighty Jupiter—the same Jupiter the Romans had put their faith in as they marched into battle; the same Jupiter that Horace had rhapsodized over. As they reach Henley Street, William stops and gazes upward.
“What are you looking at, son?”
“It’s something Master Jenkins told us about. He said there was a new star in the sky. He said he had been in Oxford yesterday, and everyone was talking about it.”
The father lets out a hearty laugh. “Don’t be silly, William. I heard some talk of it also at the guild, but the reverend said it couldn’t be, and of course he is right. It could be a comet perhaps.”
“But Father, Master Jenkins said it was a star. In the constellation of—the queen with the funny shape. The queen shaped like an ‘M.’”
“Cassiopeia,” the father replies. In spite of himself, he turns northward to see what may be there. His son turns to follow his gaze. “The Lord doesn’t just create new stars, the way Mr. Smith hammers out horseshoes. God created the world thousands of years ago, and he doesn’t need to make improvements.”
A pause.
“I think that’s it!” William points to a bright star, eastward from the pole, just visible now that the clouds have passed. It stands just to the left of the unmistakable “M” of Cassiopeia.
The father has to admit there is something there. Whatever it is, it’s even brighter than Jupiter. Brighter even than Venus had been that morning, as far as he could recall.
“Father—what does it mean?”
“I don’t know, son. And I don’t know that it really is what it appears to be. It could just as well be the devil’s work as the Lord’s. And now we really must carry on, or supper will be cold. Not to mention my fingers.”
“I’m coming, Father.” But the boy lingers for one last look as his father heads off down the street. “It’s beautiful,” he says, and then runs to catch up. “I don’t think it’s a comet, Father, because comets have tails.”
“More nonsense from Master Jenkins? Well, cats have tails too, but Mrs. Olden’s cat doesn’t have one, and it’s still a cat.”
The boy pauses, seemingly deep in thought. “Why doesn’t Mrs. Olden’s cat have a tail?”
“They say Mr. Olden’s dog bit it off,” his father replies.
“Well, maybe a dog bit off the new star’s tail,” the boy offers.
“That’s quite an imagination you have, son. And how many dogs are there in the sky, William?”
Another pause—and then a wide smile. “Two, Father! You showed them to me last winter—the big dog and the little dog!”
The father laughs. “You do have quite a wit, don’t you, son? Now say their names in Latin, please.”
“Oh, Father! Canis … Canis Major and Canis Minor.”
“Very good, son. By Jove, I swear you’ll make a fine lawyer one day!
People think as scientifically as their world around.
Children then are more science oriented than the elders.
The above is a dialogue between the bard as child and his father.
Is it not interesting?
Don't squirm when a child asks an uncomfortable question.
Try to think like the child.
Not like your father.
That takes you further!!!
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Begging - Tirukkural
Kural no. 1061
Not to beg is billions worth
Even from eye-like friends who give with mirth.
- Sudhananda Bharati's version
ఇచ్చువాడు ఎంత మెచ్చి ఇచ్చిన గూడ
బిచ్చమడుగనివాడు భాగ్యశాలి
కంటివంటి సఖుడు కానుకగ ఇచ్చినను
భిక్షమడుగకున్న లక్ష విలువ
Translations to Telugu by Vijayagopal
Friday, April 3, 2015
Kushwant Singh Says
Read an excerpt from one of the articles of the Grand Old Man of Indian Journalism, the one and the only Kushwant Singh!!
Our forest wealth has fallen to dangerous levels causing enormous erosion of soil
and silting of our dams. Our river and coastal waters are heavily polluted.
We have to impose an immediate ban on the felling of trees and the use of wood
for making furniture and buildings. There are plenty of synthetic substitutes to
replace timber. Trees were an object of worship in olden times: some communities
like the Bishnois of Haryana and Rajasthan still venerate trees and forbid them being
cut down. We have to revive the tradition of sanctity accorded to trees. Enormous amount
of wood is wasted in cremating the dead. There is nothing in the Hindu or Sikh
religion requiring cremation by wood.
Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran were buried. Many Hindu communities
in south India bury their dead. Most Jain munis are also buried. In towns and
cities where there are no electric or gas crematoriums, provision should be made
for Hindu-Sikh cemeteries. No graves or tombstones should be made on them
and the land ploughed over every five years and returned to agriculture. In
coastal towns and cities, the dead should be immersed in the sea. Tree planting
should be made a religious obligation as well as incorporated in our educational
system. No school or college student should be issued a school-leaving
certificate, his degree or diploma unless he or she can produce evidence of
having planted a specified number of trees and nourished them. Tree planting
should also be given the top priority in bequests for charity.
This is almost unknown in India. In Israel, on the other hand, you can see
miles of dense forests of pine and fir lining both sides of the highways. All of
them were planted in memory of the dead. That is how Israel has become green
while its Arab neighbours dwell in the desert. Tree planting is as important as
donating money to build schools, colleges and hospitals. We can, if we have the
will to do so, make our country green and prosperous. That must be the aim of
our religion.
Our forest wealth has fallen to dangerous levels causing enormous erosion of soil
and silting of our dams. Our river and coastal waters are heavily polluted.
We have to impose an immediate ban on the felling of trees and the use of wood
for making furniture and buildings. There are plenty of synthetic substitutes to
replace timber. Trees were an object of worship in olden times: some communities
like the Bishnois of Haryana and Rajasthan still venerate trees and forbid them being
cut down. We have to revive the tradition of sanctity accorded to trees. Enormous amount
of wood is wasted in cremating the dead. There is nothing in the Hindu or Sikh
religion requiring cremation by wood.
Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran were buried. Many Hindu communities
in south India bury their dead. Most Jain munis are also buried. In towns and
cities where there are no electric or gas crematoriums, provision should be made
for Hindu-Sikh cemeteries. No graves or tombstones should be made on them
and the land ploughed over every five years and returned to agriculture. In
coastal towns and cities, the dead should be immersed in the sea. Tree planting
should be made a religious obligation as well as incorporated in our educational
system. No school or college student should be issued a school-leaving
certificate, his degree or diploma unless he or she can produce evidence of
having planted a specified number of trees and nourished them. Tree planting
should also be given the top priority in bequests for charity.
This is almost unknown in India. In Israel, on the other hand, you can see
miles of dense forests of pine and fir lining both sides of the highways. All of
them were planted in memory of the dead. That is how Israel has become green
while its Arab neighbours dwell in the desert. Tree planting is as important as
donating money to build schools, colleges and hospitals. We can, if we have the
will to do so, make our country green and prosperous. That must be the aim of
our religion.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Motion makes the universe!!
If it is all void, you cannot perceive anything. Matter has to be there. If matter is not moving, you again cannot perceive anything. It is motion that makes the universe tick!
Read on!
Motion is everywhere: friendly and threatening, terrible and beautiful. It is fundamental
to our human existence.We need motion for growing, for learning, for thinking and
for enjoying life. We use motion for walking through a forest, for listening to its noises
and for talking about all this. Like all animals, we rely on motion to get food and to
survive dangers. Like all living beings, we need motion to reproduce, to breathe and to
digest. Like all objects, motion keeps us warm.
Motion is the most fundamental observation about nature at large. It turns out that
everything that happens in the world is some type of motion. There are no exceptions.
Motion is such a basic part of our observations that even the origin of the word is lost in
the darkness of Indo-European linguistic history. The fascination of motion has always
made it a favourite object of curiosity. By the fifth century bce in ancient Greece, its
Ref. 1 study had been given a name: physics.
Human beings enjoy perceiving. Perception starts before birth, and we continue enjoying
it for as long as we can.That is why television, even when devoid of content, is so successful.
During our walk through the forest at the foot ofMotionMountain we cannot avoid
perceiving. Perception is first of all the ability to distinguish. We use the basicmental act
of distinguishing in almost every instant of life; for example, during childhood we first
learned to distinguish familiar from unfamiliar observations.This is possible in combination
with another basic ability, namely the capacity to memorize experiences.Memory
gives us the ability to experience, to talk and thus to explore nature. Perceiving, classifying
and memorizing together form learning.Without any one of these three abilities, we
could not study motion.
Children rapidly learn to distinguish permanence from variability. They learn to recognize
human faces, even though a face never looks exactly the same each time it is seen.
From recognition of faces, children extend recognition to all other observations. Recognition
works pretty well in everyday life; it is nice to recognize friends, even at night, and
even after many beers (not a challenge).The act of recognition thus always uses a form
of generalization. When we observe, we always have some general idea in our mind. Let
us specify the main ones.
Sitting on the grass in a clearing of the forest at the foot of Motion Mountain, surrounded
by the trees and the silence typical of such places, a feeling of calmness and tranquility
envelops us. We are thinking about the essence of perception. Suddenly, something
moves in the bushes; immediately our eyes turn and our attention focuses. The
nerve cells that detect motion are part of the most ancient part of our brain, shared with
birds and reptiles: the brain stem. Then the cortex, or modern brain, takes over to analyse
the type of motion and to identify its origin. Watching the motion across our field
of vision, we observe two invariant entities: the fixed landscape and the moving animal.
After we recognize the animal as a deer, we relax again.
( Look at the image for a while. Is there some movement?)
Read on!
Motion is everywhere: friendly and threatening, terrible and beautiful. It is fundamental
to our human existence.We need motion for growing, for learning, for thinking and
for enjoying life. We use motion for walking through a forest, for listening to its noises
and for talking about all this. Like all animals, we rely on motion to get food and to
survive dangers. Like all living beings, we need motion to reproduce, to breathe and to
digest. Like all objects, motion keeps us warm.
Motion is the most fundamental observation about nature at large. It turns out that
everything that happens in the world is some type of motion. There are no exceptions.
Motion is such a basic part of our observations that even the origin of the word is lost in
the darkness of Indo-European linguistic history. The fascination of motion has always
made it a favourite object of curiosity. By the fifth century bce in ancient Greece, its
Ref. 1 study had been given a name: physics.
Human beings enjoy perceiving. Perception starts before birth, and we continue enjoying
it for as long as we can.That is why television, even when devoid of content, is so successful.
During our walk through the forest at the foot ofMotionMountain we cannot avoid
perceiving. Perception is first of all the ability to distinguish. We use the basicmental act
of distinguishing in almost every instant of life; for example, during childhood we first
learned to distinguish familiar from unfamiliar observations.This is possible in combination
with another basic ability, namely the capacity to memorize experiences.Memory
gives us the ability to experience, to talk and thus to explore nature. Perceiving, classifying
and memorizing together form learning.Without any one of these three abilities, we
could not study motion.
Children rapidly learn to distinguish permanence from variability. They learn to recognize
human faces, even though a face never looks exactly the same each time it is seen.
From recognition of faces, children extend recognition to all other observations. Recognition
works pretty well in everyday life; it is nice to recognize friends, even at night, and
even after many beers (not a challenge).The act of recognition thus always uses a form
of generalization. When we observe, we always have some general idea in our mind. Let
us specify the main ones.
Sitting on the grass in a clearing of the forest at the foot of Motion Mountain, surrounded
by the trees and the silence typical of such places, a feeling of calmness and tranquility
envelops us. We are thinking about the essence of perception. Suddenly, something
moves in the bushes; immediately our eyes turn and our attention focuses. The
nerve cells that detect motion are part of the most ancient part of our brain, shared with
birds and reptiles: the brain stem. Then the cortex, or modern brain, takes over to analyse
the type of motion and to identify its origin. Watching the motion across our field
of vision, we observe two invariant entities: the fixed landscape and the moving animal.
After we recognize the animal as a deer, we relax again.
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