Net Photo Album of Trip To Kerala

Hi,

Find the link to photographs taken during my trip to Kerala.

Photographs of my trip to Kerala:

Trip To Kerala

The best way to view the photographs at leisure would be:
Step 1: Click on button "Slideshow".
Step 2: Click on the button for pause (One with 2 sticks)
Step 3: See the photographs using the Cursor Keys (Forward & Backward Keys)
Step 4: At any point if you want to hide or show the Captions, click on links "hide captions" or "show captions".

Book Review: "How Starbucks Saved My Life" by Malcolm Gates

"How Starbucks Saved My Life" is a Biography of Malcolm Gates, who was an Executive Vice President at the renowned advertisement firm, JWT for more than 30 years, before being shown the door at the age of 63, in order to make way for a younger and more aggressive generation.

In the book, Gates talks about his hollow, full-of-oneself and pompous existence typically observed in the filthy rich of America, who have no clue about the realities of life and its struggles, being faced at every moment, by the majority of ordinary citizens. He goes on to acknowledge the role of his new job as a Barista at Starbucks and the benevolent help of his African American Lady Boss, Crystal, to re-discover the basic joys of life such as experiencing the joys of growing up along with your child or bringing a smile to people's daily drudge routine life through small gestures of gratitude and respect to everyone or in understanding the real meaning of dignity of labor by becoming the best "Toilet Cleaner" or in re-affirming the belief in oneself that age is no bar for working hard and creating a niche for oneself.

The book is a fast read which is packed with several small instances which illustrate through examples, how Gates while working as the Barista, gave up his pre-conceived notions about several aspects of his past life and re-learnt new and joyful ways of giving and receiving love and respect from those around him - the colleagues, who were in their twenties, his boss in her thirties and the various customers of Starbucks, from various hues of society, across different age groups.

An engaging read especially for those of us who lead a cocooned life and are not aware of struggles of daily life of ordinary citizens. The book is written in easy prose and is instantly appealing to the rich of America. For those from the non-developed nations, the concepts discussed might sound a tad obvious, but they score bang on for the privileged Americans since the concepts come straight from Gates, who had been in their shoes and after losing his job and life, had regained both back through his new humble job at the Starbucks.

"Autobiography of a Yogi" by Swami Paramhansa Yogananda

Probably one of the most insightful and the best book ever read by me on spirituality was the "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Swami Paramhansa Yogananda. Its lucid description and introduction of the spiritual aspects of our life, in form of several contiguous short story-like autobiography of Swami Paramhansa Yogananda can only be best described by actually reading this book. The practices like Kriya Yoga can of course only be done rather than read to experience the path to Moksha. A highly recommended read for everyone, even those who are not spiritually inclined or think it is poh-poh, if only to catch a glimpse of sometimes magical world of our spiritual and mental powers within our own grasp, as shared in this book. Do not get me wrong - This is not a children's book on magic but does describe several feats which would appear magical but are achievable even by you and I, provided we are willing to go through the rigors required for acquiring those supernatural powers. Mind reading, Levitating, Fasting indefinitely, etc. are some of the few displayed powers of human beings described in the book along with a few examples of sages and yogis who practice those. But all-in-all, the book provides a very logic framework for people in this World to relate to Spiritualism and a path to help adopt it, without the need to do any idol worship or follow any archaic customs, but simply through self discipline and practice of certain techniques.

The following link gives access to the free online edition of the book:

http://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/index.html

The link to the book review of this great masterpiece:

http://www.sandeepweb.com/2007/08/22/book-review-autobiography-of-a-yogi/

I agree with Sandeep in the very first few lines when he says that "Reviewing the book is like insulting it...".

Meditation Explained Scientifically

Dear All,

It has been quite sometime (maybe more than an year) since my last posting. I came across the following article in Times of India's "Speaking Tree" and thought it deserves a place in my blog. Though meditation is more to do with the experience but for those who love intellectual stimulation may find the following explanation of meditation and thereby the effects of practising meditation, to be quite an endearing read.

Bose-Einstein condensate and state of samadhi
30 Dec 2008, 0000 hrs IST, DEEPAK RANADE

Matter and energy are inter convertible. Matter is present in various energy states. These energy states were found to be temperature-dependent. The higher the temperature, the greater the energy. For example, water boils when it is heated to higher temperatures. This increases the disorder in the molecules as they are energised. This disorder is referred to as entropy. It represents the excitability and chaos of the molecules that constitute matter. Satyendra Bose proposed to Einstein that if matter was cooled to very low temperatures to Absolute Kelvin or minus 273 degrees Centigrade, then the entropy of that matter should decrease and matter should come down to a zero-energy state. This remained only in the realms of hypothetical speculation until it was proved much later on. This zero-energy state is now known in physics as the Bose-Einstein condensate. This state of matter is also called a super atom as the entire mass behaves as if it were a single atom. It loses all its characteristics of shape, charge and polarisation. It probably reverts to a shapeless, attribute less phenomenon in a de-evolution of matter, reverting back to just the potential to manifest as anything and everything. The human brain is an aggregate of nearly 100 billion neurons. Various thoughts that constantly crowd our minds are the sum total of simultaneous activity of different neurons. No wonder there is chaos in our waking state. The thoughts translate into various biological changes mediated by the hormonal apparatus at the pituitary interfacing system. The complex interconnections that abound in the nervous system ensure that even a small impulse rapidly spreads seismically via the dense network. Some individuals have innate higher entropy levels and so find it harder to concentrate. They are `distracted' easily. They have fleeting thoughts and are very restless. The sensory organs serve as an important pathway to increase the entropy as they stimulate various neuronal circuits adding to the entropy. Therefore, closing the eyes helps in the process of concentration. Continuous stimulation of the neural networks is what happens in the waking state. Hence sleep is necessary for minimising these constant excitatory inputs. Sleep deprivation leads to fatigue of the neural networks. When you concentrate, there is a resultant decrease in the disorder of the neural system. As concentration increases, the tendency of the mind to waver and scatter decreases. The mind is more sharply focused. We all have experienced the need to concentrate when we are studying or performing some important activity. So when we concentrate, we are increasing the synchronicity of a specific group of neurons and silencing unrelated neuronal activity. In scientific parlance, concentration decreases the entropy of the neuronal apparatus. Just as the entropy of matter drops to near-zero levels when we approach Absolute Kelvin, similarly, the neuronal disorder keeps waning as we concentrate. The neuronal firing decreases in amplitude as well as frequency. So would the propagation across various networks. In the waking state, when you consciously attempt to decrease the entropy of the nervous system, it is referred to as meditation. As the entropy of the neurons keeps decreasing, a state of calmness is perceived. As this progresses further, the neurons start becoming synchronous. That is, they neither modulate nor amplify any incoming signal. They just resonate in harmony. As this orchestra gets more in sync, you experience varying states of bliss and happiness. Till what is presumably the final state of zero-entropy, where all 100 billion neurons function in total unified quantum coherence. The Bose-Einstein condensate equivalent of the neuronal system is what may be termed as Samadhi.

Net Photo Album of Second Trip to Singapore

Hi,

Find the link to photographs taken during my second trip to Singapore...

Photographs of my Second Trip to Singapore:
http://picasaweb.google.com/anuragr2004/MySecondTripToSingapore?authkey=rERVOpIi7QY

The best way to view the photographs at leisure would be:
Step 1: Click on button "Slideshow".
Step 2: Click on the button for pause (One with 2 sticks)
Step 3: See the photographs using the Cursor Keys (Forward & Backward Keys)
Step 4: At any point if you want to hide or show the Captions, click on links "hide captions" or "show captions".

Net Photo Album of Trip to Amsterdam (Holland) via Munich (Germany)

Hi,

Find the link to photographs taken during my trip to Amsterdam via Munich...

Photographs of my Trip to Amsterdam:
http://picasaweb.google.com/anuragr2004/MyTripToHollandAmsterdam?authkey=Q8I6opjcqFE

The best way to view the photographs at leisure would be:
Step 1: Click on button "Slideshow".
Step 2: Click on the button for pause (One with 2 sticks).
Step 3: Now see the photographs using the Cursor Keys (Forward & Backward Keys).
Step 4: At any point if you want to hide or show the Captions, click on links "hide captions" or "show captions".

Net Photo Albums of Trips to Singapore & Malaysia

Hi,

Find the links to photographs taken during my recent trip to Singapore and Malaysia...

Photographs of my Trip To Singapore:
http://picasaweb.google.com/anuragr2004/MyTripToSingapore?authkey=1JQ60crujPg

Photographs of my Trip To Malaysia:
http://picasaweb.google.com/anuragr2004/MyTripToMalaysiaKualaLumpur?authkey=5yRFaj-l9j0

The best way to view the photographs at leisure would be:

Step 1: Click on button "Slideshow".

Step 2: Click on the button for pause (One with 2 sticks).

Step 3: Now see the photographs using the Cursor Keys (Forward & Backward Keys).

Step 4: At any point if you want to hide or show the Captions, click on links "hide captions" or "show captions".