Why Expert Systems Must Fail

I want to know what a man is that he can understand a number, and a number that it could be understood by a man.
—Marvin Minsky

Last evening, while on a walk around Palm Meadows with WiFi, i saw with great clarity why expert systems must fail. The reason is very simple: they do not take Consciousness into account, i.e., they are not rooted in Consciousness. The incident that provoked the clarity was this:

On my blog post titled Born on the Fourth of August, Sudheer had commented:

"Numbo Jumbo" - What a beautiful phrase! Did you coin it?

Being chastened enough by Ramana Maharshi on who does the thinking / working: (from the end of a mysterious post titled Half a lifetime ago)

The feeling ‘I work’ is the hindrance. Ask yourself ‘Who works?’ Remember who you are. Then the work will not bind you; it will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce; your effort is the bondage. What is destined to happen will happen. If you are destined not to work, work cannot be had even if you hunt for it; if you are destined to work, you will not be able to avoid it; you will be forced to engage yourself in it. So, leave it to the higher power; you cannot renounce or retain as you choose. (Maharshi’s Gospel, page 5)

i have come to the conclusion that one's mind is nothing more than a parasite on Consciousness. So i was reluctant to take credit for that and responded:

Thank you, Sudheer. Numbo Jumbo was one of those phrases which came from the Abyss and presented itself to me. So i don't know whether one can say that one had coined it.

To use a holographic example, the abyss of the ocean is the Formless while the waves on it are the form-filled / material aspects of Life. The Formless gives rise to the form; the One becomes the many. Expert systems are designed and developed on equations and interactions between the individual waves, while ignoring the most important component of it all, the deep end of the ocean altogether.

Since i've always put my money where my mouth was, like the earlier offer, i am not shy of making another:

Am willing to pay USD 25,000 to anyone who can make an expert system do something that it's _not_ programmed for.

In other words, show me the squid and claim the quid.

Waiting now for that All Spark, with no transforms thrown in ;-)

God is not a toy for your security or a concept for your convenience. God is love. God is the substratum of this universe, the basis of this existence. God is the space in which all things happen.
—Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Guru of Joy

Douber All Over

It was David "Douber" Doubilet all over in the NatGeoMag issue of June, 2008. Well, sort of.

He was there in the Rolex ad as soon as you opened the mag.

Rolex—Ads—David Doubilet

The eulogy at the top-left goes:

D A V I D D O U B I L E T
Underwater photographer. Explorer. Artist.
Marine naturalist and protector of the ocean habitat.
Author of a dozen books on the sea.
For 50 years, his passion has illuminated
the hidden depths of the Earth.

He's been doing this for 50 years?! And to think he turned 60 just a couple of years ago (David Doubilet Turns 60). I checked my page of him, which i used on the Infosys intranet, and found: (PDF version of the same)

David Doubilet was born 28.Nov.1946 in New York City. He began snorkeling at the age of eight in the cold, green seas off the northern New Jersey coast. By the age of thirteen, he was taking black and white pictures above and below the sea with his first camera—a pre-war Leica.

When i met Don Belt, along with Ed Kashi, last September (photo), Don was mentioning that Douber's heart rate was very low (around 40 per minute, similar to that of Boris Becker) and that he could stay underwater about twice as long as others on the same tank of air!

Also, Douber estimates that he has spent well over half his life under water. I think living underwater has a distinct benefit on longevity as one weighs so much lesser in the underwater realm and there's a corresponding lesser load on the heart, notwithstanding Douber's as-it-is very low heart rate. By the time i hang up my boots or socks or whatever in 2045 (as someone predicted), guess Douber would still be around shooting underwater, even though he would be nudging 100. Assuming, of course, that there would be something to shoot underwater (see Oceans of Nothing).

Then there was the article, with Douber's photos, on nudibranchs.

Toxic nudibranchs—soft, seagoing slugs—produce a brilliant defense

How did he manage to get those wonderful photos on a white background? We find the answer on the last page of the issue: With his custom-made white mini-studio.

Slug Show

Service Excellence: Club Mahindra

The Club Mahindra folks have significantly increased their service levels. For instance:

• In the early 2000s, they would not release the hardcopy of the Holiday Confirmation Voucher (HCV) unless you cleared the year's ASF. Now there are no such restrictions. You get the HCV delivered by email within an hour of your booking the holiday, as we found out this year.
  
• As soon as you get back from the holiday, there's a web page that's mailed to you requesting for feedback.
  

That's the way technology should be used, as your servant :-)

So it was quite a shock when we drove down to Coorg (photos and videos) on 12.MAY and found that they had no 1BR (one bedroom) acco available for us. They put us up for the night in a Studio (good for a small family, but not for one with two grown-up kids) in their Masaul block. Later i posted the following along with the picture below:

Hobson's Choice at Club Mahindra

The Club Mahindra call center screwed up on the 1BR bookings (like the airlines, they booked more, anticipating no-shows) and the Front-Office folks at Coorg allotted us a Studio room in Masaul.

They called us when we were driving down to Coorg, and i was surprised by that service level. Later on, we realized the reason for the call: they were hoping that we do not land up at the resort that evening. As Paul Krugman wrote at the end of a recent article:
~~~~~
But hope is not a plan.
~~~~~

And to think we booked the week at Coorg on 08.FEB, more than three months back. Needless to say, the room # we got (1115) added up to an 8.

The Front Desk guy (Sugata Mitra) was OK, but there was a lady (if you could call her that) who gave us a Hobson's Choice (only one #s Studio is available: take it or leave it) for the day.

I used old Prof. VL Mote's funda to break the impasse:
~~~~~
If there's no alternative, there's no problem.
~~~~~

She wasn't contrite at all. It was as if she was doing us a favor.

Wonder why they put such folks in FO ops. Probably, FO means something else ;-)

and sent them the link. They replied saying that they needed four days to resolve the issue. They got back on 27.MAY with the following:

While the incident you have outlined is deeply regrettable, it is our earnest request to you to treat it as an isolated and rare occurrence.

The Manager of the Munnar [sic] resort has also personally verified -after enquiries- that your experience is an infrequent happenstance. He has also instructed us to extend his personal invitation to visit the resort again.

As a small token of our appreciation for giving us the opportunity to be of service to you, we're happy to inform you that all your days has [sic] been re-credited to your membership.

Well, you got to give it to them.

Service Excellence

Loss of a Sense

My Dad is sort of going blind with age, but he's the very picture of poise in how he deals with that. As a fellow D8C8, that's a very good lesson for me.

At lunch on Tuesday with my parents at HYD, i was wondering which was worse: blindness or deafness, as a result of age. Both my parents said that it was blindness as eyes provided the interface with the world, but my call was deafness; to be shut off from the world, esp. for an auditory guy like me (see), would be tantamount to paralysis. Also, hearing is asynchronous, while seeing is synchronous. No wonder i am a big follower of Steinbeck's Knife. WiFi once created an account for me with the password: asyncsas :-)

Anyway, what's your choice on the blindness or deafness?

I was also reminded of a great classical singer in Vizianagaram, who was born blind. He said that his blindness was hardly a limitation as he had seen Lord Ram during concerts! How was that possible? As usual, Sri Ramakrishna has the answer: (Gospel, Chapter 4, page 115, middle)

M: "When one sees God does one see Him with these eyes?"

MASTER: "God cannot be seen with these physical eyes. In the course of spiritual discipline one gets a 'love body', endowed with 'love eyes', 'love ears', and so on. One sees God with those 'love eyes'. One hears the voice of God with those 'love ears'. One even gets a sexual organ made of love."

At these words M. burst out laughing. The Master continued, unannoyed, "With this 'love body' the soul communes with God."

Terry's Zeroes

Dhuli sent me an interesting link last evening:

China earthquake: Superstition a potent force

When Manchester United won the Champions League last Wednesday, many put the blame on Chelsea's captain John Terry for missing a crucial penalty.

In China, though, almost 20 per cent of the respondents in an online poll thought it was because United, the most popular English team in China, had been blessed by the victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

But the most popular quack theory for the quake revolves around the number '8', the luckiest number for the Chinese and the reason why the Beijing Olympics will start at 8 pm on the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the century.

But as amateur numerologists have been quick to point out, 2008 is turning out to be an extremely unlucky year for China.

On January 25th, blizzards and snowstorms blanketed much of the country, paralysing the railways just as hundreds of millions of people were preparing to travel to their hometowns for the Chinese New Year.

Two months later on March 14, the protests erupted in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and the government's heavy-handed response saw China condemned around the world. Then the earthquake struck on May 12.

For the conspiracy theorists, the common denominator is that when the date of each of these three disasters is added together, the result is 8. That is somehow proof that 2008 was destined to be a bad year for China. So 2 and 5 and 1, for January, makes 8, as does 1 and 4 and 3 and now 1 and 2 and 5.

And, of course, May 12 was precisely 88 days before the start of the Olympics. If the trend continues, July 1 is set to be a difficult day for China too.

My take is that the Compound # for all the screw-y events wasn't 8, but 9 as whoever did the addition didn't take the year (2008) into account; it adds up to a 1 (2+0+0+8 = 10). The logic would have been right last year, which added up to a 9.

Regarding the costly slip-up by John Terry (a D7C1), i wonder why a guy whose name adds up to the wonderful number of 32 was wearing a jersey with the number 26! That's like hara-kiri or, as we used to say in Sea Sands:

అడిగి కొట్టిన్చుకోవడం
Ask to get beaten

CPKK, the chap who taught me numerology, used to say that 26 was the worst day in the month to be born on. Am sure that the jersey # had some part to play in the slip.

SLIP, SLIDE AWAY: Chelsea's John Terry misses the vital fifth penalty which could have won the Trophy for Chelsea as Manchester United's goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar dives the other way

Coming to the Chinese O-limp-ics, methinks that all the past atrocities of the Chinese are catching up with them. The wheels of God grind slowly, buy they grind very fine and all that jazz. Like South Africa, which btw adds up to 41, getting chewed in both the cricket World Cups (1999 and 2003) by a whisker (they blamed apartheid on that one).

As for that 8:08 PM start on 08.AUG.2008 (numero-logically also it's a double-8 or a D8C8), the Chinese folks might be asking for trouble. However, after seeing me, CPKK used to say that the D8C8 wasn't as bad as other 8s ;-)

Avalon-e

There's a lovely passage in Travels with Charley that i keep recalling: (pp. 47-48 of the Mandarin edition)

One doesn't have to be sensitive to feel the strangeness of Deer Isle. And if people who have been going there for many years cannot describe it, what can I do after two days? It is an island that nestles like a suckling against the breast of Maine, but there are many of those. The sheltered darkling water seems to suck up light, but I've seen that before. The pine woods rustle and the wind cries over open country that is like Dartmoor. Stonington, Deer Isle's chief town, does not look like an American town at all in place or in architecture. Its houses are layered down to the calm water of the bay. This town very closely resembles Lyme Regis on the coast of Dorset, and I would willingly bet that its founding settlers came from Dorset or Somerset or Cornwall. Maine speech is very like that in West Country England, the double vowels pronounced as they are in Anglo-Saxon, but the resemblance is doubly strong on Deer Isle. And the coastal people below the Bristol Channel are secret people, and perhaps magic people. There's aught behind their eyes, hidden away so deep that perhaps even they do not know they have it. And that same thing is so in Deer Islers. To put it plainly, this Isle is like Avalon; it must disappear when you are not there.

But, isn't everything like that? As Ramana Maharshi says:

All that you see depends on the seer. Apart from the seer there is no seen.

Reiki, Anyone?

The ToI guys came up with another masterpiece today: (BLR edition, page 11, middle, source)

Sidharth Basu of Synergy Adlabs said, "He was only a week old in our organization and I had not even met him. But I know he had left the office at about 8pm that day. He was working on a new show and was to go with the team to Rajasthan for a reiki."

Was wondering WTH he was talking about, when it hit me; Mr. Basu was referring to a recce.

One more "fender" in the cap for the Tabloid of India guys; they kill me. Still chortling.

Swimming Sai Bhajans

Attended the Sai bhajans after quite a while. Dr. VK started off:

Janardhana Nandalala Govinda Gopala

and there was a bit of a stutter at the start, when Uncle kicked in with a rousing voice. My ear is very sensitive to this sort of stuff and i was immediately transported into a mood. Sri Ramakrishna refers to this as unmana samadhi*: (Gospel, Chapter 17, page 350, bottom)

"There is another kind of samādhi, called unmana samādhi. One attains it by suddenly gathering the dispersed mind. You understand what that is, don't you?"

Anyway, guess i have been referring to the BG too much last night as there was another incident from the Gospel that i was reminded: (Chapter 3, page 105, top)

"Chaitanyadeva set out on a pilgrimage to southern India. One day he saw a man reading the Gita. Another man, seated at a distance, was listening and weeping. His eyes were swimming in tears. Chaitanyadeva asked him, 'Do you understand all this?' The man said, 'No, revered sir. I don't understand a word of the text.' 'Then why are you crying?' asked Chaitanya. The devotee said: 'I see Arjuna's chariot before me. I see Lord Krishna and Arjuna seated in front of it, talking. I see this and I weep.'"

* Very interestingly, it adds up to 41 in the same manner as my name (22 + 19).

"Just do your work, kid!"

The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.
—Margot Fonteyn

After driving down to Mysore from Coorg, with a detour to Namdroling Monastery, i was fortunate to see the interview on Inside the Actors Studio with Matt Damon, a fellow D8C8.

One thing that particularly touched me was Damon's reference to the favourite motivational phrase of his most inspirational teacher (Gerry Speca):

Just do your work, kid!

From there, it's another step (leap?) to the best teaching, to me, in the Bhagavad-Gita: (2.47-48; from the translation by Barbara Stoler Miller)

Be intent on action,
not on the fruits of action;
avoid attraction to the fruits
and attachment to inaction!

Perform actions, firm in discipline,
relinquishing attachment;
be impartial to failure and success—
this equanimity is called discipline.

In the interview, Matt Damon narrates how he lost 40 pounds for his role in Courage Under Fire, but not one critic wrote about it.

Later, when he met Steven Spielberg for auditioning for Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg gave him the part saying that he was very impressed by Damon's role in Courage Under Fire!

Science of human possibilities

Getting into the Zone

Or, the Zen with the Ken

The holiday at Coorg has been going great and i got into the zone early Friday morning with Sri Ramakrishna's discussion with Hari: (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Chapter 22)

MASTER: "This world is the līlā of God. It is like a game. In this game there are joy and sorrow, virtue and vice, knowledge and ignorance, good and evil. The game cannot continue if sin and suffering are altogether eliminated from the creation.
…
HARI: "But this play of God is our death."

MASTER (smiling): "Please tell me who you are. God alone has become all this-māyā, the universe, living beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles. 'As the snake I bite, and as the charmer I cure.' It is God Himself who has become both vidyā and avidyā. He remains deluded by the māyā of avidyā, ignorance. Again, with the help of the guru, He is cured by the māyā of vidyā, Knowledge."

Walked all the way to my Zen pond and spent some time savoring the silence, amidst the chittering of the insects.

My Zen Pond

Setting up the Pix Grid

A picture is worth two thousand words.
—Based on a study by The Book of Lists in 1978

The other evening, i was walking to our Amenities Complex when i started "mule"ing over how to make some of my blog labels more accessible. Got the idea of using images, but how do we "stack" images side by side? Blogger does not allow Page Elements to be shown next to each other. That led to the idea of using an HTML table.

From there, it was merely a question of implementation. Some of the things i did:

• Upload images temporarily to Flickr to get a standard size for the thumbnail images (100x75 or 75x100).
• Upload these images to Blogger (in Large image size) and use the "src=" value; don't use the "href=" value as those links don't display once in a while.
  
• If the thumbnails are already in Flickr, use the link for the thumbnail size.

Here's the file in case you want to play around with it; you have to modify the code in between the table and /table tags.

One amusing fall-out of this grid was this. When i sent the new look to a few guys here, this is what Arun Katiyar, who manges the Palm Meadows Wiki, said:

Very busy looking blog -- and very visual too, reflecting your interest in photography. Perhaps the pictures at the top could be larger?

Unfortunately, I can't download Silverlight as I work on a Mac :(

Heck, he was thinking i was using Silverlight! I responded saying that it was just an HTML table.

This in turn reminded me of a funny incident (The Chief Research Chemist of the Metaplast Corporation) from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: (btw, it's the 90^th birth anniversary of Feynman today)

"How many chemists did you have working in the lab?" [asked Feynman.]

"We had six chemists working."

"How many chemists do you think the Metaplast Corporation had?"

"Oh! They must have had a real chemistry department!"

"Would you describe for me what you think the chief research chemist at the Metaplast Corporation might look like, and how his laboratory might work?"

"I would guess they must have twenty-five or fifty chemists, and the chief research chemist has his own office—special, with glass. You know, like they have in the movies—guys coming in all the time with research projects that they're doing, getting his advice, and rushing off to do more research, people coming in and out all the time. With twenty-five or fifty chemists, how the hell could we compete with them?"

"You'll be interested and amused to know that you are now talking to the chief research of the Metaplast Corporation, whose staff consisted of one bottle-washer!"

Beam me up, ciScotty

My brother was mentioning about a TelePresence (TP) XP on Thursday night and how it blew him off. He took a video, which we scraped for a photo:

TelePresence

Look at the clarity! How different is TP from a regular video-conferencing? To me that's the same as the difference between an LCD TV and a regular CRT one. Like so:

TP : VC = LCD : CRT

Love the tech field for all its jargon and TLAs ;-)

The DH reports:

Telepresence solution uses high-definition video, projectors and special screens to create holograms of people thousands of miles away, built on the internet protocol network. “The use of such technologies will change the way businesses do real-life meetings, have on stage presentations and enable them to collaborate better,” said Mr. Chambers.

Anyway, what the heck is TP? Experts sat together last June and they couldn't come up with a (high) definition. In Telepresence: A Background and Analysis that Goes Beyond the Hype, we read:

So then, one would have to ask, what exactly is telepresence? Being that it is a market niche rapidly evolving, defining it has been a very difficult task. I was amongst a number of professionals that gathered in San Diego last June to attend the very first Telepresence World conference, specifically to answer that question. We didn't succeed.

So much for that. Anyway, for Indians, that doesn't matter. We are great users of tech and to hell with the definitions; in fact, we might come up with some of our own as Cisco really pushes TP in this very lucrative market.

For 24 aficionados, TP has been used in Season 6, 1:00-2:00 AM.

Cisco's On Stage Telepresence Experience

An Old Mystery

Three years on, we still enjoy talking about this mystery at home:

Finally, a weird thing happened in the night. It was lights out by 10:15 PM. I was just nodding off, when a brilliant white light (just like the one in Abyss) materialized out of nowhere, flashed for a second, and disappeared. WiFi commented that it must be the light of a passing vehicle, reflecting off our walls. That helped, as I didn't pay any much attention to it and went off to sleep in a jiffy. Kiddo wasn't that lucky as she also saw the light which spooked the living daylights out of her and ensured that she didn't sleep the whole night!

The Fall and Rise of Sudama

Qk.ly: http://bit.ly/bsxSudama

Today is Akshaya Tritiya

A page in About.com had this:

Akshaya Tritiya falls on the third day of the bright half of Vaishakh month (April-May), when the Sun and Moon are in exaltation; they are simultaneously at their peak of brightness, which happens only once every year.

There was an article in yesterday's ToI Special Report, which talked of a miracle that we read many times as kids:

The most famous story associated with Akshaya Tritiya is the tale of the the poor Brahmin named Kuchela (aka Sudama), one of Lord Krishna's classmates, who visited him with the intention of asking for some financial help. Kuchela carried with him a handful of aval, or beaten rice, for Krishna. When he reached the palace, he found he was too embarrassed to give Lord Krishna his meagre offering. Lord Krishna, however, playfully grabbed the bag and ate a handful of the rice and treated Kuchela like a king during his visit. Kuchela was so overwhelmed by the love he received that he went home without asking for any money at all.

However, when he got home, he found that his hut had vanished and in its place stood a palace. His wife and children were wearing beautiful clothes and everything that was old and worn had been replaced with something wonderful and new. It didn't take Kuchela very long to understand that he had received the abundant blessings of Lord Krishna. The day Kuchela paid Lord Krishna this visit is known as Akshaya Tritiya. This is why it is also believed that a good deed on this day will bring with it prosperity and abundance that lasts a lifetime.

Krishna & Sudama

But why did Kuchela (Sudama) fall into such a sorry state, in the first place? Chapter 24 of the Shri Sai Satcharita has the reason: (haven't seen this anywhere else)

Sudama's Story
…
Shri Krishna and His elder brother, Balarama, were living with a co-student, named Sudama, in the ashram of their Guru, Sandipani. Once Krishna and Balarama were sent to the forest for bringing fuel. Then the wife of Sandipani sent also Sudama for the same purpose with some quantity of grams for the three. When Krishna met Sudama in the forest, he said to him - "Dada, I want water as I am thirsty". Sudama replied - "No water should be drunk on an empty stomach, so it is better to rest a while". He did not say that he had got grams with him and that He should take some. As Krishna was tired, He lay down for rest on the lap of Sudama and was snoring. Seeing this, Sudama took out the grams and began to eat. Then Krishna suddenly asked him - "Dada, what are you eating, whence is the sound?". He replied - "What is there to eat? I am shivering with cold and my teeth are chattering. I can't even repeat distinctly Vishnu-Sahasra-Nama". Hearing this, the Omniscient Krishna said - "I just dreamt a dream, in which I saw a man, eating things of another, and when asked about this, he said - "What earth (dust) should he eat?", meaning thereby that he had nothing to eat? The other man said - "Let it be so". Dada, this is only a dream. I know that you won't eat anything without Me; under the influence of the dream I asked you what you were eating?" If Sudama had known a bit of the Omniscient, Shri Krishna and His Leelas, he would not have acted, as he did. Therefore, he had to suffer for what he did. Though he was a chum of Shri Krishna he had to pass his later life in utter poverty.

To me, this is one of the most important lessons from the Shri Sai Satcharita: (from the same chapter 24)

Baba: "This fellow (Annasaheb) has got the bad habit of eating alone. Today is a bazar-day and he was here chewing grams. I know his habit and these grams are a proof of it. What wonder is there is this matter?"

Hemadpant: "Baba, I never know of eating things alone; then why do you thrust this bad habit on me? I have never yet seen Shirdi bazar. I never went to the bazar today, then how could I buy grams, and how could I eat them if I had not bought them? I never eat anything unless I share it with others present near me".

Baba: "It is true that you give to the persons present; but if none be near-by, what could you or I do? But do you remember Me before eating? Am I not always with you? Then do you offer Me anything before you eat?"

ajanuBahut Memory

This news item intrigued me first thing in the morning:

Study links arms and legs with memory loss

Having short arms and legs may raise a person's risk of developing memory problems later in life, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

They said women with the shortest arm spans were 50 percent more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease than women with longer arm spans. And the longer a woman's leg from floor to knee, the lower her risk for dementia.

as it reminded me of the ajanubahus in Indian tradition. By the above logic, folks with long hands should have tremendous memories and it is indeed so.

Some unusual physical traits of Sri Ramakrishna

That was one of the unusual physical traits of Sri Ramakrishna, his extraordinarily long hands. A Banglapedia article on Sri Ramakrishna goes:

A gifted child with a prodigious memory, Sri Ramakrishna had little formal education. He learnt from his father hymns addressed to the divinities, from village kathaks or story tellers the stories of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas, and from Puri-bound passing holy men sacred lore.

Of course, there was another reason for His inexhaustible store of knowledge. In His own words: (M. at Dakshineswar (II), page 376, middle)

Everything can be achieved through bhakti alone. Those who want the Knowledge of Brahman will certainly achieve that also by following the trail of bhakti.

Can a man blessed with the grace of God ever lack Knowledge? At Kamarpukur I have seen grain-dealers measuring paddy. As one heap is measured away another heap is pushed forward to be measured. The Mother supplies the devotees with the 'heap' of Knowledge.

Shirdi Sai Baba was also an ajanubahu. In The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi, we read: (page 101, bottom)

Another peculiar bodily characteristic attributed to Sai Baba was recounted to me both by Uddhao (Madhavrao Deshpande, son of Shyama) and another old villager known as "Bappa Baba". The latter stated: "Sai Baba had very long arms: the ends of his fingers reached down to his knees. This is called 'jānubāhu' in Hindi."

Old Wilma

Kids at Mariamman Temple, Varthur

During my mini temple-hopping this morning, i ran into these kids at the Mariamman Temple in Varthur. They were with their mother, when some other lady came in and asked me to take their photo. I obliged.

Later, the kids shook my hand. The boy said "Thanks" while the girl just shook my hand (initially, she offered her left hand). The other lady mentioned that the girl was mute, to which her mother said, by way of explanation:

ఆ యమ్మకే తెలియాలి
That Mother only knows

I was quite surprised by the ease with which the girl's mother explained the situation. It was the will of the Old Mother, not hers.

Sri Ramakrishna, as usual, gives a wonderful allusion: (M. at Dakshineswar (II), page 369, middle)

"It is no doubt necessary to practise spiritual discipline; but there are two kinds of aspirants. The nature of the one kind is like that of the young monkey, and the nature of the other kind is like that of the kitten. The young monkey, with great exertion, somehow clings to its mother. Likewise, there are some aspirants who think that in order to realize God they must repeat His name a certain number of times, meditate on Him for a certain period, and practise a certain amount of austerity. An aspirant of this kind makes his own efforts to catch hold of God. But the kitten, of itself, cannot cling to its mother. It lies on the ground and cries, 'Mew, mew!' It leaves everything to its mother. The mother cat sometimes puts it on a bed, sometimes on the roof behind a pile of wood. She carries the kitten in her mouth hither and thither. The kitten doesn't know how to cling to the mother. Likewise, there are some aspirants who cannot practise spiritual discipline by calculating about japa or the period of meditation. All that they do is cry to God with yearning hearts. God hears their cry and cannot keep Himself away. He reveals Himself to them."

Science and Spirituality with a Different Box of Tools

Feynman used to have a unique of way of figuring out whether there were any goofs in models that fellow scientists used to tell him: (from "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" PDF, page 95, bottom)

At all these places everybody working in physics would tell me what they were doing and I'd discuss it with them. They would tell me the general problem they were working on, and would begin to write a bunch of equations.

"Wait a minute," I would say. "Is there a particular example of this general problem?"

"Why yes; of course."

"Good. Give me one example." That was for me: I can't understand anything in general unless I'm carrying along in my mind a specific example and watching it go. Some people think in the beginning that I'm kind of slow and I don't understand the problem, because I ask a lot of these "dumb" questions: "Is a cathode plus or minus? Is an an-ion this way, or that way?"

But later, when the guy's in the middle of a bunch of equations, he'll say something and I'll say, "Wait a minute! There's an error! That can't be right!"

The guy looks at his equations, and sure enough, after a while, he finds the mistake and wonders, "How the hell did this guy, who hardly understood at the beginning, find that mistake in the mess of all these equations?"

He thinks I'm following the steps mathematically, but that's not what I'm doing. I have the specific, physical example of what he's trying to analyze, and I know from instinct and experience the properties of the thing. So when the equation says it should behave so-and-so, and I know that's the wrong way around, I jump up and say, "Wait! There's a mistake!"

Feel that Swami Ramakrishnananda showed a similar mental process when he made this observation: (God Lived with Them, page 303, top)

Science is the struggle of man in the outer world. Religion is the struggle of man in the inner world. Science makes man struggle for Truth in the outside universe, and religion makes him struggle for Truth in the inner universe. Both struggles are great, no doubt, but one ends in success and the other ends in failure. That is the difference. Religion begins where science ends. The whole scientific method is based on observation and experiment; but the moment man realizes that there is something beyond observation and experiment he will give them up and leave material science behind. Science will always have to deal with finite bodies, and God is infinite.

Fruit of the Root

We were busy spring-cleaning the house the whole of last evening and couldn't buy any fruit to offer Lord Shiva, who rules Mondays, this morning. There was a fresh watermelon cooling in the fridge and i thought that would be fine.

While washing the same before offering it, due to the similarity of shape between the watermelon and an ellipsoid, i was telling WiFi:

In one of his books on Swami, Howard Murphet says that the One becomes the many, in the same manner as the sphere becomes an ellipsoid.

Later on, i dug out the relevant section: (from Delta of Delight)

'Lingam' means that in which all things merge and out of which all things emerge. The Absolute, the Ultimate Reality, Brahman or God has no opposites, no polarities, no contradictions, so, it is represented by the most perfect mathematical symbol, the sphere. When the basic desire, Ekoham Bahusyam, 'I am One, let me become many,' disturbs the perfect balance of the One, the sphere divides itself into two, we get the ellipsoid. The Lingam is ellipsoid. The One Brahman has become Siva-Sakthi, the primary polarity principle of the positive and negative.

One Year of MOPA

Qk.ly: http://bit.ly/bsxMOPA1

This post is for Gopa,
my dear childhood buddy

Last year, on this day, my right eye had an arterial occlusion, resulting in a blind spot. Thankfully, it ended up below the fovea, and was not such a debilitating one.

Though it initially looked like a B2 bomber taking off vertically, i later on felt that it was shaped more like Arunachala and blogged My Own Private Arunachala. MOPA, Gopa!

The doc at Nethradhama asked me to forget about the blind spot and go about my life as if nothing had happened. He was right; i got accustomed to it and noticed a very unusual benefit:

My migraines stopped completely

Earlier they would bother me at least once a month and i haven't had a single one in an entire year. As they say in software, a bug that turned out to be a feature ;-)

My migraines would start off with a visual disturbance, just below the fovea. With that area of the retina literally burnt off, there was no starting point for the migraine. What a way to get rid off the migraine part of my vertiginous migraine!

You having one of them "mindgraines"?

Why Some Paintings Cost the Earth

Eckhart Tolle gives the reason in A New Earth: (pp. 25-26)

Underneath the surface appearance, everything is not only connected with everything else, but also with the Source of all life out of which it came. Even a stone, or more easily a flower or a bird, could show you the way back to God, to the Source, to yourself. When you look at it or hold it and let it be without imposing a word or mental label on it, a sense of awe, of wonder, arises within you. Its essence silently communicates itself to you and reflects your own essence back to you. This is what great artists sense and succeed in conveying in their art. Van Gogh didn't say: "That's just an old chair." He looked, and looked, and looked. He sensed the Beingness of the chair. Then he sat in front of the canvas and took up the brush. The chair itself would have sold for the equivalent of a few dollars. The painting of that same chair today would fetch in excess of $25 million.

Van Gogh's Chair by Vincent van Gogh

VSS was observing:

I am reminded of the story of the man who created the "perfect" walking stick….

He was referring to The Artist of Kouroo.

The Second Lady

Qk.ly: http://bit.ly/bsx2ndLady

Today, i was reading about the four mangoes that Shirdi Baba reserves for Damu Anna's junior wife: (Chapter 25 of the Shri Sai Satcharita)

Amra-Leela (Mango miracle)

Once a parcel of about 300 good mangoes was received at Shirdi. It was sent from Goa by one Mamlatdar named Rale to Sai Baba in the name of Shama. When it was opened, all the mangoes were found to be in a good condition. They were given in Shama's charge and only four were retained and placed in the kolamba (pot) by Baba. He said that, "These four fruits are for Damu Anna, let them lie there".

This Damu Anna had three wives. According to his statement mentioned above, he had not three but two wives only. He had no issue. He consulted many astrologers and himself studied astrology to some extent and found that as there was a 'papi' (inauspicious) planet in his horoscope, there was no prospect of any issue to him in this life. But he had great faith in Baba. When he went to Shirdi, two hours after the receipt of the mango parcel, for worshipping Baba, He said, "Though other people are looking for the mangoes, they are Dammya's. He whose they are, should 'eat and die'." Damu Anna on hearing these words was first shocked, but on Mhalsapati (a prominent Shirdi devotee) explaining to him that death meant the death of the little self or egos, and to have it at Baba's Feet was a blessing, he said that he would accept the fruits and eat them. But Baba said to him. "Do not eat yourself, but give them to your junior wife. This Amra-Leela (mango miracle of 4 mangoes) will give her four sons and four daughters." This was done and ultimately in due course it was found Baba's words turned out true and not those of the astrologers.

Find it very interesting that Swami does an almost identical thing with that great devotee, Abdul Razak Korbu, who wrote Sai Sathya Sakha in Marathi: (from Chapter 5)

It was a Saturday evening, and my last day of darsan of Baba in December. Baba came out on the veranda, spoke to the foreigners, especially the authors of books, for quite some time. He then walked to the other end, came towards us again and spoke to a devotee sitting next to me. I first took Padanamaskar and resumed my sitting position doing namaskar. In a way Indian devotees become foreigners in December! Baba walked a few feet away, returned and looking at me said loudly "Abdul bring your wife next month." After that he walked a few feet away and started talking to someone. I was doubtful – which wife? senior or junior or both? But how can I clarify from Baba in this crowd? Does Baba know that I am the husband of two wives? Would he approve of it if he comes to know? Baba came closer to me again, bent a little forward and whispered "Second wife." I was relieved – it was clear that Baba heard all the doubts arising in my mind!
…
To my wife, Baba said again "Meri bachhi" (My child). Using vocative case is very touching. I experienced this when Baba called my wife "Meri bachhi!" Naseem became slightly relaxed and for the first time raised her head to look at Baba. In a very casual manner, Baba asked her "Don't you want your own son?" Now I became completely relaxed. With this question, Baba gazed into Naseem's eyes without batting his eyelids. It is well known that while Baba is talking, his eyelids move faster that those of others. Naseem was transfixed with her eyes looking at Baba only. This divine communion went on for a short time. Then suddenly, as if pulled by some invisible force, she fell at Baba's feet and plaintively mooed "Oh! Mere Baba." (Oh! My Baba.) Her whole body was trembling. She was profusely weeping and washing Baba's feet with her tears! I was about to go near her and help, but Baba signalled me to sit quiet. Baba picked up his handkerchief, wiped his face and lips and sat at ease. Except for the sound of Naseem's sobbing, there was pin-drop silence.

After a few minutes, Baba said "Utho meri bachhi" (get up my child). Naseem managed to get up and sat there only. In her hand she held a corner of Baba's robe which was hanging on the floor. Some devotees may not be aware of the fact that, in his present avatar, Baba never touched any of his female devotees.

Baba looked at me, kept his hand on my left shoulder and told me to sit next to my wife, who was still sobbing. Continuing to look at me, the Avatar said "This lady is pregnant from this moment. She will deliver a very intelligent son on a nationally important day. She will deliver one more son on another important day." Oh! My jaw dropped and I was amazed. Slowly speaking, I said "Baba, the doctors confirmed that.........." Cutting off my sentence, Baba said "What doctors? Doctors – I am the Doctor of doctors!" Naseem and I both understood, and both of us fell at his feet again. In this manner, Naseem did 'Sai Namaz' prayers twice.
…

Sai Dattatreya

Some of the XPs in The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi give me the goose bumps. This was from page 19:

The process of identification of Sai Baba with Dattatreya is such, that the Shri Sai Satcharita is often called "the modern Gurucharitra." Such popular belief is not confined to Maharashtra, being present in other parts of India as well.

Indeed, Sai Baba himself is reported to have claimed such an identity. One day, he told a devotee: "Are you puffed up? Where was male progeny in your destiny? (In answer to the prayer you offered before Datta at Gangapur) I tore up this body and gave you a son."

Baba apparently manifested himself in Datta form on occasion. We read:

In 1911, on Datta Jayanti day, Mr. Balawant Kohojkar went to Baba at Shirdi.

At 5 PM Baba said: "I am having pangs of labor and cannot bear the pain." So saying, he drove everyone out of the mosque.

He was evidently identifying himself with Anasuya. A little later, Baba called all people in. Kohojkar went first, and on Baba's gaddi saw not Baba, but a small charming three-headed baby, i.e., Datta. In a moment, Datta disappeared and Baba was seen seated.

Lord Dattatreya