Everyday Geeta

May 15, 2013 Rush now to read the wonderful report on the greater wax moth in the Independent. If your jaw doesn't drop reading this, you have become too jaded. Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow have just discovered that the insect, which is found across the UK, is capable of hearing sound frequencies of up to 300,000 hertz (300kHz) – more than 100 times higher than the whiniest human voice and fifteen times the maximum frequency that can be heard by the sharpest-eared teenagers. This wonderful article also tosses several glorious tidbits of information for further exploration such as the "The jewel beetle Using an infra-red sensor under one of its legs, it can detect a fire more than 50 miles away." Click on the link , for more on the "break for glory" posts. Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

November 18, 2012 Time to take another break to celebrate the Lord's glory . If your day's been hectic, take a deep breath and smile... According to a NY Times article ( subscription required ) "To Birds, Storm Survival Is Only Natural" : “..scientists said, powerful new satellite tracking studies of birds on the wing — including one that coincided with the height of Hurricane Sandy’s fury — reveal birds as the supreme masters of extreme weather management, able to skirt deftly around gale-force winds, correct course after being blown horribly astray, or even use a hurricane as a kind of slingshot to propel themselves forward at hyperspeed. "In August 2011, the researchers marveled at the derring-do of a whimbrel named Hope as it encountered Tropical Storm Gert off the coast of Nova Scotia, diving straight into the tempest at 7 miles per hour and emerging from the other side at a pace of 90 m.p.h. Not long after, the scientists cheered as four other whimbrels suc...

October 21, 2012 Following up after a long time on my break for glory series , here is a beauty courtesy of NASA's Picture of the Day website. Geeta 7-7 provides a beautiful link to this verse: मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव ||७-७|| mayi sarvamidaM protaM suutre maNigaNaa iva .. 7-7.. All this is strung in Me, as clusters of gems on a string Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

August 20, 2012 Another break for glory (to celebrate the Lord's Vibhooti i.e divine glory). This time round, I found a reference to a fascinating book, "What a Plant Knows" by Daniel Chamovitz through my favorite blog Andrew Sullivan's The Dish . I haven't yet got the book, but in an interview published in the Scientific American , I came across this quote by Chamovitz: If you think about it, rootedness is a huge evolutionary constraint. It means that plants can’t escape a bad environment, can’t migrate in the search of food or a mate. So plants had to develop incredibly sensitive and complex sensory mechanisms that would let them survive in ever changing environments. I mean if you’re hungry or thirsty, you can walk to the nearest watering hole (or bar). If you’re hot, you can move north, if you’re looking for a mate, you can go out to a party. But plants are immobile. They need to see where their food is. They need to feel the weather, and they need to smell ...

April 2, 2012 I came across a very cool website that indicates the relative scale of many things in the universe ( thanks to atheist philosopher Dan Fincke for pointing me here although my conclusion is going to upset him!). This is a wonderful example of the vibhooti (glory) of graphic representation on the web. In Bhagavad Geeta 8-9, there are a couple of adjectives used to describe the Self or Brahman, the Supreme Reality: 1. पुराणम् purANam.h Ancient 2. अणोरणीयंसमनुस्मरेद्यः aNoraNiiya.n-samanusmaredyaH Minuter than the Atom These adjectives sping to mind as you navigate the website that ranges from the inanimate to living, from the molecular to the massive and from the nearest to the most distant. Thanks to this website, I came to know for instance that "The Sloan Great Wall" is the largest known object in the universe and that scientists think that the "the quantum foam" is foundation of the fabric of the universe although it is so small (can you image w...

March 17, 2012 Recently, I came across this wiki page on something called "Glory" . The picture (sourced from here ) refers to a fascinating optical phenomenon. The phenomenon is considered interesting enough to attract scientific research and that leads to this Scientific American article "The Science of The Glory" Readers of this blog should be familiar with my interest in the Lord's Vibhooti Yoga . I love it that there is now a science that can only be translated as विभूति विज्ञान (Science of Glory). Of course, it is no surprise that this science explores only a tiny aspect of all of the glory that Śrī Kṛṣṇa declares is sustained by एकांशेन स्थितो जगत् (१०-४२) (ekaa.nshena sthito jagat.h 10-42) translated as "all this is sustained by a tiny part of Myself." Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

February 20, 2012  Today's Vibhooti break comes courtesy of of NASA 's picture of the day website . The study of astronomy is fascinating since that is the only subject that now deals with time scales that approach what the Puranas speak about. For instance, the universe is said to be just over 13 billion years old, while Hindu cosmology projects that a universe lasts about 5.3 billion years (no other culture comes close). Again, astronomy makes a paradox of a word like "today". Some of the galaxies, like NGC2237 shown in the picture is 50 light years away i.e. the picture is possibly a representation of how that galaxy looked 50 years ago since that is how long it took light from that galaxy to reach us. So, we can't quite say this is how the galaxy looks "today". What I love is how the glory of science is revealed in this picture: Technology today allows these pictures to be assembled and distributed through the web There are scientists who love their ...

December 24, 2011 Through NASA's daily photo of the Universe website , I came across a mind blowing Youtube video posted by the American Museum of Natural History Naturally, my mind drifted to Him who is the supporter of this vast, ancient Universe as seen in Geeta 8-9. कविं पुराणमनुशासितार- मणोरणीयंसमनुस्मरेद्यः | सर्वस्य धातारमचिन्त्यरूप- मादित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् ||८-९|| kaviM puraaNamanushaasitaaraM aNoraNiiya.nsamanusmaredyaH . sarvasya dhaataaramachintyaruupaM aadityavarNaM tamasaH parastaat.h .. 8-9.. Whosoever, meditates upon the Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler (of the whole world) , minuter than the atom, the Supporter of all, of Form inconceivable, Effulgent like the Sun and beyond the darkness (of ignorance) Scientists hate it when religious seekers leverage science in support of their particular beliefs. To be fair, according to modern science, this whole Universe as it exists today is not evidence of an Intelligent Creator. However, for the spiritual seeker, a...

October 31, 2011 Another break for glory (to celebrate the Lord's Vibhooti i.e divine glory). Remember, in Geeta 10-41 Sri Krsna says, "Whatever it is that is glorious, prosperous or powerful in any being, know that to be a manifestation of a fraction of My splendour". For me enough said, when I saw the news of 100-year old Fauja Singh completed the Toronto waterfront marathon . Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post.

October 16, 2011 I have decided to create a regular series of Vibhooti Yoga highlighting photographs or videos of great beauty and power in keeping with Geeta 10-41. यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेव वा | तत्तदेवावगच्छ त्वं मम तेजोंऽशसम्भवम् ||१०-४१|| yadyadvibhuutimatsattvaM shriimaduurjitameva vaa. tattadevaavagachchha tvaM mama tejo.nshasambhavam.h .. 10-41.. "Whatever it is that is glorious, prosperous or powerful in any being, know that to be a manifestation of a fraction of My splendour". So here is my most recent discovery of His Vibhooti. Enjoy ANNAPURNA ELEVATION from warmeye on Vimeo . Having just travelled in the Lahaul and Spiti , this video brought back a lot of personal memories, too. For earlier editions on Lord's glories, click here . Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post.

July 19, 2011 When in New Delhi recently, we visited "Myths & Legends", an exhibition of paintings by Sabya Sachi Ghosh at the India Habitat Centre. I was particularly struck by one painting relevant to this blog. His painting depicting Airaavat, Lord Indra's elephant brought to mind, chapter 10-27 where Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, ऐरावतं गजेन्द्राणां "Among elephants, I am Airaavat." I like some of Sabya Sachi's surrealistic representations of images and stories from the Purānas (I hate calling them myths or legends). Besides the Airaavat above, I particularly liked one of the Dashāvatāra. Didn't take a picture unfortunately. I will update this post when I find his business card with a link to his website. If you get to see his exhibition, please do visit. Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

July 16, 2011 Just returned from a road trip and trek to LaHaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. Terrific trip. Unimaginably beautiful vistas of the Himalayas for 10 days. Wildflowers set amidst the Himalayas in the village of Sagnam in Lahaul View of the Himalayas from the Grand Shangrila in Kalpa in the Kinnaur District, Himachal Pradesh - a superb hotel with a very hospitable, knowledgeable host. These are just two photos I clicked on my iPhone4. I understand why Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the 10th chapter says: स्थावराणां हिमालयः ||१०-२५|| sthaavaraaNaa.n himaalayaH ..10-25.. Among immovable things, I am the Himalayas. Will post more soon, need to catch up on a lot before I do. Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

April 30, 2011 Sometime back I had a post on Bhagavan's Vibhhoti as seen in a time lapse video of the Aurora Borealis. This time a link from mashable.com points us to 10 beautiful examples of time lapse photography. In every one of these, geeks across the world have leveraged digital photography to open our eyes to new ways of seeing nature's glory. For the Geeta lover, these are occasions to reflect on shloka 10-41 in which Śri Kṛṣṇa exhorts us to see Him in everything that is "glorious, prosperous or powerful in any way". My specific favorities among those are: 1. Moonlight and Milky way rising at Daigenta Canyon in Japan. 2. Startrail Timelapse Compilation - Nevada Nights Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post.

December 20, 2010. In the 10th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna declares यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेव वा | तत्तदेवावगच्छ त्वं मम तेजोंऽशसम्भवम् ||१०-४१|| yadyadvibhuutimatsattvaM shriimaduurjitameva vaa. tattadevaavagachchha tvaM mama tejo.nshasambhavam.h .. 10-41.. "Whatever it is that is glorious, prosperous or powerful in any being, know that to be a manifestation of a fraction of My splendour" . There are many occasions to recall this. My most recent instance was when I came across this video below (thanks to the Daily Dish ). Aurora Borealis timelapse HD - Tromsø 2010 from Tor Even Mathisen on Vimeo . This is a time lapse photography of the Aurora Borealis over Tromsø, Norway photographed by Tor Even Mathisen, with Music by Per Wollen and vocals by Silje Beate Nilssen. Perhaps, Shri Krishna would have said today something as follows: "Among photographers, I am the nature photographer". Feel free to post your own suggestions in the comments...