Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
MAYA
After having spent nearly twelve years looking after my children and doing routine household work, I decided to move on and indulge myself into something that always fascinated me.
I am a visual person, and I believe that a picture can convey the message more effectively than words. And, more so if the pictures are animated with voice and expressions!
Multimedia!
I always looked and conceived multimedia as one of the most effective and modern medium of self-expression and art. I joined multimedia classes hoping to create my own world of animations, moving picture, voice, fading in, fading out.
The very first lecture that I attended, at the institute, busted my self-created myth that the multimedia was not merely an art but a scientific art. It came as a very strong cocktail; which had a lot of Vodka (science) and somewhat lesser Tomato Juice (art). I found it too difficult to gulp. I kept wondering about the presence of dry and boring words, like JIF, TIFF, GIF, BMP, PNG, JPEG, MPEG1, and MPEG2 doing in the romantic and creative world of art! Strangers!!
After a rather disappointing classroom session I thought of seeking solace in the Lab work. As the luck would have had it, the Lab session had some more surprises for me. I got an Apple PC to work with. Strange, the mouse has no ‘right click’ button. Strangers again!
My new world had all new words like Safari, Tiger, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I thought that in this world on Multimedia, I would never come across any familiar names and then I heard Maya.
The word Maya comes from Sanskrit language and means ‘illusions’.
The ancient Indian philosophy, which is often called The Hindu philosophy, started to develop in the Indus valley 3500 years ago. Many great thinkers and religions of the world emanate from the Indian philosophy.
It is believed, in the ancient Indian philosophy, that there is one and only one truth! The one and the only truth that never changes! The one and the only truth that is an absolute truth! And, the one and the only unchangeable and absolute truth is the GOD.
Everything that is not an absolute truth is MAYA or illusion.
It is believed that the part of That Absolute truth fills all the living things in the universe. Part of the God, that fills all of us, the part that is permanent, the part that is immortal, that cannot be burnt – cannot be dried – cannot be killed – cannot be aged – cannot be seen, touched or felt… that part that makes the presence of God in us is called the atma or soul.
Soul or atma has to ultimately merge with the God or the universal soul, which is called parmatma.
Parmatma is the only truth, everything else is maya.
Maya is the illusion that keeps us so mesmerized that instead of seeking the audience with the parmatma and attaining salvation, peace and happiness. The false glitter of maya, the illusion is so strong that it impairs our vision to find and follow the path to parmatma.
With every breath, with every pulsation of the heart, with every one of our movements, we think we are free, and with very same moment we are shown that we are not. Bound slaves, nature's bond-slaves, in body, in mind, in all our thoughts, in all our feelings. And this is Maya.
Hope is dominant in the heart of childhood. The whole world is a golden vision to the opening eyes of the child; he thinks his will is supreme. As he moves onward, at every step nature stands as an adamantine wall, barring his future progress. He may hurl himself against it again and again, striving to break through. The further he goes, the further recedes the ideal, till death comes, and there is release, perhaps. And this is Maya.
There was never a mother who did not think her child was a born genius, the most extraordinary child that was ever born; she dotes upon her child. The child grows up, perhaps becomes a drunkard, a brute, ill-treats the mother, and the more he ill-treats her, the more her love increases. This is Maya.
A man of science rises, he is thirsting after knowledge. He moves onward discovering secret after secret of nature, searching out the secrets from her innermost heart, and what for? What is it all for? Why should we give him glory? Why should he acquire fame? Does not nature do infinitely more than any human being can do?--and nature is dull, insentient. Why should it be glory to imitate the dull, the insentient? Nature can hurl a thunderbolt of any magnitude to any distance. If a man can do one small part as much, we praise him and laud him to the skies. Why? Why should we praise him for imitating nature, imitating death, imitating dullness, imitating insentience? The force of gravitation can pull to pieces the biggest mass that ever existed; yet it is insentient. What glory is there in imitating the insentient? Yet we are all struggling after that. And this is Maya.
True it is that we are all slaves of Maya, born in Maya, and live in Maya. Is there then no way out, no hope? And the answer was: "In freedom it rises, in freedom it rests, and into freedom it melts away." This idea of freedom you cannot relinquish. Your actions, your very lives will be lost without it. Every moment nature is proving us to be slaves and not free. Yet, simultaneously rises the other idea, that still we are free. At every step we are knocked down, as it were, by Maya, and shown that we are bound; and yet at the same moment, together with this blow, together with this feeling that we are bound, comes the other feeling that we are free. Some inner voice tells us that we are free. But if we attempt to realise that freedom, to make it manifest, we find the difficulties almost insuperable. Yet, in spite of that it insists on asserting itself inwardly, "I am free, I am free." And if you study all the various religions of the world you will find this idea expressed What happens then? The scene begins to shift. As soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene changes. The same world, which was the ghastly battlefield of Maya, is now changed into something good and beautiful.
And in multimedia, I hope I am able to create some illusions, which can keep people mesmerized.
Miles to go before I sleep…
I am a visual person, and I believe that a picture can convey the message more effectively than words. And, more so if the pictures are animated with voice and expressions!
Multimedia!
I always looked and conceived multimedia as one of the most effective and modern medium of self-expression and art. I joined multimedia classes hoping to create my own world of animations, moving picture, voice, fading in, fading out.
The very first lecture that I attended, at the institute, busted my self-created myth that the multimedia was not merely an art but a scientific art. It came as a very strong cocktail; which had a lot of Vodka (science) and somewhat lesser Tomato Juice (art). I found it too difficult to gulp. I kept wondering about the presence of dry and boring words, like JIF, TIFF, GIF, BMP, PNG, JPEG, MPEG1, and MPEG2 doing in the romantic and creative world of art! Strangers!!
After a rather disappointing classroom session I thought of seeking solace in the Lab work. As the luck would have had it, the Lab session had some more surprises for me. I got an Apple PC to work with. Strange, the mouse has no ‘right click’ button. Strangers again!
My new world had all new words like Safari, Tiger, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I thought that in this world on Multimedia, I would never come across any familiar names and then I heard Maya.
The word Maya comes from Sanskrit language and means ‘illusions’.
The ancient Indian philosophy, which is often called The Hindu philosophy, started to develop in the Indus valley 3500 years ago. Many great thinkers and religions of the world emanate from the Indian philosophy.
It is believed, in the ancient Indian philosophy, that there is one and only one truth! The one and the only truth that never changes! The one and the only truth that is an absolute truth! And, the one and the only unchangeable and absolute truth is the GOD.
Everything that is not an absolute truth is MAYA or illusion.
It is believed that the part of That Absolute truth fills all the living things in the universe. Part of the God, that fills all of us, the part that is permanent, the part that is immortal, that cannot be burnt – cannot be dried – cannot be killed – cannot be aged – cannot be seen, touched or felt… that part that makes the presence of God in us is called the atma or soul.
Soul or atma has to ultimately merge with the God or the universal soul, which is called parmatma.
Parmatma is the only truth, everything else is maya.
Maya is the illusion that keeps us so mesmerized that instead of seeking the audience with the parmatma and attaining salvation, peace and happiness. The false glitter of maya, the illusion is so strong that it impairs our vision to find and follow the path to parmatma.
With every breath, with every pulsation of the heart, with every one of our movements, we think we are free, and with very same moment we are shown that we are not. Bound slaves, nature's bond-slaves, in body, in mind, in all our thoughts, in all our feelings. And this is Maya.
Hope is dominant in the heart of childhood. The whole world is a golden vision to the opening eyes of the child; he thinks his will is supreme. As he moves onward, at every step nature stands as an adamantine wall, barring his future progress. He may hurl himself against it again and again, striving to break through. The further he goes, the further recedes the ideal, till death comes, and there is release, perhaps. And this is Maya.
There was never a mother who did not think her child was a born genius, the most extraordinary child that was ever born; she dotes upon her child. The child grows up, perhaps becomes a drunkard, a brute, ill-treats the mother, and the more he ill-treats her, the more her love increases. This is Maya.
A man of science rises, he is thirsting after knowledge. He moves onward discovering secret after secret of nature, searching out the secrets from her innermost heart, and what for? What is it all for? Why should we give him glory? Why should he acquire fame? Does not nature do infinitely more than any human being can do?--and nature is dull, insentient. Why should it be glory to imitate the dull, the insentient? Nature can hurl a thunderbolt of any magnitude to any distance. If a man can do one small part as much, we praise him and laud him to the skies. Why? Why should we praise him for imitating nature, imitating death, imitating dullness, imitating insentience? The force of gravitation can pull to pieces the biggest mass that ever existed; yet it is insentient. What glory is there in imitating the insentient? Yet we are all struggling after that. And this is Maya.
True it is that we are all slaves of Maya, born in Maya, and live in Maya. Is there then no way out, no hope? And the answer was: "In freedom it rises, in freedom it rests, and into freedom it melts away." This idea of freedom you cannot relinquish. Your actions, your very lives will be lost without it. Every moment nature is proving us to be slaves and not free. Yet, simultaneously rises the other idea, that still we are free. At every step we are knocked down, as it were, by Maya, and shown that we are bound; and yet at the same moment, together with this blow, together with this feeling that we are bound, comes the other feeling that we are free. Some inner voice tells us that we are free. But if we attempt to realise that freedom, to make it manifest, we find the difficulties almost insuperable. Yet, in spite of that it insists on asserting itself inwardly, "I am free, I am free." And if you study all the various religions of the world you will find this idea expressed What happens then? The scene begins to shift. As soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene changes. The same world, which was the ghastly battlefield of Maya, is now changed into something good and beautiful.
And in multimedia, I hope I am able to create some illusions, which can keep people mesmerized.
Miles to go before I sleep…
Monday, September 24, 2007
A Hope To Bloom
I had never thought that one day I would sit in front of my computer screen and invest my time and energy in typing a blog.
I often wonder and ask myself – what am I doing here?
At times I let out a silent and meek scream from my heart bearing the same question on its weak shoulders. Poor scream! It echoes back to me without any answer, like an envelope, without the receiver’s address returns to sender. Why do I post envelopes without the receivers name on it? Why am I looking for an answer? Why am I asking this?
Why am I writing a blog?
Am I writing this blog because I want to do ‘it’ or it is because I want to do ‘something’?
Should doing ‘something’ mean doing ‘anything’?
Why am I so confused? How has Grey become Gray? I feel that I am walking through the fog.
Thick fog - grey fog. The fog which had condensed and deposited itself, in the form of sparkling and shining water droplets on the green leaves, on the green grass beneath my bare feet, and in my eyes.
Was it the droplet of the foggy water that rolled down my cheeks or it was tear drop from my eyes?
My vision is somewhat hazy, foggy and blurred. I cannot see anything beyond me. All I see is grey. And, the grey has enveloped me in its arms, like I am the long lost lover who has returned after an eternity.
What is this grey?
Grey is white turning black?
OR
Grey is black turning while?
Am I moving towards the bright hope or I am heading into the dark?
I don’t know which way I am heading. All I know that I have decided to move on. I have decided to walk out of this grey. Because, I know there is another world beyond this grey – beyond the horizon which is visible to our eyes.
Another horizon beyond which the fog will have to surrender itself to the divine light and enlighten my surrounding, where GREY fog clears way for BLOOMING flowers of hope, desire, achievement, nirvana!
A world where the grey will bloom – the BLOOMINGRAY!
I often wonder and ask myself – what am I doing here?
At times I let out a silent and meek scream from my heart bearing the same question on its weak shoulders. Poor scream! It echoes back to me without any answer, like an envelope, without the receiver’s address returns to sender. Why do I post envelopes without the receivers name on it? Why am I looking for an answer? Why am I asking this?
Why am I writing a blog?
Am I writing this blog because I want to do ‘it’ or it is because I want to do ‘something’?
Should doing ‘something’ mean doing ‘anything’?
Why am I so confused? How has Grey become Gray? I feel that I am walking through the fog.
Thick fog - grey fog. The fog which had condensed and deposited itself, in the form of sparkling and shining water droplets on the green leaves, on the green grass beneath my bare feet, and in my eyes.
Was it the droplet of the foggy water that rolled down my cheeks or it was tear drop from my eyes?
My vision is somewhat hazy, foggy and blurred. I cannot see anything beyond me. All I see is grey. And, the grey has enveloped me in its arms, like I am the long lost lover who has returned after an eternity.
What is this grey?
Grey is white turning black?
OR
Grey is black turning while?
Am I moving towards the bright hope or I am heading into the dark?
I don’t know which way I am heading. All I know that I have decided to move on. I have decided to walk out of this grey. Because, I know there is another world beyond this grey – beyond the horizon which is visible to our eyes.
Another horizon beyond which the fog will have to surrender itself to the divine light and enlighten my surrounding, where GREY fog clears way for BLOOMING flowers of hope, desire, achievement, nirvana!
A world where the grey will bloom – the BLOOMINGRAY!
Monday, September 3, 2007
Global Warming
Dry/Ice: Global Warming Revealed
Few days back my son was watching something on Discovery Channel. I was impressed with the picture they were showing on it. I asked my son" What is it?", he told me "They are showing the effects of Global Warming". I asked again"What Global Warming...?", he continues "due the increase in the atmosphere of greenhouse gas concentration like water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone, the temperature of the planet Earth increases. The higher the concentration of greenhouse gases CO2 in the atmosphere, the more heat energy is being reflected back to the Earth. Increasing Global temperature are causing broad range of changes like melting of land ice, extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat waves and tornadoes, spreading diseases, etc.
Go on these Sites to know more about the Global Warming-
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/world-bank-pentagon-warn-cli
http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=273
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