Are We Omnipresent?

In his recent article in Times of India, Dr. Deepak Chopra (DC) said that our location in space is a matter of perception, and the truth is that we are everywhere. Here is an excerpt from DC's article that I borrowed from Raama's blog.

An interesting insight that comes from both Vedic Science and Jewish Kabbalah is that the center of our awareness is the center of all space and time. It is at once everywhere and nowhere. But let’s assume for a moment that indeed your awareness is located where you are sitting. If this universe has infinite dimensions — and physicists assure us that it does — then infinity extends in all directions from where you are. You are in the center of the universe, but so am I, because infinity extends in all directions from where I am. Infinity also extends in all directions from a peasant in China, a dog in Siberia, and a tree in Africa. The truth is, I am here, but I am also everywhere else because here is there from every other point in space.

I am not sure if I understood DC's analogy correctly. Let us consider two points (1,1,1) and (2,2,2) in 3-D. Say that they are enclosed in a finite X,Y,Z space where X=Y=Z=5. Now, is DC saying that as X,Y, and Z tend to infinity, 1 tends to be equal to 2? Is he saying that a set of parallel railroad tracks would meet each other, if they both have infinite length? If so, wouldn't it mean that money in the bank is as good as money in our pockets? Is he saying that a cake in any bakery is as good as cake in our stomachs?

I am wondering as to how an awareness that all we see and feel is an illusion helps us in dealing with day-to-day issues of the world we live in? Even if we are able to convince ourselves that our world is nothing but our perception, I imagine that we would still need food to live and air to breathe. If we can't manage these, we might experience decay and death slowly. This would be painful (albeit pain and death are perceptions) and pain is not a desired stimulus, to say the least.

If we fully realize that in the grand scheme of things, we are nothing but a transient blip of energy absorption and radiation from a minuscule portion of the universe, we probably would be detached and happy. I guess this is the essence of DC's message. I would greatly appreciate if readers can share their insights on this matter. I have a feeling that I did not understand DC's message correctly.

A Glass of Water

A lecturer, explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?" Answers called out ranging from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home -- you can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can."

"So, my friends, why not take a while to just simply relax. Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while. Life is short. Enjoy it!"

Source: eRichards Consulting

Public Enemy No. 1

A news article today reminded me of Aryan, name of my childhood buddy Som's cute little son. It is unfortunate that some radical elements in the West managed to tag a negative connotation to this sweet name.

According to Wikipedia:

Aryan (/eərjən/ or /ɑːrjən/) is an English language word derived from the Sanskrit and Iranian terms ārya-, the extended form aryāna-, ari- and/or arya- (Sanskrit: आर्य, Persian: آریا). Beyond its use as the ethnic self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Iranians, the meaning "noble/spiritual one" has been attached to it in Sanskrit and Persian.

According to an article on Court TV, Public Enemy No. 1, a White supremacist gang, is gaining clout after forging alliance with Aryan Brotherhood. Here are some excerpts from this article.

The white supremacist gang Public Enemy No. 1 began two decades ago as a group of teenage punk-rock fans from upper-middle class bedroom communities in Southern California. Now, the violent gang that deals in drugs, guns and identity theft is gaining clout across the West after forging an alliance with the notorious Aryan Brotherhood, authorities say.

Law enforcement officials trace the gang's rise to shifts in the power structure inside prisons. The Aryan Brotherhood has long been the dominant white supremacist gang behind bars, with the Nazi Low Riders acting as its foot soldiers on the outside for drug dealing and identity theft. In 2000, officials reclassified the Low Riders as a prison-based gang and began sending its members to solitary confinement as soon as they were imprisoned.

In the past three years, its ranks have doubled to at least 400, but authorities suspect there could be hundreds of other members operating under the radar. They said heavy recruiting is taking place throughout California and Arizona, and members have been picked up by police in Nevada and Idaho. "They move around. We find them everywhere," said Lowell Smith of the Orange County Probation Department.

Public Enemy is now involved in identity theft. Booth said the gang has gone from swiping personal information from mailboxes and trash to stealing entire credit profiles with the help of girlfriends and wives who take jobs at banks, mortgage companies and even state motor vehicle departments. Money from those operations is used to fuel its methamphetamine business, he said.

Happiness

Each day is the first day of the rest of our lives and offers us the opportunity for a new start. We must learn to live each day to the fullest, and we can do that only if we learn to live in the present. Too many of us consider individual days as little more than stepping stones towards goals in the distant future. We think of them as rungs on a ladder that will move us a little closer to the top. That is no way to live our lives. What if we reach the top of the ladder only to realize that the ladder is against the wrong wall?

Happiness and success are journeys--not destinations--and we can never find happiness or success at the end of any road. Instead, we must travel a road where these conditions exist along the route every step of the way. If we can't find happiness and success in the present, we will never find them in the future. Those who find true happiness pursue the goal of achieving as much success, and finding as much happiness, as possible each and every day of their lives.

One of the great paradoxes of our time is that so many people seem to believe that the surest routes to happiness are the accumulation of material wealth and the attainment of social status. "If I can just become rich and famous, I will be truly happy," so many of us think. But life just doesn't work that way. Since the hunger for fame and fortune is never satisfied, the more fame or fortune a person attains, the more he or she craves.

We must find happiness within ourselves--not in the external world. For many people, happiness comes from the simple things in life and from trying to make others happy. Happiness is contagious, and the more of it we give to others the more we will have for ourselves. Each day we have a new opportunity to find happiness; and unless we are able to learn to be happy on a day-to-day basis, we will probably never find true happiness. Certainly there are times, such as after the loss of a loved one, when we are hurting so much that we cannot find happiness in the immediate future. But, during those periods when we have not recently suffered a major loss, all of us should be able to find at least some happiness in each and every day. If we can't, perhaps we are traveling the wrong road.

Source: Allen W. Smith

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

This is a clip from one of my favorite episodes of Simpsons. A must see for all desis.



Adultivity, store credit only, 13 stripes for good luck - real classics!! For those who did not have the pleasure of meeting Apu, here is a brief introduction to this wonderful character.

Texas' Independence Day

On the eve of Texas' independence day, I thought of memorializing some interesting facts about Texas.

On this day, 171 years ago (in 1836), Texas declared its independence from Mexico, and existed as the independent Republic of Texas for nearly a decade. In 1845, it joined the United States as the 28th state. Austin is the Capital of Texas. Texas is popularly known as the "Lone Star State"

The state's name derives from a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai meaning "those who are friends," "friends," or "allies." With an area of 268,581 square miles (695,622 km²) and a population of 23.5 million in 254 counties, the state is second-largest in both area and population—behind Alaska and California, respectively. Texas is larger than France.

Texas boasts that "Six Flags" have flown over its soil: the Fleur-de-lis of France, the national flags of Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.

Texas is one of the top film making states in the United States, just after California and New York. Austin, Texas is now one of the leading film making locations in the country. Between 1195 and 2004, more than $2.75 billion has been spent in Texas for film and television production. If Texas were a nation, its economy would rank as the eighth largest in the world, according to the Comptroller's Fall 2004 Texas Economic Update. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco, Texas in 1885. There is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper.

As of 2004, the state has 3.5 million foreign-born residents (15.6% of the state population), of which an estimated 1.2 million are illegal immigrants (illegal immigrants account for more than one-third of the foreign-born population in Texas and 5.4 percent of the total state population).

Texas has a vibrant live music scene in Austin boasting more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city, befitting the city's official slogan as The Live Music Capital of the World. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film, music, and multimedia festival known as South by Southwest. The longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits, is videotaped on The University of Texas at Austin campus or Zilker Park. Austin City Limits and Waterloo Records run the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin.

Texas is home to many of the tallest skyscrapers in the United States. The Houston skyline has been ranked fourth-most impressive in the United States when ranked primarily by height, being the country's third-tallest skyline (after Chicago and New York City) and one of the top 10 in the world; however, because it is spread over a few miles, most pictures of the city show only the main downtown area. Houston has a system of tunnels and skywalks linking buildings in downtown. The tunnel system also includes shops, restaurants, and convenience stores.

Houston Downtown

Austin Downtown

References: Wikipedia, Business and Industry Data Center, CIA, Dr Pepper Museum

Good for a Hindu or a Jew!

Liked this Al's quote.

A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. - Albert Einstein

Fun Fact: King Ranch in Texas is the largest ranch in the world, and is larger than the state of Rhode Island!