Science and Spirituality

How often in the past has science made a declaration about 'facts' only to change it decades or centuries later as and when more clarity emerges ? Too often for comfort, I'd say. The Human Genome project (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Genome_Project) is the most comprehensive study made on the human DNA to date and yet it can make no sense whatsoever of over 97% of the sequences in it and so calls it 'junk'. Just because science cannot understand something completely, calling it junk is just being naive.

I'm part of the 'Narayana Movement' (http://groups.google.co.in/group/foaf2012) whose primary aim is to educate the world about 2012. There has been a lot of misinformation about what is going to happen to the earth in 2012. The popular theory is that life as we know it will come to an end in 2012 (reinforced by the Hollywood movie by that name). This is not what the Narayana movement believes. 2012 will herald the end not for the earth per se but for all negativity on earth. Armageddon for negativity, if you will.

The Narayana movement (in conjunction with http://www.kryon.com/) also says that the human DNA contains 12 strands of which only two are active for most people. Realised souls (Ramana Maharishi, Seshadri Swamigal, HH Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Jesus etc) had all 12 active. There are literally thousands of people who have had first hand experiences with the seemingly 'magical' powers of the Kanchi Yogi (http://www.kamakoti.org/newlayout/template/souvenir.html). These incidents are too numerous to recount here. Science cannot even begin to explain some of these.

I'm now convinced that the 97% of the DNA which science calls junk holds many secrets. According to the Narayana movement,

• it is possible for ordinary humans to increase their active strands by practicing certain techniques - all easy ones
• The total number of active strands need to be increased to at least 6 by May 2012
• the number of active strands is directly proportional to closeness with Brahman
• DNA contains information about a person's past lives
• Children being born these days naturally have 3 strands active ! These children are termed 'Indigo Children'

It is a truism that science and spiritualism are both sides of the same coin; they go hand in hand. But today's science cannot be blamed for not being to explain phenomena which it loves to call 'supernatural'. It is simply not mature enough today to offer an explanation. But every single 'supernatural' phenomenon - telepathy, life after death, astral travel etc - should have a scientific explanation. There has to be.
I'm positive Science is marching towards it.

Technology as a bane

The Indian middle class has been benefited a lot by the advent of new technology. Much of this new technology has come in the last 30-40 years before which things were pretty much static. I would say the current generation of 'home makers' in the age group of 50-65 is one that has been impacted most. (I'm using the word 'impacted' and not 'benefited' for a reason I will go into later).

Mixer-grinders, microwave owens, LPG, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and indeed electricity itself are some of the things this generation has seen coming into their lives. These ladies know what it means to live without these gadgets and hence appreciate them much better. But their daughters are born in a world with all these gadgets and hence their attitude to these gadgets is completely different.

Regular use of the grinding stone used to build brute, physical strength. Blowing into wood powered and kerosene stoves built lung power. Bending over double to wipe floors helped in keeping the body supple. More than anything else, it help inculcate tolerance levels, patience and endurance. Qualities you don't find in the current crop of youngsters - both male and female.

So, yes, there is no doubt that these gadgets have made life a lot easier for people but it also brought in a new set of body related and mind related problems along with them.

You can extend this analogy to practically any sphere of life, to any sample size of population belonging to any strata of society. You will find more or less a similar kind of cause and effect phenomenon.
We specialize in inventing technology which is supposed to improve our quality of life but which, over a period of time, in fact has the opposite effect.

Maoists are not enemies of the state

The Maoist problem in India seems to be a riddle without solution. Most people appear to have the perception that the Maoist menace is something that should be put down with brute force by the Government. They view the Maoists as terrorists who take pleasure in killing innocent citizens; they are the bad guys and should be treated as such.

While the above might be true - and I don't condone their methods - I think the mainstream India media needs to relate their side of their story as well. Outlook is one mag that has been trying to do this through Arundhati Roy (although people need to have a PhD in English literature to understand her articles ) for some time now. We also need to try and understand the reason they have taken up arms. After all, nobody starts a civil war for fun.

Successive Indian Govts have been consistently insensitive to the needs and difficulties of the rural Indians in their quest to sate the needs and address the difficulties of urban Indians. In the name of building factories, townships and big dams, millions and millions of the poorest Indians have been displaced from the lands they have been traditionally occupying for centuries. In the name of letting greedy mining companies set up shop in the rural hinterland, lakhs of people have been literally chased out of their homes - sometimes at gunpoint.
Every single time, it is the poor who get trampled.


Problems afflicting the educated middle class and affluent Indians gets a disproportionate amount of attention. A handful of people died at the hands of Kasab in Mumbai. This was covered on the front pages of every single newspaper in India over several weeks. Farmers have been committing suicides by the thousands in the Vidharba region of Maharashtra. Sadly, this gets a only a few centimeters of news space.

Hundreds of well-to-do software professionals lost their jobs when the Satyam fiasco broke out. Bowing to public pressure, the Govt of India itself had to step in and consider bailing the company out. Lakhs of textile workers and lakhs of daily wage labourers employed in the jewellery industry in Surat and elsewhere lost their jobs in the midst of the recession. Nary a whisper about their plight in the media.

Since the liberalisation started in the early nineties, the policies adopted by the Governments at power in the Center (including the BJP led one) have a distinct capitalist hue as against the totally socialist trend seen earlier. Editorials and economists have cried themselves hoarse about the 'benefits' this trend has brought to India. But the 'benefits' have not started to percolate to the masses below the so called poverty line (at least not as much as we would have liked). So there is this huge section of have-not people in India which has been seeing this other section move from strength to strength while they themselves have been continually deprived (or continually been kept deprived). In other words development and progress is skewed across the different sections of the social fabric. We don't a rocket scientist to figure out this causes frustration and heart burn.


Disgruntlement and restlessness builds up. It was only a matter of time that an organized movement by this disgruntled lot started. We now have a name for it - the Moaist movement.

So does the Government need to go back to its socialist ways ? Maybe not. So does the Government need to go back to its pre-liberalization ways ? Definitely not. All it needs to make sure is that progress is inclusive. Ah, that's easier said than done !

The point I'm trying to make here is that we should not automatically jump to the conclusion that the Maoists are enemies of the state. The Government needs to engage them in talks rather than try to suppress the movement by brute force. It may be successful in the short term but, for sure, the problem will crop up again.

Who's racist ?

The brouhaha generated in India over attacks on Indian students in Australia would make one imagine everything is fine here. Not true. We are as racist as they come. Probably more.

Maybe we don't beat up aliens darker/fairer than we are but I'm sure that's only because they are not here for our jobs. Can you even imagine what the situation would be like here if ship loads of immigrants land here to 'steal' our jobs ? All hell would break loose.
The law and order mechanism in the country would simply collapse.

• Check out any matrimonial section in any Indian newspaper. You will find grooms searching for 'fair' brides
• 99% of actors in India who have made it big are fair. And not just in Bollywood.
• 99% of successful models are fair.
• An average Indian movie will have at least one racist joke or a dialogue.
• Many hotels in tourist cities in India frown down upon Indian customers. Many of them openly refuse to admit Indians.
• Snide remarks are made about African students studying in Indian colleges.
• Students from the North-East are called by the derogatory term 'Chinkies'. After all they are Indians too.
• One word - untouchability.

People living in glass houses should not throw stones.

Limerick 1

Twinkle twinkle little star,
ತಿನ್ನು ಇಡ್ಲಿ ಸಾಂಬಾರ್ ಅನ್ನ ಸಾರ್
ಇದು ದೇಹಕ್ಕೆ ಬಹಳ ಒಳ್ಳೇದು,
ಬೇಡ ಪಿಜ್ಜಾ ಕಾರ್ನ್ಫ್ಳಕೆಸ್ ಬರ್ಗೆರು.

For the Kannada speaking pseudo mannina magas who cannot read Kannada, here is the English transliteration.

Twinkle twinkle little star,
Tinnu idli sambar anna saar.
Idu dehakke bahala olledu,
Beda pizza conflakes, burgeru.

Maybe I can sell this jingle to some Bangalore FM radio channel on a campaign promoting Indian food. I can probably make myself some rupees ....:-)

Waste not want not

The decision to buy a product or a service should be based not only on one's ability to afford it but also on whether one really needs it and whether or not it is worth the price one pays for it.There are people who buy new clothes almost every month. What a sheer waste of money. Think of the several ways in which this money could have been put to use productively. Let's try to do a small analysis here by taking a reasonably appropriate sample size.

Let's take the software/IT/ITES junta in India who are notorious for their excessive consumerism. As per NASSCOM, the number of people employed by the BPO, IT/ITES industry in India is around 25 lakhs. Let's assume half of this population spends Rs 300 every month unnecessarily. That's almost 36 crore Rupees. Per month !! In the hands of a good NGO, just imagine how much good Rs 36 crore can do every month ! In a country like India where more than half the population lives on less than Rs 20 per day, this kind of waste is criminal. Absolutely criminal.

Just extrapolate this analogy to the other well-to-do sections of Indian society and try and work out the colossal amount of money that is getting blown up every single day on parties, booze, movies, clothes, food to name a few. It boggles the imagination.

Calculation of economic growth figures

The way economic growth percentage figures are calculated remains a mystery. The hoi polloi see newspapers reporting 8% growth for India in 2010. The very next day, the same news paper quotes some other agency predicting 9.5% growth. The common man gets totally confused. Unless he is sure at what rate the country's economy will grow that year, how can he carry on with his day to day life ?

He will worry about it when he is waiting in line to purchase rice and dal at the fair price shop. He will worry about it when he is travelling on the footboard of the local public transport bus on his way to work trying to keep elbows and smelly arm pits out of his face. He will also keep thinking about it when he is fighting for a bucket of water at the friendly neighbourhood tap. The worry will plague him when he is lying awake sweating at night whenever there is a power failure. Nor will it let him negotiate potholed roads in peace.

So in the interest of the greater common good, I decided to investigate how exactly the Government arrives at growth figures. This was no mean task. It entailed hundreds of visits to the library, several RTI petitions and numerous references to tomes of economic books. I can finally claim to have arrived at the magic formula.

Here's how it is done. Beginning of every year, the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) calls for a meeting. Sub-Junior officers and clerks from the Planning commission, IMF, World Bank and the RBI attend this meeting. The PM himself chairs this essentially number-crunching meeting. Growth figure estimates are taken from each organization. For ease of understanding, let's call them A, B, C and D respectively. (Again for ease of understanding, let us not get into the nitty gritty of how each of these organizations arrives at A,B,C and D in the first place.)

Growth figure for India for the year is calculated using the formula
Growth Figure=((A+B+C+D)/4)raised to the power of n, divided by n factorial, whole raised to the power of 1/n where n is the year in question, 2010 for instance.

Let's call this figure X. If a majority government is in power, X is multiplied by 2. If a coalition government is in power X is divided by 2. Then 1.8 percentage points are added to budget for any discrepancies in A,B,C and D figures. This number is then released to the media as growth estimate for India for that year.