Wanted Heart Transformation Technology

Hare Krsna!

In this golden age of technology and software engineering, we tend to forget easily the risks civilization faces due to the myths we have bought into:

1) Money (or more things) is equivalent to happiness

2) Technology gratification effectively replaces the pleasures of gazing at a sunrise and a flowing river 

3) Weapons bring security

4) The earth provides virtually unlimited resources for our exploitation

5) The earth provides limitless room for waste disposal after we've done exploiting

The world is in desperate of technology and technologists to transform hearts of people to look beyond the ephemeral.  I was touched by an article in a book called Journey WIthin by HH Radhanath Swami.  I recommend that you purchase the book and read it.

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Within-Exploring-Path-Bhakti/dp/1608871576

***

Excerpt:

I'd like share  a story that shows even during one of the most savage and heartbreaking periods in world history, helpless people surrounded by cruelty, torture and death chose to see an opportunity to connect with grace.

This story was told to me by one of my dearest friends. His father had been an officer in the Nazi SS. He was dispatched on murderous missions and helped to manage concentration camps. From time to time, one of his fellow officers noticed something peculiar. Outside the walls of a gas chamber, in a holding tank, were drawing of butterflies.  What did they mean?

His curiosity was aroused. Finally, he asked a condemned Jew about it. The tortured, emaciated victim gazed own at the filthy, bloodstained floor, shook his head in grief and said nothing. Then he looked up and directly into the eyes of his captor, his face shining with hope. In a whisper he revealed the secret of the butterfly.

A caterpillar crawls in the dirt, eats debris, and at moment can be trampled to death or eaten alive by birds. Then the struggling little insect is imprisoned in a cocoon. But through that  ordeal, the caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, free to fly in the open sky. It then lives on a diet of pure nectar.

"Some of us believe," the Jewish prisoner told the Nazi, "that despite all your cruelties through our faith in God, our souls will be liberated, into a land of freedom where we will drink nectar from the flowers of God's grace. And you will suffer for your atrocities when our suffering is over."

The officer was taken aback. When my friend's father heard this story from his fellow officer, the bubble of propaganda he and his nation had been fed about how Jews are dangerous subhumans burst. He suddenly saw his own insanity in having bought into such an idea and what he had done in service to the Gestapo. He realized that the people he was murdering were special, sensitive people with profound insight, and for the rest of his life experienced horrific nightmares and felt a bitter repentance.

His son, like so many other Germans of his generation, rebelled against his parents' ignorance and searched frantically for meaning and truth. Eventually he found the path of bhakti. He and I are best friends. He is the son of a murderer of Jews, and I am the son o a Jew whose uncles, aunts, and cousins were torutred and exterminated by the Nazis. But our hearts are one in affection.

We need to rise above the atrocities of the world. Like-minded, caring people can unite beyond sectarian issues and call out for real change based on the real self. In whatever role you find yourself --- mother, father, politician, farmer, entertainer, shopkeeper, industrialist, student, priest or atheist --- listen for the call to open and cleanse your heart and to share the wealth of truth with the world by your words and example. The world craves such leadership.  The GIta ( 3.21) says, "Whatever action a great person performs, common ones follow. And whatever standards they set by exemplary acts, all the world pursues."

Become an enlightened leader. Be active in the world, but rise above all selfish misconceptions  by choosing to keep the roots of your values sheltered in the soil of integrity and grace.

*****

The underlying teachings of India's peace message have the best chance for promoting universal brotherhood in the world.

Sincerely

Sudhakar

Dramatic escalation in nuclear war rhetoric

Hare Krsna Friends,

Please accept my humble respects. I am sending this note due to dramatic escalation in nuclear war rhetoric threat (ignoring my  infirmities).

Please read this news article 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-26/caught-tape-us-test-fires-nuclear-icbm-warns-we-are-prepared-use-nuclear-weapons

We are in the middle of the next era of cold war, or maybe beginning phase of world war III. 

Recently, Russia test-fired an ICBM. And now USA does the same and in the process also **explicitly** increased the nuclear war rhetoric.

USA: "we are prepared to use nuclear weapons in defense of our country if necessary."

This is happening because the world leaders are disconnected from their heart and inner self.

In this context, the duty of India and anyone born inside India should be to work for world peace.  If each of us can spend ten minutes a day connecting to our inner self,   that is the beginning of revolutionary transformation of our collective hearts that could one day reach the hearts of the world leaders and calm them down.  Peace is biggest need in this turbulent times.

India indeed have crown jewels in terms of the teachings of sages such as Kabir, Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Krsna Chaitanya.

The world is facing a leadership crisis.  One would hope/pray that Indians would raise upto the occassion.

Regards

sudhakar

--

Dr. Sudhakar Govindavajhala,

President, Yoga Foundation

http://yogascientist.blogspot.com

We must know the present need of human society. And what is that need? Human society is no longer bounded by geographical limits to particular countries or communities. Human society is broader than in the Middle Ages, and the world tendency is toward one state or one human society. The ideals of spiritual communism, according to Yoga, are based more or less on the oneness of the entire human society, nay, of the entire energy of living beings. The need is felt by great thinkers to make this a successful ideology. Yoga will fill this need in human society. It begins, therefore, with an aphorism, janmādy asya yataḥ, to establish the ideal of a common cause.

Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the fields of material comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire world. But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Yoga will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society.

Chennai floods, heart vs mind

Hare Krsna Dear Friends,

Please join me in praying for the well-being of Chennai residents.

Please allow me to enter your heart in identifying the need for
transforming our collective consciousness.   The relief efforts IIT
did in the wake of Chennai floods, a man-made disaster, is good.
However, we should influence the society positively so that man-made
disasters can be avoided.  Our role in the society should  be that of
Guru of the society; not just emergency relief efforts. That makes it
possible to avoid this and other future disasters altogether.

The floods in Chennai are very unfortunate and bear semblance to
Katrina disaster in America in 2004.  In both the cases, heavy rains
and breaching of lakes resulted in water flowing into the city.  In
Chennai case, there is rampant building on water bodies and water
pathways, resulting in the blocking of natural river ways that would
drain water into the sea.  For example, the Buckingham canal is
clogged due to it being used as a waste dump due to which the water
could not drain in the sea.    In addition, due to the rampant
deforestation the speed of rain water runoff is not slowed down.

Unlike Katrina, it was nice to see that the social structure and
culture of Chennai being intact in this calamity. There was no
looting. This is India's real strength: people's happiness is not
dependent on economic indicators.

The storm water drainage problems were foreseen by a few people.  All
over India, this it is quite well known that we have no proper urban
planning.  But why were the right steps not taken to take the society
in a positive direction? That is because the hearts and minds of
people in right places are disconnected. The heart wants to do the
right thing, but the mind finds an excuse to postpone doing the right
thing to next year, next decade or next generation.

Heart loses; mind wins. This is the public policy crisis Chennai,
India and the world faces.  People know what is the right thing to do.
But our heart is not strong enough to make the right decision.  The
mind concocts its own own reason as to why short-term profit taking is
more important that strategic decision making.

We have a cancer of the blood, of our collective consciousness.  This
cancer is corroding our societal skeleton.  Applying a bandage on a
boil on skin is not sufficient. Unless we clean the blood, the boils
will keep appearing. In that sense, our efforts to provide emergency
disaster relief, while important, is a short-term adhoc fix. We need
to follow up with a fix for our collective consciousness to do the
right things (respect mother earth, respect civil rights of humans,
animals and plants, adequate city planning etc).

IIT alumni and other leaders of the society should lead the way in
cleaning our collective consciousness.  The way to do it is that each
of us spends certain time connecting with our inner self, and when
possible motivates our friends to connect with our inner self.  As
each individual connect with their inner self, one would realize that
the energy of all human beings is interlinked. Nay, the energy of all
living beings is interlinked. What goes around comes back.

We are all pleasure seekers. As we dig into our inner self, one would
realize that our true essence is bliss.  The happiness within our self
far exceed the happiness from external things.

Leading thinkers such as Decartes, Poincare, Mozhart, Bethoven have
hypothesized that this inner self is what gives our thoughts,
remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. Thus, I request each of you
to connect internally with our inner-self, for say ten minutes a day.
We need improve our collective consciousness and motivate each other
to make the right decisions to avoid catastrophes like man-made
floods.

India is actually the world leader, Guru, in the technology to connect
the heart and mind; its called devotion.  The Indian understanding of
the mind, and subconscious self is super-excellent.   We live in a
world dragged by sectarianism, nuclear war risks and catastrophic
environmental damage.

West Asia (Syria, Iraq, Turkey) is on the boil. Recently we have seen
a fighter jet confrontation between Russia, and NATO; the first time
in 55 years. We are on the cusp of the next cold war or world war. The
duty of any Indian ought to be take the knowledge and cutlure of India
to the whole world for the sake of world peace.

About fifty years ago, knowledge and wisdom were the ornaments of an
individual. Today, money is considered the ornament.  This model is
ridiculous as no amount of money or things can satisfy the self. Only
selfless service and love satisfy the service. Unfortunately the
modern educational system does not understands this and instead
perpuates unrestricted greed.  This bound to result in a catastrophe.

We need to arrest this trend. Please connect with your inner self for
ten minutes a day.


Sincerely,
Sudhakar

We must know the present need of human society. And what is that need?
Human society is no longer bounded by geographical limits to
particular countries or communities. Human society is broader than in
the Middle Ages, and the world tendency is toward one state or one
human society. The ideals of spiritual communism, according to Yoga,
are based more or less on the oneness of the entire human society,
nay, of the entire energy of living beings. The need is felt by great
thinkers to make this a successful ideology. Yoga will fill this need
in human society.

Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of
oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the fields of material
comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire
world. But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large,
and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important
issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in
peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Yoga will fill
this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the
respiritualization of the entire human society.

World Health Organization: Processed meat causes cancer

http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/26/news/red-meat-processed-cancer-world-health-organization/index.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34615621
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/us-health-meat-idUSKCN0SK16P20151026

The World Health Organization said Monday that eating processed meat such as sausages and ham causes cancer, while unprocessed red meat may also be carcinogenic.

The WHO's cancer research unit now classifies processed meat as "carcinogenic to humans" based on evidence from hundreds of studies, and linked it specifically to colon, or colorectal, cancer.

The report outlined that simply eating 50 grams of processed meat each day -- the equivalent of two slices of ham -- can increase the risk of such cancer by 18%. However, the authors say the risks are relatively small to begin with.The organization defines processed meat as any type of meat that is salted, cured or smoked to enhance its flavor or preserve it. Processed meat generally contains pork or beef, but may also contain poultry.

The WHO now classifies processed meat in the same category as smoking and asbestos, based on its certainty of a link with cancer, but stressed that did not mean they were equally dangerous.

Unprocessed red meat such as steak and lamb shanks is classified as "probably carcinogenic."

The WHO said the finding was important for public health since processed meat is so widely consumed. However, it said red meat still has "nutritional value."

"These results are important in enabling governments and international regulatory agencies to conduct risk assessments, in order to balance the risks and benefits of eating red meat and processed meat and to provide the best possible dietary recommendations," said Christopher Wild, head of the WHO's cancer agency, in a statement.

According to estimates cited by the WHO, about 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide can be attributed to diets that are high in processed meat. That's a small fraction of the 8.2 million deaths caused by cancer in 2012, according to the latest WHO data.

Meat industry groups slammed the WHO report as biased and misleading.

"They tortured the data to ensure a specific outcome," said Betsy Booren, vice president of scientific affairs at the North American Meat Institute.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association said the scientists who issued the report were split on their decision to make an explicit link between red meat with cancer.

"As a registered dietitian and mother, my advice hasn't changed," said Shalene McNeill, an executive director at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "To improve all aspects of your health, eat a balanced diet, which includes lean meats like beef, maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and, please don't smoke."

How Nukes Were Almost Launched From Okinawa During Cuban Missile Crisis

Aaron Tovish is calling on the U.S. government to release documents pertaining to one of the scarier incidents of the Cuban Missile Crisis. According to an Air Force airman, the system designed to prevent an accidental launch of nuclear weapons failed as the codes ordering a launch were given in each of the three transmissions required for a launch: "By Bordne's account, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Air Force crews on Okinawa were ordered to launch 32 missiles, each carrying a large nuclear warhead. Only caution and the common sense and decisive action of the line personnel receiving those orders prevented the launches -- and averted the nuclear war that most likely would have ensued."
Links: slashdot.org    thebulletin.org

Limitation of scientism

Suppose someone uses a map to travel to a friend’s house. At each step during the journey, suppose the map guides them well, and their faith in it increases more and more. Finally when they reach their friend’s house and see him, they check their map, don’t find him there and declare, “You don’t exist.” Their friend would be right to retort, “Your intelligence doesn’t exist – the map is not meant to show people. It doesn’t show all of reality.”

Science acts like a map for navigating material reality. The scientific picture of nature enables us to reliably do things such as getting where we want to go. Being enamored by these navigational abilities, some people deem science the only reliable source of knowledge about everything. Thus, they become believers of scientism.

What’s wrong with scientism? It misrepresents science. Mainstream science doesn’t show all of reality. Operating on the premise of methodological naturalism, it looks for material explanations for material phenomena while saying nothing about any nonmaterial factors. In principle, the map of naturalist science isn’t meant to depict nonmaterial realities such as consciousness.

When believers of scientism encounter consciousness, especially its irreducible subjective dimension, they deny its existence by deeming its locus – our sense of self – a neurochemical illusion. But it is only because they have consciousness that they can say anything about it, either its existence or non-existence. Put another way, only because consciousness is real can they make the absurd claim that it is not real.

The Bhagavad-gita (16.09) indicates that people destroy their soul because of buying into a fanatically materialistic worldview (16.08). If instead we study the Gita’s wisdom, we can intellectually grasp the reality of the soul and gradually by the practice of yoga realize it to be our essence.

Compassion, goal of life, liberation, prayers, karma

I write below in honor of Prahlad, a king in the yester years who ruled Indian subcontinent  and Vasudeva Datta who lived in Bengal in 1500s. These individuals are an epitome of compassion.  Somehow my heart skips a beat when I run into these two. I feel they touch me very deep. On a plane of consciousness, they are the same incarnation.

The goal of life is to develop compassion to all living beings: human, animals and plants. Compassion, not computer chips or not oil or not software engineers is the most precious commodity in the world.

It is said in India that the purpose of life is dharma, artha, kama and moksha. This translates to justice, economic gains, sense gratification and liberation.

Christians believe that Lord Jesus Christ, their spiritual master, appeared in order to eradicate all the sins of his disciples.

Jesus Christ relieved only his followers from all sinful reactions, but Vasudeva Datta is here prepared to accept the sins of everyone in the universe.

Vasudeva Datta is so liberal that he is prepared to risk everything to rescue the conditioned souls from material existence. Srila Vasudeva Datta Thakura is universal love itself, for he was willing to sacrifice everything and fully engage in the service of others.

Lord Jesus Christ certainly finished the sinful reactions of his followers by his mercy, but that does not mean he completely delivered them from the pangs of material existence. A person may be relieved from sins once, but it is a practice to confess sins and yet commit them again. By getting freed from sins and again engaging in them, one cannot attain freedom from the pangs of material existence. A diseased person may go to a physician for relief, but after he leaves the hospital he may again be infected due to his unclean habits. Thus material existence continues. Srila Vasudeva Datta wanted to completely relieve the conditioned souls from
material existence so that they would no longer have an opportunity to commit sinful acts.  It is a great offense to receive pardon for sins and then commit the same sins again. Such an offense is more dangerous than the sinful activity itself. Vasudeva Datta was so liberal that he requested to transfer all offensive activity upon him so the conditioned souls would be purified. This prayer was certainly without duplicity.

Vasudeva Datta was para-duhkha-duhkhi, very much aggrieved to see others suffer. The entire world is purified simply by the appearance of such a great humanist. By and large there innumerable humanists in India  who have prayed for good for whole world, irrespective of self situation. That is the fundamental strength of India. The summary of Indian philosophy is energy of all living beings (plants, animals, humans) is same. Let us all be at peace with each other.

I request all Indians to work towards this ideal. Let India become the Guru of the world.

Om shanti om shanti om shanti is the prayer that expresses this.

Om shanti om shanti om shanti
Om tat sat