On not minding the matter

I identify with this so much that I couldn't help sharing it with all and sundry:

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss

Scientific Music

Just yesterday, a news item related to my Mother-in-law appeared in the three most widely-read newspapers of Kerala and also their respective news channels. I think the videos are still online in their web portals.

Now, my Mother-in-love is the HOD of Paediatrics in the Medical College of her city. She has also held very senior positions in Paediatrics in the state of Kerala as well. She is a very respected person in her field professionally. Personally, she is a very religious person, not spiritual, but religious. And she just proved something the day before that is kind of detrimental to her own position of that of a doctor, and ipso facto, of that of a soldier of the scientific method.

Two days back, she revived to full consciousness a 6 year-old girl who was comatose for two months. Her primary method for vivifying this girl was music therapy. Music therapy and the scientific world don't go hand in hand. First, there is nothing scientific about music, and music therapy might definitely not hold its ground against the rigours of the much vaunted scientific method, which doctors and engineers will hold on dear till death do their intellects apart. And the scientific method is based on observable, empirical and measurable evidence. Music therapy is neither empirical in terms of cause-effect, nor measurable in any means, (e.g. 80dB=100% consciousness), and observable evidence might surely not be replicable in identical settings. Which means, music therapy is a cartload of sophistry, which deserves scorn from the scientific community.

But then, the girl is back to normal from a perfectly vegetative state to a perfectly normal state. This only goes to show that absence of proof of efficacy is never proof of absence of efficacy. And furthermore, life does not always follow laws, especially scientific laws. Holisitc healing is an affront to the ego, but, if health has to be holistic, and it very well is in spite of what the doctors would like to think so, healing has to be as well. What then, is the fundamental problem to holistic healing? Holistic healing is, quite unfortunately, predicated on spirituality. If the Medical world has to be honest to their profession, and actually internalize their marketing phrase of 'cure is from above', they have to truly open their minds and accept with humility, the power of an unseen hand that directs the waves on the ocean, as much as the hand of the surgeon.

Unfounded articles like that of Prahlad knowing all that was needed to be known even before he was born, or that of chanting of Vishnu Sahasranamam during pregnancy being beneficial to the yet unborn, seem quite laughable to anyone from the scientific community. But the ego of the intelligent is a maya unto itself, and this veil can only be lifted by a courageous hand, a courageous hand of humility that is willing to accept that intelligence is not everything, and that God is the only goal worth striving for.

Another Miss Looks

GN 13-07-10: Sharjah student is Queen of the Nile

P's C: The most aspiring missionaries in the world seem to those aspiring Miss Universe/World types who will stop at nothing to fight for world peace and save Africa during their year of reign,- just before stepping into Hollywood. This Sharjah student seems to be cut out of a different philosophical cloth. She is only passionate about saving Egyptian children. At least the political garbage is pretty focused in this instance. To demonstrate my great respect for these illuminating contests, here is the classic blondish response of a totally empty Miss Teen South Carolina, which seems to have become the unforced keepsake for all competitions of this nature:

In answer to the question “Recent polls have shown that one out of five Americans can't locate the US on a map. Why do you think that is?" she replied “I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and that I believe our education like such as South Africa and the Iraq, and everywhere, such as, and I believe that they should our education over here in the US, should help the US, or should help South Africa and help the Iraq and the Asian countries so that we will be able to build out our future for us."

At least she got some of the keywords right: Africa, education, Asia, build, future. And the joke is that 1 billion people watch this comedy every year.

The Power of Words on YOU

This is one of those well-intentioned, but obviously fictitious stories that circulate in the grid. Why I have posted this is because I have realized that many drops will break a rock. Who knows when tenderness and empathy will strike a person!:

I was walking around in a Big Bazar store making shopping, when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.

The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll. Then the little boy turned to me and asked: ''Uncle, are you sure I don't have enough money?''

I counted his cash and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy the doll, my dear.'' The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much . I wanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY.

I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.' His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with

her to give it to my sister..''

My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.' Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly..

I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check Again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?''

'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!'

Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.'

I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever...

The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

***

Going Bananas - Connectivity & Connection: My personal experience

Gulf News, 02-07-10: Going bananas: Reaping the fruits of life. Video Editor Jaye Lentin and his wife have been on a raw food vegan diet for more than a year. Do their lifestyle and large intake of sugary fruits have any adverse effects on their bodies?

By the article itself, GN relates 'effects on their bodies' to effect on health. According to WHO, Health is a state of complete, physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease. This forms the premise of, probably the most important blog I have written so far.

I lived in the US for three years, starting Fall 2000. I led an incredibly solitary life there, shuttling between Salt Lake City and Seattle. By solitary I do not mean abandoned or ostracised, but rather, insulated from what I wanted to be insulated from, and isolated from what I wanted to isolate myself from. This was also the period of my spiritual rebirth.

During this period, I have had the strongest connection with the Cosmic Spirit that subsumes and consumes us all. Here, time and space are as relative as anything else you find relative. Clairvoyance and clairsentience become part of your sensory armour without you knowing they even existed. I dreamt of the 9/11 attack the morning it happened. I dreamt of the New York plane crash two months later. These are major incidents. Many minor incidents would flash to the mind's eye before they happened. I dreamt of my grandmother's passing on a week before it took place. I would have the Avatar's Dream almost every week. I dreamt of Jesus twice. And as the greatest spiritual celebration of my life, I had a vision of Krishna one night in my bedroom, when I was far from asleep. Although it lasted for maybe 2 seconds, these seconds constitute the greatest temporal embellishment of my life.

Now, how does all this relate to Going Bananas? You are what you eat. What you eat is not just from the mouth alone. During these years, I ate bland, tasteless food. I was vegan. Vegetables were half-cooked. I abjured salt, spice, sugar, chilli and anything that would even marginally titillate the tongue. Not just that. I lived on a very spiritual diet. TV was minimal or non-existent. I meditated twice a day. I read spiritual books. I detached myself from everything else. And so, what all happened then, happened then.

When the food that you take in through the five senses is sathwic, your antennas get detoxed, and therefore, you can connect. But everything has to start from the 10% of the tongue where the taste-buds of delusion lie. Once everything reaches the stomach, it's one mass of mashed everything. But how many of us would like to think so? My personal experience is testament to the eternal truth that you are what you eat.

Disclaimer: To distress you no further, I am no longer an Aumnivore and back to my herbivorous ways now. I am not single any more, and we live as one big mingling family now. It is difficult for my to emphasise my vegan point of view to a vegetarian home. Besides, I am no longer insulated and isolated, and back to the sewer of the material morass. So, no more visions and other esoteric situations.

Then again, head in the forest and hands in sick society. One should do what one can, in spite of one's situation. And go bananas when no one is watching! P.

Reading Between the Lines - 22 - Texting times

GN, 01-07-2010: Text-crazy teens at risk of new disorders

Text-crazy teens at risk of cool new disorders, unlike older generations. Unlike their uncool Dads and Moms, today's teens enjoy the wonderful risk of kick-ass sounding disorders like Textraphrenia and Textiety, unlike the nineties, when teens suffered from Schizophrenia and Anxiety (Yuck! I mean, jeez.. that's so.... old-fashioned!). Generation Why has made enormous strides in raising the bar on teenage disorders, and the teens of today look forward to an adulthood of syndromes unparalleled in human history.

Teens,- the future of the world is in your responsible carpal tunneled hands!