Last year, someone gifted me a subscription to the magazine Prabuddha Bharata, which is a journal founded by no less a person than Swami Vivekananda in 1896 and is published monthly by the Ramakrishna Order. It is a journal devoted to spreading the message of Vedanta and is published every month with learned articles on various aspects of the Hindu faith. Being the serious, scholarly journal that it is, I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the issues contained jokes and funny stories, with or without a spiritual message, perhaps to offer light relief to the readers! This was the last place I expected to find jokes. However, I think it is a very good idea and I thank the Swamiji who was responsible. May his tribe increase!
Here are two examples from the June, 2004 issue of the Prabuddha Bharata to show the reader what I mean:
1. INTERESTING READING
Aoccdrnig to rseaerch cndoucetd at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a wrod are ; the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig, huh ?
2. THE DIVE
A young man who had been raised as an atheist was training to be an Olympic diver. The only religious influence in his life came from his outspoken Christian friend. The young diver never really paid much attention to his friend’s sermons, but he heard them often.
One night the diver went to the indoor pool at the college he attended. The lights were all off, but as the pool had big skylights and the moon was bright, there was plenty of light to practise by.
The young man climbed up to the highest diving board. As he turned his back to the pool standing on the edge of the board and extended his arms, he saw his shadow on the wall.
The shadow of his body was in the shape of a cross.
Instead of diving, he knelt down and finally asked God to come into his life.
As the young man stood on the diving board, a maintenance man walked in and turned on the lights.
The pool had been drained for repairs.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Sunday, June 06, 2004
A QUACK QUACK HERE & A QUACK QUACK THERE …..
An interesting news item datelined London, June 4, 2004 and published in the Hindu dated June 5, 2004, says that British ducks have been found to have regional accents.
Researchers have discovered that ducks in London have a rougher and louder accent call than their West Country counterparts.
Cockney ducks have developed loud and “shriekier” quacks because of competing noises of city life like sirens, horns, trains and traffic but their laidback friends in Cornwall have softer accent calls.
Victoria de Rijke made the discovery after ducks were recorded at Spitalfields City Farm, East London and Trerieve Farm in Downderry, Cornwall. The quacks were analysed and compared with the help of special computer software.
“We found definite regional differences. The Cockney ducks were much louder and vocally excitable. The Cornish ducks made longer and more relaxed sounds – they were much more chilled out. The Cockney quack is like a shout and a laugh whereas Cornish ducks sound more like they are giggling,” Dr. Rijke said.
“Ideally, I would like to continue this theme and study Geordie, Scouse and even Irish ducks to see the differences in their sounds,” added Dr. Rijke.
Researchers have discovered that ducks in London have a rougher and louder accent call than their West Country counterparts.
Cockney ducks have developed loud and “shriekier” quacks because of competing noises of city life like sirens, horns, trains and traffic but their laidback friends in Cornwall have softer accent calls.
Victoria de Rijke made the discovery after ducks were recorded at Spitalfields City Farm, East London and Trerieve Farm in Downderry, Cornwall. The quacks were analysed and compared with the help of special computer software.
“We found definite regional differences. The Cockney ducks were much louder and vocally excitable. The Cornish ducks made longer and more relaxed sounds – they were much more chilled out. The Cockney quack is like a shout and a laugh whereas Cornish ducks sound more like they are giggling,” Dr. Rijke said.
“Ideally, I would like to continue this theme and study Geordie, Scouse and even Irish ducks to see the differences in their sounds,” added Dr. Rijke.
A MESSAGE FROM THE GITA
I recently started reading a 3-volume commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, the first among the scriptures of the Hindus. The commentary is written by Swami Ranganathananda, the current President of the Ramakrishna Mission. The erudition and scholarship of Swamiji is well known and I am really looking forward to reading his work.
However, his 68-page introduction itself was so informative and comprehensive that I found it difficult to move on. I had to go back and read it again, more slowly than the first time. I found a wealth of information in this introduction to the Gita, some of which I would like to share with people who take time out to read this.
Although the Gita is perhaps the holiest book of the Hindus, it might surprise many to know that it was not written for any particular religion or ethnic group. It talks about an eternal religion or Sanatana Dharma, which is meant for all mankind. Originally written in Sanskrit, it was included as a part of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The subject of the Gita is a dialogue between Krishna, who is an incarnation of God and Arjuna, a mortal, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
The Gita, says Swamiji, was first translated into English by Sir Charles Wilkins and published by the British East India Company, with an introduction by none other than Warren Hastings, the first British Governor General of India, in which we find the following prophetic sentence :
“the writers of the Indian philosophies will survive when the British Dominion in India shall long have ceased to exist, and the sources which it yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance.”
The Gita has influenced many people in the western world. Some prominent names in this connection are Sir Edwin Arnold (who also rendered the Gita in English, calling it “The Song Celestial”), Thomas Carlyle, both of England, and also Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau of the USA.
As mentioned by Swami Ranganathananda, the dharma or philosophy taught in the Gita is of a twofold nature, charcterised by pravritti, outward action, and nivritti, inward contemplation. Both action and meditation are needed for balanced development of a human being. Today, there seems to be more stress on pravritti all around us and no emphasis on nivritti. It is work, work and work, accumulate more and more wealth and achieve all the comforts and a variety of pleasures that money can buy. Yet there is no peace of mind and life is full of tensions. The German philosopher Schopenhauer said : “When men achieve security and welfare, now that they have solved all other problems, they become a problem to themselves.”
This unhappiness comes because we only look outwards and not inwards. We do not try to know our true Self, that spark of Divinity that is present in all of us. Our centre of gravity has always been outside. This can be avoided when we add that second value to human life, namely nivritti (meditation) through which one comes in touch with the ever-present divine within.
The combination of pravritti and nivritti is the great teaching of the Gita. This is a philosophy which makes for total human development. This message is not only for Hindus or Indians but for all humanity. That is its universality.
I leave you with that thought. I will now return to Krishna and Arjuna on the great battlefield of Kurukshetra, that is, if I can get past the introduction of Swamiji without stopping to read it again.
However, his 68-page introduction itself was so informative and comprehensive that I found it difficult to move on. I had to go back and read it again, more slowly than the first time. I found a wealth of information in this introduction to the Gita, some of which I would like to share with people who take time out to read this.
Although the Gita is perhaps the holiest book of the Hindus, it might surprise many to know that it was not written for any particular religion or ethnic group. It talks about an eternal religion or Sanatana Dharma, which is meant for all mankind. Originally written in Sanskrit, it was included as a part of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The subject of the Gita is a dialogue between Krishna, who is an incarnation of God and Arjuna, a mortal, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
The Gita, says Swamiji, was first translated into English by Sir Charles Wilkins and published by the British East India Company, with an introduction by none other than Warren Hastings, the first British Governor General of India, in which we find the following prophetic sentence :
“the writers of the Indian philosophies will survive when the British Dominion in India shall long have ceased to exist, and the sources which it yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance.”
The Gita has influenced many people in the western world. Some prominent names in this connection are Sir Edwin Arnold (who also rendered the Gita in English, calling it “The Song Celestial”), Thomas Carlyle, both of England, and also Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau of the USA.
As mentioned by Swami Ranganathananda, the dharma or philosophy taught in the Gita is of a twofold nature, charcterised by pravritti, outward action, and nivritti, inward contemplation. Both action and meditation are needed for balanced development of a human being. Today, there seems to be more stress on pravritti all around us and no emphasis on nivritti. It is work, work and work, accumulate more and more wealth and achieve all the comforts and a variety of pleasures that money can buy. Yet there is no peace of mind and life is full of tensions. The German philosopher Schopenhauer said : “When men achieve security and welfare, now that they have solved all other problems, they become a problem to themselves.”
This unhappiness comes because we only look outwards and not inwards. We do not try to know our true Self, that spark of Divinity that is present in all of us. Our centre of gravity has always been outside. This can be avoided when we add that second value to human life, namely nivritti (meditation) through which one comes in touch with the ever-present divine within.
The combination of pravritti and nivritti is the great teaching of the Gita. This is a philosophy which makes for total human development. This message is not only for Hindus or Indians but for all humanity. That is its universality.
I leave you with that thought. I will now return to Krishna and Arjuna on the great battlefield of Kurukshetra, that is, if I can get past the introduction of Swamiji without stopping to read it again.
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