Vedanta - Duelling Duality

SUDARSHAN DHEER





It is very easy to advise others.Only the one who suffers knows the extent of the pain. At the same time, there is no difference between one person's pain and another's. No sermon or philosophy will help relieve that suffering immediately. However, at the core of any pain-causing conflict, there is duality . We are part of a cycle that contains both pain and pleasure, creating a split between mind and body , delaying the healing process. Duality is all-pervasive. It is also our own creation.We describe breathing as something that involves inhalation and exhalation. But actu ally, there is only one breath. There is no `day and night' since the sun never sets. There is no `beginning and end' or `birth and death'. Tantra believes in oneness and wholeness, that there is no duality .In tantra, there is no split, but a merely acceptance of reality .
The child's mind is in a nondual state. Its personality is still whole, the split eventually imposed by adults around the child and by the society in which the child lives. Ultimately , when she grows up, she is not the real one or the real self.
In order to get back one's real self, one has to go inward where there is no past, no future, but only the present. In this state of meditation, one may get in touch with our inner being, the non-dual state. This is nirvana or enlightenment, where there is no duality but only completeness.

Only 1 in 4 MPs in India is below the age of 45

The world is getting younger but the world's parliamentarians, elected to govern are getting older.The median age of the global population is around 26.4 years and among the voting age population worldwide, 49% are between the ages of 20 and 39, But the average age of those sitting in the world's parliaments is now between 51-60 years. A 20-year-old Scottish student made history in May 7 general elections in UK by becoming Britain's youngest MP since 1667. Only 2.2% of MPs in India are below the age of 30. Only 1 in 4 Indian MPs (22%) in India are below the age of 45. Less than 1.7% of MPs worldwide are under 30. India is ranked 19th among 98 countries when it comes to having MPs below age of 30.
Zeina Hilal, Inter Parliamentary Union's officer in charge on youth participation told TOI “Reducing voting age can really help and encourage youngsters to take a keen interest in politics. Also, aligning voting age with the age to be eligible to stand for elections can also be a game changer. At pre sent in India, people can vote when they are 18 years but can stand for elections only when they are 25. We want India to make both the voting age and age eligible to stand for elections at 18“.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com

Only 13 of India's 431 universities have women VCs

The prestigious Oxford University last week announced that Professor Louise Richardson, subject to approval, could go on to become the university's first woman vice-chancellor in its 800-year-old history .

Down in India, things are not too different. Multiple studies reveal the percentage of women vice-chancellors here is a shocking 3%, with just 13 universities of the 431, a UGC study surveyed, having women running a varsity . This, despite girls outdoing boys year after year in exams, and women constituting more than 50% of teaching posts in universities.

According to a British Council commissioned report titled `Women in Higher Education Leadership in South Asia: Rejection, Refusal, Reluctance, Revisioning', the percentage of women teaching staff drops drastically at higher levels. “Women constitute only 1.4% of the professoriate, though there are many at other positions like readers, lecturers etc,“ the report released in February 2015 notes.
Adding that even of the 13 women VCs, six are from allwomen universities, the report flags the culture of discrimination. “There are many reasons -from the way selection committees are constituted to the way women and men think. Most women academicians are more passionate about teaching than running institutions, which is why many of them, although qualified, do not choose to apply for such posts,“ Meena Rajiv Chandawarkar, VC , Karnataka State Women's University, told TOI.
Quoting a UGC-constituted task force in 2013, the report says, “Glass ceilings and fears over promotion must receive more attention, the feedback indicates widespread practices of discrimination and harassment among women working in higher education institutions.“
Berin Lucas, sociology professor of St Joseph's College of Arts and Science says, “Higher education must open its doors to new learning, but it is only a reflection of the patriarchal fabric of society , which operates in every spectrum of life, not even exempting education.“ The report, though, paints a bright picture at the under-graduate level for women.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com

Google offers unlimited free storage for photos, videos

Google is willing to store and organise all of the world's digital photos and videos for free.
The online photo service announced Thursday is the latest example of Google's desire to wrap its tentacles around virtually every part of people's lives. Google will provide unlimited storage of all photos up to 16 megapixels and high-definition video up to 1080p.
The service,called Google Photos, will be available as an app on Android and Apple devices,and on a website, http://photos.google.com . It's avariation of the photo-management tool on Google Plus, a social networking service that has struggled to compete against Facebook since its 2011 debut.
“There has been a renaissance in the thinking of what Google Plus is for,” said BradleyHorowitz, Google's vice president of photos and streams. Google Plus will stick around, Horowitz said, although it is likely to focus on bringing together people who share common interests and hobbies instead of trying to connect friends and family.
Horowitzpredicted Google Photos will free people from the hassles of managing their picture and video libraries, much like Google's Gmail service eased the burden of sifting through email boxes by offering larger storage capacities and a powerful search engine.
Google Photos is importing technology from Google Plus to automatically sort image sinto common bundles tied together by a vacation destination, activity, or evenspecies of animal. Other tools will automatically create slideshows and album s  accompanied by music.
One of the biggest challenges facing Google Inc. is whether it will be able to lure people away from other services that have been around for years.
Apple has a photo service that offers up to five gigabytes of storage for free and then charges 99 cents per month for an additional 20 gigabytes. Yahoo's Flickr service offers one terabyte of storage for free - enough to accommodate   a bout five photos per day for the next 60 years.
Source | Asian Age | 2 June 2015

Navigating the storm

When you are overwhelmed by despair, reach out to people around you for support.

The taste of victory is sweet, and for the scores of students across the country waiting with bated breath for their results, it was a time for celebration. Images of students shedding tears of joy and sporting sunny smiles were splashed across various media streams. The smiles were a culmination of burning the midnight oil, intense preparation and guidance from a community of teachers and concerned family members.

What remained invisible is the other side of this rosy picture. An army of students who had not made it, either failing to make the grade or not meeting their own high standards of self-created images of excellence. The taste of failure is bitter and seeps deep within, the hurt magnified by the mirror of one’s own judgment.

Facing reality

Sushmita (name changed) was mortified when the results were announced. She had failed most subjects, and watching her own friends celebrate their results was painful. To console the young lady, many of us tried to help by speaking to her about her options to show her that no door is ever permanently closed.

However, through her tears she candidly told us, “Please allow me to cry… I am in no mood for solutions and happy endings.” It was a lesson for all of us who had guided and formed close bonds with this student. We slowly realised that we ourselves needed to face the discomfort and pain of having one of our students not meet expectations. In a small way, we felt collectively responsible for her and while our intentions were good, we were not giving her the time and space to feel and come to terms with her own conflicted feelings. We asked her to reach out when she was ready. Three weeks later, Sushmita came to us ready to look at her options.

After a series of brainstorming sessions, she decided to retake her exams as a private candidate and pursue her passion for music by working in a music shop as an assistant. Five years later, it was a pleasure to meet her again. She had found her calling and was waiting to head overseas for a music course sponsored by the shop she worked in. Looking back, she said she felt gratitude for the experience of facing uncertainty and was sure that this would help her in her life ahead.

To completely face the unpleasant is strength, and for students who are going through periods of uncertainty, know that, however clichéd it sounds, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Reaching out to the people around you for support, or seeking help from a counsellor if you feel you are being handicapped by your sense of despair, will open windows to change which you never thought was possible.

Bittersweet

One of the ways to garner strength is to read the life stories of people who have navigated through periods of storm and sunshine, or spending time with people from your own family and neighbourhoods who have inspired you.

Imagine your dreams of becoming a lawyer curtailed by circumstances of a world war and financial poverty. When my ninety-year-old uncle shared stories from his past, his sense of humour and his way of looking at his own tapestry of life experiences was an eye opener and provided a glimpse into a world which seems so alien from to own. While he could not continue his education, he pursued his passion for learning in various other ways. He had no remnants of bitterness about not getting what he desired but always saw the blessings that his unplanned life brought in good measure. He had encountered people who had betrayed him and lifted him, death and birth, loss and gain, and when asked for advice, with a twinkle in his eye, asked us not to listen to advice but know that all is always well! Treat the two imposters — success and failure — just the same, he would tell us, paraphrasing the famous line in Kipling’s poem “If.”

In many traditions, when a baby is born, a mixture of neem and jaggery is offered, to signify tasting both the bitter and the sweet. For those of you, who are only swallowing bitterness, know that this too shall pass (pun intended)! Trust in the experience completely, reach out your hands for help when you are ready and take a deep breath, chanting the mantra, “All is well.”

This bittersweet symphony called life is the greatest gift you can receive. All the best in your journey.

UGC Must Not Rush into a Rash Reform





The University Grants Commission's (UGC) rendition of a Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) limits choice and, unless modified drastically , threatens to throttle academic innovation and excellence in the country . CBCS requires students to complete a certain number of hours of academic work, tallied in credits, to qualify for a degree. For a subject honours degree, the university identifies compulsory core courses, accounting for a portion of the credits, with the balance to be earned from an assortment of disciplines, related to the honours degree subject or otherwise. This much is welcome.However, the UGC takes it a step further: in the name of interuniversity mobility via transferring credits, it seeks to im pose uniformity across universities. The UGC has prepared a model syllabus for each discipline, with core courses and the choices for electives for each subject. This bureaucratic quest for homogeneity ignores the reality that universities, meant to be creators of knowledge, do their work best when its faculty have the freedom and autonomy to pursue excellence in ways they think most suited. Programmes across universities are not meant to be replicas of one another. The freedom to design programmes, allowing for diversity and specialisation, is essential to ensure that universities fulfil their mandate as knowledge creators. Leave individual universities to work out the equivalence of credits sought to be transferred from one to the other.
Policymakers should understand that higher education is not about acquiring skills, but about advancing knowledge.Those who learn to learn by pursuing knowledge under guidance can learn and unlearn skills as required. Those who merely train in specific skills will be left in the lurch when those skills become obsolete.

Vedanta - Nothing is Real

K R MANOHARA





The world is a dream. The Mundaka Upanishad tells us that both the waking state and dream state of our life are illusory . They are mere creations of our consciousness. The highest level of our consciousness is that of Turiya, when we cease to see the world of matter and feel only one consciousness everywhere.Giordano Bruno, the Italian Dominican friar-philosopher, said, “The world is an eternal enigma, and our only connection with it is that we form part of it when we live.... [Man] must finally quit the scene to reappear no more. Death annuls all the features of life.... Truth, god, immortality are delightful concepts.
They are true, but standing on no verifiable basis.“
The whole universe of things and beings is a long dream. Everything gets superimposed upon consciousness. There have been great men in the past who have replied to the threats of death by rulers with, “You are going to kill me? That is the greatest joke I have heard.Even god cannot kill me. Who are you to kill me?
“And when you kill me, I, too, will see my body falling here.And when you cut off my head, I, too, will see it roll down. Because I am that which is in you, which is holding that sword. So when you have killed me, I shall still remain and survive in you as you.“
That reply , and variations thereof, are valid for all of us.