The child in us

“The child in us” is a song by the group “Enigma” which begins with a sanskrit shloka as given below:

“Prasanna vadana-m saubhaagyadaa-m bhaagyadaa-m hastabhyaam abhayapradaa-m manikanai nanavidhai bhushitaa-m ”

This is the description of God. There is a place of balance between the opposites and that is the place of calm and fearlessness, the fountain-head of life.

The one with the calm and blissful face is the giver of good luck and (bad) luck. The one whose raised palm instills faith and courage in us, is embellished in various pieces of precious stones

The song is  beautifully sung and is very relaxing to hear.:

prasanna vadanaam saubhaagyadaam bhaagyadaam
hastaabhyaam abhayapradaam manikanai
naanaavidhai bhuushhitaam

who is of smiling face, bestower of all fortunes,whose hands are ready to rescue anyone from fear,who is adorned by various ornaments with precious stones

Puer natus est nobis,
et filius datus est nobis:
cujus emperium super humerum…

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given:
and the government will be upon his shoulder..

Some day you came
And I knew you were the one
You were the rain, you were the sun
But I needed both, cause I needed you
You were the one
I was dreaming of all my life
When it is dark you are my light
But don’t forget
Who’s always our guide
It is the child in us

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Space rules

The force of gravity attracts two bodies anywhere in the universe. The plant Mercury , which is closest to the Sun is also the fastest orbiting planet so that it does not fall on the Sun. It spins around the Sun once every 88 days.

Rule # 1: If something attracts you too much, run away from it to keep things in balance. 

The plants of the solar system have one or more natural satellites or moons orbiting around them.  The Earth has a single well-rounded satellite called the Moon. Mars has two potato shaped satellites Phobos and Deimos. The biggest planet Jupiter has about 67 moons, the largest four of which was discovered by Galileo in 1610.  The second most massive planet Saturn has 63 moons . The largest of them, Titan, is bigger than the planet Mercury.  Neptune has 13 moons and Uranus has 27 moons. The planets Mercury and Venus the two inner planets closest to the Sun, have no natural satellites.

Rule # 2: The bigger you are the more followers you have , unless you have someone way bigger in your vicinity. 

The stars in the solar system go through cycles of birth and death. Medium sized stars turn into red giants and then finally into white dwarfs. Larger stars turn into neutron stars from red giants. Even bigger stars turn into black holes from red giants.

Rule # 3 : No matter how bright you shine, your light will be extinguished one day. All that is born will die.

 

Book Report : Time Machine

I recently read “The Time Machine”, a science fiction written by H. G Wells. A multi-talented English writer, H.G. Wells (1866-1943),  is famous as the father of  science fiction along with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His futuristic 32,000 word novella,  The Time Machine, was first printed in 1895 in the Pall Mall Gazette as a serial publication. The main theme of this story is the mind-boggling , hitherto impossible , concept of  time travel. H.G Wells himself had touched upon this topic several years earlier in a short story, “The Chronic Argonauts”. However, the idea of using a tangible machine for time travel was a new introduction in this novella. Read more…

Birth of the Universe

The Grand Universe

Several theories, experiments and measurements over many many years of research have given us a possible picture of the universe that exists. We come to realize that Earth is a relatively small plant orbiting in the gravitational field of a relatively small sized star, the Sun, in a relatively small galaxy the Milky way in a universe that has many many such galaxies.  Zooming out, we , humans, are but a small specks on the planet Earth.

When we think of these huge bodies in space we need to adjust our scale. A more convenient measure of distance in this frame is a light-year. A light-year is the distance that light can travel in one year. Given, the speed of light in space is about 300,000 km per sec, the Moon, Earth’s satellite is about 1.5 light sec from the Earth. Yet for all practical purposes, the Moon is out of our reach.

Man has wondered how this huge universe was created. Did it have a beginning or was it always there. The big bang theory claims that there was a particular moment in time, ten to fifteen billion years ago when  the universe was created.  Before this, there was no proton, neutron or atom or molecule.  Matter, as we know it, that consists of atoms and molecules, did not exist before this. This seemingly endless universe got created out of nothing or something that we cannot perceive as existing with our five senses.

Is this non-matter entity that cannot be perceived with the five senses the creator of the universe?

Science and Spirituality

I read the biography of Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday, two great scientists of all times. There were lots of differences between their approach to science. Newton was very good in math and often spend time in deducing his theories through mathematical equations. On the other hand, Faraday spent a lot of time proving his theories through experimentation and observation of results. He did not use mathematics as a vehicle to lead him to various conclusions. Faraday, himself admitted that math was his weak point.

As a man one was more of an introvert than the other. Newton had very little friends. Faraday had many friends with whom he communicated regularly. Newton never married but Faraday got married.

The common thread that saw them reach great heights of success was their deep trust in God. Albert Einstein also believed in God, even though a more personal one than in deities. This seems a little odd in this day and age as the more scientifically oriented , educated people these days question the existence of God. The great scientist of our age Stephen Hawking has declared that God did not create the universe. Even though many scientists have discovered lots of new theories, the discoveries of Newton and Faraday were ground breaking and have brought in tremendous change in our lives and are truly great milestones if greatness and change are related.

The “What if” regret

When I was a kid, I took pride in devising short cut ways for me to get to my goals. But being a kid I was more interested in the short cut than my goal. As it often would happen that my short cut would just fall short of getting me to my goal. Then I would regret taking the short cut. I would wonder what if I had put in more effort. May be then I would have reached my goal. As the goal remained illusive, my regrets became very painful to me. I just did not want to live with the idea that I am preventing myself the joy of reaching the goal just because I did not choose the more tedious way that needed more effort on my part. I had just had enough of that terrible feeling of missing it by a hair.

I changed my stance and decided that I will put in any and every effort that is possible for me to put in and not try to be a smarty pant. I often found that goals were sometimes met and sometimes not. The big difference was in how I felt about the result. I did not feel any regrets because I simply had none on my part. I had done everything humanly possible by me  and the result was the final outcome. Instead of making me look less it actually made me feel more responsible . I could now find at least a lesson if everything else had failed. It really made me more happier and that has been my path ever since.