The Law of Karma

"As you sow, so shall you reap", is a popular English proverb, and is also commonly believed to be the essence of the law of Karma. If you do good Karma, good will happen to you. If you do bad Karma, bad will happen to you. But given how paradoxical life is, there is another Hindi proverb that says, "Neki kar, dariya mein daal", which means that you should not expect anything in return for the good you do to others. Its again a common belief that even if the person you helped does not give you anything in return, your good actions are being documented by some universal record keeper, and you will be adequately compensated for it in the long run. However, the paradox does not end here. There is also a concept of detachment in the Gita, which says that you have right to perform Karma, but have no right over the results generated by your Karma. So then, will I really reap as I sow?

Ishwara : The only antidote to all delusions

Every university has four kinds of teachers. The first set of teachers give marks in exams based on the name or face of the student, irrespective of what they write in exams. Even the best universities have such teachers to some extent at least. If you are in their good books, you will become the topper, otherwise good luck with your career! The second set of teachers give marks based on how precisely the students remember what was written in the notes given by the teacher. These teachers basically don't encourage thinking and mainly promote rote memorisation. The third set of teachers discourage memorisation and give marks for original thinking and creative problem solving. The concepts of God that different human beings have can also divided into similar categories. Some people think that God will be pleased with them just because of their name or family background or community to which they belong. Some others believe that God will be pleased with them just because they do as S/He says. Then there are also others who believe that God will be pleased with them because they apply their own rational thought and perform good actions for the welfare of all, and will grant them an eternal abode in the heavens above. Although these three categories are different, they are all about performing some actions to get some material benefits and pleasures in different ways. But who among them is actually right about the concept of God? 

Work-Life Balance : A Practical Perspective

This blog is a short summary of 8 YouTube videos made by me and my wife (Shweta) on Work-Life Balance. The goal of these videos is to provide a practical perspective into this very important topic, and also some effective techniques that can be used to maintain a balanced lifestyle.

The Myth of Moksha

All religions of the world, without exception, are based on the concept of deliverance from suffering. Human beings, no matter how rich or poor, go through varied experiences in their lives, some of which are good and some bad. The bad experiences lead to suffering, and create a stronger impression on the mind than the good experiences. And since there does not seem to be a way to get rid of suffering in this earthly life, the human mind starts looking for it in the heavens above. The first stage in this striving is to imagine an eternal heaven with unending pleasures that one can get access to after death of the body, if one belongs to a certain group or does certain good actions as per wishes of the heaven's gatekeeper called God. After some more evolution, the human mind realises the fallacy of this desire, and understands that no such pleasures, earthly or heavenly, can be eternal and so after a certain period, a return to earthly life of mixed pleasure and pain is inevitable. But this answer also does not satisfy the human mind, and so it goes on to construct or accept the concept of "Moksha" where one goes beyond both pleasure as well as pain permanently through dissolution of the "soul" or subtle body comprising of the prana and manas. There are elaborate texts of Vedanta and Yoga written to help human beings in progressing on this path and finally achieving the goal of Moksha or ultimate freedom/liberation, through a sustained effort over many lifetimes. But is Moksha an achievable goal, or is it just another myth constructed by the human mind? More importantly, do the Vedantic scriptures clearly support this idea of Moksha?

What I Learnt from my Failed Experiments with Entrepreneurship

 I am from a business family, most of my relatives are into business of some kind, and so a lot of our family conversations revolve around business. If you think the word "business" occurred too many times in the previous sentence, you can well imagine how much intertwined it has been with my life since my early childhood! Now you may think that someone from this kind of background would naturally be good at entrepreneurship, but thats not really the case. Talking about business and actually doing it are very different things. That was my first lesson back in 2005 when I started a coaching centre for IIT-JEE at my native place (Balasore, Odisha) after finishing my B.Tech. from IIT Madras. During my final year at IITM, I was considering two options : starting a JEE coaching centre at Balasore or going for a PhD. Although I was very passionate about science, I was not sure if I had the patience to pursue a PhD. When I began my undergrad, my sole aim was to learn software programming and earn money in the industry. But over the course of 4 years, I completely lost interest in this trajectory due to various reasons and was mesmerised by various concepts of physics. At IITM, I was also deeply involved with Vivekananda Study Circle as a volunteer, which had ingrained in me a deep desire to contribute to the society. The coaching centre idea was motivated by a mix of both these reasons, i.e. to stay in touch with physics and to help students from my native place in reaching the best institutions of higher education. So, as soon as my final semester exams got over, I packed my bags, came back home and rented a small room near our house to start my JEE classes!

How do I find my soul mate?

Finding a soul mate is a hard problem, and we all know that very well! But the good news is that if you are truly looking for a soul mate, it means that you are looking for a deeper experience of life and are not just satisfied with superficial things. That's a sign of evolution!

Prevalence of Manipulative Fake News in Indian News Media

Media is the fourth pillar of our democracy and a significant source of getting correct and precise information about various events around the world. In the present digital age, online news websites have become an important source of news and information for an ordinary person. However, nowadays, it becomes difficult for us to get precise information, due to the menace of fake news. There can be two types of fake news, one which is factually incorrect, and the other which is factual, but presented in a manipulative manner and thus, representing fictional style of writing. Both these problems are equally serious and can cause a lot of social damage if not tackled properly. A lot of work is already going on in the domain of detecting incorrect factual information published by online news agencies, but the latter problem of manipulative news content is hardly paid attention to. 

Online Education : Rationale and Effective Methods

The process of evolution does not follow an optimisation protocol to minimise or maximise a single cost function. And it is this which leads to the limitless variety in living systems that we see all around us. Plants, insects, bacteria, viruses, animals and humans, all belong to this one big family of living organisms, but are so different from each other. Each has its own trajectory of evolution and they all share a common goal, i.e. to live and grow! Interestingly, this immense variety that we see among living systems also exists within the human family too. Even humans living under very similar circumstances often turn out to be so different from each other. For example, although Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle are sisters and famous singers, their style of music is so different from each other! Just see your own siblings and cousins. Very rarely will you find someone who is just like you. As far as we know, this is a unique human trait and not shared by any other living organisms. Should not this very important feature of the human species be factored in while designing our education system? Obviously, yes! 

What does it mean to be a Sthitaprajna?

Enlightenment, Moksha, Nirvana and Liberation are some of the commonly used terms used to define the goal of the spiritual process. Although these terms are very popular and often serve as an inspiration for people to take up spiritual practices seriously, they have some very serious limitations. Most importantly, usage of these terms often creates a negative attitude towards the material/physical world. Serious seekers of Moksha often look down upon the physical world as impure and wish to spend long hours in seeking the pure consciousness. These terms also creates unnecessary friction between the so called spiritual seekers and the so called materialists. The former often consider the latter to be ignorant and selfish, while the latter consider the former to be lazy bums who do not wish to contribute to society. This artificial divide between spiritual seekers and materialists seems to be a latter development in Indian history since Ramayana and Mahabharata do not provide any evidence for it. In both Ramayana and Mahabharata, the main protagonists, Rama and Krishna, are both spiritually enlightened as well as ruling Kings. In fact, in verse 2.55 of the Bhagwad Gita, Krishna provides a precise term to describe people who have struck the perfect balance between the world of spirit and the world of matter, and strongly urges Arjuna to seek this state of being:

प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् । 

आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ||

O Pārtha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental modifications, and when his mind finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be of steady intellect (Sthitaprajna).

Is committing suicide a good idea?

"Life is so frustrating. I feel caged in a prison and not able to move. Why is the world around so suffocating? I don't want to live any more! I want to die." 

These are not the thoughts of a person suffering from depression, but of Joe, who is one of the most intelligent and innovative students at Imperial College of Engineering. Remember that guy from 3 Idiots who could not built the drone on time and Virus refused to give him even a small extension? Virus's attitude was surely despicable and he has himself paid a huge price for it (by loosing his own son), but thankfully he at least had a change of heart later on! Hopefully that saved a few young lives at least. But are all suicides caused due to such insensitive people around us? What about Raghav from Chhichhore? He seemed to have very cool parents and equally good friends. We also don't know of any such insensitive teachers, relatives or neighbours that he may have had. But still, he did jump off his friend's balcony after not being to clear the coveted JEE! As Raghav's father recollects later on, "I told him how we would celebrate once the results are out and he clears the exam. But I never said what we would do if he could not clear it". Raghav could not stand the fact that both his parents were JEE rankers and he could not clear the exam. That led to a complete loss of self-worth, which  then led to him taking such a drastic step! So seemingly cool parents and supportive environment could also not prevent it. Whether what Joe and Raghav did was right or wrong is hard for us to judge since no one else can truly understand what a person goes through in a given life situation, and why s/he is forced to take such a drastic step. But in general, is committing suicide a good idea?

Mind-Brain Interaction

Essence of Quantum Mechanics :

What cannot be calculated, cannot be measured. What can be calculated, can be measured. And most importantly, not everything can be calculated.

Calculation : 

Write a mathematical equation to predict the future state of a system using information about the present and past history. Systems for which this is possible are henceforth referred to as physical systems.

Measurement : 

Take a classical system with a calibrated scale. Make it interact with a quantum/classical system, and note the change in reading. 

Essence of Physical Science :

This change of reading of a classical calibrated apparatus in a measurement is expected to agree with the theoretical calculation.

Educational reforms for cultural and spiritual integration in India

Introduction

India is one of the most diverse nations on this planet where people from many different cultural backgrounds live and work together. Tamil Nadu in the south is very different from Kashmir in the north, and Gujarat in the west is very different from Assam in the East. Even people from neighboring states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala speak very different languages (Tamil and Malayalam, respectively) and have several cultural differences. Despite these diversities, there has been a civilizational continuity in India at least for the past few thousand years and the major unifying force has been the Vedic tradition. Great Vedic saints and scholars have been born in all parts of the Indian subcontinent ranging from Swami Rama in Garhwal Himalayas (north), Adi Sankaracharya in Kerala (south), Swami Vivekananda in Bengal (east) and Saint Tukaram in Maharashtra (west).

One teacher at a time

Ravi has been a school teacher at Indore since the last 5 years and is quite popular among the students for his lucid explanations and warm disposition. Though just in his late 20s, he exudes wisdom beyond his years while at the same time maintaining a boyish charm. When he enrolled for BSc in Physics at one of the most reputed college of India, his primary aim was to become a world-renowned scientist like CV Raman. However, interactions with some of the best teachers in college made him get seriously interested in teaching as a profession. Ravi thought that research is surely very attractive with the possibility of becoming world famous, but teaching could offer him a deeper level of satisfaction. Being able to positively impact the lives of young minds started looking very promising. Finally, in his final year of BSc, Ravi gave up the idea of research and decided to get into physics teaching. At first, he thought of doing a PhD and becoming a college teacher. But later, he started feeling that in order to groom students into becoming good citizens, one needs to start from the school level. Hence, he finally decided to do an MSc in Physics and then a B.Ed., so that he could become a school teacher. There was some reluctance shown by his parents initially, but they finally accepted their son’s idea after some discussions. Ravi was not just smart at studies but also good at convincing others, especially those he deeply cared about!