Airplane Mode

There are 10 indriyas in our body, out of which 5 are considered as sense organs(sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell) and 5 organs of action(speech, hand, feet, excretion and procreation). These organs are given to us as an aid in living a good life. These organs get in touch with the outside world and let us enjoy the experiences. We can't indulge in sense pleasure for ever  as there is some energy lost whenever these indriyas come in contact with the material world and we need to rest to regain our strength. All the great teachers have advised us to restrain the senses and preserve our energy for doing spiritual practices. In the modern world where technology is the new guru, no wonder even electronic gadgets echo these thoughts. Although we think they are dumb and still long way to go for full AI enabled machines, they can still teach us a few things about how to lead a good life. 

On one occasion I had to put my smartphone in airplane mode for a few days. The phone's battery  was charged almost 95% when i put it in airplane mode and when i brought it out of airplane mode after 3 days of complete radio silence, the battery was close to 85%. If this device can retain most of  its energy by just consuming only whatever is required and not communicating/interacting with the environment, how much energy we can save by stopping unnecessary indulgence of our senses(useless chat, eating without hunger, watching TV/laptop ....). We can instead use this energy for learning new things, developing new ideas... 

Music and Meditation

In traditional Indian classical music, there are several raagas. Each raaga has a distinguishing set of notes, which are supposed to be played in a certain order. In the starting phase of playing the raaga, the artist keeps going from one note to another and then coming back; like Re-Ga-Re, Re-Ga-Ma-Ga-Re. Its like keep emphasizing on particular notes in various patterns and establishing them in your heart again and again. This continues for several minutes and is deeply meditative. The artist is very sensitive during this period and generally won't tolerate any disturbances. Any movement/talk can make him/her lose their focus. Once they are done with the initial phase, then they get in the right frame of mind to start the actual performance.

I find there is some resemblance of this with pranayama and mediation. There are seven chakras(energy centers) in the human body. There are some meditation techniques, where attention is taken to different chakras through breath. You start focusing on the incoming and outgoing breath from the nostrils, then take attention to the center of eyebrows, then gradually from center of the eyebrows to the throat, then from there to the heart and so on. This continuous focus on the chakras through the medium of breath leads to cleansing of chakras. Doing this for few minutes, makes the mind very calm and brings in deep relaxation. Like the alaap in case of classical music, any disturbance can completely unsettle the meditator. However once the meditation is done, there is deep calmness within, which makes him/her ready to take any outside challenge.  

Standing up for truth

There is an interesting legend in ancient Tamil tradition about debate between Nakkeerar and Lord Shiva. Nakkeerar was the royal poet of Madurai and during a poem competition he found mistake in a poem written by Lord Shiva for his devotee(who was participating in the competition). Shiva was enraged and he came disguised as a poet to argue with Nakkeerar. The argument became extremely intense and Nakkeerar refused to budge even after knowing that its Shiva himself whom he is arguing with. Finally, in rage Shiva opened his third eye and burnt Nakkeerar. For more details on the poem and its meaning read  https://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2015/07/14/poem-written-by-lord-shiva-text-meaning/

Now there are two different versions from here on.

According to one view, after Nakkeerar got burnt to ashes, the other poets stood up and told Shiva that you are wrong and Nakkeerar's view is correct. You have to bring him back to life. Shiva had to concede to their demands and bring him back. This view is taught in Tamil schools and kids are taught to be brave and stand up for truth, no matter who your opponent is. There is a famous saying attributed to Nakeerar, "A flaw is a flaw, even if burns me down"

According to another view, everyone prayed to Shiva for showing mercy on Nakkeerar. Shiva obliged, brought him to life and then asked him to learn under Sage Agastya. This view gives a different perspective about truth. Its not uni-dimensional and simply arguing will not help you to find it. You need humility, purity of heart and openness of mind to get a glimpse of it.

Both views are right in there own respect. Its good to stand up for truth but also need to understand that truth is much bigger and no single view point is correct. The vedas say "ekam sat, tad vipra bahuda vadanti" There is only one truth, but wise people call it by different names. This understanding is very much required in current times, where people have strong opinions and don't have time to investigate the other valid interpretations of truth.