Firstly, Happy Friendship Day! No one can stop thinking of friends, specially when one comes to know / hear that it is friendship day. 1st Sunday of August. However brighter and better the future, they always say "Good old days!" I still have to figure out why it is so?
I am good here and in the phase of the forced bachelorhood. Enjoying it! I understand that all of us are busy in our own way and our own world. As we belong to the same planet, let us make sure we do not become alien. Though busy with the routine here, I definitely miss all you guys. It feels good when I connect to you guys sometimes on phone or sometimes on chat or sometimes with occasional jottings like this.
Have fun!
Happy Friendship day!
Ramji
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An article I received as chain email, on History of Time which is interesting to me.
A Brief History of Time - The Real One!
Modern man is in a dire predicament. Living a day-to-day existence, he always thinks about the `now', the `today' and perhaps the `tomorrow'- but can hardly bring himself up to anything in the distant future or the distant past. Living in tiny cocoons of time, he has little knowledge or appreciation of recent history, not to speak of ancient history. Tightening his time- cocoon is the present-day European-influenced notion that human civilization itself is worth studying only after itgot `modernized' in the last 4 centuries. And the Semitic religions(Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have added their part by treating the advent of their masters as the worthy beginning of any serious study of the world. (One Christian saint went as far as to mention that Creation itself happened only recently in 4004 BC.). Thus man tightens his time cocoons and suffocates himself.In contrast to this normal view of humanity, is the modern view of scientists (such as Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan and many others) in which the universe is conjectured to have passed through many millions,perhaps billions of years in existence. This brings in a tiny ray of light into the otherwise narrow notions of Time held by contemporary man. In striking contrast to both the above groups of people are the Bhagavathothamas who incessantly serve the lotus feet of Lakshmi and Narayana. In them there arises a Total Illumination, called para-gnana,by which the Truth of the Totality of Existence is revealed as a fruit in one's own palm. One such Bhagavathothama, who intimately knew Time as well as its Master, is the sage Vyasa, to whom all of us owe our very breath. He too has written a "Brief History of Time" - but this one, unlike its secular counterpart, is supremely Real and has the sole intention of generating in the hearts of listeners, parama-bhakti, supreme devotion to Mahavishnu. The merciful sage has written about Time and its Ruler in many of his Sookthis, one of which is Srimad Bhagavatha Purana. Here is a brief summary of Vyasa's wisdom on Time culled from thatdelightful text.
1) We are currently living in Kali Yuga, the fourth of Yugas, which is constituted of 4,32,000 years.
2) Twice the duration of Kali Yuga, that is, 8,64,000 years make up the third Yuga, Dwapara Yuga.
3) Thrice the duration of Kali, that is, 12,96,000 years form the second Yuga, Threta Yuga.
4) Four times the duration of Kali, that is, 17,28,000 years go intothe first Yuga, Sathya Yuga or Kritha Yuga.
5) These four Yugas put together constitute one Chathur Yuga,which is 43,20,000 years (43.2 lakh years or 4.32 million years).
6) One thousand such Chathur Yugas constitute one day for Brahma which is 4,32,00,00,000 years (432 crore years or 4.32 billion years). A dayof Brahma is called a Kalpa.
7) At the end of a day of Brahma, there is a Pralaya called Naimittika Pralaya meaning Occassional Dissolution, in which the whole universeis dissolved into the elemental condition and Narayana reclines on Adi Sesha. This Yoganidhra of Ranganatha is considered the night-timeof Brahma, who is said to sleep or take rest in Emberumaan.
8) The night-time of Brahma, that is, Perumal's Yoganidhra, continues for the same duration as a day-time of Brahma, i.e., for 4.32 billionyears.
9) One full day of Brahma (day-time + night-time) therefore comes to8.64 billion years.
10) At the close of Brahma's night, Padmanabha rises from Adi Seshaand recreates the universe (Shristi) starting with the same Brahma and thus another Kalpa follows.
11) One year of Brahma is constituted of 360 Brahma days (or 360Kalpas) which totals up to 3,110,400,000,000 years (3.11 trillionyears).
12) 50 such years of Brahma constitute a Parardha (half-life) forBrahma which boggles the mind at 155,520,000,000,000 human years(155.5 trillion years).
13) 2 such Parardhas constitute a lifetime for Brahma and comprises311,040,000, 000,000 human years (311 trillion human years). Alifetime of Brahma is called a Maha Kalpa.
14) At the end of a Maha Kalpa, that is, at the end of Brahma's lifetime, Narayana, the Kaalaswarupi, engages in Prakritha Pralaya, Total Cosmic Dissolution, in which the whole universe including the elements are dissolved in Vasudeva.
15) At the close of this Cosmic Night, Sriman Narayana initiates a new Maha Kalpa by recreating the universe along with a new Brahma.
16) The Supreme Being, Narayana, has created an INFINITE number of such Maha Kalpas in the past. Hence there is no absolute beginning for creation.
Modern man is in a dire predicament. Living a day-to-day existence, he always thinks about the `now', the `today' and perhaps the `tomorrow'- but can hardly bring himself up to anything in the distant future or the distant past. Living in tiny cocoons of time, he has little knowledge or appreciation of recent history, not to speak of ancient history. Tightening his time- cocoon is the present-day European-influenced notion that human civilization itself is worth studying only after itgot `modernized' in the last 4 centuries. And the Semitic religions(Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have added their part by treating the advent of their masters as the worthy beginning of any serious study of the world. (One Christian saint went as far as to mention that Creation itself happened only recently in 4004 BC.). Thus man tightens his time cocoons and suffocates himself.In contrast to this normal view of humanity, is the modern view of scientists (such as Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan and many others) in which the universe is conjectured to have passed through many millions,perhaps billions of years in existence. This brings in a tiny ray of light into the otherwise narrow notions of Time held by contemporary man. In striking contrast to both the above groups of people are the Bhagavathothamas who incessantly serve the lotus feet of Lakshmi and Narayana. In them there arises a Total Illumination, called para-gnana,by which the Truth of the Totality of Existence is revealed as a fruit in one's own palm. One such Bhagavathothama, who intimately knew Time as well as its Master, is the sage Vyasa, to whom all of us owe our very breath. He too has written a "Brief History of Time" - but this one, unlike its secular counterpart, is supremely Real and has the sole intention of generating in the hearts of listeners, parama-bhakti, supreme devotion to Mahavishnu. The merciful sage has written about Time and its Ruler in many of his Sookthis, one of which is Srimad Bhagavatha Purana. Here is a brief summary of Vyasa's wisdom on Time culled from thatdelightful text.
1) We are currently living in Kali Yuga, the fourth of Yugas, which is constituted of 4,32,000 years.
2) Twice the duration of Kali Yuga, that is, 8,64,000 years make up the third Yuga, Dwapara Yuga.
3) Thrice the duration of Kali, that is, 12,96,000 years form the second Yuga, Threta Yuga.
4) Four times the duration of Kali, that is, 17,28,000 years go intothe first Yuga, Sathya Yuga or Kritha Yuga.
5) These four Yugas put together constitute one Chathur Yuga,which is 43,20,000 years (43.2 lakh years or 4.32 million years).
6) One thousand such Chathur Yugas constitute one day for Brahma which is 4,32,00,00,000 years (432 crore years or 4.32 billion years). A dayof Brahma is called a Kalpa.
7) At the end of a day of Brahma, there is a Pralaya called Naimittika Pralaya meaning Occassional Dissolution, in which the whole universeis dissolved into the elemental condition and Narayana reclines on Adi Sesha. This Yoganidhra of Ranganatha is considered the night-timeof Brahma, who is said to sleep or take rest in Emberumaan.
8) The night-time of Brahma, that is, Perumal's Yoganidhra, continues for the same duration as a day-time of Brahma, i.e., for 4.32 billionyears.
9) One full day of Brahma (day-time + night-time) therefore comes to8.64 billion years.
10) At the close of Brahma's night, Padmanabha rises from Adi Seshaand recreates the universe (Shristi) starting with the same Brahma and thus another Kalpa follows.
11) One year of Brahma is constituted of 360 Brahma days (or 360Kalpas) which totals up to 3,110,400,000,000 years (3.11 trillionyears).
12) 50 such years of Brahma constitute a Parardha (half-life) forBrahma which boggles the mind at 155,520,000,000,000 human years(155.5 trillion years).
13) 2 such Parardhas constitute a lifetime for Brahma and comprises311,040,000, 000,000 human years (311 trillion human years). Alifetime of Brahma is called a Maha Kalpa.
14) At the end of a Maha Kalpa, that is, at the end of Brahma's lifetime, Narayana, the Kaalaswarupi, engages in Prakritha Pralaya, Total Cosmic Dissolution, in which the whole universe including the elements are dissolved in Vasudeva.
15) At the close of this Cosmic Night, Sriman Narayana initiates a new Maha Kalpa by recreating the universe along with a new Brahma.
16) The Supreme Being, Narayana, has created an INFINITE number of such Maha Kalpas in the past. Hence there is no absolute beginning for creation.
The Maha Kalpa is the highest unit of time for even Brahma. It comes to 311 trillion human years. To give an idea about how this stupendous amount of time relates to the Supreme Being Vasudeva, sage Vyasa, at first, remarks that it is the time that "Mahavishnu takes to wink His eyes". But he quickly admits that even this analogy is imperfect, for Narayana is the Eternal Being, Narayana is that Infinity in whose fear even Time functions.
Such, then, is Time. Such, then, is Time's Master. Thus ends Vyasa'sBrief History of Time.
There are also accounts of Sandhis or intermediate periods mentioned in some texts. Already blown out by the stupendosity of Time, they have not been included here.
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Another interesting article I found, which is funny and the on that is to my interest God.
IS GOD THERE?
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair and his beard cut as always. He started to have a good conversation with the barber who attended him. They talked about so many things on various subjects. Suddenly, they touched the subject of God. The barber said: "Look man, I don't believe that God exists as you say so." "Why do you say that?", asked the client."Well, it's so easy; you just have to go out in the street to realize that God does not exist. Oh, tell me, if God existed, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't think of a God who permits all of these things." The client heard it but kept quiet. The barber finished his job and the client went out of the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with a long hair and beard (it seems that it had been a long time since he had his cut and he looked so untidy). The client entered the barbershop again and said to the barber: " You know what? Barbers do not exist." "How come they don't exist?" asked the barber. "Well I am here and I am a barber." "No!",the client exclaimed. "They don't exist because if they did there would be no people with long hair and beard like that man who walks in the street." "Ah, barbers do exist, what happens is that people do not come to me." "Exactly!"affirmed the client. "That's the point. God does exist, what happens is people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world".
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