Pedestrian at Priority

Hi,

I read this somewhere,

"Just to remind myself and whoever wished to be; Today is the first day of the rest of life...just live it." Kudos to life.
And coming to USA, I have got a great deal lot to tell. I treasure my wide eyed wonder that usually surfaces and will show up again and again till the time the rigmarole of the daily life makes my marrow go callous.

One thing you can't help about noticing in this country is "SPACE", tangible and intangible, Space to move about and space to think through as you do so. They aren't bothered by new faces, I mean the Americans. I go for a walk everyday, and I haven't had an experience when somebody has not wished me a Good Morning or Evening. Seemingly this is a very minor point that you smile at somebody, wish somebody, though you never came across that person in the past and it is very unsure that it may happen in the future too. But to me it is symbolic of the pace with which they can cope up or even embrace CHANGE. I hope I am not exaggerating the significance of my observation lest it might degenerate in to being treated as a poetic license. But tell me, Don't you agree?

The other thing that stands out is the respect for the "Pedestrian and cyclewala's". At the Traffic Signal is written "Vehicles must give way to pedestrians".There is a seperate lane for Bikers!

On the toll booths on a highway, you can say where the possibility of finding a pedestrian is approximately nil, it is written with black on yellow, "WATCH OUT FOR PEDESTRIANS".

Walking is such a convenient option here with a whole lane dedicated to you!!

Everyday I have a a whole lot of arguments and counter arguments with myself. When I am in the kitchen, I think the best invention in the world is the TISSUE. Often after having an Orbit after a meal, I feel the chewing gum is the best invention ever, otherwise I also include internet,
the micro-wave oven, etc, etc.

But the point that I am trying to make is that every effort is made so that the human effort required per task can be minimized.

But I miss being on my own here. In India it was so easy to be on your own. We have buses that take care of the majority that does not own an automobile. Here I am not so sure of that. Presently I feel crippled without a car. But my friend in Newark says that the train service in NJ and NY is good. Did I not say, I am very new here!

I am in no case denigrating India for not having all things that USA has to offer, but yes I do wish that someday, and I hope that day soon turns up, common man will be the VIP in India. Things are difficult, looking at our geography, our population, level of technology, etc. but things are possible.

Personally, I have great respect for the Delhi Metro, it makes life convenient for that common man who votes, works, and hopes that someday we will be THERE!

Our work and the Hindu Philosophy

STHITA PRAGYAN- This word has been reverberating in my mind since the past few days so much so that today first thing in the morning I had to look up as to what it means.
It turns out that SP (Sthita Pragyan) is a super conscious state of an enlightened mind , to be more precise I will quote this brilliant author who wrote a wonderful research article and made it free for use-

Yoga, its literal meaning is ‘to be connected or added or submersed etc.’, may be defined
as – ‘Yoga is the state of super-consciousness (Samadhi)4’, where Samadhi contains the
meaning of ‘connectedness’ with the self ‘being/existence’, and this state, i.e., Samadhi,
can be attained through a prolonged practice of meditation5. The individual who got the
state of super-conscious mind (sthit-pragna) has the characters like – one who thoroughly
dismisses all cravings of the mind; satisfied in the self through the self; whose mind
remains unperturbed amid sorrows; whose thirst for pleasures altogether disappeared;
who is free from passion, fear and anger; who is unattached to any thing, who neither
rejoices nor recoils while meeting with evil and good; who has withdrawn his senses from
sense-objects like a tortoise who draws limbs from all directions; the sense-objects turn
away from him who does not enjoy with his senses but the test for them persists , this
relish also disappears in the case of the sthit-pragna; those who have controlled and
mastered all the senses and for collecting his mind who sit for meditation devoting one
self to me-the super-conscious being because “The senses, which are turbulent by nature,
forcibly carry away the mind even of a wise man who is practicing self-control”

Also I have to say sorry because what I wrote about mathematics teaching, which I will promptly edit after I post this one, IS BLASPHEMOUS!!! If somebody says mathematics teaching is a perfunctory ritual or that Mathematics is a base science - DON'T BELIEVE!!!

Mathematics as I found in this discussion on the BG (Bhagvad Gita) is akin to Tapa...or preparation for it...Read On-

Mortification (Tapa) is the state of problem where one is expected to stay and to
watch the situation. Mortification is not to try to gain anything else to free from ‘the
sorrow’. ‘Be in sorrow and feel it’ is the mortification. For example, the whole
training in mathematics (mathematical notations are made to express the natural laws
in its simplistic way) is learning to make the mind to be in the problem and to solve it
by itself. It is the practice of mortification. Result is secondary but the aim of
‘mathematics teaching’ is to make the student to stay in the problematic state and to
watch how this mind solves the problem. Now, this very sharpened mind can be
utilized to understand the real form of self-psychoanalysis. Thus, if a student solve
one single problem without any external help, it is more important than to
learn/practice/memorize the way of solving problems. In fact, memorizing makes the
mind dull and dull each time. Again, this ‘mathematics learning’ is not important at
all to be real spiritual being but the sharpened mind, which is well equipped and
experienced as problem solver, is all important.

So now we know the ground realities, though, not all, but it gives a different dimension to what you are doing if you start viewing it from a different frame of ref.

Also on a parting note-

This brilliant author is Jitendra K Rai- I should thank him for the wonderful treatise published in the Universal Mind by the name -
‘The Yoga’ of Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita vis-à-vis Yoga-Sutra"

Chao!!