Skills

Watch "BHAGVAD GITA FOR STUDENTS | Swami Sarvapriyananda" https://youtu.be/_EqwlOeTj7Y (This is 'not' one of the impressive talks by Swamiji. Sharing to convey the message that we should always remember that no one can take away one's freedom of thought. Have you an answer to the question, why Krishna didn't use his wisdom to advise and convince Duryodhana about the just demands of Pandavas? If you know the answer, you can safely skip this link!) My Collage is arranged in such a way that one can start reading from the beginning, middle or the end. Like the newspaper, one can start reading any day also. Some interesting content from group mails are copied in Collage for the benefit of my readers outside the groups. M G Warrier Warrier's Collage 19072020 : Skills A. Interaction 1) V Babusenan July 17, 2020 In1918, for the first time, Britain gave voting right, on the basis of age, to its men and women. Strangely, there was discrimination in the eligibility criterion-21 years for men and 30 years for women. Might be, expert opinion regarding mental maturity would have been taken in the matter. But one thing is certain: Both in the East and the West, once the mental maturity of women reaches its pinnacle, it remains like that till the end and is thus superior to that of men in most cases. Our old stories bear testimony to this fact. Take for instance the story of Ajaamila from Bhagavatha. As a young man, he goes astray abandoning his wife and son. The pretty woman throws him out when excessive lust and drinks have ruined his health. He returns to his wife who takes him back. But for this act of hers that reveals mental maturity of a high order, Ajamila would never have got the chance to be taken straight to the Lord's presence as the story goes. This thought, perhaps funny, was evoked by the story of the old woman always insisting that the coffee bottle should be opened by her husband. In all probability her logic would not have occurred to him. He would have taken it as an instance of male superiority. Another small story of this genre, which I happened to read long ago, Ishall narrate here: An elderly couple used to visit the Siva temple near their home every evening. On one such evening, the husband saw a gold ring lying on the path. He quickly covered it with sand to hide it from his wife's view. She saw the hurried movement of the big toe of his right leg and asked for the reason. He explained. She asked: "Why did you do that?" "I did so to save you from the temptation" replied the husband. Her response is revealing. "I feel sorry that you have not understood me so far" she said. "To me it would have been like the sand you put on it." I see some male brows rising. No,Sirs. It is the superior mental state working here. Shri.Warrier's vivid description of the capital city of Kerala of the sixties have raised nostalgic feelings in me. I came to Trivandrum( now Thiruvananthapuram) three years before him. The city had not changed for many years. If you stood somewhere near the University college, you would feel as if you were in Oxford or Cambridge. Indian Coffee House, an old fashioned tiled building, was the favorite haunt of the middle class, as Warrier has mentioned. I still remember with pleasure, on our Sunday evening stroll to the museum grounds, at a particular point on the pavement, my elder son would suddenly apply brake. No need to seek the reason. By the side stood the ICH." July 18, 2020 "The discussion about the value of time in today's Collage recalled to my mind two famous lines from a famous Malayalam poem 'Karuna' (Sympathy) penned by one of the poet-Trio* Kumaran Asan. They mean this: "Not yet time','not yet time' says he 'I am losing my patience,my friend." The speaker is the best - known beauty, the Christine Keeler, in the ancient city of Madhura during the days of Lord Buddha. Her name is Vasavadatta. She has fallen in love with a handsome Buddhist monk Upagupta and seeks his company. She sends her invitation to him through her maid, but he does not respond. Then she makes clear that it is love and not money that she wants from him. Still he refuses telling: "It is not yet time" The lines in question are her final reaction in sheer despair. Days go by. Vasavadatta kills her lover, a political leader, in preference to a wealthy merchant from the south. She is caught and sentenced to a slow and ghastly death. Her nose, ears and hands are chopped off and she is thrown off into the burial ground. There comes Upagupta, the monk. The promised time has come to him. His sympathetic words give her solace and she quietly passes away. Here we see Time working differently for Vasavadatta, the beauty queen and Upagupta, the monk. Regards." (*Kavithrayangal : Kumaran Asaan, Ulloor Parameshwara Iyer & Vallathol Narayana Menon. Menon translated Rig Veda into Malayalam. These three earned a special space for Malayalam poetry in world literature : https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2016/nov/09/grandson-gives-vallathols-rig-veda-samhitha-a-lease-of-life-1536497.html) 2) Janardhana Warrier, Tellicherry July 18, 2020 "Time Management" explained in detail by way of best examples to understand the value of precious time. A thought provoking one." 3) T R S Iyer " Enjoyed reading Significance of Oxymoron, Power of habits and Time management and value of time. Wonderful write-up" B. New Skills 13 Essential 21st Century Skills https://www.envisionexperience.com/blog/13-essential-21st-century-skills-for-todays-students Changing needs C. Writing Skill Yatan Upadhyaya Blog - Times of India Blog https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/thelephantandthebanana/icarus-23176/ THE TIMES OF INDIA Dear Reader, Your comment on the article ' Icarus' is now live on timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog. ' you have tried to package all you wanted to say, in one article. leaving the reader wondering what exactly you want to convey. hope you understand. i\'m talking about the focus. you didn\'t decide what you wanted to say before you started writing this article. a great attempt didn\'t therefore end up in a great article. having said that, the article is a pack of brilliant ideas. you have left it for the reader to organize and find meanings. keep writing.' To reply to this comment , or see the whole conversation, click here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Regards, Team TOI Quote* : "In big things it is important to record or write down. Once you write things down it helps in the thinking process. In the important things of life one should make the effort to think; it is not enough to be impatient or angry" *JRD Tata quoted in "Joy of Achievement" book by R M Lala D. Self-Defense Skills Watch "Kalaripayattu: The First Martial Art" https://youtu.be/oI84oM_bJeg Ancient self-defense skills from Kerala. E. Obsolete Skills? 12 old-school skills that are becoming obsolete | https://www.considerable.com/life/checklist-life/old-school-skills-becoming-obsolete/ Any chance of revival ? F. Current Affairs Meet India’s new OTT stars https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/cover/twinkle-twinkle-ott-stars/article32110146.ece Screen comes closer. New stars on the horizon. We used to watch movies sitting on the floor, chewing peanuts. Those days, for that we had to walk miles to reach the "Talkies". Now you can do it, literally, anywhere, any time. G. Spirituality Watch "Swami Sarvapriyananda at IITK - "Who Am I?" according to Mandukya Upanishad-Part 1" https://youtu.be/eGKFTUuJppU Once the answer to this question is found, further spiritual journey will be smooth. H. Guest Column Vision and eyesight* I read about the third eye of a baby in a recent mail. It kindled my memories about an article in the Hindu about 'internal blindness' with reference to Dhritharashtra of Mahabharatha published three years back. It was an interesting reading. Many of us have perfect eye vision and we may need no glasses too. But we don't have the correct perception of things, don't view things in the proper angle and invariably get into problems. The spiritual Gurus differentiate between 'seeing' with physical eyes and the actual vision we need in our lives like generosity, kindness and love. Even in physical blindness there are varieties and varieties which we can't imagine. Some are unable to see anything; but can point out and identify an object by showing the finger to the accurate spot even in an unfamiliar place. Some may see everything but are unable to differentiate between a chair and phone. Some may identify objects and tell correctly but may not identify human beings including their own kith and kin. There are more than 30 channels in the visual route of our nervous system.If even one or two are functioning, a totally blind man may be able to say what is in front of him. Very often there is a talk about third eye in human beings. We need not think that Lord Shiva alone has third eye. In fact, it is said that every human being has an access to his/her third eye and scientifically they say that it is a clever bit of natural evolution. Our third eye overlays unseen information and forms separate patterns over our sense organs so that we may be able to do correct interpretations. It is stated to be more a skill than divine power. That is why perhaps sages of yore were able to guess the exact happenings like curses in the past and foresee future events which were attributed to their penance. In US they have got 'definitions' for legal blindness. Legal blindness is the level of impairment in which the individual has a reduced central vision of 20/200 or less. They will be eligible for financial security, though they may carry on their daily chores without much difficulty. *Received from Vathsala Jayaraman, Ex-RBI, Chennai.