Warrier's Collage on Saturday October 1, 2022

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Saturday October 1, 2022 Satsang 🙏 With Dalai Lama https://youtu.be/BXFGEGO8UY0 Good Morning 🌄 Nice Day M G Warrier A Responses/Messages 1) M G Warrier Academic achievement Keerthi Varier* Successfully defended my Ph.D thesis today(September 30, 2022). The journey was not easy. Someone once told me that Ph.D means 'passed with difficulty'. I believe this is true... Today will be one among the most memorable day of my life. I would like to thank my family and friends who have been a constant source of encouragement and strength. A special mention to my teachers, without whose blessings, this would have been impossible. 🙏🙏🙏🙏 *Congratulations and Best Wishes to Keerthi. She is daughter of my nephew Santosh (Retired Railway Executive). Proud of Keerthi, her husband and daughter who supported her through her Tapasya @Sctimst, Thiruvananthapuram 🙏-Warrier 2) Vishnu Kelkar In the Bhagwat Gita (10.22) , Lord Krishna has declared, 'vedanta samavedosmi.' Let us see the full version of B.G. 10.22 and commentary thereon. वेदानां सामवेदोस्मि देवानामस्मि वासवः । इंद्रियाणां मनश्चास्मि भूतानामस्मि चेतना ।। (B.G. 10.22) VEDENAM SAMAVEDO 'SMI DEVANAM ASMI VASAVAH । INDRIYANAM MANAS CA'SMI BHUTANAM ASMI CETANA ।। Of the Vedas I am the Saman; I am Vasava among the Devas; of the senses I am the mind and among living beings I am consciousness. One of the names attributed to Vishnu is Samaga, which means the chanter of Sama Veda . Among the four Vedas , Saman is the one best set to music. It is therefore enchanting even to those who cannot understand it. Thought of God comes to all who chant or hear it. It is verily the glory of God. Vasava is another name of Indra, the lord of the Devas. By sheer merit the deserving ones rise to this position. And all merits are the glories of God. The functioning ofall the five senses becomes purposeless when the mind wanders away from them. The ways of the absent minded man verify this position very clearly. Mind being the recorder of all the sensations, it is reckoned as an attribute of Lord. The difference between the living and the dead is in the presence or otherwise of consciousness. The more evolved the being, the clearer is the consciousness. Ultimately the Pure Consciousness gets equated with God. As wealth distinguishes the wealthy man , these glories reveal the Lord. VNKelkar 3) Chittanandam V R Shared a link : https://www.trueblueguide.com/2020/09/on-letter-writing-ag-gardiner-essay.html?m=1 Excerpts : Two soldiers, evidently brothers, stood at the door of the railway carriage--one inside the compartment, the other on the platform. "Now, you won't forget to write, Bill," said the latter. "No," said Bill. "I shall be back at--tonight, and I'll write all round to-morrow. But, lo, what a job. There's mother and the missus and Bob and Sarah and Aunt Jane and Uncle Jim, and--well, you know the lot. You've had to do it, Sam." Continued at H (Collage on Sunday October 2, 2022 : Babusenan's Column : Letter writing) B Collage Life Pain and Palliative Care : A commendable initiative from Thrissur* https://www.painandpalliativecarethrissur.org/genesis-of-PPCS.asp The genesis of Palliative Care & PPCS A remarkable development in the field of modern medicine in recent times has been the emergence of the practice of palliative care as a distinct discipline. It began with the limited objective of making the last days of a cancer patient's life somewhat painless, but palliative care has since grown into a mass movement. The philosophy of palliative care has been persuasive enough to bring about far-reaching changes in the outlook and practice of modern medicine. The first institution to deliver palliative care, "St. Christopher's Hospice" in London was established by Dame Cicely Saunders. Soon the concept spread across Europe and several such hospices were established. It, however, took quite some time for the concept to take roots in India as the European model was not workable in developing countries like India because of resource constraints. The recognition of this truth led to the establishment of the Palliative Care Society in Kozhikode started by Dr. M.R. Rajagopal and Dr. K. Sureshkumar, which adopted a different and sustainable model. The underlying strategy of the model revolved around maximum use of the existing government facilities, organising voluntary service and empowering the close relatives of the patients to participate in palliative care, and turn back to society to bridge the remaining resources gap. World Health Organisation (WHO) appreciated the criticality of this model for all the third world countries and approved the Kozhikode initiative as a "Demonstration Project". The developments which followed including the "Neighbourhood Network in Palliative Care" led to the intervention of civil society in palliative care, not only in Kerala but in other centres in India too. *E Madhavan (Ex-RBI) & Smt Susheela Madhavan, Madhavan's brother Dr E Divakaran, among several others are actively associated with this initiative. Another link : https://painandpalliativecarethrissur.org/# C Aryavaidyasala Kottakkal https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/arya-vaidya-sala-joins-hands-with-johannesburg-university-in-cancer-research/article65951508.ece Excerpts : KERALAArya Vaidya Sala joins hands with Johannesburg University in cancer research The Hindu Bureau MALAPPURAMSEPTEMBER 29, 2022 20:34 IST Research in photodynamic therapy using medicinal plants expected to herald a new era in cancer treatment D News you can use : Aryavaidya Pharmacy (Coimbatore) : Online Consultation http://consultation.avpgroup.org/consultation.aspx E Current Affairs 1) Monetary Policy Statement https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=54465 2) Media Response : M G Warrier RBI base rates September 30, 2022 Economic outlook* The upward revision of RBI base rate by 50 basis points on September 30 with consequential adjustments in other central bank rates will be described by analysts and media as "on expected lines" moving forward to reading between the lines the RBI policy statement to assess future possibilities. RBI has hinted at the inflation figures remaining on the wrong side of the old target for some more time. Given the global scenario equally bad, the best approach would be to accept the situation : "What cannot be cured, will have to be endured". As analysts outside do not take much interest in the other policy tools effectively used by GOI and RBI to tame inflation, rightly so, now the challenge becomes part of what a previous Governor called RBI's trilemma. The post-pandemic global scenario and the growth expectations within the country do not augur well for a smooth sail, though. Still the trust of the market and people in RBI and Finance Ministry remain positive as of now and that is definitely a silver lining. M G Warrier Mumbai *Published on October 1, 2022 https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/letters-to-editor/article65956128.ece F Leisure THE RETIRED MAAMA* His head is always in the clouds, His feet never firm on the ground, He always carries a pet grouse, To waylay you at the weakest! Reminiscences are a trap, That this maama lays out for you, About bland, boring, good old days, Through glasses of rose tinted hue! The newspaper is his staple, With coffee and suprabhatam, Riled at the affairs of the world, But no say about those at home! A filling meal three times a day, With menu planned in great detail, He is most fortunate to have, A maami with good cooking skills! Among young folks he is quite known, To give advice on all things Life, Why he cannot manage his own, Is something that no one dare ask! His wife wrote him off long ago, His children have grown up, wiser; The maama has no place to go, So he lays in wait for you, to pounce! Dinesh Gopalan, 29 Sept 2022 *Shared by K Balasubramanian Coimbatore. Any resemblance to Collage is incidental. G Cover Story : Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai Pre-Religion Indian Wisdom : Summary and comments For the past five days we have been enjoying five nice chapters on our ancient treasures, Vedas, upangas and upanishads. Hearty Congrats to Shri Warrier on his great efforts to bring out this treasure to us. Two months back I happened to go through a beautiful translation of the very same chapters done by a Coimbatore gentleman for the original work in Malayalam scripted by one Shri Namboodri ,a great Sanskrit scholar and professor. Vedas have four branches, viz. Samhitha, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. Samhitha is simply the collection of the Veda-Mantras. Brahmanas include the interpretations and explanations of Veda-Mantras for the purpose of performing Yajna-Karmas. Aranyakas are further interpretations of the Veda-Mantras that are important during the Vanaprastha-Ashram for people seeking Brahma-Jnana. They provide guidance about the rules and rituals to be followed during this stage. Upanishads are the last and final interpretations of the Vedas and hence they are also known as ‘Vedanta'. Upanishads are the result of the far-sightedness of those Rishis to ensure that the divine principles and true meaning of the Veda-Mantras are not lost with thepassage of time and also to make sure that they are maintained in their original and unique formwithout any erosion or dilution. Adi-Shankaracharya had identified the ten most important Upanishads which are known as ‘Dashopanishads’ (Eashavasya, Kena, Kata, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Eithareya, Thaithriya, Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka). He has written his ‘Bashya' or interpretation for these ten Upanishads. The main topic of all Upanishads is ‘Adhyathma-Vidya’ – knowledge about the Paramathma-Tatva. Sorrows of this world are arising from the absence of knowledge about Athma. When a person has learnt Adhyathma-Vidya, there is no place for sorrows in his life. Sorrows can be converted into eternal happiness through Adhyathma-Vidya. Katopanishad is from the‘Kata’ branch of Krishna-Yajurveda.‘Kata’, a disciple of ‘Vaishampayana', is the author and hence the name Katopanishad. Swami Vivekananda was much impressed by Katopanishad and he was full of praise about its contents because it is closely related to human-life. The main topic here is about life after death, which continues to be an interesting thought sincetime immemorial. The search of truth is shifting its focus from the external world to the inner world here. “After the death of a man, does his Athma continue to exist? Some say it is there and some say it is not there. Kindly enlighten me on this matter -what happens to the Jeevan after death? This knowledge is the third boon I seek from you". नजायतेम्रियतेवाविपश्चिन्नायंकुतश्चिन्नबभूवकश्चित्। अजोनित्यःशाश्वतोऽयंपुराणोनहन्यतेहन्यमानेशरीरे॥ (The above Mantra can be seen in Bhagavath-Geetha – Samkhya-Yoga also with some minor variations). “Athma doesn't take birth nor does it die. It is not created and it cannot be destroyed. Athma is one that is birth-less, eternal, everlasting and ancient. Even when the bodies in which the Athma resides keep changing, Athma never perishes”. Mundaka Upanishad talks more about Sanyasa Ashram Mandukya Upanishad is the shortest among all the ten Upanishads, having just twelve Mantras. However, we can realise that these twelve could be equal to twelve thousand when we examine the contents of these Mantras. Prashnopanishad:-As the name implies, the subject of this Upanishad is some intelligent questions related to the Bharatheeya philosophy and through their answers this Upanishad explains about the creation of universe, the status of ‘Purusha’ with all of its elements and organs, the concept of Jeevan, its arrival in this world, relation of Jeevan with Athma, and the supreme status of Paramathma. Eithareya Upanishad advises everyone to gain Jnana on these matters so that they can attain their final objective through Prajnana Upasana. The great Yajurveda Guru, Vaishampayana had twenty seven (27) disciples of whom Yajnavalkya was the prominent one. Once Vaishampayana had the unforeseen and unintentional fate to suffer the Paapa of ‘Brahma-hatya’ (killing of a Brahmin) and he had to perform suitable remedial penances for releasing himself from the sin. It is permitted for the disciples to perform such penance on behalf of the Guru. When the Guru requested his disciples to perform the penance, Yajnavalkya offered to perform the penance, outsmarting other disciples and causing insult to them. The Guru was upset by this show of arrogance and ordered Yajnavalkya to part with all lessons that he had learnt from the Guru and to leave the Ashram. Yajnavalkya, though apologetic about his misdeed, had no other option because the Guru was firm in his decision. He abandoned all his learnings by vomiting them out and then left the Ashram. After this, the other disciples assumed the form of ‘Thithiri’ birds (partridges) and ate all that were vomited by Yajnavalkya, thereby gaining the knowledge abandoned by Yajnavalkya. This knowledge acquired by the disciples came to be known as ‘Thaithiriya’ because they were obtained through the ‘Thithiri' birds. This part of Yajurveda is also known as Krishna Yajurveda. A disheartened Yajnavalkya went on to perform Tapas to please the Sun. Through this Tapas, he wished to regain the knowledge that he had lost and also the remaining parts of the Veda, which he was yet to gain. The Sun God, pleased with his Tapas, appeared to him in the form of a horse (Vajam) and advised him all the knowledge that Yajnavalkya had prayed for. Since the Veda was advised to him by the Sun God in the form of a Vajam, it came to be known as ‘Vajasaneya’ Yajurveda. This Branch of Yajurveda is also known as ‘Shukla’ Yajurveda. The Purusha-Tatva is protected and hidden within the five layers of Annamaya-kosha, Pranamaya-kosha, Manomaya-kosha, Vijanamaya-kosha and Anandamaya-kosha. Chandugya Upanishad:-The Sanskrit word च्छन्द: (Chandah) has several meanings but it is popularly used to mean the Vedas. Though all the four Vedas can be denoted through this word, it is more specifically used to mean Samaveda. S More about Omkara and Gayatri Upasana The human body and all of its organs are functioning with the support of Indriyas. However, these Indriyas cannot function on their own. This Upanishad establishes that Easwara-Chaithanya is the energy that makes all the Indriyas functional. The name ‘Brihadaranyaka’ is quite meaningful. There are many types of trees in a forest which are useful to all creations. This Upanishad is also similar to a forest containing many topics that are useful in one’s journey of life seeking the attainment of his ultimate objective. अनौषधंनकिञ्चिदस्ति – ‘none of them is not of the category of medicine’ – in other words, ‘all the plants and trees in this forest are useful medicines'. Praying for everyone to be benefitted with all kinds of medicine that are abundantly available in this spiritual forest called ‘Brihadaranyaka’. The question answer session between Yagnavalkya and Gargi are really interesting. Even after reading the book many times, I don't know where I do stand.The only mantra reverberating is the following:- ॐसहनाववतु।सहनौभुनक्तु।सहवीर्यंकरवावहै। तेजस्विनावधीतमस्तुमाविद्विषावहै। ॐशान्तिःशान्तिःशान्तिः॥ May both of us be protected by the Adhyathma-Jnana attained by us through our studies. May we experience the result of our studies together. May we both attain strength of mind and Athma. May we both become Tejaswis by completing our studies and finally we may never have any misunderstanding between us’. I would like to conclude with this mantra ओं पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते ।पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥ ॐ शान्ति: शान्ति: शान्ति: Wholeness is created out of wholeness – all creations arising from the Paramathma are perfect and complete and at the same time the Paramathma also remains perfect and complete. Further, when all creations (Jeevathmas) finally return to the Paramathma, still it remains as such. Vathsala Jayaraman H Continued from A2 "Yes," said Sam, ruefully; "it's a fair teaser." "And if you write to one and miss another they're offended," continued Bill. "But I always mention all of 'em. I say 'love to Sarah,' and 'hope Aunt Jane's cold's better,' and that sort of thing, and that fills out a page. But I'm blowed if I can find anything else to say. I just begin 'hoping this finds you well, as it leaves me at present,' and then I'm done. What else is there to say?" "Nothing," said Sam, mournfully. "I just sit and scratch my head over the blessed paper, but nothing'll come. Seems as though my head's as empty as a drum." "Same here. 'Tisn't like writing love-letters. When I was up to that game 'twas easy enough. When I got stuck I just put in half a page of crosses, and that filled up fine. But writing to mother and the missus and Sarah and Jim and the rest is different. You can't fill up with crosses. It would look ridiklus." "It would," said Sam. Then the train began to move, and the soldier in the train sank back on his seat, took out a cigarette, and began to smoke. I found he had been twice out at the front, and was now home on sick leave. He had been at the battle of Mons, through the retreat to the Marne, the advance to the Aisne, the first battle of Ypres, and the fighting at Festubert. In a word, he had seen some of the greatest events in the world's history, face to face, and yet he confessed that when he came to writing a letter, even to his wife, he could find nothing to say. He was in the position of the lady mentioned by Horace Walpole, whose letter to her husband began and ended thus: "I write to you because I have nothing to do: I finish because I have nothing to say." I suppose there has never been so much letter-writing in the world as is going on to-day, and much of it is good writing, as the papers show. But the case of my companion in the train is the case of thousands and tens of thousands of young fellows who for the first time in their lives want to write and discover that they have no gift of self-expression. It is not that they are stupid. It is that somehow the act of writing paralyses them. They cannot condense the atmosphere in which they live to the concrete word. You have to draw them out. They need a friendly lead. When they have got that they can talk well enough, but without it they are dumb. In the great sense letter-writing is no doubt a lost art. It was killed by the penny post and modern hurry. When Madame de Sevigny, Cowper, Horace Walpole, Byron, Lamb, and the Carlyles wrote their immortal letters the world was a leisurely place where there was time to indulge in the luxury of writing to your friends. And the cost of franking a letter made that letter a serious affair. If you could only send a letter once in a month or six months, and then at heavy expense, it became a matter of first-rate consequence. The poor, of course, couldn't enjoy the luxury of letter-writing at all. De Quincey tells us how the dalesmen of Lakeland a century ago used to dodge the postal charges. The letter that came by stage coach was received at the door by the poor mother, who glanced at the superscription, saw from a certain agreed sign on it that Tom or Jim was well, and handed it back to the carrier unopened. In those days a letter was an event. Now when you can send a letter half round the globe for a penny, and when the postman calls half a dozen times a day, few of us take letter-writing seriously. Carlyle saw that the advent of the penny post would kill the letter by making it cheap. "I shall send a penny letter next time," he wrote to his mother when the cheap postage was about to come in, and he foretold that people would not bother to write good letters when they could send them for next to nothing. He was right, and the telegraph, the telephone, and the postcard have completed the destruction of the art of letter-writing. It is the difficulty or the scarcity of a thing that makes it treasured. If diamonds were as plentiful as pebbles we shouldn't stoop to pick them up. But the case of Bill and Sam and thousands of their comrades to-day is different. They don't want to write literary letters, but they do want to tell the folks at home something about their life and the great things of which they are a part. But the great things are too great for them. They cannot put them into words. And they ought not to try, for the secret of letter-writing is intimate triviality. Bill could not have described the retreat from Mons; but he could have told, as he told me, about the blister he got on his heel, how he hungered for a smoke, how he marched and marched until he fell asleep marching, how he lost his pal at Le Cateau, and how his boot sole dropped off at Meaux. And through such trivialities he would have given a living picture of the great retreat. In short, to write a good letter you must approach the job in the lightest and most casual way. You must be personal, not abstract. You must not say, "This is too small a thing to put down." You must say, "This is just the sort of small thing we talk about at home. If I tell them this they will see me, as it were, they'll hear my voice, they'll know what I'm about." That is the purpose of a letter. Keats expresses the idea very well in one of those voluminous letters which he wrote to his brother George and his wife in America and in which he poured out the wealth of family affection which was one of the most amiable features of his character. He has described how he had been to see his mother, how she had laughed at his bad jokes, how they went out to tea at Mrs. Millar's, and how in going they were struck with the light and shade through the gateway at the Horse Guards. And he goes on: "I intend to write you such volumes that it will be impossible for me to keep any order or method in what I write; that will come first which is uppermost in my mind, not that which is uppermost in my heart--besides I should wish to give you a picture of our lives here whenever by a touch I can do it; even as you must see by the last sentence our walk past Whitehall all in good health and spirits--this I am certain of because I felt so much pleasure from the simple idea of your playing a game of cricket." There is the recipe by one of the masters of the craft. A letter written in this vein annihilates distance; it continues the personal gossip, the intimate communion, that has been interrupted by separation; it preserves one's presence in absence. It cannot be too simple, too commonplace, too colloquial. Its familiarity is not its weakness, but its supreme virtue. If it attempts to be orderly and stately and elaborate, it may be a good essay, but it will certainly be a bad letter. (The end) A. G. Gardiner's essay: On Letter-Writing