Big collapse.

If you haven't heard its sound, the collapse was probably big. If some information and it's effects can't ever reach you, that information just does't exist for you. Thanks to cosmic speed limit and expanding universe. I wish we were so torn apart by the expanding universe, or a black hole, or whatever, that we go beyond each other's event horizon. But alas, few things are just beyond space-time, I'm just stuck with you. I know you won't understand this and I, in most likelihood, don't want you to.

Hrishikesh Alshi
Bangalore

Science and the God.

Science does not have and never had any problem with God. Science has a problem with the concept of God that religions evoke. All science needs is compelling evidence and religions do not have any. Religion says, “I don’t know, hence God”. Science says, “I don’t know, let’s find out”. The problem with religious approach is that, it shuts up your curiosity by giving delusive answers to your curious questions. Further, you are not allowed to question these answers, you are asked to believe in it. However, science keeps questions unanswered until it knows the answer precisely. Science will never ask you to believe in something. Even the most elite scientists hold no authority in science. Science only accepts anything if it has sufficient evidence, after it is thoroughly argued, questioned, debated and tested. On the contrary, religions are but belief systems. And strongly religious people generally proudly claim to have unshakable belief. Unshakable belief?! I mean, think of it. Unshakable belief means, they’ll not change their belief in any condition. Even if they are shown overwhelming, constantly accumulating, contrary evidence to their belief. In other words, they are proud of being brain washed. Such people are effing disgrace to the human species.

Hrishikesh Alshi

Bangalore

Don't be nice, just be fair.

Last Saturday, I dropped one of my friend to the Bangalore City railway station. I didn't have five rupees change, so he bought me a platform ticket. He joined the platform ticket queue and I stood nearby. While everyone, including my friend, were quietly standing in the queue. Two girls directly reached to the platform ticket window and asked for the platform tickets. These girls didn't bother to join the queue! I started looking around for a signboard that indicated a separate queue for women. Wasn't any. When the ticket issuer insisted them to join the queue, one of these girls asked my friend to buy a platform ticket for her! The catch here is that there were couple of girls standing in the queue too, in front of my friend, this girl did not request those girls. While I wished that he should not entertain this request, which he did, the other girl asked me for the same. I refused. When you help such people who do not bother to join the queue, you are, in a way, discouraging the others who are standing in the queue for one thing and for the other thing, these girls think that you are an idiot and that they can get anything done from you by virtue of being girls. And some guys fall prey to this and few morons ironically feel privileged. In today’s world, use your mind and help only then. Nobody dies in the want of platform tickets. Help only when it is really required. Don't be nice, just be fair.

Hrishikesh Alshi
Bangalore

माऊली सांज, अंधार पान्हा. विश्व सारे जणू होय कान्हा...

From quite some time I was trying to understand the meaning of the words 'Consciousness' (चेतना in Marathi) and 'Awareness' (जाणीव in Marathi). Dictionaries identify them as synonyms of each other and people sometimes use these words interchangeably. Do they have overlapping meanings?

My instinct and innate feeling tells me that there is some subtle difference. Even after a lot of reflection, I'm not able to differentiate between these two words in the manner that is clear and complete.This humble attempt is just to pen down my own understanding of the meaning of these two words.

'Consciousness' is the state of mind and 'Awareness' is the state of soul. Mind actually have four states:

1. Unconscious state.
2. Subconscious state.
3. Conscious state.
4. Super conscious state.

Under the influence of anesthesia, in deep-dreamless sleep, due to brain injury our mind enters the realm of unconsciousness. Awareness is zero in this state of mind.

Subconscious and Conscious states of mind work very close together. Anything that is routine, our conscious mind delegates to the subconscious mind. For instance, consider this situation, when you are learning a car driving. You have to do everything consciously, changing gears, pressing accelerator, controlling steering etc. But soon when it becomes a routine, your conscious mind finds no challenge in it and delegates this responsibility to your subconscious mind. You can then focus on more interesting stuff like listening music while driving your car etc. Let us take one more example, when you move to a new house, you have to consciously find the light switch among the available switches, to switch on the light. After few days, whoa! you switch on the light without even thinking about it. You press the correct button. Always!

If it is too routine a work, even your subconscious mind finds it no more challenging and delegates this work to your unconscious mind. Evolutionary biologists tells us that, at early stages of human evolution, the beating of heart, digestion etc were conscious and voluntary activities.Over the huge period of time, as they became too routine an activities, that our conscious mind delegated them to our subconscious mind and then they were delegated to the unconscious mind. That is the reason why, heart beats even when a person is in coma.

Yoga tells us that there is one more state of mind that is super conscious state. This is the supreme state of mind and there is full awareness in this state. This full awareness is nothing but the enlightenment of the soul, self-realisation, salvation etc. This is the state when you (your soul) release its true self i.e its omnipresence and that there is no personality but God.

More the consciousness more will be the awareness. No discovery has ever happened in this world without the concentration of mind. When scientist concentrate his mind on something, it reveals its mystery and scientist become aware of it. Concentration is also one way of controlling your mind. More you concentrate more will be the consciousness. We can increase the consciousness of mind by controlling it. One way to achieve this is by meditation. In meditation, you control your mind and in the process increase consciousness of your mind and become more aware.


Hrishikesh Alshi
Nagpur/Bangalore