GardenTalk06-A Magic solution for all your gardening problems!

[Quick links]

In the previous episode we were talking about some miraculous finds of a senior Indian scientist namely Dr. Krishan Chandra. Let me continue on that.

(Mind17)-Science, Philosophy and Spirituality

[Quick links]

I started this series of talks apparently about mind two months ago.

(Mind16)-Everything can be explained logically!

[Quick links]

Reasoning is a very powerful tool used by our mind to know that which is not directly apparent to our senses. Can we use logic to know everything – even those that cannot be perceived by our senses?

GardenTalk05-A Green Yogi!

[Quick links]

You probably are aware of an Indian Yogi who is quite popular these days. This Yogi who runs multi-billion corporate houses, with his finger in almost in every pie, has made his version of Yoga almost a craze among the Indian masses.

(Mind15)-Describing the indescribable

[Quick links]

Ancient Indians believed that the entire Vedic literature is the recording of visions of various sages when they were in deep states of meditation. They did not compose them. But they merely had the visions that they later recorded.

One such record of visions of a sage by name Mandukya, namely the Mandukya Upanishad, is considered to be the essence of all the Vedas by philosophers like Sankara. It is a very short record with only 12 verses. Gaud pada uses this short composition as a basis of his theory that we discussed in the previous episode. What do these 12 verses say?

(Mind14)-It is just a grand illusion!

[Quick links]

Buddhism that started with its anicca or impermanence theory, gradually developed into many more forms. 

First, they said that both the body and the mind appear and disappear in quick succession, both being impermanent. Then some of them came up with the theory that bodies don’t exist at all, and ‘it is all in the mind’ as we discussed in the previous episode.

GardenTalk04-Wealth locked is wealth lost!

[Quick links]

Imagine a miserly man who always stashes his wealth in a locker. He has lot of wealth but it is of no use. Unless he takes it out from the locker and uses it, it is as good as his not having it!








 

(Mind13)-It is all in the Mind!

[Quick links]

Buddhism that started as Tera Vada Buddhism, evolved into many more forms over a period of time. Adherents to each form claimed authority from Buddha himself. There was Mahayana, Vajrayana, Zen and so on.

One interesting development that revolved around the Mind, which is the topic of interest to us, is the so called Vijnyana Vada that got developed as an offshoot of Mahayana Buddhism sometime around 4th century A.D. They had some interesting views about the Mind.

(Mind12)-Buddhist view on the Mind

[Quick links]

Buddhism is generally attributed to the great reformer philosopher Siddhartha Gautama who probably lived during 623-543 B.C. Buddha was more concerned with the miseries that afflicted common people and he gave up his throne and went in search of a solution to all the miseries of mankind.

The early form of the religion that got formulated sometime during 300 B.C., i.e. two centuries after the death of Buddha, was called ‘Teravada’ Buddhism – a word that simply meant – ‘the path of the elders’. 

Most of what I am going to talk in this episode pertains to this early form of Buddhism which is believed to be based on the preaching of Buddha as recorded in the Tipitakas.

GardenTalk03-A dwarf can be a giant!

[Quick links]

There is an interesting story in the ancient Indian mythology. Apparently, there was a wicked King by name Bali. God wanted to minimize his menace to mankind. So, God took the form of a dwarf – Vamana and approached the king asking for 3 foot holds of land. 

The king thought – “Afterall a dwarf! How much land he can lay his foot on?” So, he agreed to give him that much land. 

(Mind11)-Early attempts to know the Mind by the Greeks

[Quick links]

For the past several episodes I discussed our current scientific views about our Mind. I took some interesting excerpts from my book “How does the Mind Work?” while explaining the scientific views.

In the next few episodes, I am going to pick up some interesting ideas about the Mind from my book “Missing dimensions in our current understanding of the Mind”.

My idea is to approach the Mind from both sides – modern science as well as ancient philosophy, pick useful things from both, and finally take you to regions beyond the mind itself! So, stay tuned till the end of this series.

(Mind10)-The biggest puzzle!

[Quick links]

We started our discussions with the fundamental premise that brain and mind are almost synonymous. One by one, we saw how many aspects of our mind can be mapped on to the activities of the brain.

We said that our feelings, thoughts, consciousness and even the so called ‘free will’ are all just happenings in our brain. We were almost close to concluding that even the illusive entity namely the soul does not exist. We can explain everything about our existence without taking recourse to concepts like soul etc.

But do we really have all the answers?

GardenTalk02-Miracle makers

[Quick links]

Now-a-days one keeps coming across many Gurus, who use miracles to attract more followers. They write books on their mystic experiences; put up internet ads promising wonderful results if you enroll in their courses.

But we often close our eyes to miracles that have been going on around us since ages and still very active. But these miracle makers don’t put up ads, nor they are interested in our ‘donations’. 

Are you aware of them?