Guess who else is looking Inward !

Excerpts from an article by Carl Zimmer:

Michael A Fischbach, a chemist at the University of California has found a bacteria within the body which is similar to an antibiotic that a drug company is testing. He is quoted as having said ‘microorganisms are the best chemists on the planet’.

For evidence, Dr Fischbach points to the many life saving drugs that micro organisms produce. In 1928 for example, Alexander Fleming discovered that mould wafting into his lab produced a bacteria killing chemical called penicillin.

Later generations of scientists found drug making organisms in more exotic locales. In 1951, a missionary in Borneo named William Bouw shipped a box of jungle dirt from there to Europe and Dr.Kornfield discovered a species of bacteria in it that made a potent antibiotic.

Scientists today are still searching jungles, oceans and other corners of the world for micro organisms that make medicines. But in a new study, Dr Fischbach and his colleagues suggest that we should be looking inward.

Analysing the bacteria that live in our body, the scientists identified genes for making over 3000 previously unknown molecules that may prove to be useful drugs.

‘Nobody had thought to look that close to home’ said Dr.Fischbach.

We all know, (not to question the scientific level of medicine as what Dr.Fischbach is talking, which is to create antibiotics based on microorganisms from within for the larger good), that this is part of our body’s natural immunity system, right?

Any invasion of the body by the bad bacteria from the outside or sometimes from the inside, can be fought from within, and this is done well by a naturally healthy body. It’s again about keeping that balance, the energy balance within the body. Ancient systems of Ayurveda focus on restoring or maintaining this balance.

It’s really in our hands. Isn’t that an empowering feeling? Can we become aware of what we can do to get into that space of empowerment? Not just of the mind……… but through the mind, also of the body.

Astronomy with A Visual Perspective

Astronomy has always been a pet and revered subject, the night sky always fascinated….. If Vipassana was a fascinating journey inward, astronomy was, actually is, an equally fascinating journey outward……. pun intended :)

Just look at some of these concepts; it’s total science, yet, don’t they just bring out that sense of real awe and mystery ?

Spacial distances: The distances in space are so vast that light takes a long time to travel from each of those stars. And we’re talking 3,00,000 kilometers per second. Yet, its counted in light years, right? What does it imply?

When we look up at the sky what we see is actually not the present….it’s the past. For instance, say Sirius, the brightest star in our sky ( It’s one star that’s visible even through the haze and smog of a city night sky ). It takes light seven years to reach us from Sirius. So when we see Sirius today, we’re actually seeing Sirius as it was seven years back. Our nearest star, Proxima Centauri is 4.3 light years away, and that’s our nearest. Earth is 28,000 light years away from the center of milky way, our own galaxy. Stars from other galaxies are millions of light years away. So next time you look up at the sky, remember you aren’t just looking far into space, you’re actually looking into different time spans as well.

Black holes: Black holes are strangely the most dense of matter and nothing like the hole that they’re called. Like everything has a birth and death, so also stars are born and die, it just happens over millions and millions of years. When a star dies, it collapses on itself and all that matter gets into a small space of very high density. The density is so high and creates such a strong gravitational field, that not even light can escape it. It exists as a very powerful object in space, but it’s very small and completely invisible.

Here’s a five minute journey which will give you a visual perspective of size and distance in space, and trust me, through all our exposure through text books and encyclopedia, you’ll still be amazed. Thanks to my dad for having shared these slides, I enjoyed them !

Sirius is the brightest star visible in our night sky

Pollux is one of the Gemini twins :)

Arcturus is a bright star close to the popular Great Bear

Aldebran is in the constellation Taurus, it's also a clearly visible star in our night sky

Betelguese is part of the constellation of Orion ( which is  my tattoo if that helps)

Breathe again.......:)

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

So, when you read about the ethereal body, the chakras, the energy, transfer of energy through thought, and some of the other stuff in the previous post, you didn’t think all that was superstition did you? Did you accept it for total real? Did you pause to think that it could be real? It’s real for sure…… as real as you and I are…..I say this because the closer you get to what’s real, or what you think is real, the more you know that anything is ‘as real’ as you think it is.

Am I sounding confusing…..well, I’m not surprised, because I remember in one episode of Kaun Bhanega Crorepati, I thought I would have gone out at the first basic question. Amitabh Bachan asks, where does the sun rise? And the options are a) west b) north c) east d) none of the above. And pat came the answer from the contestant….east. And I find myself thinking, thank god it’s not me, I would have been out of the game right there. Because I actually found myself thinking it’s ‘none of the above’……after all, What is east? What is to rise? Where are we looking at it from? What is direction on a sphere? What about the sun and the earth being spherical, and both being in constant motion?

At that point I didn’t even dare tell anyone that that’s how I’d reacted. They’d have thought I was nuts. I only concluded to myself that I would never try to get to Kaun Banega Crorepati :) 

Today, I guess I’m willing to risk being called nuts. Reading Bill Bryson gives me the courage to actually put these questions out there.

‘Á short history of nearly everything’ by Bill Bryson, is one of those books that really gave me so much perspective, rather such a different perspective, not to speak of the loads and loads of stuff about the Universe, and our own planet. I’ve just started a reread, and I want to share the first page, so here goes:

Welcome. And congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn’t easy, I know. In fact, I suspect it was a little tougher than you realize.

To begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and curiously obliging manner to create you. It’s an arrangement so specialized and particular that it has never been tried before and will exist only this once. For the next many years(we hope) these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions of deft, co-operative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally under appreciated state known as existence.

Why atoms take this trouble is a bit of a puzzle. Being you is not a gratifying experience at the atomic level. For all their devoted attention, your atoms don’t actually care about you – indeed, don’t even know that you are there.

The book as indicated by the title is really a travelogue through science, starting from the big bang theory, through evolution, through geology, physics, atoms, protons, chemistry, biology, oceans, birds, fish, you….. it’s like science coming alive, with lots of laugh aloud times too. One of my sure shot favourites.

And it’s as interesting and mysterious as energy healing and the rest of it, except this is all stuff that’s been proved through scientific labs ….but then electricity existed before Edison let us know, right? 

Pranic Healing

'Miracles are fantastic events which utilize hidden laws of nature. Most people are unaware of these laws. Miracles do not break the laws of nature; they are actually based on them' - Master Choa Kok Sui

Ones default state of being is happy and healthy……….it’s being in rta….. in harmony.

It is extraneous factors, or at times our reactions to extraneous factors that can upset this harmony or balance. And there will always be these extraneous forces which are acting on you, and which you are quite naturally reacting to also. And that’s what upsets the balance.

So what balance are we talking about?

It’s the energy balance. Today, it’s kind of widely accepted even by science that everything in life is a form of energy, even the physical body is constituted of energy, and is in constant flux. Stress or illness can upset the balance by impacting the body, be it at the physical, mental or emotional level.

Pranic healing is an ancient science and art of healing that utilizes prana or life energy to balance, harmonize and transform the body’s energy processes

Apart from the physical body, we all have an etheric body, it runs through the body, and for about 4 to 5 inches beyond the physical body. It’s what in general parlance is called the aura. It is a subtler form of body and is directly connected to physical health. Alternate systems of medicine essentially focus on healing illnesses through this subtler body.

Indian Rishis, Chinese Taoists and Tibetan monks have practiced various forms of Energy Healing for thousands of years. It was widely practiced in the early civilizations of China, Egypt, and India, and in many other parts of the world.

The practice of Pranic healing in the Hindu tradition is based on the existence of Energy centers or vortexes, the chakras that are documented  in the ‘Yoga Kundalini Upanishad’

Many illnesses are either caused or partially caused due to the malfunctioning of one or more of the Energy Centers. It is said that both the energy body and the visible physical body are so closely related that what affects one affects the other and vice-versa. A certified Urologist who practices pranic healing alongside allopathy said ‘What I have come to learn as a result of studying and practicing Pranic Healing is that stress and negative emotions stored in the body create blockages in the body’s energy systems, and when the body’s healing energy becomes blocked and cannot flow properly, then disease occurs.’

The teaching as we learn it today is what has been developed by master Choa Kok Sui, and is based on some basic principles:

• The body has an innate ability to repair and heal itself
• Any illness or disease reveals itself in the subtler body before it manifests in the physical body.
• Vital Life Energy can be obtained from the air, the sun, the ground and trees, as well as ‘divine energy’ which is received as a result of meditation, prayer and other practices
• It is possible to transfer energy from one person to another person in many different ways
• Energy flows where attention is directed.

The course is split into different levels. The first level, which I did earlier this year, teaches you how to absorb prana from the air and how to project it to the patients, more specifically the chakra that is impacted by the illness. It teaches you how to sensitize your hands, how to scan the energy body of the patient, and  how to cleanse, energize and stabilize the energy bodies, with emphasis on doing so without depleting your own energy. It’s an interesting course, and one needs no special inborn healing power or to be a clairvoyant, all it needs is to follow the process with a certain level of discipline, powered by some regular meditation.

It is saod that the transformational technology of Pranic Healing begins to empower and enable a high level of self confidence as you see your immediate ability to produce measurable results. And I can vouch for this, as a week after I did the course, my mother complained of a pain in her knee when I very gingerly and unsurely asked if I could try pranic healing. She said yes, and I did. And I was even more surprised than her, when within minutes she said she had relief from the pain.

From that point you find your patterns of thinking shifting gear, just to become aware that you can alter subtle and even physical matter not only of oneself, but also of others, and make that difference to the world around.

The mysterious

I just read and thought I'd share

'the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious......it is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed'

Albert Einstein

Salt

Dead Sea - Courtesy: Google images

A pretty amazing chemical….. this salt. If you think about it, you realize it’s almost like a magic compound. Just look at all these disconnected facts and you’ll see the common thread that runs through them.

It is widely believed that a dip in the Dead Sea has huge therapeutic benefits and is known to heal even very serious illnesses. The dead sea is called the dead sea because of it’s high salinity; It has 27% salinity against the normal 3% salinity of oceans

Goa has a ritual, where it is believed by locals that during the month of May, a series of dips in the sea with the sea water left unwashed over a two to three day period keeps all illnesses at bay for the year

In Pranic healing, negative energy that is removed from the body is dissipated through a bowl of salt water

In many Indian households, the dhishti ( removal of the evil eye) is often done with a fistful of salt

Sports folks are asked to bathe or soak in a bucketful of salt water when their bodies are sore

Salt water gargling is the simplest and best panacea for a sore throat

Interesting, huh?

Know thyself

There’s a little story I came across today, an old one, but thought I’d share as it fits into the stream of thought………… repetition does not spoil the prayer :)

One day, two woodcutters got into an argument on who could cut more wood in a day. Next morning, the two of them took up their positions. First, they worked at the same speed. But, within an hour, one of them heard that the other one had stopped working, so he started cutting trees on the double. Ten minutes later, he heard the second woodcutter had started cutting trees again. They were now working almost synchronously. This kept happening. Everytime the first woodcutter heard that his opponent had stopped, he would increase his speed so he could win the bet. This lasted all day long. Each hour, the second woodcutter stopped for ten minutes, the first woodcutter would continue working with greater speed. At the end of the day, the first woodcutter who worked without stopping was absolutely sure that he would win the bet.

But he was in for a surprise when at the end of the day he found that he was mistaken. ‘How did that happen?’ he asked his partner. ‘How could you cut more trees than me? It’s impossible…I was continuously working!’

‘It was very simple’, answered the second woodcutter. ‘Each hour I stopped working for ten minutes, and you doubled your speed of cutting trees, I was actually sharpening my axe’.