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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #300 on:
September 10, 2013, 01:22:22 PM »
Subramanian sir
I also remember reading somewhere the incident when Bhagawan was visited by his English Teacher. A very interesting incident which brings out the humour sense in Bhagawan. Apparently, when Bhagawan left home the last day, he had some English imposition punishment which obviously he never submitted. When he saw his English Teacher in Ashram and the English Teacher asked - "Bhagawan, do you remember me?", Bhagawan replied in Tamil - "Enna oye, ingiyeum vanthuttera?" (What sir, you came here also?) jokingly. Sorry I dont remember the story fully and clearly - if you may add / narrate, it will be beautiful - if you remember.
Last Edit: September 10, 2013, 01:46:05 PM by sanjaya_ganesh
Salutations to Bhagawan
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #301 on:
September 10, 2013, 01:42:46 PM »
Dear sanjay,
Yes. It is the same teacher! But these details have not been given by N.N. Rajan.
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #302 on:
September 11, 2013, 10:51:48 AM »
Major Chadwick:
Morning and evening, the Vedas would be chanted before Sri Bhagavan, lasting some forty five minutes. At first this was
done by some local Brahmins coming twice a day from town. But this was not altogether convenient, so in 1947, a Veda
School was started in the Asramam itself, consisting of six boys who now took on this duty. Sri Bhagavan obviously loved
to listen to the Vedas. Directly they started, He would immediately sit up on His couch and tuck His legs under Him, while a
far away look would come into His eyes, and He would remain motionless until they were finished. At the end of each recitation
everybody was expected to stand up while the boys chanted some praise of the Self Realized Sage, afterwards prostrating to the
Guru. These verses, the Na Karmana, I translated with the help of others and handed to Bhagavan for correction and approval.
I will add them here, as visitors frequently ask what is their meaning:
'Tis not by means of action immortality is gained,
Nor even yet by offspring, nor possession of much gold,
But by renunciation by some it is attained,
The Sages who their senses have all thoroughly controlled
Attain that Sat than which high heaven's Supremacy is less,
Which ever doth within he heart its radiance unfold
The Adepts by renunciation and one-pointedness,
Who have become both in heart and who have also known
The certainty of that One Truth Vedanta doth profess,
Attain Self Realization; when ignorance has flown
From body and its cause Maya they'll gain full liberty.
That only as minute Akash what has eternal shone,
That is within the Lotus Heart, of everyone sorrow free,
of the Immaculate Supreme, the seat molecular,
Within the body's inner core, should be meditated be.
He verily is Lord Supreme. He is exalted far
Above the Primal Word, which is of Veda first and last,
In which blends the Creative Cause, so merged in one they are.
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #303 on:
September 11, 2013, 02:56:36 PM »
Silent Power: Major Chadwick:
Ramana Maharshi was unique in that He was an out and out advaitin. There were no half measures with Him. Now to be an
advaitin of this description is extremely difficult. While for most of us, it is all intellectual gymnastics, for Him it was His life. At
the early age of sixteen, He had realized the Self and had never swerved from it or come down to a lower function ever after.
When He was asked about His movements in the temple and His period of mounam, if His state had not become more stabilized
as a result of His sadhana, He emphatically stated, 'No change had occurred, nothing new since then had ever happened. It is
the same now as then.'
But for Himself He saw nothing wonderful in it. It was the natural state and it was really strange that others should find
any difficulty in realizing or being themselves. 'You are the Self', He repeatedly said, 'nothing but the Self. How can you be
anything else?' There are not and cannot be two selves, one to know other. Just be yourself.'
Put like this, of course, it sounds easy but experience teaches us another tale. Every word is true, but Vasanas are so persistent
and desires of such long standing that they get in the way and prevent pure vision. Habits are deep within us and refuse to be
rooted out.
Countless are the number of existences lived in the past with which we have been associated. Just to sit quiet and forget them
for even for a moment seems impossible. Rather does it seem to cause those long forgotten existences to bubble up and fill the
mind with their inanities.
Yet sitting in His presence, the thing became so transparent that one was convinced for the time being, that all troubles were
ended, and one was forced back on oneself in spite of all obstacles. And this was the wonder of His Presence.
It was not in the few words He set on paper or the verbal instructions He gave to sincere inquirers that His real teaching lay
but in His silent presence. Then questions would drop away unasked, difficulties of meditation vanished and the mind became
still. It was unbelievable how easy it suddenly became.
Not only the effect of His presence, but the shining example of Himself, left indelible marks on those who had the good fortune
to spend some time with Him. There was no use in saying it could not be done. Here was one who had done it. One might tell
oneself that the state could be nothing but one of blankness and convince oneself that it was not to be desired, but here was He
exhaling the bliss which overflowed out of its super abundance to even the meanest of us sitting there with Him. It was marvelous !
Was there ever another like Him. What silent power ! And what a fountain of hope !
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #304 on:
September 12, 2013, 11:10:57 AM »
Major Chadwick:
One often hears people saying that Sri Bhagavan was an avatar, in this way thinking to add to His glroy ! But except for the
fact that that everybody might possibly be called an avatar, since each of us is God in a human body, there was absolutely
no ground for saying so.
One day, a Sannyasin belonging to a well known order, who think that their Guru alone attained Self Realization, challenged
Sri Bhagavan in a most aggressive and unmannerly fashion.
Sadhu: People say you are an avatar of Subramanian. What do you say about it?
Bhagavan said nothing.
Sadhu: If it is a fact, why do you keep silence about it? Why don't you speak out and tell us the truth?
Bhagavan did not reply.
Sadhu: Tell us, we want to know.
Bhagavan (quietly): An avatar is only a partial manifestation of God, whereas a Jnani is God Himself.
Here lies the whole difference between Advaita and and other philosophies. In Advaita all is nothing but the Self. There is
no room for such special manifestations as avatars. A person is either Self Realized or is not. There are no degrees.
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #305 on:
September 12, 2013, 11:31:38 AM »
T.K. Sundaresa Iyer: At the Feet of Bhagavan:
The Transformation:
Nearly fifty six years ago, such a perfect vehicle appeared on the earth. After sixteen years of apparently normal life, the Grace
of life awakened in Him, gushed in and out of Him, caught and drew His normal consciousness deeper and deeper inward into
that in which nothing but Itself is seen or heard or known, in which there is not the shining of the sun, the moon, or the stars,
but which is all these and fullness Itself. In the Grace enthralled or Grace embraced condition, aware of nothing but ever awareness,
the vehicle propelled or impelled to Arunachala, Light Constant. Here, absolutely controlled by the Light ever aware He sat
and sat and sat. He could not talk, not that He would not. He could not open His eyes, not that God His eyes, not that He would
not. He could not move, not that He would not. What we call 'He' was under the control of an inner something which was to Him
an experience of underminating awareness, and Bliss, all embracing. That state of fullness is the mouna of perfect Shanti,
the Reality into which the Maharshi awoke and in which there was no 'he' to act.
While the small bubble of 'he' was merged in the wide expanse and kept enthralled, His being was being renewed and reconstructed,
the old faculties partook of the nature of the essence into which they were merged. Until His re-cloaking and re-decoration was
complete, hugged the son firmly in His sleep, and the Son, enjoying the inner recess of His Father's Chamber, was of necessity lost
to all knowledge of the outer thatch. When this process of attuning was complete,the Parent let go the Child to play with whatever
urchins might come to Him in the street. The Child, in the same way, as the Parent, and being perfectly as towering a personality
as the Father, was sure that He could not be tarnished by the touch of the foul urchins on the street. Nay, He was sure that He
could transform all of them after His own, and His Father's Image.
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #306 on:
September 12, 2013, 03:03:05 PM »
Silent Power: "A Pilgrim"
(The author of this article is unknown but the incident must have taken place in 1946)
It was on my long cherished journey to Bhagavan Sri Ramana. On the train I was chewing the cud of doubt. In the
December and January issues of Vedanta Kesari, I had read the answer Maharshi gave to the question put to Him
by Prof. D. S. Sarma as to whether there was a sadhana period in the life of Sri Bhagavan previous to His enlightenment.
Sri Dilip Kumar Roy had put the answer in a poetical garb under the caption 'My Yoga' and Prof. Sarma had given his question
and Maharshi's answer under the title Sahaja Sthithi. I reproduce below the answer of Sri Bhagavan:
'I know no such period of Sadhana. I never performed any pranayama or japa. I know no mantras. I had no rules of meditation
or contemplation. Sadhana implies an object to be gained and the means of gaining it. What is there to be gained which we do
not already possess? In meditation, concentration and contemplation what we have to do is only not to think of anything but
to be still. Then, we shall be in our natural state.'
This indeed was an intriguing situation for me. I had read in the Life and Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi of the severe sadhana
He did in the lonely rooms of Big Temple at Tiruvannamalai and in the caves on the Hill. Now here is Bhagavan Himself denying it
all. And more than that, how can illumination come without Sadhana? There was something against the word of the scriptures.
However, I consoled myself with the thought that at the Asramam, I might have the chance of placing my difficulties before
the Maharshi Himself.
It was one of those beautiful mornings in Tiruvannamalai. After my daily oblations and duties I was ready for the darshan of
Bhagavan. As I approached the Maharshi's room I could feel the peace that was radiating from His room. I entered the room
and then came the first shock. I expected to see something glorious, a face surrounded by halo etc., I did not find any of these.
Has He not said, I was reminded, in His answer that Self realization does not mean that something would descend upon us as
something glorious. Has He not said, 'People seem to think that practicing some elaborate sadhana the Self would one day
descend upon them as something very big and with tremendous glory and they would then have what is called Sakshatkaram.'
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #307 on:
September 12, 2013, 06:30:54 PM »
Below is another interesting anecdote sent to us by Sri A.Viswanathan of Chennai. His 93 year old mother lived with Bhagavan during her childhood.
WHEN I took my mother to a relatives' house yesterday, we observed that this old relative was using a fountain pen with a nib, which since the arrival of the ball point pen is a rare commodity. On seeing that nib pen my mother recalled an interesting event with Bhagavan from her childhood. She used to attend Sanskrit classes in the Arunachaleswar Temple and one day on the way to the temple she found a bird's feather lying on the road. She picked it up and showed it to Bhagavan when she visited the Ashram the next day. Bhagavan sharpened the edge of the thick end of the feather and showed my mother how it could be used as a pen for writing. My mother said that she used it for quite some time until the edge got blunted or damaged.
from the newsletters of Sri Ramana
Om Namo Bagavathe Sri Ramanaya
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #308 on:
September 13, 2013, 10:23:37 AM »
Major Chadwick:
Many people said that Bhagavan did not give initiation or have any disciples, although those who lived with Him had no doubts
as to the relationship existing between themselves and Sri Bhagavan. I was interested to find out what Bhagavan Himself had
to say on the subject, so one night, after the evening meal, the following conversation took place:
Devotee: Bhagavan says that He has no disciples.
Bhagavan: (looking at me suspiciously) Yes.
Devotee: But Bhagavan also says that for he majority of the aspirants a Guru is necessary.
Bhagavan: Yes.
Devotee: Then what am I to do? I have come all this distance, and sat at Bhagavan's feet, all these years, has it all been
a waste of time? Must I now go off and wander about India in search of a Guru?
Unfortunately, the interpreter himself was so interested in the reply that he could hardly interrupt it to interpret to me fully
what Bhagavan was saying. I may add here that to act as interpreter between Bhagavan and another was extremely difficult.
Bhagavan talked so fast that sometimes it was hard to follow exactly what He was saying and the interpreter was so taken
up in trying to understand, and so interested in the subject matter, that he found no time to repeat more than an odd sentence.
They were often too shy to ask Bhagavan to wait, which he would always willingly do, so that they might tell what He said sentence
by sentence.
But to go on with Bhagavan's replym the gist of which was as follows:
For the Jnani all are one. He sees no distinction between Guru and disciple, He knows only one Self, not a myriad selves as we do,
so for him, how can there be distinction between persons? This is for us almost impossible to understand. How can he both see
distinctions and not see the distinctions? He obviously does. He can answer questions, discuss and apparently do all things in the
way we do, yet for him, I repeat, there is only one Self and this life is nothing but a dream. However, for the seeker the difference
between persons is very real. For him there is undoubtedly the relationship of a Guru and a disciple.
Actually to reconcile the two points of view of the Jnani and the disciple is almost impossible. Anyhow Bhagavan did clear the
doubts of many by this conversation, in spite of which there are still some who say it was useless to go to Bhagavan because
He gave no initiation and did not even recognize the relationship of Master and disciple.
Major Chadwick's reminiscences (excerpts) - completed.
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #309 on:
September 13, 2013, 01:23:10 PM »
T.K. Sundaresa Iyer - At the Feet of Bhagavan:
Where is the Divine World?
When studying the Upanishads, in my early days, I always visualized the Divine Abode in the Sun God and was performing the
practices enjoined in certain texts. Even later, after settling down at the abode of Sri Maharshi, I continued this upasana. It
proved very hard to succeed in this process, and I had to undergo very trying experiences, so I referred the whole matter to
'So you want to go to the Divine World?' asked He.
'That is what I am trying to obtain; that is what the Scriptures prescribe,' I answered.
'But where are you now?' the Master asked.
I replied, 'I am in Your Presence.'
'Poor thing ! You are here and now in the Divine World, and you want to obtain it elsewhere! know that to be the Divine World
where one is firmly established in Divine. Such a one is full (purna); he encompasses and transcends all that is manifest. He is
the substratum of the screen on which the whole manifestation runs like the picture film. Whether moving pictures run or not,
the screen is always there and is never affected by the action of the pictures. You are here and now in the Divine World You
are like a thirsty man wanting to drink, while he is all the time neck deep in the Ganga. Give up all efforts and surrender. Let the
'I' that wants the Divine World die, and the Divine in you will be realized here and now. For, it is already in you, as the Self,
not different from the Divine (Brahman), nameless and formless. It is already in you, and how are you to obtain that which
ever remains obtained? The Self (atman) in you is surely not different from us?' Thus spoke Bhagavan.
'So, then, Bhagavan says that he is the Self (kutastha) in this, the field of this soul (jiva), that This is already established in
Bhagavan as such, so this soul need to do nothing but give up the sense of being a separate soul?' I asked, prostrating
before Bhagavan.
'Yes, yes.' He replied. 'That is what one must do to drop the ego sense. if that is done the Self will be experienced as 'I-I'
here and now and at all times. There will be no going into the Divine World or coming out of it. You will be as you really are.
This is the practice (Sadhana) and this is perfection (Siddhi) too.'
This teaching of Sri Bhagavan, Himself being the Divine World, is recorded for the benefit of all who are ever in Him.
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #310 on:
September 13, 2013, 01:52:26 PM »
Silent Power - A Pilgrim.
None of the biographies state that Bhagavan did any sadhana after coming to Tiruvannamalai. I might have interpreted Bhagavan's
period of silence and solitude as a period of sadhana, although it has been clearly stated by both Bhagavan and the writers who
have written about Him, that no sadhana was taking place during this period.
The winning smile that accompanied His greeting meant more than Self Realization. He beckoned me to sit down and I sat
there for more than two hours not knowing the passage of time. I realized then that silence is more eloquent than words.
I dared not break the silence, to raise my own petty doubts.
Later, though, I communicated my wish to place my doubts before the Maharshi and the consent came by midday.
When we reassembled before Sri Bhagavan at three, I was given the typescript of the question and answer to read and
I read it aloud. I had framed my question thus:
Question: You have said here that you know no such period of sadhana; you never performed japa or chanted any mantra.
You were in your natural state. I have not done any sadhana worth the name. Can I say that I am in my natural state?
But my natural state is so different from yours. Does that mean that the natural state of ordinary persons and realized persons
are different?
Answer: What you think to be your natural state is your unnatural state. (And this was my second shock that shook me from
the slumber of my pet notions). With your intellect and imagination you have constructed castles of your pet notions and desires.
But do you know who has built up these castles, who is the culprit, the real owner? The 'I' who really owns them and the 'I' of
your conception are quite different. Is it necessary that you put forth some effort to come into the 'I' who owns these, the
'I' behind all these states?
Would you have to walk any distance to walk into the 'I' that is always you? This is what I mean by saying that no sadhana
is required for Self Realization. All that is required is to refrain from doing anything, by remaining still, and being simply what
one is really is. You have only to dehypnotize yourself of your unnatura state. Then you have asked whether there is any
difference between the state of ordinary persons and realized persons. What have they realized? They can realize only what
is real in them. What is real in them is real in you also. So where is the difference?
'Even then, some may ask', the Maharshi continued, reminding me so vividly of those Upanishadic rishis, 'where the conviction
that one's Self is sakshat all right, that no sadhana is required at all for Self Realization? Well, do you need anybody to come
and convince you that you are seated before me and talking to me? You know for certain that you are seated and talking to me.
When we read a book, for instance, we read the letters of the page. But can we say that we are reading only the letters?
Without the page of the book where are the letters? Again we say that we are seeing the projected picture on a canvas.
No doubt we are seeing the pictures, but without the canvas where is the picture?
You can doubt and question everything but how can you doubt the 'I' that questions everything? That 'I' is your natural state.
Would you have to labor or do sadhana to come into this natural state?
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #311 on:
September 14, 2013, 01:25:57 PM »
Silent Power - Madhavi Ammal.
I knew full well that Sri Bhagavan gave no formal upadesa but I kept on asking for it whenever an opportunity presented
itself. Invariably, Sri Bhagavan used to reply, 'Who is the Guru and who is the sishya (disciple)? They are not two. There is
but One Reality. It is in you and It can neither be given nor taken. But you may read books for intellectual understanding.'
On March 12, 1934, after prayers at the Shrine of Sri Matrubhuteswara, I went to the Old Hall. Only the attendant Madhava
Swami was with Sri Bhagavan. When I made my usual request Sri Bhagavan laid aside the newspaper He was reading and
sat in padmasana, quite absorbed. I then recited am general hymn of praise in Telugu and also Aksharamanamalai
in Telugu. Sri Bhagavan turned to Madhavaswami and said, 'She prayed to Sri Arunachala.' This struck me as meaning that
Sri Arunachala will give the initiation and also that Sri Bhagavan and Sri Arunachala are not two. Sri Bhagavan resumed His
state of absorption and I had my persistent request for upadesa. But He continued to sit motionless. Finally I begged of Him,
'Am I not a competent person to receive Upadesa?' Sri Bhagavan should Himself tell me about this. Even if Sri Bhagavan
confirms this how is it that I adopted Him as my Guru immediately on hearing of Him. (She was told that a Rishi lived at the
foot of the Hill)? Will it all be in vain?' Immediately on speaking thus, I found a bright light emanating from Sri Bhagavan's
holy feet and the effulgence filled the whole Hall. I could not see Sri Bhagavan's body but only the brilliance. I shed tears
in profusion. The whole incident could have lasted just two seconds !
I prostrated to Sri Bhagavan. There was a smile on His face but no movement otherwise. After a while, Sri Bhagavan turned
to me as if to say, 'Are you rid of your mania?' Yes, I was. He then took a piece of paper, wrote a sloka on it and gave me saying,
'You can make use of it in meditation.'
This is the Sloka:
I adore Guha the Dweller in the Cave of the Heart, the Son of the Protector of the Universe, the Pure Light of Awareness
beyond thought, the Wielder of the weapon of Jnana Sakti and the Remover of the ignorance of blemishless devotees.
And Again He smiled graciously.
This was wonderful upadesa indeed by a Master rare to see. My Master taught me the great truth that there is only ONE.
The proper Guru is one who shows what is. This was but a practical demonstration of the saying,
"The Master's face reveals Brahman. You attain Brahman through Grace."
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #312 on:
September 14, 2013, 09:14:29 PM »
Dear Subramanian Sir
very nice Bhgavan Stories
Om Namo Bagavathe Sri Ramanaya
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #313 on:
September 15, 2013, 11:03:28 AM »
Silent Power - K.R.K. Murthy:
With a view to record Sri Bhagavan's voice and preserve the same for posterity, someone raised a discussion on the sound
recording machines in the presence of Bhagavan. Sri Bhagavan agreed with what they said, regarding this wonderful machine.
Seeing that Sri Bhagavan was very favorably disposed towards the same, they wanted to pursue the matter further and fix
up a date for recording Sri Bhagavan's voice. At that moment Sri Bhagavan replied, 'My real voice is Silence; how can you record
that?' In this connection, He narrated the story of the Saint Tandavaraya, who by his dynamic silence stilled the minds of several
people, for three full days.
Once when someone was expressing that all sensations near his hip were not being felt for some time, Sri Bhagavan quickly
remarked, 'How nice will it be if the whole body becomes like that? We will be unaware of the body.'
One attendant of Bhagavan was reading to Bhagavan in the night. The attendant heard snoring sounds and stopped reading
that Bhagavan heard thinking that Bhagavan was asleep. Immediately, Bhagavan questioned him as why he stopped. Again
the attendant continued and similar snoring sounds proceeding from Bhagavan made him stop again. But Sri Bhagavan was
quite alert and asked him to continue. Is it not a job to find out when Bhagavan is inattentive?
Once Sri Bhagvan said, 'If you remain quiet you do the greatest service. One who is abiding in Atma nishtai is always doing
greater service (sishrusha) to the guru, than one who does some service physically.' Guru is one who shows the way to Atma
nishtai and the disciple is one who follows.
'If one wants to commit suicide, even a small implement or knife is sufficient. For murdering others, bigger ones are required.
Similarly for oneself, one or two words are sufficient to convince others, books after books have to be written.'
'This Asramam is a place where people can stay and improve and not remark or criticize. In the beginning people come here
with the best of intentions to secure the grace of the Swami. After a time, they begin to comment, 'This is not right, this is
not right', and engage themselves in some kind of activity and run after power and position and, as it were, forget for which
they have come here.'
'Always it is safer to use cheap and ordinary items as no one then cares to cast a greedy eye upon them.'
Sri Bhagavan.
'One who does the work without the feeling of doership escapes misery and unhappiness; work then becomes more a pleasure
and not exacting.'
Sri Bhagavan.
Arunachala Siva.
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Re: Our Bhagavan-Stories
Reply #314 on:
September 16, 2013, 02:55:29 PM »
Silent Power:
Somewhere about 1935, a doctor friend of mine visited the Asramam and stayed with Bhagavan for over six weeks. He was
deeply pious and devoted to Sri Ramanuja Sampradaya. His devotion to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was equally great.
He was a great Congress worker. I remember that he was a good friend of Swami Ramanada of Hyderabad, for I saw him
in his company, when Swamiji visited Bhagavan at the time of the Government of India's Police action against the Nizam's
State. Later this doctor himself became a minister of the state of and was in charge of the finance portfolio.
The doctor's visit synchronized with the occasion when Bhagavan had an attack of eczema for which he was being treated
by the local doctors. This doctor being more qualified than others, took the lead in treating Bhagavan. The treatment went
on for about a fortnight. Patches of white ointment were seen all over Bhagavan's body. After a fortnight, the disease seemed
to get under control. The doctor was happy and congratulated himself that he had the opportunity to treat Bhagavan with
LO ! His elation was short lived. The disease burst out again with redoubled vigor. The doctor said to me that it was a lesson
to him to curb his ego and continued the treatment with great humility and prayerfulness, praying to Bhagvan that He must
effect the cure Himself and that he (the doctor) was but his instrument.
The divine patient now seemed to make steady progress and gave consolation to the doctor that his prayer was being heard.
The doctor oscillated between elation and curbing of his ego according to the disease as it decreased or increased. All along
the course of treatment and from time to time, the doctor friend arrived at the Asramam, I had the pleasure of his acquaintance
and talking to him about Bhagavan, so absorbed in our conversation that we had no sense of time and space.
It was the month of December, and Bhagavan's Jayanti was arriving. I used to talk to my doctor friend about the specialty
of Jayanthi Darshan, for on Jaynthi Day, Bhagavan had a special lustre and those around experienced the ambrosia or the
elixir of life. It is for experiencing this light or bliss of being that devotees flocked to Him from near and far. Though this experience
was obtained on normal days too, it was very intense on particular occasions like Jayanti, Mahapuja and Maha Deepam days,
as also it was when the great souls met Him.
Arunachala Siva.
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Our Bhagavan-Stories
Simple Machines


text:
Do you know what this is?
It's a monkey trap from West Africa, made of clay. When I acquired the clay pot, a rope was attached to its neck. Hunters used to stake the other end of the rope to the ground, and bait it with fruit or nuts. A monkey would smell the food, reach inside, and grab a handful.
The hole was large enough for a monkey's open hand to pass through, but too small for a balled fist to come out. As hard as the monkey pulled, it couldn't escape, because it never occurred to the greedy monkey to let go of the food.
Monkeys repeatedly fell victim to this, because they refused to drop the food, even as the hunter approached.
This is often told as a parable denouncing greed, or as a cautionary tale about becoming trapped by a fixed mindset. But the antique dealer who sold me my monkey trap told me the rest of the story…
In the late 1940s, a monkey was caught in a clay monkey trap, like so many before it. It struggled to free itself, never thinking to open its fist. On purpose or by accident, it smashed the pot against the ground, the pot broke, and the monkey escaped. But here's the best part…That monkey taught the other monkeys in its troop how to break and escape from a monkey trap. Neighboring troops caught on until, at least in that part of the monkey world, the traps became obsolete.
Imagine a world where we teach our young, our neighbors, and the greater community what they need to survive and thrive. Imagine a world where we open our tight fists and our closed minds and stop doing things just because that's the way it has always been done. Imagine smashing the status quo to leave the world a better place for our children, a place where the powerful and oppressive are outwitted, outnumbered, and they and all their ugly trappings become obsolete.
If one little monkey can change the world, maybe there's hope for us humans too.
All images and words ©Naomi Baltuck.

subset: commoncrawl


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Covered in Fish Oil and Honey while Sitting in a Public Toilet
by Paul Xylinides
At one time, I might have listened to my puritanical side and questioned this title for a post and perhaps especially a post that I had been invited to contribute as unnecessarily sensationalistic in the same manner that I once dismissed the real life event of performance art to which it refers. In fact when I began to write the novel whose working title The Sumo and his Bird finally became The Wild Horses of Hiroshima one of my intentions was to undertake a full-scale critical denunciation of events similar to what is described and commonly tagged by the rubric of "performance art". I intended at the same time to include in the sweep of my scathing criticism much of the "installation art" that I had long dismissed as either insulting or derivative. These attitudes of mine reach far back to the original instigator of this type of art presentation – the one who contributed to the world's cultural understanding with the galley exhibit of a men's urinal. The following is the Tate Gallery's description of the object and something of Marcel Duchamp's idea of its artistic utility:
Fountain is one of Duchamp's most famous works and is widely seen as an icon of twentieth-century art. The original, which is now lost, consisted of a standard urinal, laid flat on its back rather than upright in its usual position, and signed 'R. Mutt 1917'. The Tate's work is a 1964 replica … Fountain is an example of what Duchamp called a 'readymade', an ordinary manufactured object designated by the artist as a work of art. It epitomises the assault on convention and good taste for which he and the Dada movement are best known.
Since this provocative exhibit, any number of so-called artists have followed suit – apparently forgetful of the dictum that creative expression is nothing if not original. Today, nearly one hundred years later, one can find in the Catalogue of Montreal's Musée Des Beaux Arts' permanent collection an installation piece that comprises a janitor's pristine cleaning supplies: detergent, bucket, mop, etcetera. I like to think the artist and the gallery mean it to signify a final cleaning up of what has been paraded as art in the same spirit as Duchamp's offering and with little more to say, but I suspect that the powers that be would correct me while looking severely down their noses. To my mind, this type of work, in fact, has always represented an abdication of the artist's responsibility to present a meaningful vision of the world and his/her times – one that advances and adds to a society's and to an individual's sensibility. I often feel that one can attribute much of this abdication to the horrors that the past century visited upon humankind. It is perhaps telling that Duchamp's contribution came towards the end of the 1st World War. The nihilistic despair that followed upon the 2nd World War as to the possibility of any meaningful artistic expression is well-known and informed much of the career of the British painter Francis Bacon whose paintings recently broke all records in the sale of a work of art. Whether or not his prolific output had any meaning whatsoever – he claimed it had not – what, not to put too fine a point on it, incensed me in so much of what postured as art of Duchamp's order is the patent cynicism of riding on the coat-tails of a relatively facile act that happened to be original and shocking for its time but whose originality ended there and whose shock value degenerated into cynical, juvenile and at times literally excremental productions. Less offensive from an olfactory perspective would be the choice on the part of some recent artists to exhibit the insides of a couch that they obtained on Craigslist.
The performance piece of the Chinese artist Zhang Huan where he covered himself in fish oil and honey and sat for an extended period in a public latrine especially remained with me after I read about it in an old edition of TIME magazine where I discovered that this particular artist had so enthralled a prominent New York art critic that the man pilgrimaged to the Far East. On meeting Huan, he promptly fell to his knees and kissed his hand. The type of work that the critic so venerated coupled with the 1998 exhibit of an artist's bed – a work that "consists of dirty sheets, underpants stained by menses, used condoms, empty liquour bottles, and pregnancy tests" cemented my feelings against an art form that seemed to be no more than a symptom of a spiritually and creatively bankrupt age. Had the artist reproduced said scene on canvas rather than have the so-called cognoscenti promote and utilize future curatorial resources for the preservation of the wretched compilation of her personal domestic drama, my response would have been quite different. In another art form – musical composition and performance, the sight of John Cage sitting at his piano and not playing leaves one to feel that it is only writers who cannot avoid the very real and difficult task of giving life to their creative urges in the medium they have at hand.
When I was searching for a theme for the novel with its working title The Sumo and his Bird, in my usual manner, I had a single image that intrigued me and that I wished to be the starting point for some particular view of the world that seemed best to fit it. The image was of a sumo wrestler attended by his pet bird – hardly sufficient material for a full-scale narrative but Japanese society has always struck me as appealingly aesthetic in its conduct of daily social life and here was an opportunity to immerse myself in it if only in my imagination. – I am not so naive as not to understand that an actual visit to the country might very well completely disillusion me, but in the end I am not writing about a place but producing a work that uses my view of the world as its material. – However I still desperately needed a narrative line. In a previous novel, An American Pope, that had begun in the same tentative manner, I eventually found my dramatic foil in the Catholic Church, enabling me to explore my ideas on Christianity and how the original teachings had become warped over time. I thought to employ the same methodology in The Sumo and his Bird and, in the intimidating person of a sumo wrestler, take on the dispiriting assumptions – as I viewed them – of what had become the art world's establishment. It was at this point that the thought did come to me that I should be absolutely sure that I understood exactly what it was that I was attacking. In other words, some due diligence was in order. What I discovered caused the entire enterprise to flip on its head and me to adopt an entirely different course.
It appeared that Zhang Huan's intention had, contrary to my uninformed reading of it, been to confront the Chinese government with the murderous implications of its one-child policy that led to the infanticide of hundreds of thousands of female babies by parents who wished for a male offspring. His statement to the powers that be was – quoting from memory, "here am I willing to nourish the humblest of creatures – the flies that settle on my fish oil and honey smeared flesh – while you allow the deaths of the nation's innocent children." This was hardly the act of shallow sensationalism that I had thought it to be and it provoked a turning point in my own thinking. Although there continue to be artists derivatively – to my mind – covering themselves in honey or chocolate and others exhibiting this found object or that with the satisfaction of a modern Michelangelo, Zhang Huan had duly chastised and inspired me. Having located my sumo wrestler in Hiroshima, I turned my attention to a challenge of universal relevance – to an ongoing existential threat that we all face. According to the January 9, 2012 edition of TIME magazine, "With current stockpiles [of nuclear weaponry], you could come close to wiping out humanity." How a Zhang Huan might respond and what might be the contribution of a sumo wrestler whom I now envisaged as half-American and half-Japanese became the ultimate focus for my novel that would eventually find its title: The Wild Horses of Hiroshima.
Let me end with my own personal aesthetic dictum as far as it goes: art isn't raw material, it's what you do with raw material. Murasaki Shikibu who wrote the first novel in literary history – The Tale of Genji – stated that she was compelled to preserve the "fascinating" society of her time for the benefit of future generations. In many ways ours has been an appalling society where the challenge for its artists is very much greater.


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The other day, I watched two little girls, decked out in Princess t-shirts and tutus, pantomiming to each other through a window. I motioned to one of the mothers, smiling at the display of adorable little girl play. "That's so cute!" I said, breaking into their world, uninvited.
"They noticed their clothes matched," the mother responded. "They bonded over Princesses, and have been talking through the window ever since. Little girls!"
I laughed. "I have a boy. I don't get much of the pretty side."
She nodded in understanding, and said, "No dresses, no Barbies, no Princesses."
"Just Superheroes, dinosaurs, and all things dirt," I remarked. There have been times where I've longed for the glitter and unicorns, but I wouldn't change anything about my chaotic World of Boy.
"We have that, too." Her clipped tone caught me off guard. It was obvious that my lamentations were offensive, and she needed to point out my gender misperceptions.
I understood. The inflection, and intended meaning, were clear. Mothers of little girls have glitter, diamonds, tutus, fairy dust, Princesses, tiaras, and everything Barbie. But, gender lines have opened, and "boy" toys are now "toys" in the rise of gender equality, while "girl" toys remain in the aisle of pink. Mothers of girls have the soft, the sweet, and the special–but they also have the trucks, dinosaurs, GI Joes, Superheros, and power tools.
Nothing has been limited in the World of Girl. They have it all, because women have the capacity to do anything men can do–and so do little girls. In our ever-evolving world, the patriarchy of old has been pushed against; it's been shoved aside. Women have gained a stronghold in the majority of former male-dominated arenas, a fact much celebrated. We have the ability to play with any toy, dress up as any character, perform in any sport, and be whatever we want to be in life.
As it should be.
The conundrum, as a mother of a boy, formed when I realized that, although women have pushed against the "patriarchal society in which they've been forced to adhere," the lines of gender neutrality haven't opened to include our little boys. We've maintained this notion that "boys grow into men, and men have the world under their thumb, therefore inequality is irrelevant for men; their gender provides more opportunities." The last time I checked, little boys didn't care about social norms, cultural ideals, or societal pressures. They cared about being little boys. Because of this, we've established a hypocrisy of standards between little boys, and little girls.


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Hurricane Katrina, Typhoon Haiyan, Typhoon Undoy. These are some of the strongest typhoon that mankind experience. Children cries, Old people shivering to the cold weather and lives from many love ones are taken away with just a day of raining. Reminiscing the disastrous time that people from places from all over the world that experience Heavy rain brings tears to families who lost their love ones in this particular natural phenomenon. Can you imagine what mother nature can give us due to our doings, and intense Rain and heavy blowing of wind these are just two things that nature can make us feel.
A flood is a rise of water due to heavy rains that goes with no place to flow. this grows in depths from just a couple rainfall if there are no reservoir around. Floodwater is extraordinary and dangerous for this can turn an ankle-deep creek into an unstoppable river that overpowers everything in its path. Floods occur all over the world. A flood can happen in a few minutes, hours, days, or over weeks. No matter how fast it occurs or the cause, flooding is deadly. Floods kill more person in a family and causes more damage than other severe abnormal weather events.
Now, here are some safety tips that many of us can use specially on the rainy season:
- Always gather and ready all the emergency supplies when a typhoon comes. In this you can prepare for any store lock down that may happen
- Listen to local radio and stay vigilant to the news in the television. In this you can immediately monitor the situation of other places that typhoon or heavy rain can be felt first.
- During the flood we person cannot prevent from walking down roads with a knee-high flood in this we are prawn to bacterial infections that cause different diseases. Always maintain immunization to local hospital specially leptospirosis immunization.
- If evacuation appears necessary: turn off all utilities at the main power switch and close the main gas valve. Some casualties do not only be acquire on the flood itself but also to some simple forgetful event like turning off electricity valve. electrician bend oregon is an expert in this kind of situation especially when you build your own house, they can help you plan in all the possible ways that your house can experience and this includes flooding and earthquake safety purposes.
Many died trying to drive or walk through a flooded area with six inches of water can knock a person off their feet, just two feet of water can carry a car away. Prevention is better than cure. It is always better to get ready than doing what you will do when the event in occurring. Being ready does not mean that you cannot have experience any problems when it is ongoing but it is the lessening and even perfect flow of the event without casualty is the main goal when you are getting ready to something.


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FRANKFORT, Ky. (March 9, 2017) – Kentucky has a long history of caring for and protecting its abundant natural resources and one of the most important of these is water. The Commonwealth boasts a network of lakes, streams and rivers that are a vital source of drinking water, as well as a source of recreation for its citizens.
In celebration of these abundant natural resources, and as an observance of the value of water to each of us in our everyday lives, Gov. Matt Bevin has pronounced the week of March 19-25 as Water Week in Kentucky.
"Kentucky is home to some of the most beautiful and most biologically diverse rivers in the country, and residents in our communities have an important and celebrated connection to rivers, lakes, streams and waterways," Gov. Bevin said. "We are all stewards of the water quality upon which future generations depend."
A series of events meant to show how water health and conservation impacts each of us in our daily lives will highlight Water Week. Kentuckians can get hands-on with projects to protect or improve Kentucky's water resources or simply learn more about subjects such as conservation and stream health.
The following are some events open to the public:
- Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute (KWRRI) Annual Symposium (March 20)
- Rain Barrel Workshop, Campbell County Cooperative Extension (March 20)
- Project WET Educator Workshop: Getting to the Bottom of Stream Health (Lexington) (March 21)
- Project WET Educator Workshop: Getting to the Bottom of Stream Health (Hopkinsville) (March 22)
- Project WET Educator Workshop: Getting to the Bottom of the Stream Health (Stanton) (March 22)
- Rain Barrel Workshop: Kentucky State University (Frankfort) (March 22)
- Yamacraw River Cleanup (March 25)
For more information, please visit the Water Week website.


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One of the grandest wildlife experiences the planet offers
Voyage deep into and around the Svalbard Archipelago where Sven Lindblad and his team, on reconnaissance last March, were stunned by the beauty, the vistas of snow and ice, and the wonder of the changing light as the Spring sun mounts ever higher in the Arctic sky each day. Scan the icescapes for emerging bears, seals and other wildlife. Walk on a frozen sea. And capture it all with ace photographers. Been to Svalbard? Come see its even wilder season. And for those who've never visited, this is the purest Arctic experience possible.
Day 1
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Join us for updates, insider reports & special offers.


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October 29, 2015
The Victim reported traveling to Curtis' residence in order to purchase illegal narcotics from Curtis. During the attempted purchase, Curtis forcibly grabbed the victim and moved her into another room of the residence. Curtis stole more than $1,000.00 in cash from the victim. Curtis beat the victim and threatened the victim with a firearm. The victim was able to escape from the residence and report the incident to law enforcement. Prior to the deputies' arrival, Curtis fled the area.
Based on the statements by the victim and witnesses as well as physical evidence that was recovered, Deputies obtained an arrest warrant for False Imprisonment, Robbery and Aggravated Assault with a Firearm (3 counts). Deputies located Curtis on October 20th in the city of
where he was
taken into custody based on the warrant.
A wallet that Curtis admitted having in his possession at the time of
his arrest was found to contain multiple pieces of crack cocaine. Chiefland


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Eeating "C'n'G" (cheap and good) is a national pastime in Malaysia. Locals boast of eating six or seven times a day. Such is their food obsession that excellent street stalls and canteen-style eateries are rarely more than a short stroll away, but foreign visitors often find the experience bewildering. Where do you start?
Our Malaysian Chinese friend Lian gave us a quick beginners' guide. "Grab a table at the kedai kopi [coffee shop], but you'll have to look sharp," she said. "The British obsession with queuing never really caught on here. Then once you've got a seat, you can order from any stall you like."
Armed with a crumpled note covered with the hastily scribbled names of a few must-try dishes, my wife and I headed for Georgetown's New Lane, where a kedai kopi spilled its tables out among the raucous hawker stalls. Staking our claim on a battered melamine-topped table, we began peering through the smoky clamour for vendors of fried oysters and eggs, duck char kway chow (a twist on a fried noodles classic) and gee chap chuk (pig innards congee or rice porridge).
Around us, makeshift notices on neon-lit street carts proclaimed each hawker's speciality while the hissing and sizzling of cooking gave up tantalising aromas to the muggy night air. Cheery crowds milled about, happily munching on spicy satay and tender balls of chee cheong fun, a Chinese speciality of steamed dumplings filled with pork or prawn. Oliver, our blond and blue-eyed baby of eight months, also proved an immense hit, his toothy grin attracting his own admiring crowd, effortlessly bridging any cultural divide.
In New Lane, for a smattering of ringgits, we feasted on a succession of superb dishes, each brought to our table on a medley of plates, bowls and banana leaves only moments after leaving the wok. Even the subtle and slithery tripe-infused congee was too good to pass on.
Malaysia has a gastronomic diversity unrivalled among Asian countries, with Chinese, Malay, Indian and Thai existing cheek-by-jowl as well as the Peranakan cooking of mixed Chinese-Malay descent. The reason for this diversity is not hard to find.
The following morning, buoyed by traditional Malay breakfast favourites of nasi lemak (rice, crisp anchovies and eggs) and roti canai (an Indian paratha bread), we took a short stroll from the colonial splendour of the Eastern & Oriental Hotel to an overgrown graveyard on Jalan Sultan Ahmed Shah. Here, the modest headstone of Captain Francis Light stands quietly under a tangled canopy of trees. It's an oddly low-key place of rest for the man who, more than anyone, was the catalyst for the multicultural flavour of modern Malaysia.
In 1786, when Light established Georgetown as the first permanent British settlement on the Malay peninsula, he must have frightened the life out of the handful of Malay fishermen who lived on the island. He apparently had the wonderfully eccentric idea of firing off canon shots of valuable coins into the dense jungle to help persuade early settlers to clear the land. Canny Chinese merchants followed close behind.
Reminders of the wealth these merchants accrued can still be seen in the graceful old mansions on Lebuh Leith a short walk from Light's grave. Many are now sadly dilapidated, though the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion at No 14, with its striking blue facade, has been beautifully restored. You can rent gorgeous rooms there at very reasonable prices.
While the British and Chinese traded spices, tea, fabrics and, later, tin, timber and rubber, indentured Indian workers were drafted in to work the land. Each ethnic group held on to its own traditions, religion and food. The diversity is still evident in the crumbling colonial architecture around Fort Cornwallis and the ramshackle old streets and shops of Little India and Chinatown. Wandering along Lebuh Pitt from the Esplanade near Fort Cornwallis, you pass the convict-built Anglican church of St George's, the Kuan Yin temple, dedicated to a deity worshipped by Buddhists and Confucians alike, and the Sri Mariamman temple with its lurid facade of Hindu gods, all within half a mile. A little further on, beyond the temptations of colourful sari shops, spice merchants and ubiquitous kedai kopi, we found the intricately carved Khoo Kongsi temple, Georgetown's finest example of traditional Chinese architecture.
We had arranged a tour with Din, a knowledgeable and food-loving guide, who promised to show us durian, nutmeg and clove plantations in the island's fertile interior, before returning to town for another encounter with the hawker stalls. Appropriately, we met at Georgetown's bustling wet market, a short cab hop away on Jelang Penang. Among the heaped vegetables and exotic fruits, glistening fresh fish and baskets bursting with herbs and spices, we stocked up on heavenly scented mangos, rambutans and mangosteens for Oliver, plus dense slabs of tamarind paste and dark palm sugar, and bags of dried fish (ikan bilis
Din introduced us to durian, a stinking, spiky green monster of a fruit considered a sublime delicacy in this part of the world. "To tell if it's ripe tap it with your finger," he instructed. "A solid noise means it's under-ripe, a 'tap' noise is good, so dive in." Personally, I can take or leave durian, with its over-ripe cheddar scent and cloying, creamily-fleshed texture, but Asians consider it a powerful aphrodisiac.
Din drove us out past the popular northern beaches and resorts of Batu Ferringhi, where in May and June, during the height of the durian season, hotels offer "eat all you can" durian packages. Din said that enthusiasts came from as far away as Australia and Japan.
We took a break to lunch on stuffed chillied squid and a snapper curry at a Malay canteen near the Batik factory near the charming fishing harbour of Teluk Bahang.
The British brought nutmeg and cloves to Penang and the island is still highly regarded for the quality of its spices. Both still grow in the cooler heights of the interior, along with the immense durian plantations. In the shady light, these trees stood up to 100ft tall. "When the fruit are ripe they fall to the ground. These are the best, the B29 clone, which is a real bomba!" said Din. Apparently, different durians are named after bombers - easy to understand when you hear the heavy thump of armour-plated fruit hitting the ground.
Good to his word, Din then delivered us back to Georgetown, leaving us with his recommendations for the best dishes at the famous hawker stalls on Gurney Drive. At the northern-most end we found a table, and we peered at the signs on the stalls. Appetites whetted, we set about ordering aromatic asam laksa, the subtle noodle dish of prawn mee and Penang's mixed fruit speciality rojak, combining the tangy flavours of guava, pineapple and cucumbers with spicy peanut sauce and lime. They certainly tasted like the best in Penang.
Way to go
Getting there: Malaysia Airlines (0870 6079090, malaysiaairlines.com) flies Heathrow-Penang direct from £570, return via Kuala Lumpur (stopover possible).
Where to stay: Eastern & Oriental Hotel (+60 4222 2000, e-o-hotel.com) double rooms from R458. Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (+60 4262 5006, email@example.com) doubles from from R250.
What to read: Lonely Planet World Food Malaysia and Singapore (£9.99); Street Food Malaysia, available free from hotels and tourism offices.
Further Information: tourismpenang.gov.my/
Country code: 00 60.
Flight time London-Penang 12½hrs.
Time difference: +7 hrs.
£1 = 6.42 ringgits.


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Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Either Way Is Good
Carrie mentioned a MURDER SHE WROTE episode called "Corned Beef and Cabbage" on facebook and I tried to "like" it (you know how you "like" things on facebook?) but facebook said "This object cannot be liked." Ha ha! This object cannot be liked. A portentous phrase! Something to think about. Who is facebook to tell me what I can "like"? Turned out it didn't exist and that's why I couldn't "like" it. Carrie had deleted it because she got the title wrong. It was "Corned Beef and Carnage."
Posted by Jack Pendarvis at 8:37 PM
Labels: corn


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I always thought Tim O'Connor would be perfect for an advice column, just say one word and he's already off and spewing at the mouth with pure entertainment. So we gathered up questions from our readers, took a trip to NJ and got some precious life advice from the man himself. Drank a couple beers, played with his kid and watched Tim do what he does best (when he's not skating).
Need more life advice? Check out Episode 2 and Episode 3.
Filmed & Edited: Richard Quintero
Special Thanks: Andrew Petillo & Tim O'Connor
Have questions you want us to ask Tim? Email firstname.lastname@example.com
Let us spam you on Twitter


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Why wait until October to do the Get Down Goblin? Thanks to Saint Antonio & Jan Terri.
Kindertrauma Jukebox :: Get Down Goblin!
April 21st, 2009 by unkle lancifer · 4 Comments
Tags: Kindertrauma Jukebox
4 responses so far ↓
Uh…wow…just wow…and thanks.
Oh Jan Terri, great siren of our age! Where would we be without your whimsical world-view to guide us in these dark, dark days? I remember the first time I saw you sing "Baby Blues" to a cowboy with…. well, not blue eyes, anyway. I knew then that you saw what the rest of us unenlightened souls could not. Or, perhaps I am over-thinking it?
Somehow I can totally imagine Homestar Runner singing this for Homestarloween. In fact, yep, now that I have got that running through my head I have to declare that would be just about the greatest thing since witch's brew.
My fellow partners in crime at work play Jan's whole catalogue when they want to drive me crazy. They are truly evil.
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UC Riverside Biologist Named a Leadership Fellow
Richard Cardullo will help improve undergraduate life sciences education at the national level
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Richard Cardullo, a professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside, has been selected as a Vision and Change Leadership Fellow by the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE) program, a joint initiative of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Cardullo is one of 40 Vision and Change Leadership Fellows selected by PULSE. The fellows are tasked with identifying and considering how to eliminate barriers to the systemic changes needed to improve undergraduate life sciences education. They also will consider and recommend models for improving undergraduate life sciences education at the national level.
The 40 fellows — all post-secondary life sciences faculty members — were competitively selected by an expert panel for their experience in catalyzing reform in undergraduate biology education. More than 250 applications were evaluated.
Q&A with Cardullo
In your mind what are some of the biggest barriers to the systemic changes that are needed to improve undergraduate life science education?
Most college instructors today model their classes after their own experiences with the professor as a purveyor of information, the "sage on the stage." This approach has been used for generations but the advent of technology and access to almost limitless information has rendered this teaching style obsolete.
In order to better prepare our students in all science we must engage them as active learners. This means that professors, with the support of their institutions, need to abandon traditional lecture styles that have been shown to be ineffective in promoting meaningful learning in favor of practices that engage students in the actual process of science.
What is wrong with how biology is taught to undergraduates today?
Most students around the nation, including many at UC Riverside, expect that they will be given lists of terms and facts that they will memorize and then regurgitate on an exam. A major reason for this is that high stakes testing in courses and admission to graduate programs and medical schools were designed around this approach. This is not a scholarly activity and it certainly reaps little benefit for the student or society. Instead, we need to teach students the process of science whereby students gather their own information from reliable sources and then apply critical thinking skills to solve problems.
If we want to teach someone to become a musician, or just to appreciate music, we don't have them memorize the notes from some symphony, we engage them in listening or playing that music. Similarly, we are not going to make productive scientists, or produce an informed citizenry about the importance of science, by having students simply memorize a scientific lexicon. They need to be involved at a much higher level, one that includes them in the scientific endeavor.
In your mind, what would a transformed undergraduate education in the life sciences look like?
The typical classroom would look markedly different than what students are used to. The majority of the activity in the class would come not from the instructor but from the students themselves. Students would be encouraged to work in groups where they would discuss and argue amongst themselves to tackle difficult questions and pose solutions. In this scenario, the professor is a facilitator of the learning process opening up avenues for further exploration and discovery.
About Cardullo
Cardullo served as the chair of the UC Riverside Department of Biology from 2004-2009. He was named a UCR Distinguished Teaching Professor of Biology in 2006. In 1998 he received UCR's Distinguished Teaching Award and was appointed to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He chairs the Board for the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, has been a judge for local and state science fairs, and is the principal investigator for two California Math Science Partnership projects working with elementary and middle school teachers and students in the Inland Empire.
About the fellowships
In 2006, NSF initiated a multi-year conversation with the scientific community, with assistance from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. That dialogue, which was co-funded by NIH and HHMI, generated the 2011 report, Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action.
The scientific community actively informed the recommendations in the Vision and Change report. Among these was the recognition that a 21st century education requires changes to how biology is taught, how academic departments support faculty, and how curricular decisions are made.
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Farscape - Season 2 - Episode 02
Farscape - 2x02 - Vitas Mortis - Originally Aired: 2000-3-24
D'Argo drags the others on a search for an old, dying Luxan, Nilaam. She turns out to be an Orican - a Luxan holy woman who wants D'Argo to help her die. D'Argo has no choice but to take part in the Luxan death ritual, but as Nilaam starts to cross to the next realm, she sees a chance to alter her fate. Changing the ritual, Nilaam, instead of dying, uses D'Argo's life force and emerges as a beautiful young Luxan. However, it soon becomes clear that the energy she used was not from D'Argo, but from Moya, and the consequences for the living ship are catastrophic. [DVD]
Filler Quotient:
3, bad filler, totally skippable.
- No significant exposition, events, or consequences. And a lame episode on top of that.
- When Nilaam did her death ritual at the end of the episode and D'Argo's qualta blade fell to the ground, the ground shook visibly when the blade struck it, indicating that it wasn't solid ground with dirt on it as it was supposed to appear, but rather some flimsy surface constructed for the set in order to fake the appearance of solid dirt ground.
- The title of this episode is Latin which literally translates to "Life Death" or more roughly translates to "Escaping Death."
- The tattooed markings on the bottom of D'Argo's face indicate that he is a general. However, this was a ruse to protect the real general that D'Argo served under from being interrogated because that general wouldn't be able to survive the interrogation.
- Nilaam has psychic and telekinetic powers which implies that these are natural Luxan abilities. However it's possible only certain Luxans can wield these abilities, explaining why D'Argo appears to not possess them himself.
- The normal lifespan of a leviathan is over 300 cycles. Pilot's species can live for over 1000 cycles. However, when they bond with leviathans they live no longer than leviathans do, drastically cutting their lifespans short.
Remarkable Scenes
- John to D'Argo: "You've got the bar codes of a general but you aren't one."
- Chiana getting frozen in Moya's amnexus fluids.
- Moya's inner hull breaching, Rygel being blown toward the breach, then Rygel's ass sealing off the breach.
- Aeryn taking a shot at Nilaam and D'Argo diving in front of the blast, only to be saved by Nilaam.
- Nilaam dying and restoring Moya's youth.
My Review
While this is a fairly enjoyable character piece on some levels, this episode feels much more like "Thank God It's Friday, Again" than the more recent, considerably better material. Some of the worst cliches were thankfully avoided though, such as Nilaam being an established alien species (Luxan) rather than a new alien species of the week and she wasn't evil, nor did she have a hidden agenda.
The particular highlights of this episode are the small character details sprinkled about. John, Zhaan, and D'Argo are sporting classier new looks, which while being more interesting for the audience to look at in superficial ways also more importantly reflects their growing success in coping with life in the uncharted territories. If John's finding time for fashion, you know he's starting to grow into his place in the universe.
Likewise, this episode plants seeds of an upcoming serious relationship between Chiana and D'Argo and we get some more fascinating information about D'Argo's background with the explanation of what his chin tattoos mean and why he donned them. Finally the tidbit about how Pilot sacrificed a large percentage of his lifespan in order to bond with Moya is fascinating as well.
But the little details aren't enough to sustain a great story. They just make a largely unremarkable story a bit less drab.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Hugo on 2015-03-12 at 4:12pm:
I found this the worst episode so far, worse than Jeremiah Crichton!
* No, not magic, please
* We are thrown in to the story a little too abruptly, no background on how they got there, and why...
* The sudden style/dress change for Zhaan, Crichton and Aeryn felt jarring to me
* I found a story a too one-way: and no b-story, no twists, no mysteries
Although I do appreciate the background details on the characters!
- From Margaret J on 2019-06-14 at 10:46pm:
Well so far this season my rating and yours are 2 out of 2. You gave it a 3 and I did as well and I always rate the episode with my own little list of criteria before I read your review. Anyways I did not like this episode at all. three is the lowest I have rated any episode. I also agree that the female luxan oricon was completely unlikeable and the story a drag. It only got points from me for the little bit of characterr info we got and the fact that as awful as it was the plot was original
Side note: so far. I know that you keithinov. liked the new looks but IMO Zahn's garish shinny metalmembellished neckline and arm what were they braces totally out of character. Up until now she has been portrayed as something like a new agey wise woman healer monk type character anything but materialistic, which is what the new embellishments scram. And John!s spiked up gelled hair, tight black leather pants and long leather black trench all I can say is bahaha


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In the Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst year since the (gasp) Great Depression, two stocks stand out as lone exceptions - Wal-Mart and McDonald's. Both companies' stock prices actually went up last year.
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Haiti is a nation that has struggled for stability and prosperity for centuries. The people of Haiti are not strangers to plight, but the world rapidly loses interest in helping Haiti combat its struggles. Haitian musician BélO uses song to highlight the problems Haiti is facing and, hopefully, offer solutions.
Few media of communication have the power to connect people like music. While many people might view music purely as an art form, the truth is that music can help cross cultural divides and help different groups find common themes. Music is an expression of personal character from the artist, but in that personal expression are the cultural influences that made the artist who they are.
Who is BélO?
In general there are a few people around the world who know the name Jean Belony Murat. However, if you were to say the name BélO in reggae, jazz, and folk music circles, you might see a numerous people turn their heads in search of one of Haiti's best musicians of the 21st century. Known by his stage name BélO, Jean Belony Murat was born in a small neighbourhood on the north side of Port-au-Prince in 1979.
BélO's home country of Haiti has suffered through one setback after another. From civil strife and slave revolts to earthquakes and continued scourge of severe poverty for much of the population, Haitians have struggled for decades to stabilise their nation and move forward onto a better path toward tomorrow. Music plays a critical r ole in Haitian culture. In addition to being deeply rooted in its Creole cultural celebrations, music provides an outlet for Haitian people.
Big Decisions for a young BélO
When BélO discovered at the age of 11 that his natural ability and passion for music could help him make a difference in the future, he knew which path he would follow in the future. It may seem impossible to imagine an 11-year-old with such a firm vision for the future, but BélO will tell you himself that he knew what he had to do with his musical talents.
He described his realisation to Kreol Magazine in the following words:
"I was born in a country where music is everywhere and since my childhood I was exposed to all kinds of music, but when I was living here though I realised that I had a mission… and my mission was to provide a message of unity, and that's when I decided to become a professional musician".
The toughest task BélO faced following his decision was convincing his family that a career in music was right for him. His mother did not believe that music would provide for himself or a family in the future. It was only after his older brother stepped in and convinced their mother that, with his management, BélO could in fact succeed in music.
Still, his mother wanted to see her son get an education and be able to care for himself in the event that music did not pan out for him the way he hoped. BélO did not pursue his career in music in earnest until he was 18. He finished school out of respect for his mother's wishes, and at the age of 18 he attended university.
After completing a four year degree in accounting, BélO began working on his first album. In addition to singing, he learned how to play the guitar to provide accompaniment to his music. Once all the pieces were together, he was ready to release his first album at the age of 21. That first album, Lakou T rankil, gained BélO much local and international attention. Despite this early success, BélO knew that he had to do more with his talents.
Ask BélO what motivates and inspires his music and you will get a simple one-word answer: Haiti. Growing up surrounded by the sounds of his Creole culture, BélO knew that his musical talents could be put to use helping the people of Haiti. Although he speaks English and French, all of BélO's music is written and recorded in his native Creole tongue.
BélO's music is not just sung in his Creole tongue to pay homage to his cultural heritage, but also to call attention to the struggles of his countrymen. All of BélO's music contains lyrics that expose the social problems facing Haitian culture, as well as the cultures of other developing nations. Violence, AIDS, homelessness, and the struggles of children in the developing world are all common themes in his music. As an ambassador of Haitian music, BélO uses his words to expose the plight of his homeland, while proposing solutions at the same time.
In his own words, BélO describes the inspiration behind his music as follows:
"My main source of inspiration is my country, Haiti, I sing all the time in my native language which is Creole, because I think there's a real need for me to say something, there's a real need for me to educate the people in Haiti, open the people's eyes on some stuff".
Giving Back to Haiti
Music has meant so much to BélO, and given him so much, that he is determined to give back to his Haitian countrymen. BélO works to organize musical festivals in his homeland, and is heavily involved in two festivals in particular. One of the most successful to date is called Festival Music St. Mark. BélO helped or ganize and manage the festival six years ago. There is no charge for the festival because, as BélO put it, there is a need for people in Haiti to have access to some good music for free.
The festival takes place over the course of three days and features performances by BélO and other local musicians. What began as a simple concert series featuring BélO and his friends playing music for free has grown to cover three days, bringing joy and much needed distraction to his fellow Haitians.
Festivals and free music will only go so far in helping the people of Haiti chart a better path into the future, and BélO knows this. He devotes significant portions of his time to charitable works that benefit the people of Haiti. When the devastating 2010 earthquake levelled large portions of Port-au-Prince, BélO was there performing free concerts across the country and raising money for recovery efforts.
BélO has partnered with major charities like the Haitian Red Cross and UNICEF to help his country, but he also helps organize smaller charitable activities. One of his personal favourites has seen him team up with a local orphanage in Haiti, for six years now. Every year on Christmas Day, BélO visits the children at the orphanage with gifts from his family, friends, and sponsors in the musical industry.
He loads up a bus full of gifts and makes his way to the orphanage, bringing along anyone who wants to visit with the children on Christmas Day. The only stipulation for participation is a gift for the children. No gift, no seat on the bus!
BélO's Message to the World
At the conclusion of his interview with Kreol Magazine, BélO was asked what he w ould tell the world about Haiti. His words reveal a man with a deep love for his country and a desire to help his countrymen succeed and overcome its many tribulations. His message to the world:
"If I had to say just one thing, I would say, don't just see what you see on TV, if you can come down to Haiti, come make your own experience and then you'll become an ambassador for this wonderful country".