Understanding Near-death Experiences: Can They be Simulated?

Do Near-Death Experiences (NDE) provide evidence for the survival of the self beyond the physical function of the brain, especially when neuro-scientist say that scientists can induce out-of-body experiences?

Many people who have recovered from life-threatening injuries have said they experienced their lives flashing before their eyes, saw bright lights, left their bodies, or encountered angels or dead loved ones. These phenomena are usually reported after an individual has been pronounced clinically dead, hence the term near-death experience (NDE).

Such out-of-body sensation of near-death experiences are regarded by some people as evidence of an afterlife.

The Hare and The Tortoise Story: More Management Lessons

The famous fable has been retold to illustrate some management lessons.

A vain hare lived in a forest. It always tickled him to think that his friend, the tortoise, could only crawl centimeter by centimeter. Ah, that ugly shell! That must be weighing him down so much, he thought, as he hopped lightly across the field.

Then he noticed the tortoise looking at him without as much as lifting his neck. The hare said derisively, "No wonder your back has ballooned up so much. You ought to be running about, not sleeping all the time!"

The tortoise said nothing, just pulled his head further into himself as if in shame.

The hare said, "Let's have a race. That would put some competitiveness into your lazy head. No, you are not saying 'No'. Whoever reaches that banyan tree first is the winner," he said pointing to a huge Banyan tree with hundreds of roots from the sprawling branches reaching out to the ground. "Instead of sleeping here, you may sleep out there. It will be cooler. Why, you loser! already scared?"

The words stung the tortoise. Any challenge has to be met; you cannot run away...er.. walk away from it. Win or lose, fight you must. The tortoise walked resolutely to the hare. "Say 1-2-3," he said, meeting the hare in the eye.

The hare hopped fast with spring in every jump. The wind blew hard in his face, and it was fun. "Where is that darn tortoise," he thought suddenly, as he swung back to take a look.

The tortoise had barely moved a few feet from where they had started. "This is no fun," thought the hare, "Let me wait till that snail comes closer. All I need is a few more leaps to reach that tree."

The hare then cooled his heels under a walnut tree, and picked up a few nuts. He munched them lazily, waiting for the tortoise to catch up. Presently, he closed his eyes, and before long, sank into a peaceful slumber.

Read More

The Story of Monkey and The Cap Seller : Some Management Lessons

Monkeys see, monkeys do. But these monkeys have also graduated from Harvard Business School.

In a village lived a man who made money by selling caps. In summer, the business thrived well, as people would buy caps to shield themselves from the hot sun. As summer ran through most of the year, and the brief winter made its presence only in the early mornings, he ran a fairly brisk business throughout the year.

That day the sun was particularly harsh and its angry rays penetrated the cap he was wearing. Even the bamboo basket on his head in which he had stacked the caps was a poor defence against the sweltering heat. He decided to rest under the canopy of a big banyan tree. He wiped his face with a towel that he always carried on his shoulder. He stretched his legs. "Hardly have I sold a couple of caps today. No wonder the basket was heavy," he muttered.

The leaves on the banyan tree rustled and sent down a cooling breeze that soothed him. Soon he drifted into a peaceful sleep.

An hour later, he stirred and stretched himself. Feeling refreshed, he reached for the basket; but stared and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The basket was empty. Empty. He looked around. Not a single human soul in sight.

An excited chatter coming from the trees caught his attention. He looked up. More than fifty monkeys were donning the caps and having a frolicky time.

The man got mad.

He picked up a stick and waved it at them. The monkeys bared their teeth menacingly. He pleaded, but they looked away.

Read More

Butt Sanitation: Water or Paper Rolls?

Bidets use green technology and provide increased cleanliness.

It is not a topic that finds place in a polite conversation, but figures in every civilized person’s everyday life. It affects you the moment you step out of familiar environs of your home and particularly, your country. I am talking of cleaning your butts after defecation. An icky, yucky job indeed, but it’s still yours; so you better brace yourself.

Each year, U.S. uses an estimated 36.5 billions rolls of toilet paper that involves cutting of 15 million trees, besides an annual 17.3 terawatts of electricity and energy needed for packaging and transportation, 473,587,500,000 gallons of water to produce the paper and 253,000 tons of chlorine for bleaching purposes.

Toilet paper also constitutes a significant load on the city sewer systems, and water treatment plants. It is also often responsible for clogged pipes.

Indians have always considered water the best purificator and used it for personal hygiene. Lavatories in my mother’s native village in those days were located away from the house and consisted of sanitary pits near which would be kept a pile of earth and dry leaves. Every body was expected to carry a small bucket of water inside to clean oneself and cover their tracks with mud and dry leaves after they used the pit.

Olden Toilets; Source

Once the pits were full, the makeshift roof and door would shift to the next newly dug pit. The old pit would be left as-is for some weeks, after which the village farmers would remove the earth and use it to fertilize their fields.
More pertinent to the topic, how did people clean themselves after the elimination act? They would wash their private parts in the privacy of the lavatories with water, and later wash their feet and hands with soap near the well before entering the main house.

Read more

Brooklyn Bridge: A Saga of Determination

John and Washington Roebling had several bridges to cross before building the Brooklyn bridge. They decided to take one bridge at a time...

Brooklyn Bridge; Image via Wikipedia

The Brooklyn Bridge, with its majestic stone towers and graceful steel cables, isn't just a beautiful New York City landmark, but also a favored route many thousands of daily commuters use every day. It was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. It has evoked the most glowing tributes from all, and is a testament to man's ability to rise above the supposed limits of the day and of his determination to stand against the bitterest of criticisms and the most depressing predictions of doom.

Read More

The Mystical Karma

Understanding karma helps to accept life as it comes and move forward. Karma is simply the universal law of cause and effect that says every thought, word and act carries energy into the world and affects our present reality.

Karma means action, but it is also the result of your actions. Karma is the accumulation of past actions. It is the sum of your learning experiences at any point in your life. The law of Karma goes beyond the cause-effect equation of Newton, Action = Reaction, as each action or event is part of a big network of causes and becomes a cause for future reactions or events.

The universe is a dynamic web of interrelated events. The nature of the web is determined by the nature of the constituting parts and their mutual interrelations. Every action, physical, emotional or mental is "seeded" in the cosmic memory ("Akasha") and leaves an imprint in the individual's subconscious mind. This subconscious imprint is called samskara. Being a seed, karma does not sprout immediately after it is sown. At the right time, the fruit of the action will "ripen". Some karmas trigger a very quick reaction, others need a longer time to trigger, and the sequence of the triggered reactions is not necessarily the same as the sequence of the triggering actions.

Karmic results must be stored and cleared out, either good or bad. If there's a deficit, it must be paid; if it is an asset, it must be reaped. They are never lost, and they transmigrate from one birth to the next, leaving their imprints on our subconscious and giving birth to circumstances similar to those that generated them. In other words, reap as you sow.

The Power of Gratitude

Feeling gratitude energizes you and enables you to cope up with stressful situations. You will feel more relaxed, sleep better and feel better.

Gratitude is defined most simply as "the condition of being thankful." Grat­i­tude is a pos­i­tive emo­tion, which had hitherto been the realm of philoso­phers and religious leaders, has now become a sub­ject of a more sci­en­tific approach.

All religions describe gratitude as a morally beneficial emotional state that encourages reciprocal kindness. When you receive kindness from unexpected quarters, you feel connected to the rest of the humanity by invisible strands.

To be grateful means to allow oneself to be placed in the position of a recipient—to feel indebted and to be aware of one's dependence on others. Often we assume that we are totally responsible for all the good that come our way. After all, we deserved it and have earned it. We take things for granted. Acknowledging gratitude even to oneself is  burdensome for many.

Source