Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Joy of labour or creative physical endeavour


Modern schooling practice of confining students in classrooms deprives them of the joy of labour or creative physical endeavour. Subjects we teach at school have become outdated in the Internet age. Abolishing the prevailing syllabus and evaluation system is the only sane option.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1138696899643371520?s=19

Robert Willis - 2006 - ‎Preview
... bodies to religious freedom should be recognized and made effective in practice.38 In our era scant possibility exists either that ... To date, the United States Supreme Court has interpreted the First Amendment to mean that federal and state ...
2008 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
The possibility of this would draw out the primaries longer than Hillary Clinton necessary which would also prevent the Democrats from effectively ... Leahy said this because he believes that Clinton has scant chance of winning the nomination.
Thomas Wright - 2014 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
... of the possibility of their being alive has had to remain undecided until workmen from above could cut their way through. The thing has been known throughout the land; and it has been known, too, that the exploring workmen would be engaged ... that they have but scant respect for any formalised religion—but scant belief in the professors of them practising, or even really believing, what they preach.
Within the framework of the I.L.O., there is ample possibility for broad co-operation in social and labour questions, and in ... At the same time it may be assumed that governmental activity in this field has scant chance of success without the ...
G.N. Tytgat, ‎J.F.W.M. Bartelsman, ‎S.J.H. van Deventer - 1995 - ‎Preview
This interest has been fuelled by the occurrence of granulomata, and an historical association with gastrointestinal tuberculosis. Evidence for this association, however, remains scant. The possibility that CD represents either a normal or ...
The normal relationship of employment has not received the public attention it deserves and has certainly been ... with sole regard to success in the chemical or mechanical process, and with scant attention to the possibilitiesof arousing the ...
1963 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
the government been backed by a political party that had some firm roots in the society, things might perhaps have been different. ... There are those who think that the Jama'at could have scant chance of riding to political power in the country.
Sidney Homan - 1988 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
THAT IS THE WORD GERTRUDE USES DURING THE LAST scene: "He's fat andscant of breath."1 Her comment on Hamlet's physical condition hasprompted much throwing about of brains. ... reflecting a disquietingly timely cynicism about the possibility of heroism outside the traits and behaviors comporting with survival.
1966 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
The appeal went unanswered by North Viet Nam. which has already flouted the Geneva Convention by parading U.S. ... rather than eject from mortally damaged aircraft over populated areas, where he would have had scant chance of rescue.
Walter Isard - 2003 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
During the past two decades American scholars have given increasing attention to the concept of regionalism. ... In American historical studies, however, the manifold references to regional or sectional phenomena haveled to little systematic exploration of the possibilities that the ... historians of the non-economic breed, are usually presented in unfamiliar terms, and appear to have had scant impact upon ...
Many adoptees do not quite believe what they have been told throughout their lives — that they were, in fact, born Jewish. ... There was no abortion and scant possibility of keeping a child born out of wedlock; Jewish agencies quickly placed ...
DISCOVER the BESTSELLING DYSTOPIAN NOVEL behind the AWARD-WINNING TV SERIES Second season now airing on Channel 4 starring Elisabeth Moss The official TV tie-in edition of The Handmaid’s Tale, with a new introduction from Margaret Atwood ...
Gregg Loomis - 2013 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
Those who had served the Libyan strong man now existed with the banner of a cause as an excuse for banditry. Many in ... Either possibility gave little comfort. ... A captured operative who had failed his assignment would have scant worth.
Heather Hathaway, ‎Josef Jarab, ‎Jeffrey Melnick - 2003 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
of Botkin's work in Oklahoma and as folklore editor of the Federal Writers' Project, but that he had not been able to use to ... place than Sandburg ever depicted, it was not Eliot's wasteland, a completely fragmented world devoid of creative possibilities. ... A significant part of the experience that concerned Ellison was the "blasting pressures which in a scant eighty years have sent the Negro people hurtling, ...

To be sure, there are hardly abundant reports of whales appearing in domestic swimming pools, and besides, in the case of this whale it is not beached, even if it has scant chance of surviving the chlorinated and foodless waters of that body of ...
Beryl Grant - 2001 - ‎Preview
Since 1998 the Employment Tribunal has had a concurrent jurisdiction, please see below. Only if a ... This should ensure that cases that involve trivial points of law, or which have scant chance of success, do not clog up the system. There is a ...
Weiming Tu, ‎Weiming Du - 1994 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
variegated nature of her complaint, Hou has had no more success than the other plaintiffs chronicled above. ... victimized by its brutality commence formal legal proceedings that they know have scant chance of being adjudicated on the merits, ...
1989 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
The necessity to demonstrate that the system "works better than any other that the mind of man has conceived" ... except in its con- spiratory aspect, holds small threat, and has scant chance as an appealing economic program, nevertheless it ...
They had feared the worst — perhaps they had feared it more than he had — and now the worst had come about. It is not ... They had scant possibility of resisting this course and, from the Constable's side, it must be said, small incentive to try.
2 We have always devised better and better means by which to experience the world and thereby fulfill our purposes, ... in customer expectations, and in company capabilities for accelerating innovation, your company has scanttime to learn ...
Richard Overy - 1999 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
The Soviet plan had been well prepared. There was scant possibility of Paulus fighting his way out of Stalingrad. Short of vehicles, ammunition and fuel, constantly subjected to air attack, the 6th Army was still capable of fighting but not of ...
But we have not fully understood the boom for the "abnormal" occurrence ithas been: because it has flourished so long in ... Caught up in their need to refract the discordant realities of a modern world, a number of American writers paid scant ...
Marian Doris Irish, ‎James Warren Prothro, ‎Richard J. Richardson - 1981 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
NOMINATING f A PRESIDENT Americans have the most elaborate procedure in the world for picking candidates for their highest office. Nevertheless ... senator, or Vice-President, then, you have scant chance of nomination for the presidency.
First, I had the mind to go there to see the game but then I had second thoughts, as there was scant possibility of anyone knowing me in that place. I opened the door of our house and switched on the light of the deori. Going further, I switched ...
1984 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
Mention was made of one worker who got fired for his truancy— after three years, somebody noticed he was not at work and had not been for all that time. Confronted with such practices, MNCs' joint ventures in Yugoslaviahave scant chance ...
I also learned to obey His guidance no matter how much I thought I had my life under control and could handle it myself. ... but with that revelation and our spiritual divergence, I think we both realized there was only a scant possibility that we ...
Jane Hunter - 2015 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
Frequently, their thinking about pedagogy, content and technology has not been prioritized. Such questions remain ... Criticism of technology integration in schools is often couched in terms of its scant theoretical base. The TPACK framework ...
Tanganyika. Legislative Council - 1959 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
Even though this Legal Notice has been published with the consent of or at the request of this Government, the fact remains that now that it has been published we have scant chance of altering it. Incidentally, Sir, Colonial No. 210 specifically ...
Howard J. Wiarda, ‎Margaret MacLeish Mott - 2003 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
Latin America has become one of the most politically dynamic regions of the world in recent years. ... This possibility has received generally scantattention in the political science literature Chapter 14: On Democracy and Democratization.
... or courage alone, but rather because very specific factors hold them back—their families, the scant possibility of success, and the great possibility of dying. ... It had to be as simple and easy as possible, so as not to arouse suspicion. During ...
1974 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
Italy's government crisis has no easy end in sight. The political stalematehas scant chance of being resolved even if Sig. Fanfani succeeds in reviving the centre-left formula. He is settling in for a series of detailed discussions but given the ...
1944 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
On a globe where circumnavigation has shrunk from years to hours within a brief moment in history's span, and where communication within the same span has shrunk from years to seconds, we have scant possibility of living alone, whether ...
1973 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
In the past there has been comment in this paper on the possibility that one of the giant engineering groups might well cast a ... families holding some 40 per cent of Janes shares a bid has scant chance of success without boardroom backing.
Rohit Barot has observed that developments which brought ethnicity and religion into sharp focus depended on social ... in a society with scantalternative sources of modern resources and rewards; and an electoral democracy, requiring mass.
1984 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
A campaign being mounted to combat the Greater Grain Borer beetle, previously known only in Central America, is thought to have scant chanceof success. The beetle, first recorded in Tanzania in 1981, is a strong flier, has no ecological ...
Lindsey Piper - 2013 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
She has my sister's dark hair. Fairer skin.” He looked ... The incentive hadsuccessfully bought the rest of Leto's life, and had taken the life of his father. She sure as hell wasn't letting anyone into her mind on that scant possibility. Already her ...
United States. Congress - 2005 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
They would do anything—exhaust, every possibility—to have these bases remain open. ... are surrounded by miles and miles and miles of empty rangeland and have scant, hopes of a booming development taking hold of the former base.
Tossing a mental coin between prudence and the scant possibility of pleasure, Lulu asked for a dry gin martini on the rocks. An attractive ... “You know,” the bartender said earnestly, “it's not really called a martini if it hasonions in it.” “No,” she ...
Ben Elton - 2014 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
Those stones held within them the sonic echo of every footfall and every cry that had ever disturbed the racing ... screen of glass and wore a fluorescent yellow high-vis jacket, despite there being scant possibility of anybody bumping into him.
In central Javanese gamelan individual musicians contribute to the surface aspects of the texture, which has the ... Since the specific complexities of the musical surface must always remain a variable, there is scant possibility for theory to deal ...
Don Mitchell - 2012 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
It is a deeply frightening fact about the modern United States that those whohave homes and jobs are willing to ... of homeless people but also there seems to be scant possibility for a political discourse concerning the nature and types of cities ...
E.M. Bounds - 2018 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
E.M. Bounds was an American writer best known for his books on the subject of Christian prayer. The works are still popular among Christians today and are known to be thought-provoking and challenging.




Monday, February 25, 2019

Hindutva has become more mainstream


The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature recommended by Robert J. Shiller. https://t.co/HDhmOrdOFw
https://twitter.com/NinjaEconomics/status/1099745160865341442?s=19

“For classical theism, whatever else we want to say about God, the core idea is that God is the ultimate explanation of why anything exists at all. ”
https://twitter.com/five_books/status/1099757981212774400?s=19

Does Śāntideva think bodhisattvas are happy? https://t.co/qdG6xpKwSU
https://twitter.com/loveofallwisdom/status/1099791290366078976?s=19

Making art inclusive  | @IamKunalRay : #Art ought to be an enabler but that is perhaps utopian. Exhibitions have now proliferated and there is a plethora of art events, but whom or what are these events for?
https://twitter.com/indiaonthe_move/status/1099759894025068544?s=19

Great #review of my new #book on #Philosophy of #autobiography in print ed of ⁦@Outlookindia⁩ #today!
⁦@tandfnewsroom⁩ ⁦@TandFIndia⁩ ⁦@routledgebooks⁩ #self #body #spirit #gandhi #mishima #ambedkar #hemingway #nietzsche #warhol ⁦@TwitterBooks⁩ https://t.co/HrLwUCyBap
https://twitter.com/Aakash_Ironmann/status/1099910629186461696?s=19

Indian literature and Indian Philosophy both will flourished by embracing the ideas of "Yeats".  - Prof. Margaret Mills Harper @MakrandParanspe https://t.co/TqA5GGVQmc
https://twitter.com/ShimlaIias/status/1099931679488118785?s=19

The Satyajit Ray-Mrinal Sen rivalry that made headlines | @TOI_Pdasgupta:If there is one other debate that has kept Kolkatans engaged as much as the one involving Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, it is abt the rift between Mrinal Sen & Satyajit Ray | #Films 
https://twitter.com/indiaonthe_move/status/1099846991616532480?s=19

Pre performance with Rangamma Didi, teachers, musicians and students at Music and Dance Festival Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi India, Children's Music School https://t.co/U3qvxdeXje
https://twitter.com/storydancer/status/1099881050862346240?s=19

Weaknesses and Limitations of Socialism as the Model for Human Society https://t.co/aA2hnAi1FM

Sri Aurobindo on the Secret Delight as the motivator

[The argument that evolution implies involution was made by Swami Vivekananda with compelling logic] https://t.co/r924bsVCI0
Vivekananda’s doctored picture of Ramakrishna https://t.co/QBhGzd44Zy
Vivekananda uses the word involution exactly as in Theosophy https://t.co/4SWINOT5E4

Vivekananda was a product of his time. He was very much influenced by Christian missionaries and that shows in his writings. He deserves our respect but some of his writings should be taken with a pinch of salt. Sri Aurobindo had better clarity in his thoughts.
https://twitter.com/TrueIndology/status/1099651107805192193?s=19

On Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's so called univesalism https://t.co/eoSx8T4fGb
https://twitter.com/guNagarbhaH/status/1099733722683760640?s=19

Mostly, one invoking a name would make up his mind what he wants to convey, and put only those words in the mouth of the icon. This if done with self-righteousness has very different consequences from doing in a dharmic way.
https://twitter.com/SkandaVeera/status/1099745638089191424?s=19

Among the 3 key foundation principles of the order was a clear statement by Swami Vivekananda that Bhagwan Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa came to protect Sanatana Dharma and it's the primary duty of the order to bring back converts. 
Confusions, Dilutions started after 40s.
https://twitter.com/sumanthbharatha/status/1099878886995722240?s=19

We must get over this "screenshot culture" of gauging a Hindu icon by one isolated statement or view. 
Yogis, sanyasis & mystics r often complex figures & their lives may b a tapestry of many experiences & views (in specific contexts)
If we don't read too deeply or fail to pick the core of what they stood for from their teachings, then we only run the risk of being disillusioned by our own Mahans.
This disillusionment often leads to an unhealthy form of idealism whr ppl get obsessed with the glory of some other nation & start silently despising their own; or constantly finding fault even with the best we have; or calling ppl cucks, idiots etc.
Many gr8 Yogis, Sanyasis or Hindu Renaissance figures of the past may have said things which r unpalatable to current Hindu Right sensitivities. It's stupid to dismiss them as false icons just for that alone. View them in their totality. Look at their overall contribution & sacrifice for our nation. Try to tease out the core of their teaching & what they stood for from authentic sources. That would be much better than getting outraged by one quote or view.
https://twitter.com/Gopanarya/status/1099887445800353792?s=19

Not sure, if it's in his personal or official capacity, but typecasting fellow citizens and behaving so patronizingly is utterly indecent and immoral on the part of the Prime Minister of a Democracy. The ritual is nothing but insulting their dignity and violation of human rights.
Succumbing to optics is a compulsion in politics and especially dominant for those with modest intellectuality. Modi regime is replete with gimmickry but this incident takes the cake; and is a sacrilege of Constitutional norms. While Dharma experts are silent, Sri Aurobindo wins.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1099947043777273857?s=19
On Rakhi Purnima day in Odisha, the draft bullocks are treated to much care and caressing and worshipped with all religious paraphernalia to express gratitude for their labour. This incident reminds of similar connotation which, I think, is not the right social contract with PM.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1099905674262257664?s=19
Please read the full thread. I'm questioning the rationale, and the criteria, of the very selection of a particular profession over others to be subjected to PM's fancies. Which book or manifesto gives sanction to such an arbitrary act of the State machinery or Party functionary?
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1099909065520476160?s=19
I said the sanitary work profession has its own dignity and must not be reinforced in the minds of the people as lowly in social hierarchy. PM's act is likely to be emulated by heads of each institution or office leading to a very ridiculous situation for the concerned employees.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1099900779115266049?s=19
Reservation doesn't require certain citizens to be summoned, habeas corpus, by the PM for performing his religious whims or using them as guinea pigs for his experiments in social engineering. Earmarking sanitation work as the lowest grade is again against any sense of modern norms
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1099895396640276480?s=19
From the common sense point of view, it's desirable to treat all available writings as texts without any special consideration, religious or otherwise. The question of Mantra, as emphasised by Sri Aurobindo, is subjective in nature and so the ritual aspect is rendered immaterial.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1099768409053642757?s=19

Modest intellectuality (sic) These Macaulites..
This is what the colonial powers told Indians. You are uncivilized, inferior and let me make you better. These left over British stuck in same era.  Half literates give themselves certificates as intellectuals. Sickos
https://twitter.com/dwimidhaM/status/1099948867989073920?s=19
PM went as PM. Did what an Indian does. The Macaulite genre who learn western democratic books by rote and regurgitating does not still make a tenth of sense. 
Macaulite don't even know that when they refer to religion, their context is already bust.
Operative - democracy came from West. 
This is the level of people preaching us. Damn https://t.co/lfvpfX2EhR
https://twitter.com/dwimidhaM/status/1099954485047291905?s=19

This is how a leader Inspires and brings change....if you are not aware
https://twitter.com/amarendrasahoo/status/1099960368628142081?s=19
Clearly our perspectives differ and let it be that way ... let’s celebrate our “ own truths” ..
https://twitter.com/aurograph/status/1099955358804647937?s=19

A leader is not a servant, he should inspire people to follow the right path according to their sva dharma, this is the sanatan dharma,  his service to people is through inspiration of the right kind, not pretending servile behavior disregarding the etiquette of his sva dharma
https://twitter.com/krishnarjun108/status/1099705496918024192?s=19
This Gandhian/neo-vedantic  outlook of misguided humility and renunciation  Intruding into the sphere of Kashatra Dharma has caused disastrous consequences to the polity of Bharat Varsha, it has turned even finest of men into wimps
https://twitter.com/krishnarjun108/status/1099703474630152192?s=19
Washing feet of mahatmas among the lowest strata/caste/varna of society is completely different from washing feet just because they are sanitation workers, that too by Raja at top is just misguided humility and spiritual outlook, Modi should first act like a Raja before anything
https://twitter.com/krishnarjun108/status/1099702239793430528?s=19
Deeply moved by Modi's act of washing  feet of sanitation workers, shows his deep personal level of renunciation, but IMO it's not Raja Dharma, Bharat at this time needs leader who follows Kshatra dharma, Modi got mandate to act boldly and liquidate enemies, not for feet washing
https://twitter.com/krishnarjun108/status/1099692532831870982?s=19

PM @narendramodi honours five 'Safai Karmacharis', washes their feet as per ancient tradition at #Prayagraj https://t.co/xqcUnyrDpG
https://twitter.com/DDNewsLive/status/1099629280445616129?s=19

#_Modi_Speak_ | @NarendraModi : The Ramayan of Ram is incomplete without the boatmen ... I am deeply related to you. You consider yourself servant of Ram and I am your Pradhan Sewak (chief servant). You consider yourself sons of the Ganga and I am here on the call of Mother Ganga
https://twitter.com/indiaonthe_move/status/1099864409977933824?s=19

10 years of Mohan Bhagwat: RSS’ Hindutva ideology has become more mainstream, gone global
Makarand Paranjape @MakrandParanspe writes in #ThePrintOpinion: https://t.co/a7abGuIaVA https://t.co/5iyU79ECbw
https://twitter.com/ThePrintIndia/status/1099496635774763008?s=19

243. So they drove a dichotomy into our dharma of totally denying this world which is deliberately and absolutely false.
244. There is an equally long line who opposed them from Swami Dayananda (1824-83) to Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) and Aurobindo (1872-1950).
https://twitter.com/Janamejayan/status/1099703778725511169?s=19

Dear Shri Mishraji, 
(and dear Vladimir, Ryd sir, Sl, Madhavrao and other scholars),
आदरपूर्वक प्रणाम॥
1. First of all, let me congratulate Ryd sir for very sweetly and succinctly summarising the longwinding yet erudite discussion on this subject through numerous emails by many of our group.
cf. "Analytical-discursive aids have done their job and now we must acquire perceptive-intuitive modes of looking at knowledge and things of knowledge, luminous and keen and surer post-human faculty as the right methodology in our collective growth and gains in the brightness of the manifesting spirit."

2. Thanks for the video on the स्वर discussion by dear Vladimir! It helps new learners like me who are foreign to Sanskrit (know nothing of it, never learned even a single syllable academically) and the subject of these extensive mails and discussions by you all elites!

3. I believe that you, dear Shriman Mishraji, have almost hit the nail on its head! Original Mantras/Richas are what one would like to deal essentially with, its technicalities of Chhanda, and written annotations etc. being quite secondary to understanding their actual mystic portent, if any, though one dare not say that only certain Mantras are mystic and not others, so far as the Vedas go!

4. Again, I feel affirmation in Dr. Madhavrao Deshpande's emphasis on originally the Vedas being श्रुति and still the same, and not written compositions, as I can understand from his mails. 

5. Originally, it was a taboo to reduce the Vedas into writing, as understood. Dr Deshpande has said about it! 

cf. his mail extract below:
"As one notices from the Shiksha texts, the Veda reciters were opposed to writing down the orally preserved Vedic texts, [reading from a written text was called a Pāṭhaka-Adhama, the worst reciter] and hence the written forms of the Vedic texts developed very late."  

6. Vedas have been passed down the generations, maybe for thousands of years, through oral tradition only. That is why, historically, it is impossible to date them. The question of their chronology in western mindset does not merit any attention since they base it upon when was the first written version of any of the Shrutis (वेद, वेदांग, उपांगे इ.) is traceable. Therefore, the chronology of the Vedas, its अंग and उपांगे, based upon such a criterion is rather useless, and misleading. [...] Pages as referred to remained unattached are enclosed.
Lele

Dear RY Deshpande, this is exactly the point I am making. The Rishis could not have read their composition with Vedic accentuation of anudatta, udatta and svarita, it was a poetry. But to preserve the text with proper accent in each word, the oral tradition used this device to preserve the text and pass it over generations without distortions, similarly to the Greek oral tradition. That's why we have an authentic text with properly marked Udatta! It is amazing! We can read the text the way the Vedic Rishis did with their accents in the words. And this is very valuable for us, for it makes text alive.
Best regards,
Vladimir

So the question is simple. That we have now a well-preserved text should we retain those props which helped to preserve the text? We have a scaffolding to build a house, but once the building is ready should the scaffolding stay? We are of course thankful to the scaffolding, very grateful to it, never ungrateful, but then it has to go, go that we live in the house, live in the house to explore further possibilities of living in the shining richness of living. They have to be functional in this explorative widening flourishing perspective. Analytical-discursive aids have done their job and now we must acquire perceptive-intuitive modes of looking at knowledge and things of knowledge, luminous and keen and surer post-human faculty as the right methodology in our collective growth and gains in the brightness of the manifesting spirit.
RY Deshpande

We don't need the scaffolding anymore, I agree. We have the morphological accent and meter, we have the keys to the meaning given by Sri Aurobindo, the rest is our own journey. Udatta it is not the scaffolding, it is the essential part of the text, it's true power. Anudatta and Svarita is the scaffolding.    
Vladimir

See, I told you about the danger of OIT
https://twitter.com/sanjeevsanyal/status/1099646240415830016?s=19

Savitri Era Learning Forum: 13 problems of Sankhya; Vedanta proposed Brahman https://t.co/nxt1MO2WxF
Aurora Mirabilis: To establish a communication with what's invisible https://t.co/dNqrOOTmQL
Evergreen Essays: Hostility of physicists to nonphysical plane https://t.co/g7yEOmgZaL

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Reading The Life Divine will change your life

BOSTON: MIT scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence system that can take still images and generate short videos to simulate what happens next, similar to how humans can visually imagine how a scene will evolve.
Humans intuitively understand how the world works, which makes it easier for people, as opposed to machines, to envision how a scene will play out.

Et tu, Evolution?
Et tu, Evolution? https://t.co/bIQ5r5CLEq @ARangarajan1972
ANAND RANGANATHAN | Sat, 10 Dec 2016, DNA
Life has no purpose. We are a creation of chance, a conspiracy hatched by thunder and lightning and water and ammonia and hydrogen and methane and dust, demonstrated so persuasively by Stanley Miller in 1953. Amino-acetonitrile met water and formed glycine three billion years ago; a sperm met an egg and produced a baby yesterday. All random, ... 
Fifty years ago, roughly 30 babies in 1000 found it physically impossible to emerge from the birth canal. Today that figure stands at 36. We are therefore stuck in a compromise, and C-section babies are living proof of this.

Assorted Tweets:
On sentience, sapience and speciesism https://t.co/6WlKbF2Rg4 Finally managed to write this, after a lot of deliberation and reading.

After finding the effect of antivirus, antibiotic and immune system, concept of protecting "all life" looked quite strange to me!

The late AK Ramanujan, one of the finest scholars of Indian literature, and a poet, wrote a brilliant, informal essay published in 1989 titled, “Is there an Indian way of thinking?”
Among the many gems in this essay is a notion that all Indian thinking is context-sensitive, as opposed to the Western way of thinking that creates thoughts that claim to be context-free. To illustrate this, Ramanujan quotes a parable of the Buddha—
"Once a man was drowning in a sudden flood. Just as he was about to drown, he found a raft. He clung to it, and it carried him safely to dry land. And he was so grateful to the raft that he carried it on his back for the rest of his life." Such was the Buddha’s ironic comment on context-free systems. Our Vedas and our glorious epics all begin with a setting of the context...
But your ancient wisdom came to you from your diabetic grandmother. That is called a home truth, not to be confused with ancient wisdom. Health expert @rmantha2 https://t.co/9poUDfp6mr

Contributions of #socialmedia r many. It has given us a glimpse into how Insane, narcissistic most of us are, that truth's matter of belief

Acting ideology-free can be either excellent or awful. Former may come through pragmatism, latter often comes through rank populism.

Pragmatism often suffers from the pitfalls of the fallacies in one's reasoning. Nothing excellent about it except the feel-good factor. https://t.co/p7OWNgqjVZ
@Flyfiddlesticks I mean pragmatism. More often than not, pragmatists rationalise theories according to the ends they seek.
@Flyfiddlesticks Which brings us to the definition of pragmatism. Which could be applied to anything except nihilism. 😀😀
@vimuktaatma 😂 but they're also ideology driven. If pragmatic,  you can go against "pragmatism"  as well.  😈@vimuktaatma I'd argue that they're not pragmatic but merely professing so.

The real truths are heresies. They cannot be spoken. Only discovered, whispered, and perhaps read.

One of the cruxes of the "truth" is to understand and identify those "who" define "truth" to be "heresy", and how they do it. https://t.co/9WkVFvJqas

@naval Repression of Heresy is only in Abrahmic Religions; Western Culture is alter ego of Semetic exclusive Truth claim, joined at Hip

@samAlochaka @naval Alternate Truth claim becomes a heresy to the self-proclaimed guardians of Exclusive Truth claim in Abrahmic thought

@naval “it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence". Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

@samAlochaka Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam is not in any sacred text but in Hitopdasesh story warning against cunning enemy mouthing such philosophy

But seriously, how are you supposed to grow up children?
There would always be things that you tell them to do/not do.

There have been wonderful examples of the academic left standing by the suffering people, joining in struggles, developing powerful discourses, and widening the cause.
an excerpt from my book on Maoists
Maoists in India: Tribals under Siege, Pluto Press London; Amaryllis, India, 2012
The least intellectuals can do, once they have unmasked the propaganda of the State, is to tell the powers that the truth is out. Once the truth is uncovered and laid before the people, someone somewhere will pick up the thread and proceed to develop more sustainable forms of resistance. If intellectuals still have energy and courage, they can use their relative insularity from repression to help raise a protective wall around this resistance so that it can grow inside. So the moral is to protect resistance to protect truth.

[The trouble with this artistic portrayal of fascism is that Benito Mussolini, the suave gentleman, doesn’t fit.] NM https://t.co/OIMbuE0qbS

Books like Shakespeare’s Asian Journeys (ed by Bi-qi B. Lei, JC Ick, & Poonam Trivedi) and Hegel's India (by Rathore & Rimina Mohapatra) bridge East and West.

[PDF] THE POETIC IMAGINATION OF WILLIAM BLAKE: RETRACING THE SYMPHONY BETWEEN THE SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND THE SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
A Maiti
... By Sri Aurobindo WORKS CITED [1]. Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and Experience. Dover Publications. February 5, 1992. Print. [2]. Bloom, Harold. Bloom's Major Poets. Chelsea House Publications 2003. Print. [3]. Martin, William. ...
Shakespeare's Asian Journeys: Critical Encounters, Cultural Geographies, and the Politics of Travel
BB Lei, JC Ick, P Trivedi - 2016

 I find  an identity of views between Sri Aurobindo and CG Jung. Both emphasize self knowledge. Self knowledge automatically leads  one towards  being a super mind and work  for  spiritual unity and good of community. Altruism at surface, without inner awakening and self knowledge, is  merely a display of ego .
             If you  muster the courage to read this  difficult  book, it will change your life. 
Vidya Nand Garg: The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo https://t.co/cWt7ZLjOnv

@vidyanandgarg Two other booklets, The Mother and The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth are essential supplements https://t.co/wo7CB0TMsK