Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Pan, Penguin, and Plutarch

As I re-read this article by @MNageswarRaoIPS ,more I undrstnd Indian constitution's abrahmic nature
1950,SC gave itself total power 2 decide whthr a particular practice/tradition is essential 2 Hinduism or not
R they experts?
Y did hindus then not revolt?
https://t.co/BTLHVLcbIi
https://twitter.com/RituRathaur/status/1308272715183190021?s=19
Using these powers judges decide how much 'charnamat," should be put on Mahakal Shivling, whether sabri mala should be open for women against its temple rituals, whether animal sacrifice should be allowed in hindu temples or not?
Who are they? Expert in hindu scriptures?

"My own view is that the 'education bubble,' like any asset bubble, is not merely a financial crisis. It is a moral crisis: a misallocation and distortion of value. The underlying problem of the modern university is a crisis of integrity and purpose." https://t.co/CCxE7QFpDa
https://twitter.com/A_Man_in_Full/status/1308228477842329601?s=19
This is excellent, @JoshHochschild, truly excellent. I think you should be part of any effort to completely rethink and restore higher education. You put your finger on so much here. The colleges that survive will be those who know their mission and believe in it (i.e., "Lindy").

A few chapters into the book and can say it is a very easy flowing, engaging read. 
@harshmadhusudan was one the first people I started following on this platform n its great to be reading his book after a few years 🙂 
Wishing Harsh and @RMantri more success in the years ahead. https://t.co/yFhPn5wpx3
https://twitter.com/pratyasharath/status/1308474704378826753?s=19

Pls explain:
On the one hand, I find many Indians worldwide among the highest accomplished in various fields 
On the other hand, I find huge majority are poor in IQ, work ethics, reading skills, argumentation; BUT big on emotions, lofty self-image & lots of BULLSHIT/BAKVAS
Why?
https://twitter.com/RajivMessage/status/1308504812493955072?s=19
Many former school/college classmates retired from top posts tell me youth caliber has DECLINED over recent decades. 
-Reservations lowered the quality?
-Malthusian over population?
-Bad education
-Fake westernization
-Other?
Pls comment

Cricket, Bollywood, and Music keep the youth busy. No incentive in reading. Basically, no intellectual quest. Lack of acquaintance with Philosophy proper is the cause.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1308506791123189760?s=19

“Thamus, are you there? When you reach Palodes, take care to proclaim that the great god Pan is dead.”
-Plutarch, ‘The Obsolescence of Oracles’
https://twitter.com/krumbbumm/status/1308502688800231427?s=19

Penguin found dead on Brazilian beach after swallowing entire face mask during voyage from Patagonia, autopsy shows. It’s so easy just to cut them up. 💔😔
https://t.co/NPih0UB9Q4
https://twitter.com/XposeTrophyHunt/status/1308498472438386688?s=19

These ill-conceived projects will cause irreparable harm to the Sundarbans.
https://twitter.com/GhoshAmitav/status/1308500199648698370?s=19

"Paying attention to ergonomics isn't just about making you more efficient, it's about making sure that you feel good and wholly yourself when you're working – so you have the time and energy to do all the things you want to do outside of your job." https://t.co/HIbfsEbqRz
https://twitter.com/CIIS_SF/status/1308490452908355587?s=19

Everything You Know About ‘Good Posture’ Is Wrong
Could the way you’re aiming to hold your body be making pain worse?
Amelia Harnish Sep 3
https://elemental.medium.com/everything-you-know-about-good-posture-is-wrong-cca9b941b651

The tempo of life reaches a frenzy, and yet we feel stuck. One balm for our internet-accelerated age: read old books https://t.co/Q5RTcz6K6W
https://twitter.com/aldaily/status/1308511503302225924?s=19

We asked some of the best thriller writers working today what their own favourite books in the genre are. They reeled off plenty of classics – but some other choices may surprise you. Find your next pageturner here: 
https://t.co/Qxn2ZVsnT3 …
https://twitter.com/five_books/status/1308511450663735301?s=19

Reviving ancient traditions to save the future. For more ideas and innovations helping to protect the world's forests, visit UpLink: https://t.co/RLpdSweNaH @WEFUplink @1t_org https://t.co/MIgmA7hahC
https://twitter.com/wef/status/1308511390785630208?s=19

The rise of the Global monoculture is one of the reasons, people are loosing originality. Non-western societies r a disproportionate victim, because the monoculture is west driven. But, if youth caliber was so great in the past, we wouldn't be carrying Nehruvian BS on our heads.
https://twitter.com/Bhikhshu/status/1308508690119622660?s=19

High natural background radiation is a constant presence in the lives of those inhabiting some coastal regions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. https://t.co/GqkyqTOkEi
https://twitter.com/epw_in/status/1308503932612870146?s=19

Archives | “My Lords should wear a burqa and roam the court corridors to hear the way lawyers talk about the judges,” Dushyant Dave said. “You will get a first-hand account of the rotting justice-delivery system.”
Atul Dev in: https://t.co/fWPppjgLll
https://twitter.com/thecaravanindia/status/1308503838882582529?s=19

Monday, September 21, 2020

Sri Aurobindo built a firm foundation for a future Civilisation

As ARYA (1914-1921) will close within next four months a hundred years ago let's remember that ten to twelve major works of Sri Aurobindo got published in a systematic manner. Collectively these books constitute a veritable University. Indians need to read https://t.co/evlIvfvRuZ
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1307633048830185475?s=19

Read Sri Aurobindo
Rate Sri Aurobindo
Recommend Sri Aurobindo

Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest https://t.co/A4YJxAWu9Z
Many new religions have developed around Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore, Subhas, Periyar, Ambedkar, Savarkar, et al. Facts are essential.

1920: The Mother has returned back with new experiences and renewed resolve to make the world see light. Nothing is secure not even her equations with Sri Aurobindo or his associates. ARYA has done its job; something else is needed. An experiment of living in a spiritual commune.
After completing six successful volumes the first issue of the seventh volume of ARYA was published in August 1920. No one knew that it will stop midway and the last issue was January 1921. Sri Aurobindo overturned the wisdom of past six thousand years in these six and half years https://t.co/baEjklM6oK
By writing on diverse themes in ARYA month after month for six and a half years, Sri Aurobindo built a firm foundation for a future civilisation by laying down universal principles and showing solutions for common challenges. Essential reading for negotiating ethical quandaries.

Amusing to read tweets on diverse issues plus puerile responses from very sensible people. Reading Sri Aurobindo is such a foundation that there's no confusion or vacillation. But most are content with stray quotations. How this deficit can be met is a big intellectual challenge.

Year after year, The Mother & Sri Aurobindo repeated one simple thing. That faith, sincerity and surrender are the basic tools. Nothing to do with anti-intellectualism or anti-work mentality but to understand that mind is not always a safe guide. Excessive individualism can fail.

Sri Aurobindo is the only top leader active in the Bande Mataram (Partition of Bengal) movement in 1905 to have seen Independence in 1947 and Constitution in 1950. In between he also navigated through two World Wars. He also saw assassination of Gandhi but historians neglect him.

The best way to look at the galaxy of great men involved in the struggle for independence is that they are all different characters in a gigantic play. That way the scene becomes interesting instead of blaming them for the part they played. This in fact is the spiritual approach.

Gandhi is a European – truly, a Russian Christian in an Indian body. When the Europeans say that he is more Christian than many Christians they are perfectly right -- Sri Aurobindo 
https://t.co/GjFsECHXjU
https://twitter.com/dharmadispatch/status/1307166402319532033?s=19

Very nice of you to quote Sri Aurobindo ! Hopefully you will accept his views on The Mughal Empire being a magnificient creation ! https://t.co/DwF7oypE8X
https://twitter.com/karrama12/status/1307277959259066369?s=19
Oho... Sir.. Now another quote on the Taj Mahal from Sri Aurobindo himself. https://t.co/D2pF050PFq
https://twitter.com/karrama12/status/1307360570903912448?s=19

Left and right aspects of the brain discovered in 1960s. 
Amazing that Sri Aurobindo wrote this in 1910: 
"The faculties of the right hand are comprehensive, creative, and synthetic; the faculties of the left hand critical and analytic."
More here:
https://t.co/OOSM5SpCkI
https://twitter.com/subhash_kak/status/1305256462344695808?s=19

The way this is phrased : 'I have read XYZ and so whatever disagrees with it is untrue / invalid / disqualified' is very disturbing. This argument effectively invalidates the hundreds of retellings of the Ramayana and MBh across the villages of India, based on an *absolute* book.
https://twitter.com/pattaprateek/status/1162978655640772608?s=19
I would rather let each person believe in his own retelling, and while at it, let him know of the other variations that exist. That way we all know more. And it is fascinating to just know how these characters are in different cultures. How different and how similar.
https://twitter.com/pattaprateek/status/1162982082185850882?s=19

The gesture of shaking hands is probably a relic of the “mysteries” (rituals) of Mithraism in Rome. Those initiated into the ultra-elitist cult were called “Syndexioi” (those united by the handshake). 
A symbol of equality? LOL 😂
https://twitter.com/vakibs/status/1307781499379421184?s=19

Tuesday, September 01, 2020

Sri Aurobindo, Brockway, and Kenyatta

You can't make this stuff up. PRC describes itself as Caesar to Australia's Brutus when calls were made for an independent inquiry into origins of Covid-19."It is approximately identical to Julius Caesar in his final day when he saw Brutus approaching him."https://t.co/mouCw2ucs5
https://twitter.com/TheresaAFallon/status/1300789220274057217?s=19
https://twitter.com/MrsGandhi/status/1300711578199756801?s=19

A herd of goat in the open pasture above the #EktaliMIP dam #Bankwal. The herder being none other than our own #SureshBehera from #MundahataSai 😊
Pic clicked 3yrs ago today 01.09.2017
#NatureClick @hindolbeauty #IncredibleHindol https://t.co/5R0hFZM2kj
https://twitter.com/HindolPalace/status/1300825327942250498?s=19

Exactly 5yrs ago, a group of committed Odias joined together with a mission- 
#RasagolaDibasa trended on #NiladriBije of #NabakalebaraRathaJatra 
30July,2015✌🏻
Sincere effort to end #Rasgulla debate & ensure correct spelling.
Odisha got #GITag for #OdishaRasagola on 29July,2019👍🏻
https://twitter.com/anitaexplorer/status/1288558003537326080?s=19

''Krutanjali'' (1984) by Prafulla Kar, produced by Bhima Bhoi Memorial Trust released a full fledged LP with unknown and amateur visually challenged musicians, a few of whom earned their livelihoods by singing Bhajans on the streets,  etc..the Album was first of its kind in India https://t.co/P5Dz7h7ooa
https://twitter.com/odiamelody/status/1300832373529915393?s=19

Karan Johar the main culprit of movie mafia! @PMOIndia even after ruining so many lives and careers he is roaming free no action taken against him, is there any hope for us? After all is settled he and his gang of hyenas will come for me #ReportForSSR
https://twitter.com/KanganaTeam/status/1300778227594670081?s=19

Watched this surreal thing: The Swimmer (1968), based on John Cheever’s darkly poignant #shortstory that first appeared in @NewYorker in 1964. A dismantling suburban beauty in #technicolor. 
#cinema @mubi @mubiindia https://t.co/bTgWk0RHCw
https://twitter.com/riminamohapatra/status/1300802912826736641?s=19

The recording of this year's @CSMVSmumbai Jehangir Sabavala Memorial lecture, 'How Jesus Went Native: Translators as Transcultural Inventors in the Mir'at al-Quds and the Krista Purana' - which I delivered on 23 August 2020 - is now online: https://t.co/CcxezX3GNa
https://twitter.com/ranjithoskote/status/1299048032156053506?s=19

Just finished reading. What a wonderful book. The thesis is amazing. What I got out of it most was an exciting plethora of new voices to explore Aurobindo, Brockway, Kenyatta just to name a couple. https://t.co/1RUBCa9Hoz
https://twitter.com/Whebblewhite/status/1300764994871590913?s=19

Add @PriyamvadaGopal-under-racist-attack’s works to your course handbook. I am doing it for my course “Law, Violence, and Humanity”. Her Insurgent Empire will help students understand the difference between racist ideas of humanity and anti-colonial humanity. https://t.co/OBOInzxwVc
https://twitter.com/PeruginiNic/status/1276256495471034372?s=19

Congratulations to @PriyamvadaGopal who has been short listed for the Bread and Roses award for Radical Publishing, for her book Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent 🔥 we are so proud to publish this work - see more here: https://t.co/8HGQMuboZ5 https://t.co/UJcq3R9yYQ
https://twitter.com/VersoBooks/status/1277928150064934913?s=19

Perennial nondualism https://t.co/6QcvGqTHYU
https://twitter.com/loveofallwisdom/status/1300176595060174853?s=19
The opposite of Christianity https://t.co/VmUN3JXKb2

“Sesquicentenary Celebrations of Sri Aurobindo’s Birth Anniversary Makes an Impactful Beginning”: https://t.co/9RuBC4zulw via @eOrganiser
https://twitter.com/anilguptarsd/status/1300486594286071808?s=19

Open Challenge to TN Govt's HR&CE Department which is administering Hindu temples illegally & in contempt of Hon'ble Supreme Court. Prove me wrong thru Court Action or thru  open/ live debate in a popular TV Channel.  @Swamy39 @vhsindia @BJP4India @indiccollective @LostTemple7 https://t.co/https://twitter.com/trramesh/status/1300816369391251456?s=19

Jobs are lost and businesses suffered due to the damn #ChineseVirus . But most of all the humanity lost the simple joys of a coffee with friends or meeting people without panicking about virus. The joys of travelling and happiness of being carefree. Will the world be same?
https://twitter.com/artyshruti/status/1300786046855081985?s=19

Sikh royal history is no doubt filled with the spoiled & the sycophantic — but also includes many decent rulers and a select few who worked as leaders in the Sikh community. These would probably be my favorites (so far):
Ranjit Singh
Bikram Singh
Ripudaman Singh
Yadavindra Singh https://t.co/hrTpKo5yE7
https://twitter.com/JungNihang/status/1300637744721539072?s=19

IT Minister @rsprasad calls out staff bias at @Facebook which is increasingly captive to censorship by anti-democracy, anti-#FreeSpeech radical #LeftLiberal #Antifa type activists on its rolls. The platform is now the bully pulpit of Leftists, Islamists, Anarchists and Hatists. https://t.co/HwN0a34NZk
https://twitter.com/KanchanGupta/status/1300825275698040832?s=19

@narendramodi Sir
Gandhi series of currency notes/coins started in 1987.
There're other extraordinary great men whose contribution to Nation building is immense. AUROBINDO & AMBEDKAR were 2 such.
Request consider issue of Aurobindo & Ambedkar series of currency notes/coins. @RBI
https://twitter.com/prasannavishy/status/1300821879649792000?s=19

This Con commentariat class is hilarious. After voluntarily signing up for a debate on national TV (for possibly few 1000 bucks) they try to sound so sanctimonious. Dozens of daily debate on economics happens in TV/web that one can watch
https://t.co/0QaNKM72rz
https://twitter.com/prasannavishy/status/1300821259966533634?s=19

Gaana, Hungama, MX Player: The growing influence of Chinese companies through investments in India’s entertainment sector and elsewhere
https://t.co/IjMOUKxWlE
https://twitter.com/OpIndia_com/status/1300815678224515072?s=19

Christian missionaries talk of love, but the goal is the destruction of our way of life, because it is different from theirs - Swami Vivekananda
https://t.co/uqHqtLZlVD
https://twitter.com/dharmadispatch/status/1300785770890813440?s=19

A Hindu shrine in Gaya by Thomas Daniell
The shrine was likely rebuilt by local villagers and they embedded old sculptures and inscription into wall of temple. Note sacred grove. Such sacred groves were almost commonplace in Hindu temples unfortunately not taken care of nowadays. https://t.co/NO9jplCTU0
https://twitter.com/wiavastukala/status/1300806425170518019?s=19

Indian Astronomers discover one of the farthest Star galaxies in the universe. India's AstroSat/UVIT was able to achieve this unique feat because the background noise in the UVIT detector is much less than the Hubble Space Telescope of NASA: Department of Space, Indian Govt

Join Lenovo’s Senior Design Strategist, Ali Ent, as she talks design and builds a kinetic sculpture on this episode of #STEMatHome. #womeninSTEM
Click here to learn how to build: https://t.co/PpF0ZyBL04. https://t.co/WrJZLQDmUl

Open Challenge to TN Govt's HR&CE Department which is administering Hindu temples illegally & in contempt of Hon'ble Supreme Court. Prove me wrong thru Court Action or thru  open/ live debate in a popular TV Channel.  @Swamy39 @vhsindia @BJP4India @indiccollective @LostTemple7 https://t.co/ke3p32pmA5
https://twitter.com/meghara/status/1298932743724847104?s=19

I periodically see arguments about how Rāvana, Mahābali or some other Asura in Purānic stories is a Brahmin. The arguments are often given as counter to colonial/missionary propaganda of racist theories that infested the humanities, that Hindu Purānas describe a racial struggle.
Thanks for this discussion with @naman_it who forced me to explain why exotic races like Asuras don’t have Varna, and why the Mlēccha societies amongst humans don’t have it either.
https://twitter.com/vakibs/status/1300826217516609536?s=19
Previously, I discussed the Adhyātmika elements in Rāmayana. Nothing here is arbitrary, even the names of characters.

This way of looking at the Purānas is a key part of Hindu scholarship. This Adhyātmic aspect, or the Adhidaivika aspect, shouldn’t be removed from the stories.
https://twitter.com/vakibs/status/1300799821004132354?s=19