Love Moves the World :)

A pair of pigeons perched right across my kitchen window. Had to take a hasty shot so my neighbors did not think I was taking pictures of their home !

Jai Guru Dev,

Science Exposes ...

Photo Credits : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25836608


I read this recent MSNBC article stating that the mystery of the Aurora Borealis had finally been solved. Which had me thinking about a beautiful knowledge by Guruji .

Beauty has three levels: indication, expression and exposure. Spirituality indicates, art expresses, and science exposes.

Sri Sri Ravishankar

I remembered back when my dad gave me a beautiful book as a kid - don't remember the name - but it was about nature's mysteries. I vividly remember seeing a picture of the Northern Lights as the Aurora Borealis are also called and going Aah Wow ! I did not digest any more information about the lights but something within me certainly lit up.

Somehow when I recently read the above mentioned article, the same WOW did not emerge. An excerpt :

Angelopoulos and his team used the THEMIS probes to monitor the energy levels in Earth's magnetic field. In February of this year, the spacecraft spotted substorms originating in the tail of the magnetosphere that streams out away from the sun. As energy levels in the magnetic field lines built up, they drew ever closer to one another until they reconnected, setting off a storm, researchers said.

For the last three decades, researchers were undecided on whether the substorms stemmed from magnetic field lines reconnecting, or originated much closer to Earth where they were triggered by explosive instability.

"Our data show clearly and for the first time that magnetic reconnection is the trigger," said Angelopoulos.

The research is detailed in the July 24 online edition of the journal Science.

First discovered in the 19th century, magnetic substorms are recurring energy bursts stemming from the release of charged particles — collected from the sun's solar wind — in the Earth's magnetic field. The high-energy particles zoom down the Earth's magnetic field lines until they collide with the planet's upper atmosphere to create dazzling, shifting colors in the aurora borealis.

Despite being scientifically trained, somehow the above explanation left me cold and not in the same state of wonder that I experienced as a child .

I wonder - is it really necessary to rip apart every phenomenon and lay bare its inner workings ? Its the same feeling one gets when one opens the hood of a car or a computer and peeks at the inner parts. Somehow the handsome Merc / Macbook Pro do not feel the same again - at least to me !

Certainly that is the purpose of science but then what larger purpose does it really serve ? I believe something beautiful such as the borealis should serve as a way for someone to go "Wow - just look at that" , wonder about the beautiful hand that created it or simply take them to silence .

I guess it has to do with one's state of seeking at a point in life. When intensely intellectual, a scientific explanation serves the purpose. As the seeking deepens, such explanations cease to satisfy . An acknowledgment arises that all (or anything ?) cannot be explained. The more we seek to explain, the more the mystery deepens.

What the Bleep Do We Know ! :)


Jai Guru Dev,

References :

• Nasa Spacecraft Reveal Cause Of Auroras
  
• Beauty Full
  

The Airport

I was at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai yesterday seeing off H&S. The heart was heavy as I knew I would not be meeting them for a few months. After they disappeared inside the terminal, I waited outside waiting for a call from them saying all was well.

This gave me a unique opportunity to watch life in the airport as a spectator. I have mostly been sent-off, this was one of those rare opportunities when I got to bid someone farewell and shed those silent tears after they were out of sight.

A large (and I mean LARGE) Gujarati family was bidding 4 members of their entourage farewell. 4 individuals were set to travel and about 40 had showed up to see them off. Whoops of joy, greetings in Gujarati (presumably meaning 'farewell' or 'bon voyage') rent the air as the 4 walked smilingly celebrity-like on the red carpet towards the departure door and into the vast-nothingness (for folks seeing folks off at CSIA) beyond.

A mother stood tearfully advising her son (presumably not to smoke, drink or date foreign girls) while the lad stood with his face turned away, half embarrassed, half in pain at having to bid farewell to his dear mom in a few minutes.

Several men-in-badges were escorting folks (mostly women with heavy baggage and a cranky toddler-in-tow and foreigners who didn't realize this was a ruse to relive them of their remaining pocket change and not the traditional Indian traditional send-off for guests) to the departure gate and beyond.

A frantic woman was trying to convince the security guard that she was late for her flight and hadn't brought her e-ticket along and that he should let her pass.

A familiar TV actor was waiting for his flight departure to be announced, drably dressed - presumably to avoid being recognized . That didn't work too well as we figured him out as did a couple of teens who wouldn't stop leering and pointing at him until he got uncomfortable enough to walk away.

A couple walks up and asks to be photographed. I oblige . The guy wants intimate (stop thinking evil !) pictures and the tries to get close to the girl who blushingly fends him off.

The call finally came - H&S had successfully checked in their bags and were at the departure gate . After a tearful phone farewell, I took the elevator down to the parking, passing arrivals on the way.

A huge crowd waited for the arriving passengers. Every now and then, a whoop rent the humid Bombay end-November air as a a loved one met with another loved one. Hugs, chocolates, flowers are exchanged -in no particular order as the loved ones walk away to a waiting car or auto-rickshaw.

Anticipating faces await further news about a delayed flight about to bring a loved one home.

The numerous literally fly-by-night drivers of rental cars await their passengers.

As I make way to the car park, I am thinking - How is this so different from life anywhere else ? An airport terminal is simply a microcosm of the busy urban life anywhere else in India. Here you get to see it all up-close and personal - if you are willing to observe .

My car leaves the parking lot and the mind thinks - everything I just saw is probably playing itself out again and again right now. The loud family, the couple, the frantic passenger, the TV actor ....everything, just that I am not the current witness.

Life happens. And we are just spectators who come and go. Life happens...

Jai Gurudev,