Ramanujan Summation

According to the Ramanujan,

1+2+3+4+...= -1/12

How can this even be explained rationally?

How can an infinite series of positive, whole numbers add up to a finite, negative, fractions?

Mind-boggling this is.

Valuable lesson from Livia, Augustus Caesar's wife

When someone asked her how and by what course of action she[Livia] had obtained such a commanding influence over Augustus, she answered that it was by being scrupulously chaste herself, doing gladly whatever pleased him, not meddling with any of his affairs...

Livia and Augustus Caesar were married for 51 years and she had a strong influence over him. He even erected a statue for her.

So, what lessons can we learn from Livia?

• She did whatever pleased him
• She didnt meddle with any of his affairs

Shall we try one of these as a personal discipline not only with our spouses but anyone we would like to be in harmony with?

Good Educational Resource

http://teacherswatercooler.blogspot.in/

Thanks, Vani, for the find.

Etymology of 'Evolution'

Etymology of the word "Evolution":

evolution (n.) 

1620s, "an opening of what was rolled up," from Latin evolutionem (nominative evolutio) "unrolling (of a book)," noun of action from past participle stem of evolvere "to unroll" (see evolve).

Used in medicine, mathematics, and general writing in various senses including "growth to maturity and development of an individual living thing" (1660s). Modern use in biology, of species, first attested 1832 in works of Scottish geologist Charles Lyell. Charles Darwin used the word in print once only, in the closing paragraph of "The Origin of Species" (1859), and preferred descent with modification, in part because evolution already had been used in the discarded 18c. homunculus theory of embryological development (first proposed under this name by Bonnet, 1762) and in part because it carried a sense of "progress" not present in Darwin's idea. But Victorian belief in progress prevailed (and the advantages of brevity), and Herbert Spencer and other biologists after Darwin popularized evolution.

It's interesting to note the root of the word "evolution". From the beginning, the word meant "an opening of what's rolled up". So, it clearly shows "something cannot come out of nothing". The being in question that evolves has already existed. but in a rolled up state. Evolution unrolls the rolled up being. 

Surrender and Cleaning

I have started reading the book 'The Magic of tidying up' by a Japanese cleaning consultant. I may have read 20-25 pages but the crux of the book is clear: the process of cleaning involves three steps.

1. Focus on a healthy living -- both physically and mentally
2. Getting rid of unwanted things
3. Cleaning for the sake of perfection

I was able to correlate this to the process of Surrender Sri Aurobindo speaks of. 

In the case of Surrender, the three steps are

1. Aspiration
2. Rejection
3. Surrender

In both cases, the focus is on

• Aspiration. The writer says cleaning can transform your lifestyle. So, the aspiration to have a healthy mental life is the key, the driving force. 
• Rejection: In Surrender, you reject the lower aspects of your consciousness. In cleaning, you throw away unwanted things. Reject them. 
• Surrender. The process of cleaning should have as its aim perfection. And that entails Likewise, the process of Surrender should have perfection as is aim without expectation, without egoistic assertion of our will-- Let Thy Will be done. 

Your thoughts on this are welcome. 

Love

Sri Aurobindo says Love is a yearning of the One for the One.

How can the One yearn for Itself? What is the need to do so? Why should it yearn for Itself? What are your thoughts on this?

Moving from the Vital to the Mental: Towards a new paradigm in Education

• We live predominantly in the Vital.
• Lizzie moved from Vital to the Mental after she reads the letter and says, "I have not known myself till now." Being rational is being mental. 
• Education, before become spiritual, must first become mental. 
• Social forces evolve when man evolves. Vital Man can't create Mental Education. 
• Currently, the education system is steeped in 20th century conventionality. Conformism is considered the norm in a system where imitating as opposed to emulating is encouraged. 
• How can the shift from the Vital to the Mental take place? When the student starts questioning himself, his views of the world, his opinions, his perspectives and the opposite viewpoints as well. 
• Does he reject something because others reject it? Does he follow a theory because some famous Nobel Laureate praised it? 
• Rationality flowers when Man starts questioning. 
• Chances are, most of the knowledge (read information) we inherit has its source in the society. 
• No thought, no opinion, no idea of ours is original. If we trace an ides to his historical roots, we always find no accomplishment is attributed to one specific moment in history. Understanding the evolution of an event and the individual concerned in its entirety is understanding history. 
• To know one single isolated Individual can accomplish something without the help of the society is rationality, which may lead to humility. 

This post will be updated every now and then. 

What stops us from consecrating when we know it's the ultimate solution?

Question:
What stops us from consecrating when we know it is the ultimate solution?

My answer:

• Willful ignorance
• Choice
• Not willing to take responsibility
• wanting to be in one's comfort zones and not willing to come out of it

are some aspects I think stop us from taking up consecration. 

Now, the next ultimate question is, how can we make consecration a discipline? A discipline that doesn't take the life or energy out of any event or us but rather energises us? Where do you think we can start? 

Look forward to your answers.
Your thoughts or any striking experience that brings out the power of consecration are most welcome.

Education and the Seven Ignorances: Part 1

Education and the Practical Ignorance

The next second in Life is an uncertainty. It doesn't mean the moment is not real or that the present is the only real entity. Or that the past and the future are illusory. The conception of illusion is rooted in ignorance. The famous Advaitin example of the snake and the rope clearly illustrates the problem is with the observer and his ignorance. Not the object he deems as illusory. Man often says the thorn pricked me. This reflects a transfer a responsibility, a perverse tendency to shift the blame on others. Just because he sees the rope as snake doesn't make the rope a snake. The rope is what it is, a rope. Still, the ego sees it as a rope. The enlightened spiritual individual can see the rope as himself. As energy.  

Illusion exists as long as ignorance exists. The conception of Illusion is willful ignorance, in that man doesn't want to see or perceive what is obvious. 

That said, Time by itself is neutral in nature. It's human choice that shapes events, not time. The past and the future are integrated in the present. So, the next moment carries with it the possibility of a multitude of choices which range from learning from the past to conquering the future by knowing what the power of Human Choice is. 

A student doesn't know what his passion is. But he wants to pursue something he is passionate about. The question arises as to how how he can pursue something whan he doesn't know what the "something" is? This is a practical problem every child faces these days. Should education stop with a single degree, or should I start working right away? Should I opt for a stream I like or something that has a lot of scope in the job market? Something will make me feel secure? are some questions that explain how practical 'practical ignorance' is.

So, what can a student do to come out the ignorance? What can he do to become less anxious?

He may ask himself these questions: Am I willingly letting the society cocoon me or am I making a decision I know is in tune with my value system? What do I really want to do? Am I chasing happiness or am I really in tune with my aspirations to find the purpose of my existence? Do I have the patience to stick to my ideals? Or am I being rebellious just so I can oppose society, which is still social conformity but at a negative level. "I want to do what others don't want to do so I will be recognised as an individual" is not individuality. It's petulant individualism. 

Putting man on Mars

Only yesterday, I thought man on mars will be a good movie. I didn't know people are actually working for it.

http://www.space.com/28215-elon-musk-spacex-mars-colony-idea.html

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