REASON AND FAITH.

When there is quarrel between religion and religion, one is sure to find out, if one observes closely, that the feud ensures, not because of religion, but because the people have become irreligious--they have forgotten the essential truths of their religion or at best they have not the ardour and the intensity to follow them in practice. When the whole mind is bent upon realising the truths of any religion, - and without that religion can hardly be brought into our life - we cannot have the surplus energy to look into the affairs of others and not to speak of, to have the readiness to fight with them, because they are on the false track. No religion is so bad but gives an ample opportunity to make one's life better to help one--to go Godward and thereby kill the hunger of the world for wars and battle, feuds and quarrels, national or international, directly or indirectly. So the religious quarrel is an expression which contradicts itself. We must seek the cause elsewhere.

As between religion and religion, similar strife arises within a religion when it is in a downward way towards degradation. Within a short time of the passing away of Buddha, his religion split up, till at last we find so many schools of Buddhism at the present day, which differ as widely from each other, as two different religions, and who knows if in the debris, the real words of the Master have not been well-nigh lost.

Christ was one individual who gave out his message to the world, for the regeneration of humanity, but now we find so many hundreds of sects in Christianity, so many interpretations and interpolation about the words of the great Master, while somebody will have the impudence enough to doubt the historicity of the Saviour himself. The fact is, in order to understand a man or a prophet, we must be one like him. The farther we fall off from him, the greater the difference and the keener the strife on that. When the sun is up high in the sky, it exposes and burns up many of the impurities of the earth which gather again in the darkness of the night. Nearer religion we live, the less animosity between different sects and religions, but after some time we oust religion altogether and plunge into internecine struggle in the sacred name of God and term it our religious zeal. No religion requires any external protection, if its internal life is all right and without that religion will defeat the real purpose for which it stands.

It is interesting to see how religion declines and how gradually we fall away from religion without our notice. Religion demands that we must have faith because it goes much farther than reason can approach. In religion, to solve the problems of that unexplored land we have to tread the ground, where the light of reason is too faint to illumine our path, where only faith can sustain us. This has been the shelter for all credulity in the world and all mischiefs that are done in the name of religion. This has been the point, where every man that raises any questions or doubts can easily be thwarted or any man can be attempted to swallow any pill that any miracle or mystery-monger likes. Nobody denies that the ways of God are mysterious, but every mystery is not the work of God. We forget that we are to pass through the sea of intellectual doubt, before we can reach the safe shore of faith, which will be its own security. 'If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, "Remove hence to yonder place"; and it shall be removed'. How true the words are! But how few are those, who can have that tremendous faith? The result is many simply waver between doubt and credulity and run the risk of either being scorched for life, or falling into a quagmire, from which there is no rise again. We forget that only after a long struggle, we can have that reason which can be trusted or that faith which is true,--and that not before our lower self has altogether been burnt. Till then, there is no shame in having recourse to either--very often to put our faith into the anvil of reason or to let our reason be winged with faith. For both faith which is in fear of reason, and reason, which has no strength for action, come to nought. But blessed are those persons, who come in contact with men, whom to obey means to go forward, to trust means to be strong, to love means to be invincible. The pity is such persons, though not scarce are very rare in the world. So the rest of humanity have to plod through chimerian darkness in land, where for a long time there is no trusted guide or safe light, excepting his sincerity of the struggle. 

Without due balance between reason and faith, we cannot very often understand the spirit of the Scriptures and words of sages and prophets, and so we fight with the letter and write hundred of useless commentaries on a simple piece of advice that dropped from the lips of a master but went straight into the heart of his disciple without the help of a linguist. Sometimes our heart is torn away to give up a custom, which had some use in one time, but no longer serves any purpose because it has become a part and parcel of a religion due to the sanction of time. All these happen because we have not a reason, which can penetrate into the nature of things or a faith which can get over the weakness of mind. Possessed of child-like faith, any chance is sufficient for us, because that itself has got a flow of life, which breaks down all opposition, but without that faith turns into bigotry and meaningless superstition, as rationalism very often ends in a theism. Both are sources of great danger to the society as well as religion itself. 
From theory, when we go to practice, we meet with greater difficulties, internal as well as external. A false sense of religion sometimes makes us weak in mind and spirit, curbs our activity and unconsciously we hug into our bosom a sort of 'pious imbecility' in the name of religion and shamelessly go to the extent of even gloating over it. When we really feel even to a slight extent that 'we are He' or a 'part of He' we find a strength within, which defies the whole universe and once we leap up to an ethereal height, where even joy cannot reach us, not to speak of woes. Far behind we leave this world with its daily round of deceitful pleasure and heartbreaking pains and when we come back, we are altogether fresh beings, bathed in a new shore, and talk things, which others understand not but gapingly wonder at.
We make the same mistake about prayer. Prayer does not mean imploring to a tyrant Jupiter, who at any moment is ready to throw the thunderbolt upon us, prayer does not signify to beg for drops of Manna, to be dropped from heaven, it does not indicate to vie with one another how to be more and more sleepish, how to make a more and more parade of our weakness and sins, real or assumed, but true prayer means the assertion of our rights as inheritors of Immortal Bliss, as sons and daughters of an affectionate father or a loving mother. If we have strayed away, it is a maya. The more we forget that, the better for us. So a healthy form of prayer proceeds not so much from weakness, as from strength--it is not a piteous cry to escape from the clutches of Satan to whom we are eternal victims, but a bold attempt to defy and suppress him...
And when we fail even in action and practice, religion to us becomes a bundle of superstition and creeping fears. We miss to keep a healthy outlook over life. We spend our whole energy to find out what is auspicious or inauspicious, whether our destiny is ruled by a Zeus in the star or a man in the moon, whether we should bow before God or prostrate before Him--we feel that we are inviting the deadliest wrath of heaven by a single instance of oversight in the observance of the minutest detail of an unimportant religious formula--all these because our heart is away, our love for God is not so strong that it can drown all petty considerations that make us falter at every step; because we have not the vigour enough to rise up and knock at the gate till it is opened and so with vengeance we dip into the stinking ditch, there to wallow and roll and spread the contagion on all sides. When the mind is weak we swallow everything that is given in the name of religion, we become easy prey to charlatans and cheats, we bind down society with all sorts of fetters and make a frantic effort to preserve the form where the substance is gone, to make a show of the crust where the kernel is dried up and every religion says it is the best in the world.
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A MORAL GYMNASIUM.

Getting Into a Gym: 'Exercise!' 'Please exercise daily'. 'Exercise is what you need'.

This is the most frequently and widely 'prescribed' advice given by medical practitioners to deal with life-style diseases caused by sedentary habits, overeating and stress. More and more studies conducted by researchers substantiate the need for this advice. Doing physical exercises is thus getting widely accepted as a necessity for the present day life-style, and not just for the youth who do it for building their muscles and biceps. No wonder in most public places, especially in big cities and towns, such as parks, roadside pavements, beaches and so on, one sees, in mornings and evenings, people dressed in sportswear, in groups or individually, often with an earphone attached to an MP3 player or mobile.

Those who do not find going to open spaces feasible or for other reasons, often become members of local gymnasium. 'Gyming' is what they call their act of exercising their bodies there - using various equipments and special techniques.

While setting up or becoming a member of a gym requires some space, expenditure and planning, there is another kind of gym which is much more easily accessible but is rarely recognised as such. This 'gym' is the world we live in - with all its complexities, challenges and experiences. Swami Vivekananda called this a 'moral gymnasium'. In his nine-volume Complete Works, Swamiji refers to it in various contexts and ways such as:

1. We only help ourselves in this gymnasium of the world. (CW, 1.106).
2. The world is a grand moral gymnasium wherein we have all to take exercise so as to become stronger and stronger spiritually. (CW, 1.80).
3. The world is neither good nor evil. It is the Lord's world. It is beyond both good and evil, perfect in itself. His will is going on, showing all these different pictures; and it will go on without beginning and without end. It is a great gymnasium in which you and I, and millions of souls must come and get exercises, and make ourselves strong and perfect. This is what it is for. (CW, 4.207).
4. God has not fallen into a ditch for you and me to help Him out by building a hospital or something of that sort. He allows you to work. He allows you to exercise your muscles in this great gymnasium, not in order to help Him but that you may help yourself. Do you think even an ant will die for want of your help? Most errant blasphemy! (CW, 5.245).
5. This world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong. (CW, 5.410).
6. Work of your free will, not from duty. We have no duty. This world is just a gymnasium in which we play; our life is an eternal holiday. (CW, 7.49).
7. Thank God for giving me this world as a moral gymnasium to help your development, but never imagine you can help the world. Be grateful to him who curses you, for he gives you a mirror to show what cursing is, also a chance to practice self-restraint; so bless him and be glad. Without exercise, power cannot come out; without the mirror, we cannot see ourselves. (CW, 7.69).
8. This universe is simply a gymnasium in which the soul is taking exercise; and after these exercises we become gods. (CW, 5.308).

In other words, we are all gyming! Not in a man-made gymnasium to cure or manage a life-style disease but in God'd gymnasium -- thus the very act of living is a kind of exercise. We are all born in a gym! And whole life is an exercise to regain our lost sense of true identity and eternity.

What Happens In a Gym?--Anyone who has been to a gym knows one thing for sure -- it is place to exercise. And generally every gym will have equipments such as dumb-bells, weights, skipping ropes, and so on. Now-a-days, the concept of multi-gym is catching up. A multi-gym is a fairly large-sized machine on which one can do several different fitness exercises, or a room in which several different exercise machines can be used.
Swami Vivekananda himself believed in doing physical exercises. The visitors to Swamiji's room in Belur Math can see the dumb-bells, generally covered with a piece of cloth, which Swamiji would use. A firm believer in developing physical strength, Swamiji urged everyone to be strong:
What I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which dwells a mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is made. (CW, 5.117).
And especially to the youth, he thundered them to be strong! He said,
We speak of many parrot-like, but never do them; speaking and not doing has become a habit with us. What is the cause of that? Physical weakness. This sort of weak brain is not able to do anything; we must strengthen it. First of all, our young men must be strong. Religion will come afterwards. Be strong, my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Gita. These are bold words; but I have to say them, for I love you. I know where the shoe pinches. (CW, 3.242).
But the nature of strength is not only physical but something deeper; one needs moral and spiritual strength without which one remains incomplete as a human being. As Swamiji explains:
We also know that the greatest power is lodged in the fine, not the course. We see a man take up a huge weight, we see his muscles swell, and all over his body we see signs of exertion, and we think the muscles are powerful things. But it is the thin thread-like things, the nerves, which bring power to the muscles; the amount one of these threads is cut off from reaching the muscles, they are not able to work at all. These tiny nerves bring the power from something still finer, and that again in its turn brings it from something finer still - thought, and so on. (CW, 2.16).
How does one develop moral and spiritual strength? By doing moral and spiritual exercises. All through our lives, we make certain choices which represent our moral and spiritual inclinations and the result of these choices is what we call our lives.
Now let us look at a gym. In a gym, one uses the equipments and machinery in order to 'bring out' the physical strength and shape up the muscles. When we use the dumb-bells, we become strong, and not the dumb-bells that become strong. They remain what they are--just dumb-bells. So also, the world--or life experiences that we undergo--is a gym 'in which the soul is taking exercise; and after these exercises we become gods'. This is the purpose of life's journey--to 'become gods'.
Godliness is what man essentially seeks in life. By 'godliness' is meant the manifestation of the inner potential which is essentially divine by nature. It is not material but divine. Hence it is not subject to what matter is subjected to--decay, death and destruction. We are not matter but Pure Consciousness presently intertwined with matter.
To rediscover his lost divine entity, that is the purpose of human life. Man is born, suffers and dies. But if he has learnt his lessons he will not return. What are the lessons? That this world is only a gymnasium for the soul to exercise and manifest its real nature. Says Swami Vivekananda,
It (this world) is like chronic rheumatism: you drive it from the head, and it goes to the body; you drive it from there, and it goes to the feet. Reformers arise and preach that learning, wealth and culture should not be in the hands of a select few; and they do their best to make them accessible to all. These may bring more happiness to some, but, perhaps as culture comes, physical happiness lessens. The knowledge of happiness brings the knowledge of unhappiness. Which way then shall we go? The least amount of material prosperity that we enjoy is causing the same amount of misery elsewhere. This is the law. The young, perhaps, do not see it clearly, but those who have lived long enough and those who have struggled enough will understand it. And this is Maya. These things are going on, day and night, and to find a solution of this problem is impossible. Why should it be so? It is impossible to answer this, because the question cannot be logically formulated. There is neither how nor why in fact; we only know that it is and that we cannot help it. (CW, 2.94).
Doing good to the world is very good. But can we do much good to the world? Have we done much good these hundreds of years that we have been struggling--have we increased the sum total of the happiness in the world? Thousands of means have been created every day to conduce to the happiness of the world, and this has been going on for hundreds and thousands of years...Is the sum total of the happiness in the world today more than what it was a century ago? It cannot be. Each wave that rises in the ocean must be at the expense of a hollow somewhere. If one nation becomes rich and powerful, it must be at the expense of another nation somewhere. (CW, 4.205).
Look at the sum total of good and evil in this world. Has it changed? Ages have passed, and practical religion has worked for ages. The world thought that each time the problem would be solved. It is always the same problem. At best it changes its form...It trades consumption and nerve-disease for twenty thousand shops. ...A hundred years ago man walked on foot or bought horses. Now he is happy because he rides the railroad; but he is unhappy because he has to work more and earn more. Every machine that saves labour puts more stress upon labour. (CW, 4.241).
So, what is the purpose of work? 'The work against evil is more educational than actual, however big we may talk'. (CW, 3.214). When we work for others, they may or may not benefit but we are surely benefitted--spiritually speaking. By all the works and experiences that we undergo we get more educated and wiser as to real nature of the Self and of the world. 'Gymnasium' remains what it is. We become strong which is what leads to Self-knowledge. 'This Self cannot be attained by the weak', says the Mundaka Upanishad. We become strong but the gymnasium of life continues to exist and function for others to come, exercise and become free.
Spirituality lies in understanding this and spiritual life is the art of putting this understanding into practice. The nearer we reach the goal of this 'exercising', the more we develop detachment, calmness, purity, generosity and love. And when one is done with one's gyming, one knows 'what needs to be known', the ever fulfilled and blissful Atman within. That state beyond death and sorrow is our state or being, the Eternal Essence of Existence, the Atman.
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C.S. Chakravarthy
H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,
Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,
Satya Classic Apartments,
Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,
Telangana State, India.
E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com
Cell: 09985732397.
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RUN WOMAN RUN.

Many women have been active athletes in school and college. They may have played kho kho, throw ball, volley ball or basket ball. Some may have played tennis, karate or swimming. If nothing else, they surely would have cycled to school, tutions or dance class. But once out of college and into marriage and children, they become sedentary. Health and fitness takes a back seat.

In the earlier days, taking care of children and doing household chores kept the women active and healthy. But in the modern world, the opportunities to stay fit has reduced drastically. And for working women, between packing lunches and preparing presentations, there is just no time  to exercise. As a result, there is an increasing occurrence of conditions like osteoporosis, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetics, coronary heart diseases and certain cancers. WHO has issued a warning that a sedentary lifestyle could very well be among the ten leading causes of death and disability in the world.

It is important therefore to take control of our own health in order to be there for our loved ones. And running is one way of doing it. It is a simple and efficient form of exercise for women. Jogging can be a great stress buster and also burns a lot of calories. Other spin offs are healthier diets and sleep patterns and a tremendous feel-good factor. Anyone who is reasonably healthy can start running. There is no expressive equipment needed.

All that you require is a decent pair of shoes and suitable clothes. And it always works if you would find other women to form a running group. Having peers will help you stay committed and focussed on your new fitness regimen. It is time to be bold and take charge of your life and put your best foot forward.

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SREYAS AND PREYAS.

The paths of Sreyas and Preyas clearly point to the goals they lead to, namely moksha and worldly aspirations respectively. Vedanta teaches the way to distinguish the real from the unreal by explaining the truth about the Absolute Brahman as that which always exists and hence is not subject to change. But the world, with its infinite variety and charms and attractions, enthrals the jivatmas easily into believing these as real and wishing to possess these. Vidhura blends such Vedanta truths with the tenets of Dharma Sastra to make Dhritarashtra realise his own failings that have deprived him of any peace of mind.

The Isa Vasya Upanishad states that the entire creation and the universe belong to God. "In the heart of all things, of whatever there is in the universe, dwells the Lord. He alone is the reality. Wherefore, renouncing vain appearances, rejoice in Him. Covet no man's wealth". What better explicit advice for individual happiness than to internalise this mantra as an inner experience and realise that whatever one thinks is his possession is actually sourced from God?

If whatever exists is the wealth of God, it automatically is not any individual's possession - neither yours nor the belonging of others. There is no higher principle than the Lord and the existences in the world are held together by Him even as the gems are by the string. A flower garland is supported by the thread which is hidden. God is behind the entire creation as the material and efficient cause of the world. He is the abiding force in every aspect of creation. Vidhura states: "Taking the wealth of others, covering another's wife and forgetting the good deeds of others are the causes for mental unrest in a person".

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RITES, PENANCE, CHARITY.

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that even when doing what is prescribed by the Vedas, the three qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas come into play. A man may resort to performance of rites, penance or charity. In each of these spheres of action the three qualities operate and Krishna explains how this happens.
He begins by talking about food. The  Chandogya Upanishad says that when one eats pure food, one gets a good memory and a clear mind. Eating an excess of spicy food will result in one acquiring rajasic qualities like anger and impatience. Eating spoilt food or eating that which is not offered to God will result in a person acquiring tamasic qualities.
Regarding rites, a sattvic rite is done to please God. Performing rites to show off one's wealth or status or in a competitive spirit is a rajasic performance of rites. To perform rites without any belief in them, or without honouring those who help in the performance of the rites.
Penance too is of three types. Sattvic penance can be mental, oral or physical. Mental penance would be dhyana; oral would be chanting His names; physical would be to go pilgrimages or to prostrate before one's preceptor. Shortening a penance and seeking benefits through penance would make it rajasic.
Doing penance that is beyond one's means or doing it as a challenge to soemone is tamasic. Charity done at the right place and time and without expecting anything in return is sattvic. Rajasic charity is giving without enthusiasm.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------C.S. Chakravarthy
H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,
Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,
Satya Classic Apartments,
Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017
Telangana State, India.
E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com
Cell: 09985732397.
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PARIS UNDER ATTACK - A CRY FOR PEACE.

Once again terrorism has reared its ugly head, this time in Paris. As usual, it is innocent people who die - they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And as the whole world is plunged in grief, one wonder why these things happen. 

On deep introspection, one comes to the understanding that there are things which are beyond human understanding. As we wonder, why would God, whom we understand to be love, compassion, kindness and forgiveness, allow such dastardly and violent acts? Some might even wonder if there is a God at all, or whether what we have been told about God is true.

When most of the problems of the world can be solved easily with love and compassion, it seems that a set of people have lost their faith in these divine qualities, and have sunk lower in the scale of consciousness, and have taken to hate and violence.

History tells us that hatred and violence never made anyone benefit, but love has healing powers. Whether we look at the lives of Jesus, Moses, Krishna, Buddha or Zarathustra, we realise that they did not become who they were, or have such a huge following, by being violent. They became who they were because of their unconditional love, for their wisdom, for their forgiveness, for their kindness and compassion, which are qualities totally lacking in those resorting to violence and terror.

In terms of the level of consciousness, it must be said that somewhere the world has lost its balance and we desperately need to restore balance and harmony...beginning with ourselves. Every thought of hate or anger or violence that we think, every negative thought that every human being has, on a day-to-day basis, adds to the collective universal consciousness. If we predominantly think love, and act out of love, we will see love. But it looks like too many of us are in the grip of negative emotions - fear, anger, apathy, guilt, desire, nursing, grudges, insecurity - and this has affected the collective consciousness in such a way that hate and violence is the energy signature coming out of the objective consciousness.

Each and every one of us needs to think, speak and act with love and only love, and this will enable collective consciousness to work for common benefit. We live in a vibrational universe, one that responds to our vibrations, and if were to believe the law of attraction, and we see acts of violence, it must be true that at some level the world is vibrating with negative emotions, and we are unknowingly inviting these things into our consciousness. 

It has been often said that even one evolved, compassionate soul is equal to a thousand unawakened souls. If this is so, then it is our duty to rise in love, and act with love. This will fill universal consciousness with so much love that there would be no place left any longer for hate and violence.

Apart from grieving and condemning acts of violence, and then going to make a conscious decision today, to be more loving, kinder, more forgiving, more compassionate, as this will go a long way in bringing about world peace and harmony.

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SANCTUARIES OF LOVE.

"The family that prays together, stays together", Mother Teresa used to often remind people. In a fast moving world, oriented towards maximum comfort and pleasure, where most things are treated as disposable, the very concept of traditional family is facing an unprecedented challenge. While the situation is knotty in Western countries, it is slowly beginning to affect the middle classes in India too.

The theme of the World Meeting of Families held in 2015 was, "Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive". The motto of this Congress was 'called together from all over the world in celebration of the family, the sanctuary of love and life". For Christians, this sanctuary of love is inseparable from one's faith. Pope Francis, who presided over the concluding ceremony of this world meeting in Philadelphia on 27th September, 2015 said in October 2013 that: "the family which experiences the joy of faith communicates it naturally...family is the salt of the earth and the light of the world, it is the haven of society..." Mother Teresa, therefore, insisted on that faith being expressed through daily prayers in families to strengthen the bond of love.

All this does not mean that Christian families do not experience problems and that faith automatically brings in love to end conflict between family members.

What it means is that while it is completely human to have conflicts on the inter-personal relationship front, faith and love provide a broader and deeper dimension. While these conflicts, caused by deep personal hurt and pain, could appear enormous on their own, seen in the light of faith and love they are actually trivial.

Faith can certainly bring alive the words of Jesus to forgive the other 'not seven times but up to seventy times seven'.

His example of showing love in forgiving the enemies who crucified him by praying even as he breathed his last - "...forgive them for they know not what they are doing" - can be practiced in one's life only with firm faith. I never forget what I once heard in my theology class forty years ago: "How insignificant many of these conflicts appear when you contemplate them in view of eternal life". How true indeed!

A family is, indeed, "the sanctuary of love". It is there that we learn our first lesson about love without boundaries that love overcomes all inadequacies and, literally, turns us 'blind' to the faults of our loved ones. When love is allowed to grow and prosper, it produces the joy which cannot be bought for any price in a supermarket of disposable commodities. In love, according to Jesus, "one is ready to lay down one's life for one's friend".

For, as the Bible teaches, "God is love" and, therefore, like God it is eternal, unbreakable by any human agency, especially in a family.---Father Dominic Emmanuel, a founder member of Parliament of Religion, can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com

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C.S. Chakravarthy 

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017

Telangana State, India.

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON INDIA.

The Great Nation.

• Our sacred motherland is a land of religion and philosophy - the birth place of spiritual giants - the land of renunciation, where and where alone, from the most ancient to the most modern times, there has been the highest ideal of life open to man. (CW 3.137).
• This is the theme of Indian life-work, the burden of her eternal songs, the backbone of her existence, the foundation of her being. The raison d' etre of her very existence the specialisation of the human race. (CW 4.315).
• This is the land from whence, like tidal waves, spirituality and philosophy have again and again rushed out and deluged the world, and this is the land from whence once more such tides must proceed in order to bring life and vigour into the decaying races of mankind. It is the same India which has withstood the shocks of centuries, of hundreds of foreign invasions, of hundreds of upheavals of manners and customs. It is the same land which stands firmer than any rock in the world, with its undying vigour, indestructible life. Its life is of the same nature as the soul, without beginning and without end, immortal; and we are the children of such a country. (CW 3.285).
• This nation still lives; the raison d' etre is it still holds to God, to the treasure - house of religion and spirituality. (CW 3.148). 

Causes of Degradation and Solution.

• I consider that the great national sin is the neglect of the masses, and that is one of the causes of our downfall. No amount of politics would be of any avail until the masses in India are once more well educated, well fed, and well cared for. (CW 5.222-223). 
• In India there are two great evils. Trampling on the women, and grinding the poor through caste restrictions. (CW 6.335).
• Without Shakti (Power) there is no regeneration for the world. Why is it that our country is the weakest and the most backward of all countries? because Shakti is held in dishonour there. (CW 7.484).
• Can you better the condition of your women? Then there will be hope for your well-being. Otherwise you will remain as backward as you are now. (CW 5.26).
• No man, no nation, my son, can hate others and live; India's doom was sealed the very day the invented the word mlechchha and stopped from communion with others. (CW 5.52).
• The one thing that is at the root of all evils in India is the condition of the poor...The only service to be done for oue lower classes is to give them education, to develop their lost individuality...They are to be given ideas: their eyes are to be opened to what is going on in the world around them; and then they will work out their own salvation. Every nation, every man, and every woman must work out their own salvation. Give them ideas that is the only help they require, and then the rest must follow as the effect. (CW 4.362).
• The chief cause of India's ruin has been the monopolising of the whole education and intelligence of the land, by dint of pride and royal authority, among a handful of men. If we are to rise again, we shall have to do it in the same way, i.e., by spreading education among the masses. (CW 4.482).

'Make India Great' - Call to the Nation. 

• Come, be men! Come out of your narrow holes and have a look abroad. See how nations are on the march! Do you love man? Do you love your country? Then come, let us struggle for higher and better things; look not back, no, not even if you see the dearest and nearest cry. Look not back, but forward! (CW 5.10).
• India wants the sacrifice of at least a thousand of her young men - men, mind, and not brutes. (CW 5.10).
• Who feels there for the two hundred millions of men and women sunken forever in poverty and ignorance? Where is the way out? Who feels for them? They cannot find light or education. Who will bring the light to them - who will travel from door to door bringing education to them? Let these people be your God - think of them, work for them, pray for them incessantly - the Lord will show you the way. Him I call a Mahatman (great soul) whose heart bleeds for the poor, otherwise he is a Duratman (wicked soul). Let us unite our wills in continued prayer for their good. We may die unknown, unpitied, unbewailed, without accomplishing anything - but not one thought will be lost. It will take effect, sooner or later. My heart is too full to express my feeling; you know it, you can imagine it. So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them! (CW 5.58).
• India will be raised, not with the power of the flesh, but with the power of the spirit; not with the flag of destruction, but with the flag of peace and love, the garb of the sanyassin; not by the power of wealth, but by the power of the begging bowl. (CW 4.352).
• But mark you, if you give up that spirituality, leaving it aside to go after the materialising civilisation of the west, the result will be that in three generations you will be an extinct race; because the backbone of the nation will be broken, the foundation upon which the national edifice has been built will be undermined, and the result will be annihilated all round. (CW 3.153).
• Let foreigners come and flood the land with their armies, never mind. Up, India, and conquer the world with your spirtuality! (CW 3.227).
• Who will give the world light? Sacrifice in the past has been the Law, it will be, alas, for ages to come. The earth's bravest and best will have to sacrifice themselves for the good of many, for the welfare of all. Buddhas by the hundred are necessary with eternal love and pity. (CW 7.501).
• If you are really my children, you will fear nothing, stop at nothing. You will be like lions. We must rouse India and the whole world. No cowardice. I will take no nay. Do you understand? Be true unto death! (CW 5.62).
• Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. This is the great need of our country. (CW 5.79).
• Feel, therefore, my would-be reformers, my would-be patriots! Do you feel? Do you feel that millions and millions of the descendants of gods and of sages have become next-door neighbours to brutes? Do you feel that millions are starving today, and millions have been starving for ages? Do you feel that ignorance has come over the land as a dark cloud? Does it make you restless? Does it make you sleepless? Has it gone into your blood, coursing through your veins, becoming consonant with your heartbeats? Has it made you almost mad? Are you seized with that one idea of the misery of ruin, and have you forgotten all about your name, your fame, your wives, your children, your property, even your own bodies? Have you done that? That is the first step to become a patriot, the very first step. (CW 3.225).
• The national ideals of India are RENUNCIATION and SERVICE. Intensify her in those channels, and the rest will take care of itself. (CW 5.228).

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C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.

E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com

Cell: 09985732397.

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DENGUE FEVER INFORMATION.

What you need to know as parents?

Brief introduction of Dengue illness: Dengue fever is a disease caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes. It is an acute illness of sudden onset that usually follows a simple course with symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy), and rash. The presence (the 'dengue triad') of fever, rash, and headache (and other pains) is particularly characteristic of dengue. The World Health Organisation estimates that 2.5 billion people (two fifths the world's population), risk contracting dengue, and that there may be as many as 50 million cases of dengue fever every year. It is caused by one of four serotypes of Dengue virus, it is possible to get dengue fever multiple times. However, an attack of dengue produces immunity for a lifetime to that particular serotype to which the patient was exposed.

Is Dengue illness always fatal and life threatening?--No! Most of the time, the child suffers from high fever, headache, body ache, rash for about three to five days and then starts improving without going into complications. In less than 5 percent of cases there can be severe disease which can lead to low platelets in blood leading to risk of bleeding, fall in blood pressure, fluid accumulation in chest and abdomen and rarely even fatal liver damage.

How are we at risk of contracting Dengue illnesses?--The virus is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person by touching or coughing. There must be a person-to-mosquito-to-another-person pathway. Dengue viruses are mainly transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes; and invasive, domestic species with tropical and sub-tropical worldwide distribution. The mosquitoes that transmit Dengue live among humans and breed in discarded tyres, flower pots, old oil drums, and water storage containers close to human dwellings. Unlike the mosquitoes that cause malaria, Dengue mosquitoes bite during the day. The virus is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person by touching or coughing. There must be a person-to-mosquito-to-another-person-pathway.

How soon after exposure do symptoms appear?--The time between the bite of a mosquito carrying dengue virus and the start of symptoms averages 4 to 6 days, with a range of 3 to 14 days.

When should I suspect Dengue illness in my family members?--During the mosquito breeding season (from July to November), children with symptoms of high fever with head ache and body ache should be shown to a child specialist for any possibility of Dengue illness. The symptoms for initial 2 or 3 days are same as in a regular Dengue fever with high fever, head aches, body aches, etc. However from third or fourth day of illness when the fever begins to settle down and rash starts appearing, platelets in blood start falling leading to risk of bleeding. Moreover, leaking of body fluids outside blood vessels starts leading to fall in blood pressure, fluid accumulation in chest and abdomen and rarely even fatal lever damage.
What is the diagnostic test for Dengue illness?--There is serological blood test for dengue fever which, if done after fifth day of onset of fever is reasonably accurate in diagnosing Dengue illness.
What is the treatment for dengue fever?--Because dengue fever is caused by a virus, there is no specific medicine or antibiotic to treat it. For typical dengue, the treatment is purely concerned with relief of the symptoms (symptomatic). Mild cases (more than 90 percent are mild illnesses) need only rest, plenty of liquids, fever control and general observation at home. Those children who have high fever with poor oral intake and weakness, may require intra-venous fluids and more close observation.
When does a child need referral to a higher medical center?-- Every child with Dengue illness need not be admitted in highly equipped health care facility. However, if a child develops more severe illness (less than 10 percent cases), in the form of rapid fall in pletelets in blood, bleeding gums, black stools, swelling over face, breathing difficulty, distension of abdomen or cold hands and feet with falling blood pressures, such children need specialised care in a hospital where facilities for more closed monitoring and treatment are available. 
How will I know whether the hospital providing care is well equipped to manage children with severe dengue illness?--Children with severe dengue illness are at higher rick of developing complications like kidney or liver failure, fall in blood pressure and contracting new infections. Those hospitals where facilities for providing mechanical ventilation, managing children's kidney or liver related problems and sound infection control practices are available, the results will be far better. Even in severe dengue illness, if managed in a well-equipped hospital, with experienced team of doctors, results are very good and death rate is less than 5 percent.
How to avoid dengue illness?--There are not yet any vaccines to prevent infection with dengue virus and the most effective protective measures are those that avoid mosquito bites (wearing mosquito repellent creams and lotions, spraying pesticides, and avoiding water logging). When infected, early recognition and prompt supportive treatment in a well equipped medical facility can substantially lower the risk of developing severe disease.
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C.S. Chakravarthy
H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,
Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,
Satya Classic Apartments, 
Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017
Telangana State, India.
E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com
Cell: 09985732397.
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A TIME OF RECKONING.

Arguably the most galling fact about the massacre in Paris on 13th November, 2015 is this: French intelligence agencies have not only expected it, but they had also taken measures to face it. Speaking to the conservative daily Le Figaro, counter-terrorism experts claimed that a terror attack on this scale and intensity was indeed the 'ultimate scenario' they had envisaged. Drawing on experiences of other countries that had experienced terror attacks in recent years, notably Spain and Russia, they were certain that sooner than later there would be a strike far more lethal than the cold-blooded murder of the journalists of Charlie Hebdo and of others in a Jewish mall in January, 2015.

Even more prescient is what Marc Trevedic, a former Judge in-charge of anti-terror cases, had to tell he the newspaper. When he was compelled to quit his job in Paris, against his wishes, he had warned that men who belonged to the Daech organisation - a synonym for ISIS - have both the ambition and the means to attack France with greater vigour than in the past. Horrible carnages await us, he declared, carnages worse than any other that have been perpetrated so far. And Trevedic went on to add: "The darkest days are ahead of us".

According to French counter-terrorism experts, as many as 571 French jihadists who fought with ISIS in Syria and returned to France were 'time bombs'. From June 2011 onwards, the police has organised mock exercises in Paris that involved three major attacks and two incidents of mass kidnappings. The special task force had scanned some 200 public places which could be vulnerable. They included not only buildings that housed the offices and residences of the President and the Prime Minister and the Senate and the National Assembly but also a number of concert halls. That this massive effort proved futile should have generated much adverse comment in the media. But that did not happen. What one heard instead was effusive praise for the swift response of the police to rush succour to the victims. The response of the public was equally impressive. After initial moments of panic, people followed police instructions to the tee with the utmost calm.

The first reactions of the habitually fractious media commentators revealed a 'republican solidarity' that they have rarely shown in the past. All were unanimous in saying that the terrorists had plumbed the depths of barbarism. Not since World War II had violence been witnessed on such a scale. In January, 2015, the terrorists had aimed at specific targets. This time however the killings were random though the choice of places where they occurred left no one in doubt about the intent of the killers: a concert hall, restaurants, a football stadium.

Here is where Parisians gather for entertainment and conviviality. The message the terrorists sent could not have been clearer: henceforth the French would be threatened as they go about living their daily life or pursue their simple pleasures. The instant expressions of sympathy for the victims and of solidarity with the people of France from world leaders - including Prime Minister Narendra Modi - doubtless drove home the message that France is not alone in the struggle to counter the most heinous menace of our times: jihadi terrorism.

Ways to wage the struggle are however not quiet clear. An editorial in the left-wing daily Liberation said all the right things in the right tone: French society must be armed with enough courage to confront the killers, to show vigilance at all times and to demonstrate its indestructible will to face the horror within the framework of legal principles. All this is fine as far as it goes but 13th November's massacre calls for translating lofty sentiments into co-ordinated action worldwide to eradicate terrorism of every stripe. The massacre, it is clear, was, in the immediate context, a riposte to France's role in Syria. That role, shared by other western powers, is neither fish nor fowl.

You cannot battle the forces of the Islamic State and simultaneously seek a regime change in Damascus. You cannot fight jihadi terror and continue to cosy up to countries that finance, arm and train terror groups. In a wider context, you cannot refer to 'root causes' - the Crusades, colonialism, neo-colonialism, capitalism and so forth - to go soft on a barbarism that is hell bent on the destruction of free societies.

Those causes - that also include the alienation, frustration and anger of Muslim youth born and bred in Europe - must surely be addressed. But this is bound to be a complex and long drawn out process. The priority right now is to strike hard wherever and whenever terror raises its monstrous head. That demands unity within countries and sustained co-operation between them. A failure on both counts would unleash a tidal wave against European Muslims which can only benefit extreme right-wing parties. That, in turn, would further radicalise Muslim youth. The spectre of a bloody civil war will then haunt not only the Old Continent - which has just welcomed thousands of Muslim refugees - but wherever the jihadis have spread their tentacles. The time of reckoning is here and now.

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C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017

Telangana State, India.

E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com

Cell: 09985732397.

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THYROID CARE IN HOMEOPATHY.

The human body is a well oiled mechanism and all the functions are well ordained. There are a group of endocrine glands in the body that produce hormones which help in achieving this objective. The thyroid gland is one which produces two hormones Triiodothyronine or T3 and Thyroxine or T4 which are accelerators of various organs of the body and set the speed at which they run. Whether it is the heartbeat, respiratory rate, the amount of perspiration from the skin cells or the female hormones that need to influence the production of ovum or for that matter consumption of oxygen and production of heat; these hormones directs the organs how fast or how slow they need to function. But under some circumstances this equillibrium goes awry.

Hyperthyroidism is a condition in which the gland is influenced to work more than it should leading to increased production of T3 and T4 and which lead to rapid haertbeat, muscle weakness, trembling hands, irritability, anxiety and gradually loss of weight. Though there is no certain reason why this condition should occur but it can be due to an auto-immune response of the body.

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which there is a slowdown of the production of T3 and T4 which then causes sluggishness, fatigue, irritability, mental depression, menstrual irregularities, constipation, dry skin and hair, etc. The pituitary gland which is the master of the "endocrine orchestra" rises to the occasion and pushes the thyroid gland to produce more by insisting on the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone to do the job.

This condition can also occur due to an auto-immune response or due to decreased activity of the pituitary gland or in conditions like Hashimoto's Thyroiditis wherein the gland is neutralised or there is a leakage of the hormone into the blood circulation or also after delivery. Certain condition when situations like hyperthyroidism are treated can lead to the gland being pushed into reduced activity too. 

The other issue of the thyroid gland can be due to the nodules in the gland. As such they may not visible or palpable and not necessarily deleterious all the time but need to be ruled out as and when they are noticed. A blood test or a scan would be done to rule out any possibility of a condition like cancer. Also like an iodine uptake test wherein the nodules take more of iodine reveals that the nodules are active or on some circumstances there is just a fluid in the areas called as cysts and are drained out.

Homeopathic medicine has remedies for all such occurences. Whether it is the over acting thyroid gland or the remedies like Iodum, Natrum Mur or the slow acting phase of the hypothyroidism when Calca carb and Thyroidin come into play and remedies like Lapis albus, Thuja, Medorrhinum help the cysts away after ascertaining the contents of those

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C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.

E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com

Cell: 09985732397.

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NUTRITION IN A NUTSHELL.

Huffington Post reports that tender coconut water - packed, of course - is America's latest health craze. The marketing strategy, it says, has been to dub the drink as "nature's sports drink" and "life enhancer". And it has hit its mark with celebrities who have "replaced their acai berry drinks and Kabbalah water" with cartons of coconut water. Vita coco and Zico are the major sellers, says the report, adding, "as fads go...the US coconut water industry went from zero to $35 million". It then asks: But with a price tag of $2-3 for a typical 11 fl. ounce pack (about 10 sips), is it really worthy paying top dollar for, well. top water?

"Coconut water is full of electrolytes", says Nirmala Jesudasan, consultant dietician, Cherian Heart Foundation, Chennai. "It helps replenish body salts after sweating, and is good support material for nutrition. There are records of people surviving only on coconut water for days". Dieters must love it. "It has little sugar, little cholesterol and no fat", she says.

What makes the drink a star is its K factor. You eat fruits and veggies to get your potassium, while a glass of coconut water has 569 mg of this mineral - which is almost twice the amount in banana. Potassium tends to regulate blood pressure by counteracting the stimulating effects of sodium, of which it contains only 160 mg. This in turn helps to prevent problems like stroke, heart attacks and hangovers. Compare this to 14 fl. oz. of a standard sports drink, which contains 52.5 mg of potassium and 192.5 mg of sodium. So we have no quarrel with the ad blitz calling coconut water Mother Nature's answer to dehydration.

Health on a budget.com claims coconut water is anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. "A 2008 research study showed that coconut water contains peptides (small proteins) that can kill bacteria. It helps relieve stomach upsets, protects against ulcer-causing bacteria H-pylori". Its answers for "why coconut water?" includes the water's ability to dissolve kidney stones, bring stress relief (small amounts of B vitamins such as thiamine, ribofavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, B-6 and folate play a crucial role in lowering anxiety, depression and stress), hangover relief, weight loss (naturally isotonic, increases metabolism) and detoxification.

Chinemere Onuekwusi of Yahoo! Contributor Netwrok believes coconut water stops all kinds of adverse drug reactions. Its sodium+potassium+magnesium composition makes it a good substitute for saline-glucose, he writes. Coconut water is germ free (pyrogen free: a substance that causes fever). It has been found very useful for natural oral re-hydration therapy (ORT). "It is on record that coconut water if taken during feverish conditions reduces fever", he says. "It is also known to calm nervous and emotional imbalances. Taking coconut water regularly aids in flushing the liver, since it contains lauric acid that has anti-microbial properties".

"Over-hyped", say some. You can get some of these benefits from other fruits and vegetables, they argue. Liz Applegate, Director, Sports Nutrition at UC-Davis isn't sold on coconut water as a post-exercise drink. Its high-potassium, low-sodium combo isn't ideal, she said. "When you sweat, you lose a lot more sodium than potassium". Plain water does the job just as well, notes Samir Zakhari, Ph.D., Director, Division of Metabolism and Health Effects, National Institute on Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism.

The kidneys preserve electrolytes when we drink, so there's no need to replace the electrolytes with coconut water. Also, there's no scientific evidence that coconut water has anti-aging and kidney health properties. Nor will it cure cancer and hypertension. "If you have a kidney problem, consult a doctor about tender coconut water intake", said Dr. Nirmala.

But you really can't equate coconut water to plain water. Coconut water contains several antioxidants and essential minerals. It beats that fake-coloured, fake-sugar drinks any day.

Nutty Notes:

1. Diets high in potassium can help lower blood pressure and promote heart health, according to the American Dietetic Association.
2. Coconut water is a good source of potassium, but get it from whole foods such as veggies (spinach, sweet potatoes) and low fat milk as well. They supply fibre and Vitamin D.
3. Coconut water contains cytokinins, plant hormones shown to slow the aging process in plants and fruit files, according to a study in Molecules. The benefits aren't proven in humans.
4. Drink directly from the coconut.

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C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.

E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com

Cell: 09985732397.

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A STRONG CASE FOR AMENDING MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY ACT.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in India came into existence in 1971. It was amended in 2003 to facilitate better implementation and increase access for women especially in the private health sector. However, even four decades after the Act came into effect, unsafe abortions are a reality. Making out a strong case to amend the Act to increase the availability of safe and legal abortions in India, all stakeholders argue that unsafe abortions still continue to outnumber safe and legal abortions in the country. Unsafe abortions contribute to eight percent of the total maternal deaths and unaccounted figure of morbidity.

These maternal deaths and morbidities can be addressed through expanding the base of safe abortions, more so keeping in mind the medical advancements. Proposed amendments have been under the consideration of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the past seven years. However, nothing concrete has come out due to the fear of 'misuse of liberation abortion law for sex selective abortions'.

One of the major amendments calls for expanding the base for medical termination of abortions by including mid-level providers in conducting the procedures, particularly during the second trimester, and certification for allowing the abortion by one provider as against two, as is the case now. In the backdrop of shortage of doctors, certification by two service providers - two gynaecologists or two MBBS doctors with requisite training to conduct abortion or a gynaecologist and one MBBS doctor with requisite training - to allow termination of pregnancy often acts as a barrier for women wanting abortion. The issue is more critical in the rural areas where there is an acute shortage of a gynaecologist even at the Community Health Centers. The system therefore forces women to go for unsafe procedures.

Experts make their arguments stronger by quoting the 2011 census figures; close to 70 percent of people live in 6,41,000 villages. Qualified doctors are primarily available in urban areas rather than rural areas. The recent national level facilities survey report (IIPS, 2005) highlights that only fifteen percent of the Primary Health Centres across the country have at least one doctor who has received MTP training. This implies that 2.24 lakh rural population have access to only one MTP trained doctor.

The facility survey 2003 highlights that while sixty percent of PHCs are equipped with MTP equipment, only six percent of PHCs offer safe abortion services. One of the primary reasons for this is the non-availability of trained providers. Even if one trained doctor is available at all PHCs across the country and offers MTP services, the number of women served would be 15,000 to 20,000. This would still not be adequate to make safe services available to women. There is global evidence to show that "trained mid-level providers can perform manual vacuum aspiration safely, and provide medical methods of abortion" and that doing so "can help ensure appropriate service availability and accessibility without compromising safety" (WHO technical consultation 2003).

Studies in India have shown that MVA can be provided with equal safety and effectiveness by nurses and physicians. Shireen Jejeebhoy of Population Council in a study in August 2011 concluded that medical abortion can be as safely and effectively provided by Ayurveda physicians and nurses as physicians with MBBS qualification.

C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.

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FOR ROBUST ONLINE PRIVACY.

In today's climate of zilch online privacy, communicating effectively and secretly has become a dream for individuals as much as for institutions and governments. Everything that is communicated over the Internet today gets copied. Perhaps there are several copies worldwide. This is a problem that bothers Nicolas Gisin, Group Leader, Group of Applied Physics at Geneva University, who has co-founded ID Quantique, a company that manufactures Quantum Key Distribution Systems. He says, "In ten or twenty years, there is no way to guarantee that today's classical cryptographic systems cannot be broken; either by progress in mathematics or classical computer technologies or by quantum computation". He is quick to add, "If we want our exchanges to remain confidential for decades to come, we have to act today...we cannot wait".

While classical key distribution systems rely on the difficulty of factoring large prime numbers for their efficacy, a quantum key distribution relies on the physical properties - namely that when you observe a quantum mechanical system it gets altered completely. So if a quantum state is exchanged between two people, and a third person eavesdrops on the system, they would be destroying the state and thereby bringing it to the notice of the two people that they are being spied on. 

Speaking of the importance of Quantum Key Distribution, Prof. Gisin adds, "So if you want your secrecy to remain confidential for ten, twenty years hence, you have to change your encryption system today. That is a very important thing to understand". A quantum computer may not yet be available for use, but several related products have already made their way into the commercial sector, notably, the Quantum Key Distribution System. Being proven to be secure theoretically makes these systems very exciting. The first company to bring out these systems commercially was ID Quantique, a small company in Geneva, started by academicians in 2001.

The cost of purchasing and maintaining such a system today could be anywhere between 50,000 to a 1,00,000 dollars, according to Prof. Gisin. It is certainly not for the average to use at the moment. The systems use optical fibres to connect the sender and receiver (Alice and Bob as most computation textbooks would use). So far, QKD system has been demonstrated over distances of fifty kilometers. Gisin's team first demonstrated this in a famous experiment across Lake Geneva. Today, they have a line of such products. However, hackers could get around even this apparently fool-proof system. In 2010 and 2011, Vadim Makarov from the Quantum Hacking Lab, Waterloo, Canada, suggested a way of eavesdropping on QKD. This involves temporarily blinding the receiver Bob by shining high intensity light and intercepting the quantum key, and sending a classical communication of the sequence to Bob, who would not detect the difference.

As a counterpoint to this, ID Quantique has come up with introducing random checks. With their work on quantum cryptography being at this stage, the company has also started manufacturing quantum random number generators: Random numbers can be generated very quickly - four mega bits per second. Thus, four million random bits are generated whose randomness is guaranteed by the laws of physics.

C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017

Telangana State, India.

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COMET IMPACT LEADS TO BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE.

A crash of a comet (icy body) on rocky surfaces or rocky body on icy surface may be all that is required for seeding planets or satellites with amino acids - the basic building blocks so very essential for life. This was predicted using computer simulations in 2010 and 2013. Though comets harbour the organic precursors - some kind of carbon like methane or carbon dioxide a nitrogen source like ammonia and water ice - of amino acids, the conversion of the precursors to amino acids would happen only if the impact has a specific speed, and hence, a specific shock pressure.

A study published in Nature Geoscience has for the first time experimentally produced amino acids by mimicking the impact of a rocky body on an icy surface. "Our impact-shock experiments support a revival of the hypothesis of the role of comets in exogenous delivery to the early earth", notes Zita Martins from the Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Imperial College, London and the first author of the paper. To mimic the way amino acids are produced by impacting comets, the researchers prepared several ice mixtures found on comets and shocked the mixtures by impacting them with 2 mm steel balls fired at high velocities. "Several amino acids, including linear and methyl alpha amino acids" were produced. Detectable levels of amino acids were formed only when the ice contained a mixture of ammonium hydroxide, carbon dioxide and methanol in a certain ratio (9.1:8.1) and was impacted by steel balls at 7.15 kms per second and 7 kms per second speeds. These velocities produced a pressure of fifty gigapascal (5,00,000 bar). This is the approximate pressure required for the dissociation and recombination of the ice molecules", they write.

To make sure that it was only the impact of the steel balls that produced the amino acids, the researchers split a block of ice into two and only one was impacted with balls. No amino acids were seen in the control ice mixture that did not undergo shock synthesis. They also repeated the process a year later using freshly prepared ice mixtures with identical compositions as in the experiment carried out a year before. 

Repeatability: The state of amino acids produced was the same in both the ice mixtures impacted with steel balls. The only difference between the first experiment and the second was in the abundance of certain amino acids produced. Since the alpha amino acid is produced by a two-step process, the initial composition of the ice - ammonia, carbon dioxide and methanol - is very important, they note. Another important observation has been the respective roles of impact shock and impact beating in the formation of alpha amino acids. They stress that impact shock (pressure) produced by the steel balls converts the ice mixture into amino acid precursors; the impact heating then changes the precursors into alpha amino acids.

"Our findings suggest a pathway for the synthetic production of the components of proteins within our Solar System, and thus a potential pathway towards life through icy impacts", they write. Since many of the icy bodies in the Solar System have the compounds used in this study, the probability of amino acids being present is quiet high, considering that these bodies are bombarded by comets.

C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.   

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CARING FOR YOUR TV SET.

Of late, Televisions have become the most common form of indoor entertainment. Till recently, what was merely a symbol of luxury available only to the elites, TV is being used by all, irrespective of whatever their level of income. Television, as a means of communication and education for the betterment of society, is unparalleled, regarding its reach. Subsequently, the introduction of colour television and expansion of the Television network throughout the country with the establishment of more transmitters and relay stations has led to tremendous increase in the demand for television sets resulting in a plethora of models now available in the market. Despite what the advertisements proclaim and whatever the brand of television one buys, the components are likely to be the same. The performance of the TV will mainly depend on the quality of the picture tube and the skill of assembly. A reputed brand with a good local servicing facility may be a safe bet in the jungle of several new makes being introduced almost everyday.

A good TV should render an average of 5,000 hours trouble free performance. The antenna is a vital part of the TV and should be preferably fixed by a trained technician. The antenna, the feeder wire and the TV receiver should be properly tuned with. Any mismatch arising out of this chain will result in horizontal displacement of the screen known as ghost shadows. On the top of buildings especially on sky-scraper flats, we see a plethora of antennae. This will usually distort the picture clarity. The trend is to provide built-in-antenna in each flat or a multi-purpose dish antenna. Antenna adjustments are more critical for colour TV's than the black and white ones. In week signal areas, booster amplifiers are most useful. Television receivers must be kept away from sunlight. Even artificial lights should not be allowed to fall directly on the screen. A light bulb or tube light may be switched on behind the TV sets. Ordinary bulbs should never be used as they cause reflection on the screen.

The viewing distance should be at least eight times the diagonal width of the screen. For example, a 51 cms screen TV must be viewed from a distance more than eight meters away and so on. Usually children tend to sit on the floor close to the TV. They are bound to get myopia in a few years time apart from other serious eye troubles since both the angle of viewing and the level of viewing impose a heavy strain on their optic nerves. So far as viewing hours are concerned, as per medical opinion, one should not go beyond two hours of watching at a stretch, you must not intently look at the screen. Flickering and closing of the eyes occasionally to relieve the strain are precautions you must take. 

In the market, there is more money in extras -- such as anti-glare screen, stand, stabiliser and other accessories. So a dealer will professionally be inclined to push as many accessories as he can to you. You should never be swayed by their sweet tongues. You should thoroughly examine their usefulness before you buy them. The anti-glare sheet which consists of blue glass is not necessary. Such a screen in fact reduces picture clarity and to compensate, you may have to go for brightness knob at a much higher position than necessary which is detrimental to the life expectancy of the picture tube. 

Television should be viewed from the eye level. Don't burden yourself additionally with a stand. A table of convenient height at home will do. Most TV sets have built-in stabilisers with Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS). So an additional stabiliser is not necessary. This will add to your extra cost and also damage the set. Dust is the biggest single enemy to TV receivers. The Television should invariably be covered while not in use with cloth. Since it works on high voltage and gets heated, the set needs ventilation.

C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic, Tarnaka,

Secunderabad- 500 017

Telangana State.

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