“SO WHAT?” – Define Yourself!

People are ever so bothered what others are talking behind their backs. They are so interested in finding out what others thought of them. The question is, WHY? So long you are leading your life in accordance to Nature’s Law, why be afraid or worried what others have in mind? Why change your approaches or the way you are just to fit in, or be part of their circle of friends?

Let me remind you that most ‘successful’ people were never “normal” in the eyes of others. Somehow, they were different because they dared to be different! They wanted to be different, that is why they are successful in achieving a different result compared to the rest who were merely run of the mill.

Many worry of being socially ostracised if they just be who they really are. So they lose their uniqueness by being what others want them to be. For these people, the easiest path to walk is the one that has society’s approval. But how many people can you please? Haven’t you heard of the statement: “You just can’t please everybody!”

In the world, everything has its own definition. Human beings tend to define every single thing they see, touch, hear, smell, taste or feel. Not only that, they even define what they did not experience with their five senses!

So yes! Life is a definition on its own!

But the act of defining something is also very subjective in nature. It is subjected to various factors. For example, if I were to present an apple to three different people coming from three different backgrounds, their perception of the apple will of course, be different! Let us see:

Photographer: A tool to express creativity.
Scientist: A breakthrough in Science as it is an invention that captures light onto paper.
Other ordinary person: A tool to capture special moments

So at the end of the day, what does ‘definition’ actually mean?

For me, it simply means the reflection of one’s internal beliefs or values, which influences one’s perception. Nothing less, and nothing more.

How you define an object, a person or a situation is the reflection of ‘YOU’!

So, why do so many get carried away as to how others think of them? Yes, I do admit that it is important to have what sociologists call “social control” to a certain degree, but really, ONLY TO A CERTAIN DEGREE! This will make one analyse his/her next step before committing something bizarre.

But at the end of the day, when “social control” takes over your life, that’s what I call “an unhealthy state of mind”. You are not free. You are bound by what others think of you. You are bound by the values and expectations others set on you. No! This simply isn’t what life really is. From my opinion, life is meant to be a free flowing river whereby you set your own course / cause.

I would then say, the most important thing in your life, is how you define yourself! Who do you see yourself as? What do you think of yourself? Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

The outside world can give you plenty of suggestions, but will you allow them to sentence you into whatever they have said you are or will be?

NO!

Your internal talk is what is of utmost importance to you. A healthy level of self-esteem is what will make your life not only good, but marvelous! When you are negatively swayed by what others say about you, it only reflects to yourself that you do not possess enough self-confidence. Remember that an empty can makes the most noise.

Whenever you are faced with a negative situation, and you bark out at them, it is your self-defence mechanism coming into play. You feel threatened as you try to convince others, or rather yourself, that you are not what they said you are.

But when you are so sure of being who you are, you wouldn’t even bother wasting that precious time, trying to convince them of that. You will just turn your mind to something more productive, because you are 101% sure that you know yourself better than anyone else out there.

So the next time you catch yourself saying:
“She said I’m this and that……….. I’m not like this or that…..”: STOP IT!

Don’t justify. Ask and answer yourself honestly. Once and for all:

“Am I really like this?….”

If you are not, just throw everything he/she said outside the window.

If you have always lived your life trying to figure out what others thought of you, do you not think that life is just so painful? Do you not feel that “trying to catch up with their game” is an agony. Of course it is! You are always in doubt. You are always paranoid. By doing so, you have clogged your share of life’s happiness.

So what if they said you are not a good friend?
If you are the best friend one can have on earth, will their words change you? NO! You will still continue to be that good friend.

So what if they said your charitable acts are only a show?
If you know for sure your acts were genuine, your conscience is clear. So you wouldn’t even feel the pinch or guilt in you!

So what if they said you are over-ambitious in your career?
Are they living your life for you? Does it affect them in any way at all if you are willing to work harder for your job? NO! Who is going to be the one reaping the fruits of your hard labour? Them or you?!

So what if they said your dream is too big?
When you have finally attained it, are they still going to say it was too big? NO!
You will find them more silent than ever, until you wouldn’t even know that they are there!
Just remember. Define yourself! Do not let anyone have that power over you. Your power is within!

The next time anyone tries to define you in any way that is not pleasant, just remember the two magic words:

“SO WHAT?”

I am that I AM. Remember that…

Message from a fellow INDIAN…

Being born Indians, we are all GENETICALLY more emotional people…most oof you might disagree but let me give you an example, see a car accident by the road side, the first bunch of outsiders to run there and check if everything id OK would be INDIANS, see a fight going on, one of the main guys would most probably have nothing to do wit the cause of the fight in the first place….this is because, we are a bunch filled with abundance of love..we do not see other people like others do…we might say we do not care about Mr.X or Ms.Y, but the moment we hear they are in trouble, we would at least want to know what actually happened.
Today at VMIA women’s day, i saw that enemies or friends, everyone worked together, everyone helped, and everyone laughed…all this made me tear…all this while, most of us were in pursuit to find the best friend, and the best bunch of group to hang out in to the point where we forgot that these people were all around us all this while. ( We were reaching for our neighbors PS2 while having our own X-box right under the TV cabinet…).
To all my friends out there, please do open your eyes and look under the TV cabinet…because the best is always right around us…we are often taught to look far that at a certain point, we practically loose sight of what we actually wanted…
We ARE Indians, so i understand that we are hardwired to be emotionally driven…but once in a while, do put all those negative emotions aside and get a clearer view… the person who might change your life might be right there….and you might just pass them by…
i literally cried today…because of all the love all of you showed to each another…after another 3 years, i might not be able to feel this way anymore….after that, i might not even have a true friend…therefor, i would like to take this opportunity to tell all of you:- thanks for all the love you guys showed, thank you for showing me the meaning of having friends and sisters and brothers, who would go to the extend of not sleeping for a few days just so that one function could be done right, so that not only one or two, but everyone would be totally satisfied with the event…thank you for accepting the fact that your an INDIAN, and using it the right way…
🙂

Indian contribution to Maths.

Impact of Mathematics on Art and Architecture

Indian art is highly symbolic. The art and architecture produced on the Indian subcontinent dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Therefore from that alone it can be determined as to how culturally influenced it must have been. The basic mathematical principals of Vaastu Shastra were also practiced. The form of the Hindu temple, the contours of the bodies of the Hindu gods and goddesses, and the light, shade, composition, and volume in Indian painting are all used to glorify the mystery that resolves the conflict between life and death, time and eternity. The arts of India expressed in architecture, sculpture, painting, jewelers, pottery, metalwork, and textiles, were spread throughout the Far East with the diffusion of Buddhism and Hinduism and exercised a strong influence on the arts of China, Japan, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Java. Interest in arithmetic and geometric series may have also been stimulated by (and influenced) Indian architectural designs – (as in temple shikaras, gopurams and corbelled temple ceilings). Of course, the relationship between geometry and architectural decoration was developed to its greatest heights by Central Asian, Persian, Turkish, Arab and Indian architects in a variety of monuments commissioned by the Islamic rulers.

Pythagorus theorem used in architecture:

The Samrat Yantra, at Jaipur, designed by Jai Singh, measuring 147′ at its base and 90′ high could calculate time within two seconds accuracy per day.

Recursion in Hindu Temple architecture

According to ancient architectural tradition, Hindu temples are symbols of models of the cosmos and their form represents the cosmos symbolically. According to the Sthapatya Veda (the Indian tradition of architecture), the temple and the town should mirror the cosmos. The temple architecture and the city plan are, therefore, related in their conception.

The procedures and methods used in the construction of Hindu temples bear a striking resemblance to the procedures of computer graphics, including discretization and extensive use of recursive procedures. Study shows that the instructions given in ancient Vastu shastras (texts on architecture) work like general programmes to generate various types of temples. Many studies have shown that these designs date back to the fire altars of the Vedic period which were themselves designed to represent astronomical knowledge (Kak, 1995, 2000, 2002). An assumed equivalence between the outer and the inner cosmos is central to the conception of the temple. It is because of this equivalence that numbers such as 108 and 360 are important in the temple design. Following explains briefly why 108 and 360 are important.

108 and 360-The Universal Measure in Various Domains

The ancient Indians were excellent mathematicians and 108 may be the product of a precise mathematical operation (e.g. 1 power 1 x 2 power 2 x 3 power 3 = 108), which was thought to have special numerological significance. They used the following practice of measurements.

Powers of 1, 2, and 3 in math: 1 to 1st power=1; 2 to 2nd power=4 (2×2); 3 to 3rd power=27 (3×3×3). 1×4×27=108
Sanskrit alphabet: There are 54 letters in the Sanskrit alphabet. Each has masculine and feminine, shiva and shakti. 54 times 2 equals 108.
Heart (Anahata) Chakra: The chakras are the intersections of energy lines, and there are said to be a total of 108 energy lines converging to form the heart chakra. One of them, sushumna leads to the crown (Sahasrara) chakra, and is said to be the path to Self-realization.
Marmas: Marmas or marmastanas are energy intersections like chakras, except they have fewer energy lines converging to form them. There are said to be 108 marmas in the subtle body.
Time: Some say there are 108 feelings, with 36 related to the past, 36 related to the present, and 36 related to the future.
108 names of the God/Goddess
108 dance poses in Classical Indian dance
108 beads in their japa malas. They implement the following formula:
6 x 3 x 2 x3 = 108; 6 senses [sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, thought]
3 aspects of time [past, present, future]
2 condition of heart [pure or impure]
3 possibilities of sentiment [like, dislike, indifference]
108 pilgrimages
10,800 bricks in the altar
That list goes on.

They also used other measures in practice such as:

The mathematical or geographical evidence proves that one circle has 360 degrees in space. Why is this circle or wheel of life considered to be of 360 degrees only? If we take a circle and start dividing it using the four elements and three attributes, all the logic can be observed.

360 days
360 bones in Ayurveda
360 bones of the fetus become the 206 bones of the adult

The Ramanathaswamy temple shown below was built in the 17th century. Situated close to the sea on the eastern side of the peninsula, this temple is famous for its 1200 gigantic granite columns. This temple, spread over an area of 15 acres , has lofty gopurams, massive walls and a colossal Nandi. Rameswaram also boasts of a 4000 feet long pillared corridor with over 4000 pillars, supposedly the longest in the world. The carved granite pillars are mounted on a raised platform.

The 54 meter tall gopuram (gate-tower), 1220 metres of magnificent corridors and the flamboyant columns embellish and render fame to the temple. The water in each of the 22 sacred wells in the temple tastes different.

Other Examples of architectures and significance

Hindu temples represented the outer and the inner cosmos. The outer cosmos is expressed in terms of various astronomical connections between the temple structure and the motions of the sun, the moon, and the planets. The inner cosmos is represented in terms of the consciousness at the womb of the temple and various levels of the superstructure that correspond to the states of consciousness.

Dholavira city map

A late example of a city designed according to the Vedic precepts is Jaipur. Vidyadhara, who designed the plan of the city, used the pithapada mandala as the basis. In this mandala of nine squares that represent the universe, earth occupies the central square. In the city, which consists of nine large squares, the central square is assigned to the royal palace. They calculated and planned city map using recursion:

Length of City / Length of Middle Town : 771.1/340.5 ≈ 2.26; Length of Middle Town / Length of Castle: 340.5/151 ≈ 2.26

ConclusionIndia’s contributions to mathematics played a pivotal role not only in the modern art, architecture and industrial revolutions, but also in the scientific developments that have occurred since. No other branch of science is complete without mathematics. India provided vital elements of mathematics and scientific foundation without which humanity could not have entered this modern age of science and high technology