Super News for elephants in India !

( Picture from the book 'Gods in Chains' by Rhea Gosh')

No more magnificient elephants in chains in zoos. No more public sourrounding and petting a chained baby elephant. No more so many people mouting on a elephant for elephant joy rides ! I saw all these sorry scenes during my visit to the Bangalore zoo a few months back . But now ,Yay ! Central Zoo Authority has banned elephants from zoos and circuses , they are to be sent to national parks, tiger reserve and sanctuaries as soon as possible :) Thanks to God and the people who made this possible.

News Article at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Elephants-to-be-banished-from-all-zoos/articleshow/5221159.cms

I wish and pray for a similar ban on temple elephants that are made to stand all day alone on concrete floor in the same position , swaying, exhibiting unnatural behaviour. Its a sad sad scene.

Companionship

A MUST SEE beautiful cartoon on Companionship - Missing piece meets the big O

Whole vs Fragmented person

The following post is from my friends blog:

Got this beautiful diagrams from a presentation prepared by Prof Devdas Menon. Thanks to him for sharing these diagrams, originally from 'The eight habit' by Stephen Covey.

Instead of having a noble vision in our minds, we usually have a cultural software. In other words, our minds are typically focused on achieving what the prevalent culture considers to be prestigious to achieve. So, we usually do not even have a vision forget even a noble vision! Sad reality!

Similarly, instead of having a disciplined body we indulge our body all the time - be it sex, food or being a couch potato. Indulging in some of these now and then provides spice but we mostly only live for these things resulting in total deterioration of the body. A disciplined body is a must to be able to achieve anything worthwhile. Its the vehicle through which all our actions are performed in this world.

Finally, our hearts are a social mirror. There is seldom anything that we are passionate about. Likes and dislikes are tailored to accomplish social acceptance.

An individual who transcends these boundaries of the body, mind and heart is a whole individual who constantly inspires people around to find their own internal voice and transcend these boundaries.

Judgement and Recognition

The following is from my friend's blog :

In the following, by recognition, I mean, noticing the differences in people - someone is rich, someone is not, someone is powerful in the society and someone is not, someone is beautiful and someone is not, someone is smart and someone is not, someone is enlightened and someone is not etc etc. By judgment, I mean, our emotional reaction to these differences - for e.g., the idea of VIP's being given special treatment, attraction to taking photographs with well known faces, internally 'valuing' beautiful and smart people more than others etc etc.

As a child, we do not recognize. Hence, we do not judge either. Recognition is a must for judgment.

As we grow up and become adults, we learn to recognize. Hence, we start to judge also. We play games with people in order to benefit us someway or the other. Of course, not with everyone and not all the time. Nevertheless, teachers love smart kids, people like to throw names of the powerful people whom they know etc etc. This is definitely a stage that most of us go through. Unfortunately most of us do not go forward and instead remain there. hi

The next stage is the spiritually awakened state where an individual recognizes but does not judge. Most differences between humans are understood to be arbitrary and dependent on a series of accidents. All relationships are with the purest essence of the individual and hence no differences are recognized between individuals! Of course at this state, we might stay away from a 'troublesome' person but the constant internal anger directed at them will be missing. Unless one spiritually moves forward, it is difficult to do so.

AWPT new website !

AWPT has launched its new website http://www.awptrust.org/ !!! Check it out !

AWPT - Animal Welfare and Protection Trust , Chennai is an animal welfare organisation in Chennai run by two senior citizens Padmavathy and her husband Narasimhamoorthy. This sweet old couple, they are doing an awesome job! Visit the site and note down the helpline numbers.

Back in Action !

Hi folks ,
Sorry for the long delay . But am back in action with a lot to post ! :) Im going to be starting a new label 'Spirituality' in which im going to post stuff that I like from my friend Partha's blog . All the posts under this label is written by him, unless i mention otherwise. You can visit his blog at http://core-dumped.blogspot.com/