tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38149155344467883232024-03-13T23:55:29.723-07:00voice of silenceDr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-79690977113378041442009-12-26T15:31:00.000-08:002009-12-26T15:35:46.166-08:00Vyasa's questions and Darwinism re-visitedABSTRACT<br /><br />AUTHOR:DR SUVARNA NALAPAT<br /><br />Survival of the fittest in Indian sciences of Ayurveda,Music,and yoga is increasing ones own strength and living in balance with nature ,and not by killing microbes.The system is for increasing ones immunological homeostasis so that all jeeva or biodiversities exist together without destroying each other and the name given to this practical way of living was Ahimsa.<br /><br />Science asks questions and seeks to find out answers.In 3104 BC Vyasa(Ref 1) asked questions.<br /><br /> 1.Is there a creator for universe?<br /><br />2.If so,who and when?<br /><br />3The cyclical rhythms at mathematical precisions in the universe cannot be manmade.So what force has created them ?<br /><br />4.We find different types of life(biodiversity)and nonlife,a seed in mothers womb growing up to a adult,and then die,the sky with timespace with several universes created in its womb revolving in everchanging yet endless ways,the earth supporting everything,,the elements,the intelligence,the athma ,mind sensory and extrasensory perceptions in awakened,and sleepy states .Some are vyaktha(seen by sensory organs)and others avyaktha(not perceived by sensory organs).Where and when did all these originate and when all this will come to an end?<br /><br />5.What is death?Who am I?You?And why does children born of different seeds/parents differ so much in so many features?<br /><br />6.How do we see the seven colours in a peacock feather or a rainbow?How do we hear and distinguish the panchama of a koil,and how did the emotion of veera(valour)develop in a lion?<br /><br /> He gave answers from Kanaadavaiseshika,Kapilasamkhya,Yoga,Meemaamsaka ,ancient astronomy,medicine ,and philosophy that existed prior to his time. .While questions Darwin asked were only on life and its diversity and evolution(botany,zoology,ecological relations,Mendelian laws of inheritance and probability)these include the molecular and subcellular structures which goes to the paramaanu(subatomic/quantum levels)of physics and chemistry and astrophysics and links the nonliving macrouniverse and microuniverse with the living biodiverse world and oneself as an evolved human mind with a neurosensory mechanism having intelligence to find out answers .The concept of a unchanging universal force or energy (Brahma as God)equivalent to a changing moving revolving Prakrithi(nature)with all the diversities and its evolution and the universal laws for such evolution appeared in India several thousand years before Darwin (and Einstein )ever thought of such questions.<br /><br />The Kanaada(ref 2 ,3) system of Paramaanu explains evolution by natural selection..He says only a person with intelligence can grasp ,reflect and make sentences in the veda for communication (language and literature and its origin by human race)and thus acknowledges reflective thinking in science (Vaiseshika 6-1-1)Systematic observation,hearing of the sciences/scriptures of ancients,reflection ,discussions among likeminded people,and synthesis of knowledge is called Anweekshiki or enquiry in science of India which Kanaada accepts .Hence he is scientific as well as religious.There is no distinction between science and religion for him..He says that an avyaktha become vyaktha(perceptible by sensory organs)by change in the maathra(maathraaparinaama)and Guna(gunaparinaama).Which is in other words ,change in the quantity of subatomic particle can change the quality of the object and thus by addition or substraction of maathra different objects of different quality are formed and thus the biodiversity in the world is created. <br /><br />Kanaada’s darsana is different from the postDarwinist evolutionary theories of attributing grades of savagery, Barbarism ,civilization,and enlightenment according to ethnicity and racial supremacy (ref 4)and giving evolutionary space for tribals between man and monkey.(Ref 5).It does not produce a superior race which thinks we can convert people from savages to a monoculture of same religion and in this way destroy biodiversity.Instead it follows a practical method of tolerance,allowing all forms of life and nonlife to survive by natural selection.In human relations it is by matrilinear inheritance from the same tribes that the ethnicity and quality is preserved(monocultures) and by patrilinear inheritance new races are created allowing biodiversity .The cousin marriages of India is in a way based on Mendal’s law of inheritance and probability theory..The agricultural practices and human practices were not different in India because we didn’t distinguish between a plant and human life as different.Both are creations of God ,to be preserved and allowed to diversify .<br />Kanaada system is a type of quantum Darwinism (ref 6)which allow the observer to use nature as evidence and witness ,leaving the system untouched and its state unperturbed.This untouchability of a particular group of ancestors/plants/animals/birds/forests (as sacred grove) is to preserve the race /biodiversity as well as the monocultures.<br />I would be presenting this aspect of Kanaada vaiseshika and his paramaanu (subatomic)theory which is the scientific basis of religion and social practices of India .<br /><br /><br />References<br />1.Sri Maha Bhaagavatha By Ved Vyasa.Sri Guruvayurappan Sankeerthana trust publication.Based on Sreedhareeyam with commentary Bhakthapriya .Vaisravanath Raman Namboothiri Revised ed 1983.Kerala,India<br />2.Kanaada doctrine of the padaarthaas .Veena s.Gajendra Gadkar .Sri Sadguru publications New Delhi .India .Sri Garib Dass oriental series no :49 Ed 1988<br />3.Vaiseshikadarsana ,with vedabhaskara commentary .Pandith Kasinath sharma .Printed by DevaDathasasthri .V.V.R.I Press Sadhu ashram .Hoshiarpur .January 1972 .From Adyar library Chennai.<br />4.W.J.McGee Head of Anthropology department St Louis world fair ,pp 278 q.Wexler .L.Tender violence Uty of North Carolina press Chapel Hill 2000<br />5.Jacobson M.Barbarian virtues.The United States encounters foreign people at home and abroad.Hill and whey New york 2000 ch 4.<br />6Relative states and environment:Einselection,envariance,quantum Darwinism and the existential interpretation .Wojciech Hubert Zurek .Theory division.MS B 213 LANL Los Alamos NM 87545 USA ,Feb 3 .2008Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-82502036663567421042009-02-07T06:59:00.000-08:002009-02-07T07:02:06.188-08:00Art based on Hindustani musicAn appreciation of Vidya Sunder’s art in relation to Hindustaani music<br /><br />Creativity is like a flower to a human being.Without it humans cannot exist.Even the most unimaginative person have his/her dreams ,the natural flowers of his/her mind.Each of us are an assortment of Raagaas in a definite order/rhythm just as our proteins (building blocks of body)are an assortment of aminoacids in a definite order.The order in the cosmos and in the human body and in the sampoornaraagaas of Classical music are in the same rhythmic patterns.With that are made multitudes of raagaas,lifes, and human beings …..<br /><br />The creativity of Vidya Sunder is in her varna (in paint) corresponding to the varnaas in music and is an experiment in visualization of music.Her visualization has a touch of romanticism and originality in it.Look at that Bageshri.She has used all the colours of the cosmic Vaishnavamandala except that of east ,the golden yellow of dawn.Because it is a viraha mood and in Tamil the bhaava is that of Mullaithinai.The white moon with a blue around and reddish periphery merging with it is the fastmoving agni of passionate longing for the beloved and the veera of a decisive mind in achieving the reunion.The small green jasmine entwined with a shrub having bunches of blossoms show the mood of the expectant woman in a vipralambhasringhaara. .The white is peaceful and soumya and both the moon and the flowers share that quality.The mood and time(night)are corresponding to the raaga as traditionally described.The eternal waiting for the dawn….<br /><br />Behag is also a meditative love.But in contrast the moon and the waterlily are in the ecstacy of their union,totally merged in a romantic dhyaana .The parijatha flowers waft in the wind as swaraas drift from the lovers heart .A soft fragrant touch of the flower gives a platonic touch to love.But one wonders.Are they only the flowers/swaraas?Arent they the stars from a bygone past /a previous janmaas memoirs ?The suggestion is given by a few white dots above the moon and above the tree .The way of leaving a gap for the onlooker to have their own romantic imagination makes any art distinctive.Vidya has that quality in her.<br /><br />Megh Malhar is another symbol of her creativity.People think to sing a raaga in only the appropriate time prescribed is good.But the timing is given to give us an idea of the mood and bhaava.The artist who can create the effect of a bhaava/time even when the external factor(season/time)is not there is the really creative artist.One has to bring the effect of a rainy season in other seasons too .Look at that Konna (Suryamukhi in North India)drenched in a torrential rain.We know it is a tree that flowers in hot season-April /May in South India.But it is shown in a monsoon rain.Didnt Tansens disciple sing Megh Mallhar when he was in a fiery experiment with Deepak ? To decrease heat/Tapas is the lifegiving rains of Malhar.This shows the power of music in making its effects felt even without any other external object .<br />Finally the colours of orange red( saffron )to give the fiery Tapas /dhyana mood of Marva.And a tiny soft succulent plant which is used by small children to wipe their slates clean is seen in the picture,as if we are children in front of the supreme truth.Even that tinytot is lost in dhyana ,melting in the sublime bliss .Is it wiping away the letters from a previous Janma or the samsaaradukha of this janma to enter into a new musical nirvana? One wonders.<br />Vidya is a young promising artist with a flare for colours and a natural creative mind .May God bless her creative endeavours to meet with due recognition.<br /><br />Dr Suvarna NalapatDr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-19127054775829892222008-11-24T21:02:00.000-08:002008-11-24T21:05:17.202-08:00Jagdish ChandraBoseJagdish chandrabose ,the first creative scientist of Modern India<br /><br /><br />It was Britain’s highage of experimental science,and naturalists pondered <br />,experimented and pontificated within the Royal institute of science.They <br />were amongst the most eminent scientific Victorians of Britain.Davy,Faraday and Thomas Henry Huxley were expounding the glory <br />of science.On such an occasion, on a Friday evening in London on January 1897,gathered scientists to hear someone who traveled five thousand miles ,from Calcutta,to present the scientific credentials of it to the west.The lecturer was Jagdis Chandra Bose(1858-1937)a native of Bengal,the then capital of British India.He spoke to his audience with the help of the various instruments he had invented ,of the discovery of optical properties of electric waves,now called radio waves.For Bose and for India ,that was a moment of profound history.Bose’s science was the offspring of the union of science and extrascientific elements.This made him an interdisciplinary scientist who straddled on physics and life sciences.He was the first physicist as well as the first plant physiologist of India ,a pioneer in two very different scientific disciplines.He was not only interdisciplinary,but actually crossed from one discipline to another.He was the pioneer of Indian science in Modern India ,and a maker of the independent Indian science., a science made by Indian scientists in Modern India.The Asiatic society of Bengal made by Indologists was active in his period.It was studying the Indian past ,including Indian science and the Indian’s talents for metaphysical,speculative thinking ,in ancient astronomy and mathematics etc .But that was about the past.An Indian conducting experiments and scientific observations were impossible and an Indian mind is incapable of rational thinking demanded by the rational western sciences,was the general thought of the time..Bose worked in this scenario,and as Subrato Das Gupta points out in the introduction of his book,(Jagdis ChandraBose,and the Indian response to western science Oxford uty Press 1999)the space,time,politics,society and culture were against Bose and he didn’t even have the infrastructure of a laboratory to work from.He worked from a small room(20 ft square) and laboured amidst the most primitive physical circumstances as far as a laboratory is concerned.Yet produced several instruments(the names were Indian like Thejometer,Kunjometer etc) with which he could demonstrate all his points.The name of Bose is not recorded in the written history of radio waves ,or it was rather erased from it due to some unusual circumstances and personal rivalries so common among scientific communities like any other professional groups.<br />.<br />In 1902 Bose crossed over from Physics to biology and drew strange parallels between responsive behaviour of living matter like muscles,plants and inorganic matter, like metals.The responsive unity amidst the diversity of natural world was due to its electromagnetic wave function which we cannot visualize (he called it Abyaktha)but still exists and energy in living matter is the same as energy in inorganic matter which later became acknowledged by western science ,as the famous equation of relativistic physics by Einstein.But ,still, the name of Bose is not mentioned by the Indian Physicists even in the history of radiowaves .He is just pictured as a Plant physiologist.The interdisciplinary approach of modern cybernetics was not born in Bose’s period and he was traveling ahead of western science was the real reason for this.He was creating prehistory of modern radiowave and electromagnetic theories and grand unification theories of astrophysics.<br />Bose found that the living and the nonliving exhibit similar responses to certain stimuli and there is a basic unity in responsiveness of animate and inanimate world as well.In Gillispie’s Dictionary of scientific biography ,published in 1970,it is pointed out:Today when biophysics is a generally recognized discipline ,Bose’s ideas seem less controversial,and may even be taken as forshadowing Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics.Bose’s creative genius pondered the relationship between the animate and inanimate ,between plant and animal,between ordinary and sensitive plant ,and was driven not only by science but also by culture ,aesthetics,and metaphysics.His journey was from the purely inorganic world of metals and electromagnetic waves to the organic realm of animal muscle ,plant tissue and to nerve responses as conduction of electromagnetic waves.His writings from 1902 had been one long argument in defence of his thesis.There were Bosophilic and Bosophobic botanists in his times,and some critics called his work as alternative science ,and him as a lapsed scientist and half-forgotten mystic.<br />A mystic is a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity or identity with the ultimate truth.But Bose’s reality was not from contemplation alone,nor from self-surrender ,but by way of remarkable,delicate,and scientific instruments one after another ,which he himself had conceived during his lifetime and built for him by an Indian tinsmith according to his instructions.There was an interplay of polarities as contemplation /experimentation and metaphysics in his creative process.The interaction of the polarities seem to lie at the heart of Bose’s genius.<br />Creativity is connected with originality.It may be seen as creation of a poem,novel,music,painting,scientific theory,mathematical theorem,or technology.Each field has its own criteria for originality,and if these are satisfied one is called a creative genius.Originality is always the property of the product of ones thought process.And therefore creativity is an attribute of the thought process that gave rise to the product.In this way,originality of a personal kind (psychologically original)and historical kind(historically original)occurs.Only when the relevant community of the respective field (peers/critics/scholars)judge a creation as original a product is called psychologically creative and historically creative.Bose had a sophisticated subtle Indian mind making intimate contact with western rationality named modern science.<br />The world contain several opposites-west and east,contemplation and experimentation,thought and action,philosophical ruminations and material instruments ,myths and empirical facts.In the pursuit of unity of all these ,Bose considered the unity of life and nonlife ,aspired for something which the scientists of his time were not even aware of,and when he spoke or wrote of his science,he resorted to language of literature as to the unemotional prose of science,just as Stephan Hawking of our times does in his writings .He was a man who straddled two cultures,two worlds,two system of values ,and in so doing emerged as the individual with a wider horizon ,keener intelligence ,a more civilized humanbeing.He was an enigma of eastern mind dwelling in the realm of western science.An interdisciplinary thinker /scientist.<br /><br />Background.<br /><br />Bose was born on November 30.1858,one hundred and fifty years ago,the new era of western science when the meeting of Linnaen science was held in London,and which marked the new era of British domination in India after the 1857-58 revolt,which is called as the Bengal renaissance period.His father was a Brahmo who held executive and magisterial positions in British India.He was educated till age of 11 in a Bengali Pathsaala ,not in a local English school.The father thought his son should know his own language and culture first ,and then imbibe the other cultures and languages.His classmates were ‘sons of toilers’ and those belonging to the depressed classes .Bose recollected later that he owed his love for nature to those classmates of him.Only in 1869 he went to Calcutta into the world of European education in st Xavier’s college of Belgian Jesuits.In 1880 he graduated as bachelor of arts from university of Calcutta.Then went to London to pursue his medical studies.The medical learning was interrupted due to Kala azar he contacted during his undergraduate days.In his anatomy hall his illness was exacerbated by the odours of the dissection hall and he was adviced to abandon medicine.Medicine’s loss was natural sciences gain.Bose left London for Cambridge where in January 1882 he entered Christ college to read natural sciences.In 1884 he obtained a bachelor of arts in Natural sciences.In 1883 he also got a bachelors degree in science from London.Armed with two British degrees ,his Cambridge connections and along with his Indian degree he returned to India as a scientist .He was appointed as the first Indian Professor of physics in Presidency college in 1885.Sir Alfred Croft ,the then director of Public instruction for Bengal told Bose that 40 years back Macaulay had remarked that Indians were incapable of doing science and did not have the temperament for the exact sciences.But fortunately for Bose,the viceroy ,Lord Ripon intervened and Bose was appointed inspite of the strongest protest of Croft and Mr Tawney ,principal of the Presidency college.In 1887 Bose married Abala Das,a student in Madras Medical college ,and the cousin of Desabandhu Chitharanjan Das.Thus ,though he had abandoned medical science,medicine came into his life through his marriage. <br /><br />Musical analogy of wave mechanics <br /><br />Bose sought to draw analogies between and unity amongst properties of light and electromagnetic waves,between visible and invisible light.He proved by his experiments that electromagnetic radiation behaves like light and the two phenomena are identical.On Friday 29th Jan 1897 in Royal institute,he lectured on electromagnetic radiation and polarization (attended by 550 people and chaired by sir James Crichton Browne.)demonstrating his findings with his instruments ,and at the end of the lecture he became oratorical and used a musical metaphor.He asked his audience to imagine a large electric organ having keys capable of producing different ether notes.The lowest key produced just one vibration in one second-a gigantic ether wave 186000 miles long.Each subsequent key produced progressively high notes.Imagine an unseen hand pressing the different keys in rapid succession .The notes will be rising gradually in frequency.When the sea of ether is thus agitated,the human witness is left unmoved since he cannot see ,feel or hear the agitation.At some point he gets the feeling of a warmth ,the infrared radiation.Then he will perceive a red light ,colours for a brief time and this is the realm of visible light .When the keys of the electric organ produce still higher frequencies our organs of perceptions fail us completely and there is again total darkness.It is this region of invisible light which I am exploring,he told the audience.His work was part of that exploration ,he reminded them.In his words human beings with their sensory organs are partially dumb and deaf and blind ,because they see or hear only part of the whole with the direct perceptions and it is like hearing only one of the octave in musicology.It is never complete unless all the seven are there,and heard ,and unless we are able to perceive the infrared and ultraviolet rays of the spectrum as well.<br />It is interesting that several years after this lecture, Einstein used the same figure 186000 as the speed of the Einstein train,for speed of light.The dwani/varna or acoustics/optics of India also take the same figures as in Indian astronomy and Upanishads.In his commentary on Chandogya Upanishads Sankaracharya gives the law of optics and acoustics(varna and dwani)in the modern scientific way.Whether Bose knew this or not ,we have no evidence,but it is possible that he knew.<br />Bose concluded his words thus:”The land from which I come did at one time strive to extend human knowledge ,but that was many centuries ago.The west had since taken over.Yet ,I would fain hope that a time may come when the east will take part in this glorious undertaking and that both west and east would one day collaborate in bringing out the manifold blessings that would follow this enterprise.”That was an Indian mind with a knowledge of western science speaking for the western audience.And when he returned to India in 1897,after lectures in Berlin and Paris ,he got a new friend .Rabindranath Tagore came to his house with an offering of magnolia flowers.<br /><br /><br />Abyaktha ,the unmanifest or inexpressible <br /><br />By March 1900 attributing lifelike properties to inanimate matter had taken firm hold of Bose’s mind.On 16th March 1900 he wrote to Tagore that by his research he find the boundary between living and nonliving has been lost.His advaitha even extended to polarization between science and literature.The two cultures were not apart in Bose’s eyes.The world’s greatest poet and greatest scientist are not yet born ,he wrote to Tagore,until the two kinds of understanding ,the scientific and the poetic ,are assembled in one and the same person ,each will remain incomplete.For him the scientist and the poet were of a kind.The poet strives to express the inexpressible,sees by way of heart and imagination what others fail to see.Scientist similarly pursue a light beyond the visible light ,listens to the sound beyond the audible sound,and gathers a tremulous message .Both of them look beyond the expressed.Poet expresses in rhyme and meter ,the unknown realms .Scientist translates the abstract discoveries into human speech.Therefore he calls the realm as Avyaktha(Sanskrit word –abyaktha in Bengali)where both the poet and scientist enjoin as fellow travelers.This was quite opposite to what Aldous Huxley a novelist of the time said.The scientist according to him deals with what are essentially public or shared aspects of human experience whereas the poet /literary person is concerned with most intimate and private elements of that experience .Science strives for generalization and abstraction,literature with individual and unique.Language of science is formal jargonized for it strives to express unambiguously and with utmost clarity.Language of literature aims to convey multiplicity and the nuances of the human condition .When we compare the views ,we see that Huxley’s words are that of a onesided outlook whereas that of Bose embraces both a literary and a scientific mind,because he knew both the languages.A unified theory which is now accepted by science as well as art.<br /><br />The view of Bose is that of Rgvedic monism or advaitha philosophy where Brahman the original reality wherein all matter ,all life,all laws ,whether natural or ethical were present in an unmanifest (abyaktha)state and from which the all emanated and assumed the manifest,determinate form.In his lecture on Literature and science Bose said that after generations of the quest for unity,the idea comes to us spontaneously and we apprehend no insuperable obstacle in grasping it.He said it was only after he saw the mute witnesses of his records of the electrical responses that he came to understand the message proclaimed by his ancestors,thirty centuries ago,that only those who perceive are rare, amidst the changing manifoldness,only he/she perceive truth ,unto none else ,unto none else it is revealed.<br />The organic is foreshadowed in the inorganic and there is a continuity of things in the world from the lowest to the highest,according to Samkhya philosophy of India,and inorganic ,vegetative and animal entities are just three stages in the evolutionary process.Only the qualities change or interact and form different varieties and the qualities(guna)in turn is due to the different combinations of Paramaanu(subatomic particle)according to Kanaada Vaiseshika theory of India.this is used in all sciences of India including astronomy and Medicine and natural sciences and it was this that Bose was finding out through the western experimental methods and instruments devised by himselves.The difference in animate and inanimate was just one of degree according to Indian science .Now the unification in science has found out this ,but when Bose spoke about it western science was not that much evolved to understand what he was talking about.Ashis Nandy stated that Bose gave a special Indian perspective to Indian science.The entry of the monistic philosophy and hence an Indian perspective marked an evolution in the scientific style of Bose which in all other respects retained its western character .A genius draws together two or more ideas which are totally unconnected by a phenomenon called bisociation and according to Albert Rothenberg(psychiatrist)these ideas are opposites or antithetical.And the thinking which connects such opposite ideas he termed Janusian.Gerald Holten wrote a genius brings to bear upon his work the harmonies and disharmonies ,the strengths and conflicts of his environment.The work of a genius has substantial aesthetic and emotional appeal and the power to move others.A powerful universal appeal,so that its effect extend beyond immeadiate domain of inquiry ,a philosophical,cultural and social significance.Genius is discovered not in splendid solutions to little problems but in the struggle with essentially eternal problems.Bose had this genius in him and his concentration was on what is eternal,not just on what is life.It encompassed both living and nonliving,both scientific and literary enquiry into eternal .Physics, biology,medicine and philosophy of ancient India joined hands with western scientific experimental evidence.He was working on an eternal ,yet invisible law that knew no change ,acting equally and uniformly throughout the organic and inorganic world in a pursuit of oneness (Advaitha)and this Indian mind armed with western science marks modern India’s scientific spirit .The fact that this is the forerunner of the modern grand unified theory and cybernetics makes Bose an alltime genius with universal appeal.<br /><br />Today,on 30th of November 2008,India celebrates his 150th birthday .Indian scientists and citizens pay homage to the memory of this great genius.<br />(.The author a graduate in biology,postgraduate in Medicine ,is a Pathologist by profession ,and a literary person by birth , interested in astrophysics,musicology ,and a student of Sankaraacharya’s Advaitha philosophy .email id is snalapat@yahoo.com )<br />Ref for this article .Jagdish chandrabose and the Indian response to western science.By Subrata Dasgupta .Oxford uty press 1999.<br /><br />Dr Suvarna Nalapat MD (Pathology)<br />J/79 G/B Aiswarya apartments<br />1st main road<br />East Annanagar<br />Chennai 600102<br />Ph 45500078<br />snalapat@yahoo.com www.nalapat.comDr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-60469041228310154132008-05-03T08:46:00.000-07:002008-05-03T08:56:24.267-07:00Music Therapy-An Interview By Stanley stephanAn Interview by Stanley Stephan<br /><br /><br />1.Music therapy overview.<br /><br />1Music means different things to different people.How do you define music?What does it mean to you?<br /><br />Ans:It is undefinable.Because it is Naadabrahma/God for me.<br /><br />2.What is the theory behind music therapy.Homeopathy theory is that like cures like.Ayurveda states that the human body is composed of three fluids vaatham,pitham,kapham.And disease is an imbalance in their proportion.<br /><br />Ans:The basic principle behind music therapy is Naadalayayoga.To be one with naada,to be one with prakrithy or nature.In Homeopathy the principle of similia and in Ayurveda the principle of balancing the thriguna(satwa,rajas,Thamas)are the basic principle.Music therapy by Naadalayayoga gives an advaitha of all the different types of methods of cure.<br /><br />3.Can diseases be cured with music?What are they?<br /><br />Ans;Yes .can be cured.From lullaby to deathbed there are innumerable situations where we can use music both as curative and prophylactic measure.The best thing would be to start using it as a preventive one,and do research on the curative values.For developmental defects and for normal development of personality we can use music in children.In adults also to reduce stress,to increase creativity and efficiency and to prevent Cardiovascular symptoms and for curing several diseases you can use.<br /><br />4 How does music cure diseases”?<br /><br />Ans:If I speak in terms of Allopathy ,I will have to say Neuropsychoimmunologically.There are several neuronal pathways and networks which affect our psychosomatic character and behaviours.The stimulation of such networks lead to secretion of chemicals collectively called neuronal peptides ,or even as hormones .The blood supply to the activated centers increase,bringing more oxygen to the site,which allow these centers to be identified when we give music.The neuropsychoimmunological function activation leads to the cure,prevention and arrest of certain symptoms and signs of disease.This is a very general statement .It involves quiet a bit of complicated and complex interaction between immune systems,nervous system and our psychosomatic system which is kept in complete homeostasis(a word for balance)<br />If,I say by ayurveda ,I will say that the thrigunas in our body are wellbalanced (homeostasis called sama and saama by Indians)by good music,so that we get a balanced Niraamaya personality,and the aama or toxins in our body are removed by increased blood supply and oxygen which is equivalent to Praana.Indian Raagachikitsa developed as a part of Yoga and Ayurveda and the principles are more in line with them.<br />5.If music plays a supporting role to mainstream medicine ,rather than directly cure all illness ,what is the underlying principle that makes this happen.<br /><br />Ans:I don’t think that music plays only a supportive role to medicine.It is part and parcel of ayurveda and yoga which are traditional methods of medical treatment in India.The underlying principle as I said from the point of view of modern medicine is neuropsychoimmunology.<br />But,you should not mistake music for music therapy.Just by learning music or by hearing music one is not proficient in music therapy.It requires training and knowledge of the discipline of health also.At present we don’t have a fullfledged educational training center or a university approved programme etc .Till such things develop and music therapy become a welldeveloped science with enough trained therapists to support the training and therapy and research programmes,it has to function under wellestablished Allopathy or Ayurvedic centers.As part of such institutions.<br /><br />6.How does music therapy compare to Reiki ,pranic healing,acupuncture ,acupressure and other forms of holistic and energy healing?<br /><br />Ans:Reiki involve touch,Music therapy also involve touching the heart of the listener.Music therapy as I first mentioned is naadalayayoga.It directly connects the cosmic energy to bioenergy fields through the various plexuses or nerve centers and in that respect it has similarity to the other systems you mentioned.<br />7.How does music therapy compare to devotional or faith healing<br />Ans:The question is whether it is just a placebo effect.Placebo effect depends on the formula,<br />Best-documented thoughts are known to affect health<br />•To counteract the effect of the placebo-by-proxy, researchers have resorted to the double-blind study, in which neither the subjects nor the experimenters know which subjects are receiving the placebo. However, according to Dr. Larry Dossey in Healing Words: <br />The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine, the placebo effect has contaminated even double-blind studies. <br />For example, researcher Jerry Solfvin conducted three double-blind studies on the effectiveness of vitamin E on heart patients' angina pectoris, the chest pain associated with heart disease.<br />An enthusiastic doctor who believed in vitamin E found it significantly more effective than placebo, while two studies conducted by skeptics showed no effect<br />Dossey cites studies dealing with meprobamate, an early tranquilizer of questionable effectiveness, which showed similar results:<br />Enthusiasts consistently found it worked, skeptics could find no effects beyond those of placebo. To clarify this situation, researchers designed double-blind study in which one of the physicians had a "skeptical, experimental" attitude toward the drug, while the other had an "enthusiastic, therapeutic" attitude toward it. They were totally unaware which pills were which, meprobamate or placebo. The patients also were in the dark; they did not know they were involved in an experiment. <br />Results: meprobamate proved significantly more powerful than placebo -- but only for the physician who believed in it. There was no drug effect for skeptical physician's patients.<br /><br /><br />Study repeated, simultaneously at 3 metropolitan psychiatric outpatient clinics. results were replicated in two of the three clinics.... Thus Solfvin concludes,".... the double-blind cannot be assumed to guarantee exclusion of nonspecific effects of treatment, especially when actual treatment has a weak or variable effect.". suggests existence of something extraordinary: Experimenters' and physicians' beliefs about remedy communicated to patients subliminally, if not telepathically.<br />placebo effect points towards : thoughts do heal. very existence of this effect, especially to the extent that researchers must take great pains to work around it, proves that belief in the efficacy of cure, can and do heal. <br />Power of the Placebo Effect<br />Faith in cure was one of the essential elements in healing in statements attributed to Jesus (Matt: 17:20, 13:58, and Mark 6:6).<br />Michael Murphy, in The Future of the Body, a comprehensive treatise on extraordinary human abilities, devotes an entire chapter to the placebo effect<br /><br />Michael Murphy studies ,he cites :-<br />1.Angina Pectoris<br />2.Warts.<br />3.Asthma.<br />4.Pain Relief.<br />5Arthritis.<br />6Cancer. “Meaning and Medicine,” Dr. Larry Dossey gives an anecdotal account that strongly suggests that placebos can cure cancer in some cases:<br /><br /><br />Placebos work best under proper social conditions, which Michael Murphy summarizes as follows:<br />1.Enlarging patient groups improve responses to placebos, because power of suggestion is increased by greater number of participants.<br />2.A placebo's effectiveness depends to a large extent upon physician's interest in the patient involved, interest in treatment, and concern about treatment's results.<br />3.A placebo's power is increased by experimental studies that impart a sense of interest and care to subjects.<br />4.Placebo effects increased when treatment has good reputation<br />5.Relationships with others are important element in reinforcing beliefs.<br /><br /><br />The placebo effect offers some of the most convincing evidence there is for the existence of psychosomatic healing, and for two reasons:<br />1. It is overtly acknowledged, and almost universally presupposed in practice, by mainstream medical research.<br />2. Its effects can be quite dramatic.<br />Accordingly, it not only demonstrates the reality of psychosomatic healing, but it also demonstrates the extent of the mind's power in effecting it. Hence, it poses a very serious problem for anyone who would deny either the reality or the significance of the power of thought to heal.<br /><br />.<br />In Music therapy <br />1.In selfhealing-if patient has faith in it-placebo.effect may be working.<br />2.If doctor has no faith in it-may not work-because with a doctor/patient it is not psychosomatic but psychokinetic healing.Christ believed what he said and did.If healer has no faith in himself and his deeds and words and healing techniques psychokinesis cannot work.<br /><br />Ans:I have to be healthy in body,mind,intellect and spirit to be able to help those who come to me.If I am unhealthy in these 4 aspects ,I would not be able to help others balancing their Thriguna.<br />And I do follow some disciplines in my life.I have been a vegetarian throughout my life.And had been practicing celibacy from 1980.Whether it has been of help to me or not ,I am not saying anything.Because ,people may have different opinions on such matters.<br /><br />12.Is there a difference in being a musician and a music therapist?<br /><br />Ans:Plenty.Musician can learn about his ragas,perfecting the ragas,etc but need not be humanistic.But a music therapist cant afford to be like that.I remember here the words of one of the great pathologists ,William Osler.”The disciplne of Medicine is noble to those who are noble”I would like to say the same about music and music therapy too.For those who are noble every profession is noble.For those who are not,all professions are just for personal gains only.<br /><br />13.Does music has any specific status in the maintaining of wellbeing?<br /><br />Ans:Yes.With music your countenance changes to calm,quiet and tranquil and peaceful which is a change in the electroencephalographic patterns in your nervous system towards meditation waves.This helps us to have a wellbeiing /feel-good sensation.<br /><br />14.What are your thoughts on commercial music.How does it impact music therapy?<br /><br />Ans:You have to specify when you say commercial.Do you mean film music?Do you mean any other specific type of music?Many people classify film music as commercial and classical music as noncommercial.I have found no such distinction.Any music can be touching your heart and thus healing you ,provided you use soft melodies and less of noisy gimmicks and heavy metal music.There are many film oriented music which are raagabased melodies .(Like naadabrahmathin,sindurathilakanchithe etc etc ) On the other hand you can see commercial oriented classical musicians mushrooming around with gimmicks of their own to make a mark in the field of competition <br />.That is why I said we have to specify the term commercial music.<br /><br />15.What is the impact of cultural upbringing in a music therapy session?Does music transcend cultural barriers?<br /><br />Ans:Cultural upbringing has only limited value in music therapy which is universal,useful even to a cow or plant which does not know which raga is being played.But for music appreciation it is important.From the point of view of therapy ,any person ,whether he/she had musical training or not gets relief .Here we can compare it with a medical treatment.It is not the doctors alone who know the details of the treatment who get cured,but also laymen who have no idea of what they are getting/taking get cured.As medical value of music is concerned it is more important that your music should be able to touch the hearts.<br />Music transcends all cultural,caste/creed/religious barriers and is universal in its message and spirit.<br /><br />16.What are your recommendations towards wholesome life?What are the things that every person must know ,like home remedies,in terms of music and its therapeutic effects?<br />I would recommend moderation in everything(no excesses whether it be food,sex, or sleep )and simple life with high thinking.(less of gossip,more of high thinking!!!!)Soft melodious music to start the day,and to end the day will make your nerves relaxed and give you good sleep and less stress.Parents and teachers in every school/home should be given this message .Heavy metal music is injurious to health.Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.Decrease intake of fatty foods .Be yourself.Be satisfied Have positive thinking..These will help us a lot to lead a wholesome life useful to us as well as to society.<br /><br /><br />THE POWER OF MUSIC<br /><br />1What is the power of raga?What is the underlying principle by which it colours the mind?Is it possible for someone who is unaware of a particular raga to experience its mood?<br />Ans:The power of the raga is in the 7 swara and the 22 pitches.If you are using all the swaraas naturally all the centers must be stimulated depending on the principle of swara.If we are using different thaalaas also ,the number of possibilities are many .then there are the ragas with one or two swaras missing,giving different shades .The number of raagaas are thus anantham and their moods are also anantham.No single musician have ever known all the raagaas .<br />The minimum we can do to achieve all the swaraas in all the possible combinations is to have the 72 raagaas of the basic melakartha upon which (it is a mathematical edifice)the other derivatives are based.<br />As I said,no musician knows all the raagaas.And if music therapy is for musicians who know some of the raagaas only,what is the science behind it?That itself shows that identification of raga is not needed for cure of disease<br />In fact our ancestors when they said,pasurvethi,sisurvethi,vethi raagarasam phani(animals,infants and even serpents can enjoy the ecstacy of raga)meant this.Your second question is therefore null and void.<br />In fact those who know a few raagaas waste time when a new raga is heard ,to find out the name of it,instead of getting involved with the mood of the raga evoked.They are trying to find fault with rendering of the raga and in that endeavour ,their brain never achieve the shanthi mood ..They loose chance to enjoy the moods of raga by intellectual slavery to scholarship.A childlike involvement in the lullaby ,(like a child listening to its mother)makes you a better experiencer of the emotional content/bhaava/rasa/<br /><br />2.What is the role of taala?How does rhythm induce a response in us?<br /><br />ANS:Thala is included when we say naadalayayogam.It is part and parcel of music.Rhythms (without language or saahitya)are very important when you train a child who has not yet aquired language ,and in mentally retarded.<br /><br />3.What is the perception of bhaavam or layam?<br />Bhaavam is the emotional content which produce rasa or aesthetic experience.It is that which touches the heart and healing touch has to come through that.If it is not there,no patient will relish your therapy.Layam you get when all these are amalgamated into the final product,the music.(which has,swara,raga,thaala,bhaava and laya producing a specific rasa or experience which attracts and pleases the hearts,touches the heart)When we use the term raagachikitsa all these are included.Not separate .Indian classical music is a combination of these giving different possibilities and anantham variations which is unique in the history of the world itself.<br /><br />4.What are the parallels to this in other forms of music?<br />Ans:There are parallelisms when we use the instrumental music and western classical music . In classifying pitch etc they too use the same mathematical formulae.What was used by Pythagorus was used in India from saamavedic times and Sulbasuthra period,and what is known as Eulers formula is known to ancient musicians and astronomers of India alike.So ,there is no comparison with Indian music which has the most complex and most pleasing form .For comparison we should know the modern theories as well.<br /><br />5.What is the role of words?Sahityam?<br /><br />Ans:Man as he aquire language ,his brain structure has welldeveloped language centers .The words /sahitya and the music actually stimulate the adjacent parts of brain and there is superimposition.Before developing language(infancy,embryo,protohistoric man,mentally retarded children and adults)brain recognize rhythms only as music ,since heartbeats are heard even in uterine cavity of mother.But this is not enough for all healing So ,we have to be careful when we select sahitya.The only defect I have found with film music is that it creates lot of Vibhava in individuals so that instead of healing ,some of the songs may precipitate illhealth.Devotional music has no such problem with patients.Select spiritual music with melodious peaceful raagaas would be a good method to adopt.<br /><br />6What is the role of tone colour or sound quality?Most often we find that we are drawn to highend music systems and digital recording In order to enjoy music.Even with highend systems ,if we playback a song recorded with inferior equipment ,we cannot focus on the m usic or enjoy it.<br /><br />Ans Natural sounds are the best for toning the chakra of your body.For that digitalization is not necessary.Each of us being a unique multitude of frequency vibrations ,there is one fundamental tone at the root of our existence ,a tone that represents the pure essence of that person that is synonymous with the soul.Vocalise that tone to send sympathetic vibrations to the root ,awaken the energy that assist in spiritual unfoldment.It is a vibrational point of reference that can be sounded at any time ,even hummed as you walk around.Just by toning OM alone you can choose your fundamental tone rather than selecting a tone arbitrarily.only things you need are patience and perseverance.Even without digital music one can achieve that.<br />Naadalayayogam is music therapy .It does not have the prerequisite of any high-tech equipment.You are talking now about the enjoyment ,quality of instrument etc.Not about the quality of human being,or of the giving of peace of mind /relief to a ailing person.The language of therapy and the language of music are slightly different there,though both have to function simultaneously for maximum results.<br />If I can meditate only with a perfect digitalized system,I haven’t learnt to meditate properly.To meditate on music and to get relief,we need not depend on external sources.That is from the point of view of an individual.<br /><br />But when you give music on a mass scale in institutionalized music therapy,you have to be very careful to select the best quality voice and the best quality equipments .Because you cant afford to experiment with the wellbeing of your client.You want to give them the maximum benefit with your therapy.(and reduce the number of failures in your therapy practice)<br /><br /><br />7.What is the connection with music and spirituality?<br /><br />Ans:Music is Naadabrahmam.It is spiritual. It is not a connection between two separate things. It is ONENESS with God.<br /><br />8.2oth and 21st century science tends to support the theory that we are a sum total of the chemical processes in our bodies ,even the mind is a manifestation of this process.Ayurveda believes that a human system is consists of the body and the mind.Spiritual sciences talk about the body ,the mind,and the indestructible soul.So from musical frame of reference what is a human being?<br /><br />Ans:Please do refer to answer no 4 under Music therapy overview.<br />I don’t think that we can segregate human being into purely physical or purely mental/intellectual beings.We have all these elements in us.Essentially a human being is the vibrating energy which manifest as these various forms.The frequency of vibrations determine our gross body,subtle mind and intellect .(in varying proportions)In musical terms we are bundles of vibrating energy what is called Naadabrahmam.The frequencies differ and so the other features also differ.Just as there are anantham raga possibilities,there are anantham possibilities of manifestations for human also in the vibrating sense.<br />In short ,this is equivalent to saying that each one of us have an equivalent raaga in the cosmic vibrating field.Or we are one with cosmic principle.In Sanskrit:Aham Brahmasmi and Sarvam khalvidam brahma.<br /><br />9.How does learning music contribute to development of intellect?<br /><br />Ans:Just like any other discipline it opens up the possible neuronal networks for cognizance,memory ,concentration,communication etc.<br /><br />10.What is your advice to parents regarding education of children in music?<br /><br />Ans:If the child has a vaasana only send for music training professionally.Don’t compel .<br />Even if there is no vaasana,do give exposure to good melodious music regularly at morning and evening before bedtime because it will make your child stressfree and happy throughout.<br />11.What is your advice to students regarding learning music?<br /><br />Ans:Keep your calm in all situations and devote yourself to your art and science as if it is God.Not just as a jobseeking training.Music is an ocean.No one can master it completely.So be humble in your endeavours and respect the elders.Especiallly the Guru.If someone is below your standards,don’t ridicule.He/she may be having a higher intelligence than you in something else/<br /><br />12.What is your advice to adults and people in power regarding music?<br /><br />Music therapy is still an infant discipline in India.We need proper curriculum,syllabus,administrative and management guidelines,therapeutic guidelines,centers of training etc. For these people in power should be given awareness of the discipline its merits and national and international opportunities it create etc.If given proper care ,and developed Indian music can work wonders for national and international integration,for world peace and overall development .It is a mahaaadvaitha of integration and assimilation of arts and sciences and philosophy for world peace to develop world citizens.<br /><br />ABOUT THE ARTIST<br /><br />1When did you find you have music in blood?<br /><br />Ans:At the age of 3-5.<br /><br />2.Was there a special incident in your life that lead to your induction into music education?<br /><br />Ans:I am not a musician.I never had proper music education in my life.I am a doctor by profession.But ,I had a series of rhythmic periodic astronomical synchronicities which made me delve into music and music therapy .Which I am writing as a book at present.<br /><br />3.What is your motivation behind your sadhana?<br />Ans:Moksha only.<br /><br />4.Can you describe a deep emotional and personal experience with music?<br /><br />Ans:Several. I was moved by a young cancer patient who wanted me to sit beside her and hold her hands so that she gets good sleep.And she wanted to talk to yesudas ,whose Kalyani raga Nithichaalasukhama of Tyagaraja ,I had given her in her last days.But ,she could not wait for that golden moment.Death took her away so soon.I often think of her and her unfulfilled last wish.<br /><br />5.Every musician suffers great constraints and deep anguishes.Would you like to share some of those moments?How did music help you survive that?<br /><br />Ans:Music has always helped me to be in happy mood,to have a peaceful atmosphere around me in which I can have highly intellectual works and mental works done.Even in times of trials I have been in company of music which kept my intellect steady.<br /><br />6.Are you a spiritual person?<br /><br />Ans:I think so.What do you think from what I have just said?It is you who should say that .Not me.Thank you for the questionnaire.<br />7 When you interact with people who have no interest in music or who have very little training ,what do you feel ?What are your observations about them?<br /><br />Ans:There is no one who is to be discriminated like that in therapy.Even such people can get something out of our love and concern.Touch their hearts with compassion,concern if they don’t relish music.And then slowly bring them to a musical environment through a careful listening to their MLP is my policy.It usually works well.<br />8.Can you describe your creative process?Do you find parallels with other human activities?<br /><br />Ans:My creative processes are almost like dreams to me.Because my creativity comes in out of the body moments of dreams or musical transcendence.(The poetry ,I mean)The other writings come as usual in waking states but they too are often a continuation of what I felt in my most intimate moments of creativity.<br />The human activities ar e all interrelated and especially as a student and researcher into human consciousness ,I think my creativity is a part of my consciousness,as natural as a flower to a plant .<br /><br />9.Do you feel you had enough music?What do you do then?<br /><br />Ans:How can one have had enough of music?Is it not an ocean?What we have is only drops from it.I will be in love with music ,till my death.(as I had been in my infancy).Still an infant learning and enjoying the intricacies of music .<br /><br />7.If you didn’t have musical training ,what do you think you would be?<br /><br />Ans:I didn’t have musical training.I am a medical doctor by profession,a pathologist .I would have become a paatologist ,(as lyricist /poet R.K.Damodaran said one)if I had some training in music.But I didn’t have it .!!!!!!<br /><br />Institutional details.<br /><br />1The name of institution.<br /><br />I am a retired professor of Pathology from Amrita institute of medical sciences and research center.<br />I am at present engaged in writing a few text books and developing a curriculum/syllabus etc for the music therapy as a discipline in India.For which I have taken retirement from my profession.<br /><br /><br />The vision: Worldpeace ,national and international integration through a Mahaadvaitha of arts and sciences in a musical environment .<br /><br />The services offered. Educative/research/administrative/therapeutic advice for music therapy and for spirituality of music.<br />How do you advertise your institution?<br />I do not advertise. <br />10.Expansion plans ?Future plans?<br />Please do see the book naadalayayoga to be released next month by DC books It is the first of a series on music therapy research .The discipline has just begun in India.We have to go a long way.Miles before we sleep.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-43798051234767997862007-07-13T00:13:00.000-07:002007-07-13T00:23:11.942-07:00Interview. Interviewer .Balagopal.Kent Malayali associationWhat is music therapy and where did it originate?<br />Each individual has his or her own vibration or beat, and it is different in everyone. And it is the same with music or raga. The right raga can stimulate and facilitate an individual’s physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual well-being.If someone is suffering from an ailment, the music therapist has to assess that and carry out specific musical strategies to address his/her goals and objectives. The success of the music therapist lies in how he/she identifies the right raga for a particular individual. A music therapist can never prescribe a raga just like an ordinary doctor who prescribes pills for his patients. A music therapist has to understand the whole gamut of problems the individual has and then becomes his spiritual guide. “Raga chikilsa” (treatment) or music therapy was known to rishis and gurus from ancient times. This form of treatment was done by gurus and they are mentioned in the Vedas. Sabdikabheshajam (sabdika means voice and bheshaja means medicine) was one of the methods of treatment used by the aswinikumaaraas, the ancient vedic doctors. Based on the ancient literature the six charkas (chakras mean the nerve plexuses, which in yogic literature are called mooladhara, swadhishtaana, manipoora, anahatha, visudhi and agna) and the birth star of the patient are taken into account whil selecting the raga. There are 72 melakartharaagaas, which are basically related to the charkas and the birth stars.<br /><br />.What does music therapy do?<br />It helps to alleviate pain, releases stress and tension, provides the feel good factor to lead a happy life, softens you up and brings you closer to spirituality, enhances your capabilities to understand another person, increase communication skills, improve self respect, confidence and helps you to become an ideal individual.<br /><br />Who can benefit from music therapy?<br /> People with health issues such as high blood pressure, cancer, substance abuse, visual impairments, Aids, Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism and pervasive development disorders, eating disorders, emotional trauma, learning disabilities, mental illness, insomnia, mental retardation, pain control, palliative care, physical disabilities, speech and language impairments.<br />Can conventional medicine be replaced with music?<br />Conventional medicine cannot be replaced immediately when you start music therapy. The music therapist will take many sessions to find out which raga or musical strategy would suit the individual. Once the therapy starts to show signs of improvement on an individual then gradually he can do without medicine.<br /><br />The Holistic Health Village to be set up by the Kerala government and Mata Amritanandamayi is said to promote a vast array of spiritual and physical therapies.How will ordinary people of Kerala benefit from this?<br /><br /> I am not aware of this, but I have heard that there are moves to promote music therapy by the government. Amrita Institute has already started work on this and the response from ordinary people is overwhelming. I am trying to spread awareness about music therapy by giving invited lectures and talks on these subjects on Sundays and holidays all over Kerala.<br />Is there a particular energy current emanating from the cosmos that affects the life of an individual? Is an individual not in control of himself?<br />Yes. An individual has both cosmic energy and human energy but the success lies in harnessing these two energies in a way that he leads a purified life.<br /><br /> What do you see as the most significant achievements of your rather distinguished career?<br />I think the most significant achievement in my career is that I am a happy, free person, leading a contended life with whatever I have and that people love me as their own family member wherever I go.<br />Can you share with us an astonishing cure you have witnessed with the help of music therapy in Kerala?<br />I must say that music therapy is not a miracle or a supernatural cure. It is the most natural way of curing one’s own illnesses, physical, mental, spiritual and intellectual. It is a scientific way of life as well. Hypertensive patients on treatment who has not been able to bring down their BP with usual medicines have been able to bring down the BP with music therapy. I have also seen cancer patients with anxiety, insomnia and other associated symptoms of terminal illness been cured of such symptoms. I have a 29-year old patient who has undergone maxillectomy. She and her caretakers tell me that after music therapy her quality of life has improved.<br /> Based on music therapy do you have any advise for young parents?<br />Young parents have to make sure that their children listen to music that is harmonious to their ears. For example, a music that will release in them an all-pervading ‘feel good’ sense.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-63443539544066739032007-07-13T00:00:00.000-07:002007-07-13T00:13:01.248-07:00How a pathologist uses the Indian Darsana in everyday lifeThere are 6 darsanaas (perceptions)in India.The first is the chaarvaaka or lokayatha which is a naasthik one and says one can believe only those which one see directly.(direct perception alone is the pramaana for science).The others believe that the direct sensory perception alone is not enough and anumaana and aagama are also taken as scientific proofs(especially the nyaya schools of Bengal,assam and kerala)and this is the darsana of akshapaada and of Gouthama.<br />Anumaana are of 3 types.<br />1.poorvavath.(as observed before.)one has observed that if raincloud comes there will be rain .because of the previous experience one guess the presence of rain.If we follow only the sensory perception we can never predict a tsunami or a disease epidemic etc.so anumaana is important and thus the nyaya school refuted the lokayatha /charvaka view and thus the naasthik was converted to the aasthic /nyaya side.<br />2.Sheshavath.There is flood in a river.The inmference is either there is rain in the hills,or there is melting of a glazier or there must be a dam opened.Here also we don’t see the event with our eyes but we infer.<br />3.Saamaanyatho drishtam.When we see change in position of the planets ,we infer that it must be due to the fact that there is gathi(movement )to them.This is a general theory.All the 3 were accepted because the nyaya school gave adequate illustrations and argued their case logically.This method is used in all the other darsanaas and one can find this type of logical argument at its zenith in sankaraa’s commentaries.That is why all the other darsanaas were pushed to the background.Not that sankara was a autocrat who destroyed anything,he was a scientists who argued logically on his viewpoint and all others accepted his views because they were flawless (.If one can call this conversion,we can call it so. )Conversion on any other background(political,for money,power etc)cannot be called a free conversion by will.It is here that we have to consider the facts very critically.<br />The science of Pathology (which I follow ,)still uses the 5 steps which Nyaya school used.I will illustrate it thus:<br />Step 1:Prathigna .In this I state what I am going to prove,in front of a group of people who know the scientific language I speak(fellow doctors/pathologists).I just say that the diagnosis I have made is so and so.<br />2.Hethu:What are the reasons I have to prove my side/diagnosis.I have to be very thourough in my saubject and should have excellent communication skills to discuss this.<br />3.3.Udaaharanam:There are some lakshana(linga)for a disease and I should be able to state the relation between these and this comes from my previous experience with similar cases,(case studies)called swaanubhava and the references from others(paraanubhava)<br />The references are of 2 types.As you know even now in evidence based medicine and other modern sciences ,to be acceptable in a journal we have to cite the thought processes and experiences of other scientists .These may may be people who are still in the human memory with a specified time,space,specified book/journal etc called pourusheya(traceable to a thinker/reformer/scientist in timespace)or may be prehistoric people who have left their ideologies and thoughts for posterity ,but have disappeared from the memory of mankind and hence called apourusheya.(veda/scriptures/cave writings etc)and these are the precious things that we have to preserve for posterity without change.Whereas ,the scientific/logical thoughts and sciences are naturally changed with time and are dynamic(called smrithy )and in memory of man.For a proof ,these two types of references are used and since smrithy /science is dynamic and changes from time to time there is always scope for new discoveries and these has to be substantiated by every scientist.The sruthy(apourusheya)is to be kept for posterity as common heritage of mankind.<br />4.Upanaya is the 4th step.How I can apply the above said points into the specific case study of my patient(the present case)This is a discussion of the present case<br />5.Nethy nethy is a deduction/induction process or an exclusion diagnosis in which you exclude the other possibilities by negative findings<br />It is after these steps that we proceed to the final diagnosis or nirnaya(nigamana)and Akshapaada calls this thought process as Aanweekshiki (tharka/vaada)<br />Charaka is ver y specific about the two types of assemblies(parishads)and about the two types of discussions or conversations we make.I will briefly state his view thus.<br /><br />The two types of sambhaasha (conversations)according to Charaka.<br />Sandhaaya sambhaasha<br />Vigrahyasambhaasha<br />Conversation with people who are learned in the particular subject,and are eager to know about the subject more.<br />Benefit of this:1.Increase of knowledge by 3 means.knowledge of things we have not known before,clearing of doubts,increasing the previous knowledge.<br />2.Lokakalyana.Benefit to the entire world and the human race.<br />Conversation with people who don’t know the subject and do not want to know at all.Such conversation is mere jalpa/vithanda.<br />Prayojana :nil.Just killing time .<br />Charaka asks to avoid such conversations and to conserve our bioenergy for better things.(this is one of the essential prerequisites of health)<br /><br />The two types of assemblies(parishads)each consists of mithra(friend),sathru(enemy)and sannigda(neutral)<br /><br />Agna(ignorant)<br />Vigna(learned)<br />The mithra among agna can be slowly and steadily lead to knowledge ,but not through gnaanamaarga .By bhakthymarga or karmamaarga.(This is probably a type of conversion)<br />The other two(sathru and neutral)among agna has to be ignored and do not waste time in talking to them.<br />The mithra among vigna are the real rasika,sahridaya ,sishya,etc and they are the real valuable friends and a man with intelligence will not loose a chance to have contacts with them(sadsanga).<br />The enemy among the vigna just try to win you over and they make mere jalpa just for that purpose,not for increasing knowledge or for lokakalyana.therefore do not have contacts with them.<br />The neutrals among vignaas have doubts to be cleared.It is the duty of the learned scientist to clear their doubts with logic and intelligence.These clearing of doubts form treatises on each subjects and are known as the commentaries or saasthragranthaas etc used by posterity.<br />Here,you can see a change in your sentence” Every religion originates as an ideology, rather a Dharsana to uplift mankind both spiritually and materially, but in the course of time degenerates into an institutionalized hierarchy. This hierarchy then overpowers the ideology. Religion then becomes a tool of the hierarchy and the clergy. Religion looses its essence and becomes an institution wielding enormous powers. “<br />According to Indian darsana and science of Charaka,every science originate in this way,as a darsana for lokakalyana(upliftment of society)for perfect physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health but after sometime degenerates due to various reasons ,one of them being institutionalized hierarchy.These various reasons include increase in the number of agnaas(ignorant people)and the vignas who are selfish ,and the lack of genuinely interested unselfish people who are ready to do the saadhana for aquiring knowledge and to seek truth.(genuine scientists are less in kaliyuga).<br />Rather ,it would be correct in the Indian sense,that darsana is a perception only in the primary sense and it is science in the secondary sense.Only when a darsana is tested for a very long time ,Indians accepted it as a science.Long discussions and verifications (documented as treatises)can be sen before a darsana is accepted as a science by the assembly of learned people from Kashmir to Kerala.A scripture(A agama) is thus a darsana+saasthra,accepted by the learned parishads,verified over a long period of time by generations of people and for the sake of the god of society.(the world).<br />Individual preferences are what we call an opinion(in Sanskrit a matham which is translated as religion in English)and it can change ,since it is subjective to each person’s level of grasping and intelligence.But ,the values and the scientific methods accepted by generations of human beings (ancient and modern)makes what you really call as spirituality and in that realm whatever change is made has to come from prolonged discussions over the subject,by learned people ,and then verified and proven that it is for the good of society.Such a democratic scientific thinking is good for society but it doesn’t happen often .<br /><br />In spirituality of India there are two sides to the coin.(it should be there in spirituality of any country or of any individual since these are general things)<br />1.The logic and scientific methods of the darsanaas verified in the crucible of time by generations of scholars and documented as scriptures for future references.<br />2.The empathy or compassion originating in an individual mind which thinks about the world’s miseries and tries to find out a solution for alleviation of miseries and pain of the entire world(lokakalyana is a word originated in such a compassionate mind)<br />If there is only the first(logic )it is science or saasthra.If the second alone is there it becomes a dream or a mirage which we may not be able to put into practice.<br />But if we combine both,it is the real spirituality and Indians used this as a way of life.Hence,many of their scriptures does not even mention the name of the rishi who formulated a darsana or spiritual path.such selflessness was considered the hallmark of spirituality..The Indian culture and civilizations had this character ,and it was more individualistic and social and for the community and the world as such ,and not for a few people in an institution(institutionalised religion was not there).<br />Spirituality is always within an individual consciousness.It can never be institutionalized.The personal qualities and charisma of a spiritual person attracts similarminded and learned people.and a sadsangha like that flourish as a gurukula and their ideas spread far and wide.When this is taken up by selfish groups of people to weild power over society ,religions form and they are actually political institutions and may have nothing in common with the idea spread by the spiritual Guru .To know Christ, or Krishna one has to go deep into one’s own consciousness.Not into religious rites.For this the scriptures may help .But the best help comes from within your heart and from God’s grace.I just voiced the views of the Indian masters of darsana in brief.I think this is what every ideology will agree to,since human brain and its lateralisation has started during the prehistoric times and so far our brain structure and our hormones and our thinking prowess has not undergone any radical change.As a group human beings(homosapiens)are one race sharing the same characteristics of neuropsychoimmunology and nervous structures and gestalt neuronal assemblies.<br />For me,the best language which we can share with everyone in the world is musical language because music is universal and speaks the language of the heart and hence of compassion and everyone understands its universal language.That is why saamaveda and Raagachikitsa (music therapy)has healing effects on human species through neuropsychoimmunological effects.<br />Since I am at present involved with raagachikitsa,I find it a useful tool for generating a global awareness of peace and harmony,a new Mahaa advaitha for the present century.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-38894400060127789362007-07-11T07:13:00.000-07:002007-07-11T07:14:01.427-07:00BrahmasindhuBRAHMASINDHU<br />COMMENTARY ON BRAHMASOOTHRAM<br />Suvarna Nalapat<br />Brahmasoothra is the least understood and the most important philosophical text of India discussing aspects of Naadabrahma as supreme absolute truth in four chapters and 192 parts called adhikaranam.Adhikaranam is the basic part which discusses the meaning as five separate headings.<br />I The subject discussed:Brahma.<br />2.The doubts prevalent about subject before the discussion<br />3.views of others on it.(poorvapaksham)<br />4.The views of the present commentator(sidhanthapaksham)<br />5.The relation between the present discussion and the upanishadic vakya.<br />For this ,the sidhanthapaksha uses very scientific and scholarly views .<br />Brahmasoothra is part of Prasthaanathraya(The other two being Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads)and the present commentary is the first of its kind by a householder woman in the history of the world.All others have been by ascetic males.<br />The essence of the discussion is not only theoretical but also the practical side of life where one has to follow strict and rigourous selfcontrol The theme of realizing Brahma by a householder is the practical side of yoga and naadalayayoga and Indian classical music and the saamaveda were formed for this purpose.All the rishis who formulated the prasthaanathraya were householders like vasishta,yagnavalkya,etc.<br />The concept of human bioenergy as the jeevathma and the cosmic energy as paramathma ,the perfect blend of these as jeevathmaparamathmalayanam has to be achieved,not merely talked about.Since energy has no sex,creed,cast ,or any other differences Brahmasoothra does not find any difference or dwaitha in existence.Because of this,anyone who has an aptitude to learn,the intelligence to understand,and the courage to withstand the trials of sense desires can practice advaitha .This practice is in Bhaava (emotions and thoughts)and not in kriya(action).It means ,One can love the entire creation alike in advaitha,but one can have physical relationship with only one man/woman.This rigourous practice and the ability to love all children as one’s own (the children who come to learn to a gurukula-the shishya)helped the guru and gurupathni to have an ideal gurukula,in India.<br />The concept of Nada and Prakaasha(sound and light)as the same finds its major role in the discussion of naadabrahma.Sound and light travel together from the same source but reach human ear and eyes at different times.The only difference is in the timings and in the manifest form due to difference in the receiving end.This concept of oneness of energy as manifested world of names and forms is understood only with advaitha.Brahmasoothra deals with these in detail.The present study is a wholistic approach to the subject which draws examples from music,music therapy as practiced in India,the yoga,thanthra,and manthrasaasthra,and medical knowledge of the past and wherever needed explanations from the modern views on the subject also given so that the modern western reader also can be benefited.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-2222609444092148962007-07-11T07:08:00.000-07:002007-07-11T07:11:27.124-07:00Brahmasindu<strong>BRAHMASINDHU<br />COMMENTARY ON BRAHMASOOTHRAM<br />Suvarna Nalapat<br />Brahmasoothra is the least understood and the most important philosophical text of India discussing aspects of Naadabrahma as supreme absolute truth in four chapters and 192 parts called adhikaranam.Adhikaranam is the basic part which discusses the meaning as five separate headings.<br />I The subject discussed:Brahma.<br />2.The doubts prevalent about subject before the discussion<br />3.views of others on it.(poorvapaksham)<br />4.The views of the present commentator(sidhanthapaksham)<br />5.The relation between the present discussion and the upanishadic vakya.<br />For this ,the sidhanthapaksha uses very scientific and scholarly views .<br />Brahmasoothra is part of Prasthaanathraya(The other two being Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads)and the present commentary is the first of its kind by a householder woman in the history of the world.All others have been by ascetic males.<br />The essence of the discussion is not only theoretical but also the practical side of life where one has to follow strict and rigourous selfcontrol The theme of realizing Brahma by a householder is the practical side of yoga and naadalayayoga and Indian classical music and the saamaveda were formed for this purpose.All the rishis who formulated the prasthaanathraya were householders like vasishta,yagnavalkya,etc.<br />The concept of human bioenergy as the jeevathma and the cosmic energy as paramathma ,the perfect blend of these as jeevathmaparamathmalayanam has to be achieved,not merely talked about.Since energy has no sex,creed,cast ,or any other differences Brahmasoothra does not find any difference or dwaitha in existence.Because of this,anyone who has an aptitude to learn,the intelligence to understand,and the courage to withstand the trials of sense desires can practice advaitha .This practice is in Bhaava (emotions and thoughts)and not in kriya(action).It means ,One can love the entire creation alike in advaitha,but one can have physical relationship with only one man/woman.This rigourous practice and the ability to love all children as one’s own (the children who come to learn to a gurukula-the shishya)helped the guru and gurupathni to have an ideal gurukula,in India.<br />The concept of Nada and Prakaasha(sound and light)as the same finds its major role in the discussion of naadabrahma.Sound and light travel together from the same source but reach human ear and eyes at different times.The only difference is in the timings and in the manifest form due to difference in the receiving end.This concept of oneness of energy as manifested world of names and forms is understood only with advaitha.Brahmasoothra deals with these in detail.The present study is a wholistic approach to the subject which draws examples from music,music therapy as practiced in India,the yoga,thanthra,and manthrasaasthra,and medical knowledge of the past and wherever needed explanations from the modern views on the subject also given so that the modern western reader also can be benefited. </strong>Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-30694544375536056782007-07-05T05:49:00.000-07:002007-07-05T05:56:18.074-07:00Indian aesthetics -The personal and the impersonalIndian Aesthetics -The Personal and Impersonal<br />Dr Suvarna Nalapat<br /><br />The English word language comes from Latin lingua and from the Sanskrit root linga which means the sign ,the toungue and the male generative organ.It denotes any means of expression/revelation or communication of thoughts and feelings.Therefore ,the Sanskrit word for language is Bhaasha ,from the root Bha ,to shine,to express or reveal.Bha is always related to light,so that it is something with a form (roopa)and hence perceivable(darshana)and enjoyable.The heard(sruthy-veda and music)is thus not separate from the darshana or light(the visualized.)What is visualized in the mind of the Rishi(Pashyanthy)comes out as the heard(language,music)so that the listener also get the same images or visions of the rishi.The bhaasha or language are of three classes<br />.1.The sound(dwani,shruthi,naada)<br />2.The sign(mudra)<br />3.The word.(Vaak or varna)<br />The sound originate from instinct and develop into art of music and consists of inarticulate sounds(termed notes in music)which proceed through vocal chords.The sign originate both from instinct and reason and consists of gestures of the body.The word is based on reason,consists of spoken and written words which require palate,toungue ,teeth,lips and nose .Thus ,in India ,in ancient Tamil speaking territories the development of isai(music),iyal(literature)and naatakam(drama) in the thinking,reasoning,feeling,enjoying and communicating brains of our ancestors happened simultaneously..Natyasasthra of Bharathamuni gives a beautiful description of how it developed as the vrithy(Bharathy,saathwathy,kaisiki and Aarabhaty )from the dance and wars of Vishnu.Since it originated from the lawfull gathi(niyathagathivishesha)of Vishnu they are called Nyaaya.Bharathamuni (1)says he is using this natyaveda for his poetic works also.He received Bharathy from Rigveda,sathwathy from yajurveda,kaisiki from saamaveda and Aarabhaty from Atharvaveda.The rasa for sathwathy are veera,adbhudha and roudra.(no sringara or karuna )Aarabhaty also has rasa like krodha,vega and characters of kapata,vanchana,dambha,anritha etc.(since it is in war).Bharathy is prose .Hence all the three are not used by the Indian classical music.And according to Bharatha these were created out of Vishnu in male form.But kaisiki was created in vishnu’s activity as a woman(mohini)and it is in this we find women participating with beautiful dresses ,dance,music,drama and feelings of eros and agape.In the saivist traditions also this developed from the face of Girija while the others developed from the faces of Shiva. The king of the rasa is sringaara and it is predominantly seen in kaisiki and is the main ingredient of the Indian aesthetics and aesthetical theories. There are four anga for kaisiki related to the different rasa..<br />1.Narma.<br />Aasthaapithasringaaram<br />Visudhakaranam nivrithaveerarasam<br />Hasyaparavachanabahulam<br />Narmathrividam vijaaneeyaath<br />The prominent rasa is sringara and is pure dance without veerarasa,but with sense of humour.This is of three types.Vipralambasringara or love in separation can turn to anger,to criticize,and also to attract.These are the three types of narma in sringara.<br />2.narmaspunja.<br />Nvasamgamasambhogo<br />Rathysamudayaveshavakyasamyuktha<br />Gneyo narmaspunjo<br />Hyavasaanabhayaathmakaschaiva<br /><br />There is fully developed and expressed emotion of eros,and the dresses and bhava of the hero and heroine is attuned to that emotion and there is the first unin with pleasure and then followed by fear of being known to others or of separation.<br />3.Narmasphotam<br />vividhaanaam bhaavaanaam<br />lavairlavair bhooshithobhahuvisheshai<br />asamagrakshiptharaso<br />narmasphotasthu vigneya<br />All the different bhavas are present in different proportions ,but the rasapoorthy or final union does not happen.<br />4.Narmagarbha<br />vignaanaroopasobhaa<br />dhanaadhirbhi naayako gunairyathra<br />praschannam vyavaharathe<br />kaaryavasaannarmagarbhosow.<br />The hero is uthamapurusha excellant in knowledge,beauty,wealth and all the qualities,but he is hiding these qualities due to some reason from the beloved and the rasa is uthamasringara itself .The love in disguise is narmagarbha.<br />In short,sense of humour,eros or sringara ,are in kaisiki,veera and adbhudha in sathwathy,roudra and bhayanaka in aarabhaty and karuna and bheebatsa in bharathy.<br />Since music is predominantly kaisiki and partially sathwathy(veera and adbhutha)and partially bharathy(karuna)but never aarabhaty we can assess the rasa or aesthetics associated with classical music from this description.<br /><br />From sound language arise prose and poetry.In vocal music this consists of the melodic prose part (raga alaapana )and in vocal conversation the natural musical tones peculiar to certain languages.Poetry of sound language is either artistic or artificial.This include melody,harmony expressing external emotions,harmony expressing internal emotions.The sign language also has prose and poetry in it.The prose part of sign language is gestures in conversation,lipreading,manual alphabet,signals used in railway,road,military and naval departments etc.The poetry part is the artistic mudra or gestures used in Indian dance,and artificial are the ones used in physical drill,in organized games and also in European dance.<br />The word language has a prose part of noisy day to day conversation ,and novels and other critical prose in literature(Scott and kadambari given as examples).It has a poetry part or kaavya (kaalidaasa and Shakespeare given as examples)(2)<br /><br />From the abovesaid facts ,it is clear that to communicate the aesthetics of the art of classical music certain prerequisites are needed.The aesthetics of the music and information theory(3) or communication theory (which term I prefer)since music is not mere information gathering but communication between the artist and the rasika for enjoyment of rasa.The information value of any symbol,sign and its meaning can be either as aesthetic information or communication(artistic)or as scientific nonaesthetic information.The criteria for aesthetic communication of music are<br />1.the originality of the music<br />2.the optimal extent to which people are attracted to the performer and the performance determined by the crowd and by the time (in years)he or she can sustain the attractive effect on the society.(whether momentary or longstanding)<br />3.whether the people are enthralled by it.<br />4.What types of rasika are attracted.whether all the types of rasika ar e among his/her followers.Lifelong fans who admire,critics(samaalochak)who evaluate ,criticize,grades and appreciates the performance as well as the performer,and think for the singer and improve the singing.Daarsanika(visionaries)concerned with defining the notion of musical experience,his(listener’s) or her position in it,and the identity as an eternal listener to an eternal singer (metaphysically to God).The daarsanika understand and experience the ecstacy at a yogic level.It stimulates the others including the singer.(4 and 5)<br />The function of the message or communication from music are different in different individuals<br />1.Transmitting a new mental image (innovative)<br />2.integrating the new mental images with already existing ones<br />3.systematizing the mental images<br />4.characterizing them so that they obtain a very high degree of specificity for the listener.<br />For this innovation,integration,systematization and characterization to happen ,the singer has to have a sustaining effect on society and the listeners should have listened to him/her for a long period and thought about and enjoyed his/her music and studied it analytically.That is,saadhana and experience are required for the total aesthetic experience to bloom not only from the side of the singer but also from the listener.That determines the originality,sustained enthrallment and saadhana from the rasika as well and henc e the rasika is not a passive listener but a very active participant totally involved in the singing activity and hence psychologically and physiologically becomes a potential singer or a mute artist(6)Listening to the tonal swara variations ,the rhythmic laya and the form of a particular singer’s music the rasika develop a type of mystical rapport with the singer and towards God and that is how Indian music is spiritual than earthly.It goes from the personal to the impersonal level.and vice versa.<br />The rasa experience depends upon three factors.The listener,the singer and the inherent properties of the music itself.There are a few excellencies and defects (qualities and faults)described for the voice of a singer ,for the singing style and for the singer as a person in Indian music.(7) which are important for getting the optimum aesthetic bliss.<br />Geethidosha according to Naaradeeyasiksha<br /><br />Excellance Defects<br />Unisonant(suraktha)<br />Shaky(sankita)<br />Complete(poorna)<br />Scared(bheetha)<br />Embellishment(alankritha)<br />Agitated(udhrishta)<br />Happy(prasanna)<br />Mute(avyaktha)<br />Manifest(vyaktha)<br />Nasal(anunasika)<br />Raised(vikrishta)<br />Hoarse(kaakaswara)<br />Smooth(slakshna)<br />Highpitched(sirasigatha)<br />Equipoised(sama)<br />Slipping (sthanavivarjitha)<br />Delicate (sukumara)<br />Not in tune(viswara)<br />Poignant(madhura)<br />Dry(virasa)<br /><br />Disjointed(vislishta)<br /><br />Out of beat(visamaahatha)<br /><br />Disarrayed(vyakula)<br /><br />Out of tempo(taalaheena)<br /><br />Sabda(voice)and its qualities(Bharathamuni)<br /> Excellance defects<br />Audible,teleaudible(sraavaka)<br /><br />Phlegmatic(kapila)<br />Compact(Ghana)<br />Unsteady(avyavasthitha)<br />Creamy(snigdha)<br />Bitten(sandastha)<br />poignant(madhura)<br />Crowlike(kaaki)<br />Attentive,involved creative imagination or meditation (avadhaanavaan)<br />Baggythroated(thumbaki)<br />Spanning all the 3 registers(thristhaanasobhitha)<br /><br /><br /><br />The excellances are the aesthetic subsets which increase the rasa experience and the defects decrease rasa.<br />There are 22 excellances in the performance of a singer which makes him/her the best among singers since he/she gives the most aananda(rasa or aesthetic experience)to the listeners whether informed or uninformed.<br />The aesthetic subsets of the best singer<br />1.attractive voice and good tonal quality<br />2.adept in initiating and finishing a raga<br />3.wellversed in singing raga,raagaanga,bhaashaanga,kriyaanga and upaanga<br />4.expert in singing prabhandha<br />5.knows different forms of aalaapana(aalaapthy)<br />6.commands natural access to shakes and graces(gamaka)arising from all the three registers<br />7.selfcontrolled voice<br />8.aware of musical time(thaala)<br />9.attentive(shradha)<br />10.indefatiguable<br />11.knows shudha and chaayalaga compositions<br />12.expert in all intonations<br />13.commands movements of different sthaayaas<br />14.who is free of all blemishes<br />15.whois given to regular saadhana or exercises<br />16.mindful of tempo(laya)<br />17.versatile personality<br />18who is retentive<br />19. holds praana while singing with great passion<br />20.who is capable of arresting the attention of the audience<br />21/who belongs to a good tradition of guruparampara<br />22.who excels in the exposition of the raga<br />A mrishta,madhura,trishaanaka ,sukhavaahaka prachura,komala ,and strong voice,sraavaka and karuna,snigda,Ghana ,slakshna or continuous like a vertical flow of oil (without discontinuity)and creating enjoyment and interest and love(rakthimaan)in listeners faultless and bright(chavimaan)is a Godgiven gift to a singer and this suswara is considered the most important quality of a good singer by Vishnu himself,as he tells Naarada (8)<br /><br />The aesthetic subset for a good listener are<br /><br />1.pure with unruffled senses(sudha,indriyanigraha)<br />2.expert in discussing the pros and cons(oohaapohavishaarada)<br />3.faultless(tyakthadosha)<br />4.lover of music(anuraagi or better to call raagaanuraagi)<br />5.Capable of rasaanubhava or aesthetic experience(bhaavaanukarane alankritha)<br />6.impartial<br />7.attentive(saavadhaana)<br />8.good speaker(vaagmi)<br />9.logical(nyaayavaadi)<br />10.aware of wrong and right(trutithaathrutithaabhigna)<br />11.humble(vinaya)<br />12.prideless(agarva)<br />13aesthetically sensible(rasabhaavagna)<br />14.proficient in music and dance(tauryatritaabhigna)<br />15.One who refutes false stand boldly(asadvaadanishedha)<br />16 expert(chathura)<br />17.with no envy(amaatsaryachith)<br />18intensely sensitive heart(Amanda rasanishyandhi hridaya)<br /><br />The artist’s creative urge and the listener’s appreciative urge should thus match perfectly and only then the communication is perfect and the aesthetic experience total.It has to follow a behavioural analysis of a artist as well as a involved listener (both are essentially artistic but combine a scientific turn of mind as evaluation and analysis concerened)The conceptual framework for analysis of aesthetic behaviour(9) (behaviour analysis)involves the nature and form of aesthetic behaviour,nature of aesthetic response ,nature of aesthetic stimulus,the artist and the listener as a person .And such study is very very rare since devoted and involved listeners are also becoming a rare commodity. .My attempt to study my musical consciousness as a listener and the effect of two of the greatest singers of my times(M.S.subbulakshmy and K.J.Jesudas)on me and on society happened quite naturally and as my musical life panorama,yet it is scientific, since anyone can assess by hearing the music of the singers mentioned whether I am right,and they can also by assessing my aesthetic musical personality and behaviour see whether I have the qualities of a good listener mentioned.Thus the research on aesthetic of music becomes a behavioural analysis also. Apart from the listener and the musician there is the third factor ,the music and its intricacies itself.This part I am not entering into in the present context,since it is too exhaustive to cover here.And,as an uninformed listener,and an advaithin interested in spirituality and brahma experience ,,since rasa and Brahma experience are twins and are alike ,I would like to concentrate on the naadalayayogi and the yogic experience of samadhi akin to rasaanubhava.Rasa is chamathkaar(transcendental emotional experience of bliss or pleasure and hence is aloukika(not of this world)according to Indian aesthetics but experienced by the people on earth(loukika).The raga has a form ,a form of a divine beauty (raagdevatha)associated with a rithu(season)and the scheme of the musical notes and the lyrics and the music give the expression of an experience related to it.The musical notes as such have no independent existence unless it conveys the embodied form ,personified to evoke a rasa.This Raagdevathadhyaana is exactly like the devathaadhyaana of the thanthric or of the dhyaana of prakrithy by the poets .Rasa is parellel to the theory of Sankara in this way.That is it does not exist in its pure form (like pure satwa,pure rajas,pure thamas)but as a mixture of the thriguna in this world.This is accepted by all arts and sciences of India including Ayurveda.The predominence of one of the guna gives a name of that guna.If sathwa predominates we call saathwik and if rajas predominates rajasic and like that.Brahmaananda with satwodreka(increase and predominance of satwa)is the ultimate aim of a spiritualist.Rasa or aesthetic bliss being akin to it is sathwik in character.The satwa guna is predominant in Vishnu . and as mentioned in Bharathamuni’s Natyasasthra Kaisiki is taken from Saamaveda (music)and In Bhagavad Gita also Krishna says among the veda’s I am saamaveda,denoting his preference for the satwika musical spirituality of the saama singers.That gives prasaada(bliss)and niraamaya(health forever)for the bhaktha(singer and listener both being devotees of God)and Thanmayatha in God who is Love incarnate.<br />The fact that raaga has a roop(form) the beauty of which one can see or perceive(darshana vision)and enjoy with your own eye(internal/external)has given rise to the science of soundarya(beauty with proportionate anga or parts ) and lavanya (charming personality) or maadhurya(.animated sweet personality)This beauty has a lustrous shine like that of a pure pearl of high quality according to Roop Goswamy and produce rasa experience in the perceiver(10)The rasa come from the bhaava (emotional state)in a sensitive person’s mind (sahridaya)for which aesthetic propensity(vaasana)is essential with previous impressions(sanskarra)which may be of this birth or of previous births is the Indian concept.Therefore,the ability to be a good singer and a good listener and partake in rasa experience is a divine gift carried over due to previous births and its relations.<br />Right from the Nadabindhu Upanishad and times of the veda the role of the sound and manthra and music in yoga and in awakening the kundalini power in the human body had been discussed in detail(ch 8,9 and 10 Without a stumble A book on spirituality of music .Dr suvarna Nalapat. 2003.)(11)(12)<br /><br />According to Indian aesthetics and yoga psychology the body of all beings including that of the singer and listener is following the same rule of the cosmos and this golden rule makes it possible for us to become one with the divine experience and since music is the nearest which follows the golden rule of aesthetics it is natural for us to become one with God through the music.Hence ,the structure of the chakra(sreechakra,sudarsanachakra,sangheethachakra)and its form and property and the meditation on it has been an ageold practice to attain rasa experience of God. The personal and impersonal,the jeevathma and paramathma,the bhaktha and bhagavaan become one creating an advaitha<br /><br />Sreechakra,sangheethachakra upaasana and naadalayayoga for healthy living<br />The proportions of the cosmic Raasichakra and of the solar system with its living and nonliving things is the same.This aesthetic proportion is the golden rule(suvarna niyama)which we see in zodiac(astronomy)the upaasaka body(here the singer)and the scales of the melakartha raga which is the base for all music and naadalayayoga.Hence the ancient upaasakaas of the devi (and of music)knew how to heal using music.The healing of raagadwesha by raga is mentioned in ayurvedic and yogic texts .The proportions of suvarnaniyama (golden rule)should be understood and invoked within and without and in the raagaas ,using the scale.An adept upaasaka only can do this properly.But how is the test to find out the real upaasaka?You cannot test the ability of an upaasaka in yoga,unless you yourself are a yogi.This is more difficult procedure than a laboratory test and research which everyone can do ,collect data and make a paper and publish,But naadalayayoga is real life practice ,the laboratory is your own body-mind complex,and you yourself are the investigator and it needs years and years of saadhana.A Guru may help you in some stages of the investigation as a guide in the research process.<br /><br /> ,I would like to point out the dhyana of devi parasakthy as sreechakra and as sangheethadevi in ones own body.(The similarities and differences can be noted.)Sreechakra is the beautiful mathematical sign language and its word language is the Sreesooktha.(where the devi is meditated as a woman with golden colour,as sun,moon and energy or agni.without form that is both as a cosmic and biological personality and as formless energy state).The meditation process is same for such devatha as well as to the ragadevatha upaasana.<br />When one does upaasana on each of the raagadevatha of the raagha each raagadevatha is meditated before singing.First a true upaasaka should have the courage to start the upaasana and the selfconfidence that I can do it.Because ,once you finish the 72 raagaas you become merged with the devi and there is a total thanmayeebhava with the devi.Only a son becomes one with the divine mother sakthy.Only a mother can forgive the faults of the son committed during the upaasana.The reason why many singers say that certain raga should not be sung, ,is because they are not true upaasakaas and they do not have the ability to sing as a true upaasaka of the devi,and ofcourse,just like a watchful mother observes every step of a son,the devi is always with the upaasaka maintaining his/her footsteps in life.Even if the son falters,she puts him to straight path and thus she is the true Guru of every saadhaka. And she is a rigourous teacher too ,putting you to severe tests which the upaasaka knows is for his/her ultimate victory .<br />The body of the singer has shadangaas(6 parts)and in each are chakraas starting from moolaadhaaram to aagna.The 7th is the sahasraara where all the chakraas are existing .The power or sakthi in these sites are awakened by music if sung in the proper way.<br />How does a sreechakra upaasaka meditate on paraasakthy in one’s own body?The following table gives the names of devatha and the site of the body .(13)<br />Head<br />Brahmi<br />neck<br />maheswari<br />thigh<br />koumari<br />heart<br />paraa<br />thoughts<br />shyamala<br />back<br />vaishnavi<br />ahamkaara<br />vaaraahi<br />arms<br />mahendri<br />hands<br />chamunda<br />chest<br />mahalakshmi<br />sides<br />nakuli<br />Nabhi<br />vijaya<br />Feet <br />sarvamangala<br />The srichakra is the swaroopa of sakthy and it was seen as Thripurasundari by Sankara,Thirumoolar,and Naarayanaguru.The sree is a suffix common to sreechakra ,sreeyanthra,sreeraaga,sreesooktha etc and it denotes light of knowledge,beauty,wealth,boons,the origin,heavenly,the best,and the first to be worshipped,the sweetest ,the deepest and the feminine aspect of Godhead etc.If one draws the figure on a flat surface it is sreechakra.If architecturally arranged (as square below,round or circle middle and triangle above it is sreeeyanthra.Such aavarana are 9 in number(navasakthy)and in each aavarana meditate a hamsadevatha of the devi as adhidevatha.When you start to meditate a devatha you have to start from the paada(foot)of deity and never from the other organs.(paadaadikesam first )Bhoopuram is the paadam and from there slowly ascend in the following way and finally see the omkaaradevi in the top of head(sahasrara)and keep her permanently in the aagnachakra as the thilaka(kumkum)It is the symbol of creativity.<br />Foot(paada)<br />Bhoopuram 3 paripoornarekha<br />Sarvamangalamangalya(Lakshman did only this to seetha)<br />Thigh<br />Shodasadalapadmam(16 petalled lotus)<br />naabhi<br />Ashtadalapadma(8 petals)<br />Heart<br />14 thrikona<br />neck<br />bahirdasaaram<br />Thilakam in forehead<br />anthardasaaram<br />forehead<br />ashtakonam<br />head<br />thrikonam<br />brahmarandhram<br />bindustaanam<br />The first 5(from foot to neck)are the outside(puram)of the chakra.The last 4 from the thilakam to brahmarandhram are the akam or inside,the most intimate internal relationship.When we start melakartharaaga kanakangi we are at the padam and when we reach rasikapriya we are at the brahmarandhra stage ,one with the deity.It shows the ability or prowess of a true upaasaka to traverse all the nine aavaranaas of the sreechakra .<br />Sangheethachakra in raagachikitsa.<br /><br />Music is the sarvothamakala in which raga is sung in suswara(sweet voice)so that it gives pleasure to the mind(manoranjaka).If the raga is not sung in this way it is not manoranjaka.To put it in other words If there is manoranjakam,one can deduce that the raga is properly sung.Sangheethachakra is a variant of sreechakra where Bharathy is meditated.Medha,santhy,sadguna,wealth,sarvavignasanthy,mangalam,keerthy,etc are inherent in the house of a true upaasaka .Their sankalpa become truth and there is good and prosperity not only to them but also to the entire world.Their thoughts and deeds will not harm others .On the contrary they will give more prosperity to the entire world.Their needs are taken care of by divine intervention.They wont have hatred or envy or dissatisfaction in life and they are always contended.This is because saraswathyhansam is always present in the devotees mind and house .The house where they sit naturally becomes a kalaakshethra or temple of arts and knowledge.They have very good sleep at night.No bad dreams.very good and beautiful dreams come to them.The devi as rajamathangi and rajarajeswary keeps them always healthy.<br />By meditating the moolamanthra as gayathri ,the upaasaka see her vision and till the last breath they go on breathing music.It is not just living in music but breathing music and music only.The condition is called vidhyasukhasidhi(the ultimate bliss of vidya).The people who attained this state become abhaya and amritha by the predictive darsana which appear in the inner eye.They develop a attractive power and gurukataksham is within their house .Upaasaka gets brahmagnaana .Proficiency in 64 arts especially jyothisha,sangheetha,natya,vaagchathurya and kavithwa are in their houses.Those who meditate on sangheethachakra do not have a next life or janma.Even if they are born,they will be born only as a gnani or artist with rajayoga. Before sunrise ,the upasaka takes bath and meditates on sangheethachakrapooja.If we do 8 mandala(1 mandala is 48 days here)which is 364 days we get the bala and athibala (strength)of a perfect mahayogi..Thirugnaanasambhandar ,Tyagaraja,Mahavaidyanathan sivan etc belong to this group,just to mention a few.Muthuswamideekshithar was very adept in both sreechakra and sangheethachakra araadhana and composed all 72 melakartharaagaas.<br />Pulippani sidhar has described only 8 aavaranaas for sangheethachakra(not 9 as in sreechakra).The bhoopuram and shodasadalapadma are the same as sreechakra.The others are slightly different as follows<br /><br />Peetham bhoopuram feet<br />Shodasadalapadma thigh<br />Sapthadalapadma nabhi (7 dala instead of 8)<br />Shadkona (hridaya)<br />12 triangles neck<br />downturned triangle forehead<br />upturned triangle head<br />The seed of life (uyir)where naadadevi Bharathy sits.She has to be visualized and permanently worn in the thilaka.<br />Sangheethachakra has its tatwa as roopa and aroopa.(form and formless).With form (saakaaram)she is meditated as naadakaali Bhaarathy ,santhadevi,saraswathy.The formless is not seen to our naked eyes but is the naadathanu Bharathy ,with anantham names ,seen even in an atom,as maaya the one who gives ultimate wisdom of naada as niraakaara,santha and soumya.It is not easy to see this subtle sookshmathanu of the devi for ordinary people.If one who has not done proper upaasana approaches her she doesn’t allow him/her to come near .Because she is asulabha(not easy to get) and reveals all her beauty to only great upaasakas like kaalidasa,thirugnaanasambhandhar,Sankara and the like.But,anyone can be a potential upaasaka if God so wills and if one tries.The different avaranaas of the sreechakra are given in soundaryalahari vyakhyana ( 14)Here the aavarana and the devathas of the sangheethachakra are given.<br />1.chakrapeetham as bhoopuram is sarvakalaaprapthachakram.chakreswary is vidyamalahari.beejaswaram is nishadam.manovrithy is nirvaanam.Makes the mind of upasaka spotlessly clean.Such mind alone can concentrate on any system of knowledge.There are two devi in between the lines of bhoopura .one is kalavidhi or kamakshi which gives the vidhi for learning arts.she is the mother who satisfies all desires of man and gives poetry,and music through her breastmilk as to Thirugnaanasambhandar..the second is kalavathy or durga and it is this devatha who is propitiated from water (saadhana in jhalamadhya for mahakaali durga )and it is she who gave kalidasa his prowess in poetry.In souparnika ,Kottayam Raja got this experience.Musicians do morning sadhana immersed in water to propitiate her.<br />Second avarana is sarvakarshanachakram with chakreswary vidyasakthy and bheejaswaram dhaivatham.Manovrithi saswatham .(Attractive power is forever.) The 14 attractive (akarshana)devtas in 14 triangles in this avarana are as follows.<br />1.kalaakarshini.sreevidya.natya,naataka,sangheetha,kavya,kavitha,alankara,other 64 arts.2.avadhaanakarshini.who gives the avadhanam to do several things at a time.<br />3.kaamaakarshini.kaama is all desires,not sex alone.she sits on the right shoulder of sadhaka.4.budhy akarshini.one who is needed for aquiring knowledge,wisdom,memorizing what is learned and using it in the proper time ,teaching and creativity.The devi is gayathri.<br />5.sabdaakarshini.The sruthignaanam to distinguish and enjoy even the subtlest sruthy,of singers,birds,natural objects etc.devi is chandika.<br />6.sparsaakarshini.the one who bestows the touch of gnana above that of the senses.She touches the heart by knowledge ,not by her hand or body.The devatha is gayathri.<br />7.roopaakarshini.structure /construction /or form is there for every object,for arts and knowledge.especially for language ,music,literature,etc.We call it a pattern,a bhaani,style etc.The lakshana and raagabhaava ,the thaalagathi,sahityastyle,meanings are also the structural aspects.These forms or beautiful structures are kept in memory by devivajreswary.<br />8.rasaakarshini is dakshayani giving nine rasa.<br />9.chithaakarshini .The vidya of sadhaka has to give sidhi,knowledge should give phalasidhi,and vijayam.The success or vijayam comes to sadhaka as rajarajeswary.<br />10.dhairyakarshini.The vidya should not remain within 4 walls.It should come out.For this sadhaka should have courage and .selfknowledge(which Anjaneyar lacked)of one’s own sakthy.The devi is rajamathanghi.<br />11.dhanaakarshini .who gives wealth as annapoorneswary dhanalakshmy.<br />12.dhyanakarshini.dharana,dhyana,samadhi and parabrahma experience is given by saradha as Brahmi.<br />13.chaithanya akarshini .Chaithanya is pragna.The pragna and prathibha in arts,research,etc.Breathing arts and sciences ,not just loving them or living in them.Devi sreelalitha.<br />14.naadaakarshini.Naada originated from Bindu or anu.The naadaprapancha from Brahmam is recreated (punarsrishty)by sruthy and darsana as naadaanubhavam of the yogi .Omkaaranaadaakarshini Mahaakaali is the devatha for this.<br />Avaranam 3.sapthadalakamalam.sarvavidyaparipoornachakram.chakreswary vidyanaadadevi.Beejaswaram panchamam.Here vedavidyabudhi is given by Vaani and the things for daytoday living is given by mahalakshmi.The manovrithy is naadormayam.There are 7 vedadevis.They remove kaama,krodha,moha,lobha,mada,matsarya,papa from mind and gives peace,love,wisdom,dharma,maithry,mrityunjaya,punya etc in their place.<br />Vedavidyabudhi means dharmasathravihitha life,and nityanityavivekam.Sapthaswra in 7 dala gives this.Brahmi,maheswari,koumari,vaishnavi,vaaraahi,mahendri,chamundi are vedadevis.Seven vedadevis are vaniparam.Wife,husband,relatives,house,daytoday equipments,vehicles etc are mahalaxmiparam.As and when the time for jeevanmukthy comes,the desires for samsaara should cease.<br />4.shadkonam.sarvabhayakarachakram.chakreswary vidyavivekini.bheejaswaram madhyamaswaram.vagdevi is there forever as the Guru and friend .Guru is none other than saraswathy who sits within the saadhaka.The knowledge comes as revelations .In shadchakra,vaagdevi sits as 12 sarvakalaaroopinis.<br /><br />They are<br />1.sarvakalasanjeevani for healing .<br />2.sarvakalatharanghini who produce gnaana waves always in the oceanlike chith of sadhaka.<br />3.sarvakalaranjani who makes gnaana sweet (madhura)<br />4.sarvakalaanidhi.the one who gives all treasures of knowledge of arts<br />5.sarvakalaroopanghi one who sits as the most beautiful and aesthetic within one’s mind’s eyes<br />6.sarvakalaajwaalamukhi one which makes the artistic ability of sadhaka known to the world<br />7.sarvakalaarasaruchiramani.the one who attracts rasika by rasa experience<br />8.sarvakalaabharani.The one who sits on the jihua of the saadhaka and becomes her/his nityabhooshani.(daily ornament)There is no other bhooshana needed for such upaasaka.<br />9.sarvakalavardhani who increases arts<br />10.sarvakalaavinodini one who gives enjoyment by arts<br />11.sarvakalaahithabhaashini.one who speaks with arts so that whatever she speaks will be for the common good.<br />12.sarvakalavagheeswary .The one who gives vagsidhy so that every word one utters become fruitful.She is amma who is vaatsalyamayi to all devotees.<br />Avaranam 5 is sarvakalaaprasaadachakram.chakreswary is vidyaroopadevi.12 thrikona.bheejaswaram ghandharam.Even while sleeping only saarada is seen as sookshmatatwa.Manovrithy is always gurusmaranam.Sadhaka hear the thoughts of devi within mind as swami,swami swami,as the reenkara of bees.Guru should have this naadabhakthy and aathmabalam and devi tests this .The guruthwa of people who have saraswathy as Guru is more than other people.There are 12 naadadevatha in 12 thrikona.They are naadakaali,naadakalaavathy,naadaranjani,naadajyothy,naadamanohari,naadaswaroopi,naadasruthysthutha,naadaomkaari,naadavallabhi,naadamahankusa,naadajayanthy,naadabramaraambha.<br />Avaranam 6 thrikaalagnaanachakram chakreswary is vidyayogini.Downturned thrikonam with bheejaswara rishabha.The 3 yoginis here are swaragnaanayogini,maargagnaanayogini,and sookshmagnaanayogini(of these sookshmagnaana is the uyirnaadi of gnaana).<br />7th aavaranam sarvavignanivarthichakram.chakreswary is vidyavigneswary.downturned thrikona with bheejaksharam shadjam.manovrithy nivaaranam.dukhanivrithy 8 nivrithydevi as removing vighna.<br />Vighnakameswari,vighnavisweswary,vighnajayamalini,vighnavasanthy,vighnavinodini,vighnaparipalini,vighnasarveswary,vighnavallabhi<br />8th avaranam is sarvakalyanagnaanachakram.chakreswary mahavidyabharathy.Chidroopam bindhu .In a downturned triangle.Maayanaadaroopini who cannot be seen with naked eyes gives all mangala for sadhaka.If the karma of a sadhaka creates damage to others she lovingly objects them and convert them for good of the world.Bheejaksharaswaram is susruthynilayam.(one which resembles a welltuned thamburusruthy)which gives bliss.manovrithy is Sudarsanagnaanam.(sudarsana is the sreechakra in the hands of Vishnu ,so beautiful to see and giving protection from all unwanted things ) For the navaavarana krithy of deekshithar and its relation toDevi upaasana see ref 15 and 16<br />One who meditates on this should have omkaaradhyana,gayathrimanthra and upaasana of soundaryalahari with true meanings.Sangheethachakramoolamanthra given below has to be sung (meditated)43 times for 43 triangles.<br />Om hrim klim srim thum<br />Nityaanandathe niraadhaare<br />Nishkalaaye nama:<br />Vidhyaadhaare visaalakshi<br />Veenaadhaare nama:<br />Om Bhaarathye nama:<br />Hrim raajamathanghi devyie nama:<br />Sreem saraswathyei nama:<br />Klim thrisakthy aikyaroope mookambike nama:<br />Thum sangheethasarade nama:<br />One has to assess the level of the upaasaka from the words,deeds and spiritual progress and not from the worldly possessions or riches..If there is no cleanliness(shudhi)in body,mind and intellect one cannot do sreechakra upaasana.And those without shudhi cannot understand the worth of sreechakra upaasaka either.Sreechakra upaasaka are like children .They are mahayogins and may be either vyakthayogin or gupthayogin.Their leela are not intelligible to those who are with them (relatives,colleagues etc).When two such upaasakaas meet and transfer their energy through mutual understanding the energy is dissipated for the common good of the entire world.Each become the Guru of the other.This is a very rare phenomenon in the world .Therefore when one see such phenomena due to lack of knowledge the sidhas are not properly assessed or recognized.by the world.<br />In the case of routine musical upaasana such prolonged and difficult sadhana are not needed and it is enjoyed by everyone including women and people who have no accesss to higher learning..Vaasana to sing, bhakthi and rakthi through loving surrender and compassion in God and Guru makes this possible and makes everyone alike ,without differences of birth,caste,creed,or sex differences and Krishna was the embodiment of such universal love.He never said that women or low caste people cannot achieve the ultimate ,on the contrary he proved with his life it is the women,lowborn and the poor who reach him and become one with him easily.That was the practical advaitha of his life.If Krishna was not attainable to the lowborn gopis who were ignorant of scriptures but were the most loving and involved souls with all satwik bhaavaas creating Brahmarasa ecstacy within their minds,if he was not accessibl e to kuchela the poor Brahmin and to Pandavas the forest wanderers who have lost all their property,(if he had been accessible to kings and rich people and men devotees alone)he could not have been a proponent of advaitha.and could not have lasted so long in the psyche of the Indian for such a long period.He would not have been the sweetest singer and friend to thousands of people for generations either.As Kabeer said,do not ask the caste or creed of a devotee of Hari,because he has none.The most beautiful aesthetic experience a human being can get is this advaitha through music.<br /><br />Following Carl Bergstroem-Nielsen's (17)discussion of Colin Lee's book The Architecture of Aesthetic Music Therapy in the unmoderated discussion forum of the Voices, and his article in the March issue of the same journal,(18) I had given the perspective of Indian aesthetics on music. For the international readers who are interested in the subject.(19)<br />The fact that Lee thinks the structure of music deserves more attention in music therapy work and research caught my attention in Carl Bergstroem-Nielsen's initial discussion. And also how music inspires a person (the personal) from my own musical life panorama. The fact that the personal experience come from the impersonal (the worldly experiences come from the spiritual) is a theme common to all cultures of the world, of which India is probably the one which has given much thought processes. Indian philosophy has dealt with it in detail and Indian aesthetics has stemmed from Indian philosophy but with its own identity and beauty and originality. Music is spiritual in India, and the spirituality of music inspires the living organisms and awakens the dormant spirituality in them, and this awakening is called inspiration by the modern thinkers. And it is these experiences of inspiration that we call our personal experiences, or in music therapy language, our musical life panorama. But if the music had no structure, if it were not beautiful in itself, if it had not touched our hearts by its beauty and emotional content, we would never have had those inspiring moments. The more complex and beautiful and fascinating the music is, the more deeper, richer and subtler it becomes and only then it becomes soulstirring and such music is very very rare and precious. It is not the common music which each and every one of us can make and sing, but it is the one each and every one of us listen to in rapturous attention, forgetting ourselves in absolute wonder. This is what Lee's patient was trying to articulate when he said that he could not handle that complicated music but it had inspired him. The duty of a musician is to make such deep, aesthetic, universal and spiritual music. Only then he can inspire the universe, and give peace to all. The society is benefited by that kind of aesthetic music. When such music and the aesthetic sense of such music, comes into the therapy room with the therapist, along with love for humanity and respect for "life" (and hence for the client) he gives a chance for responding to the music in an aesthetic way, to borrow Merethe Vadstein Welle's words.<br />One point that I wish to point out is that Pei-Ju—Tu's and Wolf's patients were old and demented or having psychiatric problems who could not deal with such complicated or complex music. And that was the precise reason for their liking of the simpler music. I too have such patients with me and I use the most common and the least complicated music, and sometimes even nursery rhymes to elicit the necessary emotions in them. But, then we are talking about the "relative" aesthetics of a mentally challenged or demented individual and not of the aesthetics of music at all. A music therapist should have a perfect aesthetic sense so that he can be flexible in every situation depending upon the type of patient and his/her sensibility..<br />More the aesthetic sense and the flexibility, more the psychological knowledge and musical effects on emotions, the therapist becomes more equipped with the impersonal to bring about the personal change in humanity and in his clients.In Indian music the ecstasy of a musical experience (which may be called an inspiration in simpler language) is equivalent to yogic experience of Brahma (God) one gets in the deep meditation (samaadhi). Hence it is described as naadalayayoga a type of immersing in ecstasy of God through the yoga of music/or sound.<br />According to Indian aesthetics, genuine art is not made but is a spontaneous flow from the heart filled with rasa. The great artist is also the great art critic. The artform includes diction, versification, and music is determined by inspiration and the laya is important since it determines the meaning of the utterance.<br />What is Rasa?<br />Rasa is the source of inspiration for an artist and a listener.<br />The wordmeaning is the essence or more simply, the taste. The first and foremost artist/poet/composer/singer in Indian aesthetics is God who sings the music of the spheres and the Upanishads describes God as Rasa itself. God is both the rasa (the experience of supreme bliss or ananda) and the one who experiences the rasa (the rasika).That is why Jayadeva in his Gitagovinda calls Krishna as Krishnabhogin(the black serpent,and the great enjoyer krishna with two meanings to increase the rasa of poetics.(20) To get the artistic aesthetic experience (rasaanubhava) the artist has to be unselfish, disinterested in ordinary life dualities, objective, capable of contemplating life experiences without being affected by them. The artist embodies the emotions of life recollected in a state of tranquility. Thus art communicates not the emotions but emotions of an emotion. There is peace and delight in the process which is universalized (impersonal) individual (personal) experience. Pain, pleasure and pathological consequences of stress and anxiety occur due to struggles in life for personal gains of pleasure, power, possessions etc and such personal stresses and strains cause diseases (which the Indian science and art calls samsaara or diseases due to ones own actions). Artistic aesthetics should not awaken such personalized excitement or depression which were the actual causes of the diseased state. It should give peace of mind, tranquility and enjoyment in life as a divine blessing, it should take the patient beyond the dualities of life and hence music as an artform takes the impersonal divine blissful rasa as more important and giving such music is the best method for therapy. Spiritual delight or ecstasy (experience of Brahma) and artistic delight or ecstasy (experience of rasa) are thus considered as equivalent in Indian aesthetics and philosophy. They are called twins. Spiritual bliss is jagrathsushupthy (awakened dreamless deep sleep) while aesthetic musical bliss is jagrath swapna (awakened, dreamy sleep) a waking dream or a vision as Keats put it. The artistic imagination of a musician (prathibha) is a kind of vision (drishty or perception or darshana) which see the world in a different way and thereby transforms it. By his art the artist creates a new golden world, while ordinary people see only a brazen dry world of duality around and get stressed. The artist gives concrete shape to his world through words and rhythms, and melody. It is in an inspired state of impersonal ecstasy that an artist chooses the words, the order of the words and rhythm and the melody. Rather, it is not the artist, but the inspired state which chooses for him the words and the melody. Thus the artist is between the heard and the unheard, the seen and the unseen, allowing the ecstatic state (Brahma or God) to choose the art for him. When such art flows out from the impersonal in the artist, the listener proceeds from the heard to the unheard, from the seen to the unseen, in a reverse order and recover the artist's experience. This is done through a sensitive response to the suggestive power of the heard sounds /the words/the melody. The artist and the listener have to achieve an identity (thanmayeebhava) and hear with the inner and outer ear, feel, think and respond together. Then the bliss of rasa is perfect. Suggestion (dhwani) is a link between words (the heard -or the sruthy) and the seen (visualized/perceived-darsan).<br />In the uttered/heard music there are three elements: (1) expression, (2) suppression, (3) impressions. Comprehension means comprehending not only the grossly expressed meaning, but also of the hidden or suppressed subtle meanings in the text and the overall impressions from every possible meanings thus suggested. More than denotation, the connotative, suggestive meanings, and the rhythmic repetitive flow of words help us to get the experience. Dhwani (suggestions) functions as both denotative and connotative meanings and the right response help us to make a hermeneutical leap. The beautiful words /thoughts/melodies coming out of a heart filled with ecstatic bliss clothes itself with beautiful coverings (aavarana) without any conscious effort from the part of the poet/musician. And the listener without any efforts visualize and enjoys the beauty of it. Dwani (suggestions) is the soul of art and is related to meaning. Meaning is classified under denotation, indirect indication by metaphor, sphota or meaning of the utterance as a whole and only through suggestion can great art be expressed. The creative and analytical music therapy of the modern music therapists utilizes some of these aspects of ancient Indian aesthetics.<br />How is Rasa Created? The Personal Experience<br />Rasanishpathy (creation of rasa) is by combination of three factors. Bharathamuni one of earliest writers on Indian aesthetics calls them as vibhava, anubhaava and vyabhichaaribhaava(21 and 22).<br />Vibhaava: These are secondary factors which might excite our feelings and hence are personal. Characters or dialogues in a drama, words in a music, etc., may elicit old memories in our life associated with a particular type of music. This is what now the western music therapists call eliciting the musical life panorama of a patient to get a diagnostic as well as therapeutic response from patients. This is important for a music therapist since he/she should know the musical background of the person to be treated, and also it elicits a positive response of interest from the patient which itself has healing properties. The settings, like seasons, gardens, fragrance, moonlight, seeing near and dear ones, hearing their voices etc can also elicit the same response so that vibhaava is only a secondary element .The MLP of different individuals differ.<br />Anubhaava: The effects of the emotion that develop the main sentiment are called anubhaava. The main sentiment or emotion we want to evoke is love. The emotion of love is sometimes expressed by some people as anxiety, anger, depression, etc. (possessiveness included) and when such emotions become extreme stress and strains of life increases and diseases occur. If on the other hand, love is expressed as loving concern and compassion for the entire creation, tranquility and peace are experienced by the individual and by the people around such individual, and this impersonal love for humanity touches everyone's heart. Music of ancient India considered this as the healing power and created music of such nature. The divinity in the impersonally aesthetic universal love and of music was appreciated by all Indian aesthetics and philosophies. The bliss is against a background of peace (shaanthi), absence of mental agitation, disturbances and stress or anxiety. What actually happens is that apart from secretion of the endorphins from the neurons, and the alteration of the beta to alpha and theta waves during such peaceful, melodious music, the human brain is also having a gate control mechanism of all pains caused by samsara, through the divine intervention of music. This cognitive value of art as a controller of pain and pleasure is recognized not only by Bharathamuni but also by later aestheticians like Abhinavaguptha. Others like Bhaamaha considered Rasa as an ornament (alamkara) to music. Dandin thought lucidity, sweetness, richness and grandeur gives good art its properties. But it was Anandavardhana's dwani (suggestion) which gave perfection to Indian aesthetics. Rasa can be expressed only through suggestions. It can never be explained or spoken by direct speech. Just like the experience of God, which is beyond words. Which is impersonally personal and universal, music also is impersonally personal and divine. It is this nature of good music which heals. The music therapist has to select and create such good music and act as an intermediary in the will of God, in right earnest. The barriers to realization of rasa experience are the selfish, personal and dual feelings of the daily life and to get over them, and realize the transcendal /spiritual bliss the artist/musician develops a rare type of cognition similar to yogic wisdom and realization in samadhi. The nearest to it in western language may be the sublime state<br />Nine rasa in Indian aesthetics<br />Rasa<br />Dominant State<br />Temperamental signs<br />1.Shantha<br />Tranquil, peacefulImpersonal love of a yogin/of God<br />Physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health.<br />2.Erotic sringara<br />Personalized passionate love 2 types. 1 in separation. 2.in union.<br />Paralysis of faculties of cognition/sensations<br />3.Comic hasya<br />Mirth, laughter<br />Perspiration<br />4.Pathetic karuna<br />Sorrow<br />Hairs stand out, body trembles.<br />5.Furious(not in music)<br />Anger<br />Change of voice, mental disturbances<br />6.Heroic<br />veera<br />Energy<br />Trembling of body, hands, etc.<br />7.Terrible(not in music)<br />Terror<br />Change of colour<br />8.Odious(sometimes with vipralambha)<br />Disgust<br />Weeping, anxiety<br />9.Marvelous adbhudha<br />Astonishment<br />Fainting<br />In healing music the impersonal, tranquil state of physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health is the goal. And it is this rasa which is ideal for music therapy. The sentiment of love in separation from the God (divine partner) with an optimistic yearning for reunion with Him, is used. The serenity, the sweetness, the satisfaction, the delightful, ecstatic graceful movements and words and rhythms of melodious Indian music has a structure best suited for this purpose. In some special occasions It also uses the heroic sentiments with energy as its base, and presence of mind, perseverance, diplomacy, discipline, strength, reputation for truth and righteousness, patience, charitable disposition and heroism. This is for energizing the system. The other rasas are used on stage performances by dramatic personnel and dancers but not by musicians. Because music is always for healing and peace and love. Anaesthetics is for easing the pains. Aesthetics is for experiencing the bliss. Seemingly opposing words. But they are two sides of the same coin for a music therapist. With the aesthetics of musical bliss, music therapist numbs or blocks the pains and eases the pains.<br />Indian aestheticians Bharatha,Abhinavaguptha (author of Abhinavabharathy),Bhamaha(author of kavyalankara)and Anandavardhana (author of Dwanyaaloka)and kunthaka (author of vakrokthyjivitha) has given definitions for Rasa in their own style and these definitions are given in detail in Indian aesthetics ,An introduction by V.S.Sethuraman(ed)(22).The sthaayibhaava of rathi(sringar) in a musical performance or a drama is transformed into an aloukika state .The sahridaya identify(thanmayeebhava) with the singer or character in the drama through hridayasamvada but the identification is not complete and a certain aesthetic distance is kept for the enjoyment of rasa.If there are no two,the enjoyer,the enjoyed (like a male and a female in marital bliss)and the enjoyment as separate entities the rasa experience cannot happen.Whereas in the bhakthy of saints like chaithanya and Sankara the oneness with God is total and there is no dwaitha.In the case of both Chaithanya and sankara ,though there is total thanmayeebhava,one has a logical predominence and the other has a rasa and bhava predominence.But we must also remember that sankara though he has a logical predominence has time and again said that it is not logic but the swaanubhoothy or rasa experience of Brahma which is more important in advaitha.This is true of musical rasa also.(Rasa Brahmaananda sahodara)The science of notations and the science of aesthetics and its jargon belong to the logical left brain part of musicians and aestheticians and cannot be avoided to have good music.But ultimately it is the experience of both the singer and the listener which they communicate and enjoy which is the crux of rasa.If this does not happen,there is technically perfect music still ,but it has failed in its ultimate aim,the hridayasamvaada and the rasa experience.which the artist and the listener share and enjoy.,Being communicated through the divine love .<br />References.<br />1.Natyasasthra Bharathamuni .Kerala sahitya academi.translator.K.P.Narayanapisharody.vol.1987 chap 22 pge 62-73.<br /><br />2 The psychology of music.K.P.Krishnarao.Asian educational services New Delhi 1984. pge 1-to 4.<br /><br />3 Aesthetics of music and information theory .J.L.Broeckx pge 1-21 chap 1 Essays in musicology .R.C.Mehta.Indian musicological society publication.<br />.<br />4Without a stumble A book on the spirituality of music.Dr Suvarna Nalapat.2003.Nalapat books pg141<br /><br />5.Musical as a value predicate . (ch 3)Philosophy of music. Rithwik sanyal 1987. Somaiyya publications<br /><br />6Appreciation response to music Arvind Mangrulkar pge 29.Psychology of music R.C Mehta<br /><br />7 Musicoaesthetic predicates( ch 5)Philosophy of music.Ritwik sanyal..140-174 Somaiyya publication<br />.<br />8 Music in Brihadharmapuraana.V.Raghavan.M.A.PhD,1938.pge 37-39 dialogue of Vishnu to Narada.<br /><br />9 A conceptual framework for the analysis of aesthetic behaviour ch 3. pge 23 Shyamala Vanarase Psychology of music R.C.Mehta Indian musicological society publication.<br /><br />10.Raga and rasa Narendrarai N.Shukla pg 31-34<br /><br />11.Ch 8,9,10 without a stumble.(ref 4) Pge 178-214.<br /><br />12.Music and sound in yoga .Vimala Musalagaonkar Psychology of yoga ed R.C.Mehta. ch 7. pge 44<br /><br />13 Padmasindhu. Dr Suvarna Nalapat.Mathrubhoomi publications. Part 3.Commentary to Soundaryalahary of Adisankara.1996.<br /><br />14 Brahmasindhu 2006 Commentary on Brahmasoothra Dr Suvarna Nalapat pge 407-411.<br /><br />15.The journal of music academyISSN 0970-3101,vol LXIX 1998 T.S.Parthasarathy pge 99-108<br /><br />16.Bergstroem-Nielsen, Carl (2006). The Importance of Aesthetics as a Dimension in Music Therapy Activity. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, from <a href="http://www.voices.no/mainissues/mi40006000202.html">http://www.voices.no/mainissues/mi40006000202.html</a> <br /><br />17. Ref 16 and 18 were articles in moderated discussions following the unmoderated discussion on Voices a world forum of music therapy. titled "What do you think of aesthetics ??" (<a href="http://pub45.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3862196689&cpv=1">http://pub45.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3862196689&cpv=1</a><br /><br />18 .Nalapat, Suvarna (2006). Indian aesthetics in Music therapy -The personal and impersonal. [Contribution to Moderated Discussions] Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. <a href="http://www.voices.no/discussions/discm58_01.html">http://www.voices.no/discussions/discm58_01.html</a><br /><br />19 jayadeva ‘s Gitagovinda.Love song of the Dark God.Barbara Stoler Miller.Motilal Banarasidas publishers.reprint ed 2007.<br /><br />20 Psychological studies in Rasa Rakesaguptha. Granthayan Aligarh,reprint 1997.<br /><br />21Acoustic perspectives on Raga-rasa theory suvarnalathaRao.Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers 2000<br /><br />22.Indian aesthetics an introduction.ed /V.S .SethuramanMacmillan India ltd 1992.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-61946063568981990092007-07-05T05:45:00.000-07:002007-07-05T05:49:17.703-07:00NaadalayasindhuPreface to Naadalayasindhu<br />GURUKULAM AS I ENVISAGE<br />To become an educationist and to plan for the coming generations of people a way of life and education is no easy task to be done by people who never have thought about the problems of the society and of education and its goals.For this activity one may have to learn many arts and sciences ,should have a loving mind and a sharp extraordinarily receptive intellect and a love for nature and nurture.And one should have lead a life of purity as a model for the students to emulate.But ,these things are of the past,some people argue.And others think that a gurukula is the function of celibate nuns and sphincters or of swamins and sanyasins.I do not think that this is a correct view.In ancient India every gurukula had a guru and a gurupathni,and the guru lead an excemplary life of studies and austerities and a domestic life so that the students learnt even the way of a good householder.The religious institutions make a jail for the students and expect them to be sanyasins and even a small mistake is not tolerated .A Gurukula style of education which I envisage for the 21st century teachers and students is not one run by a sanyasi but by a normal human being living a householder’s life ,fulfilling all duties of the householder and achieving excellance in learning,and in duties .A place where the good citizens of the world and of the nation are created ,useful to society ,nation and world and above all to themselves ,to their family and to the institutions they work for.<br />Bharath is the cradle of civilizations and in this ancient land of rishis and sages Guru is equivalent to God.Guru and shishya makes a meaningful whole in generating vidya and upholding the traditions.Before they start a learning process they chant together.<br />Sahanou yasa:sahanou Brahmavarchasam(let us aquire fame and divine energy together).In the generation of Guruparampara for creation of knowledge ,Guru is the poorvaroopa,shishya is the uthararoopa and their sandhi is vidya and their offspring is prediction (pravachana).Medicine being a predictive science the teachers and students have to chant together “let me be filled with intellect(medha)and by that nectar of intelligence let us develop dhaarana(understanding).My body and mind are healthy.My words are sweet as honey.Let all the ears hear that sweet voice of love.God is hidden in the cells of intelligence .Let my knowledge be preserved for posterity and propagated by the coming generations (of shishyaas).”<br /><br />Then the Guru continues to pray alone:”Let there be more and more students in my care.Let them come even from distant places .Let them be happy ,intelligent,disciplined and thirsty of knowledge.”<br />Whenever an educational institution is trying to draw more students to it,apart from the curriculum and the syllabus,a feeling of oneness between the teachers and students and a bond of love between them is essential.The student ,after leaving the institution nostalgically remembers the people who have given them love and a feeling of security.A good educational institution should be a home away from home,and good teachers should be giving parental(motherly/fatherly)affection ,love and care and advice (councelling)and should not be policemen and women making life difficult for them.Children are always good.The only thing that they need is proper love and care,not to turn to bad things and company.They are not criminals who needs constant vigil from the teachers.This is what happens in very strict gurukulaas run by religious institutions which I have seen in some of the professional institutions also.<br />We have to revive the old gurukula system of India where the guru is a father/mother figure and the student is the son/daughter and in such a situation only one can give security and a feeling of belonging to the students and by sharing their happiness and sorrows the teacher becomes part of his/her training programme and of life.<br />Only by creating such an atmosphere in the campus we can make it a happy place to live in and study and work.The happiness(aananda)or bliss is always associated with sath,chith (truth and energy of intelligence).Happy environment is the best for intellectual and physical work.Each and every faculty member should be able to understand this and create such an atmosphere in the college campus and each and every student should be able to respond to it by their natural instinct.For this the gurukula should have good and happy teachers,intelligent and free individuals leading a dutiful and pure domestic life.<br /><br />FINDING A SOLUTION TO THE INEQUALITY OF ACCESS TO DISEASE PREVENTION ,THERAPY,AND INFORMATION TO RURAL POPULATION OF ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD COUNTRIES ,THROUGH A HEALTH VILLAGE SCHEME.<br />(Application sent from Amrita institute of medical scinces .Ref call for application ,strategic,social ,economic and behavioural research Jan 2003)<br />Statement and description of the problem and its priority.<br /><br />India is a country rich in culture and its traditional ways of healthcare including ayurveda,yoga and music therapy.These are the ways of life topromote health and are preventive measures as well as curative.The villages in India at present lack proper healthcare and this is mainly due to lack of willing doctors to work in the villages,due to lack of proper watersupply ,lack of nutritious food and the environmental pollution and lack of awareness.The economically backward rural population do not get access to proper prevention ,therapy and information about diseases and healthrelated topics.The changing economic sociopolitical and civil structures and use of new drugs ,insecticides,pesticides and other chemicals also have contributed to spread of various types of diseases in rural population ,in tropical underdeveloped and developing countries.A better identification of such problems at a regional level and providing solutions to the problems for future needs is essential.The current proposal is such an innovative one for providing a solution to theproblems in a rural environment of kerala which belongs to the developing nation(India).Since this is for giving solutions to the problems of rural India ,the research is of national importance as perceived from the people’s perspective.<br /><br />Background<br />To identify the problems faced by the nation(society)and to give a solution for that,one individual has to devote the entire lifetime in service of society and in touch with the rural common man.The principal investigator has done that and after years of contact with the common rural man ,has come up with a solution for the problems of rural India.But before accepting this solution at a national level (or for that matter at a global level)one has to prove that it will work out well at local ,regional levels.Hence implementation at a regional level is mandatory.Therefore the research becomes important from the point of view of the nation and the world.<br />Objectives and philosophy behind the proposal<br />Health according to the definition of the WHO is not merely the lack of physical disease.The mental ,spiritual,intellectual health also has to be taken into consideration .A multidisciplinery approach including ayurveda,yoga,classical music ,Indian philosophy will be implemented in the study period in selected villages so that there will be 100%participation from the public and their preferences and choices of therapy will given prime importance to have overall development of mental ,intellectual,spiritual and physical health.This will be in tune with the traditional sciences and customs of the Indian subcontinent.The aim of the adoption of the health village is to improve overall physical,mental,intellectual,spiritual development and improvement of the community in which holistic approach to health including alternative medicine will be tried.<br /><br />The aim of the project is to improve the villages of India and to develop them in all fields and to make a model for the whole country to follow as a health village ,healthy not only physically but also mentally ,intellectually,spiritually.The gestalt field theory of educational psychology is defining human beings as dynamic systems within dynamic systems growing by the environment in the field in which they live,and stimulating the growth and development of the field they live in.<br /><br />India’s amendment under Act 6 New Paragraph D,reads:<br />Ultimately higher education should aim at the creation of a new society ,nonviolent and nonexplorative,consisting of highly cultivated ,motivated and integrated individuals,inspired by love for humanity and guided by wisdom.(UNESCO World conference.Paris 5-9.October 1998)<br /><br />In the Peramble:society currently undergoing a profound crisis of values ,can transcend mere economic considerations and incorporate deeper dimensions of morality and spirituality .Higher education is to ensure that.The values and ideals of a culture of peace prevail and that the intellectual community should be mobilized to that end.<br /><br />This book,naadalayasindhu, was originally devised as a basic textbook and guidebook for students of music therapy in India, has this broad goal to achieve.. When I first started to talk about music therapy and its advantages to my colleagues,and to the public,I felt that I am a single tree ,trying to dance and make music and rhythm in a quiet forest where the other trees didn’t mind whether there is music or not.I had been used to a silence within which is akin to nothingness,death,or as an absolute existence of God which is bliss incarnate.That silence was a Bardo,and as a British saying,an angel’s time of passing by,the Ma of Japan,or the space between events .The silence between two lovers,between Radha and Krishna,the most intimate emotion unfathomable and sweetest,the Pralaya or deluge or timeless existence in the Present ..That silent phase had slowed down the pace of my music and emphasized the word (literature)in me,but those words even came from the silence ,highlighting the quiet intensity of the singer’s voice.Silence begins within the inner space before the first musical sound begins ,ends within the space after the last musical sound has finished resonating.The Indian sciences call the silence as Anahatha naada.Thanthra calls it the Para,Pasyanthi,and Madhyama stage before Vaikhari(heard sound).The visions,scenes ,dreams,Jungian archetypes in music and their healing properties has been much discussed in the west recently.The listener and the singer have two different personalities and different roles and just like that the therapist and the patient have two personalities.and two roles.Yet as human beings they are equal in many respects (Kimmo Lehtonen Healing metaphors on music.& 6th European music therapy conference in Finland July 19 2004.)That is like the Bhaktha and the Bhagavan in Bhakthisampradaya ,the jeeva and the Paramathma in vedantha.<br /><br />Rika Ikuno (Voices vol 1 no:1 April 20 .2001 )says how in Japan the term Ongaku Rhyoho (music therapy)is used and how it is used for Fukushi(social care and welfare extending to every member of society regardless of economic status)and how this created an upsurge among the youth and old alike .When such a movement is created through musical awareness ,public,political and civil support is gained and educationists are attracted ,and music appreciation and culture enhanced and preservation of national heritage and values results along with welfare activities.In my music therapy programme which I call Raagachikitsa,this is exactly what had happened over the years,and now I find many trees around me reawakened and making their own dance to the breeze.The forest is no more silent .<br />Fukushi is social work ,social welfare,policy for handicapped,elderly etc.It is for alleviaton of povertyand misery around,using music as a tool for human growth,healthy and natural social change for total transformation of community and nation.It is for reducing the exploitation of society by undesirable elements,to search for an ethnic identity in modern society so that the diversities of religion,creeds,castes,political parties and sexes will be replaced by a national feeling(Indianness)and that of humanity.<br />Since Indian culture and valuesystems and concepts and the music systems are entirely different from the west ,it is not advisable to give Mozart or Beethoven to the common man for therapy.The Indian music (North Indian and South Indian)should be used and Raagachikitsa aims at such a programme.At the same time the Indian student of music therapy should know the developments happening in the west and in the medical research and hence literature survey ,sometimes quoting whole articles have become necessary.(as a textbook for music therapists and musicologists,and students of music therapy and for doctors).<br />If viewed in this sense as a transformative research ,music is not only a spiritual activity but also a sociopolitical activity.The world go round by love ,energy,materials and wisdom.The research scientist is therefore bound to provide a written document showing what he/she did,why he/she did it,how she/he did it,and what he/she learned from it and how it is useful to society and the world.For me life is the sum of all the research processes I have done and more than the sum of it ,enriching my experience and thought process.Whether it is astronomy,music,history,anthropology,poetry,veda and vedantha,Gita,Upanishad,medicine,literature,philosophy or sociology and psychology and yoga,I try to compare with the east and the west ,accept the good points from each of the branch of knowledge I come across.Each is a river enrichingmy mind’s fields with greenery and each confluence in the Blue ocean of my consciousness,which I call my Krishna.In my eternal waiting in silence for my Krishna,who is Love incarnate,my consciousness as a blue lotus of the valley blossomes,and my thoughts grow from an ugly duckling to a swan .My long and fruitful delay in merging with the golden blue ocean of Krishna is an experience sung and immortalized by Meera ,Tyagaraja and many other Bhakthy poets and seers of India..when I writ e this book,I have presented the recipes from all these branches of sciences and arts,which I have collected and experimented and tasted like a honeybee.But ultimately like the honey in the beehive,the rasa of the different sciences and arts have become one in a sweet advaitharasa,the rasa of musical experience.<br />The potential users of my observations,and my experiences can repeat the experiences in their life and surroundings,and evaluate their own experiences in comparison to mine.This book is both science and art.Logic,clarity and precision are needed for science.Originality,freshness of experience and sincerity of purpose with compassion are needed for artistic works.Raagachikitsa preserves or tries to preserve both,and introduces art into medical science,and medical science into the art of music for social change,and for creating employment opportunities for thousands of music students,and for healing the needy,and developing the younger generations of citizens,for world peace and preserving the heritage of India for the entire humanity.A pinch of salt(science)to humanities,and a pinch of sweet (music)to science makes samarasa(equalization of taste).<br />Human experiences (musical experiences called the MLP or musical life panorama ),creative thinking and language of love and peace act as positive communications to individuals and society.According to Claude Levistrauss if you know the consciousness of a musician ,you know everthing in the universe.In RSA lecture series(12April 2000,Paul Robertson)music is said to be the most intimate journey into another person’s personal world.When a panIndian collaborative research project for healing and alleviation of pain society through medium of music was planned ,I experienced this to be true.<br />Communication in Sanskrit is samvedana.,Vedana is pain.music takes away the pains through samvedana and is an anesthetic,but it is the most aesthetic of arts. It communicates at a transcendental level and superconscious states of aesthetics which we call the layayogam or naadalayayogam.The pun of samvedana/vedana and aesthetics/anesthetics is interesting.For this tohappen at least two people are needed,one singer and one listener(in music).One bhagwan and one bhaktha(in bhakthy sampradaya),one man and one woman (radhakrishna,sivasakthy).Veda calls this a mithuna.It could be a guru and shishya or a parent and child or anytwo people who love each other.Language and music has to convey an idea ,a message,an experience or an emotion.It has to touch a listener /several listeners/readers to attain the fruits of research.<br />Who is touched,by whom and by which(whose)music ?Is that a child or adult?literate or illiterate?expert or layman?intelligent or nonintelligent?healthy or unhealthy?scolar or not/?speaking the same language or not?All these questions and answers are important in music therapy.There are individual variations for selection of raga and music.<br />Creativity is like a flower ,natural to a plant.Every human being is creative.Only the degree os creativity differs.Flower is beautiful and natural to plant and bears fruits and seed for next generation.Even a poisonous plant has a beautiful flower.The outcome determines whether it was dangerous to society or not. Both the values and qualities I want to communicate to the society as a listener and the values and ideologies of the singer/musician are therefore important in the context of music therapy as far as I am concerned.Therefore,when I take Subbalaxmi and Jesudas as sheetangers this also is taken into consideration.<br />The sustained Jesudas effect he had made on Indian society for 44 years an d the MLP of mine are given in the book Without a stumble (Nalapat books 2003).MLP works with the emotional meanings of experiences ,events and memories that are connected with music in one’s biography and it can be used in in verbal form (talk about music)and in active form (conducting improvisations together).Mlp gives opportunity to pay proper regard to both aspects of how to combine psychotherapeutic and sociotherapeutic work.Life Panorama is a word which comes from the biographical work in integrative therapy.From the present we look back on the whole wide panorama of our life development ,back into the past and forward into the anticipated future,in order to understand ourselves in our identity,in our life in its entirety.In the course of that process we look at individual stages of life ,but always pay regard to the social context and the time we grew up.<br />MLP emphasizes experience with various kinds of music that have taken an emotional significance during our life.The effect of musi c is always dependent on context and mood.It is linked with emotional events and periods in our lives and releases the memory the feelingsthat were linked with specific situations and events in our lives at that time.Recollection of emotions in tranquility ,with the aid of musi c has an important role in music therapy.If a client remembers his/her musical life panorama,it inevitably brings her/his story to life.This helps us to recreate the awareness of musical healing experiences which had been forgotten to various life situations.In integrative music therapy it has an active improvising component also.The process is a theragnosis(therapeutics and diagnosis together)for the music therapist in an informal way.<br />Music as Naadabrahman is the key to my spiritualityListening(sruthy as veda synonym)memory(smrithy)cognition(bodha)science(sasthra)arts(kalaa)concentration(sradha,yoga)laya/samadhi(absolute bliss of ecstacy)darsana(perception)naada,naama and manthra(sound,name,chanting)prakaasha,roopa(light and form),varna and dwani(colour/pronounced letters )are studied with comparative eastern and western concepts ,scientifically/aesthetically,synthesizing ancient and modern thoughts and its natural powers(sakthy)merging in the shiva concept naturally.The balancing of sivasakthy,Radhakrishna,Brahmaprakrithy,yin yan or seemingly opposite ideologies for a peaceful and happy coexistence,in a physically,mentally,intellectually and spiritually healthy environment is my Mahaadwaitha of existence.<br /><br />Though primarily devised as a textbook for music therapy students ,this is an interdisciplinary comparative study of both modern and ancient concepts of astronomy,yoga,psychology,medicine,music,philosophy and cultural heritage of humanity and is for the total human development and national integration and global peace through Indian philosophy and music.Because of this,it will be useful not only to music therapists and musicologists ,but also to every individual on earth who cares for a peaceful coexistence on earth and who values Love as God.<br /><br />SYNOPSIS<br /><br />The book is conceived in three parts.<br />PART 1. Has an introductory piece and is divided into 9 sections.The content in this part is the music and musical terms in the veda and 12 major Upanishads with comparisons of modern views wherever possible.Some of the original features of this part are,<br />1.The dwani and varna concept of Sankaracharya in his own words compared to the modern Doppler effect,redshift etc,and the modern theories of acoustics.<br />2.The suvarnaniyama or golden rule of beauty of the Thripurasundari as the sreechakra.<br />3.The historical/ethnomusicological and linguistic importance of some important musical/upanishadic terms explained.<br />4.The bliss of the saama singer Brighu in Thaithareeya Upanishad is analysed to find the protoraagam thaanam pallavi style during the vedic/upanishadic times.<br />5.Yoga and ayurveda in upanishadic times related to protomusic and protomusic therapy.<br />6.Linguistic/graphic mathematical representations of numbers and notations.<br />Interdisciplinery approach of mathematics,medicine,ethnomusicology,valuebased living and philosophy and aesthetics.<br />6.Musical instruments in India from the day of the Kathaupanishad and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.The concept of the sathathanthri yazh and its relation to the Madhava-Neelakantha series(Gregory series).The khandameru(Pascal’s triangle)drawn with the swaraas and to measure the aananda(bliss)of the music.<br />7.Importance of numbers 7,72 and 22.(saptharshimandala,melakartha number and sruthi number)in music ,cosmology,geometry and mathematics and in timespace calculations of the ancients(in India and other parts of world).The Mudumala inscription of saptharshi explained musically .<br />8.Peculiarities of human ear in hearing Can we touch sound waves?<br />9.Dalbhya the rishi and his prayer to Sirius A and B.The analysis of the prayer for rain and fertility of earth gives panchama,madhyama,dhaivatha,rrushabha and the concept of utpalabhatta and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad are compared to the falling gold coin effect.<br />10.Musical derivation of the vedic names themselves.<br />11.Definition of the word Gandharva according to Sankaracharya (visishtavignaana,sarvagna)and of Apsara as Medha,and Saraswathy as aDaiveemedha.<br />This gives the Gandharvaveda the wisdom,intellect and artistic experience (both left and right brain development).<br />12.The aesthetic rasa experience as compared toBrahma experience.The neuronal pathways and plexuses which carry the experience as kundalini of the naadalayayogin.<br />Angiras is the one who taught Madhuvidya to Aswins .Krishna also was a disciple of Angirasaghotra(gurukula).The Mithuna Aswins with heads of Vaaji(horse)stands for rejuvenation,medical and astronomical lore,voyages,wealths,vedic scholarship etc.and they are good musicians too.This mythical/scientific/artistic /interdisciplinary music therapists of the veda thus become important to any ethnomusicologist /Indologist concerned with protection of heritage of India.<br /><br />CHAPTER 2<br />Explains the Archetypal/Historical/living singer effect in Indian Psyche<br />Archetype is a Jungian psychological concept<br />Two incarnations of Vishnu (Rama and Krishna )are taken as archetypes for analysis.The historical personalities of Meera and Tyagaraja and living singers yesudas and M.S.Subbalaxmi were taken up.(Rama-Tyagaraja-Yesudas effect and Krishna-Meera-Subbalaxmi effect)..<br />The number 72 is further elaborated upon .<br />Vedanthin,yogin,medical personnel,astronomers,cosmologists,mathematicians and musicians accept this as the basic number of their disciplines.It is the basic number of channels of honey(madhunaadi)in biological(body)and cosmic(universe)structures.<br />In section 1 melakartharaaga research,concept of vivadhi,the need of the hour for the expert senior musicians to understand the importance of the 72 melakartharaaga and to sing them for posterity and preservation of the art and science of music explained<br />The pattern analysis of Tyagaraja and the kutchery of Yesudas(melakartha raga)is used to study the Guru mind of Tyagaraja(apart from the Bhaktha mind)The vyuha concept of Raaga,how theNorth Indian Thath ragas were derived from the central raagaas of the melakartha,How the complex vivadhi raagaas are more beautiful than the simpler samvaadi raagaas and by not singing them how the musicians are destroying their own art are explained .<br />Section 2 deals with the geodesics of music.Khandameruprasthara given in chapter1 section 6 is explained in detail for the students of music therapy.Euler’s concepts compared with Indian concepts of beauty(soundarya)and bliss(aananda)The 16 sruthimandala and seven swaramandala with 22 sruthi forming electromagnetic spacetime field –cosmic/biological-and the LCM giving sweetness and softness and thereby beauty and bliss to Thripurasundari and music is shown.<br />Section 3 is the comparison of the Indian concepts with western concepts in history.For the western reference I have chosen the reprint of Spring 1992 issue of Fidelio magazine ,Lyndon H La Rouche Jr .<br />My MLP and Psi phenomenon and Esp are given .The difference between the creative and Analytical music therapy and how both has to be used for meeting the needs of the society is given in detail.The medical ethics,the gestalt psychology,how to improve the efficiency of profession and life situations by using music therapy etc are also given<br />Chapter 3 is an evaluation report of an awareness programme and workshop conducted at Pankajakasthury Ayurveda medical college at Thiruvananthapuram.Three project plans submitted by the participants with their literature survey is given (full text)for reference of music therapy research students who wants to conduct research on similar lines.<br /><br />Part 2 Raagachikitsa an appraisal of eastern and western concepts ,literature survey,an innovative method for Indian context curriculum planning,a protocol for clinical settings,as an interdisciplinary wholistic approach is presented.<br />Introduction:Music is the biological .anthropological,neurological heritage of entire humanity.The 3 types of research on Music therapy,the concept of a gurukula system,are given.<br />Biologically cardiac rate,respiratory rate,and cosmically the yuga and the solar lunar eclipses and saros cycles are all following the same basic number 72 and thus the melakartha number is basic as Venkatamakhi claims it to be<br />Rasanubhava is based on 3 factors,the raga itself,the singer and the listener.goals of raagachikitsa are enumerated<br />My method is active qualitative transformative/innovative combining features of databased and evidencebased quantitative research proven statistically.<br /><br />Chapter 1deals with Mathanga,the author of Brihaddesi,and Mathangi ,his daughter and Goddess saraswathy .The Ayurvedic concepts,swarodhara and manthrodhara as equivalent processes,comparison of Raaga and Vaastu styles of India ,types of listeners(rasika),The prasthaanathrayam of srividya ,yoga in India and in Jewish kabbala,the 9 covers in Deekshithar kamalaambha krithi,and the kundalini model in Swathi Thirunaal navarathri krithi ,meditation of sreechakra as one’s own self are some of the original features of this chapter.<br />Ch 2 is a literature surveyfor music therapy students.The importance of music being used as a toolof improving society,views of AAMT,New york uty researchers,Beth Abraham family,of health sciences,and importance of brain research are stressed.The Mozart effect in the west is much talked about.But what I callthe Tyagaraja-yesudas,Meera-subbalaxmi effect is not equivalent to that and it is a original concept of Psychological archetypes/historical legends and living musical legends of our times.A detailed educational programme accepted by a western uty is then given for comparison with the programme I have devised for Indian context. Various definitions of music therapy in the west also given for the sake of music therapy students.<br /><br />Ch 3 .Music and great minds.The eastern and western philosophers view of love of music,the science and spirituality in India,as experienced by an observer/enquirer/researcher,the concept of ESP and realm of parapsychology are introduced and the value of hypnosis in certain healing techniques stressed.Positive and negative ESP scores in the tabular form is to help the students to assess themselves and their associates and patients and to understand the psyche better. ESP is not an unwanted element but is essential for any intelligent being since it is a part of precognition and memory.The practical application of it for self and improvement of society is stressed .The neuroethics of Kennedy is therefore given in entirety.Three journal references upon which the present researcher has based some of the observed data interpretations are also given.(susan Greenfield,Stige.B,Mary priestly and Gary Ansdell)Wittgenstein’s philosophy of intransitive understanding in music,the language and name games,and his concepts of aestetics are mentioned for comparison with eastern concepts.In ch 4,the updates of the international guidelines of biomedical research ethicsand further explanation of Priestly and Ansdell’s perspectives are dealt with.<br />Ch 6 deals with music therapy in ayurveda.The concept of one raga for one disease as given in the Ragmala is quoted but the author do not agree with that concept .Concepts of thridosha ,swara and its swabhava,the voice,visualization of music,brain research,cymatics,vibrations in energy cycles,the relation of mayan cosmology,Indian cosmology,human body and melakartha scheme of raga is mentioned and explained.Among the many melakartha charts available the Mukund melakartha chart is accepted since it is comprehensive and simple simultaneously.After discussing Bach,Reimanian concepts,Mozart and visualization of music,possibilities of research with Indian musicians suggested.Aamum and prasadam,niraamayam etc in ayurveda discussed and panchabhootha in Chinese system compared.Gate control and electrical theory of pain,proportions of beauty ,relation of beauty and love and bliss and Thripurasundari of the Indian psyche is discussed,since samatwa or balancing or equalizing of male and female principles and the guna and dhathu in healing art is important.<br />Ch 7 Knowing the transcendental self.<br />Indians transcended the world by their mystical experiences for which they used varying methods of yoga,and the most important and natural and easy one being naadalayayoga.This chapter deals with the westernphilosopher’s view of transcending the world for comparison of our methods for the Indian music therapy student whomay not be wellversed with the western ideas.The useful information from the net sources are given for the students since this is a guidebook for students of music therapy which is a comparatively infant science in Modern India.This chapter has nothing original in it except a trial t ocompare the west and the east.<br />Ch 8.The layayoga for supersensible body as the name indicates describes the principles of kundalini yoga .<br />Ch 9.This is an innovative project which I had given for an institute of human values in healthcare project.A Malayalam version of it as abstract appeared in a leading Malayalam daily(Madhyamam)and this was submitted with a project for health village scheme and sadbhavana lectures to be included in MBBS Curriculum ,with music therapy as a subject,for the Amritha deemed university.The project is given here since it aims at a national health policy and national integration through valuebased education ,and introducing music(art)into medicine(science)and vice versa,and assimilating the best of the eastern arts with the western medical science.<br />Ch 10 gives the pilot project done at Amritha institute of medical sciences and research center .It is a statistically studied project for recommending music therapy for educational,therapeutic purposes.The CD released with the 72 melakartharaagas conceived and written by me and composed and sung by Dr Bhuvaneswary is an original innovative research work.Because there are only very few attempts done to sing melakartharaagaas and in kerala this is first of its kind.<br />The other attempts made earlier are,<br />Muthuswamideekshithar in Sanskrit.<br />Mahavaidyanathan shivan in Sanskrit sung by M.S.Subbalaxmi<br />Kanthaganamutham by koteeswarayyar in Tamil sung by his grandson S.Rajam<br />Written,composed and sung by Balamurallekrishna in Telugu.<br />CH 11 AND 12 Deals with mental health and music therapy and the frequently asked questions about music therapy and are meant for students only.<br />Ch 13 Gender issues –a sociopolitical appraisal deals with the problems faced by a woman whether Meera in ancient times or Suvarna in modern times .A woman /probably a man too, has to be on her own and should not imitate any other person,if she wants to develop her full potential as an individual.The freedom of expression and free will and the ideology that one follows cannot be imitations.The very fact that one has to make one’s own model is a challenge in life and those who take up this challenge find the life rewarding in the end though the journey may not be smooth in the beginning.<br />Chapter 14 Upanishadam deals with the practical advaitha of Indian psyche where the entire nature is worshipped as Brahma or God and the science behind it.The value of music and nature ,of satwik food etc are important as well as the compassionate heart to see God/divine nature in all our fellowbeings,animals,birds and plants and natural resources and keep them pure and unpolluted for healthy existence on earth.<br />Ch 15 .The activities in music therapy gives a few projects donme at different centers and which can be repeated in India using our classical music in a hospital environment for data collection and further documentation and research.<br />It also gives the elements of the nature of music made use of in raagachikitsa project of ours.And the common belief that music therapy is just listening to music is not true.There are several other activities associated and some of them are given .<br />Ch 16 gives a few charts from medscape for measuring and recording pain .The gatecontrol theory of pain is discussed for the student’s benefit.<br />Ch 17 is the content of a lecture demonstration done at Amritha institute for an international seminar on sinonasal diseases.in October 2004.The lecture demonstration was done by Dr Suvarna and Dr Bhuvaneswary<br />Ch 18 is a few useful informations given as appendix as well as the bibliography of the pilot project at Amritha institute.<br />A common belief that those who know music knows music therapy also is not correct.Amusician like any other professional has stress and the selfhealing by music comes only to a few.Therefore,the matter has to be dealt with care.Music therapy for musicians is a topic dealt with all over the world among music therapists.Here I have just mentioned the prospects of it for further research.<br />The importance of music therapy course,research in hospitals and the career options are stressed since it will not only reduce the pain of society but also improve employment facilities for music students,musicologists and medical personnel who take up an additional music therapy training.<br />The author - Dr Suvarna Nalapat,Retd Prof and HOD Pathology (Amrita institute of medical sciences)has been focusing on music and cognition right from her early childhood and studying the impact of music on the mind and the body working in both educational and medical settings.,For her ,music therapy(raagachikitsa)is the keyword for physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health,and gives peace to individuals,communities and nations and to the entire humanityDr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-80756681444358066432007-07-04T22:08:00.000-07:002007-07-04T22:15:36.575-07:00An interview .Interviewer.Miss saritha,a young college student1.Pls tell me about you and your family background?(father,mother,brothers and sisters)<br />My father is late K.G.Karunakaramenon and mother Nalapat Amminiamma.Both of them were very loving and kind people ,not only to their children and relatives but to all people who come across them in their lifetime and helped a lot of people to solve their problems in life.<br />I have two sisters and two brothers.Vasanthi,Sudha,Narayanamenon and Asokan.<br />2.what about your family?(husband and children)<br />I married my classmate and friend Dr Udayabhanu .It was a love marriage and we have only one son,Abilash U.Nalapat,who is a journalist .<br />3.vil u pls share your good old school days?<br />I had very very happy days in my school.Both in the Ramaraja memorial school and Vannery High school.I was a very quiet child ,but had lot of friends to play with and had a very satisfied life there.I loved my friends,teachers and my schools .I participated in all the extracurricular activities(except sports and speeches) but the best hobby was always music and enjoying nature.<br />4.how did you spend your holidays in your school days?<br />I don’t think that I had any difference between working days and holidays.All days were very enjoyable.With lot of playing,music,dance,kaikottikali,and reading .And all evenings we went to the nearby fields and enjoyed the fresh air and I always carried a Philips transistor with me,so that I will not miss the Tamil music of P.Suseela coming from the commercial services of radio Ceylon.<br />The only difference on holidays was that we were able to spend more time for swimming .When there is school we have to finish our bath early and there wont be time for swimming.On holidays it continued sometimes upto lunchtime till Amma called us.<br />5.In which college you completed your degree/professional?<br />Bsc (zoology/Botany) from Little flower college for women.<br />M.B.B.S and MD(Pathology)from Calicut medical college.<br />6.who were your intimate friends in school and college days?pls tell us about your colourful experiences with your friends at that days<br />In school days my best friends were Indira,vasanthy and vasantha.<br />We were always together and spent most of the time playing ,singing and acting drama etc.<br />We shared our study materials,toys,books and our little little thoughts and stories with each other.<br />There never was any quarrel between us on any matter.<br />7.whether you have got any teachers whom you admire most and which good quality attracts you in them?<br />I don’t think that I had any attraction for anyone in particular ,except a biology teacher in Vannery High school.She was very soft,elegant in her behaviour and very beautiful also.There was something very charming and aesthetic about her which attracted all students.Looked like a Ravivarma painting had come alive .It was not beauty,but a innocence exuding elegance and charm. she was very intelligent and good in her teaching too. And I was just a girl of 12,then.<br />I had several good teachers in my school and college days Each one I remember very distinctly and with nostalgia.Each had an individuality,their positive and negative points too,but all were good to me .I have to tell something about my first teacher,Ms Mary.She had a very difficult time with me.Because I was too small at the time when she got me and I made her life difficult with my naughty ways.But she loved me and I too in my little way,loved her and when she left us(I was in the first std then)I could not control my tears and both of us were crying.I have never felt that type of feeling when the other teachers left.<br />8.after your studies how you became a scholar in various fields like literature, jyothisham, adwaytha,etc..? and who inspired you to study those things?<br />I was interested in literature and music from my infancy itself.I didn’t know that I was interested in Jyothisha also ,but I had been,I feel ,when looking back.Because I used to look at the stars and think about them even in my infancy.And one of my poems at the age of 8 years was on stars(pleides star cluster-the karthika star). And ,the interest in these disciplines were a natural phenomena of my quest for knowledge.Even my entry into medical field was a quest to know what death is!! I think there is a law in human life and that what I was to become was already there in God’s plan and that plan was simply worked out by God and I was just there for God to prove His Truth.Life itself had been my inspirer to learn those disciplines .Ofcourse with guidance coming in right time from right people .<br />9.when did you start writing poetry and which was your first book?<br />My first poem was written when I was 6 year old ,and it was for a handwritten magazine in Ramarajaschool,punnayurkulam .And my first published poem (in Mathrubhoomi weekly)was on death (written at the age of 8,)when my great granduncle Nalapat Narayanamenon died.The funny part of it is,V.M.Nair ,the managing editor of Mathrubhoomi (and my valiyamma’s husband)had changed my name in it and made it Kumari Vanneri and when it was published with such a name,my father said hereafter you should not write with that name,you had been given a good name and you have a family name too and don’t change those.<br />Twelve of my poems written at the age of 8 to 10 years were selected and compiled by my father and it was published in 1957 (I was 11 years then).It was named Thaamarapookkal(lotus flowers).The name given was Suvarna Nalapat and I never ever changed that name.<br />10.how did you manage your family simultaneously with your proffession?<br />Where there is a will there is a way.I had to find a method of my own for that.I think every one has to do that,at an individual level ,depending upon the priorities.I gave equal priority to my profession as a pathologist/medical teacher/educationist and as a mother/teacher to my son and companion and friend to his friends .And I made it a point that I take part in all his studies,and spent as much time as possible with him.In this matter my husband also was very helpful.Between us we spent a lot of time with our son.And in our profession we kept our standards and priority of giving importance to patients and students (as teachers).At the same time we were not restricting our life just for work.We enjoyed good music,good films,discussed them,and had our differences of opinions discussed.I never had been a keen follower of sports.Yet for the sake of my husband(who was interested in it)I learnt a little bit to enjoy that too,eventhough it was a little bit funny,going to the hot cricket grounds at noon and sitting there without knowing head or tail of anything.But even that I enjoyed .Having a little sense of humour will make everything in life enjoyable.<br />At night,and in early morning hours when everyone at home is asleep .I read and wrote my books on advaitha,astronomy,my poems,music,and all others.I had a will,and because of that I did it,and I enjoyed every moment of it too.<br />11.have you find anybody admirable with in your life time?why?<br />Yes .I have admired Yesudas as a musician from my childhood.But it is also because of his willpower to raise to such great heights from very meager surroundings,for his life of exemplary character ,practice of NarayanaGuru’s advaitha in real life,his love for his father,mother,wife and children and his Gurubhakthy,and unflinching devotion to God also that I admire him.I think these are things which everyone should try to follow in their life.The sense of humour and the soft side of his character also are very admirable. There is a special musical intelligence in him(as Howard gardner has said),which I haven’t found in many other people . Both the right and left hemispheres of this genius works synchronously and that is very rare to find in ordinary human beings.He gives the correct answer to many esoteric questions/doubts which I had on life and I ,as a thinker and philosopher definitely has gained from that friendship and I admire him for that.<br />The one who stimulates your brain to work in the proper direction is your Guru,and in that sense ,I have a very good Guru in yesudas.<br />12.can u explain something about your music therapy which you are practicing now?<br />Music therapy was practiced in India from prevedic and vedic times as a part of nadalayayoga.The modern methods should combine the traditional methods and the research protocols available and the programme should be a well organized and channelised one with a university approved curriculum/syllabus and a hospital oriented teaching of clinical practice.The effects of music on human body,mind and intellect and its potential in treatment of diseases alone is not music therapy.It also embraces the proper development of children right from their conception in mother’s womb and in infancy.The widespread awareness programmes and the curriculum and syllabus I have for this purpose had been made on a basis of patientoriented medicine and at the same time a holistic interdisciplinary approach to get maximum benefit to all concerned.<br />But essentially it is a spiritual practice .All that we do is spiritual and we give it different names . It is too vast a subject so that what I give here may seem very insufficient.I just say that the music therapy is for the physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health and wellbeing of all living things(charaachara)including plants,animals and birds and the best is to use melodious soft Indian classical raga(melody )<br />13. have you got any awards or recognisation for any of your works?<br />The best award that one can get is from God,a satisfied life and a contented existence,even in the face of difficulties.I have that.<br />The other recognitions are<br />Madhavji Award, 2001, for outstanding research work on astronomy.<br /><br />Editor's Choice Award from Poetry.com and International Poetry Association in August 2002(for Krishna poems.)<br /><br />Bharath Excellance Award from Friends of India Forum New Delhi,for National Unity. And valuebased education.<br /><br />Prof C.P.Menon Award, 2004, for a treatise on the Upanishads titled ‘Sudhasindhu’.<br /><br />The 4th Kalanidhi Award for Music Therapy. From CMD Thiruvananthapuram.<br /><br />Asia pacific award for the selfless services rendered in field of medicine. 2004<br /><br />keralasahityaacademy endowment award for vedic literature for my book on upanishads "sudhasindhu" in 2007<br />14.are you satisfied with your life and do u think you have to achieve more in your life span?<br />I am satisfied with my life.<br />As far as I am concerned there may not be anything to achieve but it may be necessary to give what I have aquired to the next generation before I leave this body.For any good teacher or educator that duty is always there.till the last breath.In spreading the universal love and advaitha through the spirituality of music,I am doing that duty.I need the help and cooperation of musiclovers ,educationists and humanists for this endeavour .(to spread this message)<br />15.have you got any advice to us(college students) about our studies and life after studies?<br />I think the younger generation of students should have confidence in their ability ,combined with a selfwill to work for a greater life and they should as far as possible try to live a valuebased life .It may seem difficult at first in this world of deteriorating values,but I am sure there would be success in the end.<br />The two things which will help you to have a happy life is high thinking and simple life.Combine that with a sense of humour and selfwill,you become a selfmade person<br />The formula for efficiency in life is<br />Efficiency=(enthusiasmX experienceXexpertise ) –frustration.<br />Do not get frustrated over anything.Have enthusiasm ,and learn your professional/other skills well(expertise)and then gain experience through years of living .That is what life is all about.And that is what you call efficiency<br />May God bless you all.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-91606434969988816462007-07-04T22:06:00.000-07:002007-07-04T22:25:20.742-07:00How to proceed with a research subject-for the beginnersResearch Subject<br /><br />Put the research subject in the center.Draw arrows in different directions and write down the different ideas generated on the subject ,from your own observations,life experiences.<br />For example ,my subject is music therapy.<br />The ideas I generate are the effect of music on normal children,on retarded children,on normal adults,on geriatrics with dementia ,the type of music best suited,the techniques best suited,the voice liked by all,the effects of music both subjective and objective on patients,data accumulation ,and many others.<br />Put all these in order,and then learn the different perspectives on each of these ideas from other people,from other works,from other disciplines so that it becomes an interdisciplinary approach with proper references and alterations of my own method or improvisations on it if necessary.<br />This is an enormous responsibility because you are trying to find out the truth,purging off the false informations and the illfated.When I accept an information I am trusting the sources on the way and if I go wrong in that procedure I may loose my track.So that verification of the data from other sources and matching them with my own data is very important .<br />When I study music therapy with the Indian classical music and melakartharaaga system and when I depend upon the music of yesudas for that purpose,I am depending upon the fact that he is one person who can sing all the melakartharaagaas and his voice is the best for interpersonal intrapersonal relationship with patients from all the south Indian languages.That is for understanding the critical and noncritical circumstances the surroundings of people ,places ,things surrounding the topic has to be researched and I should know that when I start to explore these circumstances surrounding yesudas I can come across both negative and positive informations which can either negatively or positively shift the outcome of my research.Therefore initial research is important .For that I will have to watch every bit of information available about him (on TV/video/film/music/and talk to or hear opinions of as many people as possible who know him ,read as many clippings from media on him and then have close contact with him and talk to him ).This initial research is over .It is important to be your own jury /and judge in several matters because otherwise the negative opinions of unwanted elements may creep into the research project and spoil it.For this I always keep an established set of research standards and always hold myself responsible and accountable for what I am doing.I am selective to avoid nonestimated projects and take only what is meaningful to me as a researcher.For example if I didn’t have the knowledge that yesudas is capable of rendering all the 72 melakartharaagaas and give peace of mind to people of India speaking different languages I would never have started this research.It is a question of what your inner voice tells you and the verification of it from various other sources.<br />Usually when someone talks about a research project ,it is very boring and everyone in the room including your own family members leave the room,but with the project of music therapy with yesudas it is the otherway round.People want to hear more about it and like the subject well.A very welcome change for any researcher.<br /><br />Objectivity is very important to research.<br />Data collection ,<br />references for your evaluations<br />logical flowchart to establish all your observations and evaluations<br />Keep watch over these important points.The research will definitely be of value to yo u and to the world.<br />from<br /> Dr suvarna NalapatDr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-60789911317295985402007-07-04T22:03:00.000-07:002007-07-04T22:06:07.137-07:00Advaitha(special essay .Yuvabharathy October 1984.page 43-47.)<br /><br />Nature’s great variety often conceals an underlying symmetry as in the structure of crystals and molecules.Physicists are searching for a supersymmetry which will unite the subatomic world of quantum physics with the universal force of gravity.If we rotate a snowflake about its center through sixty degrees ,the initial and final positions are indistinguishable.Therefore we say that a snowflake has rotational symmetry .In an analogous way ,the equations describing physical processes may exhibit symmetry.<br />This theory of symmetry is expounded by ancient astronomers in the rotational symmetry of the universe.The rotational symmetry of the Raasichakra and the calculations of yugaas and kalpaas are all based on the 60 lunar years and their multiples.<br /><br />Quantum electrodynamics(QED)and quantum chromodynamics(QCD)attempt at unification of all the fundamental forces of nature and act as a modern Advaitha philosophy.Noether’s theorem dictates that quantum field theory represents conservation of momentum as a symmetry of the equation under translation in time.All particles of which the universe is composed of ,are divided into 2 categories –fermions and bosons-distinguished by the spin of the particle.Aphoton having a spin of one unit is a boson ,while protons ,neutrons and electrons having a spin of one half are fermions.<br /><br />Fermions obey an exclusion principle (discovered by Wolfgang Pauli)which prevents two identical fermions from occupying the same state.Were it not for this principle ,chemistry and life would have been impossible.Every fermion has an associated antiparticle,having equal mass but opposite charge and spin.The antiparticle of a negatively charged electron is a positively charged positron.When a particle and an antiparticle meet ,they annihilate to produce a burst of energy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On the other hand,any number of identical bosons may reside in one quantum state,and there is no exclusive principle to be obeyed by the bosons and there are no antiparticles.According to modern theories,constituents of matter are all fermions,while bosons are the intermediary particles that carry the forces.They bind the electron to to the nucleus of an atom and in an electroweak theory ,fermions interact by exchanging photons;Supersymmetry theory is a new symmetry principle that links fermions with bosons in a way consistent with the requirements of the quantum field theory.<br />In 1974,,Julius Weiss came forward with his theory of symmetry transformation .According to it ,each fermion should have a bosonic partner of identical mass and vice versa.Supersymmetry thus links apparently disparate phenomena just as electromagnetism and light were linked together 100 years ago by Maxwell’s theory.If transformation which turns a fermion into boson is applied a second time ,the result is predictably a fermion.The final fermion is in a different position in space from the initial fermion.<br />An elementary particle for a fleeting second becomes a pair of particles with different changes and recombine to produce the original which occupy a different point in space.From this,we can find that quantum electrodynamics is producing infinite answers to finite questions.<br />The mirror image antiparticle theory is not limited to the field of quantum electrodynamics.Modern geography and astronomy speak about the existence of an antiuniverse somewhere in the cosmos with its characteristics reversed to those normally found in this universe.In the 186th meeting of the American Chemical society ,Dr Cyrill Ponnaperuma read a paper on the structure of meteorites embedded in the Antarctican ice.The aminoacids of this meteorite have a dextrorotatory configuration quite contrary to the levorotatory configuration ,on our planet.The discovery of antimatter has led scientists to consider the possibility of the existence of an antiuniverse somewhere in the cosmos.<br />Chunks of antimatter from the antiuniverse are hurled towards our universe ,just as meteorites are being thrown towards earth from other parts of our universe.The highly abstruse theoretical physics dealing with the principle of symmetry laws suggest that processes ,phenomena and events happening in this universe must have their counterparts in a reverse manner in another universe which we may call antiuniverse.If a fundamental particle exists in this universe ,we must have a similar particle somewhere in the cosmos but it will be like the one seen by reflecting it in a mirror.The time event also is in a reverse manner .That is,”the reel of time will be functioning in the reverse direction to that going on in our universe:The future events in the antiuniverse are perhaps the past events in this universe.”These words appear in the Physical Geography edited by Das Gupta and Kapoor(1979).One remembers the words of the famous philosopher Bertrand Russell ,”In science,it is the past that determines the future and not the future the past.”Paradoxically enough,it is this very basics of astrology which is being crucified by those who follow Russel’s footprints.Theory of karma of ancient Hindu philosophers and astronomers depict the universe and the antiuniverse in the Savya,Apasavya cycle of the Raasi chakra.The 14 worlds –7 above and 7 below-represent the mirror image universes and antiuniverses.Sankara calls it Bimbaprathibimbaathmaka(mirror image).Varahamihira starts his Hora with the opening lines<br />……………………..<br />“Karmaarjitham poorvabhave sadaadi<br />Yathanyapankthym samabhivyanakthi”<br />Is it not scientific to ask people to remember that our present will be the past of the future generations and act accordingly so that events in the future universes can be determined to some extant by our own actions and will?<br />If the future is determined by the past,as Russel puts it,there is nothing unscientific in this Karma theory.<br />When we study the structure of a crystal,we come across the geometrical concept of a lattice which is the periodic and regular repetitive arrangement of the representative atom points in space.We consider the abstract force as a concept and the crystal as the real thing.But ancient sages ask us:Is it not foolish to think that the crystal is the real ,while we know that it it does not exist without the binding force within and behind it?Is not this abstract and unseen force real ,because it is the one which gives the infinite shape to the crystal?They tell us that the finite crystal is the unreal or Maaya and the infinite binding force is the real.Thus Advaitha becomes applicable from the smallest molecule to the most complex universe.<br />“Everyone who deals with the phenomena of Pathology soon comes to know that nature often speaks the secrets with a still small voice out of a dense thicket of happenings.”So said Peyton Rous (1879-1970),a noted pathologist of Rous Sarcoma fame and Nobel laureate .It may be difficult to hear that still small voice in the tumult and confusion of everyday life.But once we hear it,every other voice is drowned in its glory and the” real world “ as we call it becomes a Maaya.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-13398108517574135492007-06-28T03:07:00.000-07:002007-06-28T03:08:35.579-07:00YOGADARSHANA<br /><br />Dr Suvarna Nalapat<br />Yoga is a science of life.An art of understanding the soul and its unity with the entire universe and maintainance of that harmony throughout life.A systematic practice which improves our awareness ,develop our willpower,-a complete process of personality development and perfection by merging with the universal self ,which some people call God and others call cosmic consciousness ,and still others a force or a sakthy.Whatever you call,or call not,there is some force which binds the multitudes of universes and the ability of the human mind to perceive its harmonious music.Yoga is a darsana ,which means a direct perception .In Tamil literature we find four types of perceptions.<br />1.Vaayirkaatchi.Perception through the doors of the physical senses.<br />2.Manakaatchi.Mental perceptions.<br />3.Thanvedanaikaatchi.Through experiences of pain and pleasure ,you have some aquired intellectual perceptions about the world.<br />4.Yogakaatchy.Yogadarshana,is the perception of the absolute truth or reality through an intense state of concentration on the subject.<br />There are four methods of yoga to achieve the yogadarshana.Though mentioned as four different methods they are having a superposed and an overlapping nature between each other.<br />1.Raajayoga.<br />2.Gnaanayoga(the way of knowledge and wisdom pursued by the intellectuals)<br />3.Bhakthyyoga.(the way of love and devotion practiced by the emotional and romantic seekers)<br />4.Karmayoga.(the way of action and reaction followed by the others who cannot follow the above mentioned methods.)<br />All are methods to attain the superconscious states of cosmic consciousness.Each has to follow the ashtaangamaarga(the way of 8 steps.)The Raajayoga is especially prescribed for those who are adept yogis.Here the Raajayoga is described in some detail for those who are not aware of it.<br />Raajayoga.<br /><br />Raajayoga has eight steps.It forms part of ancient Indian traditional system of medicine and philosophy which are inseparable.Of the eight steps ,the first two ,yama and niyama encompass the moral ethical codes of all the world religions and has the ten commandments (5 in yama and 5 in niyama).These are prescribed for all individuals,irrespective of caste,creed or sex,for a better way of living,peaceful and happy.<br />1.Yamam.<br />This includes<br />Ahimsa:one should not harm any living thing with deeds,words or mind.<br />Satyam –truthfulness.<br />Asteyam.Do not covet /steal other people’s belongings<br />Brahmacharyam. The state of celibacy and onepoited devotion to God.<br />Aparigraham.(do not receive gifts or bribes that will make you under obligation to others.<br />These five moral codes of conduct are essential for all people.<br /><br />2.Niyamam<br /><br /><br />Of the rules(niyama)the first one is purely medical ,pertaining to the physical and mental cleanliness required by a yogi.<br />Shoucham. cleanliness of body by daily baths ,care of teeth and mouth etc are baahyashoucha or external cleanliness.Aantharashoucha(internal cleanliness)is cleaning your mind and thoughts from bad thoughts,lust,egocentric emotions,dual feelings etc.This will give you a equanimity in pain and pleasure.<br />Santhosham. Be contented with what we have and be happy always.When you have achieved this state you are beyond dualities like pain and pleasure.<br />Thapam. This is the control of your body and senses by selfeffort.Get mastery over the Id or the pleasure principle and the ego.By austerity(thapa)a thermostasis and homeostasis is attained by the brain so that it becomes quite and receptive to knowledge.<br />Swadhyaayam. The study of books/scriptures etc which help you to understand the transitory nature of the universe.You can resort to the veda,Upanishad,Gita,brahmasoothra,Koran,Bible, Dhammapath or any other scripture you feel like.Study the book you chose thouroughly an dthink about it,learn the truth of the universe,and then compare with the other scriptures and knowledge systems and arrive at a conclusion is the method of swaadhyaya or self study.<br />Iswarapranidhaanam.The total surrender to God /Guru .Guru is the embodiment of Iswara.Gurubhakthy is crucial for Naadalayayoga tradition of Indian Karnatic music like the other traditions of India.A living sadguru is considered as the living Avathaara of God in human form an dcomplete surrender to the Guru is equivalent to surrender to God.<br /><br />3.Aasanam<br />There are 84 aasanaas described in yoga for the 84 types of Jeevakoti(lifeforms).There are Hathayogis who practice these for different types of sidhi(gains).Pathanjali prescribed “Sthirasukham aasanam”which means you can take a posture which is most comfortable to you and in which you don’t have the danger of falling or being disturbed by any external stimuli.It would be better if you can keep the spine straight so that the current can flow through the nerve centers in the spine uninterruptedly up and down from the moolaadhaara to the sahasraara.People have misunderstood that yoga means the yogaasana.This is not so.Aasana is only one of the 8 units of the yoga.A means adopted for an end.Most often those who practice aasana do not reach the endpoint of yoga(the laya or samadhi)the merging with the absolute truth.They get some minor sidhi or other and stops there .On the other hand ,even without practicing the acrobatic aasanaas ,one may have yogadarshana ,like the naadayogin Tyaagaraaja.<br /><br />4.Prranaayaamam.<br />The control of the physical breath is popularly called praanaayaama.It also includes control of psychic breath ,the universal life principle ,the praana.The psychic method of control of Praana is by concentration on a particular subject.When mind is concentrated on a particular subject ,we forget our physical state ,our breathing stops naturally or the breathing becomes internal without external sign of life and we go into a samaadhi state.This can happen when you are concentrating on your lover,on your research subject,music or art,contemplating on your ishtadevatha,and so on.Hence praanaayaama naturally leads to Pratyaahaara ,the next stage or step in the yogasaadhana and then to the last 3 steps in order..<br /><br />5.Pratyaahaara.<br /><br />Now the mind is introspective.It is directed to one particular object ,say classical music(naadayoga).If you can hold the concentration onto it for twelve seconds then it becomes dhaarana.Needless to say that the object of concentration can be any art /science/idol/deity/symbol/name/manthra/or anything or anyone you are in love with.<br /><br />6.Dhaarana<br /><br />When you can hold mind on a particular object irrespective of all the external disturbances and difficulties around and think about it deeply ,then your mind is concentrated and it is dhaarana.You can have this not only in a particular aasana which is your practicing stage but also in a crowded busstop,train,in your own home in the midst of a thousand household duties ,just as the Gopis of vrindaavan experienced when they concentrated on Krishna.If the dhaarana persists for a certain length of time our mind flows to the object in an unbroken current ,as oil poured from one vessel to another ,as Pathanjali puts it.This is then called a meditation or dhyaanam.<br /><br />7.Dhyaanam<br />Twelve dhaarana make up on edhyaanam.That is 144 seconds of uninterrupted concentration on one subject is called a dhyaanam or meditation.(2 minutes and 24 seconds is the minimum time of concentration on a subject to be called a dhyaanam).12 Such dhyaanams (144 X 12=1728 seconds)is a samadhi.1728 is the minimum number of seconds for a samadhi.It is the satyayuga number of Indians.And is related to astronomy,mathematics,music of the spheres and of the bioenergy fields.<br />1728 seconds mean 28 minutes and 40 seconds.(slightly less than half an hour)If you can concentrate your mind on a subject for this time period you are ready to pass on to samaadhi.<br />8.Samaadhi<br />The superconscious state that transcends the realm of the finite world where time and space vanish ,we go beyond words and thoughts ,to the foundation of all existence where all questions are answered and all doubts cleared.During saadhna,the saadhaka gets some powers or sidhi which are fascinating ,and they are not to be lured by them.They have to ignore the sidhy and proceed to the highest level where jeevaathma merge with paramaathma ,the God or the universal force.68 such sidhis are listed ,one among them being the healing power.That is why yoga is part of ayurveda,and of naadalaya.Both the musicians and the ayurveda physicians depended upon the praana and its healing powers.<br />All minds are part of the cosmic mind and healing power is latent in all minds.It manifest only in those who try or practice to get it.Budha,Krishna,Christ,Tyaagaraaja etc had it in them..When Jesus said,”Be thou whole” a leper was cured.Lazarus came into life with his beckoning.Kubja was cured by the touch of Krishna.He gave life to the embryo within the womb of princess Uthra by uttering the words”if I had been a Naishtic Brahmachaari throughout my life,let this seed come to life again.”<br /><br />Just with a thought healing can occur.Thirugnaanasambandhar ,Tyaagaraaja,Vaidyanaathan shivan cured with their music .<br />The healing power of the naadalayayogi is made use of in Indian music therapy.<br /><br />WHAT YOGA TEACHES.<br /><br />Samatwam yoga uchyathe. Says the Gita.Pathanjali said, maithri,karuna,mudithopekshanam sukhadukha punyaapunya vishayaanaam bhaavana Thaschithaprasaadanam.<br /><br />Friendship to the entire humanity ,mercy or compassion to all living/nonliving things ,content and happiness,indifference to dualities like pain and pleasure ,praise and scoldings gives one chithaprasaadam (peace and ecstasy of mind).Gita also says that the yogy goes to prasaadam(prasaadam adhigatchathi)Lakshmy,the consort of Vishnu in Lakshmy ashtotthara is prasaadaabhimukhim prabhaam.Prasaadam or divine ecstacy is present only in a healthy mind and body according to Ayurveda.The prasadam you get from the temple authorities is just a symbol of it and is nowhere near the prasaada you get from yourselves,through a devoted life.Direct the mind to a divine cause ,and we get prassada ,a state of perfect health and bliss,physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual.<br />Friendly attitude and compassion to all living things is natural to us but we have to cultivate it permanently .Christ said,”do unto others as you wish others would do unto you”.Thatmeans returning good for good.But he also said,to return good for evil.If anyone harms you,return good to them.Confucius ,Lao-tse,an dBudha taught the same.Vedantha and Upanishads taught it.The greatest benefactor to the world is the spiritual teacher who teaches to return good for evil.The one who teaches to love the people who harm us.That is why people all over the world love Budha,Christ etc.Christ was not a multimillionaire who could sign a cheque for a million dollar.But Rockfeller could.Yet we love Christ but not Rockfeller.We donot respect Budha because he was the son and heir of king Sudhodana.But because the prince abandoned his wealth and power to teach compassion to humanity,to love the entire creation as himself.<br /><br />People say that Christ and Budha are exceptions and nobody can become like that.But science do not accept exceptions.If somebody can achieve something,that potential must be in all human beings as a biological heritage.It is a universal law of nature.If we try ,we can also do what the great teachers did.Provided it is done in the proper way.We should have experimental proof.Kapila and Pathanjali were scientists who did experiments on spirituality and came up with a universal system of practice and experimentation of spirituality.Pathanjali did the experiments done earlier by his ancestors before him and then codified the ways and the results.(data,in scientific language)and this rational philosophic and logical scientific method is still acceptable to the entire world.Because it is universal and anyone can experiment it and experience the change in oneself.The energy in us is harnessed and concentrated for doing good things in this world.What we experience in samaadhi is a revelation or a yogadarshan which changes your outlook,your personality for the better.A perfect state of peace is born in you,a Christ is born in you,as swami abhedaananada,a colleague and friend of swamy vivekaananda puts it,.<br /><br />Yoga awakens kundalini,the mother of all higher perceptions .In the spinal cord there are centers for the different nerve plexuses.These anatomical centers are the chakraas of the yogi.It is through these chakraas the motor and sensory nerves branch out and go to different organs .There are sensory and motor centers and pathways for the heart,lungs,digestive organs,and so on.These nerve centers are radiant ,since nerve impulses are radiating from them and to them,as light rays from the sun.The lower end of the spine(moolaadhaara)or the sacral plexus and the highest center ,the sahasraara in the brain intercommunicate through the middle centers and electromagnetic currents pass through them always ,continuously .The efferent and afferent /centripetal and centrifugal forces cross each other and reach brain centers and hence the entire kundalini has the form of two coiled radiant ,respendent serpents .<br /><br />When yogi regulates vibrations of molecules in the body ,they vibrate in harmony with the rhythm of the praana ,generate the strong currents and the yogic body becomes something like a gigantic battery and that is why a room where the yogi sits is vibrating with good vaasanaas and everyone feels the vibrations.The physical is transmuted to the mental ,intellectual ,spiritual and vice versa ,because they are not different forces but different manifestations of the same force.Just as heat,light,and electromagnetism are interchangeable forms of the same energy .The difference is only in degree.In sunlight there is electricity,magnetism,soundwaves,xray,gamma ray,laser and photons,bosons,and fermions.The current emanating from a yogi also contain these vibrating forces of the highest order.This is in relation to the harmonious rhythm of the universe .We talk of rhythm ,and hence the naadayoga which is really control of praana itself.The state is attainable easily by nadayogi who concentrates on Karnaatic music.The music allow us toget the same vibrations which were felt by the ancient seers and yogins.For this the musician should have complete an dperfect samyama and control of senses and the listener also should have this.Lya is attained in the superconscious state which is the full manifestation of pure consciousness .Dhaarana or holding the mind on a certain subject by constant practice(saadhakam)an ddhyaana on it takes the musician to a state of perfect samaadhi or superconsciousness.Vishnu or Krishna ,the embodiment of saamaveda ,is the naadabrahman,which merges with the saadhaka .There are many other paths that a saadhaka can take.The path of love and devotion (bhakthy)allow you to concentrate on a personal God (or impersonal_).The idol is only a pratheeka(symbol)or prathima on which you concentrate to reach the absolute.Every idolworshipper knows that.One can give a name to that lover-may it be Krishna,shive,devi,Christ,or allah or whichever name you like.It could even be contemplated as nothingness without name or form.<br />The path of karma allows one to concentrate on one’s work,profession and achieve excellance in it.the path of gnaana makes one concentrate on research activities and enquiry into truth.But each has the same goal though the methods differ,and if we realize this there is no controversy or rivalry in religions .Whatever is the path ,the ultimate experience is sruthilaya.Sruthi also means veda.Laya also means merging.Hence this word has a meaning applicable to both vedanthins and naadalayayogins practicing music.The jeeva has to merge with Paramaathma.The revelation Aham brahmaasmi is the laya state.It is the anal Haq of the sufi.Knowing is being.Brahmavid Brahmaiva bhavathy.Says vedaantha.Hence yoga is a scienc eof attaining the perfect state.But there are many people whopractice yoga to get some desired results ,and their number is increasing day by day.People practice yoga to pass time ,to run business,to cure disease,etc.These are only some results that come during the process of doing the yoga and are not the ultimate aims of yoga.<br /><br />A few donts in yoga life.<br /><br />eat pure desirable food which is nourishing and which will keep your body and mind in good condition since body is the boat that helps you to cross the ocean of life and death.Food makes your organs healthy,and as the organs get finer ,the perceptions get finer too.<br />Avoid the company of people who will drag your concentration away from your goal.Like people who are immersed inphysical pleasures.People with strong id personalities,people with strong ego personalities etc.Try to have company of people with superego and self personalities.(those who respect the elders and the ancestors,the teachers,and those who lead a simple life and have high thinking)This is called sathsangam(company of the noble people).<br />Give up arguments that distract your mind.Do not discuss spiritual lessons and instructions with people who do not want them .Let them find out paths suitable for themselves.Do not force your views on others.If there people who wants to force their views on you,just leave their cpcompany.<br />Spirituality is not a mere study of books and scriptures.Though that will help you in spiritual progress .It is not mere temple/mosque/church/gurudwaara going either.It is not mere observances of customs dogmas and codes of conduct laid by various religions .It is a constant ideal,an urge within you.Just all radii of a circle meet at the center ,all rivers meet the ocean ,all ideals of all living things merge with the center ,the God or the universal force/sakthy .The only difference is that we use different methods.different courses.Respect everybody’s ideal,every body’s method,have friendly and compassionate thoughts to everyone,and do not disturb world peace or peace of society we live in ,by our words,deeds or thoughts.<br /><br />Prakaasha and vimarsha<br />Our mind is part of the universe(prakrithy).It has two aspects ,the prakaasha and vimarsha.Prakasha is the all resplendent state of energy where we do not feel any movement or vibration and this is the nirvikalpa or niraakaara ,nirayana state of Brahman.It may look like empty /zero because it has no spacetime,movement,cause and effect etc.<br />Vimarsham is the vibrating aspect ,moving ,everchanging,with a rhythm of its own ,making universal laws possible.This aspect is experiencable by us.It may be an immeadiate fresh experience (present-varthamaana-jaagrad)old memories(past or bhootha,smrithy)and mental coordination of all such experiences(anusandhaanam).Sushupthy is Prakaasha or nirvikalpa,and jaagrad is savikalpa,saayana state of mind and of universe.Darshans during sushupthy and samaadhi are actually the visions of the self ,which is still and meditative in an alpha,theta brain wave state.Because of this the yogi constantly watches himself in sushupthy and samaadhi states and records th evisions that come to him so that he can understand his personality and the world around better.<br />Everything is energy.E=MC2.everything is everywhere .(sarvam sarvaathmakam .Pathanjali).Yogic and sleep darshans were systematically analysed by our ancestors in India,China,Egypt,Babylonia,and Assyria,and this science is now coming back into the world of science as Psychoanalysis of dreams(Freud and Jung).Whenever there is creativity there is vibration or movement..But it is the movementless state of samaadhi which gives you potential to become a creator.If movement is creativity,it is created by the movementless.These two are called the female and male principles.Both coexist.Samaadhi is an experience beyond all vibrations,all measures,all words,and thoughts and nirvana is this state of perfect consciousness from which flow all creations ,all vibrations,all with name and form.Therefore,we cant separate male /female.shiva/sakthy,and they are inseparable twins.The object of the realization is first a samavaakya(equation)and an equation is ultimately an identity.Sankara explans this with only 3 concepts.Brahma,Jeeva,and Jagath.<br />1.Brahma=truth<br />2.Suppose jagath =illusion.<br />3.Jeeva=a part of jagath=Brahma.<br />4.Therefore ,Brahma=jeeva=Jagath=Truth.<br />5.Or it has to be Brahma=jeeva=jagath=illusion.<br />Either the 4th or th e5th equation has to be true.We as Jeevaathmaas feel we exist,and the universe exist,and therefore for us,jeeva and the aorld exist (are truths)Therefore,we can come to the conclusion that the 4th equation is truth,and that the second supposition 9equation 2)and equation 5 derived out of it has to be false.In this way,the aasthiks(the one who says that everything exist-asthi)come to the conclusion that there is existence of a God or Brahma.,<br />I don’t say that I don’t exist,and that I am an illusion or that the world around me does not exist.Therefore,I as a jeeva is truth,and hence the prakrithi of which I am part is also truth.This being true to all living and nonliving things,I mathematically give equations as above and philosophically assert the view as,<br />Sarvam khalidam Brahma.<br />Aham Brahmaasmi.<br />Sarvam Brahmamayam.<br />Isavaasyam idam sarvam. <br /><br />All matter is energy and there is nothing but energy and energy is the truth (satyam)and light(chith).In the equations the harmonious merging of jeeva with the absolute in samaadhi ,or in sushupthy (praagna0is shown.It is the direct experience of a perfect yogi.Therefore ,understand yoga as a perfect method of attaining self realization of the highest order by direct perception.All veda,vedaatha,and religions of the world ,spiritual experiments of various people and scientific researchers in every part of the world depend upon the solid rock of concentrating our energy on an idea or subject and that is what yoga is all about.Do not misunderstand it as a series of acrobatics or physical training alone.That makes only one of the steps of the yoga.Even without that people can achieve samadhi,and be a true yogi.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-36655467979137024202007-06-28T03:06:00.000-07:002007-06-28T03:07:22.518-07:00susruthasamhithaSUSRUTHASAMHITHA<br />Aesthetics of a glorious past and its continued remembrance<br /> And practice<br /><br />A culture’s selfawareness in terms of law ,medicine and grammer is an important precondition for awareness of its aesthetics.The knowledge of medicine –a system of management of pain,of anesthetics,of birth and death is interrelated to poetry,a system of management of pleasure ,of aesthetics and of creation.(G.N.Devy.After Amnesia.page 64-65.Orient Longman 1995)<br /><br />Being involved in both the systems mentioned above ,I believe in the dictum “In the continued remembrance of the glorious past individuals and nations find their noblest aspirations “as did Sir William Osler ,the pathologist par excellance.Hence during my tenure as ateacher in the Medical college Calicut I probed into the medical history of our nation,and unearthe da precious jewel from its rubbles.The oldest surgical and pathological text of ancient India,the Susruthasamhitha.Being a student and practitioner of the allopathic system of medicine ,it was but natural for me to compare the ancient and the modern systems of medicine.Here I share some of my reflections with the readers.<br /><br />The beginning<br />Both Ayurveda and allpathy originated as cults in and around temples.In the months of Hemantha and sisira ,rigorous penances followed by the oath and the holy pilgrimage to the temples on hilltops were common to India and Greece.The pilgrimage centers of vaishnava,saiva and devi cults,chaityas of Budhists and jains with their prathikarma and paryushan parva were of this tradition.These rites were to remove the thridosha accumulated during this and the previous births.The belief that mental (psychiatric)illnesses were due to bhootha (past life)was deeprooted in the ancient mind and it is being proved by modern science.The aesculapean cult of Greek medicine shared the same belief.It was the forerunner of modern medicine prevalent in the Mediterranean basin ,where Asculapeus lived.He had his Guru in a half naaga tribal Chiron,an inhabitant of the serpent country.,Paataala.In BC 429,the cult spread toAthens.The asculapean temples were on hilltops.They were medical schools were the healing art and philosophy were taught by rishis or priests.Students had to prove their merit before getting entry into the school.(temple).Once they pass the entrance exam ,they were to take an oath just like the oath taken before prathikarma ,and it was this oath which later became known as the Hippocratus oath.The temples were built in the most picturesque sites and holy baths,fasting,vegetarian diets,nonviolence,virechana(cleaning of the bowels)and prayers were mandatory for the disciple to get entrance into templeschool.Only after a prolonged period of such rigorous austerities did the main gates open for the aspirant student.Once the student gets entry he prostrates in front of the main deity and the Guru produces a healing dream by hypnosis.Depending upon the nature of the dream the disciple acquires the ability to read the past ,present,and the future and to heal mental and physical illness.In the Tamil epic Chilappathikaram we find evidence of such practices .In the Upanishadic traditions also the healing dream is mentioned many times.<br />In susruthasanhita ,the oath ,the upanayana into the cult(soothrasthana 2-6)of a meritorious disciple by a Guru as wellas the licensing and permission by the royal court to practice(10-2)are mentioned.The knowledge of the past ,present and futiure(thrikaala)or the Daivagna method was prevalent in Indian medical system and in the Cos island where Hippocratus ,the twentieth generation fromAesculapeus lived and taught the basic principles of modern socalled western medicine.How was the problem (mental or physical)created and what was its past history?What is the present status of the problem and how far it has progresses?Can the problem be solved by a particular line of treatment or other so that the patient be saved?What are the chances of survival of the patient?These were detrmined by history taken,physical examination,and the position of stars and planets.Even now we following modern medicine calculate the past history,aetiology,pathogenesis,and prognosis on the same line of thought.The only fact left out is the position of stars and their influence in modifying the outcome.<br />Hippo in Greece means a horse.The oldest known vedic doctors ,the aswins were also called horses.Hippocratus is a Greek name for Aswin ,from whom medicine originated.Hippocratus believed that the symptoms of a disease are only the reactions of the body to combat a disease and the duty of a doctor is not to treat symptoms but to increase the natural forces of the body.This is exactly what ayurveda and the tribal traditions also believe and teach..The homeostasis between body and mind was called health and the balance of the three humours was essential for healthy living.The samkhya philosophy and vedic medicine also believe in the homeostasis of three guna(qualities)and the three doshaas(imbalances derived from them)and balancing them for perfect health.Hippocratus said that if a doctor treats an occult cancer ,the chances of survival of the patient is less since the disease become overt by his/her treatment.He said philosophically ,”life is short,and the art of healing eternal.Experience may fail us.Many a time decisionmaking may be difficult.”The doctor in those early days was a kindhearted ,good,honest,divine being with ahealing touch ,a philosopher par excellance,and a rishi.Hippocratus said that as long as such people who love and practice the healing art remain on earth,people who love humanity will continue to exist to serve the world.<br /><br />Dissection of the Human body<br />The first Greek to dissect a corpse was Alemaon ,the disciple of Hippocratus.He did it secretly ,and alone.Herophilus was bold enough to dissect and demonstrate it to his students (died in BC 290)but embalming and dissection were not considered a sin in ancient Egypt from time immemorial .In Tibet and India this was practiced.While the dissection was on royal corpses on Egypt,on criminals and enemies in in Peru and Mexico,on captured enemies among the scytheans,it was on Godmen and Laamaas in Tibet ,and on horses in ancient India,.At times a young adult also was selected for it instead of a horse in exceptional situations ,as in the case of Sunasepha ,whom Viswamithra saved.It was performed on royal corpses also as in the case of King Dasaratha of Ramayana by sage Vasishta.<br />Susrutha,the son of viswamithra lived in ancient times but susruthasamhitha ,the oral tradition bearing his name was codified a sa text only very late during BC 500.By that time there were many restrictions for dissecting a corpse inIndia.Therefore the body was taken secretly to the forest ,kept immersed in a freshwater lake (as if in a formalin tank ,nowadays)for 7 days (minimum)and taken out on a fullmoon night and dissected with sharp roots and bamboochips.This was the reason for adopting either 15 or 16 days for finishing the pithrukarma(burial rite)ceremonies.<br />During Susruth’s time there were 8 divisions for Ayurveda.<br />1.Salyathanthra(surgery)<br />2.Saalaakhyathanthra(E.N.T,Dentistry)<br />3.Kaayachikitsa(medical treatment)<br />4.Bhoothavidya(psychiatry ,psychotherapy)<br />5.Koumaarabrithya(pediatrics and adolescent medicine)<br />6.Aagathathanthra(toxicology and treatment of poisoning)<br />7.Rasaayanathanthra(pharmacopoeia and longevity)<br />8.Vajeekarana(rejuvenation and vitality).<br /><br />PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY –MODERN AND ANCIENT<br />Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)forwarded a new trend in psychiatric medicine.His free association methods ,dream analysis,problems of the unconscious mind and Oedipus complex became popular.Freud’s central theme was sex,while Adler concentrated every action and reaction of the human mind on power.Carl Gustav Jung gave a more authentic and holistic explanation of the human mind ,its dreams and its aspirations .His archetypes and shadows resembled the ancient Indian way of analysis.Currently Dr Herbert Benson of the Harward medical university has gone back to the ancient yoga ,dhyana and japa methods for reducing sympathetic nervous system functions and relief of many mental and physical illnesses.In Massacheussets Medical school ,more than hundred hospitals follow praanaayaama and prayers for healing of mind and body and for increasing immunity.A variety of diseases like asthma ,intractable headaches and body pains ,blood pressure ,cardiac diseases ,diabetes ,side effects of cancer chemotherapy and dialysis ,irritable bowel syndrome ,insomnia,emphesema and skin diseases are treated by those methods in many American hospitals.The journal of biomedicine (1980)published an article on how transcendental meditation can be used to decrease stress responses and thereby keep the body and mind healthy.The old concepts are returning to stay.The past is the prologue of the future.<br />According to susrutha ,Purusha,the endless beginingless eternal changeless absolute principle assumes the shape or relative body of the living Jeevi,(including man).The sarvagnapurusha or absolute thus appear in a living body as a karmapurusha.When karmapurusha leaves the body to go back to his original state or abode ,we say that the jeevi is dead.It is the purusha while entering a zygote gives it consciousness ,creativity,mobility,observing,cognitive,analyzing powers.These were with the karmapurusha during its previous existence.That is past karma(action),vaasanaa(tendencies)of karmapurusha manifest in the new body as his character.The body characters are from ancesters.The character is controlled by the 3 guna(qualities)which are from the karmapurusha ,as prakrithy.(nature)In creating a child,man and woman have only limited roles.They just participate in a divine will.Selection of a suitable pair ,intercourse at the proper time so that a good soul comes to earth and inhabits within the zygote ,protecting the pregnancy are in their control.Mere sexual intercourse is not enough in the creation of a good offspring.For it,the couple need the help of karmapurusha ,one who had a previous past(bhootha)and is in the gandharva(gandabba according toBudhist)state of bardo.<br />The head ,face,body,hair,bone,nails,teeth,arteries,veins ,nerves ,semen are derived from the seed of the father.Blood,marrow,heart,umbilicus,liver,intestine,genitalia,muscles are contributed by the mother’s seed.The power,colour and shape of body are imparted by the nourishing liquid that flows through the mother’s blood which in turn is derived from mother’s diet..Consciousness ,knowledge ,wisdom,experience of pain and pleasures,and longevity come from the karmapurusha.<br />When Thamas overwhelms the consciousness ,a natural reaction of the body happens periodically,which is called swabhaavikanidra or sleep.This is different from the Thaamasikanidra or coma where satwa and rajas are very weak.In sleep jeeva is not asleep ,but wide awake according toSusrutha.It visualizes the past experiences and events and gives and gives them to the rajasic mind as dreamvisions.One can awake from sleep only if satwa is powerful.In deep coma when satwa is too weak the state continues to death.Jeevathma in sleep see visions of his sarvagna state through the agency of karmapurusha.Therefore visionary dreams are the signs of sarvagnapurusha(sareerasthaana 4.35)<br />One can increase one’s intelligence and sustain it upto old age and death.For this,and to increase the healing powers of man and their longevity several methods are prescribed.<br />1.Medicines,with gold and honey.(chikitsa sthaanam.28,2-8,28,2,21)<br />2.Living in a cultured environment with no contact with uncultured minds and antisocial elements<br />3. daily swaadhyaaya and learning<br />4.discussions,discourses with learned men in various disciplines,and contact with good people(sadsangha)<br /><br />Among medicines,24 types of somalathaas are prescribed and also other plants with same properties as it.Many people consider that soma was an ancient alcoholic drink .This is not true.susrutha says that those who drink soma has to follow rigorous austerities like refraining from bad company,bad deeds,laziness,alcoholism,medicines with opposite effects,and should lead a pious life .For complete effects of the soma drink ,specific daily routines are prescribed which will be very difficult for an alcoholic to do .These require immense mental and physical control over the senses.The entire period of austerity lasts for a minimum of three months.<br />Only people who control the senses are free of unmaada(psychiatric illness).There are different types of unmaada.Four of them are due to thridoshakopa(imbalance of the 3 humours)The fifth is due to intense grief or emotions.A sixth is due to chemicals ,toxins,poisons producing the imbalance of humours.Apart from removing the toxins,and giving medicines to combat the imbalance ,methods to avoid intense grief or emotions,depressions etc and give peace of mind are needed and these are devised..pilgrimages to hilltop temples,riverbanks,seacoasts,forests,the cooling prasaada and chandana on forehead,reading holy scriptures,and above all singing the names of God in perfect harmony(keertha)are all prescribed.(the ancient raagachikitsa)Most of the devakarma(rituals for God)are for this purpose.<br />Unmaada is due to bhootha (past life,causing impurity of the elements)Past life may be this life or the previous lives.(previous life’s karma)Pretha just means a person wholived on this earth ,and went out of it after completing its tenure.The pretha represents the collective experiences of all the ancestors of the human race.Personal as well as collective past experiences of human race give rise to mental disturbances,as well as to mental peace.If it is disturbing ,then we call it paisaacha(that which produce tension and fear)and it causes symptoms of unmaada .That is Bhoothaprethapisaachakrith means madness (unmade)is caused by past experiences of the personal and collective level which cause disturbances and impurity of the 5 elements with which we are made of.Therefore,the 5 elements of our body,of the earth,and the cosmos(our external environment)should not be polluted.This probably is the first recognition of the need for environmental protection.Unless we know the exact meaning of these words it is likely that we may blindly believe the words of others and criticize it.Ot may blindly believe and become mad people ourselves.<br />It is evident that samsaara (domestic and social life )cause mental tensions and therefore mental disease.To reduce these tensions dhyana ,yoga,bhakthy and gnaana were devised for people of different temperaments .Another very effective method was through the artistic medium-music,dance and literature.When all these preventive and curative methods fail and for people who don’t have tastes for any of these,and immersed in the mundane things only,sometimes it becomes necessary to give a shock treatment.For this they devised creation of a fearful atmosphere or a weird scene and painful experiences.Just like the modern allopaths devised the electric shock treatment.It was not the only method of treatment and it never was the choice treatment the ancients.Once the disease manifests ,bloodletting,oilbaths,swedana,virechana,food mixed with sesame oil were all tried.Susrutha knew that uncontrolled sensory pleasures and falsehoods lead to apasmaara(loss of memory and consciousness –either partial or complete)and prevention was better than cure.<br /><br />Surgical treatment<br />Susrutha describes three stages for surgery.<br />1.poorvakarma(preoperative preparation)<br />2.Pradhaanakarma(the surgical procedure proper)<br />3.paschaadkarma(postoperative care)<br />Poorvakarma includes astrological calculation of best time for surgery,depending upon the position of stars and planets ,the seasons etc,prayers/bhajans/music on presiding deities,for invoking blessings from God,Guru and natural spirits,ancestors(previous teachers or guru –the pithru),examination of the patient ,deciding whether surgical intervention is necessary or not,positioning for the procedure,tightly held by the disciples.For internal surgeries and removal of the dead foetus from uterus Susrutha prescribes an empty stomach by fasting.For minor procedures light liquid diet was allowed.Whether anaesthesia was used or not during Susrutha’s time had been a controversial issue for a long time.I found the word for anaesthesia in chikitsaasthaanam.The reference is of supthivaatham(supthy = sleep,and vaatham =gas)which means the gas that produce deep sleep like coma.This indicates that susrutha knew the use of anaesthetic gas.(supthivaatha sringmoksham kuryarthu bahusho bhishak 4-12 chikitsasthanam).The checking of clean instruments kept at the surgeon’s armslength ,availability of trained nurses to assist,and even the alabu(specimen collection container)are described with precision and accuracy by the text just as an operative surgery text of modern medicine.<br />Pradhaanakarma can be attempted by a surgeon who can perform the eight karma with accuracy ,speed and experience.Th e 8 karma are<br />1.chedana(excision)<br />2.bhedana(incision)<br />3.lekhana(scraping and curettage)<br />4.vedhana(puncturing)<br />5.eshana(probing)<br />6.aaharana(extraction)<br />7.vishravana(tapping of fluids including bloodletting)<br />8.Seevana(suturing)<br />The surgeon should have complete knowledge of the human body ,and the science of surgery ,should be experienced,courageous,confident,powerful,unselfish,and should possess hands that do not sweat while doing surgery.<br />The postoperative care is important.At least for 48 hours the bandages should not be loosenened or disturbed.Because the healing should take place from below upwards .On the third day examine the site ,remove dead tissues and pus if any and apply new bandage .In hot and rainy season daily dressings were changed after that.In snowy seasons dressings are changed on alternate days .If the patient complains of pain in an apparently clean healed wound ,pure ghee and liquorice were made into a paste and applied hot.The doctor should be available on call and the nurse should intimate if any emergency or complications arise. All these procedures ,the operative surgery notes of various conditions ,the descriptions of instruments etc are all very scientific and this is really remarkable when we consider the period of the text.It was a time when the western world had never ever imagined it possible to have a surgical intervention for a disease.<br /><br />Cancer(Arbudha)<br /><br />W.A.D.Anderson had mentioned in his textbook of pathology that Ramayana was the first known text where arsenic and surgery are mentioned as treatment for cancer.Susrutha considers cancer as growth of tissue,accompanied by pallor.He describes it as stony hard ,fixed to deep tissues ,and spreading from one place to another.According to him some of the cancers are untreatable(asaadhya)and others are treatable.He classifies cancer according to sites and nature.While describing cancer of the yoni,larynx and skin ,he compares it to the white lotus flower(swethapundareeka).In allopathy ,even in presentday classrooms the description of the squamous cell carcinoma of these sites is cauliflowerlike.(the whiteness and the flower like appearence0.Susrutha prescribes a vegetarian diet ,a modest life avoiding illicit sensual pleasures,daily food containing yava and mudga,virochana,dhooma ,daily oilbaths and the use of “karkaruka,naarikela,priyaala,panchamagulachoornam”for prevention of cancer.I think this may be tried for prevention of cancer.Modern science is of opinion that a nonvegetarian diet and excesses of sensual pleasures can lead to certain types of cancer.<br />We know that cancer is an excessive uncontrolled proliferation of a clone of abnormal cells.I often wonder whether the ancient Indian sage too knew this secret.If not why did he gave the name arbudham to this disease?In Sanskrit arbudham means a number ,a clone more than a crore cells can be an arbudham.Another interesting thing is that in yogavasishta ,sage vasishta ,the teacher of Srirama tells his disciple that the monsterous karkadi (meaning crab-in latin this is translated as cancer)enters the human body as a jeevasoochi(live needle)and gobbles its entire nourishment so that it becomes weak and perish.He adds that karkadi can enter only the bodies of men and women who have excesses of sensual pleasures and uncontrolled lifestyles.Prevention of diseases ,including cancer ,was the aim of the ancient Indian lifestyle .The scriptures ,the different systems of arts and sciences ,the methods of temple worships ,the food habits and even the festivities in relation to the different seasons were devised carefully so that people live a peaceful healthy life .It is sad that in the modern times ,this fact is forgotten and a lifestyle of a particular geographic region ,devised suitable to its geographic and climatic features ,is mistaken and misconstrued as areligion and in its name atrocities are committed.<br /><br />Indian culture,ans sciences and arts are for the whole world,for the entire humanity.It can never be destroyed by anyone.Nor can it be protected by a few who takes up arms against our fellow countrymen.This eternal spring of wisdom existed and will exist forever ,as long as there are people who love and serve humanity ,on this planet earth,as hippocratus put it centuries back.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-15868219125992903782007-06-28T03:04:00.001-07:002007-06-28T03:05:59.743-07:00Aama in AyurvedaAAMA.IN AYURVEDA and the concept of Bhootha as the five elements and the past life<br /><br /><br /><br />First principle of any scientific enquiry is observation (perception )of facts and it is the first principle of behaviour to acqusition of scientific knowledge.Then classification of observed data using verifiable objective methods follow. Explanation of the data or interpretation of the facts in the simplest and the least complex way should ensue next.In other words,seeking of evidence through direct experience and explaining it using logic is the empiricism of any scientific method.<br />The stages of science are thus<br />· 1.description of a problem situation<br />· 2.Prediction of the outcome<br />· 3.scientific thinking-:devising hypothesis,verifying them,communication of the results,<br />· 4.understanding that science is not merely the materials and methods.It is more than the methods,a way of thinking./a way of life..<br />· 5. A distinction is made between observable and the inferred.Inference on things that are not directly observable.<br />Aayurveda is the ancient science of our land which deals with observable and inferable facts of life in such a way so that the physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual problems of the world are dealt with and solved.<br />Oushadi-vanaspathy are the main material through which the treatment is done.What is oushadi? Osha literally means lightbearing ,and it also means kural or sound through praana or vaayu. The energy (anna)in the sun is obtained through the plants by photosynthesis and this sustains life on earth.Therefore the plants indirectly control the energy,water,elements,and the oxygen cycles of our lives.and is the sree(prosperity )of earth.Hence the veda addresses the Goddess sree and agni(energy )thus:<br />Aadityavarne Tapaso adhijaatho<br />Vanspathisthava vriksho atha bilwa(sreesooktham)<br />According to chandogya Upanishad only those people who have healthy ,pure ,brilliant dhathu(elements)can do Aathmavicharam and be spiritually and intellectually ,mentally and physically healthy.(Dhaathuprasaadam is essential for health ).Maithryiupanishad says the pure ocean of bliss bearing each dhaathu and indriya shines in the heartspace as itself by itself(swayam prabha)without any other upaadhi and that is the aathma.The dhaathuprasada thus gives us indriyabhala(physical strength) to have mental ,intellectual and spiritual health.<br />Eight Drops of paraa energy is needed for life and we directly get it from cosmic energy as suvarannam(without carbon)and half an anjali of apara energy is needed for carrying out our activities including intellectual work and that should come from our foodintake(contain Krishna-or carbon).It is the apara energy derived from the food that our bioenergy field is created,our five elements (panchabhootha)are built up,and the one with dhaathuprasaada can see the mahimaanam(greatness)of Aathma(cosmic energy) in one’s own heartspace<br />Cosmic energy is the power of Naaraayana (Naarayana Upanishad)seen as agni in the human body .Like a lotus with nadeejhaala(nerve plexuses) it is kept in the middle(the central nervous system and spinal cord)In the naabhi (center )it exists as agni and splits (vibhajanthy)food(aaharam)and keeps the body from head to foot with heat of metabolism(thapas).From this thapa(heat)is derived life and its activities.The virat(cosmic)energy is manifested as the swaraat(individual)energy and hence cosmic and bioenergy fields are ultimately the same and interconvertible energy fields constantly in touch with each other.Aayurveda thus prescribes the plants and its leaves,flowers,fruits etc,available in each season(rithu)characteristic of each geographic area and ensures the food habits are healthy .Rithu or seasons represent time(kaala) and geographic area represent the desa and hence the diet suits the timespace(kaaladesa).In a similar way ,the raagaas prescribed also should be suitable to the timespace (to the seasons and to geographic areas)in raagachikitsa(since it is sound energy which is part of light energy).<br />Anna is sun’s energy,that is converted to elements by plants(C,H,O,N,Ca,P)and their sanghaatham as proteins,carbohydrates,fats and vitamins etc.Praana is dhaathu in ionic state (suvarna)whereas dravya is dhaathu in solid state(rayi-krishna).When food is digested the subtle agni goes up,the grossest comes down.The medium one spreads all over as jhaladhaathu(watery)and as vaayu.<br />There are different srota(channels) in our body and praana(oxygen) is sarvathogaamini (flowing in all channels)in our body.Udaana is the one that flows up(urdhwanaadi )as para.samaana is the one that brings oxygen to all tissues and cells.Since the pitha(thejus)of the sun is agni(energy)in all the indhana(firewood or the body),it is by its character without any vaasana ,vignaanamaya.Surya is nityaniraamaya(God has permanent health)and has perfect state of bliss of yoganidra(comparable to dreamless state of sushupthi )and samadhi.But when the channels or the darsanadwaaraas are blocked by the same thejas(energy)then a state of aamaya(unhealthy)occurs and the patient may experience a coma(moorcha).<br />Thejas (energy)is the agni which gives us our biological field of attractive personality and behaviour,our science and arts also.<br />Theja:sareerastha:deepthy :ujjawalathwam<br />Praagalbhyam vaa brahmavarchasam<br />Vrithaswaadhyaayanimitham theja .<br />In sadvritha(people who follow good habits)due to their swaadhyaya this healthy state persists..And the three (vatha,pitha,kapha)are in balance giving them brahmavarchasam and niraamaya.In those who follow bad habits the opposite happens and disease (aamaya)occurs.Agnichayanam and formation of anna(food)is cyclical.<br />In Sudhasindhu(page 919-924 DC Books ,Kottayam)how the gross cosmic body is the origin of the gross body of man and animals is explained..In nadeesamvedanam (nerve impulse communication)the waves of polarization and depolarization is the same agni of the cosmos.Thus cosmic and bioenergy are the same.Mind is not within the brain alone ,the concept of the mind everywhere in the cosmos and brain as a part of it constantly communicating with it is being accepted by the western science.In the last decade (the decade of the brain)we heard the dictum “Mind everywhere”as an echo of this acceptance.The anuishta oorja(the subtelest energy)as nerve transmission is only a part of cosmic energy and the brain is just a gross form of it.<br />AAMA<br />According to Saamaveda:ama is purusha(man).saa is sthree(woman).when they are in balance(sama)the body is niraamaya(without disease.)They are equal(sama)in everything (including a plushinam,masakam,naagam-)and because of this there is music(saama)in everything and the world is a combination of name(sound)and form(light).when the yin-yan balance/sivasakthy balance is lost aamaya(disease) occurs.<br />Aama is immature ,uncooked,unripe,undigested annam which is not useful to the body.In medical context the term refers to events,factors,resultants which follow ,arise and results respectively as a consequence of kaayaagni(fire of the body)not functioning properly .Aama is an essential factor in the development of a pathological state.Aamaya (disease)is a condition produced by aama.It is described as a causative factor in many diseases in ayurveda.<br />Aacharya vaagbhata says:Due to the diminution of agni(energy)the first dhaathu namely the rasa is not formed properly and the annarasa (food essence)undergo fermentation and putrefaction ,being retained in the aamaasaya (stomach).This improperly digested food is the aamarasa.The toxins generated out of such rasa produces obstruction of channels(srota),loss of strength(balakshaya),gouravatha(heaviness),impediment to flow of vayu(anilamudha),lethargy(clema),ajeerna(indigestion),atyapraseka(excessive salivation),obstruction of natural urges like stools,urine,flatus(vegavrodha),anorexia(mandaagni)and malaise(angsada).<br />That means aama includes,food containing all incompatable articles,heavy indigestible food,unwanted food by overeating,disgusting foods,any food that produce distension of abdomen,raw uncooked food(other than fruits and certain vegetables),very cold food,irritating foods causing inflammation of mucosa,unclean,contaminated,infected food,dry ,fried ,dehydrated food,food soaked in too much of water,food taken during intense emotional stress like grief,anger,worry ,fearcomplex etc,hunger and irregular food habits(psychosomatic).<br />The fundamental treatment for aamadosha is langhana or upavaasa.Fasting is till the energy(agni)is maintained.Dry sudation therapy is the second line of treatment by which obstruction,pain and swelling are removed.oleation therapy is contraindicated.Emesis and purgation are recommended to remove the toxic effects.Herbs that combat aama are<br />Ginger(zingiber officinale),castor(Ricus communis),guduchi(Tinospora cordifolia),bhallathaka(semicarpus anacardium),kuchala(strychnus nuxvomica)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A comparison of the modern views on the free radicals is appropriate at this juncture.They play a key role in the pathogenesis of a variety of diseases and in normal biological functions.Activated processes in drug toxixicity,aging,carcinogenesis,aetiology of ocular,neurologic and psychiatric diseases are some examples.Darwin observed that white ,blueeyed cats are usually deaf to sound vibrations.Pigmentary abnormality(colour or varna )and deafness(inability to hear sound)in audiology go hand in hand in diseases like waardenberg’s or usher’s syndrome.Association between radical generating metals like iron ,and copper and induction of fibrosis (interocular fibrosis in vitreous chalcosis,liver cirrhosis in wilson’s disease and hemachromatosis)was described.<br />Oxygen-dependent microbial system:Granulocytes and phagocytes of our immune system possesses a membrane NADPH oxidase ,which takes reducing equivalents from hexose monophosphate shunts and transfers these to molecular oxygen to produce superoxide and other active oxygen species.A further myeloperoxidase converts peroxide produced in this system to microbial products including hypochlorites.Production of activated products by this system plays a keyrole in the cellmediated immunity and microbiocidal activity.There is evidence for similar systems in T lymphocytes,platelets,mucous,an NADPH oxidase of noninflammatory cells may have a role in mediating cyclic nucleotide mechanism.Granulocytes,macrophages,T lymphocytes produce active species of oxygen as part of the microbiocidal/citocidal system.In turn,active oxygen species can modulate specific elements of the inflammatory response in vitro.Biological systems protect themselves against the damaging effects of activated species by several means.These include free radical scavengers and chain reaction terminators :enzymes such as SOD ,catalase and the glutathione peroxidase system and solid state defences Such as the melanins. central catecholaminergic neurons contain stable free radical, melanin. Specific dying-off of pigmented neurons in the substantia nigra is the apparent cause of Parkinson's. Dopaminergic neurons may be concerned in schizophrenia and in various movement disorders ( e.g., choreoathetosis in Lesch-Nyhan syndrome ). Noradrenergic neurons - in endogenous depression and Alzheimer dementia. The function, of melanin in neurons unknown ,may be related to antioxidant and semiconductor properties<br />Chemical antioxidants act by donation of an electron to a free radical converting it into a nonradical form.The anuishta type of enegy involving the oxygen atom is the one with the vaayu.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The water particle (H2O)and the molecules of the H or the watercontent is important for our bioenergy field or the aura.It is the thousands and thousands of micromagnettes within it that gives us our aura and it is measurable best with imaging techniques.When we hear music and enjoy it our corticotemporal axis is activated and more of blood (and hence H)flow through it.This is mapped by sophisticated methods in neuroimaging.<br />Now,the functioning of the energy(agni),of the vayu(oxygen)and of the water(H ydrogen),aakasha(spacetime energy),and of prithwi(the elements gross)are fully explained in the ancient and the modern concepts and we can understand the aetiology and pathogenesis of many diseases with these concepts .<br />What we have learned in the field of modern medicine is actually our technological knowledge and measuring systems ,thanks to physics,astrophysics,and technological advances and they are used by the modern medical people .But ,a modern person can use these techniques and prove their thesis and scientific theories as well.Modern medicine use technology to explain their beliefs.Ayurveda can use it for proving their views,and as an interdisciplinary method.No one can say that technology can be used by a particular branch of knowledge or speciality.<br />What I feel is that the concept of aama is something which has deep meanings and implications.Some people think that aama is due to bhootha.This is a Sanskrit word which is wrongly interpreted in English as evil spirit.But what is it in Sanskrit and in Indian concept is important in realizing and explaining it as the most scientific theory.<br />· Bhootha in Sanskrit means two things<br />· 1.The elements as in the panchabhootha.When the 5 elements in our body(biological system)or in our environment(ecosystem)is polluted and the cyclic energy is obstructed by this process ,aama or disease occurs is the first explanation.<br />· 2.Bhootha also means the past life as in bhootha,varthamaana and bhaavi.If the past life of an individual(this birth as immeadiate /and previous births as remote)is bad,the consequences set in as to every action ,there should be an equal and opposite reaction.This is the karma theory of Indians.If one is a drug addict or an alcohol addict ,the consequences of the habits will manifest as disease later on.Similarly,a life of uncontrolled sexuality leads to certain types of aamaroga ,like AIDS. The question is not limited to understanding science alone but to be able to live accordingly.Aayurveda ,as a way of life is important because it tells us in an interdisciplinary and holistic way how to live a healthy life ,how to follow clean habits and live in harmony with the cosmos and the environment,keeping a mind free of raagadwesha and passions of greed,envy etc and to have a fruitful existence useful to the world and society.<br />In this context I would say that the concept of Raagachikitsa ,is also based on the same principles.Have a life free of passions and full of compassion to the entire creation is the message of valuebased education of ancient Indians.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-62289754950228367272007-06-28T03:02:00.001-07:002007-06-28T03:04:14.944-07:00Darsana and SasthraThere are 6 darsanaas in India.The first is the chaarvaaka or lokayatha which is a naasthik one and says one can believe only those which one see directly.(direct perception alone is the pramaana for science).The others believe that the direct sensory perception alone is not enough and anumaana and aagama are also taken as scientific proofs(especially the nyaya schools of Bengal,assam and kerala)and this is the darsana of akshapaada and of Gouthama.<br />Anumaana are of 3 types.<br />1.poorvavath.(as observed before.)one has observed that if raincloud comes there will be rain .because of the previous experience one guess the presence of rain.If we follow only the sensory perception we can never predict a tsunami or a disease epidemic etc.so anumaana is important and thus the nyaya school refuted the lokayatha /charvaka view and thus the naasthik was converted to the aasthic /nyaya side.<br />2.Sheshavath.There is flood in a river.The inmference is either there is rain in the hills,or there is melting of a glazier or there must be a dam opened.Here also we don’t see the event with our eyes but we infer.<br />3.Saamaanyatho drishtam.When we see change in position of the planets ,we infer that it must be due to the fact that there is gathi(movement )to them.This is a general theory.All the 3 were accepted because the nyaya school gave adequate illustrations and argued their case logically.This method is used in all the other darsanaas and one can find this type of logical argument at its zenith in sankaraa’s commentaries.That is why all the other darsanaas were pushed to the background.Not that sankara was a autocrat who destroyed anything,he was a scientists who argued logically on his viewpoint and all others accepted his views because they were flawless (.If one can call this conversion,we can call it so. )Conversion on any other background(political,for money,power etc)cannot be called a free conversion by will.It is here that we have to consider the facts very critically.<br />The science of Pathology (which I follow ,)still uses the 5 steps which Nyaya school used.I will illustrate it thus:<br />Step 1:Prathigna .In this I state what I am going to prove,in front of a group of people who know the scientific language I speak(fellow doctors/pathologists).I just say that the diagnosis I have made is so and so.<br />2.Hethu:What are the reasons I have to prove my side/diagnosis.I have to be very thourough in my saubject and should have excellent communication skills to discuss this.<br />3.3.Udaaharanam:There are some lakshana(linga)for a disease and I should be able to state the relation between these and this comes from my previous experience with similar cases,(case studies)called swaanubhava and the references from others(paraanubhava)<br />The references are of 2 types.As you know even now in evidence based medicine and other modern sciences ,to be acceptable in a journal we have to cite the thought processes and experiences of other scientists .These may may be people who are still in the human memory with a specified time,space,specified book/journal etc called pourusheya(traceable to a thinker/reformer/scientist in timespace)or may be prehistoric people who have left their ideologies and thoughts for posterity ,but have disappeared from the memory of mankind and hence called apourusheya.(veda/scriptures/cave writings etc)and these are the precious things that we have to preserve for posterity without change.Whereas ,the scientific/logical thoughts and sciences are naturally changed with time and are dynamic(called smrithy )and in memory of man.For a proof ,these two types of references are used and since smrithy /science is dynamic and changes from time to time there is always scope for new discoveries and these has to be substantiated by every scientist.The sruthy(apourusheya)is to be kept for posterity as common heritage of mankind.<br />4.Upanaya is the 4th step.How I can apply the above said points into the specific case study of my patient(the present case)This is a discussion of the present case<br />5.Nethy nethy is a deduction/induction process or an exclusion diagnosis in which you exclude the other possibilities by negative findings<br />It is after these steps that we proceed to the final diagnosis or nirnaya(nigamana)and Akshapaada calls this thought process as Aanweekshiki (tharka/vaada)<br />Charaka is ver y specific about the two types of assemblies(parishads)and about the two types of discussions or conversations we make.I will briefly state his view thus.<br /><br />The two types of sambhaasha (conversations)according to Charaka.<br />Sandhaaya sambhaasha<br />Vigrahyasambhaasha<br />Conversation with people who are learned in the particular subject,and are eager to know about the subject more.<br />Benefit of this:1.Increase of knowledge by 3 means.knowledge of things we have not known before,clearing of doubts,increasing the previous knowledge.<br />2.Lokakalyana.Benefit to the entire world and the human race.<br />Conversation with people who don’t know the subject and do not want to know at all.Such conversation is mere jalpa/vithanda.<br />Prayojana :nil.Just killing time .<br />Charaka asks to avoid such conversations and to conserve our bioenergy for better things.(this is one of the essential prerequisites of health)<br /><br />The two types of assemblies(parishads)each consists of mithra(friend),sathru(enemy)and sannigda(neutral)<br /><br />Agna(ignorant)<br />Vigna(learned)<br />The mithra among agna can be slowly and steadily lead to knowledge ,but not through gnaanamaarga .By bhakthymarga or karmamaarga.(This is probably a type of conversion)<br />The other two(sathru and neutral)among agna has to be ignored and do not waste time in talking to them.<br />The mithra among vigna are the real rasika,sahridaya ,sishya,etc and they are the real valuable friends and a man with intelligence will not loose a chance to have contacts with them(sadsanga).<br />The enemy among the vigna just try to win you over and they make mere jalpa just for that purpose,not for increasing knowledge or for lokakalyana.therefore do not have contacts with them.<br />The neutrals among vignaas have doubts to be cleared.It is the duty of the learned scientist to clear their doubts with logic and intelligence.These clearing of doubts form treatises on each subjects and are known as the commentaries or saasthragranthaas etc used by posterity.<br />Here,you can see a change in your sentence” Every religion originates as an ideology, rather a Dharsana to uplift mankind both spiritually and materially, but in the course of time degenerates into an institutionalized hierarchy. This hierarchy then overpowers the ideology. Religion then becomes a tool of the hierarchy and the clergy. Religion looses its essence and becomes an institution wielding enormous powers. “<br />According to Indian darsana and science of Charaka,every science originate in this way,as a darsana for lokakalyana(upliftment of society)for perfect physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health but after sometime degenerates due to various reasons ,one of them being institutionalized hierarchy.These various reasons include increase in the number of agnaas(ignorant people)and the vignas who are selfish ,and the lack of genuinely interested unselfish people who are ready to do the saadhana for aquiring knowledge and to seek truth.(genuine scientists are less in kaliyuga).<br />Rather ,it would be correct in the Indian sense,that darsana is a perception only in the primary sense and it is science in the secondary sense.Only when a darsana is tested for a very long time ,Indians accepted it as a science.Long discussions and verifications (documented as treatises)can be sen before a darsana is accepted as a science by the assembly of learned people from Kashmir to Kerala.A scripture(A agama) is thus a darsana+saasthra,accepted by the learned parishads,verified over a long period of time by generations of people and for the sake of the god of society.(the world).<br />Without such a procedure no conversions can be possible.Individual preferences are what we call an opinion(in Sanskrit a matham which is translated as religion in English)and it can change ,since it is subjective to each person’s level of grasping and intelligence.But ,the values and the scientific methods accepted by generations of human beings (ancient and modern)makes what you really call as spirituality and in that realm whatever change is made has to come from prolonged discussions over the subject,by learned people ,and then verified by everyone and proven that it is for the good of society.Such a democratic conversion is good for society but it doesn’t happen som often because most of the change in opinion (religion)is for other reasons(other than ideology).<br /><br />In spirituality of India there are two sides to the coin.(it should be there in spirituality of any country or of any individual since these are general things)<br />1.The logic and scientific methods of the darsanaas verified in the crucible of time by generations of scholars and documented as scriptures for future references.<br />2.The empathy or compassion originating in an individual mind which thinks about the world’s miseries and tries to find out a solution for alleviation of miseries and pain of the entire world(lokakalyana is a word originated in such a compassionate mind)<br />If there is only the first(logic )it is science or saasthra.If the second alone is there it becomes a dream or a mirage which we may not be able to put into practice.<br />But if we combine both,it is the real spirituality and Indians used this as a way of life.Hence,many of their scriptures does not even mention the name of the rishi who formulated a darsana or spiritual path.such selflessness is the hallmark of spirituality.This difference is there in spirituality and religion.The Indian culture and civilizations had this character ,until the period of the Gouthamabudha when there was the first attempt for institutionalization.<br /><br />Spirituality is always within an individual consciousness.It can never be institutionalized.The personal qualities and charisma of a spiritual person attracts similarminded and learned people.and a sadsangha like that flourish as a gurukula and their ideas spread far and wide.When this is taken up by selfish groups of people to weild power over society ,religions form and they are actually political institutions(church was formed with this reason)and have nothing in common with the idea spread by the spiritual Guru (here ,Christ)To know Christ,one has to go deep into one’s own consciousness.Not into religious rites.For this the scriptures may help .But the best help comes from within your heart and from God’s grace.I just voiced the views of the Indian masters of darsana in brief.I think this is what every ideology will agree to,since human brain and its lateralisation has started during the prehistoric times and so far our brain structure and our hormones and our thinking prowess has not undergone any radical change.As a group human beings(homosapiens)are one race sharing the same characteristics of neuropsychoimmunology and nervous structures and gestalt neuronal assemblies.<br />For me,the best language which we can share with everyone in the world is musical language because music is universal and speaks the language of the heart and hence of compassion and everyone understands its universal language.That is why saamaveda and Raagachikitsa (music therapy)has healing effects on human species through neuropsychoimmunological effects.<br />Since I am at present involved with raagachikitsa,I find it a useful tool for generating a global awareness of peace and harmony,a new Mahaa advaitha for the present century.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-49951133122446924602007-06-28T03:01:00.001-07:002007-06-28T03:02:29.071-07:00PERSPECTIVES ON MIND(Medical science,philosophy,psychology)<br />ED V.M.N .NAMBOOTHIRI<br />BOOK PUBLISHED BY THE GYAN PUBLISHING HOUSE. NEW DELHI 110002 IN 2001.<br />(Two chapters contributed by Dr Suvarna Nalapat)<br />1.Introductory chapter. (21-30)<br />2.creation of mind chapter 10 pages ( 219-234)<br /><br /><br /><br />1.Introduction.<br /><br />Mind is the greatest enigma of all times.While studying this subject one is entitled to fall into the old rivalry and dilemma of universal truth that exists only in the human mind ,and nominalism which deny the very existence of universalism at all .Which is truth?The scientific ,discovered by a process of knowing?The poetic created by a process of making?Are they different or two sides of the same coin?Where does the correspondence theories of scientific truth and the coherence theories of poetic truth merge?Science delimits ,documents and define everything .Coherence theory is intuitive perception of truth where documented evidence is replaced by selfevidence or experience.Can we ever distinguish or prove the truth in the following possibilities?<br />1.The universe is finite and thus admits a finite complete description as classical science do.<br />2.The universe is infinite and cannot be completely described by some finite sets of facts as in the theory of relativistic astrophysics.<br />3.The universe is infinite and cannot be completely deducted by any finite sets of facts as the unified theories of modern science and spiritualistic advaitha philosophy holds .The answer is not always a scientifically proved fact but an intuitionaly perceived reality.Truth discovered by scientific enquiry and intuitional perception merge imperceptibly ,as in the case of Kekule,Poincare,and Einstein.So what is mind?Scientifically proven and welldocumented delimited matter(phenomenon)or intuitionally conceived ,experimented unlimited and not wellunderstood?<br />This book discusses the different aspects of the mind in the following articles written by brilliant scientists in their own fields.It is desired thus ,that it evokes wide readership and thoughtprovoking discussion and healthy criticism ,so that the infinite possibilities of the human mind are explored to the fullest extant.<br /><br />Psychiatrist and the new sciences of the mind<br />Dr Philip John starts with a quote from Francis Crick ,clearly stating his stand that mind is no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells in the brain.His intention is to lead his speciality back to neurosciences,though it had originated in theology and philosophy.He wants to wean it from the mother and entrust it to the fostermother.Mind being matter ,his community (doctors)is trying to treat patients on a physical model for psychiatric illness,and therefore is ill at ease with the nonmedical voluntary agencies who are concerned with mental health of clients (instead of mental illnesss of patients.).Yet,he himself uses the term mental health (from entering the field of mental health-page 3 of the typewritten manuscript).In his eyes psychiatrists can never be equivalent to psychologists ,however much the modern democratic world and the theologians and philosophers talk about equality ,because medical knowledge (and ofcourse its degrees and postgraduate degrees)is a powerful weapon in the hands of the modern India ,with which he treats the ignorant “laymen”.Since mind for the medical man is only a nerve cell which twitches and turns with an electrical stimulus ,we cannot expect anything more from a deterministic standpoint like that.But there is something very commendable in this article and that is the criticism of the columnists who regularly write on extramarital relations and make psychiatry appear as something that deals with either love affairs or extramarital sex or at the other extreme end dealing with ranting raving lunatics,.<br /><br />According to the author,the mind is the creation of the brain and the total personal experience of the various functions of the brain and psychiatry being a neural science ,studies mutually interacting systems like mind/brain,nature/nurture.Is brain the creation of the mind or viceversa is a philosophical question taken up by science.Something like a hen and egg problem.Or a wave and particle problem.If experiences influence biology and biology inflences experience ,and psychiatist as a doctor is studying the Biology,Biochemistry and Pathology of the brain which influence the experience of the organism which in turn influence the biology .That means they are a mutually interactive pair or system and there need not be any illwill or rivalry between them.<br />The best part of this is the exhaustive genetic,molecular level cell changes and the structural /functioning imaging techniques used in modern medicine by which “one can watch a thought”or reconstruct a memory in another person’s brain.That again is the crux of the point.A doctor can peep into another person’s personal feelings –his pain,pleasure,grief,every feeling-but cannot go deep into his own self with all his sophisticated equipment .No self –vision is possible and all the machines act as mere extension of our physical eye with which we observe what is outside of ourselves.<br /><br />We have a sigh of relief when at last theology surfaces in this essay.After all it was the mother of psychiatry and a mother cannot be neglected by dutiful children.The author says,’”the creator has put in three communication systems in the human body” essential for life(neural,immune and autocrine)and that he is excited at the prospect of ancient philosophical questions receiving biological answers.<br />As everyone of us are looking or peeping through the only window available to us –our mind and the science it had learned –there is no wonder in a medical person being preoccupied with the biological window constructing a mind on the basis of the image of the body.But ignoring the other possible windows and reconstructing the body on the image of the mind and the soul is a sign of lack of flexibility and of deterministic classical standpoint which is being rejected in the modern relativistic world of science.Words one utter,or write reflect one’s mind and knowingly or unknowingly we write our own mind out for others to read its feelings.A thoughtful imaginative and philosophical person is a psychologist who can visualize the feelings of others and of himself ,even without costly spphisticated equipments.<br /><br />MIND,MACHINE AND TIME<br /><br />The myth of the consciousness-brain relationship is beautifully brought out by V.P.Joy by his opening question ,does the shape of the nail give shape to the coat?The materialistic reductionism ,Holism and the domain of their intersection ,the concept of the thermodynamic arrow of time ,leading to disorder and creative arrow arrow of time creating order and having the power of selforganisation through a network system ,the associative and reinforcement learning methods and cybernetics are mentioned in a concise yet comprehensive manner.This article conceives brain as special and mind as time entity ,the difference being only in direction ,exactly like the ancient seers like Yagnavalkya and Gargi and modern scientists like Einstein and Hawking.This makes the article interesting. One can conceive imaginery spaces separate from our own.But to conceive imaginery time (or real time)or mind different from our own is not that easy.We can only watch our mind and conceive it.To say that we have conceived it entirely we will have to transcend time and that is next to impossible for an ordinary mind,the faculties of which remain limited to one system of knowledge.The neural network cannot achieve the mysterious unification of the observer and the observed…a mirror reflecting a mirror reflecting a mirror…..Remember that was what Sankara said when he spoke of the entire universe reflected in the mirror of your mind ad infinitum.And this is what Joshua Royce meant when he said Mental image of one’s own mind must be infinite.I am reminded of the Schroder-Bernstein law where ,S is equal to T .It is therefore impossible to describe any one thing exhaustively without mentioning everything as well.<br /><br />While describing a torroidal spacetime continuum in the mind of the seer ,the mind of the seer is not the usual 4-dimensional mind.It passes beyond the dimensions as described by the ancient astronomers Gargya,Vasishta etc and about this a modern professor of Mathematics (Rudy Rucker –Ralford women’s college,Virginia –“Infinity and the mind”page 23)remarks:”A number of duoverses drift in a 5-D universe….continue indefinitely …..one is reminded of those eastern descriptions of the world as a disc resting on the back of elephants ,who stands on a turtle,who stands on a turtle,stands on a turtle,who stands on a turtle,stands on a turtle>>>>”ad infinitum.<br />Remember,if you reverse a turtle you get a torus and that on the shell of a turtle divided into 9 (loshu of the Chinese)there is the secret code of the Indian universe.The infinite mindscape can only guess the true infinitythrough rational thought and mysticism (rational mysticism),as Sankara and other great seers did,but can never grasp it in entirety.<br /><br />TOWARDS A PHYSICAL BASIS OF MIND<br />Dr Babu Joseph starts with the mind –body dichotomy of Descartes and proceeds to a comparison of the ancient Indian view.He differentiates between consciousness and awareness and includes formation of thoughts and arousal of emotions even in the absence of external stimuli to the realm of consciousness and proceeds to expound Baar’s philosophical theory of consciousness,Kock’s and Eneck’s mapping cortical oscillation /experience,Libet’s and Farah’s views on threshold and high/low quality representations of consciousness.<br />The article analyses consciousness at physical level,both microscopic and macroscopic.At the submicroscopic levels wave functions ,schrodinger equations ,quantum jumps ,Penrosean views expressed in Emperor’s new mind and shadows of mind and some of its critics are mentioned.At the macroscopic level ,brain as a nonlinear dynamic system as evidenced by ECG signals ,the mathematical analysis of signals ,nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and EPR paradoxes are presented.The role of neurotransmitters also is mentioned.The author explains Mc Culloch’s sequential logical operations and Hebb’s neural network learnings.Essentially the survey attempts to provide a physical basis of mind as a manifestation of matter and is not a holistic approach.Though his window is different from that of Dr Philip John ,it almost resembles it ,being purely physical.<br />The theory behind the article is that QM and classical stochastic ideas are compromises aimed at understanding the origin of abstract ideas from the ensemble of particular processes.The rationale behind this composite approach is that microlevel phenomena are QM,consciousness (physical level of mind)manifested as classical level.<br /><br />INDIAN SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY AND AYURVEDA<br />There are two articles based entirely on the Indian systems of knowledge.One is on the concept of the mind in the Indian systems of philosophy and the other in Ayurveda.From the philosophical point of view C.V.Vasudeva bhattathiri explains the nature of mind in the six philosophical systems of India ,compares the different views.From the purely material ,to the purely spiritual there are several gradations and mixtures possible for the mind in various Indian systems and the debates by these different systems on the nature of things on a purely rational and scientific basis makes India a land of scientific enquiry and flexible democratic ideologies.The language of the Indian sciences is not English.It is either Sanskrit or prakrit .In a book meant for readers of the English language ,a person writing on the Indian sciences has to waste considerable spacetime for explanation of terms which makes such articles more of an explanatory note rather than a scientific paper.This has happened to both the articles mentioned and yet they stand out as a different approach to the problem of the mind. I myself have many a time experienced the impossibility of presenting a paper on Indian sciences to an audience who are not familiar with the Sanskrit words and their correct meanings and connotations.To an Englishspeaking reader/listener one has to first explain terms and only then attempt to compare the modern terms and this usually means that one has to write a treatise on the subject.This dilemma has landed me up in writing volumes on the Upanishads ,Brahmasoothra,yoga,thanthra,jyothisha and other systems of knowledge.Hence I feel that these two modest articles on the Indian systems have tried their best as a preliminary introduction to the subject.<br />HUMAN MIND-THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL ASPECT.<br />Starting with the seat of memory and emotional changes and the loss of continence by brain damage.Dr Roy J.Mathew proceeds to drive ,motivation,and goal directed behaviour,associated with prefrontal lobe and pass on to the special mystical spiritual aspect ,the LANGUAGE.The eternal truth,the Vak of the Nyaya ,viseshika,the Sphota of Bharthruhari.According tohim,Mandanamishra accepts the sphota and Sankara does not.Asked by the opponents whether you reject the sphota or not,Sankara had actually said that I do not reject it,but I am experiencing it all the time,within.In his Bhashya to Brahmasoothra,on which at present I am writing a commentary.The receptive,expressive, elements and their complementarity ,communication through signs ,Broca’s Wernicke’s areas associated with speech and processing of language by brain using three interacting sets of mechanisms are explained in the rational,scientific manner.I feel that this is one of the key articles in the book ,since it tries to comprehend both the dominent and nondominent ,both modern and ancient knowledge systems in a scientific manner ,rationally and holistically.<br /><br />MIND IN INTEGRATIVE PSYCHOLOGY.<br />One of the most important essays is that of V.George Mathew ,on integrative psychology.This branch of science as the name implies,indicate an integration of modern psychology with parapsychology and psychology of consciousness.This humanistically oriented system of integrating the most modern and the ancient systems is not a new development in the history of human thought.This has existed in every age and every country,where the present and the past thought processes were examined and analysed and assimilated by a thoughtful mind.This was what was done by Vyasa and sankara in India when they compiled the Vedas and the commentaries on the Prasthaanathraya.In recent times the Theosophical society of India under the able guidance of Madame Blavatsky had given a new impetus to this integration.Most of the western thinkers and scientists were influenced by the theosophical society and the rational and scientific way in which it integrated the psychology and parapsychology .My own great granduncle Nalapat Narayanamenon ,was a member of the theosophical society and from his philosophical and scientific integrative approach to the science and arts ,I have gained a lot.Studying the mind in different planes and conceiving it as a band of vibrations ,theosophists brought it from the realm of quantum electrodynamics to that of quantum chromodynamics.From light to colours and sound.From a quantum of light particle to the sound waves with different colours or varna.This was the ancient Thanthra practice of giving different wavelengths and colours to each letter of the alphabet.Sir John woodroffe had beautifully described this in his Garland of letters.Sankara had talked about this in his commentaries to Upanishads and Abhinavaguptha had explained it in terms of dwani and rasa.George Mathew gives us this property of the mind when he conceives the mind as a band of vibrations.His views on Aparokshagnaana and the poornachakra are really commendable,both being vedanthic and thanthric respectively.The mandala of the poornachakra are known to Budhists and to Sreechakra upaasakaas for time immemorial.<br />The last chapter “creation of mind”is contributed by Dr Suvarna Nalapat and Dr V.M.N Namboothiri writes about the chapter as follows:<br /><br />CREATION OF MIND.<br />Dr Suvarna Nalapat examines the subject from two universal experiences-death and timespace and explains the three dimensional view of Einstein’s mind along with special features in his brain which is examined by a group of scientists.She further proceeds to study the question of ‘WHERE ,WHEN AND HOW IS MIND BORN”- the organic body,the inorganic universe,and beyond it as given in Swethaswethara Upanishad and astrophysics.She also discusses the experience of God and Atma vis-à-vis the unseen and unknown aspects of belief where she brings out the example of Einstein’s belief in intuition,faith and conviction in science subjects .Furthermore she discusses the importance of Ayurveda in controlling the mind through niyama and yama.A study of subcellular level of communication or vak and the existence of network of energy in universe is also included in her article.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />2 CREATION OF THE MIND.<br /><br />Life is made up of two universal experiences-one death and the other timespace.Those who are interested only in sex can start with sex as a universal experience.Whichever one takes,one must remember that the universality is always relative.The physical experience of sex or death may seem the same but mentally it is not the same for all.The sacred bond between a Brahmin boy and girl as in the Tamil tradition ,or that of the Abraham-David dynastic traditions of the bloodline of the grail may be similar both mentally and physically but not for those who see it only as a pleasure principle.Even the experience of death is different in people following different traditions and value systems .For a medical person ,theoretically it is cardiac arrest or cessation of cellular functions.For a phycisist /advaithin dissociation of energy (atma)from mater(anathma).The mental understanding of death in different people differ.The bardo state of the Budhist tradition is comprehendable by one familiar with the Gita and the Katha Upanishad,but not by a medical doctor.<br />This is so with spacetime.Many of the members of the human race ,even those with superior mental qualities and intelligence ,are not able to comprehend the spacetime of Einstein’s brain.Iam aware of the fact that three-dimensional view of Einstein’s mind is attributed to some special features in his brain by a group of scientists.But for this only a limited number of brains were examined for comparison and we cannot rule out the following possibilities:<br />1.A similar brain structure may be identified in an old astronomer/astrologer of the present day India who is not famous as Einstein but still have a threedimensional understanding of the universe.This is also possible in other parts of the world ,in faraway Polynesian tribes ,chaldean Polynesian races.If a collective consciousness can exist,the possibility of it manifesting as an Einstein brain also exists.The energy manifesting itself as matter can take up its form at will .If it wants to experience time-space continuum it will assume the form the shape most suitable for its experience .Just like the body of a man with musical intelligence(naadayoga)is different from ours,the brain of a mathematical/special genius has to be different.But the difference in bodystructure need not be the cause for the difference in genius and viceversa.<br />2.Suppose we find the same change in a group of persons with low IQ and mental faculties after examining more number of brains ,would we then brand Einstein as mentally retarded or the mentally deficient one as a genius like Einstein even though there are no signs of a genius in the poor man’s life or actions.We must remember that science is not deterministic anymore.<br /><br />WHERE,WHEN AND HOW IS MIND BORN?<br /><br />Swethaswethara Upanishad(sl 6.sec 2)says that when the ocean of energy is churned ,when the praana is controlled ,and when the sweet bliss of Ananda is experienced(as soma)the mind or manas is born.That means the mind is born within the organic body as well as outside of it within the inorganic universe and beyond it.In an organic body,mind is born when one churns the intellect with rational thought and analysis(chith),controls praana (senses /indriya)with concentrated yoga(the state of sath or truth)and when one experience ecstacy of ananda in creativity(poetry,music other aesthetic arts).In the inorganic universe and beyond it is born as an eternal energy concentrated into a universal manifested powerpoint or the Bindu in an ocean of unmanifested energy field(wave particle or tharanga,kana)and from this the entire sarga(creation)and ananda(bliss)including that of the organic body emanate.This means that the organic mind is in direct continuity with the inorganic universe and beyond or in religious vocabulary,man is in direct continuity with God.(jeeva with paramathma).The vyasthy is only a particle in the vast ocean of samashty mind.The individual mind is only a wave particle in the oceanfield of universal mind,tossing in it ,floating on it,experiencing the different moods of it,yet mostly unaware of its unity with it.This unawareness is because of the lack of a sixdimensional(shadchakra)view of the entire creation.The individual mind sometimes understands itself as a mere speck or point ,at other times as a line or wave or a series of points ,in a line of descent which one calls a bloodline or family tree or vansavriksha.Beyond that ,the threedimensional view of truth is very rare ,not to mention the six dimensions.Therefore when a person like Einstein passes beyond the twodimensional awareness we are surprised at his genius.<br /><br />According to the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad,hunger is death.In the beginning the universe was encompassed by death/hunger/pralaya.Death wished.Let me have a mind.From that thought ,or will ,mind was born.The universal energy existing alone wanted to see,experience and enjoy itself,so that it assumed the shape of mind and the mind to enjoy the fruits of its activity assumed the shape of the body and in this way ,the seen matter was born out of the unseen energy.From what the astrophysics of the modern times say about energy and matter this explanation of the ancients is not different.<br />Narayana Upanishad gives a physical basis for mind.There is a swarat and a virat(individual and collective)consciousness.These exist in the ghatakasa and chidaakasa (within a pot and outside of it)but are continuous and the same.Sankara uses these terms often and so too Einstein when he says that the boxspace and the outer space are continuous and the same.This brings us to the ageold seen-unseen conflict.<br />Have you ever seen or experienced God?Have you ever seen or experienced Atma?Why should you believe in the unseen and unknown while you can be satisfied with the known and the seen,the physical body and the world .This is the vainaasika logic of India.Aham or self as different from the seen body /brain is only an imaginery unseen thing never experienced by anybody and hence one need not bother about its existence.But have a science student ever seen an atom or an electron with the naked eye.Still they learn a lot about it and still do believe in it because others with better equipped minds have said about its existence.In a conversation with another scientist ,when he asked how could you grasp the vibration of an inertial coordinate system Einstein replied:”It is merely a useful fiction and I have no idea how to realize it.If I could only get far away from all material bodies and free myself all external influences ,my coordinate system would then be inertial.”(Evolution of Physics).That was exactly what the Advaithin seeking Brahma or absolute reality have been saying for yugaas or kalpaas.Einstein said while delivering a lecture in Japan “I was sitting in a chair in a patent office at Berne when all of a sudden a thought occurred to me.If a person falls freely he will not feel his own weight.I was startled.This simple thought made a deep impression on me.It impelled me towards a theory of gravitation.It was apure intuition.While sir Frank Dyson ,the English astronomer was experimenting to prove the Einstein theory ,during the 1919 solar eclipse on May 29 ,Einstein wrote to his friends:”I do not doubt the correctness of the whole system(general theory of relativity)whether the observation of the solar eclipse fails or not.” <br />That is faith and conviction of one’s faith,with or without proof.This is so in all science subjects.Then why not in philosophy?Parabrahma according toSankara is absolute energy state without time ,space,movement or cause and is linked to an ocean having the symbol zero to represent it.But he asserts that the symbol zero does not mean nothingness but a state of having no dualities whatsoever and this is manifested as the mind of a sarvagna(all knowing person-a rishi)during samaadhi ,and when there is the slightest vibration in it as the form of a thought ,mind is born as a bindu and the symbol is zero with a dot in center,representing antharyamipurusha.In an ordinary human being who has not bothered to concentrate into a samadhi state ,or tried to concentrate and think upon a specific subject ,the Brahma still exists but in the form of a stormy ocean where there is no clarity of thought or of memory ,where everything is in a chaotic jumbled up existence so that there is no awareness of the unity of existence.This represents the samsaarijeevan.Modern psychiatrists are concerned with the problems of these samsaarijeeva alone.The mind and intellect of creative artists and scientists ,of yogis and rishis, are the concern of mystics and philosophers.The importance of ayurveda and other Indian systems lie in the fact that they had over the years evolved a system of yama and niyama to control the mind as a daily routine basis and to keep it calm and diseasefree.Unfortunately this system was considered as part of a religious tradition by the English educated postcolonial population of India and neglected.<br />Language is a way of communication.The subtle communication at physical level taking place from cell to cell also is a language ,or Vak and according to the ancients ,vak is agni or energy .At the subcellular level communication occurs as endocrine ,paracrine ,neuroendocrine and synaptic levels between two cells and as autocrine in the cell itself.The first four are communication between two cells and needs a cell outside of itself ,whereas the last ,the autocrine,communication is from a cell to itself and needs only a single cell.A cell can control itself and the neighbouring cells and the entire mandala or field or environment in which it is situated(the human body itself)by these communications.For the subtle communication ,gross word is not needed and the mind of a being is not situated only in its brain and nervous system but in the entire body and in continuation with the outer field in which it is situated.Simply because we cannot see this network with our gross eyes we do not negate the existence of the network of energy in the universe.<br />There are energy particles in our body called the mitochondria.When food is metabolized to carbon dioxide and water ,because of the metabolic energy ,H atoms in the water are liberated in the mitochondria.Some of these are converted to NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide)and others to FAD (flavine adenine dinucleotide).The electrons of the remaining H atoms pass through mitochondrial respiratory enzymes ,combine with protons,converted to hydrogen,to combine with oxygen and form water.The energy obtained from this transfer of electrons along a series of electron carriers is finally utilized to generate ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate.There is a subtle space within the inner and outer coverings of the mitochondria where the enzymes and the protons are stored.Pumping of electron from the internal space to the outer space happens within the mitochondrium.According to the chemiosmotic theory of Mitchell this pumping is the first stage of the electron transfer.The proton gradient so formed represent the energy.The cells need this energy for communication.This process and the structure of the mitochondria in man and microbes are the same.That means the biological energy at the subtle level is the same in man and the tiniest creature.And it is the same as in the inorganic world of protons and electrons.We should also remember that the subtle energy which is free and universal in everything known as communication (vak)occur in the mitochondria and is therefore always feminine.<br />Chandogya says that mind is annamaya,praana is jhalamaya,vaak is thejomaya.Annam or food is Krishna or black and associated with earth.All things contain carbon,including CH,Fats,proteins constituting the physical body belong to this and it is not restricted to brain alone.Thejas in the world shines ,and is oorja(energy)both in the physical world and beyond belonging to vak and these two are reconvertable and recycling through the intermediary of praana or jhala.There is annam ,jhalam and agni in every object ,and the only difference is in the proportion of each which gives rise to different form and structure to each.This saying of Sankara is now proved by science.Only when annamayam ,the earth,and the jhaladevatha which is represented by the moon,joins with the agni(sun)and the praanaajhala in the atmosphere ,does creation occur.Only then does thought,sight,and hearing occur.Says the Acharya,which is very scientific.According to the principle of a light object rising above the heavy object ,he says that the subtlest annam in the physical world is manas or mind,the subtlest jhalum is vayu ,and the subtlest thejus is vak or communication.Just like protons and electrons emit from a burning star ,hot and pure words emit from a burning pure mind.The entire spacetime is filled with these electrons wave particles.The vak emitted from the minds of men and women of earth spread upwards since they are the subtlest and the lightest.<br />At this juncture we will just compare a few grosser terms which both sankara and the modern science think as arising from one another.<br />SANKARA<br />MODERN SCIENCE<br />Annam<br />food<br />Jalam & jadaraagni<br />H2O,HCL,+ENZYMES<br />Rasam<br />Digested food<br />Raktham<br />blood<br />Maamsa&medas<br />Connective tissue&epithelium<br />asthi<br />bone<br />majja<br />marrow<br />Bheeja+sonitha<br />Testis(sperm)+ovary(ovum)<br />praja<br />Zygote(child)<br /><br /><br />When we look at the microscopic picture of the germ cells of the testis and ovary resemble more of the reticuloendothelial /lymphoid cells especially in case of germ cell tumours and one wonders who is right and who is wrong.Creation starts in the philosopher’s mind as energy or invisible absolute truth and ends with visible gross matter and body with its nervous system.The astronomer agrees with this.The sequence is somewhat like this:<br /> THE CYCLE OF CREATION<br />Energy(brahma)<br />Absolute truth ,invisible<br />Universe(prakrithy)<br /><br />Solar system<br /><br />Light/sound waves<br />Subatomic particle(subtlest)<br />Subatomic particle(grosser)<br />Atom<br />Elements<br />Proteins.CH,Fats<br />Genes<br />Chromosomes<br />Cells,tissue<br />Organs<br />Physical body with welldeveloped nervous system<br />Relative truth(visible)<br /><br />Sun,the visible energy source of earth/planets<br />Seen/heard thanmaathra(quantum dynamics)<br />Paraparamaanu ,paramaanu<br />Anu<br />Moolakam<br />Annam<br />Janithakam<br /><br />Kosa,kala<br />Anga<br />Sareera,with angopaanga and kundalini sakthy.<br /><br />The subtle energy becomes grosser and grosser with each step.Now reverse the order of events ,we get the view of medical science starting from gross physical matter.The ancient medical texts however do not stop short at the bodymind level ,but explores the possibilities beyond that in a holistic approach.<br />Modern medicine considers the physical body and the brain as the seat and creator of the mind ,but the ancients and the astrophysicists know that it is the oorja that condenses to form the sookshma or subtle mind energy and this in turn condense to form the gross body and the brain and ultimately ,in essence there is nothing but oorja(energy).Matter or gross visible universe and body are nothing but invisible energy .Mind is the intermediary stage ,between the two states of energy.It is only in poorvamimamsa,among the six philosophical systems of India ,we find the question of the problem of dharma or ethics.In all others the question of truth and its manifestations are rationally explored through different windows.Of these vaisheshika is the ancient quantum dynamics and nyaaya the logical,rational scientific approach,jyothisha the classical and relativistic astrophysics,ayurveda the science of the body and its health,samkhya reduces the question of two different manifestations of the truth ,the visible and invisible energy,purusha and prakrithy.This duality is even reduced by the utharamimamsa,where the grand unification of energy into brahma is expounded.In its sheme of things there is nothing but energy.<br /><br />Once we realize that the energy (Brahman)is within us as a chaaya or shadow seen in a mirror.Or the sun seen in a clear lake ,and our annamaya mind is active only when it joins agni from the sun and jhala from the atmosphere and when these three separate ,they enter their own state of energy itself ,we naturally wants to know our own nature or the brahmi state.<br />How can one see or experience that state ,if one is not a rishi or a person with exceptional concentrating powers?When is the mind free from all sensory objects and is almost like absolute energy ,or God?For an ordinary mortal who is not a rishi or yogy it is the state of sleep,and therefore the upanishadic rishi analyses that condition.<br /><br /><br /> Consider the figure. Above.1 &2 are the two states of mind (jagrat and sleep states)as two mirrors reflecting Relative truths . When one sleeps the physical or annamaya mirror of mind is suddenly withdrawn.Then there will be no sensory stimulations or objects and the early state of energy alone remains.There are no names ,forms or colours of the waking(jagrat)state .During dreamsleep ,or the REM sleep there is a mixture of memories of the jagrat and those of the pure sushupthy state and could be predictive or signs and communications from a higher realm or our self.This paradevatha is called sadakhya by sankarabhashyam and says that without the sadakhya or light ray ,no external or internal eye can see or communicate anything.When modern psychology after Freud started dream analysis based on the dreams of patients with chaotic minds ,the ancient African and Indian tribes analysed the dreams of rishis and scholars with calm concentrated minds.Jung was able to lead dream analysis in this direction and he discovered the virat in every swarat as a collective memory of the past.He also noticed the dream discovery of the benzene ring by kekule.The astronomic synchronicity was studied in detail and Volf Gang Pauli and Penrose recognized the importance of a mathematical theorem being grasped in sleep visions.<br />Julian Robert Poppenheimer said:The general notions about human understanding ..which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar,wholly unheard off or new.Even in our own culture they have a history and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place .What we shall find is an exemplification ,an encouragement and a refinement of old wisdom.<br />In mysticism and the new physics Mitchell Talbot calles Thanthra ,an ancient quantum physics theory.Naada,Bindu and Naadabindu are vibrations ,wave and particle of the quantum astrophysics.The electrical lines of force or sakthy converges and concentrate upon a region of space ,crisscross,but also sink into the fabric of space ,like threads pulled through a funnel or drawn a bathtub drain.A classical geometrodynamical elective charge is a set of lines trapped in a prologuy of space..The thanthraspace permeated by lines of force(sakthy)is likened to the hairs of Shiva who has the spacetime as his hair(vyomakesa),an equivalent is kesava,for the vaishnavathanthra.<br /><br />I have been studying the development of consciousness in the oldest and ancient cavemen ,the development of multiple intelligences in various spheres of activity including languageand literature,music,arts,sciences and philosophy in various countries and civilizations from time immemorial,To the most modern .I could not find any controversies between art and science ,intuition and rational thought ,ancient and modern.The human mind is the most beautiful and the most unique phenomenon which defy all explanations and yet experienced by one who contemplates on its potentialities ,which are infinite .It is able to grasp infinity ,because it is infinite in nature and that is probably the ultimate one can reach.There is a grand unification (mahaadvaitha)of the natural forces ,both in the ancient and the modern mind.I would like to summarise it thus:<br />Step1:.Electricity(vaidyuthi)+magnetism(kaantha)+light(prakaasam)<br />Faraday<br />Maxwell<br />Quantum (qed,qcd)<br />Step2:Electromagnetism.weak forces(1900)W,Z particles(rubbia)<br />Weinberg salam (1970)<br />Unification of EM and weak forces<br />Step3:planetary motion(saayana)+space+time+Weinberg salam +strong forces,theory of relativity<br />Varahamihira<br />Newton<br />Einstein<br />unification<br />Step4:Bioenergy(jeeva),neurophysiology(vaayu,praana and jeeva of the 5 elements+theory of relativity (laws of the brahmaanda(universes)and the nirayana(inertia)+unification of natural forces<br />Mahaa<br />Advaitha<br />Superunification.<br /><br /><br />It is like this the great vedanthins established the unity of the jeevathma and paramathma.That is the science of their language is good as or even better than the modern English language in explaining the universe and the place of the human mind in it.Mind or the biological energy is equivalent to Brahma ,but experienced as such only by a selected few ,they argued.This is true ,since not every one of us can become an Einstein or Sankara.<br /><br />Quantum ,relativity and neurophysiology ,A comparison:<br />Quantum<br />relativity<br />neurophysiology<br />Light(prakaasa)<br /><br />Zero(Brahma)<br /><br />Satya(truth)<br />E<br />Gathi(movement)<br />Number 1+jagrat(awakened state)<br />Mithya(relative)<br />C2<br />Bioenergy(jeeva)<br /><br />1+…n= 1(successor)jeeva<br />sathya(truth)experienced<br />M<br /><br /><br />By intuition,logic,mathematical induction and observation of the universe and its movable and immovable matter,biological behaviour ,dreams and symbols used by the most active and intelligent mind in the multiple spheres of activity ,can one reach the grand unification and the infinite possibilities of the human mind.One cannot boast of having fathomed the depths of the mind,merely by knowing one branch of science ,or one branch of art alone.In her book,Infinity and the mind,Rudy Rucker has tried to assess the infinite human mind ,the alef of the Hebrew,the alfa of the Greek,the leminiscate of the west and the ashtadalapadma of the east.To grasp infinity and the absolute ,a finite object is not suitable.Mind ,though unable to explain it fully ,is capable of grasping and experiencing it,which Sankara calls swaanubhoothy.He says one can try to explain it in rational and scientific logic but this viveka alone is not the experience ,that is unexplained and unutterable.Rudy Rucker also says that one can grasp infinity with two methods:the rational or scientific ,attempted by scientists all over the world,and the mystical and artistic,aesthetic ,attempted by artists,musicians,poets,philosophers,seers,spiritual people.One cannot say that one method is superior to the other categorically,unless one has the experience and proficiency in both methods.<br />I would like to end this note with a quotation from Rudy Rucker:”There are two distinct forms of consciousness,finite and infinite.As long as I identify with my body and my rational mind,I cannot conceive of my W°.But it is not hard to envision my W°.if I identify with the absolute.This does not lead to the usual type of theoretical regress because someone who has merged with the absolute is in a position to ‘ name’ each and every natural number at once”.<br />Being a mathematician she speaks of natural numbers.Being an Advaithin ,I would substitute each and every natural emotion and thought.That probably sums up the alpha and omega of all extrasensory perceptions(ESP)as well.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-22829029370114799682007-06-28T03:00:00.001-07:002007-06-28T03:01:02.751-07:00Medical EthicsMEDICAL ETHICS<br /><br />(Invited lecture at Yenepoya Medical college-Kodial Bail,Mangalore)<br /><br />Dr Suvarna Nalapat<br />(Retd Professor &HOD Pathology Amritha Institute of medical sciences )<br /><br />Format of the lecture/paper<br />.<br />1.Introducing the subject.<br />2. Gestalt.<br />3.How to decrease frustration?<br />4.Satisfaction in life<br />5.How do you work and learn?<br />6.conclusion /gurukulam as I envisage.<br /><br />In 1925, “Young India “, a patriotic magazine of MahatmaGandhi mentioned seven social sins.These were<br />1.politics without principles<br />2.wealth without work<br />3.pleasure without conscience<br />4.knowledge without character<br />5.commerce without morality<br />6.science without humanity<br />7.worship without renunciation.of Ego.<br /><br />We are witnessing all these social sins today.I restrict my views to general ethics for humanity with a capital E for medical ethics,as far as we doctors are concerned.Science without humanity is the social sin that we as doctors should try to eliminate first,from our professional sphere of activity.How can we do this?<br />1.we need examples/models among us for the younger generations to emulate.A Guru who is a rolemodel,and a professional Gurukula where students feel at ease to follow the profession ethically and efficiently.<br />2.we need a curriculum of medical ethics incorporated into all university programmes of medical education,and this should be a part of an institute of Human values in Healthcare.<br />Ethics is the energy behind all good actions.Is there a formula like E=MC2 ,for every doctor to follow regarding his professional ethical excellance?<br />E=e3-F would be an alternative .(E for efficiency ,three “e”s for enthusiasm,expertise and experience .and f for frustration) When there are frustrations in the environment(society)we live ,our enthusiasm is taken away from us and whatever is our expertise and experience in profession ,we cannot achieve 100%efficiency(E)..<br />Can we ever get out of the frustarating malpractices of our profession?Can our profession become beneficial to society by enforcing a medical ethics which can be of use to everyone in the society?<br />Gestalt<br />Based on Gestalt psychological studies I give an emphatic answer YES .Gestalt is a set of patterns.A dynamic system within a dynamic system acting upon each other.We learn from the world around.Thus we change our views and attitudes to life,we educate ourselves,and by our learning,wisdom and experience we can change the world around from which we have learnt.<br />As shown below in figure ,our environment gives us values,its good and bad aspects which we imbibe .Individual ,in turn,can contribute to the sociopolitical ,economical,spiritual,and cultural environment by actions,thoughts,speeches.(karma,manas,vaacha)Prophets and great personalities were doing this.Every individual has the potential to do this.If such a personality is amongst us,he/she is an asset to us,to the world,nation,state,to institutions,and to homes where they live and work.<br />FIG 1.gestalt.<br />E-economic environment<br />P-political<br />c-cultural<br />S-social<br /> <br /><br />social contagion theory of Alport is worth mentioning in this context.A person with a strong ethical background is the real cream of society,not the one who has got into a particular profession.Such creams of society should be there in the healing art.<br />Medicine is not a mere science as the medical professionals(many of them!!!!)think,it is a science and art combined.It heals the wounds of the body and mind and the wounds inflicted by the environment on the human organism as a whole.It is a profession concerned with healing of body,mind,intellect and the soul.A purifying act .A noble profession ,indeed!!<br />Therefore ,the dire need to recognize our role in society .<br />Everyone knows that ethics should be part and parcel of human life to have a good social life.But many do not know how to apply that to daytoday life,especially in a corporate ,competitive world,where the morally strong and disciplined people are sidelined and marginalized by the clever and the immoral.It is here that we should understand the golden formula ,I mentioned earlier.E=e 3 –f.<br />How to decrease frustration?<br />1.By concentrating on your professional excellance,improving the quality of work done in profession.<br />2.By concentrating on a universal language through which you can communicate to all-(Music.) as a healing art.<br />3.By understanding and practicing the golden rule of all ethics(including medical ethics)is that nature and human life is a divine blessing –a sacred precious opportunity to love and serve others and thus to participate in a divine plan.<br />4.Reduce the desires which is the rootcause of all malpractices.<br /><br />Remembering that all of us are children of God,will alter our relationships and make our works better,and we feel that we are serving the divine sparks of nature by our karma/profession.By this feeling we ourselves are manifesting our divine nature.<br />Naturally it follows that a doctor practicing profession with a feeling that all are children of God cannot discriminate them on the basis of caste,creed,sex,or social status.They are needy,approaching to be served ,and he/she the healer of pains,(bodily,mentally or intellectually.)They are the less fortunate children,and she/he the more fortunate one to have had a chance to serve them.The daasa or daasi of God,who heal the children of God.<br />The daasa in Arabic is translated as the Abdul of God,who heal with love,compassion,(medical) knowledge.In Budhist and Hindu traditions the mahaabhishak (great doctor)with a bhinnachakshu(different view).Through the spirit of service and love we keep alive the spirit of God .We eliminate hatred,jealousy,quarrels,classwars and religious persecutions,(the opposing qualities which spring from our ego,known as Kaama in Budhist and Indian traditions ,satan in semitic traditions) from society.Thus reduce the pains of society.By removing the opposing or negative qualities in oneself,we can eliminate them from society.<br />Our selfishness makes us think that we need everything best.We want every luxury.And every profession has become just a means to get them.When we don’t get what we need ,we become disturbed,angry,jealous,frustrated.When we get it,we become vain,selfglorious,proud snobs.Acquisition of wealth is not a sin if done with fair means.It improves the economy of our society.We have to curb only malpractice,not practice of profession.<br />Satisfaction in life<br />We should feel happy for what we are.We are doctors ,well educated,fortunate to have the opportunity of the noble profession of Healing art.We know that all the differences in status –castes,religions,creeds and language differences –are human constructs.Look beyond the human constructs of differences ,to see the eternal truth.The cell functions in the same way in all humans,the biological,morphological ,physiological,pathological phenomena follow the same rules in all humans.Is there difference in a squamous carcinoma cell of a Hindu ,Muslim,or Christian?All look alike under microscope.<br />A teacher has a divine wick in his/her student to be kindled .Kindle it with knowledge,enthusiasm,and goodness.The pay and the economic benefits will naturally come when you practice the profession.<br />How do you work and learn?There are four different ways depending upon individuals.<br />1.with sradha (concentration)doing work and learning profession<br />2.Practicing profession without knowledge or sradha.<br />3.without knowledge but with sradha<br />4.without sradha but with knowledge.It goes without saying that the first is the best way.A doctor having this method,having compassion to all living things,is the Mahabhishak(the great doctor)in Indian tradition,both Budhist and Hindu.<br /><br />To restore values to the society we have to keep values ourselves.We find unhealthy competition everywhere.Observe the world around and find out the fields where there is erosion of values.You will be surprised.It applies to our medical field too.But don’t get frustrated over the scenario.Don’t get entangled in the grievous practices and keep away from them .Cultivate efficiency ,gain experience and expertise and keep up the enthusiasm throughout your life.Create an atmosphere of positive values around you.Initially people will laugh at you for being impractical in a competitive moneyoriented world.But ,later on your life and ideals will be appreciated .You will get the satisfaction of having infused values into a society where you lived and learnt,by words,deeds and thoughts.Build up a new world around you ,healthy ,in every aspect,without separatisms ,or negative thoughts,with love and harmony and universal brotherhood.Health is not mere physical health,it is mental ,intellectual and spiritual health,.Be steadfast in your decision to achieve this golden state of health for all .<br />There is no shortcuts to medical ethics.Practice ethics rigourously throughout life and you wil l reach a stage when your example will spread light into the lives and minds of many.<br />Music ,the universal language of peace on earth.<br />Music is a universal language,enjoyed by all ,including birds,animals and plants.The cosmic music of the spheres and stars is in each and every one of us.Reducing stress inflicted by the worldly life of day to day existence through harmonious music is an ageold custom and practice of human race.The use of raagaa as therapy is a key to achieve the universal brotherhood,love and international harmony and peace,at the same time giving physical ,mental,intellectual,and spiritual health to all of us.<br />The efficiency of human beings is increased by soft melodious divine music which brings down frustrations,increase power of concentration and cognition and memory and thereby our performance in the worldstage.<br /><br />CONCLUSION<br /> GURUKULAM AS I ENVISAGE<br />To become an educationist and to plan for the coming generations of people a way of life and education is no easy task to be done by people who never have thought about the problems of the society and of education and its goals.For this activity one may have to learn many arts and sciences ,should have a loving mind and a sharp extraordinarily receptive intellect and a love for nature and nurture.And one should have lead a life of purity as a model for the students to emulate.But ,these things are of the past,and not practical, ,some people argue.And others think that a gurukula is the function of celibate nuns and sphincters or of swamins and sanyasins.Both hese arguments are false and dangerous to society.If parents and householders do not set examples for children ,who else can set example?If ethics is impractical,we have to question the people who say so.And decide whether they are fit to be in the posts they hold to lead children and the nation.<br />In ancient India every gurukula had a guru and a gurupathni,and both lead an exemplary life of studies and austerities and a fruitful and honest domestic life so that the students learnt the ways of a good householder along with scriptures and sciences and professional skills...A Gurukula style of education which I envisage for the 21st century teachers and students is not one run by sanyasins and celibates but by human beings living a householder’s life ,fulfilling all duties of the householder and achieving excellance in learning,and in duties at the same time free from desires for money,power and professional rivalries. .A place where the good citizens of the world and of the nation are created ,useful to society ,nation and world and above all to themselves ,to their family and to the institutions they work for.<br />Bharath is the cradle of civilizations and in this ancient land of rishis Guru is equivalent to God.Guru and shishya makes a meaningful whole in generating vidya and upholding the traditions.Before they start a learning process they chant together.<br />Sahanou yasa:sahanou Brahmavarchasam(let us aquire fame and divine energy together).In the generation of Guruparampara for creation of knowledge ,Guru is the poorvaroopa,shishya is the uthararoopa and their sandhi is vidya and their offspring is prediction (pravachana).Medicine being a predictive science the teachers and students have to chant together “let me be filled with intellect(medha)and by that nectar of intelligence let us develop dhaarana(understanding).My body and mind are healthy.My words are sweet as honey.Let all the ears hear that sweet voice of love.God is hidden in the cells of my medha .Let my knowledge be preserved for posterity and propagated by the coming generations (of shishyaas).”<br /><br />Then the Guru continues to pray alone:”Let there be more and more students in my care.Let them come even from distant places .Let them be happy ,intelligent,disciplined and thirsty of knowledge.”<br />Whenever an educational institution is trying to draw more students to it,apart from the curriculum and the syllabus,a feeling of oneness between the teachers and students and a bond of love between them is essential.The student ,after leaving the institution nostalgically remembers the people who have given them love and a feeling of security.A good educational institution should be a home away from home,and good teachers should be giving parental(motherly/fatherly)affection ,love and care and advice (councelling)and should not be policemen and women making life difficult for them.Children are always good.The only thing that they need is proper love and care,not to turn to bad things and company.They are not criminals who needs constant vigil from the teachers.<br /> We have to revive the old gurukula system of India where the guru is a father/mother figure and the student is the son/daughter and in such a situation only one can give security and a feeling of belonging to the students and by sharing their happiness and sorrows the teacher becomes part of his/her training programme and of life.<br />Only by creating such an atmosphere in the campus (and in the houses and nation and the world )we can make it a happy place to live in and study and work.The happiness(aananda)or bliss is always associated with sath,chith (truth and energy of intelligence).Happy environment is the best for intellectual and physical work.Each and every faculty member should be able to understand this and create such an atmosphere in the college campus and each and every student should be able to respond to it by their natural instinct.For this the gurukula should have good and happy teachers,intelligent and free individuals leading a dutiful and pure domestic life.(This is applicable to homes as well)<br /><br />India is a country rich in culture and its traditional ways of healthcare including ayurveda,yoga and Raagachikitsa.These are the ways of life to promote health and are preventive measures as well as curative.The villages in India at present lack proper healthcare and this is mainly due to lack of willing doctors to work in the villages,due to lack of proper watersupply ,lack of nutritious food and the environmental pollution and lack of awareness.The economically backward rural population do not get access to proper prevention ,therapy and information about diseases and healthrelated topics.The changing economic sociopolitical and civil structures and use of new drugs ,insecticides,pesticides and other chemicals also have contributed to spread of various types of diseases in rural population ,in tropical underdeveloped and developing countries.A better identification of such problems at a regional level and providing solutions to the problems for future needs is essential.<br />Let us become physically,mentally,intellectually and spiritually healthy world citizens and make a new nation and a new world of love and peace for the coming generations . .The gestalt field theory of educational psychology is defining human beings as dynamic systems within dynamic systems growing by the environment in the field in which they live,and stimulating the growth and development of the field they live in.Let us not be mere products of the environment we live in ,but also the creators of a healthy environment for the coming generations to live in and enjoy a fruitful life..Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-16726157825489157262007-06-28T02:57:00.000-07:002007-06-28T02:59:10.007-07:00Heralding winds of change.Les Miserables and Kerala societyHERALDING WINDS OF CHANGE:<br /><br />How Nalapat NarayanaMenon’s Malayalam translation of Victor Hugo’s LES MISERABLES transformed the Kerala society.<br /><br />(On 7.10.2000,Vijayadasami day was the 113th birth anniversary of Nalapat.It was the 75th year of his translation of LesMiserables .This paper written to commemorate the occasion was presented later in the Department of foreign languages ,at Cochin University).<br /><br />.<br />In history we often find perceptions of some beings translated to the aims of many.To analyse how the perceptions of Victor Hugo through his translator Nalapat ,influenced the pre-independent youth of Kerala ,we have to first analyse the Indian scenario at that time.<br /><br />The Indian Scenario.<br />For practical purposes the Indian scenario can be divided into four eras.(methodology followed by M.K.Naik in his A history of Indian English Literature.)<br />1.From vedic times to 1857 revolt<br />2.The winds of change (1857-1920)<br />3.Gandhian whirlwind(1920-1947)<br />4.Postindependent Era.<br /><br />Nalapat (1887-1954)belonged to the second and third era with the fag ends of his life spanning over to the post-independent period.During the winds of change phase ,the Indian ethos gradually underwent a seachange from the shock of defeat and frustration and the trauma of inferiority feeling to a newfound selfawareness and confidence.The confident authenticity of Vivekananda ,Aurobindo,Tagore,Tilak,Gokhale and Ranade vivified the sociopolitical scene.India’s rediscovery of identity became a vigorous and allabsorbing quest and she learnt enough from the west to progress from imitation to assimilation and creation.<br />During this period ,Nalapat established his confident but silent discourse and identity .He learnt Sanskrit ,the veda,jyothisha,occult sciences,became a member of the theosophical society (1917),translated Edwin Arnold’s light of Asia,wrote biographies of vivekananda,Dayanandasaraswathy,Vallathol and went to Almorah for renunciation,and took an active part in Indian National congress and its activities.He had translated even part of Leadbeater’s occult writings dealing with visualization of angels with kirlion photography.An ardent vedanthin and theosophist ,practitioner of truth and nonviolence throughout his life,a solace and strength to the women and children around,he combined the personality of thinker/poet/philosopher/scientist/reformer rolled in one.He had internalized the Indian Rishi and the Budha ,before he came across Christ in the form of Monsieur Francois Bienvenu Myriel, in Les Miserables And he lost no time in recognizing in Monsieur’s model Christ ,his own ideal rishi and the Budha.<br /><br />Gandhi returned to India in 1915.In 1920 the nationwide nonco-operation movement was launched.Nalapat,an ardent Gandhian ,chose to stay away from the movement because he had started to translate his magnum opus the very same year.The decision to translate Hugo’s classic (Nalapat named the translation Paavangal,which means the poor)at the most historic moment in the Freedom struggle of India shows his commitment to to the cause as well as his personality ,as E.M.S.Namboothiripad,the Marxist thinker has rightly put it.To Nalapat,like Hugo,the Republic was the mother of all citizens.And he wanted to educate the young men and women of his times on Hugo’s philosophy.To change a degenerate political and social system ,the cleaning up should start at individual level and then spread horizontally.Collective thinking of society is a late manifestation .Romanticism,relism,liberal humanism and the revolutionary ideas of Hugo were ideal tools to be used to educate a decadent society and sow the seeds of action in its youth.Nalapt used it in the most needed hour of India’s history.The preface of the translator reads thus.”The proud boundaries created by men are of no value to God.National histories may differ.But human history is always the same.”The book ,as Hugo puts it”,will be useful to any society where ignorance and misery prevail,where women sell themselves for food and shelter ,where children lack love,home and education”.<br /><br /><br />Social influences and the women’s issues<br /><br />In the neighbouring Tamilspeaking provinces E.V.Ramaswami Naicker had become a strong influence and was raising a Dravidian /feminist discourse. The selfrespect marriages conducted by him were asserting the Dravidian concern of gender equality .Gandhi stressed the need for emanicipation of women and the downtrodden.But many did not consider the women’s issues seriously.This was not the situation in kerala.The women of the lower castes were comparatively better in status than the Brahmin counterparts.There arose a series of reformations in the Brahmin society in which the Dravidian matriarchal equality rights were granted to women.The social activist instrumental in this reform was V.T.Bhattathirippad.He was influenced by Nalapat and Hugo as we see from his autobiographical writings.He wrote:I was aware of the state of women in my own community.Early widowhood resulting from marriage of little girls to old men.How can I stop it?Who am I to stop it?”Again to quote him,”I was gropping in the dark corridors of Brahmanism.Nalapat took my hands and brought me out.He taught me that the aim of my life should be destroying that corridor.From that day onwards I understood that if a Brahmin joins hands with a shoodra there wont be any catastophe.I was in front of all revolutionary events in the Brahmin community,like removal of ghosha(purdah),mishrabhojan(inter-caste dining),widow remarriage ,and intercaste marriages.But Nalapat was behind all these “.V.T.Bhattathiripad cites examples from his own experience to prove the revolutionary behaviour of Nalapat and his family,including his own mother.He also quotes profusely,references from Paavangal in his autobiography.Hugo knew that one could assess the level of civilization of a man in society by his/her actions to women ,children and the weaker sections of society.His Monsieur Beanvenu and Jean Val Jean were examples of this excellent civilized behaviour.They loved and served people irrespective of class,gender,political/religious beliefs out of compassion .Hugo and his translator wanted this to happen in their society.And in fulfilling this aim,V.T.was chosen by Nalapat ,to create a social change.<br /><br />Political influence-E.M.S.Namboothiripad<br />The social impact made by Les Miserables was direct but the political inflence was indirect.E.M.S.Namboothiripad,an active member of the yogakshemasabha (a council of namboothiri Brahmins of which V.T also was a member)and the Indian National Congress in its early days and who turned socialist/communist/Marxist ,was responsible for the political impact.Though located in his classical Marxist position ,E.M.S attempted a wholistic approach while looking at Nalapat’s personality.He observed that Nalapat ,conscious of the need of the time ,as a true social thinker revolutionized not only the Malayalam prose style prevalent at that time,but also the viewpoint of a whole generation of Malayali youth ,including himself.The revolutionary whirlwind in Hugo’s mind was transferred through the mind of Nalapt to the new generation and E.M.S. feels that Nalapat had succeeded in his endeavour ,judging from what followed in the political history of Kerala.According to E.M.S ,Paavangal hastened the revolutionary pace in Kerala and evoked intense social changes.It made young men and women active participants in the process of social change.<br />The aim of Nalapat ,as E.M.S rightly guesses,was not a movement with extreme leftist ideology and like Hugo ,he was not a proponent of a bloody revolution as that of France.Here the speech of swami Ranganaathaananda ,made in Sylhet,East Pakistan ,inMay 1949,can be recalled.Speaking on the role of religion in politics he said, “Behind the government ,the constitution,the state ,lie the society ,the matrix of all forces,the womb of constitutions,and revolutions,placid like a calm lake at one period,erupting like a volcano at another.A moving,changing,struggling mass constituted of ego-centers belonging to varying levels of intellectual ,moral,and spiritual evolution.Political revolutions and even social revolutions engineered by politico-economic forces ,such as a socialist or communist revolution of these types may upturn states and shake up societies.But only for some time.After a few years ,the impulse looses its dynamism and societies resume their even course as before with only slight modification and changes.This was the lesson of the French Revolution ,as is also the lesson now becoming slowly evident of the mighty Russian revolution.The price we pay is out of all proportion that leads us to view a violent revolution as the product of historical necessity or as a factor of social progress.The only revolution initiated by a great spiritual teacher and the ideology and movement proceeding from him,gently but steadily ,shapes human desires and emotions and judgements in terms of certain lofty and spiritual values realized and taught by the teacher.It alters the ratio of social forces through profound transformations in individual men and women and effects an all-round refinement in human morals and manners”.<br />This profound change induced by Bienvenu in Jean Val Jean and its effect on many individual lives(of Fanteen,Cosette,Fushalwang,Javert,people of M city)is the theme of Hugo.Nalapat being an advocate of nonviolence ,was never in favour of bloody revolutions ,which proudly shows up the list of their martyrs to exploit public sympathy.His path was more spiritual and in this he resembled Bienvenu.<br /><br />Literary Influence.<br />Prof. Joseph Mundassery (the first education minister of Kerala and noted literary critic)Kuttykrishna Maarar(literary critic)Novelist P.C.Kuttikrishnan have remarked how the style of Malayalam literatute was revolutionized by the translation of Paavangal.Mundassery said”It made thoughtless people think,silent people talk”.A critic ,M.R.Nair alias Sanjayan said that the elegy Teardrops written by Nalapt is a first class poem by a second class poet.Probably this is the best example of a longlasting comedy of the entire Malayalam literature.On this remark,a series of critics and academics have wasted time,quoting this wherever they could,and argueing whether Nalapat was first class or second class.But none of them seems to have realized that Sanjayan has taken that phrase to criticize Nalapat from Nalapat’s own translation of Hugo.In Les Miserables Hugo describes the battle of waterloo as the first class victory of a second class general(Lord Wellington)and Nalapt had faithfully translated it.This phrase was taken from Nalapt,to criticize Nalapat,to compare him with other poets of Kerala by a critic.This ,if we look at closely is a real tribute in disguise,to give the poet the satisfaction of a last laugh.Maarar,the eminent critic ,who never had any direct contact with the western literary methods was benefited by his contacts with Nalapat,and evolved a system of criticism in Malayalam ,based on the western style and benefited the branch of Malayalam literary criticism.The use of colloquial language styles in novels and short stories is perfected by many writers in kerala such as Uroob,M.T.Vasudevan Nair,Madhavikuuty.This style of using Malabar colloquial language was first introduced into Malayalam literature by translation of Paavangal by Nalapat .Hugo’s use of soliloquy and freeflowing narrative has come to stay in Malayalam literature after Nalapat’s translation.<br />In 1925,when the first edition of Paavangal came into print ,society was awakened.The young men and women of the time took up the challenge .At present ,in the time of separatist forces ,Les Miserables gives us an intellectual and humanistic solution to our problems.The silent discourse of Nalapat ,like the character Bienvenu in the classic he translated ,gives us new insights.The year 2000 ,marks the 75th birthday of the translation.The message of Hugo is still valid to us,the Paavangal of India and kerala,who still suffer the atrocities on the poor,downtrodden,the child and the women,and this book and its ideas come and knock at our door to awaken us from a slumber and make us elect only those who are morally perfect and humanistic to our powerpositions,in politics,in society and in all departments which deals with the nation’s economy,education and defence.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-71600286687673788442007-06-28T02:55:00.000-07:002007-06-28T02:57:00.676-07:00Mundana and Mundane .Madhavi In ChilappathikaaramMUNDANA,THE MUNDANE ,AND ILANKOADIKAL’S MADHAVI:<br />Rejection of pleasure or assertion of womanhood?<br />(This paper was presented as invited lecture at Cochin university,Department of foreign languages )<br /><br /><br />Ilankoadikal,a prince of the erstwhile Chera kingdom and the author of chilappathikaaram was a renowned poet/singer /dancer/saint/monk who lived in the second century AD.His epic tells us many aspects of early Dravidian life and culture and of women in different strata of society of that period.Of the many women characters in the epic ,Madhavi is taken up here as a case study of feminist and feminine thoughts .Understanding the place and role of women in historical past depending upon oral traditions and literary sources is wellknown in the academic circles.(1).According to tradition Madhavi is a devadasi born into a family of prostitutes and is supposed to have lured kovilan away from his chaste wife Kannagi .But ,reading the text one finds that the renowned author/saint does not think like that.In this paper ,the characterization of Madhavi by a male monk is taken up and related to the emerging feminist theory and pleasure.<br /><br />Feminist theory and pleasure-the twentyfirst century context<br />Modern university-educated women scholars are engaging with the politics of aesthetic pleasures and addressing the accusation that the feminist criticism is alienating and that it is “ruining everybody’s fun”.(2).Srividya Nataraajan ,a performing Bharathanatyam artist and a scholarly woman wellversed in in feminist theories as well as the traditional concept of rasa in arts is one among them.In a footnote to her essay ,she defines pleasure as follows:”Pleasure covers the sense of mastery or control ,wellbeing or selfaffirmation that arises from different kinds of involvement with the text and the with the social context.The kinds of involvement ranges from aesthetic one attuned to textural and aural effects in the text to a delight in the narrative alone.From a critical and evaluational engagement with the text and to a creative reworking of its creative fantasies.(Fn 2 ref 2).<br />The divergences between the stream of feminist thoughts include liberal feminism (based on faith in individualism).Psychoanalytic feminism ,interpreting culture in terms of individual psyche and collective socialization :And Marxist feminist theories:feminist theories linked to historical /cultural materialism which allow us to investigate a variety of cultural production and practices like Bharathanatyam ,classical music etc.One of the many agendas these new age women explore include their identity as Indians ,interested in theorizing indigenous cultural experiences and practices and their relation to literature.Investigating a cultural form like dance in Tamil Nadu meant taking to account controversies about caste ,religion,materialism and femininity,questions amenable to materialist feminist analysis,the question of body and body kinetics in performing arts,of tradition,pleasure and aesthetics.They are questioning the feminist argument that pleasure is at best selfindulgent and frivolous and at worst narcissistic and retrogressive and pernicious.The question of women’s pleasure in a patriarchial context is so troubled and guiltridden that females end up projecting their own doubts and censorship on the feminist theory .Pleasure affiliated to aesthetic comes under the purview of philosophy –the field of Kant,Abhinavaguptha,Bharatha,Sankara ,Ilankoadikal and other traditional thinkers /philosophers of east and west.Aesthetics is a privilege in the form of individual taste.To resist this individual self,feminists tend to regard with suspicion all the spaces that are defined by aesthetics.Collective moralism according to Cora Kaplan has developed in the socialist feminist thought which stagmatise sensibility itself.It is in this context of a new approach by twentyfirst century women like Srividya Natarajan ,we have to look at Madhavi ,the woman and the performing artist and her thought processes.<br /><br />The subaltern question.<br /><br />To consider the subaltern in the genre,one must distinguish between the figure of women as subaltern and the question of subaltern women(3).Woman as the subaltern is the universal woman in every culture and history and in literature written and interpreted by men.Whereas the subaltern women belong to the different classes ,castes ,races,occupations,nationalities,interpreted and expressed by women of these respective strata themselves .Madhavi is an interesting study material for any student of literature and social history because she is the subaltern universal woman interpreted by a man ,possibly an androgynous male,who knew the iyal,isai,and naatakam(literature,music and drama),the aesthetics of art ,and who renounced his political power,comfortable life style,domestic family life to become an ascetic himself. Hence Madhavi ,in his epic poem represents his alterego,or twin female principle with the very same quaklities,a character with Aathmaansa (part of self)of the author.Madhavi belongs to the daasi cult ,a member of the vedic daasi clan and representative of the golden age of Indian womenhood as Uma Chakrobarthy perceives it ,but she is not the captured subjugated or enslaved woman.(4).Instead she is a learned ,welleducated sensible free individual with a voice of her own and who chose to lead a life of chastity with a single man and the freedom to renounce pleasures and devote her life entirely to the service of God.She was the daughter of a fisherman.It is surprising that this low birth did not prevent her from rising to the highest post of Talakkol and to special rights like the palanquin ,specific functions in the royal court and in the temple.The low birth of her does not prevent the poet himself,a kshathriya upper caste man and an ascetic,to call her Malaipparum chirappin vaanavar magal(daughter of the divine ones,whose greatness is eternal ).The katalooragaathai(the song on the beach)gives the evidence of her fisherman birth.Kovalan tells her that her ancestors entering waves with the curve of their boats killed fish and likewise she enters his soul and kills him with her eyes.She belongs to the Parathavar race of the sangam age,the race also called the Thirai veedar (people who have made the waves their home)and also the descendants of Bharatha,the rishi concerned with the origin of Natyasaasthra,.In either way she is an example of the common woman of India,the subaltern woman.According to Natyasaasthra,(5)when Vishnu danced four vrithys (Bharathy,sathwiki,kaisiki,and Arabhaty)originated from him.Kaisiki is related to long hair of Vishnu and is the feminine laasya.It was born out of saamaveda(music )which is equivalent to Vishnu himself.When the poet says that Madhavi is the daughter of the Gods and is the descendant of the Bharatha race and of Urvasi,he is saying that she is a devadasi of the vaishnavite tradition.We find that her associates who erect a tent for her at the seashore are parathavar(fisherfolk)and aracher(kings),singers and dancers.<br /><br />EDUCATION FOR THE SUBALTERN-JOBORIENTED.<br /><br />What type of education did the subaltern get in those days?How did this help her to earn a respectable position and livelihood?Learning and earning from knowledge thus obtained ,being the most important tools of empowering the subaltern this aspect becomes important.It is the knowledge and position in society which gives the subaltern the courage to speak up their thoughts and to express their indignation at what is going on in the society.At the age of five Madhavi starts her education and by twelve she has learnt and is ready to display her talents in front of the August assembly of scholars .She had mastered mathematics(ganitha)writing skills,the five of language(akshara or letter ,vaak or word,artha or meaning,vritha or rhythm,and alamkaara or ornamental language )and the four of music (sruthy or pitch ,swara or notes,raga or melody,and thaala or rhythm).Literature ,music ,drama ,dance and mathematics were the branches of knowledge in which she was well versed.With this she became a Vaarasthree(a woman for temple service)leading a life of vow or vratha in temple doing service to the God.The devadaasi/daasa had a division of labour between them.<br />1.Thondu (service)which include charya and kriya.Servile tasks like digging the temple tank or well ,collecting the flowers for pooja,lighting the lamps etc are the charya.The performance of actual pooja within the sanctum sanctorum is kriya.<br />2.Yoga and naana.Yoga is meditation on God.Naana is knowledge of veda and its commentaries ,the Upanishads and other scriptures.<br />3.Thevaarappaattu.The othuvar(singers)sing songs called thevaaram in which the origin of the place of worship,origin of the deity worshipped,his/her greatness,are given in detail.(6)<br />4.singing and dancing in temples during festivals and other auspicious moments ,fanning the deity etc.<br />These were the traditional jobs performed by the ancestors of Madhavi.This does not mean that the job was one done by low caste people.On the contrary ,it was a privilege enjoyed by aristocratic females.Till the time of Raajaraajachola (8th century)we find that even highborn,wealthy women adopted such a life,not because they were in need of money or power but because they felt an urge to serve God in the true sense of the word.Rajarajacholan’s daughter herself was a thevardiyaal(servant of the God),history tells us.<br /><br />The teachers of Madhavi were renowned scholars.The dance teacher knew both the aka and pura(the margi,desi)traditions and their modifications ,their lakshana,porul or tatwa of the 4 purushaartha,different styles from alliyam to kodukotty,kuravai,vary,abhinaya,mudra and all other subtle aspects of Bharathakala.Kuravai is a group performance.Vary is a solo in which the performer depicts the culture ,the geographic and national prestige of the art form and his/her own efficiency and involvement in it so that the people enjoy the aesthetic in it.Her Guru in music was an adept in veena,mridanga,flute,vocal,margi and desi ,a vaaggeyakaara in his own right,with composing skills ,who knew different languages of the continent ,a composer in various languages without any error,and besides he was enthusiastic and of good character .The kavi who taught literature toMadhavi was a panditha ,well known in the land between Imayam(Himalaya)and Kumary(Cape Comorin)who had crossed the ocean of Muthamil(literature,music and drama)a nannool pulavan(scholar in scriptures).Besides she had a flutist ,mridangist,and a vidwan in veena ,each one efficient in their own respective fields as her accompaniments.<br /><br />When Kovalan takes the garland given to Madhavi by the emperor of Chola kingdom as a symbol(award)of recognition to her mastery over the arts,Madhavi was only twelve year old.She was as innocent as a new flower.She was waiting for her friend to give him her kalavi and pulavi.These two terms have two different meanings.Gross meaning is the paribhava(false quarrel)and anunaya(appeasing )of a loving couple. But kalavi or kalvi also means vidya or education.Pulavi is poetry of the highest order belonging to learned pandits and aesthetics.With the new arts and knowledge aquired ,and newly recognized the small girl was waiting to show off her talents ,rather than to lure a man.She didn’t even know that the man is a married one.She was educating Kovalan in her arts but being too feminine and of a tender age she fell in love with him and had to bear the consequences of that relationship.<br />The poet tells us that when Madhavi took the veena in the early morning hours at the seashore,there was a clear sign of her liberation from kaama and entry into an ascetic life.The rising sun was saffron with a white halo of rays ,and looked like a bee which after spending a whole night within the flower enjoying to its heart’s content comes out ,with no more desire ,besmeared with the saffron honey and pollens.<br />Kalavi and Pulavi inMadhavi’s songs<br /><br />Kovalan is just another lovelorn ,passionate ,jealous,possessive male and resents her performance in front of others in the court and temple.Therefore when Madhavi gives him the veena and asks him to sing ,he praises Kaveri as the symbol of chastity.Her husband the chola king embraces river Ganga and Kumari.Yet she is tolerant and loves him as before.In his subconscious mind he equates his own chaste wife kannagi to kaaveri and king chola who embraces other rivers(as his empire extends upto them)as kovalan who embrace Madhavi.Madhavi is a madhyamavargaganika,as explained in Koutilya’s arthasaasthra(7)and she knows how to read other people’s thoughts(parachithagnaanam or psychology)and she gives a tit for tat.She sang:<br />Iam a poor woman ,<br />The oath in front of Varuna was a lie.<br />How am I to know it!!<br />No wonder .Isnt our country<br />Surrounded by beetles<br />On either banks…..<br />…..<br />Kaveri,hail!<br />The mother of chola country,<br />The nourisher of earth,<br />Your eternal flow is the blessing of sun<br />The ruler of all oceans,<br />And the saviour of all souls<br />I know that secret.<br /><br />The aesthetics and spiritual undertones of the comparison in this is unmistakable .And it is far superior to the similie of kovalan.The ethics of eternal dharma of the universe is unknown to kovalan whose individual sensibility is at a much lower level than Madhavi.He misunderstands the words and construes that she is in love with the king.Madhavi continues:<br /><br />In the lovely face<br />Shining as moon<br />And red lips soft as flowers<br />Are the rays of joy<br />The pearls of smile.<br />Yet,why Arya,<br />You come here daily<br />With your pearls?<br />Can your pearls match<br />Priceless pearls of my smile?<br />Pearls are given by the ocean.<br />My country is the one<br />Where men bargain with peral<br />Beautiful women…..<br /><br />If women in parathavar homes<br /><br />Living in vedic style<br />Have loose bangles and thin body(due to viraha)<br />What can a weak woman like me do<br />To prevent it?<br />If the swan mistook punna flower<br />For a star<br />And made punna tree its abode<br />The swan is ignorant<br />What can I do for that?<br /><br />My country is the one<br />Where bees wander in everyopen blossom<br />Singing passionate songs.<br />I didn’t know that.<br />The art of winning over a bee<br />With cups of honey<br />Is painful,and uncurable.<br />I am only a poor innocent woman<br />My city is Pukaar<br />Where sandcastles are broken by waves<br />And women with tears<br />Try to fill oceans with sand.<br />Women build sandcastles on seashore.When it is broken in a wave cry and try to fill the passion waves of their men with broken sandcastles.But Madhavi is different.She has an eternal lover,the ocean god –varuna,the saviour who saves her from the criticisms of society.She is his devotee.He is called the thiraineerin cherpan(God of ocean ,)who is represented a ssun.The passionwave of kovala following her has erased the chariotmarks of her Lord,engraved in her mind.Pretending love,erasing the divine mark of God,harming her,yet hurting her saying that she is the cause of his passion,Yet she does not want to hurt him or to take revenge upon him.Because she is an aristocratic woman.<br />The ocean(paramaatma)being her real lover ,and the jeeva(wave)with the fishy smell of passion ,desirous of cleaning themselves of it ,kisses the fragrant flowers on the shores ,take away their fragrance,and goes back.The ocean,the ruler of numberless souls(waves)persists forever,eternal.Madhavi recognizes two types of waves.The smiling small ones which never gets into the nets ,dancing in the faroff horizons and the fishy smelling ones which come near just to dirty the shores and the innocent flowers .The latter type pretends themselves to be clean and fragrant and blame the flower.She tells Kovalan that you belong to that category of men and I am in love with God (divine men)who are of the deep ocean wave type which is ever pure and devoid of passions.<br />Though she criticizes kovalan thus,the male behaviour and the society as a modern feminist does,Madhavi is feminine to the core and loves kovalan and wants to be with him always ,sharing life and caring for him.She is a complete woman with her femininity telling her that her music ,dance and knowledge and education have attracted Kovalan but the very same when it touched a false note (while she was singing Thodi)had roused his ego and repelled him from her.Her own aesthetics and dharma had been the ultimate cause of their separation.Therefore she compares herself to twilight traveling in a boat of sorrow ,traversing an ocean of fire.That ocean of fire is her lord and hence she speaks sweet words of love and pleasure .This is the aesthetic feminine side of her character.When kovalan leaves Madhavi forever the poet does not approve of his act.He along with the seasons ask him to lok at the beloved’s face for once and shed his ego and return to her.He comments that when Madhavi was looking for a bright future for kovalan ,he went out hastily to before that morning’s arrival,to Kannagi,who was waiting for his death through a dreadful predictive dream of hers.Madhavi though the system allowed to take another husband of her choice,remains an ascetic,shaves her head,enters an ascetic order ,asks her mother not to teach dance and music to her daughter Manimekhalai.Because of this ,Manimekhalai ,became an ascetic and a scholar too.<br /><br />Marginalisation of women,popular culture.<br />Why did Madhavi and Manimekhalai embrace asceticism?Did it allow them a freedom of movement in society?We wil l comparte an almost similar situation and process in the 19th century Bengal(8).The census of India (Bengal 1872)tells us that the followers of Vaishnavism open their arms to thoise who are rejected by all others-the outcastes,crippled and diseased,and the unfortunate.Contemporary records abound with references to women in villages ,widows,married and unmarried women deserting their homes to join vaishnavites Akhara or monasteries . Here religious norms allowed them a freedom of movement ,an access to all corners of society both high and low and a certain liberty in their relation to men –privileges which were out of reach for rich and middle class Bengali women of the time.The vaishnavites went about singing and dancing.Some who were learned taught in the antharmahal of the bhadralok.there were a few wellknown poets among them.These Neri poets were pictured by rival male poets as vagrant low caste women.Neri literally means shavenheaded vaishnavites.In the 15th century ,vaishnavite chandidas had a female disciple ,a washerwoman Rammoni or Rami.She had tosuffer a lot of false accusations because of her attachment to Chandidas.In the early years of the 19th century Jogeswary ,the woman poet had written songs belonging to the Biraha type ,expressing Radha ‘s woes at her separation from Krishna.The songs express the woman’s dismay at her lover’s infidelity,as that of Madhavi.Sumantha Banerjee tells us how these baishnavites were marginalized by the menfolk of the bhadralok by an intense campaign against women artistes and performers.(8).Jogeswary’s male contender Bhola Maira insulted her during a public poetic duel,calling her a shameless woman who had lost all her proportions.We can see that in the duel between kovala and Madhavi also the same thing occurred,kovalan calling her unchaste ,a killer of men,kodumkaali,yamadharma etc etc.It was to prevent this type of purposeful hurts by society that Madhavi gave up her aesthetic performing arts and her knowledge .But we may ask,was she right in abandoning her rightful pleasures derived from aesthetic tastes just to escape from the lures of a substandard society?The attitude of the material feminists who abandon every aesthetic pleasure vs the modern scholarly performing artists of the present century ,who though feminists in their ideas ,take up aesthetics as their rightful and natural sensibility and pleasure can be studied in this light(10)<br /><br />Mundanam and the mundane<br /><br />Mundanam or shaving the head by ascetic women and widows is a theme which draws attention because ,many university educated young feminists are now shaving their heads to shock the males.Madhavi and Manimekhalai had done this in sangam age.The poet says that men were shocked to hear the news of the beautiful Madhavi shaving her hair.Madhavi and kovalan were both worshippers of the God/Goddess of ocean.It was acult among them to shave the hair as a sign of abandoning everything mundane.In Mundaka Upanishad we find a similar notion.The pheonicians ,the historic seafarers of yore had a cult of Goddess Astarte (Manimehaladevi of the vaisya in sangham age)where the same custom prevailed.Whether sensuality is attached to one ‘s hair is questionable from the medical point of view.Yet true to the belief that kaisiki is the lasya and music,from the hair of Vishnu,many puritanistic ascetic orders and religions attach much importance to hair and performing arts and for them abandoning the hair and covering the hair ,either always or during the visits to temples,churches,mosques is indicative of abandonment of mundane passions and acceptance of divine will.<br />Madhavi represents the feminist and the feminine,aesthetic and the pleasure of aesthetic exerience ,but also the divine will,renunciation and spiritual being .Being a female counterpart of the author of chilappathikaaram,who was called aattukottupaatu cheralaathan (an adept in dance,rhythm and music)and a supreme Sacrificer of mundane pleasures,the study of Madhavi offers an excellent means of entering into the consciousness of the poet/saint Ilanko adikal.<br /><br />Bibliography.<br />1.Introduction 8&9.women in colonial India ED .J.Krishnamoorthy.Oxford India paperbacks.(19990<br />2.Ruining everybody’s fun.Feminist theory and pleasure .Srividya Natarajan &Rekha Pappu .238-255.Subject to change ed Susie Tharu.Orient longman 1998.<br />3.Small speeches ,subaltern gender :Nationalist ideology and its historiography.Kamala visweswaran.page 87.Subaltern studies 9.writing on south Asian history and society .ed.Shahid Amin an dDipesh chakrabarthy .oxford uty press 1997.<br /><br />4.whatever happened to the vedic daasi?Uma chakrabarthy.pg 27-79.Recasting woman .Essays in colonial history.Ed kumkum sangary &sudesh vaid .Kali for women .reprint 1997.<br />5.Natyasaasthram of bharathamuni .commentary by K.P.Narayanapisharody.keralasahityaacademy.<br />6.Hymns to shiva.Indira parthasarathy paterson<br />7.Koutilya’s arthasaasthra .keralasahityaacademy<br />8.Marginalisation of women ‘s popular culture in 19th century Bengal pge 134-137.Recasting women .essays in colonial history ed kumkum sangari and sudesh vaid .kali for women 1997<br />9.chilappathikaaram.Ilankoadikal.commentary by Nenmara viswanaathan nair.Keralasahitya academy<br />10.Another stage in the nation’s life.Sadir,bharathanatyam,feminist theory,unpublished thesis .srividya natarajan.central university .Hyderabad.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-67351419768578219692007-06-28T02:53:00.000-07:002007-06-28T02:54:58.332-07:00portrayal of women in literaturePORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN THE LITERATURE OF WESTERN REGIONAL INDIAN LANGUAGES-<br />Dr suvarna nalapat<br /><a href="http://www.nalapat.com/">www.nalapat.com</a><br /><br />INTRODUCTION:<br />One of my colleagues once asked:”Suvarna,How old are you? I said,may be 6000 years or may be older.When I think and involve in the intellectual pursuits of research into the human history,I am ageless,timeless.When I give a lecture or a speech , I am 60 years (chronological age)and when I play with infants and children I am their age,and when I enjoy music I am seventeen”.In short , I do “live in the present”.Because of this ,my language with different people appears different.But yet I am a total ,complete human being with my own visions,experiences,missions in life and cognitive ,emotive functions wellbalanced.If I talk as a pathologist/astronomer/philosopher to this gathering or to my grandchild my language becomes unintelligible to the audience.This makes a gap or a distancing due to lack of communications<br /><br />.Who is the woman in literature?The Poet/novelist/shortstorywriter/activist turned autobiographist/prose writer/social critic/university research scholars who produce a high quantity of serious writing ??And which are the western regional languages of India?Should not we include kannada and Tamil and Punjabi ,Malayalam and Hindi as well since these are also spoken in the western coastal belt and the konkan coast?And finally have I got any contact with the literature of the last two decades in Gujrati,konkani,marathi and sindhi,the four languages selected for the seminar?When I asked these questions to myself,I had a surprising answer.Among all these insufficiencies there is a thread of unity ,flowing from the rich traditions of India,of which I am a part and parcel and it is with this feeling that I stand before you to deliver the presidential address..<br /><br /><br />:”A culture’s selfawareness in terms of its law,medicine and grammer is an important precondition for awareness of its aesthetics.The knowledge of medicine ,a system of management of pain ,of anaesthetics,of births and deaths ,is interrelated to poetry ,a system of management of pleasure ,of aesthetics and of creation”(1)Thus wrote G.N.Devy in AFTER AMNESIA.<br />As a medical professional and an advocate of music as the panacea for all human ailments and for holistic development of an integrated personality,in an aesthetically anaesthetic medium of alleviation of pain and suffering of humanity, I can vouchsafe that life becomes beautiful and artistic with literature and music ,but communicating this new idea to the already prejudiced society was not that easy or artistic..In 1991 when yamuna,a student of mine , and me planned the calicut medical college magazine,we had planned it with a humanistic and a womanoriented approach,( we elected universal ideas,valuebased education,management of medicine and of human life,the Gandhian ideals ,women in Malayalam literature and in science subjects especially in medicine)and the magazine began with the quote from Koran,”I was as a germ concealed,Me Thy burning ray revealed”,and ended with the famous nationalistic quote of Tagore,praying for awakening of our country into the heaven of freedom (2).Every human being has a dream.When we think of our dreams,and communicate them to the outside world,the dreams come true .To think and communicate is to create.The modern Indian women are thinking,creating,and are actively participating in every field where their male counterparts are active ,yet they remain the marginalized.How does this happen ?The reason probably is that we are separated by our concepts of different classes,races,languages,cults and religions etc.Of these ,the language is one of the barriers that keeps the Indians apart..As Herodotus(3) said,the determinant of Greek identity is the Greek language,and he calls the foreigners barbaroi(the babble of foreign speech)The Arab dictionary also speaks of the nonarab speaking foreigners ae-je-ma(barbarian).The polish people laugh at chechs saying that they speak polish as spoken by a 5 year old boy or as if there is a potato in the mouth.Multilingualism of Mithradates and Cleopatra(they knew 25 languages)is awed,respected and at the same time feared by the foreign invaders like Romans.India being a land of many languages ,a trilingual pattern with the regional language,Hindi and English as the communication languages and Sanskrith and Tamil as the oldest languages for study of culture and heritage would be of use for meaningful communication . Women’s world ,a global free speech network of women writers formed in 1994,has a 10 language research project with Asmita the purpose of which is to identify how genderfaced censorship in a range of social and cultural mechanism that invalidate women’s experience and exclude them from political discourse ,is far more pervasive and far more difficult to control than official suppression.The silencing of women ,the use of systematic force to ensure silence ,is probably for maintaining patriarchal power ,according to the five women who lead the research(4)<br />Krishna /devi cults (sociopolitical/spiritual implications)<br />Uma chakravarthy (Ref :5 pge 45)has conflicting opinions when she says that the real fall of Indian women came with the growth of the Krishna cult and yet narrates the contributions of saraladebi in Bengal and of Pandita Ramabhai of Maharashtra ,to the contemporary society(the former called Kaali since she was a challenge to males and the latter saraswathy because of her scholarship ),both were highly religious and spiritually inclined.The bhakthy traditions bring out the inner woman in Vaishnav traditions as we will illustrate with Mirabai and Bahinabai.The 5 types of yogins (Prathamakalpika,madhubhoomika,pragnajyothy,athikranthabhavaneeya and chithavimukthy)and the different stages of right cognition (yathamaana,vyathiraka,ekendriya,vaseekara,aparavairagya and paravairagya)are comparable according to yoga philosophy(6 .chap 4. )and Meera practicing layayoga through musical/lyrical creativity and naadalayayoga in onepointed ekagratha of dhyaana was an advaithin,a yogin par excellance.Therefore,the status of Meera did not fall,but arose with Krishna cult.This is true of many a woman in India practicing vaishnav raagaanuga bakthy.<br />The Amma or Matha cult is very popular in India.Even during the nationalist times there are several instances of the divine hand intervening in the nationalist projects.The Devi movement in 1922 in Gujrat and the ADIVASI upsurge following it is one example.The adivasis listened to the devi(salahbai),even went into a trance,and followed each of the devi’s commands.The main commands were abstain from meat and alcohol,take bath daily,clean with water after defecating,release goats and chicken kept for sacrificial killing,boycott liquor dealers and landlords.The devi asked them to take the vows in Gandhi’s name ,to wear khadi cloths and to attend schools.The collector of Surat district A.M.Macmillan noted that the impact of the Devi continued and because they stopped the alcoholism there was marked improvement in their economical status and the epidemic was controlled..He could close 13 liquor shops in Mandvi Taluka and one in Bardoli and one in Valod Mahal.The Devi movement in South Gujrat had many features in common with the other parts of India during late 19th and 20th century.If we take up the social,economic,and political background of such movements the meaning and significance of the reform programme and the educational importance of it In 1922 the Mangala koli fisherfolk had a smallpox epidemic and women of the tribe used to get possessed by the Goddess with healing properties.These women possessed of the devi were called salah(advice)bhai(women of God).Knowing this,the political worker,the lady who was a Gandhian freedom worker ,and nationalist either acted as a medium who raised the collective grievances of an ethnic community ,enriching the consciousness of the individual and the group as Richard Lannoy remarked and it was not a mere chaotic hysteria.(7).Or it may be that she didn’t act but the ethnic custom of the adivasis naturally took her to be a salahbai.Almost similar feelings of the people are being used by religious sects and business oriented people at present (even in Kerala),and the value of it has to be judged very carefully ,weighing the pros and cons of such movements ,the sociopolitical and economic implications and the intellectual background etc.Are these movements expressions of group solidarity and social cohesion and have acted as unifying forces for groups under conditions of social disorganization?Are they representing a serious attempt to establish a new moral order where the old one is destroyed or is unsatisfactory?Have they acted as mediators between the greater and little traditions of India as catalysts? Are they advocating unity and advaitha of people through love and mutual understanding through a peaceful,universal language or inculcating separatism and dwaitha and making enmity between people,quarrels and wars? Are they functioning for monetary purposes or for spiritual and sociopolitical and intellectual awakening of the people?<br />Is it a resistive revitalization where synthesis of dominant and subordinate cultures is poorly worked out,there are serious barriers against integration,and movement develop into a state of violent resistance?or is it an emulative revitalization where the synthesis is better worked out,barriers to integraton are weak,or nonexistent,and the movements are peaceful?Devi movement of Gujrat in 1922 was of the emulative type. Any Godman/Godwoman cult of India/or the world has to be studied in this way,by the intelle tuals and sociopolitical activists.A serious and analytical study of such movements in this light,is good so that both the movement(if the movement is good and worthy and emulative )and the society will gain in the end.,by such impersonal ,intellectual studies.Creativity is not restricted to literature alone,but to life,society,building of a great nation,preservation of worldpeace and culture etc.As a woman concerned with such thoughts ,I stand before you and speak.<br />Role of Academi in creativity and communication<br />K.R.Srinivasa iyengar wrote:It is not academis nor trusts nor charters that can ensure the creation of great literature.An authentic work of literature is a man speaking to other men.It is an exchange of pulses ,an unfreezing of our petrified selves so that soul may commune with soul and diverse minds can flow together.The quality of literature must thus ultimately depend on the quality of the individual writer.The more men have the courage to be lonely in their minds ,the more writers cultivate the strength to withstand the pressures of politics,patronage and propaganda or the lure of novelty and the gymnastics of mere techniques ,the more are they likely to succeed in transmuting their ambroisial visions into abiding art.”(8)I believe that when a writer creates a work(which is a great thought )the academis should be able to understand the merit of the work and to communicate it to other national languages so that national and international integration should happen.Translation into English/other regional languages will promote such communication and academi can thus recreate the great work for communication .Communication is a means of promotion of tolerance .Tolerance comes as a natural byproduct of communication.Tolerant citizens with unrestricted flow of thoughts are the foundations of a stable ,adaptable,robust and interesting society according to Malini .S.Bhattacharya.(9)I would add “to a mentally,intellectually and spiritually healthy society”<br />The works of saratchandrachatterjjee,Bankim chandra ,V.s Khandekar and of Ashapoornadevi are well known to the readers of Malayalam through translations.I must especially speak of the three novels of Ashapoornadevi(prathamaprathisruthy,suvarnalatha and the story of Bakul)which represents the precolonial,colonial and postcolonial status and aspirations of women in India.<br />Gujrati is spoken in Gujrat,sourashtra and Kutch.Derived from Sanskrit,it has intermediary stages of souraseni prakrith and apabramsa.Kutch or Bhrigukutch of ancient Bharath is connected to the bhriguvansa to which Parasurama belongs and Viswamithra related..And it is the land of Krishna,(the archetypal personality embedded in the human psyche,) where he built the Dwarakapuri.If we use the research method of Bharatha ,with the triad of sruthy-thanthrayukthy,and anubhoothy and replace the constrictive Hegelian dialectics thesis –antithesis –and use the protovedic bharatheeya continuity theory ,(10)we will find that the Chera kings belonging to the Karthaveerya dynasty are the 49th generation from the dwaraka kings (as in the Pathittupathu). The 15th century Bhakthi poet Mirabai ,singing the krishnageethis and padams thus is a part of us too.Why was Meera delineated from her husband’s household while they themselves were Krishna devotees and were well into the Krishna tradition which is thousands of years old in India?It was her inlaws who first compiled ashtapadi as Rasikapriya which means they didn’t have any objection to Krishna and his devotion which is in the Indian archetypal psyche. But The sociopolitical reasons were many.The attitude of Meera ,questioning the traditional widow customs and refusing to act as a widow,the acceptance of Raidas,the leather worker,an untouchable as her Guru,and the relation with the Mughal emperor and his court singer Tansen,are all sociopolitical reasons which we can clearly understand.The fact that she refused to call srivallabha acharya as her Guru and as an avathar of Vishnu was the reason for the Vallabha sect to denounce her as a vaishnavi,three times in a row..That was religious patriarchy.And the fact that she told the Goswamins that there is only one purush ,and that is Krishna ,also was intolerable to the other men(though goswamy could understand her)and all these factors have made Meera powerful,and popular and a legend,and that is why the observation of Uma chakravarthy ,that women of India had downfall with Krishna cult is not acceptable.Moreover Meera refused to behave as a young Rajput widow is supposed to behave,claiming that her husband is not Bhoja but the everpresent evergreen hero,Krishna.The revolt of Meera was sweet and nonaggressive,emulative like the Devi movement of Gujrat during the Gandhi era,and hence peaceful and good for the society.There are still Meerabais inIndia(,10 ,11)and their life and work is studied and appreciated by the foreign writers like steven Rosen and selina Theilman.(western scholars).Indian Academies can do their share to do research on such women who are different from the mainstream political activists of feminist movement and have a discourse of their own.and their effect on the society in which they live and communicate.<br />Kavisammelans and Mushairas are fairly popular in Gujrati literature.The poems are written in the style of urdu ghazhals and recited at mushairas.Ghazhal means talking to the beloved.The theme is love,either spiritual or erotic.The rekthy or raagabhaava to titillate the males in the kothas,was a later development .Mushaira being an integral part of the ghazal universe is an interactive space where orality and texuality are interspersed with musicality.The padams of Meerabhai have a feminine idiom of spiritual love while the Umrao Jan by Mirza Ruswa (first published in 1905)is that of the Tawaif of the Lucknow courtesan’s erotic love .Amina Yaquin (the beloved re-presented.16th European conference on modern south Asian studies dept of sociology.Edinburg uty.)observes that 90 years later women poets continue to be haunted by the success of Umrao Jan brought closer to public memory by Bollywood’s cinematic adaptation.The visibility of women writers exploded with the progressive writer’s movement and prose queens rose to the top she observes.(13).The aesthetics versus political feminism ,art vs science/logic is finding it difficult to come to terms with such conflicts .<br />In the same conference Lalita du perron’s paper on Thumri observes the equal devotional and erotic component in the Thumri Thumri also is a courtesan’s music .It uses the Braj bhasha,the dialect spoken by Krishna and the gopis in the vrajbhoomi,and hence has the ubiquitous presence of Krishna ,the lover,employment of themes and imagery are familiar from early Bhakthy poetry and the devotional element persists and survives to the modern age.In it I can find a combination of chaayavada and pragathivaada in equal doses.(Indian romanticism with aesthetics and Indian progressive thought with concern for the socially oppressed.Chayavada is a cross between early romanticism and vedanthic synthesis.Pragahyvaada between late romanticism and Marxian dialectics)<br />The whore-virgin stereotypes as Lucy Rosenstein speaks of the conflict between the erotic/devotional emotions ,questions even the idealized form of the naayikaabhava (shringar)tradition,because hard core feminists cant accept that .The romanticized view of woman in a man’s home and heart in the poetic canon does not appeal to the hardcore political activist.Yet,the shringar has the most aesthetic quality and one who is wellversed in aesthetics would definitely apprecite the value of it in literature and music.Ghazhal and romantic music is a very private emotion in a universalized style and all devotional literature and music is divine in this universalized sense.They cam e from the countryside folk traditions(subaltern)and became urbanized during the Mughal period ,found a place in the Guru hymns of the Sikhs and sufi colonial postcolonial poetry in Punjab and is very popular during the modern period of globalisation.The association of the bhakthy musical/lyrical traditions with subnational ethnicity,nationalism ,and global awakening gives it a special place in literature in modern times. The socalled”Literature of knowledge” in Gujarati,is very valuable.The gujrat vidyasabha,Maharaja sayajirao uty ,chunilal Gandhi research institute,bharatiyavidyabhavan ,Forbes gujrati sabha have brought out authoritative texts of old manuscripts. The new modern humanistic movements of search of personality found in the journal Pratika(allahabad 1946)and the parimala group of writers brought out the prayogavaada or experimentalism. (14)And in the modern times university educated scholarly women are definitely experimenting with life and society and finding out answers to their individual and collective problems and to the problems of society and the world.<br /><br />The marathi literature is rich in the saint poet traditions.Gnaneswar,Namdeo,eknath,Tukaram,Ramdas,Muktheswa r came in a row enriching the tradition.The common man sought the heroic ballads and the erotic lavani (like the puram and akam in Tamil)17TH century vaishnavite Bahinabhai lead an ordinary life of a housewife,involved with her household duties,and Mary Gee(15) calls it the ordinary life of an exceptional woman ,or the exceptional life of an ordinary woman,both terms appear to be apt for many of us.As far as I am concerned,a simple ordinary life and the exceptional intellectual,mental(cognitive,emotional)pursuits and the spiritual awakening makes us valuable citizens of the world.Only such people can save the world from disaster,in the present condition.Bahinabhai did not discard her clothes like the Virsaiva saint Akka Mahadevi.She did not merge with God as Aandaal (Tamil )or Meera(Gujarat)She did not announce that Giridhar is her true husband unlike Meerabhai.Not renouncing marriage or motherhood,not discarding the duties (karma)of the ordinary life,she composed autobiographical/devotional hymns revealing her anguish and uncertainty regarding her duties as a wife,and her devotion to her Guru and to God.The abhangaas in her early period of life are showing this dilemma very clearly.Thus Mary finds out that the most honoured woman saint of Maharashtra was a victim of domestic violence in her early life.How she dealt with such conflicts and how her spirituality and theological imagination allowed her to survive ,Mary looks into the religious ,sociopolitical context of Bahinabai’s life.Her dream vision of Tukaram at the age of eleven and the recognition of her as a saint by Jayaram goswami and the insults she had to suffer for it from her husband etc are described in the Book vaishnavi,edited by Steven Rosen(11).Sudra saint Tukharam as sadguru,vitthal as God,her compositions have strong advaithic streaks For her ,sadguru and God is one and vitthal as Hari is her brother,sahodara.While her husband had a very structured patriarchal upbringing,she was influenced both from the teachings of Marathy bhakthy literature and the teachings of advaitha and this lead to the different responses to the domestic crisis in their life.<br />I think ,the life of Bahinabhai teaches us that worldly life and spiritual life can go together ,without conflict.Indifference to worldly life does not mean withdrawal from it,but a honest ,good,exemplary living within the world.Drawing strength from one’s spiritual knowledge is different from escaping into religion ,which implies weakness.Woman is sakthi,and she need not become weak and immerse in religion,but can draw her strength from cognitive,emotive functions dormant in her spiritiual life ,and that was done by Gargi,Maithreyi and ubhayabharathy.But where are these great women’s works ?Did they ever produce any great work?or even if they produced ,did those oral traditions not preserved,or got suppressed due to the fact that they didn’t have any good disciples/or because they were women?We don’t have answers. And my work on Prasthaanathraya is the view of a woman,a working woman,leading a very ordinary domestic life and a with a highly aesthetic flavour for a richly musical premabhakthy traditions of India ,and gurubhakthy,vishnubhakthy and upanishada combined (given in my spiritual autobiography-patheya). The sufi literature of Punjab is rich in jelal(power or sakthy),jemal(beauty or soundarya)and kemal (wisdom or shivam)The village life,the rustic language of love and wisdom flowing from the sufi is rich in sidhabhasha or sandhyabhasha of the sidhayogins of the vraj and is comparable to the premabhakthy of Indian musical traditions.<br /><br />•The silent strong asserive and accomodative aesthetic musical language of Meerabai and Bahinabhai,of andaal and of the other vaishnavi women has to be viewed in this new light,applicable to the 21st century women who have developed both cognitive and emotive functions equally,and who have a university education and means of livelihood of their own and a freedom to choose what she wants.,and what she can contribute to the society and to the world.Education need not always be equated with culture since all educated people are not cultured..Modern Woman is not a traditional passive sufferer who needs sympathy,but a cognitive,emotive human being,who can give love and compassion and wisdom and knowledge and save the society and the world from disaster..<br />•According to Bertrand Russel three passions that make human life meaningful are, overwhelmingly strong longing for everlasting love,search for absolute wisdom,compassion for the suffering world”-(premabhakthy,gnaana and karuna)All these are combined in Indian cultural heritage,and the scientific /intellectual acumen of a Gargi,the Nonattachment and thirst for knowledge of a Maithreyi and Manimekhala,the virakthy and love for Guru and God of the different saints,are all to be viewed by the academics of the modern universities in a different light,instead of repeating the same old pallavi that it is brahmanical and conservative.The fact is ,it is not at all brahmanical or conservative,but very practical and for the common man,and for everyone who wants to live a fruitful happy life in society.,serving their fellow beings.<br /><br /><br />.<br />In later Marathi literature Even the puritans/nationalists leaned on the romantic for gratification and allegory.Ravikiran mandal .a group of poets allowed love to bloom into a domestic virtue Ramabhai Ranade’s autobiography provides a portrait of her husband M.G Ranade Mrs Malathy Bedekar (intimate truths of the woes of the awakened woman)Mrs Geeta Sane ,ms mukthabai dixit,kamalabai tilak (stories of middleclass homes)kusumavathi deshpande (poetic and critically balanced sketches)are other women who came out with autobiographies.<br />Konkani literature<br />Konkana,the name of Renuka ,wife of jmadagni and mother of parasurama is given to the konkan coast and to the language spoken by a few and the written traditions of konkani is still very young though the oral tradition is as old as the western coast and the Bhaarath itself.<br />Renuka was a princess married to a very angry ,saintly husband and had a suppressed emotional life because of which she was attracted to the erotic emotive plays of the royal yaadava prince kaarthaveerya and for which she was killed by her husband and a dutiful son.Though she was given a second life,and given the status of the mother of the entire Bhrigu/naaga dynasty ,the fact remains that she was a victim of domestic assault .The story is a eyeopener to us that behind every devi figure and cult is a woman who has suffered a lot in life.since Renuka belonged to the Goudadesha and her husband Jamadagni to the saraswathidesha the konkan coast is also the Goudasaraswathadesa.The coastal region of the Bhaarathdesa.It is as old as the oral traditions of India.<br />And for sindhi,I have to make a comment about the captions of my major works-sudhasindhu ,brahmasindhu and padmasindhu.Sindhu is ocean .Bhaarath was called sindhuhimachaladesa or sindhudesa by foreigners and Heradotus calls the soft linen from sind as sindhon.It was Sindhu which became Hindu (sindhia-India)by the peculiar pronounciation of the foreign traders of the west.The great traditions and dravida civilizations that existed in Harappa,Mohenjodaro and Lothal are the relics of the cultural heritage of the whole of India.<br />We need better communications for better understanding of each other for better international and national integration and if the academies can take up translations of worthy works (which will promote culture and goodwill,national and international integration)it would be welcome to all.And I thank the sahityaacademi and the Kochin university for giving me this opportunity to raise my thought processes in front of an august gathering of fellow women writers.<br /> References<br />1.G.N.Devy:AFTER AMNESIA .Orient longman,1995,pg 64-65.<br />2.Calicut medical college magazine 1991<br />3. Globalisation and gender.Development perspectives and intervention :prepared for women in development and gender equity division ,policy branch of Canadian International development agency byAngela keller –Herzog.discussion paper 3 by Thomas Harrison (UTY College London .Herodotus conception of foreign languages)<br />4.Women’s world –A global free speech network of women writers (1994)The gender and censorship project in India .A ten-language research project with ASMITHA<br />5.uma chakrobarthy :Whatever happened to the vedic dasi?orientalism,nationalism and a script for the past. Pge 45 .-Recasting women .Essays in colonial history.ed Kumkum sanghari and sudesh vaid.<br />6.cultural heritage of India.Sriramakrishna math publication.<br />7.Adivasi assertion in South Gujrath:the Devi movement of 1922-23,David Hardiman:subaltern studies 3 .writings on south Asian History and society(3).ed Ranajit Guha.oxford India paperbacks.<br />8.Indian writing in English.Sreenivasa Iyengar Contemporary Indian literature,a symposium .Sahitya academy New Delhi1957.<br />9.Freedom of speech in cyberspace in India:Malini S.Bhattacharya:http://cseser.eng.scu.edu/student/webpages.<br />10Protovedic .Bharatheeya continuity theory of languages,S.Kalyanaraman & Mayuresh Kelkar.Thursday.Nov 3.2005.http://protovedic.blogspot.com/2005/10/protovedic continuity.<br />11 Vaishnavi:women and the worship of Krishna,ed by steven j.rosen.Motilal Banarasi das publishers.<br />12.The spirituality of music,Selina Theilman.A.P.H.Publishing corporation.2001.<br /><br />13 The beloved(Re)visited:16th European conference on modern south Asian studies.Dept of sociology.Edinburgh uty.Amina Yaquin.<br />14.Prayogavaada.http://languages.iloveindia.com/hindi/html.;also ref no:8,pge 87(Hindi literature,S.H.Vatsyayanan)<br />15.Bahinabai,the ordinary life of an exceptional woman or,the exceptional life of an ordinary woman of Columbia uty and the director of the Hinduja Indic research center..,Mary Mc Gee (Ref no.11)Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-63500418338083656792007-06-28T02:48:00.001-07:002007-06-28T02:52:41.506-07:00women in sciencesWOMEN IN SCIENCES<br /><br />In the history of mankind ,women were always underrated and have been denied access to proper education and exposure to the scientific world .They did not get equal opportunities,like men ,to work in the research activities.But the situation is changed now.Many women have proved that they are at par in intelligence wioth men .and they shine in research projects and sometimes outwits them.Opening out with the problems the women in sciences face in their fields of activity and stressing the unexplored talents of women in sciences,the present discussions would definitely help to encourage women professionals to actively involve in research activities by shedding the fear and uncertainty ,which in turn will help us to better our status in society as scientists and thinkers.<br /><br />As a continuation of the subject studied as women in medical sciences I had sent a questionnaire to a few eminent women scientists and a few of them are given below .<br />The discussions focus on four vital questions and their answers .<br /><br />*1.The future of women in sciences.Research challenges and opportunities.<br />*2.Shortage of qualified female academicians<br />*3.changing the status of women in sciences.<br />*4.some of your personal experiences in your field of work.<br /><br />Participants are Dr Sathiavathy ,the director of ICMR ,Dr Ayisha Guharaj ,the DME,Dr Sara Vargheese ,pathologist and educationist,and Dr (Mrs )M.Lalithambika.The questinnaire was prepared and sent by Dr Suvarna Nalapat.<br /><br />1.The future of women in sciences –research challenges and opportunities.<br />Dr Sathiavathy:<br />During the last two decades the number ,range and scope of women scientists in India have shown a definite upward swing .In most science fields ,women have been exposed to enough opportunities and challenges particularly after reaching a certain level/status in their chosen field,depending on their own drive/ambition and ability to exploit opportunities.<br />A. In the field of general science particularly related to teaching ,however there still seems to be some kind of discrimination against women (in science as well as other areas)mainly because of the traditional distrust towards women’s ability as well as a lack of selfconfidence among women themselves.I do not believe however that there is overall shortage of qualified academicians.In my personal view ,whenever such a shortage has occurred it is mainly at the higher executive level and not at the lower or middle levels.It is mainly because women in India ,are still saddled with the dual responsibilities of handling efficiently their career as well as homes.An efficient woman executive(scientist or otherwise)is expected to run her home as efficiently ,whereas this is not expected of a man(efficient or otherwise)!!!<br />Many women therefore curb their ambitions and even sacrifice their careers to allow the husband to reach the top of his career(by not opting for promotions,refusing transfers ,or even resigning the job if circumstances so demand.)<br /><br />B.Women scientists in general and biomedical scientists in particular have come to occupy important status and also play significant role in the mainstream of S&T activities in the last two decades.At present ,there are quite a few women professors and heads of departments and a few heads of organizations /agencies and even women vice chancellors in India.While individual experiences of women scientists may marginally differ from one situation to another and from one field to another ,in general,however ,women has been recognized as a force to reckon within the scientific field.In the field of medical sciences ,from the outset,among the clinical disciplines ,two areas were traditionally identified as eminently suitable for women viz.,obstretics and gynecology ,and paediatrics(which basically deal with women and children as patients).It is only in the last two decades that women medical scientists have dared to venture into the hitherto maledominated clinical disciplines ,such as general surgery,cardiothoracic surgery ,E.NT,Radiology etc.In the field of basic medical sciences such as physiology ,Anatomy,pharmacology,pathology ,microbiology,biochemistry etc however ,there has been no discrimination between the sexes.There is no forum /body dealing with the problems of women medical scientists in India,although there are a few bodies exclusively for women scientists ,in general.<br />The future of women scientists in India ,therefore,has to be shaped by the women concerned themselves.<br />Dr Ayisha Guharaj:The general consensus is that women cannot do much in science and research.Research is the sheet anchor in the scientist’s career.The academic pursuit is maintained only by posing research questions.A woman’s identity as a scientist is the least outspoken in the contemporary society.She is well earmarked for many other jobs,which needs the soft touch and tender care –the nursing,receptionist,confidential assistant and such jobs.Th etraditional role of women is to reproduce and to be the nodal unit of the family .In addition to this,the working women has to concentrate on her official duties also.Neither in the home nor in the office she is free to have a relaxed and academically searching mind to develop herself as a scientist.Added to this is the patriarchal relations of the society which suppress the needs and freedom of women.In the midst of these familial and social life the scientist woman has to develop her career.Thanks God!Still there is a long list before us of those: a few examples are Madam curie,Sheila Sherlock,cicely Williams,Barbare Machuthode etc.Though the list is very long ,on scrutiny we see that a few of them are unmarried or at least have an extraordinarily understanding husband.]Because women in general have more concentrating power and perseverance,women scientists make better achievements than their opposite sex inpar.Because they know the family problems better,their approach to scientific queries is more humane and their social commitment ,deeprooted.This results in covetable academic achievements ,because they are the least politicized ,their research findings are the least biased.Research about women in science should critically analyse the patriarchic dominance of man in society.May be in medicine,psychology,engineering,and agriculture.In all these fields ,patriarchal influence should be questioned.<br />The scope for further research is unlimited.Special problems faced by women scientists –limitations,familial lives,social lives,negligence and discriminations and the basis of gender ,special advantages in doing scientific work all should be studied in depth.<br />Dr (Mrs )M.Lalithambika:I feel the future of women in scientific research is definitely bright.The best brains both men and women choose mostly science as their field of interest-medical,engineering or basic sciences like mathematics,physics,chemistry,life sciences etc.But 95% of them ,once a career is chosen,as ateacher or an employee in a factory or an industry loose interest and opportunity for a research career.Only those who are employed in Research organizations pursue research seriously.In many research organizations like Indian Institute of science ,Bangalore,IITs,NCL,Poona,VSSC Trivandrum the percentage of women scientists is steadily increasing.(These are some organizations I am familiar with.).<br />Dr Sarah Vargheese:Future of women in sciences especially in research is very promising.<br />1.The policy of government of India is encouraging women in various walks of life is conducive for research.It is very suitable for the Indian women since it could combine their dual responsibilities of home and the job especially if some degree of flexibility is given and if the goal is achieving objectives and not work place or time.However help and support from th eorganisation so that the family unit is not affected should gain priority in such jobs.The long term effect of granting this support wil be beneficial especially with the small family unit.<br />2.The mental makeup of the Indian woman for hard work ,discipline and dedication certainly suits job related to research<br />3.The highly qualified women could be encouraged to take up assignments ,and projects in research so that it may not affect the dual responsibility of the home and job.<br />4.Educated women are increasing in number especially in the metropolitan cities an dtheir talents are not being tapped by the maledominated society.<br />5.opportunities are many especially when research an ddevelopment in various fields like industries an dother academic activities are manifold and it is for the woman to find out about these areas and accept it as a challenge ,and on the part of government organizations to plan out such activities for women.<br /><br /><br />2.SHORTAGE OF QUALIFIED FEMALE ACADEMICIANS<br />Dr Ayisha Guharaj:The general feeling in our society is that certain professions are for women an dcertain are for men.A few examples of those earmarked for women are nurses,air-hostess,teacher,receptionist,stenographer etc.Among these ,the university teachers are the ones to become academicians .Many of the female academicians have proved themselves to be the best academicians.The academicians like U.R.Ananthamoorthy are quiting from the administrative positions whereas the females retain such posts showing better patience an d tolerance.<br />Even in the same profession –as for example the medical profession,there is a feeling that Forensic medicine ,surgery and orthopaedics are specialities where females are poor performers .But nowadays females have proved to be excellent in these professions also.Many have written standard textbooks also.Some institutions are in shortage of sincere and honest academicians and the departmental work becomes a sheer mess.The weakness of men academicians serves the department sto the bottom,.Some of them are alcoholics.Some are “too social”that they are never seen in the department.Some are too busy politicians that they seldom get time to do their professional job.At least few of them are too much politicized to become equally controversial also.These weaknesses which create a lot of chaos in the department seldom affects the female academicians and the only way to save our academic departments is to bring them to the top,.<br />Dr Lalithambika:Since our society gives a lot of importance for marriage ,the girl’s first preference is to get married.For a proper alliance a permanent job (which should be transferable in certain cases and nontransferable in others)is preferred.Once married,they are confronted with lot of family problems.They are not able to continue the pursuit for excellance.this is true for ladies in every field,and particularly in the academic activity,where pursuit for excellance is essential for a successful career.<br />Dr Sarah Joseph:There is certainly shortage of qualified women academicians because:<br />1.The whole system is maledominated.<br />2.The social academic credibility for women is in a way full of pitfalls.<br />3.The family responsibility and the drop in joint family has lead to the small family units so that the dual responsibility of the women lead to problems so that many women are not able to realize and achieve their goals with their talents.<br /><br />3.CHANGING STATUS OF WOMEN IN SCIENCES.<br />Dr Lalithambika:Women’s status in science is improving.In fact it is worth mentioning that in the Kerala science congress held in February 1990,at Trivandrum ,more than 50% of the technical presentations were by ladies.<br />In the In dian science congress held held recently among the four honoured scientists ,one was a woman.<br />Dr Sarah Vargheese:Yes.There is certainly a change in the status of women in sciences but still the maledominated society do not give adequate social standing for women scientists.Moreover the women too,shy away from such academic fields due to family responsibility and poor support from their spouses and from the society.The social set up in India is still way behind and only very few women utilize their education and talents.<br />Dr Ayisha Guharaj:The status of women in society was of a provider ,protector and caretaker in the family.In the primitive tribal society women were center of all worship.In the matrilineal society the women was the center of property inheritance.The feudalist class considered women as a material wealth-the beautiful ladies as chauffeurs of the upper class lords and the working class women as the oppressed group to work and procreate a neverending capital.The industrialist society also tries to exploit women by considering her as biologically and socially submissive.Even in the present day transitional society ,stories of torturing womanhood is a very common reality around us.The woman’s oppression is justified by the supposed biological inferiority.<br />Th emajor civilizations have fallen down and the universe is under the influence of western culture and modern science and technology .The global threat of nuclear catastrophe exists.The problem of overpopulation,the gap between the haves and have-nots ,the healthy and the unhealthy,and the exploiters and the exploited,are becoming more and more wide.Overpopulation,industrial technology,and overexploitation of nature have contributed in various ways to degeneration.Thank God,a woman only wrote the book “the silent spring”which discusses a part of this reality.<br />The feudalist way of oppressing the women is still seen in certain parts of the society.It is said that what is called Masculine and Feminine psychology is not so much rooted in biological difference between man and woman but are essentially consequences of the social order prevailing under patriarchy.<br />Thanks to the feminists,though not to the extant of extreme fetichism ,it has certainly explored a few social evils to the light.The story of Rip Van Vincle was brought to light by the feminist group only.Other factors contributing to th eupliftment of status of women are universal education ,trade union movements and reservations for women in the public sector.<br /><br />4.SOME OF YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN YOUR FIELD OF WORK<br />Dr sathiavathy: As stated earlier,the personal experiences of women scientists depend upon the specific environments and situations/circumstances in which a particular woman scientist worked during the formative years of her career.I did most of my postgraduate and postdoctoral work at the Banarus Hindu University,Varanasi,(which is rather a backward place in common with other parts of eastern U.P)where women do face considerable difficulties due to male chauvanism.I did encounter harassment firstly because ,at that time,I was not married(which was considered strange by UP.Wallas)and secondly my earlier research on Gum guggul was considered to constitute a “breakthrough”in scientific evaluation of Ayurvedic concepts /remedies and therefore aroused considerable jealousy ,rivalry etc.It was mainly a sense of commitment ,strengthened by a determination to succeed against all odds that made me go through this difficult period.This experience ,however,endowed me with adequate toughness and prepared me for the future challenges in my scientific career and to know what a successful career woman need to expect throughout her career.<br />After getting into the mainstream of biomedical research as a career ,in India,while I myself have not faced any specific instance of discrimination as awoman (particularly in promotional avenues ,opportunities etc)there have been occasions when I am left with a distant feeling that a woman scientist is not always given due credit for her own merits/abilities,but is subjected to a sort of supercilious reaction from male colleagues that“ because one happens to be a woman ,success has perhaps been easier “.Thus even when a woman scientist has reached the top by her individual merit,there are instances where her colleagues (male as well as females)pass it off as due to the use of feminine “guiles”,”influence””luck”or other factors not related to one’s individual merit.I am afraid however that partly this is due to the behaviour and attitude of some of the woman scientists themselves.<br /><br />To one like me ,who was born in a family of several children (mainly male siblings)sex differentiation was never encountered as a problem at home or even in education to the undergraduate level.It is only after reaching a particular level/status that I became conscious of being a ‘WOMAN SCIENTIST”AND HENCE TREATED DIFFERENTLY.<br />Strangely ,however,in India,men do not normally express surprise when they meet successful women scientists occupying a top position.In my dealings with male foreign scientists ,however,I was always been amazed (and often annoyed)by their expression of surprise ,disbelief and even shock when they realize that they did not expect to meet a woman in that position!On such occasions ,when I asked why the gentleman was so surprised,the incredible answer was that,”but in all your letters,you sounded so efficient ,confident and professional.like a man!”<br />More often than not,however ,in the course of my routine work,I am not conscious of the fact that I am a woman scientist.It is only instances of male chauvanism and female rivalry that remind me of the fact that I am a woman scientist!<br />(I,Dr Suvarna Nalapat share exactly the same views as Dr Sathiavathy in these matters.)<br />Dr Sarah Vargheese:On an overall basis ,I would consider my personal experiences as fairly fruitful.In my early academic life,there was certainly preferential treatment towards men so that there was delay in my academic career.However ,gradually though there was considerable family responsibilities and male dominance in the activities ,I was able to partially express myb talents in my professional life.In the administrative set up though there were some problems initially ,gradually there was considerable cooperation and I would say confidently that there was absolutely no discrimination towards me.In fact I would put it as “better co-operation due to psychological reasons from men towards women”.<br />This does not mean that there have not been problems especially in the family front which occasionally has given me a sense of guilt because I am working.However,this might have occurred even if I would not have been working.These learning experiences of a working woman with dual responsibilities certainly calls for greater talents ,abilities,and hard work and with support from the family ,political setup and the organizations more women could contribute to the progress of science.<br />Dr Lalithambika:I started my research career at IIT Kanpur,accepted a job as scientist in National chemical laboratory,Pune (one of the laboratories under the council of scientific and industrial research).Nearly 10 years back,I took a transfer to regional research laboratory .Trivandrum .In all these places ,I got all opportunities a man could get.Never di dI experience any discrimination.As per the charter of the laboratory presently I am working in the utilization of the local resources (clay and other ceramic raw materials).Since my group can transfer our funding to industries the industries appreciate our work .This gives job satisfaction.<br />Dr Ayisha Guharaj:The most memorable occasion in my community health practice was an event of health education to the train travelers.I repeatedly contacted them ,and advised them to stop tobacco chewing and smoking .Just because of my counseling they stopped smoking and changed their lifestyle.Some of them are still in contact with me .I think changing the lifestyle by at least one person by the influence of me is a great achievement in my life.<br />Similarly I had the experience of sharing the suffering of the people ,when a gastroenteritis epidemic exploded in the area.I was alone and the only medical person available there.Within a short time ,I trained the local persons and even without any facilities I could organize to start intravenous fluid for the needy. Thus I could prevent mortality and further morbidity.The exposure to such extreme poor in their time of suffering was an exciting experience in my life.I still remember how the anxious and deadly faces became normal and lively after rehydration.<br />The next noteworthy experience in my life was that of winning the confidence and respect of my colleagues in Medical college ,calicut.When I took charge as principal,the institution was full of different groups of people (students as well as staff)with opposing ideas and diverging relations.I spite of this vivid circumstances ,I could develop confidence in my associates and delegate much of my responsibilities to them so that I could lead the institution to much work and prosperity.The most referable instance of this was a survey done by the medical students.The medical students and even a part of the regular staff were motivated to do the survey.They were popular in the campus as the most mischievous group.They have successfully done the survey.This work gave insight to the fact that even the most mischievous student if engaged in some good work can be changed to a good student.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3814915534446788323.post-74189562297125622402007-06-28T02:20:00.000-07:002007-06-28T02:47:26.932-07:00women in Medical sciences .From data of Calicut Medical college 1991WOMEN IN MEDICAL SCIENCES<br /><br /><br />It was only in 1972 that the New york Academyconducted the first ever conference for working women scientists.The second was conducted in 1978 by the association of women in sciences.(AWIS)constituted in 1971.The 1972 conference studied the lives of twelve distinguished women scientists.In a seminar conducted in 1979 ,apart from essays and symposiums ,the presentations of postdoctoral women on their outlook about life were also included.All of the participants were of the view that such discussions and meetings certainly help in assessing the problems faced by working women.<br />Alice Kemp described Christine,one of the known 16th century feminists as…”at the dawn of the 15th century ,she stood like a Janus ,loking eagerly into the future and the past.she represented the changing era.However their writings showed their affinity towards orthodox .At the same time she could be seen struggling for the solution of innumerable unsolved problems with a free thinking.She is viewed as the personification of changing times.”<br /><br />We salute the glittering services rendered by the eminent doctors of Salerno medical college in the 11th century and the lady doctors of the ancient Egyptian civilizations.It is generally said that ladies are as good as gents in each and every science. .But is this really true?The Toqavalli published Democracy in America in 1830. Out of the 705 pages ,only 6 pages were earmarked for science.However he was kind enough to spare 8 pages for women.But discussions were mainly on women as wives.A little was discussed about women education.<br />Till 1960 admission was denied to women inThomas Jefferson hospital.Admission to the Hopkinson medical school was open to women only when a conditional aid worth of five lakhs dollars was offered by Elizabeth Garatt Anderson.Admissions were prohibited to women in 28%of medical schools in 1934.Even in 1944,9%of medical schools were labeled as exclusively for men.There was not even a single lady doctor in any of the hospitals of America .Till 1978 there was only one lady doctor as a professor in the department of medicine inEngland.<br />In a list published in 1921 consisting of scientists in America,504 were women out of which 50% belonged to biology and medicine.The percentage never remained constant.If it was 11 %in 1960,on elapsing 16 years in 1976 ,23.2% women were still working in biological sciences.Majorityy of them were in biochemistry,biology,genetics,anatomy,molecular biology and immunology.<br />It is seen that lady doctors preferred paediatrics ,microbiology,preventive and social medicine,gynaecology etc.The statistics about US medical schools revealed that their contribution as academicians were meager.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Table 1.Percentage of men and women as academicians.<br /><br /><br />Professional /academic post Men % women %<br />1.Professor. 96 4<br />2.Associate professor . 91 9<br /><br />3.Assistant Professor. 84 16<br />However the semiskilled work force in the medical area was largely contributed by women.If you would construct a pyramid,75% of the base will be occupied by women working under these categories with only 1% at the top positions.It would be interesting to analyse this strange reality.Olison assumes that it could be because women are easily controllable by authority and power.But Brown have the following observations.<br />1.women work more for lesser pay.<br />2.Unemployment is severe in women.<br />3.Generally women lack the following:<br />.higher education<br />.freedom from daily routine household work<br />.respect from political an dcommunity leaders<br />.socioeconomic reasons limit job opportunities to women<br />.compared to other areas women are well paid in these services.<br /><br /><br />From medical students in San Francisco (1976)URSA (urban rural system association)revealed that women are less business oriented.The reasons why boys opted medical education were<br />.financial security<br />.comfortable life<br />.dignity of service.<br />Whereas women were interested mainly in<br />.dignity of the profession.<br />.freedom<br />.the adventurous inspirations to serve.<br />The following figures are based on a survey conducted by a group of our students in 1987(see table 2).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Table 2.motivational factors in medical students survey 1987 (calicut medical college)<br />Motivation<br />Male %<br />Female %<br />Keenness to serve<br />Financial security<br />Dignity of profession.<br />As ameans to live<br />Real interest<br />Accidental<br />Items I,2 &3 above<br />For freedom<br />Affinity for research<br />For a better prospect of marriage<br />Reason unknown<br />No response<br />16.48<br />6.9<br />13.03<br />6.51<br />10.73<br />3.45<br />15.71<br />0.38<br />0.75<br /><br />0.38<br />8.43<br />17.25<br />19.02<br />0.54<br />3.8<br />6.52<br />22.28<br />1.09<br />2.72<br />0.54<br />0.0<br /><br />0.54<br />4.35<br />38.59<br /><br />There is 0% women interested in research and only 0.75 % men are interested in research.No wonder our contributions to the field is meager.It reflects the status of the present world of science of medicine.<br /><br />Peter Principle.<br />The abilities of men are recognized quickly.Once recognized ,the effort and enthusiasm to develop oneself gets retarded.This is called Peter principle.Even if women put maximum effort to come at par with men ,it is seen that they get the deserving recognition much later.This could be a blessing in disguise as women are not coming under this peter principle.This will make them more creative and hard working .It is because of this only that man needs the service of his wife at home and a secretory at his office .<br />In order to achieve the same level in terms of position ,woman has to work twice as hard as that of man.It was understood through a study conducted in western countries that women who reaches the higher echelon will have intelligence ,hard working nature ,curiosity for many things and ability to analyse meticulously compared to men because she has to struggle and overcome the society in order to come upto that level.<br />Even then as rightly pointed out by Olsen,women are more envious ,intolerant and shows a negative approach to other women in high positions.Women may tolerate another man who supercedes her.However she will never allow another woman to supercede her.If anyone has to achieve something ,then he/she shall get enough opportunities for development as well as for sharing knowledge.As rightly pointed out by Olison,women occupying the higher slots ,on recognition of leadership quality in others ,instead of extending their possible help,try to put as much hindrance as possible.According to him,women should be able to understand the potential of their women colleagues and work together.Socialisation of women should really come from women rather than from men.<br /><br />Rosaline Yalow ,one of the Nobel laureates reminds us that for each and every achievement ,there could be setbacks.In order to make discoveries ,women have to make very hard mental exercises for hours resulting in loneliness during that period ,which is inevitable.As she climbs the steps she will have to stay a little detached from the society.The reason is obvious.Neither time nor energy will be available with her for gossiping etc.Selfconfidence ,courage and hard work guarantee success to anybody.<br /><br />IN KERALA.<br />1.Admissions are not banned for women in any of our medical colleges.<br />2.Pay and perks are at par with that of men.<br />3.In case of promotion woman is not considered a s backward.<br />4.Ladies in large numbers are graduated from our colleges .It was feared that their number will come down consequent to introduction of the entrance examination.But it has been proved that the assumption was wrong.See the data and graph of calicut medical college admissions (table 3)<br /><br />Table 3 statistics of medical students-calicut medical college.<br /><br /><br />Sl.no:<br />Year<br />1957-90<br />No of admissions<br />Male<br />Female<br />Male %<br />Female %<br />1.<br />2.<br />3<br />4<br />5<br />6<br />7<br />8<br />9<br />10<br />11<br />12<br />13<br />14<br />15<br />16<br />17<br />18<br />19<br />20<br />21<br />22<br />23<br />24<br />25<br />26<br />27<br />28<br />29<br />30<br />31<br />32<br />33<br /><br />57-58<br />58-59<br />59-60<br />60-61<br />61-62<br />62-63<br />63-64<br />64-65<br />65-66<br />66-67<br />67-68<br />68-69<br />69-70<br />70-71<br />71-72<br />72-73<br />73-74<br />74-75<br />75-76<br />76-77<br />77-78<br />78-79<br />79-80<br />80-81<br />81-82<br />82-83<br />83-84<br />84-85<br />85-86<br />86-87<br />87-88<br />89-90<br />90-91<br />51<br />76<br />104<br />155<br />150<br />149<br />176<br />177<br />192<br />180<br />83<br />176<br />181<br />197<br />185<br />181<br />184<br />188<br />189<br />182<br />189<br />206<br />202<br />201<br />201<br />205<br />201<br />206<br />202<br />223<br />200<br />201<br />187<br />36<br />50<br />82<br />121<br />118<br />117<br />134<br />129<br />144<br />136<br />142<br />126<br />116<br />126<br />128<br />113<br />124<br />114<br />120<br />114<br />112<br />122<br />119<br />104<br />125<br />141<br />143<br />148<br />110<br />146<br />226<br />115<br />122<br />15<br />26<br />22<br />34<br />32<br />32<br />42<br />48<br />48<br />44<br />41<br />50<br />65<br />71<br />57<br />68<br />60<br />74<br />69<br />68<br />77<br />84<br />83<br />97<br />76<br />64<br />58<br />58<br />92<br />77<br />74<br />86<br />65<br />70.6<br />65.8<br />78.9<br />78.1<br />78.7<br />78.5<br />76.2<br />72.9<br />75.0<br />75.6<br />77.6<br />71.6<br />64.1<br />64.0<br />69.2<br />62.4<br />67.4<br />60.7<br />63.5<br />62.7<br />59.3<br />59.2<br />58.9<br />51.7<br />62.2<br />68.8<br />71.1<br />71.9<br />56.5<br />65.5<br />63.0<br />57.3<br />65.3<br />29.4<br />34.2<br />21.1<br />21.9<br />21.3<br />21.5<br />23.8<br />27.1<br />25.0<br />24.4<br />22.4<br />28.4<br />35.9<br />36.0<br />30.8<br />37.6<br />32.6<br />39.3<br />36.5<br />37.3<br />40.7<br />40.8<br />41.1<br />48.3<br />37.8<br />31.2<br />28.9<br />28.1<br />43.5<br />34.5<br />37.0<br />42.7<br />34.7<br /><br />5.We had women as principals and professors coming mainly from nonclinical sides.In surgery and medicine the number of women are scarce.<br />6.The men and women in biological sciences and medicine are many but the substantial contributions to their respective fields of activity are less.<br />7.Legally and constitutionally speaking the women are given equal rights .And in that sense the womwnmen scientists are not suffering class.We had distinguished ladies as Director of medical education.All of them from nonclinical side(A decade after this paper Dr Meenu Hariharan became DME so that at least one from the clinical side has come to the highest academic and administrative position)<br />In other areas of science also women participation is comparatively less with respect to the population rates.The reasons are worth investigating .It could be because of “filters of society “ as pointed out by Earnst ,or the “fights at different levels “suggested by Easthler.<br />Some argue that the condition of women in vedic period was pathetic.They say that women like Maithreyi,Gargi or Ubhayabharathy were individual exceptions.I have a very simple answer to them.Even today,the number of such women could be counted on the fingers.But if one could manage to reach the top of the pyramid after passing through various filters ,it means that she can be considered as one among the many trying to get to that position.There may be a big que of women having as much quest for knowledge as her.Whenever we remember a Maithreyi ,a Gargi or Christine ,we have to remember unknown thousands of subaltern identities behind them.<br />Why is that we didn’t have a Nity Steevens or a Sabin among us?Why is that we are not able to acquire a historical personality which could be remembered after our retirement from service or even after retiring from this world itself?<br />I presume that the answer to this is evident from the survey results given among the students in 1987.<br />Certainly the road available to women scientists is not covered with roses.But they are being laid on the way ,she has already traverse.!<br /><br />TABLE 4 Preclinical departments<br /><br />subject<br />Academic post<br />Male %<br />Female %<br />Nonacademic<br />(lecturer)<br />Male%<br />Female%<br />Anatomy<br />Biochemistry<br />Physiology<br />Microbiology<br />Pathology<br />Pharmacology<br />Forensic medicine<br />Community medicine<br />5<br />5<br />3<br />5<br />8<br />4<br />4<br /><br />7<br />100<br />80<br />100<br />80<br />87.5<br />75<br />25<br /><br />28.56<br />0<br />20<br />0<br />20<br />12.5<br />25<br />75<br /><br />71.44<br />8<br />3<br />7<br />2<br />3<br />7<br />6<br /><br />2<br />50<br />66.7<br />57.12<br />50<br />35.3<br />42.84<br />16.6<br /><br />50<br />50<br />33.3<br />42.88<br />50<br />66.7<br />57.16<br />83.4<br /><br />50<br /><br /><br />Table 5.Clinical department<br /><br />subject<br />Academic post<br />Male% female %<br />Nonacademic<br />Male % female %<br />Medicine<br />Skin &VD<br />Other specialities<br />Paediatrics<br />Ophthalmology<br />Surgery<br />(includes specialities)<br />anaesthesia<br />pediatric surgery<br />physical medicine<br />gynaecology/obstretics<br />94.2 5.8<br />42.84 57.16<br />100 0<br />50 50<br />75 25<br />100 o<br /><br />50 50<br />100 0<br />100 0<br />28.58 71.42<br />100 0<br />50 50<br />100 0<br />40 60<br />40 60<br />100 0<br /><br />70 30<br />100 0<br />100 0<br />9.09 90.91<br /><br /><br /><br />References:<br />1.Annals of the New york academy of sciences.Volume 323.1979.<br />2.women in healthcare.Navarro.v.New England journal of medicine .Vol.292,1975,pp.398-402.<br />3.Productivity of women physicians.Heins.M.S.Smock,J.Jacobs,M.Stein.Journal of American medical association.Vol .236,1976,pp.1961-1964.<br />4.Oleson .V.1977.Reconceptualising leadership-lower status women and the exercise of power in health care settings.In proceedings of the conference on women’s leadership and authority in the health profession.pp.43-53,dept of health,education,and welfare.Washington.DC.<br />5.survey –87 report.conducted by a group of medical students in calicut medical college .<br />6.calicut medical college calendar.1989.Dr Suvarna Nalapathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02978577665157536882noreply@blogger.com0