Hindu mythology

 

Agni Dev

     Agni Dev is one of the most important Vedic Gods. Agni Dev is the God of fire, the messenger of Gods, and accepts sacrifices made to Him from anyone who is devoted to His Lord. He was very important to the people living in the Vedic times, and they have 200 hymns addressed to Him in the Rig Veda. Eight of the ten books begin with praises for Agni, the God of fire.

     Agni is present in everyone’s heart. He is supposed to be the vital spark of life, and the food in people’s stomach is burnt by Agni. Agni is also the fire of the Sun, and gives it brilliance and heat that the Sun is known for. Agni is very essential for the survival and development of humans, which is why people have been praying to Him since ancient times.

     Agni is sometimes said to be the twin brother of Indra Dev, and is often closely associated with Him. In Vedic times, He occupied the most important position after Indra Dev.

     He is depicted as having two heads. One head signifies immortality, and the other is a symbol of life. He is often said to be the link between the heaven and earth, and humans and deities. He is associated with Vedic sacrifice, and takes sacrifices of the devotees to their beloved and much respected and adored Gods in His fire.

 

Sound

 

How is it that sound travels longer distances at night?

 

Sound, like light, can undergo reflection and refraction.

Refraction of sound waves is most noticeable when they travel from cold air into warm air.

During the night, the earth starts cooling, and the mass of air in contact with it becomes cooler than the air a few metres above. When sound waves originating at ground level travel obliquely through these masses of air, which are at different temperatures, refraction takes place at the interface between the two masses, and the sound waves, which in the daytime would have continued to travel upwards, are directed back to earth. This is the reason why sounds travel longer distances at night.

Ignition Temperature

 

Why does petrol catch fire so soon while wood takes comparatively longer?

Every object catches fire, that is, it combines with the oxygen in the air, emitting heat and light, at a specific temperature. This temperature is known as the ignition point or ignition temperature of that object. 

Different materials have different ignition points. Petrol catches fire quickly because it has a low ignition point; wood has a higher ignition point. 

A substance does not have to be touched by flame to begin burning. It simply needs to be heated above its ignition point. 

In a burning building for example, heat and not flame is the greatest cause of fire spread. Metallic objects are the most frequent conductors of heat. Often heat from one room that is on fire is conducted to another by water or gas pipes. If combustible matter is in contact with the pipe it can become heated above its ignition point and start a second fire. Sometimes even brick walls can conduct enough heat to cause a second fire.

PARABLE OF THE LONG SPOONS

 

Parable of the long spoons

 

     One day a man said to God,” I would like to know what heaven and hell are like”.

     God showed the man two doors.

     Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it impossible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said,” You have seen hell.”

     Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The man said, “I don’t understand.” God smiled. “It’s simple,” He continued, “Love only requires one skill. These people learned early to share and feed one another. Those who are hungry are greedy people, and they think only of themselves….”

THE MOUSE TRAP

 

The mouse trap

 

     A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

“What food might this contain?”The mouse wondered.

However, he was devastated to discover it was a mouse trap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

     The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

     The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The pig sympathised, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”

     The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.

     That very night a sound was heard throughout the house – like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife.

     The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

     But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

     The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died. So, many people came for her funeral, that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

     So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember that when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

     We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

     Each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry.

 

Creating good news

 

Creating good news

 

     Everyone has inside them a piece of good news.

The good news is you don’t know

how great you can be,

how much you can love!

What you can accomplish!

And what your potential is,

wrote Anne Frank in her bestseller “The Diary of a Young Girl”.

The capacity in a human being to love, innovate and adapt to situations is far greater than to hate, destroy and restrict.

     The greatest treasure on earth is not found in the gold mines of South Africa, not in the diamond mines of Russia, not in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. It is to be found in your mind. Your mind can make the greatest inventions, discover the most hidden secrets of the universe, write the greatest book, compose the most beautiful symphony and plan the greatest business.

     Many great minds and geniuses rest in the graveyard without realizing their potential. “We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance,” quipped Benjamin Disraeli.

     Do not wait for the opportunity to knock at your door. Opportunities come wearing the garb of glitches and hitches. Innovators and entrepreneurs make use of this secret key to unlock great opportunities in adverse circumstances.

     In the world today if there are more problems like global warming, they offer us golden opportunities to be successful and to become great.

     Recent studies have proved that creative people are happier than others and they make others’ lives also happier and better.

     The recent great innovators like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and Sundar Pichai have made our lives more convenient and comfortable. Even people with more difficulties and disadvantages have turned those disadvantages into opportunities.

     The Australian-American Nick Vujicic, born without arms or legs, said, “I’m officially disabled, but I’m truly enabled because of my lack of limbs. My unique challenges have opened up unique opportunities to reach so many in need.”

     We have to read the success stories of young people who did not curse darkness but lit a lamp to make this world a better place for you and for me. The stories can awaken the sleeping giant in you with imagination and innovation which can create good news around you.       

     Creative ideas come from putting other ideas together. Steve Jobs used to remark, “Creativity is connecting things”. People with great ideas are those who possessed a lot of knowledge from books and experiences from life. Great innovators are always voracious readers of books and magazines.

     Keep yourself motivated by reading that inspires you.

     Happy reading!

 

LAUGHTER WAS HIS MANTRA

 

LAUGHTER WAS HIS MANTRA

 

     In Japan, a great mystic, Hotei, is called the Laughing Buddha. He is one of the most loved mystics in Japan, and he never uttered a single word. As he became enlightened, he started laughing, and whenever somebody would ask, “Why are you laughing?” he would laugh more. And he would move from village to village, laughing. A crowd would gather and he would laugh. His laughter was very infectious. Somebody in the crowd would start laughing, then somebody else, and then, gradually, the whole crowd would be laughing. Laughing without any apparent reason.

     Everybody would wonder, “It is ridiculous; this man is strange, but why are we laughing?” But everybody would laugh and, at the same time, wonder what people would think as there was no reason to laugh. Despite this, people would wait for Hotei because they had never laughed in their whole life with such totality, with such intensity. After laughing, they found that their senses had become clearer: their eyes could see better and their whole being had become light, as if a great burden had disappeared. People would ask Hotei to come back again, and he would move, laughing, to another village.

     For the rest of his life (about forty-five years after his enlightenment), he did only one thing, and that was laughing. That was his message, his gospel, his scripture. And it is to be noted that in Japan, nobody has been remembered with such respect as Hotei. You will find in every house, statues of Hotei.

     And he had done nothing except laugh. But the laughter was coming from such depth that it stayed with anyone who heard it and triggered his being, creating synchronicity. Hotei is unique. In the whole world, there is no other human being who has made so many people laugh—for no reason at all. And yet, everybody was nourished and cleansed by the laughter and felt well-being that they had never felt before. Something from the unknowable depth started ringing bells in peoples’ hearts.