What Is Maya

“Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original cause of everything, the Vaishnava sees everything in relationship with Krishna, even in this material world. By such advanced knowledge, everything becomes spiritualized. In other words, everything in the material world is already spiritual, but due to our lack of knowledge we see things as material.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 2, Ch 32)

The first instruction taught to aspiring transcendentalists of the Vedic school is aham brahmasmi, which means “I am Brahman.” This instruction is needed at the beginning because the living entity at the time of birth associates only with its body. What else could it know anyway? An infant doesn’t know how to talk, read, move, or communicate properly with anyone. It doesn’t even know that it is going to grow up into a mature adult at some point in the future. Everything is learned through experience and explicit instruction offered by authority figures, but aham brahmasmi cannot come from experience; it must be taught in the beginning stages of self-realization, when a person is most open to learning about their real identity and their position in the world. If we are Brahman, or pure spirit, then everything else, including our bodies, must be of a different nature. That which is not Brahman is known as maya, or the illusory energy governing the material world. The rules delineating the separation between maya and Brahman are not absolute, though. In fact, the material elements are only the source of delusion for one whose consciousness is not properly situated. In the higher scheme everything is part and parcel of God, even His separated energy.

“The Supreme Lord said, The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman, and his eternal nature is called the self. Action pertaining to the development of these material bodies is called karma, or fruitive activities.” (Bhagavad-gita, 8.3)

After initial instruction, through further study the properties of Brahman are learned in more detail. Brahman is truth; it is not deluded by temporary gains and losses. The bodies assumed by the living entities are guaranteed to go through cycles of change, sometimes accumulating and sometimes dwindling. The spirit soul, or Brahman, transcends even death, as nothing is capable of destroying the soul. Depending on the desires fixed in the consciousness at the time of death, a new type of body is crafted for the next life. Despite the changes in outer coverings, the spirit soul’s constitutional makeup does not change.

Why is it important to know Brahman? In the absence of knowledge of our true identity, we will associate with temporary objects. The harm in such a mentality can be illustrated in a variety of ways, but we can take something as simple as a school system to see what results. School is meant to provide an education, not to be a permanent home. If, for instance, a student should take their identity from their participation in a particular school, there will eventually come a time when that identity becomes invalid. Either there will be graduation or dropout, but nevertheless the flawed identity will dissipate.

The wise person knows that their tag as “student” is just temporary, a label meant to further a larger purpose. Similarly, the human form of body is meant to act as a launching pad towards a higher, more pleasurable destination. One who identifies with their body and the different objects and relationships it accumulates will be in for a hard fall at some point in the future. Either the forces of nature will take away possessions or eventually death will come and take away their body. If I spent my whole life living a lie, I obviously didn’t make the best use of my time. Associating only with the body is akin to going through life with your eyes closed, only to have them opened at the time of death, when it is too late.

If we are not our bodies than what are we? How do we even see ourselves? Are not the eyes part of the material body as well? Understanding our identity as Brahman is very difficult, for even having the opportunity to hear of the differences between matter and spirit is considered a great blessing, something not bestowed on every living entity. The animals, insects and plants have no way of understanding Brahman, even though that is their identity as well. Through enough study, hearing and regulative practice, the realization of Brahman can come. At that time, the world will be seen as full of material elements covering pure spirit.

But just as the mentality that views everything as “mine” and belonging to “my body” is harmful, the other extreme of everything being maya and nothing being real is also detrimental. If one doesn’t advance to the next step after Brahman realization, they have every chance of being deluded into thinking that Brahman, or pure spirit, is the summit of existence. If Brahman can’t be seen, then obviously the Supreme Absolute Truth must be invisible. If everything is false, or maya, then the Supreme Truth must not exist in this world. Therefore the only option is to negate all activity, completely remove association with worldly objects and hopefully merge into the light of Truth, this invisible spiritual effulgence.

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 9.4)

In the extreme cases both the gross materialist and impersonalist philosopher seeing everything as maya are trying to become God, or the Supreme Controller. One side is attempting to attain that feat through accumulation of objects of maya, while the other is trying to remove maya’s influence altogether. The real position of maya, or material nature, is not a fixed one. She is an energy acting under the direction of the Supreme Lord, who is above both Brahman and the material nature. The Supreme Absolute Truth is one, but He has different energies to those who are not God. The Lord is never separate from His energies, but to understand Him to some level, we make distinctions between matter and spirit, the material world and the spiritual world.

So, is God maya or Truth? Obviously if the living entity is Brahman and not maya, then the Supreme Lord must be the same way? This is where things get a little tricky. In the Bhagavad-gita, the treatise on spirituality delivered by Lord Krishna, it is said that those who try to understand the Absolute Truth by being only devoted to the unmanifest, or all-pervading, aspect have a very difficult time, especially if they are embodied. This means that a person who is dwelling in a material form finds it almost impossible to understand what “all-pervading” means and how the Supreme Personality can be above maya. If I myself have to dissociate from maya, why shouldn’t God?

“For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 12.5)

The true fact is that God is not invisible. When He is described as all-pervading, or unmanifest, this is from the perspective of the conditioned eye. The difference between a conditioned eye and a liberated one is the ability to perceive of the Absolute Truth’s presence everywhere. The distinction can be likened to the viewing of a large number, one in the millions or billions. If the number is written down just with the numerals, it is very difficult to properly make it out. On the other hand, if commas are inserted in the proper places, the number can be read and understood instantly. The numbers are the same in both manifestations, except one is more difficult to understand.

Similarly, the unmanifested and the manifested aspects of the Supreme Absolute Truth are really the same, as the Supreme Lord is one without an equal. His presence is everywhere; it’s just that we don’t have the eyes to see Him unless we implement the proper methods of spiritual practice. Taking another example, if we seat a blind man and a man with vision in front of a painting, to the blind man the painting will be invisible. To the person with vision the painting is manifest right before them. Just because the blind man thinks that the painting is invisible doesn’t mean that the painting doesn’t exist. Similarly, just because a person takes maya to be everywhere and the Lord to be invisible doesn’t mean that maya acts on God or that the Lord cannot be seen. The terms “unmanifest” and “invisible” apply to the angle of vision used in specific cases.

What really is maya then? To understand its purpose, the marginal position of the living entity must be remembered. The Supreme Lord is the spiritual whole. His body is supremely attractive and fully transcendental; hence it is described as Krishna among many other names in the Vedic tradition. For Krishna there is no distinction between body and soul. He is completely one; for Him there is neither delusion nor contact with inhibiting matter. The living entities, we jiva souls, are also spiritual in nature, but we have a choice in association. When deciding in favor of Krishna’s company or the association of God in one of His many other non-different forms, we get a spiritual body and don’t get deluded into becoming attached to a temporary nature.

On the other hand, if we choose against Krishna’s association, we take shelter of a separated energy, which is known as material nature, or maya. Maya acts at Krishna’s command, which is influenced by the living entity’s desires. Maya is neither absolute nor autonomous. The material nature is inhibiting only for those who are deluded in consciousness. Those who use maya to further their God consciousness, however, don’t suffer any of material nature’s inhibiting effects. With this we’re essentially introducing an exception to the rules governing the differences between Brahman and maya.

While the exception seems too convenient to be taken seriously, even the impersonalist believes in exceptions to their rules. For instance, the person thinking that everything is maya and that God is invisible and formless nevertheless posits their theories in sound vibrations and written word. Words are written out on paper or placed onto internet websites, both of which are governed completely by maya. But according to the authors of these works, maya is false, a delusion, not reality. If maya is false and the words containing impersonalist philosophy are presented through the medium of maya, then the philosophy itself is maya! If the philosophy is false, or not real, why should anyone accept it?

The impersonalists obviously make an exception to their rule of everything being maya when they present their philosophy. So, in this way the idea of maya having different utilities based on the purpose of the individual is not a novel concept. God’s true position is as Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is never associated with maya, and neither are His devotees. When used to further one’s God consciousness the material elements take on a divine nature. The mahamaya turns into yogamaya when used to connect with Krishna.

As a simple example illustrating the difference, normal sound vibrations are used to convey messages and songs. If the content is related solely to the body that is temporary and destined to be renounced, then obviously there is association with maya. On the other hand, if the sound vibrations are used to address God and recite His names, such as those found in the maha-mantra, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, there is no debilitating influence. A school is just a building after all, made of brick and mortar like any other large dwelling. In this respect the school is no different from a warehouse. But since there is education established within the rooms, the school building has significance. In a similar manner, any collection of material elements used to further one’s God consciousness ceases to be maya.

More important than understanding Brahman, the material nature, and God’s all-pervasiveness is knowing the Supreme Lord’s position as being beyond all of this. There is no better way to learn this fact than by hearing from Krishna directly and seeing Him personally. These benedictions were granted previously to many notable personalities, including Arjuna, a talented fighter. He was the recipient of the Bhagavad-gita, a work spoken by Krishna that is still celebrated, studied and honored to this day. In the Gita Krishna specifically addresses those who can’t think beyond the stringent rules of Brahman and maya.

“Unintelligent men, who know Me not, think that I have assumed this form and personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is changeless and supreme.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 7.24)

Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita that the foolish think He has assumed His body, not knowing His real nature as changeless. If we see someone in front of us, even if they are exquisitely beautiful, we will apply whatever knowledge we have acquired to our identification method. “Vedanta philosophy tells me that we are not this body. Brahman is Truth and the material elements are maya. Therefore this person standing before me holding a flute must also be covered by maya. But boy, let me tell you, there is something unique about Him. If His flute is maya, then maya must be something wonderful. If His facial features, His lustrous hair, and the flower garland around His neck are maya, then maybe maya isn’t so bad?”

It’s very difficult to get past the strict rules that we have been taught, and it’s even harder to understand how someone could transcend them. With enough faith in the process of bhakti-yoga, or devotional service, Krishna can be seen for who He is. He is never subject to maya’s influence, and His body and those belonging to His avataras, or incarnations, are not affected by the laws of material nature in any way. Similarly, the deity manifestations crafted from material elements are also spiritual. Stone and marble are standard objects of matter, but when they are used to create a worshipable figure, one that is installed in a temple or home and honored regularly and which matches the transcendental features belonging to the Supreme Lord described in the numerous Vedic texts, the material elements become spiritualized. If even marble can turn into a divine element, imagine what can happen to the humble living entity who turns their life over to God. For the paramahamsa, the supreme swan of a transcendentalist, Krishna’s influence is seen everywhere. Therefore maya cannot harm them.

In Closing:

Living entity at birth identifies with the body,

Yet this form is ever changing, not source of identity.

Sincere student of Vedas learns from the start,

That they are Brahman, a purely spiritual spark.

If we are spirit then everything else must be matter,

Known as maya, false world leaves taste that is bitter.

If everything is maya, God fits into where?

Is He invisible, on His form we cannot stare?

From Bhagavad-gita learn Truth’s real nature,

Lord has both personal and impersonal feature.

Matter is inhibiting for the ignorant,

For devotees, everything in life is pleasant.

For the elements are used for God consciousness,

To remember the Supreme Lord, bask in His pleasantness.

Use matter to make deities and transcendental sound,

Maya becomes divine, benefits will be profound.

75 year old Grandma wins Dance Contest in Spain

shibpur sai baba mandir aarti

Engineers use short ultrasound pulses to reach neurons through blood-brain barrier

Posted by bio_chief16 

Columbia Engineering researchers have developed a new technique to reach neurons through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and deliver drugs safely and noninvasively. Up until now, scientists have thought that long ultrasound pulses, which can inflict collateral damage, were required. But in this new study, the Columbia Engineering team show that extremely short pulses of ultrasound waves can open the blood-brain barrier—with the added advantages of safety and uniform molecular delivery— and that the molecule injected systemically could reach and highlight the targeted neurons noninvasively.

The study, led by Elisa Konofagou, associate professor of biomedical engineering and radiology, and published in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of September 19, 2011.

“This is a great step forward,” says Konofagou. “Devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s that affect millions of people are currently severely undertreated. We hope our new research will open new avenues in helping eradicate them.”

Highly specific delivery of drugs to human organs is essential for the effective treatment of many diseases. But the brain presents a difficult problem: it has a unique vascular system—the blood-brain barrier—that acts as a closed door to prevent the entry of foreign molecules. While it protects the brain from potentially toxic substances, it also prevents the delivery of therapeutic drugs to the brain. Because many molecules cannot cross the BBB, available treatments for patients with neurological disorders have been severely limited. Konofagou and her team are focused on getting the door opened enough to safely reach those cells that need to be treated.

Konofagou and her team have designed a focused ultrasound method that can target only the area of the hippocampus that is affected in early Alzheimer’s. In this study, they administered microbubbles to enhance the intended mechanical effect, and a high-field MRI to detect and map the area of BBB opening as well as quantify the permeability of the opened BBB. They also used fluorescence confocal microscopy to visualize the molecular diffusion and neuronal enhancement in 3-D to identify both highlighted neurons and their network.

More testing is planned with therapeutic drug treatments. Konofagou’s team has shown that therapeutic molecules trigger downstream effects after diffusion through the blood-brain barrier, starting with the cell membrane and all the way through the nucleus. They also are unveiling the mechanism of the opening that involves stable oscillation or collapse of the bubble, with the former being the preferred mechanism as it is? completely controlled by the pressure and microbubble size.

The blood-brain barrier has been shown to recover within the range of three hours to three days depending on the aforementioned parameters used. Konofagou’s group has also recently reported that transcranial human targeting of the hippocampus, caudate, and putamen in the human brain is feasible in both simulations and in vitro experiments, thus paving the way towards clinical applications.

Scientists solve long-standing plant biochemistry mystery

“Single amino acid exerts ‘remote control’ over double bond placement by desaturase enzymes.”

Posted by Biomechanism 

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have discovered how an enzyme “knows” where to insert a double bond when desaturating plant fatty acids. Understanding the biomechanism — which relies on a single amino acid far from the enzyme’s active site — solves a 40-year mystery of how these enzymes exert such location-specific control.

The common 'Evening Primrose' plant contains a high concentration of a fatty acid called GLA, and this fatty acid is largely responsible for the remarkable healing properties of the plant. Evening Primrose an important medicinal herb, and as studies continue, the list of benefits will likely become much longer.

The work, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of September 19, 2011, may lead to new ways to engineer plant oils as a renewable replacement for petrochemicals.

“Plant fatty acids are an approximately $150-billion-dollar-a-year market,” said Brookhaven biochemist John Shanklin, lead author on the paper. “Their properties, and therefore their potential uses and values, are determined by the position of double bonds in the hydrocarbon chains that make up their backbones. Thus the ability to control double bond positions would enable us to make new designer fatty acids that would be useful as industrial raw materials.”

The enzymes responsible for double-bond placement, called desaturases, remove hydrogen atoms and insert double bonds between adjacent carbon atoms at specific locations on the hydrocarbon chains. But how one enzyme knows to insert the double bond at one location while a different but closely related enzyme inserts a double bond at a different site has been a mystery.

“Most enzymes recognize features in the molecules they act on that are very close to the site where the enzyme’s action takes place. But all the carbon-hydrogen groups that make up fatty-acid backbones are very similar with no distinguishing features — it’s like a greasy rope with nothing to hold onto,” said Shanklin.

In describing his group’s long-standing quest to solve the desaturation puzzle, Shanklin quotes Nobel laureate Konrad Bloch, who observed more than 40 years ago that such site-specific removal of hydrogen “would seem to approach the limits of the discriminatory power of enzymes.”

Shanklin and his collaborators approached the problem by studying two genetically similar desaturases that act at different locations: a castor desaturase that inserts a double bond between carbon atoms 9 and 10 in the chain (a ‘delta-9′ desaturase); and an ivy desaturase that inserts a double bond between carbon atoms 4 and 5 (delta-4). They reasoned that any differences would be easy to spot in such extreme examples.

But early attempts to find a telltale explanation — which included detailed analyses of the two enzymes’ atomic-level crystal structures — turned up few clues. “The crystal structures are almost identical,” Shanklin said.

The next step was to look at how the two enzymes bind to their substrates — fatty acid chains attached to a small carrier protein. First the scientists analyzed the crystal structure of the castor desaturase bound to the substrate. Then they used computer modeling to further explore how the carrier protein “docked” with the enzyme.

“Results of the computational docking model exactly matched that of the real crystal structure, which allows carbon atoms 9 and 10 to be positioned right at the enzyme’s active site,” Shanklin said.

Next the scientists modeled how the carrier protein docked with the ivy desaturase. This time it docked in a different orientation that positioned carbon atoms 4 and 5 at the desaturation active site. “So the docking model predicted a different orientation that exactly accounted for the specificity,” Shanklin said.

To identify exactly what was responsible for the difference in binding, the scientists then looked at the amino acid sequence — the series of 360 building blocks that makes up each enzyme. They identified amino acid locations that differ between delta-9 and delta-4 desaturases, and focused on those locations that would be able to interact with the substrate, based on their positions in the structural models.

The scientists identified one position, far from the active site, where the computer model indicated that switching a single amino acid would change the orientation of the bound fatty acid with respect to the active site. Could this distant amino-acid location remotely control the site of double bond placement?

To test this hypothesis, the scientists engineered a new desaturase, swapping out the aspartic acid normally found at that location in the delta-9 castor desaturase for the lysine found in the delta-4 ivy desaturase. The result: an enzyme that was castor-like in every way, except that it now seemed able to desaturate the fatty acid at the delta-4 carbon location. “It’s quite remarkable to see that changing just one amino acid could have such a striking effect,” Shanklin said.

The computational modeling helped explain why: It showed that the negatively charged aspartic acid in the castor desaturase ordinarily repels a negatively charged region on the carrier protein, which leads to a binding orientation that favors delta-9 desaturation; substitution with positively charged lysine results in attraction between the desaturase and carrier protein, leading to an orientation that favors delta-4 desaturation.

Understanding this mechanism led Ed Whittle, a research associate in Shanklin’s lab, to add a second positive charge to the castor desaturase in an attempt to further strengthen the attraction. The result was a nearly complete switch in the castor enzyme from delta-9 to delta-4 desaturation, adding compelling support for the remote control hypothesis.

“I really admire Ed’s persistence and insight in taking what was already a striking result and pushing it even further to completely change the way this enzyme functions,” Shanklin said.

“It’s very rewarding to have finally solved this mystery, which would not have been possible without a team effort drawing on our diverse expertise in biochemistry, genetics, computational modeling, and x-ray crystallography.

“Using what we’ve now learned, I am optimistic we can redesign enzymes to achieve new desirable specificities to produce novel fatty acids in plants. These novel fatty acids would be a renewable resource to replace raw materials now derived from petroleum for making industrial products like plastics,” Shanklin said.

Lasers light the path to neuron regeneration

Posted by Biomechanism

Lasers have been used to fabricate tiny scaffolds to be used as delivery vehicles to drop cells off at damaged locations and help treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Owing to the versatility and accuracy of lasers, the structures have shown significant potential for facilitating the growth of cells and could be designed specifically to meet the individual needs of a variety of cells.

In their study published, Tuesday 20 September, in IOP Publishing’s journal Biofabrication, researchers used lasers to create intricate scaffolds, with features one thousand times smaller than a millimetre, and demonstrated their ability to effectively harness the growth of neuronal cells.

The repairing of neural tissue – for example peripheral nerves, spinal cord and the brain – has long been investigated using a technique known as tissue engineering and is now becoming a realistic treatment as technology advances.

A multidisciplinary field in which tissues and organs are formed by growing cells onto materials outside of the body, tissue engineering relies heavily on the creation of scaffolds which determine the efficiency, size, shape and orientation of cell growth.

By fine-tuning the make-up and design of these scaffolds, they could be used as a delivery vehicle to drop cells off at a specific damaged location, help them attach and grow, and then become degraded in the body without any damage to the cells or the host.

In this study, the researchers, from the University of Crete and the University of Sheffield, fabricated a scaffold from a commonly used polymer, polylactic acid (PLA). This synthetic, biocompatible material degrades in the human body to form lactic acid, a naturally occurring chemical that can easily be removed, leaving the regenerated tissue behind in the required size, shape and structure.

An ultra-fast, titanium sapphire laser was tightly focused on the PLA material and moved through three dimensions to create complicated sub-micrometer structures. Within the structures, small struts and holes were fabricated to ensure stability and the efficient delivery of nutrients to the cells; both are essential for tissue generation.

Taking the fabrication one step further, 3D sea-shell structures were created from the polymer to demonstrate the intricacy of the laser technique.

To test the compatibility of the structures, the researchers grew neuronal cells on them and observed, using high powered microscopes, how the cells proliferated and aligned.

The neuronal cells showed good compatibility with the PLA structures with less than 10% of the cells dying after five days.

Study co-author Professor Frederik Claeyssens said, “This is the first time we have been able to structure polylactide with such high resolution and the first time that direct laser writing has been applied to tissue engineering.

“Compared to other techniques, direct laser writing allows the scaffold to be created in a user-defined manner on the micrometer level and provides the possibility to explore the relationship between structure of, and cell growth on, the scaffold.”

An Institute of Physics spokesperson said, “The fabrication of appropriate scaffolds is a vital step in the process of tissue engineering and must be fine-tuned if treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are to be realised.”

The benefits of biotech

“How GM crops benefit farmers and the developing world.”

Posted by Biomechanism 

The biotech industry boosted farming across the globe to the tune of almost $65 billion during the period 1996 to 2009, according to the latest analysis published in the International Journal of Biotechnology. $65 billion is the increase in net farm income, the farm level benefit after paying for the seed and its biotech traits. The study’s authors estimate that almost half of that was derived by farmers in the developing world.

Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot of PG Economics Ltd., in Dorchester, UK, have investigated the economic impact at the farm level of agricultural biotechnology, looking at yields, key costs of production, direct farm income, indirect (non-pecuniary) farm level income effects and impacts on the production base of the four main crops of soybeans, corn, cotton and canola. Biotech has added 83 million and 130 million tonnes, respectively, to global production of soybeans and corn, they estimate. Net farm level economic benefits amounted to almost $11 billion in 2009 alone.

“Biotech, and specifically genetically modified (GM) crops has had a significant positive impact on farm income derived from a combination of enhanced productivity and efficiency gains,” the team estimated. It has added 5.8% to the value of global production for the four main crops investigated, with cost savings being greatest for soy. In terms of the division between different parts of the world, the team reports that in 2009, 53.1% of the farm income benefits went to developing country farmers and the vast majority of those income gains were from GM insect-resistant cotton and GM herbicide-tolerant soybeans.

The team concedes that their estimate of benefits amounting to $65 billion is based on the assumption of average levels of weed and pest pressure. If the assumptions are varied to assume extremes of low weed and pest pressure in all years and high weed and pest pressure in all years, then then the farm level benefits from using biotech in agriculture during the period studied would fall within a range of about $58 billion to $73 billion.
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“The income and production effects of biotech crops globally 1996-2009″ in Int. J. Biotechnol., 2011, 12, 1-49