House-hunting honey bees work like complex brains: study

On a foggy day, Kirk Visscher examines honey bees settling on the nest box they have chosen and to which the swarm has flown. The camera is recording the flight tracks of bees against the sky. Credit: T. Seeley, Cornell University

Swarms of bees and brains made up of neurons make decisions using strikingly similar mechanisms, says a new study in the Dec. 9 issue of Science.

House-hunting is full of decisions, for us and honey bees. One early decision we both face is where to live. P. Kirk Visscher at the University of California, Riverside, often in collaboration with Thomas Seeley at Cornell University, NY, has long been studying how honey bees make these decisions.

Swarms of honey bees split off from their mother colony and go house-hunting, looking for a secure cavity in a tree or elsewhere that will make a good home for the new colony. In this process, they communicate to each other what they have found by dancing: a scout bee returning from a good site moves over and over in a figure-eight pattern that indicates the direction and the distance to the site, and other scouts read these dances and inspect the site themselves.

Usually, the swarm's scouts find more than one site, in which case the swarm faces a decision that must be made quickly since the swarm is exposed and the season for honey collection is passing. The decision, however, must also be good decision, the future welfare of the colony depending on a good home site.

Visscher, Seeley and colleagues report Dec. 8 in Science Express that they have found another, overlooked, signal that plays a role in this process – a signal that is similar to those that occur between neurons in the brains of monkeys making decisions. Called the "stop signal," it is a very short buzz delivered by the sender scout while butting her head against the dancer. Its effect is to shorten and ultimately end the dance.

"It appears that the stop signals in bee swarms serve the same purpose as the inhibitory connections in the brains of monkeys deciding how to move their eyes in response to visual input," said Visscher, a professor of entomology. "In one case we have bees and in the other we have neurons that suppress the activity levels of units – dancing bees or nerve centers – that are representing different alternatives. Bee behavior can shed some light on general issues of decision making. Bees are a lot bigger than neurons for sure, and may be easier to study!"

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

Video shows a dancing honey bee receiving stop signals from scout bees. The stop signal is a very short buzz delivered by a scout bee while butting her head against a dancing bee. Its effect is to shorten and ultimately end the dance. Credit: Thomas Schlegel, Bristol University; and P. Kirk Visscher, UC Riverside

To study the stop signal, Seeley, Visscher, and Thomas Schlegel at Bristol University, United Kingdom, set up swarms, one at a time, on an island off the Maine coast that was devoid of natural nesting cavities. They also set out two identical nest boxes. They labeled scout bees visiting the two boxes with paint marks of two colors. They then video-recorded the scouts producing waggle dances and tracked dances produced by the marked scouts with a microphone and videotape to ascertain when they received stop signals, and from which bees.

What the international team observed was that the stop signals were primarily delivered to dancers reporting a particular site by scouts that had been marked at the other site.

"The message the sender scout is conveying to the dancer appears to be that the dancer should curb her enthusiasm, because there is another nest site worthy of consideration," Visscher said. "Such an inhibitory signal is not necessarily hostile. It's simply saying, 'Wait a minute, here's something else to consider, so let's not be hasty in recruiting every bee to a site that may not be the best one for the swarm. All the bees have a common interest in choosing the best available site."

Visscher explained that the kind of cross inhibition seen in stop-signaling by house hunting bees mirrors cross inhibition found in nervous systems. In the research paper, theoretical models by team members Patrick Hogan and James Marshall at Sheffield University, United Kingdom, demonstrate that such cross inhibition helps to insure that a decision will not become deadlocked between equal-quality alternatives.

"This is critical, because the swarm must choose a single nest site, even if two sites of equal quality are available," Visscher said. "This cross inhibition curtails the production of waggle dances for, and thus the recruitment of bees to, a competing site."

Honey bee swarms are produced when, to establish a new colony, many thousand worker bees leave a hive that has become crowded, bringing along their mother queen. The swarming bees cluster near the parental hive for a few days while several hundred scout bees, the oldest in the swarm, locate and advertize prospective nest sites and choose the best ones.

To advertize a nest site, a dancing bee runs figure eight patterns and waggles back and forth while she moves across the middle portion. The angle of her body during this waggling run represents to the other bees the angle to fly. The duration of the waggling portion informs the other bees of how far away the nest site is. It can be thought of as a miniature reenactment of the flight to the goal; the longer the flight, the longer the waggle run, and the angle of flight relative to the sun direction equals the angle of the dance from relative to straight upwards from the swarm.

To be selected as a future home, a nest site must attract a certain number of scout bees. Further, there is competition between sites for the attention of a limited number of scouts. Once a site attracts a "quorum" number of scouts, the bees detect it, and begin to change their signals on the swarm. They then produce a piping signal by vibrating their wing muscles while pressing down on another bee. This signal leads the swarm bees, most of which simply hang quietly in the swarm during the decision-making process, to warm up in preparation for takeoff.

The piping signal is also associated with a change in the stop signal behavior. After piping begins, the stop signals are no longer delivered reciprocally; instead dancers begin to receive stop signals from scouts that had visited their own nest site, as well as the alternative nest site.

"Apparently at this point, the message of the stop signal changes, and can be thought of as, 'Stop dancing, it is time to get ready for the swarm to fly,'" Visscher explained. "It is important for the scouts to be with the swarm when it takes off, because they are responsible for guiding the flight to the nest site."

Provided by University of California - Riverside

"House-hunting honey bees work like complex brains: study." December 8th, 2011. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-house-hunting-honey-bees-complex-brains.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Learning high-performance tasks with no conscious effort may soon be possible

In the future, a person may be able to watch a computer screen and have his or her brain patterns modified to improve physical or mental performance. Researchers say an innovative learning method that uses decoded functional magnetic resonance imaging could modify brain activities to help people recuperate from an accident or disease, learn a new language or even fly a plane. Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation

(Medical Xpress) -- New research published today in the journal Science suggests it may be possible to use brain technology to learn to play a piano, reduce mental stress or hit a curve ball with little or no conscious effort. It's the kind of thing seen in Hollywood's "Matrix" franchise.

Experiments conducted at Boston University (BU) and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, recently demonstrated that through a person's visual cortex, researchers could use decoded functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to induce brain activity patterns to match a previously known target state and thereby improve performance on visual tasks.

Think of a person watching a computer screen and having his or her brain patterns modified to match those of a high-performing athlete or modified to recuperate from an accident or disease. Though preliminary, researchers say such possibilities may exist in the future.

Changes in London taxi drivers' brains driven by acquiring 'the Knowledge', study shows

Image: Wikipedia

Acquiring 'the Knowledge' – the complex layout of central London's 25,000 streets and thousands of places of interest – causes structural changes in the brain and changes to memory in the capital's taxi drivers, new research funded by the Wellcome Trust has shown.

The study, published today in the journal Current Biology, supports the increasing evidence that even in adult life, learning can change the structure of the brain, offering encouragement for life-long learning and the potential for rehabilitation after brain damage.

In order to qualify as a licensed London taxi driver, a trainee must acquire 'the Knowledge' of capital's tens of thousands of streets and their idiosyncratic layout. This training typically takes between three to four years, leading to a stringent set of examinations which must be passed in order to obtain an operating licence; only around half of trainees pass. This comprehensive training and qualification procedure is unique among taxi drivers anywhere in the world.

Previous studies of qualified London taxi drivers, led by Professor Eleanor Maguire from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London), have shown greater volume of grey matter – the nerve cells in the brain where the processing takes place – in an area known as the posterior hippocampus and less in the anterior hippocampus relative to non-taxi drivers. The studies also showed that whilst taxi drivers displayed better memory for London-based information, they showed poorer learning and memory on other memory tasks involving visual information, suggesting that there might be a price to pay for acquiring the Knowledge. The research suggested that structural brain differences may have been acquired through the experience of navigating, and to accommodate the internal representation of London.

To test whether this was indeed the case, Professor Maguire and colleague Dr Katherine Woollett followed a group of 79 trainee taxi drivers and 31 controls (non-taxi drivers), taking snapshots of their brain structure over time using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and studying their performance on certain memory tasks. Only 39 of the group passed the tests and went on to qualify as taxi drivers, giving the researchers the opportunity to divide the volunteers into three groups for comparison: those that passed, those that trained but did not pass, and the controls who never trained.

The researchers examined the structure of the volunteers' brains at the start of the study, before any of the trainees had begun their training. They found no discernible differences in the structures of either the posterior hippocampus or the anterior hippocampus between the groups, and all groups performed equally well on the memory tasks.

Three to four years later – when the trainees had either passed the test or had failed to acquire the Knowledge – the researchers again looked at images of the brain structures of the volunteers and tested their performance on the memory tasks. This time, they found significant differences in the posterior hippocampus – those trainees that qualified as taxi drivers had greater volume of grey matter in this region compared to before they had started their training. This change was not apparent in those who failed to qualify or the controls. Interestingly, there was no detectable difference in the structure of the anterior hippocampus, suggesting that these changes come later, in response to changes in the posterior hippocampus.

On the memory tasks, both qualified and non-qualified trainees were significantly better at memory tasks involving London landmarks than the control group. However, the qualified trainees – but not the trainees who failed to qualify – were worse at the other tasks, such as recalling complex visual information, than the controls.

"The human brain remains 'plastic', even in adult life, allowing it to adapt when we learn new tasks," explains Professor Maguire, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. "By following the trainee taxi drivers over time as they acquired – or fail to acquire – the Knowledge, a uniquely challenging spatial memory task, we have seen directly and within individuals how the structure of the hippocampus can change with external stimulation. This offers encouragement for adults who want to learn new skills later in life.

"What is not clear is whether those trainees who became fully-fledged taxi drivers had some biological advantage over those who failed. Could it be, for example, that they have a genetic predisposition towards having a more adaptable, 'plastic' brain? In other words, the perennial question of 'nature versus nurture' is still open."

In the research paper, Professor Maguire and Dr Woollett speculate on the biological mechanisms that may underpin the changes to the brain that they observed. One theory, supported by studies in rodents, is that when learning that requires cognitive effort takes place and is effective, there is an increase in the rate at which new nerve cells are generated and survive. The hippocampus is one of the few brain areas where the birth of new nerve cells is known to take place. Alternatively, it could be that the synapses, or connections, between existing nerve cells grew stronger in the trainees who qualified.

Dr John Williams, Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the Wellcome Trust, comments: "The original study of the hippocampi of London taxi drivers provided tantalising hints that brain structure might change through learning, and now Eleanor's follow-up study, looking at this directly within individual taxi trainees over time, has shown this is indeed the case. Only a few studies have shown direct evidence for plasticity in the adult human brain related to vital functions such as memory, so this new work makes an important contribution to this field of research."

Provided by Wellcome Trust

"Changes in London taxi drivers' brains driven by acquiring 'the Knowledge', study shows." December 8th, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-london-taxi-drivers-brains-driven.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Changes in Bioelectric Signals Trigger Formation of New Organs: Tadpoles Made to Grow Eyes in Back, Tail

Manipulation of voltage of embryonic frog cells located in midsection of the tadpole caused the cell to develop into a working eye. (Credit: Michael Levin and Sherry Aw)

Science Daily — For the first time, scientists have altered natural bioelectrical communication among cells to directly specify the type of new organ to be created at a particular location within a vertebrate organism. Using genetic manipulation of membrane voltage in Xenopus (frog) embryos, biologists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences were able to cause tadpoles to grow eyes outside of the head area.

The researchers achieved most surprising results when they manipulated membrane voltage of cells in the tadpole's back and tail, well outside of where the eyes could normally form. "The hypothesis is that for every structure in the body there is a specific membrane voltage range that drives organogenesis," said Pai. "These were cells in regions that were never thought to be able to form eyes. This suggests that cells from anywhere in the body can be driven to form an eye."

To do this, they changed the voltage gradient of cells in the tadpoles' back and tail to match that of normal eye cells. The eye-specific gradient drove the cells in the back and tail -- which would normally develop into other organs -- to develop into eyes.

These findings break new ground in the field of biomedicine because they identify an entirely new control mechanism that can be capitalized upon to induce the formation of complex organs for transplantation or regenerative medicine applications, according to Michael Levin, Ph.D., professor of biology and director of the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences. Levin is senior and corresponding author on the work published in the journal "Development." online December 7 2011, in advance of print.

"These results reveal a new regulator of eye formation during development, and suggest novel approaches for the detection and repair of birth defects affecting the visual system," he said. "Aside from the regenerative medicine applications of this new technique for eyes, this is a first step to cracking the bioelectric code."

Tufts post-doctoral fellow Vaibhav P. Pai Ph.D., is first author of the paper, entitled "Transmembrane Voltage Potential Controls Embryonic Eye Patterning in Xenopus laevis." .

Signals Turn On Eye Genes

From the outset of their research, the Tufts' biologists wanted to understand how cells use natural electrical signals to communicate in their task of creating and placing body organs. In recent research, Tufts biologist Dany S. Adams showed that bioelectrical signals are necessary for normal face formation in the Xenopus (frog) embryos. In the current set of experiments, the Levin lab identified and marked hyperpolarized (more negatively charged) cell clusters located in the head region of the frog embryo.

They found that these cells expressed genes that are involved in building the eye called Eye Field Transcription Factors (EFTFs). Sectioning of the embryo through the developed eye and analyzing the eye regions under fluorescence microscopy showed that the hyperpolarized cells contributed to development of the lens and retina. The researchers hypothesized that these cells turned on genes that are necessary for building the eye.

Changing the Signals Lead to Defects

Next, the researchers were able to show that changing the bioelectric code, or depolarizing these cells, affected normal eye formation. They injected the cells with mRNA encoding ion channels, which are a class of gating proteins embedded in the membranes of the cell. Like gates, each ion channel protein selectively allows a charged particle to pass in and out of the cell.

Using individual ion channels that allow, the researchers changed the membrane potential of these cells. This affected expression of EFTF genes, causing abnormalities to occur: Tadpoles from these experiments were normal except that they had deformed or no eyes at all.

Further, the Tufts biologists were also able to show that they could control the incidence of abnormal eyes by manipulating the voltage gradient in the embryo. "Abnormalities were proportional to the extent of disruptive depolarization," said Pai. "We developed techniques to raise or lower voltage potential to control gene expression."

Electric Properties of Cells Can Be Manipulated to Generate Specific Organs

The researchers achieved most surprising results when they manipulated membrane voltage of cells in the tadpole's back and tail, well outside of where the eyes could normally form.

"The hypothesis is that for every structure in the body there is a specific membrane voltage range that drives organogenesis," said Pai. "By using a specific membrane voltage, we were able to generate normal eyes in regions that were never thought to be able to form eyes. This suggests that cells from anywhere in the body can be driven to form an eye."

Levin and his colleagues are pursuing further research, additionally targeting the brain, spinal cord, and limbs. The findings, he said "will allow us to have much better control of tissue and organ pattern formation in general. We are developing new applications of molecular bioelectricity in limb regeneration, brain repair, and synthetic biology." Additional authors include post-doctoral fellow Sherry Aw, Tufts Postdoctoral Associate Tal Shomrat, and Research Associate Joan M. Lemire. Funding for this research came from the National Institutes of Health.

One of the World's Smallest Electronic Circuits Created

 Scientists have engineered one of the world's smallest electronic circuits. It is formed by two wires separated by only about 150 atoms or 15 nanometers (nm). (Credit: Image courtesy of McGill University) —                                          Science Daily A team of scientists, led by Guillaume Gervais from McGill's Physics Department and Mike Lilly from Sandia National Laboratories, has engineered one of the world's smallest electronic circuits. It is formed by two wires separated by only about 150 atoms or 15 nanometers (nm).

The discovery, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, could have a significant effect on the speed and power of the ever smaller integrated circuits of the future in everything from smartphones to desktop computers, televisions and GPS systems.

This is the first time that anyone has studied how the wires in an electronic circuit interact with one another when packed so tightly together. Surprisingly, the authors found that the effect of one wire on the other can be either positive or negative. This means that a current in one wire can produce a current in the other one that is either in the same or the opposite direction. This discovery, based on the principles of quantum physics, suggests a need to revise our understanding of how even the simplest electronic circuits behave at the nanoscale.

In addition to the effect on the speed and efficiency of future electronic circuits, this discovery could also help to solve one of the major challenges facing future computer design. This is managing the ever-increasing amount of heat produced by integrated circuits

Well-known theorist Markus Büttiker speculates that it may be possible to harness the energy lost as heat in one wire by using other wires nearby. Moreover, Buttiker believes that these findings will have an impact on the future of both fundamental and applied research in nanoelectronics.

The research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Fonds de recherche Nature et Technologies of Quebec, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Center of Integrated Nanotechnologies at Sandia National Laboratories.

Sai Baba Aarti.wmv

A Salvadoran Law to Achieve Equality Between Men and Women

 | Fund for Gender Equality | News

The first goal was to pass a law for gender equality in El Salvador. This has now been achieved. On 17 March 2011, the General Assembly unanimously approved the Law of Equality, Fairness, and the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, a set of regulations that improve the judicial framework for the protection of women’s rights. This was pushed through by Salvadoran women’s organizations, with the support of UN Women Fund for Gender Equality through the Fund’s catalytic programmes.
El Salvador screamed out for change. This is a country in which the wage gender gap between men and women is 14 percent and where women do not have the same access to education as men. Five out of every 10 girls drop out of school to help in the home and 61.3 percent of the illiterate population is female. At the same time, women represent 76.8 percent of the inactive economic population. Of these, 42.8 percent are categorized as engaging in “home work.” The data on political participation are also not very encouraging: women occupy only 29 of the 262 existing mayorships and there are only 18 female representatives among the 84 seats in the General Assembly.
It was from within this reality that different women’s movements united with a common goal: achieve equal opportunities for men and women. “We have taken steps forward and steps back, but at a certain point we reached the conclusion that, although it would take a lot of time — for this law — to come out, the most important thing was to get the support of the citizens,” remembers María Elena Alvarado of the Concertación Prudencia Ayala, an organization that combines more than 20 women’s groups including Las Dignas and Las Mélidas, two lead grantee partner organizations of the Fund for Gender Equality who played a crucial role in this process.
With the objective of achieving gender equality, activists began a program to record the demands of as many women as possible, from rural women to domestic workers, from professionals to the politically active. “We listened a lot; wrote everything down. Then we set about reading gender equality laws from other countries and we realized that we were not versed on legal matters. We didn’t know how to go about this,” explains Emma Hernández, an activist also with the Concertación Prudencia Ayala. This was the first obstacle to be overcome.
The need for change, however, was stronger than the temptation to abandon the idea. Therefore, a plan was conceived. “We made a map of power. We sought out alliances with women from all walks of life. We asked for national and international support and we sought to make sure the demands of women from all sectors would be included in the law,” declared Hernández.
A tenacious campaign turned out to be one of the keys to their success. “We went to the General Assembly everyday. We called it guerilla warfare because it was an insistent crusade. We didn’t want them to forget about the law at any moment,” tells Alvarado. To this they added public and media advocacy. They also garnered the support of women with a public presence, parliamentarians, and the female representatives from all the political parties. “They were carrying an enormous weight because we would tell the ones on the right that they were with the left and vice versa. But ultimately they all made the agenda of the feminist movement theirs.”
“When we presented our plan to the Fund for Gender Equality we committed ourselves to an effective advocacy, but we couldn’t promise the law would pass because that wasn’t in our hands. Nevertheless, it was passed,” said Alvarado, who also explained that they are now working on implementing the law. In an effort to make the law effective, they are trying to educate public servants and are struggling to get a budget assigned for the mechanisms of change the Law of Equality mandates. They are also attempting to ensure that the agenda of the Salvadoran government includes the principles of equality and nondiscrimination.
Hernández feels that this is an enormous task, but they have already started to work towards these new goals. “We organized an international forum in August in order to share experiences in the implementation of laws and that cleared up a lot of things for us.” Furthermore, the women’s movement has signed an agreement with the Salvadoran Institute for Women’s Development (ISDEMU) to develop a plan for achieving equality. “At this time we are united, but with us as the monitoring agents of public financing for the law, and them as guiders of the law, because we are the ones who know it point by point.”
The law dictates, among other things, that women and men obtain the same salary for the same work and that the value of domestic labor, paid or unpaid, be recognized. It also provides guarantees for rural women. For example, it regulates land titles. However, other articles that were included in the initial formulation of the law, like provisions for participation quotas for women in elected positions and the secularization of education, were not included in the final version.
Hernández believes that what was left out of the law now will be included in the future. “When we began this struggle, everyone told us we had to proceed slowly. We have to think that this law will take, as a minimum, 20 years. Achieving real equality is going to take time, but we have to lay the foundations now. We want to do a lot of things, but the most urgent is a plan for equality.”
The work the activists engage in is constant and meticulous. They have begun to give educational workshops for local female leaders and functionaries from some institutions using a vernacular version of the law. This is an initiative that will carry into the communities. “This will create a critical mass of women who monitor the law,” claims Alvarado.
The two activists look back on the work of the last few years and they realize they have accumulated experience. Among the lessons they have learned from the process is the fundamental importance of political alliances between women. “If we want something, we will achieve it together, not divided. Moreover, men always make alliances. That’s why we have to find what unites us,” says Alvarado, who adds that everything was made possible thanks to the fact that the law was a consensual creation done with the participation of all Salvadoran women. “The women feel like the law is theirs, they own it,  and that’s why they’re going to demand it.” Hernández and Alvarado both consider the collective construction of the law by women from all circles to have been the best strategy.
The experience has changed the perspective of Emma Hernández’ activism. “As an independent feminist, I now understand that nothing is impossible. You have to learn how to overcome the obstacles and take advantage of opportunities. I realized it’s a myth that only lawyers can make laws since we’re the ones who put together the content. This law has strengthened all of us. It empowers us. We are prepared for the struggle. The fight does not end here.”

Google office

Cleland Notes

“The real import of the scriptures is revealed to one who has unflinching faith in both the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the spiritual master.” (Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 6.23) In America, for middle and junior high school students the portion of English class focusing on Shakespearean literature is not eagerly anticipated. Reading about romance, family infighting, political struggles and other compelling issues in life isn’t a big deal, as these already form the backbone of the majority of storylines for motion pictures and novels. The difficulty with learning Shakespeare is in the language used, for many of the works are poems fit to a certain standard. To adjust to rhyme and meter, normal sentences get rearranged into verses that aren’t as easy to understand. The classroom studies the literature in depth, uncovering the real meanings to the verses. One can even become a scholar in Shakespeare’s works if they so desire. If in-depth study is required for just reading literature authored by one man, why should it be absent when the focus shifts to literature that is so old that no one can date it? The sacred Vedic teachings are meant to be studied for a lifetime, something not understood by just picking up a book and reading it. The bona fide spiritual master    incorporates the necessary context into his translations and commentaries, and even then one must read the works repeatedly and practice the underlying principles to understand the meanings. As the ancient scriptures of India are composed mostly in the Sanskrit language and its derivatives, it’s difficult to gain much insight by just picking up an old work and reading it. Finding the original Sanskrit versions of these works is also difficult. In days past, copies were made by hand, with the interested readers meticulously writing down the many verses onto leaf pages and then storing them safely within temples. Because of the austerity in production, man was more prone to remembering the many important verses, reciting them when necessary. Advancements in production mechanisms brought books written in many different languages. Today, if I want to learn about the Vedas - which include their original hymns, the Mahabharata   , the many Puranas, and the Ramayana    - why not pick up a translation of one of these works if they are available? Surely by reading a translation I can get a firm grasp of what the texts are about, no? This is actually not the case. The translations can be written in perfect English that leaves no ambiguity whatsoever, but the context is not accounted for, as time and circumstance have changed since the work’s composition. In each and every verse there is so much to be understood from the background. The treatise on Vedic philosophy that has the best combination of brevity and completeness is the Bhagavad-gita. In this work Lord Krishna   , the speaker and de facto teacher, states that the spirit soul is the essence of identity and that it does not take birth or die. In addition, full-scale reincarnation    takes place just like the regular changing of the personal body. Similar to how garments are put on and then taken off, the spirit soul accepts bodies for activity and then discards them when they are no longer useful. “For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita   , 2.20) The statements about the soul and reincarnation form some of the more straightforward verses from the Gita, but there is still some context to be understood, some background information not available to those who only read the verses. For starters, what is the makeup of the soul? What is the purpose to activity if the soul just lives forever anyway? Why even teach anyone about these things when it seems like the position of neutrality is there by default? Whether I know that the soul is eternal or not doesn’t change the fact that my soul will live on, so why did Krishna even present this information? The purpose to Krishna’s direction at that specific time was to remove the hesitancy to fight within Arjuna, who was the leading warrior for the Pandava side, which had the rightful claim to the kingdom in Hastinapura. Arjuna’s cousins led by Duryodhana had unjustly usurped control for themselves. This led to a war to settle the score. Arjuna did not want to fight because he didn’t think victory to gain the kingdom was worth the cost of the lives of his friends and family members fighting for the opposing side. Krishna’s presentation was meant to dispel his mental illusion, to let Arjuna know that killing isn’t really killing when done under proper direction. The soul lives on, so there is no need to worry about the person’s existence after death. We also shouldn’t worry too much about where they were prior to birth. Taking the translations of these verses on the surface, it seems like the Gita is more or less a pep talk on the importance of fighting ahead, going for what you want without fear. Follow your heart and don’t be attached to the results of action. Work in a detached manner so that you can succeed in life. Indeed, this is how trained professionals behave when facing adversity. If they were to get discouraged over every little setback, they would never be able to continue on with their occupational duties. Therefore Krishna’s discussion with Arjuna is one where a hesitant, yet fully capable fighter is afraid to move on and needs some cajoling. But the Gita has a lot more context than this. Going ahead with one’s tasks in a fearless manner is certainly helpful, but how does one determine what the proper task is? Should I make up my own desires and follow through on them without fear? What if my desire is to steal from others? Should I go into home after home and rummage through people’s things without worrying about the consequences? After all, if my soul is eternal, what difference does it make whether or not I follow piety? The context of the Gita, which is understood by those who study it under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, is found in the speaker itself. Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the leader of all leaders, the greatest and original teacher. He is the very same God that the world worships, denies or ignores. Krishna is the form and name that paints the empty canvas that is man’s general conception of a supreme controller. Krishna and His position are what give the Gita its teeth; the real meaning to the verses. This fact is revealed in the Gita itself, but should one focus only on certain verses and topics, that lesson will pass them by. The living being is assigned occupational duties based on the qualities of the body type assumed. Following these duties gradually purifies consciousness to the point that the constitutional position is reached. In that position one only follows Krishna’s direction; therefore they are no longer bound by duty or action. The soul who is in complete knowledge basks in the sweetness of Krishna’s association. As this is the summit of existence, the devotee has nothing left to do, nor do they suffer the future negative reactions of skipping prescribed work. “A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 3.18) Arjuna was in Krishna’s association and after he received instruction from the Lord it seemed like he fell into the category of not being obliged to work. He was now knowledgeable of the soul, material nature, and the temporary nature of fruitive results. Armed with transcendental knowledge, he had nothing to do, yet in the end he followed Krishna’s direction and fought ahead. In this way we see that the position of neutrality is reached regardless; whether one is pious or impious. Instead of choosing the impious route on a whim, the truly wise follow Krishna’s order, for that keeps them in the Lord’s company. In Arjuna’s case, the wise instruction was provided by the Lord Himself. This is the real message of the Gita; to follow God’s orders, which are given either directly or through a representative who follows in the same mood of devotion as Arjuna. Further context for the Gita is provided by the vast Vedic literature, which is so expansive that it cannot possibly all be absorbed in one lifetime. Krishna previously appeared on earth as the warrior prince namedLord Rama   , whose life and pastimes are described in the lengthy Sanskrit poem called the Ramayana. Krishna’s activities and incidents relating to appearances are described in many Vedic texts, including the Mahabharata and Shrimad Bhagavatam   . Familiarity with these works lends further credence to the words the Lord puts forth in the Gita, which is just one small chapter within the lengthy Mahabharata. With Shakespeare the language is difficult to understand, as are the meanings to the verses. One who studies Shakespearean literature under someone else who studied it previously can gain a higher understanding of the works. In a similar manner, the only way to truly understand the Vedas and their purpose is to take instruction from someone who loves Krishna just as much as Arjuna does. The Gita broadcasts no other message except the supremacy of bhakti-yoga, or devotional service   . Every other piece of information is meant to get the listener to eventually reach that position of devotion. The many cogent points of fact are like beautiful pearls, which are each valuable in their own right. But when they are connected on the string that is Krishna, the pearls become a beautiful necklace that has an infinitely greater value. The bona fide spiritual master incorporates the necessary context into his translations and commentaries. That these works would be valuable and presented from a position of higher intelligence shouldn’t be very difficult to understand. The first time we read or study something, we obviously don’t know much about it. But if we spend our life dedicated to learning about, honoring and becoming immersed in the particular subject matter, we will come from a much better position later on when presenting and discussing the information with others. The guru lives devotional service by regularly chanting   , “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare   ”, and using the spiritual television within the mind that comes from thinking about Krishna’s activities, qualities and overall glories. With a perfectly situated consciousness, explaining the scriptures becomes very easy for the guru, so much so that he can pick out one verse from the many works describing Krishna and go on discussing it for days on end, finding new ways to present the same conclusion of devotion to God that is untainted by any desires for fruitive gain, mental speculation or mystic perfection. The Vedas are from such an ancient time that it is nice to pick up a translation and read some of the verses, but if we follow only this method, we could read the same works over and over again and never gain any real insight. If, for instance, a verse makes reference to Prahlada Maharaja being saved or Draupadi being rescued by Krishna’s intervention, what is the reader going to know? What if a passing reference is made to the 8,400,000 different species or the fact that Ajamila was saved by reciting the name of Narayana? These statements have specific context, information that can be found elsewhere in the Vedas. Even if we were to find the specific verses mentioning these incidents and read the translations, we still wouldn’t fully understand. He who follows the bhakti discipline under the authorized guidelines, however, can fully appreciate the brilliance of these statements and even invoke the incidents when appropriate. In the modern age, the greatest exponent of bhakti-yoga is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada   . His many books are full of context and proper commentary, so much so that one can reach full enlightenment by consulting only his writings over and over again. The reading can be coupled with the regular chanting of the holy names. The ideal daily regimen is to recite the maha-mantra for sixteen rounds on a set of japa beads and simultaneously avoid the four pillars of sinful life   : meat eating, gambling   , intoxication    and illicit sex   . These are lofty goals, but one who remains in the company of sadhu, shastra and guru can advance towards the highest platform of consciousness. The more bhakti is practiced, the more Krishna is revealed to the devotee. And the more one knows Krishna, the more they will relish topics discussing Him, which is the purpose of the Vedas to begin with. In Closing: To understand old literature a tough task, Thus even for Shakespeare we require a class. The poems are just English words after all, So understanding them shouldn’t be order tall. Context is wherein lies the distinction, To gain that one requires proper instruction. In same way Vedas are profound in each verse, Learn of pearls of wisdom through books immerse. Yet context is what really counts in texts like Gita, Learn real message of divine love from guru and shastra.

Iraivan Irandu Bommaigal இறைவன் இரண்டு பொம்மைகள்

How corruption and tax evasion distort development

SUBMITTED BY STUART YIKONA 

 

When it comes to confronting the issue of  ill-gotten money (through corruption or tax evasion, for example) and its negative impact on development outcomes, we development professionals have often been guilty of tinkering at the edges of the problem, while avoiding confronting its root cause. Through recent work, we are attempting to rectify this dilemma.

In a study conducted between November 2010 and February 2011 on ill-gotten money and the economy, the Financial Integrity team looked at the experiences of Malawi and Namibia. We approached the project with an open mind and without any assumptions, finding that for Malawi, corruption and tax evasion as a percentage of GDP represent a significant drag on economic development. Corruption is estimated at 5% of GDP and tax evasion, at a whopping 8-12% of GDP.  Meanwhile, we estimated that tax revenue actually collected by the Malawi Revenue Authority is only 22% of GDP. Thus, if the national tax authority had successfully collected all the taxes it was due, government revenue would increase by 50 percent. This is approximately about how much Malawi receives in foreign aid (11.7 percent of GDP). As one Malawi Revenue official stated when being interviewed during the study: “if we collected all the taxes, we will then not have to depend on foreign aid”.

 The Namibian tax evasion situation is no better, as uncollected taxes are equivalent to about 9% of the GDP. This is larger than education’s share of the economy and almost as large as the mining sector—which generates most of the country’s export income. What makes things worse is that Namibia suffers from the highest income inequality in the world: The Gini co-efficient, which measures the gap between rich and poor, is estimated at 70.7. Tax evasion siphons away money that could be invested in productive resources needed to diversify the economy and address urgent social problems.

Furthermore, the revenue lost through corruption and tax evasion represents a diversion (“leakage”) of financial resources away from the national budget toward private spending. And these private expenses or expenditures have much lower “multiplier effects” than expenditures on, for example, agricultural fertilizers, education, health, and infrastructure.

There are four key things that practitioners can take away from the new World Bank study “Ill-Gotten Money and the Economy, Experiences from Malawi and Namibia”.

1. Losses caused by corruption and tax evasion are powerful examples of how criminal activities can potentially have tremendous negative effects on economic development.

2. Ill-gotten money is not spent on productive investments that can have a multiplier effect on an economy and benefit the significant majority of a population, rather than just a select few.

3. Policymakers in governments and development institutions such as the World Bank cannot afford to ignore issues that stand in the way of achieving economic progress, because it means that many people remain in poverty. So, in the case of Malawi and Namibia, addressing corruption and tax evasion should be part of a continuing dialogue with the two governments in our engagement with policymakers.

4. The study confirms the importance for developing countries to adopt, for their own benefit, customized legal regimes and institutions to go after dirty money. The regimes should reflect local political, economic and social contexts.

As practitioners, addressing these crucial issues head on – be it corruption, tax evasion or a bloated public sector—is our responsibility. No matter how contentious or uncomfortable it may be, we should avoid ignoring this “elephant in the room” and not look the other way when we know that any of these big issues are affecting a client country. We should explore initiatives that target the root of the problem—helping governments implement solutions to critical problems like tax evasion in the short-term, and exploring behavior-changing programs by educating youth on the perils of corruption in the longer term. We hope that policy makers will take our findings into account and do the same.

Bribe Payers Index

International back scratching

by The Economist online

BRIBERY involves two parties, not one. Lambasting officials in poor countries for their sticky fingers is easier (and less open to legal challenge) than investigating the outsiders who suborn them. On November 2nd Transparency International (TI), a Berlin-based campaigning group, published its Bribe Payers Index. Based on questions to 3,000 businessmen, this ranks 28 countries (accounting for 80% of global trade and investment) by the perceived likelihood of their companies paying bribes when doing business abroad. Construction and industries involving government contracts, unsurprisingly, were the dirtiest. This index shows a different side of bribery from TI's Corruption Perceptions Index, which focuses on corruption in the public sector. Putting them together, there is a strong correlation between corruption in the public and private sectors.

Correction: An earlier version of this chart incorrectly showed China's CPI score as 5.8 instead of 3.5. This was changed on November 2nd 2011.