சிரிக்க தெரிந்தவர்களுக்கு மட்டும்...

அப்பா: டேய்! ஏண்டா இண்டர்வியுக்கு போகலையா?

மகன்: ச்சீ..சீ.. நாலு பேரு கேள்வி கேட்கற மாதிரி நடக்க கூடாதுன்னு நீங்கதானே சொன்னீங்க!

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பாடகர்:தொண்டையில ஆபரேஷன் முடிந்த பிறகு நான் பாடலாமா 

டாக்டர்: நீங்க இனிமே பாடக்கூடாதுன்னுதானே இந்த ஆபரேஷன்!!

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மனைவி:- உங்களுக்கு ராணின்னு ஏற்கனவே ஒரு மனைவி இருக்கான்னு கல்யாணத்துக்கு முன்பே ஏன் என்கிட்டே சொல்லலை..

கணவன்:- சொன்னேனே... மறந்துட்டியா...

மனைவி:- எப்போ சொன்னீங்க...நீங்க சொல்லவே இல்லை...

கணவன்:- உன்னை ராணி மாதிரி வச்சி காப்பாத்துவேன்னு நான் சொல்லலை..

மனைவி:-????????

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குளிர்காலத்துல ஆபரேஷன் பண்றதா இருந்தா டாக்டருக்கு ரொம்ப இஷ்டம்...."

"ஏன்?"

"ஆபரேஷன் பண்றப்போ கை நடுங்கினா குளிர்னால நடுங்குதுன்னு சொல்லி சமாளிச்சுறலாமே!"

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"என்னடா! கையில பைனாகுலர் எடுத்துகிட்டு எங்கே போறே?"

"நான் என் "தூரத்து" சொந்தக்காரர் ஒருத்தர பாக்கப்போறேன்."

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நோயாளி : டாக்டர், வயித்து வலி என்னால பொறுக்க முடியல...

டாக்டர் : வயிறு வலிக்கும்போது,நீங்க ஏன் பொறுக்கப் போறீங்க?

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காதலன் : நம்ம காதலை மெதுவா எங்க வீட்டில் சொல்லிட்டேன்.

காதலி : அவங்க என்ன சொன்னாங்க, ஒத்துக்கிட்டாங்களா?

காதலன் : மெதுவா சொன்னதால அவங்களுக்கு கேட்கலை...

காதலி : !!!!

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"ஏண்டி டாக்டர் உன்னை எதையும் தூக்கி வச்சுக்கிட்டு இருக்கக் கூடாதுன்னு சொல்லியிருக்காருல்ல..."

"ஆமாம்...அதுக்கென்ன...?"

"நீ இப்ப மூஞ்சியைத் தூக்கி வச்சுக்கிட்டிருக்கியே...!"

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அப்பா: என்னடா! டெஸ்ட்ல பூஜ்யம் மார்க் வாங்கிட்டு வந்திருக்க?

பையன்: அது பூஜ்யம் இல்லப்பா... வாத்தியார் நான் நல்லா படிச்சதுக்காக "ஓ"போட்டாங்க...

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முதலாளி: இந்தக் கம்பெனியில்"நைட் வாட்ச் மேன்"வேலை கேட்கறியே,உனக்கு அனுபவம் இருக்குதா?

வேலைக்கு வந்தவன்: என்ன இப்படிக் கேட்டுட்டீங்க.இரவுல லேசா சின்ன சத்தம் கேட்டாக் கூட நான் விழித்துக் கொண்டு விடுவேன்.

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நர்ஸ்:ஆப்ரேஷன் தியேட்டர்ல டெலிபோன் வைக்க வேண்டாம்னு சொன்னேனே கேட்டீங்களா டாக்டர்?

டாக்டர்: ஏன்?

நர்ஸ்: இப்ப அதுவும் டெட் ஆய்டுச்சு

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பொதுக் கூட்ட மேடையிலே ஏன் தீப்பிடிச்சிருக்கு?
தலைவர் அனல் பறக்கப் பேசினாராம்!

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காதலி: நம் காதலை ஏன் அப்பாகிட்ட சொல்ல அவசரப்படுத்துறீங்க...?காதலன்: அப்பதான் உனக்கு வேற இடத்தில் சீக்கிரம் மாப்பிள்ளை பார்ப்பார்.

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போலீஸ்: பஸ் எப்படி விபத்தில் சிக்கியது?

டிரைவர்: அதான் எனக்கும் புரியல சார்... நான் நல்ல தூக்கத்தில இருந்தேன்.

போலீஸ்:!!!!

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மனைவி: ஏங்க இன்னைக்கு குழம்பு வைக்கட்டுமா இல்ல ரசம் வைக்கட்டுமா?

கணவன்: முதல்ல எதாவது ஒன்னு வை... அப்பறமா அதுக்கு பேரு வச்சுக்கலாம்.

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வானொலியில் தொலைபேசி வழி நேயர் விருப்பத்தில் ஒரு உரையாடல்.....

"ஹலோ வணக்கம்!"

"வணக்கம்! சொல்லுங்க...

வணக்கம்தான் சொல்லிட்டேனே...வெண்ணே மறுக என்ன வணக்கம் நொனக்கம்னு.

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இந்த சேலை கட்டியிருக்கும் போது நீ மகாலட்சுமி மாதிரியே இருக்க...
யாருங்க அந்த மகாலட்சுமி ?
எங்க ஆபிஸ் டைப்பிஸ்ட்.

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நேற்று பெண் பார்க்கப் போன இடத்தில மயங்கி விழுந்திட்டேன்டா... பெண் அவ்வளவு அழகா? 

இல்லடா... விஷயம் தெரிந்து என் மனைவியும் அங்கே வந்திட்டா.

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நீதிபதி:ஏன் கபாலி உன் பொண்டாட்டிய விஷம் வச்சி கொல்லப் பார்த்த?

கபாலி:என்னை ரசம் வச்சி கொல்ல பார்க்குறா எஜமான் அதான்.

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ஏன் உங்க டைரக்டர் இப்பல்லாம் ’மசாலா’ படங்கள் எடுக்கறதில்லே?வெங்காய விலை குறையட்டும்னு காத்திருக்கார்.

Combing The Earth

“I have searched all this earth: pools, ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, marshes, woods and difficult to access mountains - but still I do not see Sita. Sampati, the king of vultures, said that Sita was here in Ravana's abode, but still I am unable to see her.” (Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 13.4-5)
palvalāni taṭākāni sarāmsi saritaḥ tathā |
nadyo anūpavana antāḥ ca durgāḥ ca dharaṇī dharāḥ ||
loḍitā vasudhā sarvā na ca paśyāmi jānakīm |
iha sampātinā sītā rāvaṇasya niveśane ||
ākhyātā gṛdhra rājena na ca paśyāmi tām aham |
Shri Hanuman, fighting his way into the enemy territory of Lanka - which was guarded by the most wicked Rakshasas of terrible might, having fear for their prowess and the flesh of dead living entities for their fuel - could not find the person he was looking for. Hanuman had crossed Lanka’s well-guarded city walls, the impenetrable fortress protecting the land full of ignorance headed by its leader, Ravana. Despite the wickedness of the inhabitants, there was one particular gem that lay hidden in a place difficult to find. It was Hanuman’s mission to discover that beauty, and seeing that his chances for success were dwindling, he took some time to reassess the situation, review what he had already done.
In the above referenced verse from the Ramayana Hanuman lists the different areas of water in Lanka that have been searched already. The person he was looking for, Sita Devi, the princess of Videha, is known in the spiritual world as Lakshmi Devi, the wife of Lord Narayana. From one entity come many; from God emanate the various energies, of which we living entities are part. The living beings, the individual spiritual life forces responsible for the autonomous activities of creatures, are the same in constitutional makeup as the Supreme Person. The spiritual energy diffused off of the original being consists of smaller particles that have qualities similar to the origin, but in limited quantities.
In Sanskrit the human beings are known as “naras”, which can also mean “men”. Since God is the source of all men, He is known as Narayana, who is also a spiritual personality residing in the eternal realm of Vaikuntha. Narayana is the four-armed form of the Supreme Absolute Truth, opulently adorned and typically worshiped in a mood of reverence. Worship of Narayana is different from other types of worship because there is no intent to receive the opulence belonging to the worshipable figure. For instance, demigods and powerful saints are honored because of their ability to grant rewards to those who honor them. If you want material opulence, you worship a particular personality; if you want to do well in school, you honor someone else, and if you want to enjoy your time on earth without difficulty, you approach another specific personality.
Worship of Narayana takes place in pure goodness, however, which means that even if the worshiper has an ulterior motive, the defect is overlooked by Narayana. In all cases, the Lord ensures that the sincere worshipers get what is good for them, rather than necessarily what they desire. This may seem impolite, but we actually follow similar behavior with our own dependents. If our child should ask for an expensive toy or a trip to some place that is unsafe, we will deny their request not out of hatred or stinginess, but out of love. Before acquiescing a good parent takes into consideration whether the desired benediction is beneficial for the child.
Narayana follows a similar mindset. At this point, the question may be raised as to how anyone could ever be in a distressful situation if Narayana is the original father of creation. Why are their natural disasters, horrific tragedies, and seemingly unfair bouts of bad luck? The rule is that Narayana personally takes care of those who approach Him in earnest. In the Vedic tradition the living entities in the material world are often compared to inmates in a prison. In a free society, everyone has a choice of whether or not to abide by the law. Those who follow the law live in continued freedom, not having too many interactions with the law enforcers. Those who choose the rebel route have to be punished every now and then. The prison is not to be blamed for the punishment, and neither is the government. The choice was there from the very beginning, and because of the way freedom was exercised the negative consequences resulted.
In a similar manner, those who turn their backs on Narayana take shelter of the material energy. This turns out to be a very poor decision, as the threefold miseries of life are not very kind. Without the shelter of Narayana, the influence of other living entities, the body and mind, and nature inhibit enjoyment at every second. When the initial reaction is to go to a saintly figure or divine personality for redress, the protection of Narayana still remains far away. Without surrender to the Personality of Godhead, there cannot be any permanent alleviation from distress.
One of God’s primary features is that He is the supreme enjoyer. This means that the people He associates with are of the highest caliber. Narayana’s eternal consort is Lakshmi Devi, who is also known by names like Padmini and Kamala. Narayana is the supreme swan, or the essence of purity. His spiritual home features a wonderfully pure ocean, which has many lotus flowers floating in it. Lakshmi Devi only stays with purity, so she is always associated with the lotus flower. During the Treta Yuga she descended to earth as Sita Devi, the daughter of the famous King Janaka. Narayana similarly appeared as the warrior prince named Rama.
Since the divine figures are incapable of fully masking their inherent features, Sita Devi remained tied to pure goodness, always choosing purity of association. Lord Rama maintained His vow to give the devotees what they deserve and not necessarily what they ask for. Shri Hanuman, when searching for Sita after she had been taken away to the island of Lanka, looked through various bodies of water. Sita is originally Kamala after all, so perhaps she was near pools, tanks, or rivers. All of these bodies of water were searched thoroughly by Hanuman while in Lanka, but he could not find her.
Why was Rama not looking for Sita? If He is God, how could He allow her to be taken away from His side? The real question should be: “If Sita hadn’t been taken away, how would we have gotten to know Shri Hanuman, whose very name carries transcendental enchantment?” Indeed, no matter how much pride we may accumulate through our worldly successes, just hearing of Hanuman’s thoughts and level of devotion is enough to humble us in an instant. His concern over failing to find Sita after performing an exhaustive search can only bring tears to the eyes, as he is such a dedicated servant that he puts everyone else to shame.
Lord Narayana is the supreme master, so he arranges everything into the proper place at just the right time. With Sita in Lanka, Hanuman, who was very eager to offer service to his beloved Rama, was allowed to shine. And what better way to increase Hanuman’s stature than to put impediments in his path? First, Hanuman had to battle ridiculously powerful forces blocking his way to Lanka. Then while in Lanka he had to risk committing sin by looking at Ravana’s many wives while they were in their bedrooms. Nothing was easy for Hanuman; he was never handed victory, though he completely deserved it.
Hanuman searched the mountains, marshes, woods, and pretty much entire land of Lanka and still couldn’t find Sita. After a while some doubt crept into his mind. Perhaps Sampati was mistaken in his assertion that Sita was in Lanka. Hanuman didn’t start off the search for Sita alone. Shri Rama and His younger brother Lakshmana first had made an alliance with the king of Vanaras in Kishkindha, Sugriva, who then dispatched his enormous monkey army around the world to look for Sita. The monkeys were divided up into different search parties, with Hanuman’s group believed to have the best chance for success.
Though their group had the most capable warriors, they too faced tremendous difficulties. At one point, it looked like they were going to fail, for the time period allotted for the search had elapsed and they hadn’t gotten anywhere. They didn’t even know where Sita was. Resolved to starve to death, the monkeys came upon good fortune by meeting the vulture Sampati. He was the brother of Jatayu, who had tried to stop Ravana’s initial kidnap attempt. Jatayu was slain in the conflict, so Sampati was happy for the chance to avenge his brother’s death. He told the monkeys that Sita was in Lanka. Hanuman then made the leap across the massive ocean separating Lanka from the mainland.
Was Sampati incorrect? How could he be? He had the impeccable vision of an eagle. Hanuman hadn’t been lazy, nor had he been careless. He searched everywhere, did everything asked of him. Why could he still not find Sita? Ah, but the ways of the Supreme Lord are a mystery. While this period of frustration seemed like it was unnecessary torture on Hanuman, it would only serve to further glorify him. Anytime we can be privy to the thoughts of the devoted souls, the notable personalities like Hanuman, it is a great blessing.
Material endeavors operate under competition. The mentality of ignorance assumed at the time of birth leads us to think that there are finite resources in the world and that if we accumulate enough before others do, we’ll be alright. This thought is actually behind many of the popular fringe movements, such as eugenics and population control. It even plays a role in environmentalism.  The global warming movement lures in many souls who are sincere about maintaining the ecology of the planet, but in actuality the leaders are only interested in hoarding resources they believe to be dwindling. Evidence of this fact is seen in their behavior, for the leaders do not even follow the prescriptions they lay down for everyone else. The underlying mentality is: “Look at these commoners burning so many fossil fuels and destroying the environment. We need to stop their behavior right now before everything runs out.” Meanwhile, the elite personalities echoing these sentiments are found to be using more fossil fuels than the average person. Even ordinary fruitive activity is driven by competition, the idea of besting another person in the race to accumulate money.
In spiritual life, however, there is no such thing as envy, at least as we know it. Even if envy is present, it only serves to further the cause of devotional service, or bhakti-yoga. The pinnacle of religious practice is to regularly recite the Lord’s names in a mood of love, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. When we see someone else who has already perfected the practice, the devoted onlooker thinks: “Wow, this person is such a better devotee than I am. They must make Krishna so happy. I think I am so great, but when I see this person I know that I am nothing.”
Just imagine then how one feels when they hear about Hanuman and his level of dedication. He is the role model for every single person, for he isn’t even aware of how amazing he is. The quickest way to make progress in spiritual life is to see others succeeding at it. And what helps even more is to see people succeeding who are deemed to have very little chance at success. For instance, with Hanuman he had to face the strongest opposing elements in the Rakshasas of Lanka. Then he had to deal with the time factor, not knowing what Sita looked like, and most importantly, not knowing where she even was. Then he had to contend with mental demons, worries and concerns over failing. Who can imagine the pressure Hanuman was feeling, for he loved Rama so much and had yet to find His wife?

But anyone who is under Narayana’s protection can never fail in their sincere efforts of trying to please the Lord. Narayana doesn’t always give us what we want; but He always grants what is good for us. Hanuman’s troubles in Lanka would benefit him in the end, as the joy he would feel from finding Sita would be terrific. And for future generations, the joy they would feel from hearing about his perseverance would provide unending inspiration to make this human life successful by keeping the thoughts fixed on the Supreme Lord all the way up until the time of death. In this way Hanuman’s troubles can benefit everyone.

In Closing:
Through rivers, ponds, forests, mountains and lakes,
Exhaustive search of Lanka he makes.
Yet the daughter of Janaka he finds not,
Perhaps wrong info from vulture he got.
From his encounter with frustration,
On reader leaves negative impression.
But Narayana has got a larger plan,
Supplies what is good for devoted man.
Hanuman’s troubles his stature would augment,
Hearing of his thoughts and deeds time well spent.

7 Superb Sentences By 7 Superb Persons

7 Superb Sentences 

 

 

Shakespeare....

 "Never Play With The Feelings Of Others

 Because You May Win The Game

 But The Risk Is That You Will Surely Lose

 The Person For A Life Time".

 

 

Napoleon....

 "The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people,

 But because of the silence of good people!"

 

 

Einstein....

 "I am thankful to all those who said NO to me

 It's because of them I did it myself.."

 

 

Abraham Lincoln....

 "If friendship is your weakest point then you are the strongest person in the world"

 

 

Shakespeare....

 "Laughing Faces Do Not Mean That There Is Absence Of Sorrow!

 But It Means That They Have The Ability To Deal With It".

 

 

William Arthur....

 "Opportunities Are Like Sunrises,

 If You Wait Too Long You Can Miss Them".

 

 

Hitler....

 "When You Are In The Light, Everything

 Follows You,

 But When You Enter Into The Dark, Even Your Own Shadow Doesn't Follow You."

 

 

Shakespeare....

 "Coin Always Makes Sound But The Currency

 Notes Are Always Silent. So When Your Value Increases

 Keep Yourself Calm and Silent"

 

 

Dr Abdul Kalaam....

 "It Is Very Easy To Defeat Someone, But It Is Very Hard To Win Someone"  

See No Knowledge

“Experience is gathered by hearing and seeing. One who is less intelligent gathers experience by seeing, and one who is more intelligent gathers experience by hearing.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Nectar of Instruction, 1 Purport)
“Should I take information from authority, accepting it to be true without testing the theories myself, or should I insist on visual evidence for all the postulates and foremost truths of life?” This is the question facing those curious about the origin of life and what to make of their time spent within a particular form of body. The option where all truths must be experienced and seen firsthand seems like a safer bet, as there is less vulnerability for being cheated. In reality, however, seeing is very limited, and even under this method much information has to be accepted that isn’t seen. Everyone must be taught something and extend faith in the instruction presented to them at some point. Therefore if we’re already trusting someone, we might as well approach the right source of information to ascertain the proper path of action.
Seeing involves knowledge gathered from experience and tests for validity. For instance, with respect to the origin of life, the people who believe in the theory of evolution follow what they see, namely the evidence of fossils of creatures who inhabited the earth a long time ago. The monkeys have similar fossil structures to human beings, so perhaps the human eventually evolved from the monkey. The conclusion is based simply on theory and some visual evidence. The same visual evidence leads to the theory that all creatures evolved from one another, with the fittest sections within each group mating to form a gradually more dominant species.
So this seems plausible, no? But has anyone actually seen two monkeys produce a human being? Have we ever, in any scenario, seen a bunch of chemicals collide to produce life? Moreover, how does the evidence gathered from basic perception explain the phenomenon that is the sun? The sun has been burning since the beginning of time and it shows no signs of letting up. There aren’t fuel tankers driving to the sun nor is it even possible for human beings to come close to approaching the giant solar body, so intense is its heat. Rather than give the monkey the credit for creating the human being, why not worship the sun, who provides the light to maintain life on earth?
We see that the greatest limiting factor in acquiring evidence from visual perception is the short amount of time spent on earth by the living entity. In the human species, which is considered the most advanced and which is purportedly evolved from inferior life forms, there is still the knowledge gathering process. Even a superior species like the human being is born ignorant and no more intelligent than many animals. Only through protection from caretakers can we remain alive and eventually receive an education. When initially accepting instruction from teachers and parents, there are no tests made for validity. For instance, we know of the date we were born based on the information provided by our parents. There is no way for us to go back in time and witness the event for ourselves. On a larger scale of information transfer, the history of the earth as a whole is accepted through hearing rather than seeing.
The human being, in the absence of a spiritual awareness, takes sense gratification - meeting the demands of the tongue, genitals, stomach, eyes and ears - as the most important pursuit in life. Therefore through visual evidence, studying fossils and coming up with a test for fitness, there is the deduction that the human life is the most superior and that it descended from nature, with there being no such thing as a God or almighty creator. But if we apply a little intelligence using knowledge acquired through the hearing process, we’ll see that all of these theories can be debunked fairly quickly, including the superiority of the method used to acquire the information that led to the invalid conclusions.
The Vedas, the oldest scriptural tradition in the world, are passed down solely through a chain of disciplic succession. One person, a spiritual master, or guru, teaches their disciples about the meaning of life, the differences between spirit and matter, and the properties of the original person. The disciple then passes on the same information to others. The origin of the chain is, not surprisingly, God, who is known by thousands of names in the Vedic tradition. He is described as Krishna in His original feature because He is all-attractive. Wearing a peacock feather in His hair, holding a flute in His hands, garlanded with a string of beautiful flowers on His neck, and wearing the finest jewelry, Krishna’s image is the most beautiful. The Supreme Person is also known as Rama for His ability to give transcendental pleasure to others. Transcendental refers to those things that transcend the temporary nature of the world, including the various bodies that are assumed.
From the instruction passed on by the spiritual masters, we understand that the creator, who is the original person, is responsible for generating this and many other universes. The residents here did not evolve from other species; they instead physically descended from a more pure land. The material realm is a shadow copy, a generated version of an original home that is pure and eternal. The differences in species are even accounted for in the information presented through the hearing process. The spirit soul is the essence of life, but depending on its desires it can assume different dresses. The number of different forms is capped at 8,400,000, with each species having unique features. The bodies themselves don’t evolve, as they are nothing but combinations of material elements. For instance, the body of a bird has a high concentration of the material element of air, while the human being has a higher concentration of fire. This explains why the body temperature of a living human being is steady at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The body of a lizard is lacking fire; hence it is cold-blooded.
The material elements always exist, for they come from the origin of matter and spirit, Shri Krishna. Just as we can create different compounds in a laboratory using varying combinations of elements, the material bodies can be crafted and shaped based on different combinations of material elements. Just because we see a strange or new body type doesn’t mean that the elements themselves didn’t exist before. The bodies don’t evolve, but the type of dwelling the soul occupies can. At the beginning of its descent from the spiritual land, the individual soul can take the form of a fish and then gradually work its way through the different species, eventually reaching the human form. This transmigration is known as reincarnation, and it operates under scientific rules. The Hindus didn’t create reincarnation; it is a subtle aspect of science that continually operates irrespective of the individual’s belief in it.
All of this information is gathered through the hearing process. No visual tests are required, as the information can be accepted and then acted upon. The latter is the more important, for information is useless unless one can gain a better situation as a result of knowing it. Because of the failure to achieve a better position, the theories crafted by the evolutionists and those who don’t believe in God can be cast aside without hesitation. Starting with the issue of fitness, we see that in the absence of God consciousness the human being, considered the most advanced species, is actually inferior to the animals and lower species. How do we know this? At its core, animal life consists of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. A dog wants to eat something to satisfy its hunger, sleep when it is tired, have sex when it so desires, and defend its life and territory. Since the dog is not very capable or intelligent, the nature of these activities is considered substandard or inferior from the angle of vision of the human being.
But when the human takes to the same activities as its primary mission in life, they actually become inferior to the dog. The dog can eat pretty much anything thrown its way and sleep on the bare ground if required. The human being, on the other hand, must eat nice food and find a comfortable mattress to sleep on. Therefore much mental effort is spent finding just the right place to eat and the most comfortable and affordable bed. The same dichotomies exist in sex life. The dog has no trouble finding sexual partners, while the human being is so troubled by sex life that if a person is single into their thirties, there is cause for concern. “What if I never find the right person? What if I die alone?” Meanwhile, the person who is married is so frustrated by having to deal with their spouse all the time that they envy the position of the single person. “Boy, life was so great before I got married; I had so much freedom.”
According to the evolution theory, the human species is the product of the fittest members of previous species mating. When operating under the mindset of following base instincts, however, where God consciousness is absent, the lower animals are actually superior. Say, for example, we have two laptop computers. Both machines have the exact same configuration, all the way down to the processors used and the operating system being run. The only difference is in the batteries. One machine has a battery life of five hours, while another machine’s has a life of one hour. The machine with the longer battery life is more efficient and thus superior. It can perform all of the same operations and do it without requiring a recharge of the battery every hour.
In a similar manner, the animal species, when following the life of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, is far more efficient than the spiritually unconscious human being. The dog doesn’t have to worry about a mortgage payment, contraceptives, the next election, unemployment, health insurance, having the in-laws over for Thanksgiving, or any other regularly occurring problem. The dog is not the only species that lives efficiently in this way. The tiger, which lives off of eating other animals, also doesn’t have to worry. It won’t even eat fruit or vegetables; it takes only the flesh of animals that it kills. But nature works in such a benevolent way that even the tiger’s needs are taken care of without a problem.
The Vedic seers, those following authorized information acquired through hearing, do concur that the human species is superior, but only when the full potential for intelligence is reached. Scientific research in how to travel to other realms outside of earth doesn’t represent enhanced intelligence. Using the same definition for efficiency, if we have one human being who is fully satisfied remaining at home and following activity that is in line with his original disposition, we’d have to say that they are more efficient than the person who requires constant travel and new engagements. From this we see that the true benefit of the human life is consciousness and the ability to purify it. Real fitness comes when there is no more hankering and lamenting and when the consciousness is fixed on the service of that one person who keeps the mind and soul actively engaged and fully satisfied.
Not surprisingly, that person is Krishna, or God. The human being has the chance to understand God and the need for serving Him. The best way to connect with the Lord is to chant the holy names found in the maha-mantra, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. A sequence of sound vibrations that transcends all sectarian boundaries, this mantra is the key that unlocks the door to spiritual freedom. The effects of connecting with God cannot be personally validated through logical proofs or visual evidence. The hearing process is superior in gathering the highest knowledge, the system of information passed down since the beginning of time. With any hypothesis, the proof is in the pudding; the validity of the prescriptions is found through the results. We know that the theory of evolution keeps man in the dark about its true nature, and it actually leads him to follow a life inferior to that of an animal. On the other hand, by adopting the ancient art of bhakti, the religion of love, man makes the most use of his unique opportunity, one gained through much time and effort spent  in so many other species of life.

“And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.5)

Why not give chanting a try and assess whether or not reciting and hearing God’s names make a significant difference? If we follow the simple formula of chanting the maha-mantra for sixteen rounds a day on a set of japa beads, all the while refraining from sinful activities like meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex, we’ll see that the consciousness will slowly but surely be energized and surcharged with feelings of transcendental affection. When we hear God, we will be able to see everything more clearly and realize that our mission in life is to always remember Him; an ability which will bring us back to the spiritual land after our life is over.
In Closing:
In order for claim to believe,
Evidence with eyes we must see.
Hearing leaves us open to cheating,
For disastrous future condition meeting.
But wrong theories come from only sight,

Like evolution, chemicals source of life?

Hearing from Vedas only way to understand,
That knowing God our purpose in this land.
Follow chanting and for yourself know,
If from loving Krishna happiness will grow.

Shri Shirdi Sai Baba - Gateway to God as Truth

From stimulus to emotion: A role for cortex in emotional learning

Nerve cells (green) and glia cells (orange) in the cortex.

(Medical Xpress) -- A team of neurobiologists around Andreas Lüthi at the Friedrich Miescher Institute of Biomedical Research has shown for the first time that cortex, the largest area of the brain that is typically associated with higher functions such as perception and cognition, is also a prominent site of emotional learning. Letzkus and colleagues used a set of recently developed methods to observe through which neuronal circuits activity is conveyed during learning. This study, published in Nature, demonstrates a causal link between neuronal activity patterns and animal behavior, and provides pioneering work exploring emotions in the brain.

Anxiety disorders are a family of complex diseases, which affect around 10% of adults. One of the hallmarks of these disorders is that patients have "learned" to fear situations or objects to a degree that is not proportional to the real danger. The amygdala, a structure deep in the brain, is central to the processing of fear and anxiety, and its function may be disrupted in anxiety disorders. 
But, there is no fear without a sensory input: We hear, see, smell, taste or feel something that then triggers fear. These sensory signals are processed in the cortex, the region of the brain typically associated with higher functions such as perception and cognition. However, how this brain region is involved in emotional learning has hardly ever been addressed.

For the first time, scientists in the team of Andreas Lüthi, group leader at the FMI and professor at the University of Basel, have been able to follow a sensory stimulus during learning on its cellular path through the brain. Their results, describing a circuit in cortex critical for associative fear learning, have been published today in the distinguished scientific journal Nature.

Looking inside a learning brain

In Lüthi's experiments, mice learned to associate a tone with an unpleasant stimulus so that the tone itself becomes unpleasant to the animal. During this learning process the researchers visualized the activity of the neurons in the brain using 2-photon calcium imaging.

Under normal conditions, activity in neuronal networks is tightly controlled by a fine-tuned balance of synaptic excitation (which promotes firing) and synaptic inhibition (which prevents firing). Thus, any incoming signal is rapidly quenched by inhibition, allowing firing only for a very brief time after stimulus onset. In contrast, the authors found that learning opens a prolonged time window of reduced inhibition, termed 'dis-inhibition'. Thus, when the animal perceives a tone during learning, it is processed much more intensely than under normal conditions. This increased activity likely induces synaptic plasticity which underlies memory formation.

Neuronal circuit in cortex necessary for learning

Lüthi then went on to show that this dis-inhibitory microcircuit is also present in other areas of cortex, like the one processing visual input. "A really interesting aspect of our observations is that dis-inhibition appears to be necessary for learning, but does not cause learning on its own. Rather, what we perceive during a state of heightened arousal will determine what we actually learn" explains Lüthi.

To strengthen their findings further, Johannes Letzkus and Steffen Wolff, both in Lüthi's group, made use of optogenetics. They used this recently developed technique to interfere selectively with dis-inhibition during learning. When they tested the memory of these mice the next day, they found a severe impairment, which directly demonstrates that dis-inhibition is indispensable for learning.

"For the first time, thanks to the recent technological developments in modern neurobiology, we can look into the black box and actually show what happens in these neuronal circuits during associative learning on a cellular level and thereby elucidate the psychological concepts of arousal and attention in learning," said Lüthi.

More information: Letzkus JJ, Wolff SBE, Meyer EMM, Tovote P, Courtin J, Herry C, Lüthi A. (2011) A disinhibitory microcircuit for associative fear learning in auditory cortex. Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature10674

Provided by Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research

"From stimulus to emotion: A role for cortex in emotional learning." December 8th, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-stimulus-emotion-role-cortex-emotional.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

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

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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

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Robert Karl Stonjek