Yoga

Many people think that Yoga means the postures or exercises performed.
But in reality these exercises or postures are just one step in Yoga, called Asana (literal meaning 'posture'), which consists of eight steps or limbs.

Let me try to write about them in layman terms.

The following are the 8 sequential steps mentioned in the system of Yoga to attain liberation or enlightenment.

1. Yama: Universal moral and ethical code. What every one should do and should not do and how we should behave with others.
2. Niyama: Personal moral and ethical code. What we should and should not do and how we should behave ourselves.
3. Asana: This is what most of us call as yoga, the postures. Contrary to what many believe, this is an optional step, done mainly to enable a person to sit for long hours during meditation without any problems. It is this along with observing animals in nature, which later transformed into Kung Fu and its derivative martial arts.
4. Pranayama: This is the breathing exercise to start the process of conditioning the mind.
5. Pratyahara: This is the control of the 5 senses namely sound, sight, touch, smell, and taste.
6. Dharana: This is concentration. Looking at a candle flame or repeating or mantra or observing the breath.
7. Dhyana: This is meditation, where one can keep the mind blank, free of all thoughts.
8. Samadhi: This is the final state in Yoga. Liberation or Enlightenment, whatever you want to call this. No one can tell what this is. This is something that needs to be experienced by each individual on their own and cannot be described. If anyone describes this, you may very well get out of there as it is not going to be true :)

 It is all this together called as Yoga.

In my next post, I will try to write about the different types of meditation :)

Watermelon to lower BP

Researchers have claimed that watermelon could significantly reduce blood pressure in overweight individuals both at rest and while under stress.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/diet/Chomping-watermelon-lowers-your-BP/articleshow/33231868.cms

Data Portal of India data.gov.in

Indian government has launched a data portal (like in USA).

http://data.gov.in/

This is really a good initiative.

Electronics World

Once upon a time the biggest challenge in the electronics world was to make things smaller and affordable. Today the biggest challenge is to make things larger and affordable. What a world :)

USA NTSC HDTV Sony Bravia works in India

Many including myself had some concern on US TVs working in India. USA uses NTSC signal and India has PAL. After doing some research in Internet found that Dish TruHD MAY work for US based TVs. I decided to try it. Called Dish and the technician came and installed Dish. Once the output was set to 1080 standard in the STB the video came perfect in my Sony TV. So its confirmed that it will work. I have my TV connected through HDMI cable. I also bought a step down transformer to convert 220v(India standard) to 110v(USA standard) as my TV manual said it will only work at 110v.

TV model: (LCD) Sony Bravia KDL46Z4100

Top 10 Airlines and Airport 2008

The rise of Asia...



Top 10 Airlines 2008
Top 10 Airports 2008

Fixing housing mortage crisis and the economy

Read the last para below. Click the images for a bigger picture so it is easy to read the super tiny fonts.

1959 Opel gets over 350 mpg

...the car is efficient because it's extremely light. In fact, there's nothing inside it. One tiny plastic seat, no dashboard, no passenger seat, no back seat, no trunk. There aren't even headlights. The rear wheels have been replaced by a single, ultra-hard wheel and the drive-train is just a bicycle chain....

http://green.yahoo.com

What's our world worth? Financially...

Marketwatch reminds us that the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) is about $15 trillion. The GDP of all nations combined is approximately $50 trillion. The total value of all the real estate in the world is estimated at $75 trillion and the total value of all the world's stocks and bonds is about $100 trillion. But there's a $500 trillion market in derivatives!

When does life begin?

Sometime back in August when Obama and McCain were talking various issues at pastor Rev. Rick Warren forum, they both were asked, when life begins.

Obama answered that it is above his pay scale to say exactly when life begins.Means, he really doesn't know.
McCain answered life begins at conception.

In my opinion Obama gave an honest and correct answer.
McCain, on the other hand, gave a politically correct answer.

I believe that no one can really tell when life begins exactly.

Lets say, like McCain, we say life begins at conception. Then do we really know our own date of birth and place of birth?

It's not the date and place where we were delivered, but its the date and time and place where we were conceived.
Now, seriously, how many can answer that question?

All our birth certificate, and legal papers should have the date, time and place where we were conceived because that's when our life actually began and not when we were delivered.

Sounds complicated right ?
It does.

Google Chrome

Google came up with the announcement that they are coming up with a new product called Chrome, a web-browser.

Everyone is surprised.

I was telling about this to some friends of mine few years ago.
I told them not only Google's browser will just be a web-browser but lot more than that.

This is my prediction. Or this is how I would develop Chrome if I was running the project.

Chrome, will be more than just a browser. It will be a mini-OS.
It will have pretty much all the capabilities of an operating system and few basic applications all in-built.

So for an ordinary computer user, who just uses the computer for, just say,

browsing,
chatting,
emailing,
sharing pictures, videos,
webcam,
text editing,
e.t.c

they will not need an OS like Windows, or OS X, orLinux.

Chrome will evolve to be a mini-OS.

I will be designing Chrome in such a way that in future, ordinary users who use computers for basic functions like listed above, will only need to buy a LCD monitor(or even use TVs) and a keyboard and of course an Internet connection. They will be able to use a USB flash drive loaded with Chrome and plug-in the USB in the keyboard and start browsing/chatting/emailing e.t.c

Google Search bug

I found a bug in google search. There are no 'O' s in 'Google'.

Sarah Palin - McCain's VP choice

McCain has chosen Sarah Palin as his VP.

I wonder if the move is to get the women votes, mainly Hillary Clinton supporters and feminists.
Many Clinton supporters who wanted to see a women in the ticket was disappointed when Obama chose Biden as his VP.
Sarah Palin may give them a chance to see a women in the ticket.

But what if it backfires for the hardcore Clinton supporters?

By electing McCain they will make history that Sarah Palin is the first women VP. And who knows maybe making way for the first women President in the future (2012, 2016) and deny Hillary that fame.

Barack Obama and 8

The Chinese consider 8 as a lucky number. That we all know.

How about this.

Barack Obama was born on the 8th month of 1961 (year adds to 8 too).
He entered Harvard Law School in 88.
He is running for office in the year 08.
Hillary Clinton officially declared support at DNC on 08/26/08 (day adds to 8)
He got officially nominated for president on the 8th month, August.
If he becomes president he will be the 44 th president (adds to 8).

By Numerology the name 'Barack Obama' adds to 8

What else I wonder!

How often does this happen?
3 crashes in one day and making the CNN home page.
And this just after few days of a huge crash in Spain.
Lots of crashes these days!!!

Earthquakes and causes

"This great earth, Ananda, is established upon liquid, the liquid upon the atmosphere, and the atmosphere upon space. And when, Ananda, mighty atmospheric disturbances take place, the liquid is agitated. And with the agitation of the liquid, tremors of the earth arise. This is the first reason, the first cause for the arising of mighty earthquakes."

-Buddha,
Maha-parinibbana Sutta 3:14

"Nasa scientists have said they could be on the verge of a breakthrough in their efforts to forecast earthquakes.

Researchers say they have found a close link between electrical disturbances on the edge of our atmosphere and impending quakes on the ground below. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7435324.stm

What the hell is top secret?

IB report sees Cong, allies slide in early polls, key with BSP

In the event of a midterm Lok Sabha poll, the Congress will not gain seats, says a top secret Intelligence Bureau report prepared for the prime minister's eyes only.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/oct/01polls.htm

What the hell is Top Secret, for the eyes of prime minister only. Its out in Rediff, you dumbos. Half the world now knows it.

I made Sushi

So after cooking many Indian Cuisines, I wanted to try something very different.
So, inspired by my buddy Dave, who already tried and succeeded, I decided to try Sushi for myself.

I went to World Market and Tan A Plaza and got the necessary kit to make the Sushi.
I purchased a recipe book Sushi, by Ryuichi Yoshii, even though the recipe is quite simple and could be downloaded from the Internet.

And I tried Sushi using Tilapia, and a custom recipe of my own, deriving from the traditional Japanese recipe, and to my surprise, it came out pretty descent :)

The Sushi didn't come out in perfect round shape, but hey, Iam trying this for the first time :)

Attached are the pictures of the Sushi I made. Click to see the enlarged version.

Recycling

Often when I do some cleaning (yeah right...) in my apartment I see so many wires, cables, power cords, used cells and electronics accessories, I used to wonder if there was a place to recycle it instead of trash it.

I came across this website, which provides locations where they can be recycled in the United States.

http://www.mygreenelectronics.org/

Movie again

Last evening Jo and I went to the movie 'War'.

Devon Aoki was hot.

Also the next Batman movie trailer is out. Christian Bale has become one of my all time favorite movie actor.

The Dark Knight