surrender

Excerpt from the book Infinite Vision by Pavithra K. Mehta and Suchitra Shenoy

Dr. V's observations:

It is difficult to understand surrender. Constantly your mind has got its own fixed ideas or opinions. You get strongly attached to what you think is right and come into conflict with people who differ from you. You are not able to step back and watch your ideas. Lots of times, these ideas are based on the impressions of the mind, and not the higher spiritual consciousness. 

--
Sigh. This loss of perspective is very evident at all the times.

Srik

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living deep within

Excerpt from the book Infinite Vision by Pavithra K. Mehta and Suchitra Shenoy

Dr. V's observations: 

You want to live deep within, but you get upset by so many superficial things, or you get elated because of some superficial achievement. How will you guide Aravind, Seva or other service organizations. First thing to do is for you to live in your soul. Do not allow mental prejudices to cloud your thinking. To surrender yourself to the higher qualities in you is your constant effort. Do not limit yourself to small things. 

--
So well said. Self-examination is the only key to achieve transparent consciousness.

Srik

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Americans on the planet

Excerpt from the book Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman

Yes, as economic development spreads it is possible that overall global population growth will slow and the world total will not reach the nine billion plateau by 2050; as more women get better educated and join the work force, they generally have fewer children. But the metric to watch is not the total number of people on the planet - it's the total number of Americans on the planet. That is the key number and it has been steadily rising. 

~~

Are you aspiring to live an American lifestyle?  Ask yourself. 

Srik

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Doha and Dalian

Excerpt from the book Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman

I'm glad that many people in the United States and Europe have switched from incandescent lightbulbs to long-lasting compact fluorescent lightbulbs in their homes. That has saved a lot of kilowatts of energy. But the recent growth in Doha and Dalian just ate all those energy savings for breakfast. I'm glad that many people are buying hybrid cars. But Doha and Dalian devoured all those gasoline savings before noon. I'm glad that the U.S. Congress decided to boost U.S. mileage-per-gallon requirements up to European levels by 2020. But Doha and Dalian will have those energy savings for lunch - may be just as the first course. I'm glad that solar and wind power are "soaring" toward 2 percent of U.S. energy generation, but Doha and Dalian will guzzle all those clean electrons for dinner. I'm thrilled that people are now doing the "twenty green things" to save energy suggested by their favorite American magazine. But Doha and Dalian will snack on all those good intentions like popcorn before bedtime. 

~~ 
Darn! you, Doha and Dalian! While Americans are busy learning lessons from their mistakes, you both are silently becoming the clans of America!? 


Darn you! 


Srik

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frog in the pail

Excerpt from the book Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman

The Energy-Climate Era crept up on us slowly. In some ways, when it comes to climate change, human society has been like the proverbial frog in the pail on the stove, where the heat gets turned up very slightly every hour, so the frog never thinks to jump out. It just keeps adjusting until it boils to death. I hope we will write a different ending, but let's not fool ourselves: We are the frog, the pail is getting hot, flat and crowded, and we need a long-term survival plan - a ladder out of the pail. 

~~
Well, Can you feel the heat? and where is the ladder yet?


Srik

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the next billion

Excerpt from the book Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman

In the next twelve years alone, the world's population is expected to swell by roughly another billion people, and many of them will become new consumers and producers. When that happens, the law of large numbers starts to kick in - everything starts to add up to huge. For instance, what if, once that newest billion are all here, we gave each of them a sixty-watt incandescent light bulb?

Each bulb doesn't weigh much - roughly 0.7 ounces with the packaging - but a billion of them together weigh around 20,000 metric tons, or about the same as 15,000 Priuses. Now let's turn them on. If they're all on at the same time, it'd be 60,000 megawatts. Luckily, [they] will only use their bulbs four hours per day, so we're down to 10,000 megawatts at any moment. Yikes! looks like we'll still need twenty or so new 500-megawatt coal-burning power plants - just so the next billion people can turn a light on!

As told by David Douglas, vice president for eco-responsibility for Sun Microsystems.

~~

Yikes! and am still wondering how many such yikes! stuff awaits for the law of big numbers to take over everything!

Srik

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reSet

I know 
its pretty late 
but still 
now that we have reached 7 billion;
we were a mere 3 billion half a century ago
and marching towards 9 billion
in a couple of decades,
that we are exploiting more
and continue to do so
and perhaps
no easy solution
or less readiness 
to face bigger challenges
of warming 
or the crowd out there


I always think,
dream of that button
the same one
you are looking for
to just go and punch it
with full energy to 
reSet everything back to 
normal! 


Srik

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find your train ticket

Excerpt from the book Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

Albert Einstein was on a train. He couldn't find his ticket after searching through all his pockets and bags. The conductor approached him and said something to the effect of, "Dr. Einstein, everyone knows who you are. We know that Princeton can afford to buy you another train ticket."

To which Einstein replied with something along the lines of, "I'm not worried about the money. I need to find the ticket to figure out where I'm going."

--
Well, its surely not about the money. But the destination.

Srik

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Hoysala temples of Nuggihalli

Nuggihalli is a village 50km from Hassan. The Lakshminarasinha temple found here is a temple completely covered with sculpture. The temple dates from 1246 AD. There is a second temple in the village, called Sadasiva temple, that has no sculptures but is very interesting from the architectural point of view: it is a Hoysala Nagara temple.

North-West view of the Lakshminarasinha Temple, Nuggihalli

The plan of the Laksminarasinha temple is a common one: Three shrines are situated around a common hall, the central one with tower and nose, the lateral ones without tower and without nose. Thus, in the inside, the two lateral cellas are directly connected to the hall, and only the central one has a vestibule forming the connection. Although the plan is a trikuta, only one shrine is easily recognizable, and seen from the outside the temple looks like an ekakuta. 

The spacious compound with a old well and several other mantaps. The new structure seen towards the front of the Lakshminarasinha temple

South-West view of the Lakshminarasinha temple

View of the main gopura through a small mantap

Snail through the gopura

However, only in this temple, modern towers are found topping the lateral shrines. They do not belong there but, nevertheless, they clarify the plan of the temple. 

I absolutely loved the rear view of the temple climbing up the wall. It looks very spacious and beautiful with the sculptures. The wall-images here number about 120 and they mainly show Vaisnava icons, but also a Bhairava and Bhairavi. In the southern half of the temple they are sculptured by a sculptor named Baichoja. His images are beautiful and they all have the same character, a character of dignity and peace. In the northern half of the temple the images are by the hand of another sculptor, Mallitamma. His sculptures are more lively and show more variation in character, but the quality of his work is less constant.

Northern wall of the Lakshminarasinha temple

Panoramic view of the Lakshminarasinha temple. West view.

Inside the temple, especially the four pillars and the ceiling of the hall are beautiful. The three cellas each contain form of Visnu: Venugopala, Kesava and Lakshminarasinha. 

The Sadasiva Temple, situated to the north of the village, is an ekakuta of very exceptional architectural design. As in the two royal temples in Belur, the projections of the walls are not framed by long and slender pilasters, and they also miss any other reference to architecture in wood; consequently the walls have a typically severe look. 

Simple and Elegant design on the walls of Sadasiva temple

Main gopura of the Sadasiva temple

North-West view of the Sadasiva Temple, Nuggihalli

Although entry view of this temple is almost blocked by the compound wall and the village backdrop, the view from the corner of the compound inside is spectacular. The design is simple and elegant. It does not pierce into your eyes but attracts with its beautiful linear type of design. I only wished if the authorities had given more space to this temple so they would have a bigger compound which would make it look more beautiful. 

North-West corner of the Sadasiva temple

The Hoysala symbol on the gopura

Text taken from the book 'A Complete Guide to Hoysala Temples' by Gerard Foekema.


Photographed on 2012 January 26, Thursday. 

© Srikanth Parthasarathy

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The Bucesvara Temple, Koravangala

Koravangala is 10km from Hassan. The Bucesvara-temple found here is a handsome monument; it elegantly shows the characteristics of Hoysala architecture and Sculpture. The temple has been build in 1173 AD by a rich officer called Buci and is well preserved. There is a neat fence around it, and pavement and lawns, and it is guarded well. To its north, the fascinating ruins of two other temples can be found. (One is directly seen from this main temple).

South-west view of the temple

The plan of the Bucesvara-temple is simple and elegant, it is a divikuta with the two shrines facing each other. These shrines are connected by a succession of a closed hall and open hall, thus presenting one of the cellas in the mysterious darkness of a closed hall, and the other in the dim light of an open hall. At the eastern end of the very oblong building, facing the south, there is a separate Bhairava Shrine. 

Southern wall of the main shrine

The open hall connecting the two shrines

The western shrine facing the east is complete in every respect, and is a very fine example of a shrine of the old kind. It is of a simple plan, square with three projections per side. Kalasa and Hoysala crest are present, and all architectural parts of the tower and the walls are decorated in the conventional way. 

VeeraGallu  (HeroStone) 

The symbol of Hoysala Dynasty

Both the halls are next to each other. The closed hall is complete , the open hall is not because there is nothing above the eaves is present. The open hall provides the temple with two side entrances; both of them are framed, and the southern entrance is flanked by tow small elephants. 

Southern entrance of the temple

Krishna on the north wall of the temple

The wicked Judicial Officer in the middle

Inner view of the temple

The open hall 

Of the interior, that of the open hall is the most enjoyable; it has fine ceilings and wonderful flossy pillars. The cella facing east contains a linga; the cella facing west, with its vestibule directly connected to the open hall, has a cult-image of Surya. 

A design on the ceiling of the open hall

The interior of the cella that contains the linga

flossy pillars of the open hall

We were lucky that we could find the official guide on the day we visited the temple. Mr. Venkataramaiah H. N is the official District Tourist Guide. He is a resident of Koravangala and a very knowledgeable person. He explained (both in English and Kannada) a lot of stores to us and helped us understanding more about the Hoysala Architecture. He can be reached on this number: 995-555-3922 anytime. I have taken some of the text from the book "A Complete Guide to Hoysala Temples" by Gerard Foekema.

South-East panoramic view of the Bucesvara temple, Koravangala

Photographed on 2012 January 26, Thursday. 

© Srikanth Parthasarathy

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