Wednesday, November 22, 2017

'Science and Spirituality' and Permaculture; Fritjof Capra

On one of Acharya Ekkirala Bharadwaja Master's visits to our house in Delhi, he introduced Fritjof Capra's The Turning Point (1982) to my father, Dr Guda Venkatappa Rao. It appealed to his and other people of 'modern', educated mindset. It appeared too vast and deep a subject for us to grapple with but we grew up knowing its value. In Mastergaru's  Delhi speech, He addressed scientists and Professors from the prestigious Indian Institute of Delhi and floored them by speaking about spirituality in their scientific idiom. 

One of Acharya Ekkirala Bharadwaja's most significant contributions to the post-modern era was his advanced and well-researched scientific exposition of the basis of spirituality. In his iconic book, Edi Nizam (What is the Truth?), he delves into the question, that has had philosophers over centuries pondering and debating, with hardly any reference to the word 'God' or any religion. In His Vignana Veechikalu (Essays on Science and Spirituality, 1981), He elaborates using the works of several prominent scientists in his argument. One of them is Professor Fritjof Capra. The 78-year-old physicist who is now Director of Centre for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, is best known for his first book, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (1975), which has sold over a million copies worldwide. 

Here is a link to his recent interview which appeared in The Hindu, Sunday, 19th November, 2017.

What would have Mastergaru done today, is a question to ponder.  It is said that great minds think alike and we can see this in what Professor Fritjof Capra says in the above interview:

" ...What we have been writing about for decades is now happening: climate change, for instance. I wrote about global warming in 1989. For decades, no one listened and made fun of us, but we are now in the midst of a climate catastrophe. Now I think the situation is changing because businesses which don’t have ideologies — they want to invest money, to flourish — are turning away from fossil fuels. If they had listened to us then, we would have had a different world today. It’s almost too late, hopefully not."

"...We have to build alternative communities and do things that don’t depend on global capitalism. In the energy field, we can have independent solar power: in California, for instance, I don’t pay for electricity because I have solar panels on the roof and California is such that I don’t need batteries to store electricity. The energy I produce is sold to the grid."

How similar he sounds to Bill Mollison, the founder of Permaculture and author of 'Permaculture: A Design Manual'. 



With all his courses on Permaculture especially to the Nagole devotees, where he is fostering a community spirit, we can see how, Babugaru, Ekkirala Dwarakanath Jnaneswar, is doing immense service to the Earth and the future of humankind.

 #Fritjof Capra #Acharya Ekkirala Bharadwaja # Science and Spirituality # Spirituality and Permaculture # Spirituality and community life #alternate communities 

Saturday, October 28, 2017

On Seeing Them words fail


On seeing Them words
 fail.
At once close
and at once far.
Unfathomable
mystery
No vision
No wisdom
of the mighty seers
who See.
Will I be saved?
Alas, how selfish is this I
who wants alone to be saved
and yet cries of loneliness









I have seen Him in His divine form,
Him with the matted locks,
Him with the jewelled crown,
Him with the gleaming teeth,
Him with the smiling face,
Him who illumines the fourteen worlds with
the light of His eyes.
I have Him and the thirst of my eyes is
quenched.
I have seen the great Lord whom the men
among men serve but as wives.
I have seen the Supreme Guru Chenna Mallikarjuna
sporting with the Primeval Sakti,
And saved am I.
 

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Stree Shakti - Nagole women tilling the earth


These photos are from about a year ago. We were charged with tilling hardened garden soil to make three double dig beds. Rubble from the next door construction filled the eastern part of the site while the westerned side got more shade from the southern building and roadside trees. Selecting a suitable area in between (the garden was not a permaculture design garden or with any design for that matter!), we experimented with mixing the base red soil with fresh cowdung to make a sort of thick bed liner. It was downright hard work, what with having to move some large stones as well.

Then the beds were filled in with coco-peat and mixed with more cowdung and watered. After a couple of days of this, we sowed methi for a quick crop. The result was a lustrous bed of green in five days only. Unfortunately, the site was suddenly taken over for development and I could not get the later photos! Perils of urban permaculture :-/.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Sree Raama Navami April 5th 2017


sps
Artist Bapu's vision of Sita Swayamvara.




Very early in the morning, I begin to hear strains of Puja stotras and Rama bhajans from temples and households. A peek outside gives me glimpses of women cleaning the front of their gates and doors and decorating with rangavalli. 
 It is Sree Raama Navami, the day on which he was born and also the day of Seeta & Rama's 

marriage. The classic song 'Seeta Kalyaana Vaibhogame'
 ( the splendour of Seeta's marriage) is heard on virtually every marriage pandal in South India and elsewhere. On the day of their marriage, every bride and groom is the embodiment of Seeta and Rama/ Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of material and spiritual wealth) and Lord Vishu (the Lord who is the personification of the Universe and also its preserver/protector). And the witnesses of such a marriage are akin to the great seers and Vedic rishis of yore, who attended the marriage of the Goddess of the Earth to the God of the Universe in the human form.

Tuning our minds to that all-pervading Divine presence,  visualizing that splendour, that glory, having  prepared in anticipation for the last eight days with fasting and worship, today we take ritual oil baths and make preparations for welcome, the ceremony and the wedding feast of the very embodiment of sacredness.





Nagole Satsanga Group's 'Common Kitchen' making Nivedana at 


'Sree Raama Namam Maruvam Maruvam...." Bhadrachala Ramadasa Keertana

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. —John 4:24 NRSV

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. —Psalm 9:9–10 NRSV