Old age and Brain power

As one gets older, one is haunted by some vague fears.  One is fear of death.  More than death, one fears the suffering before death either physically where one is not able to attend to one’s basic functions without assistance or mentally where one does not remember about oneself, let alone others.  This fear gets accentuated when physical organs start non-cooperation with one and the memory plays tricks with him.  Let us look into the memory aspect.  As we grow older we keep forgetting names, dates, incidents and also cannot recollect where we placed things like keys, mobile phone etc.  Forgetting wife’s birthday can be absent-mindedness, but forgetting wife’s name itself is not. As one gets older, reaction time becomes longer and also the time to retrieve information from one’s memory.  Sometime we suffer from the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon when the word is almost there but we cannot articulate it. The reason for this memory lapse is attributed to steady loss of brain power in critical areas such as the hippo campus- the area where memory is processed.

But the brain power can be retained and even improved upon even as one gets older, says Dr, Peiris, a neuro-scientist in an article in Tattvaloka.  Since he has some positive things to say on aging and brain power, let me share the positive ideas through this blog.  Some brain functions improve with age, it is said.  As we age, we more easily get the gist of arguments.  Even our judgement of others improves.  We also get better at knowing what to ignore and when to hold our tongue. More than all these, there is no loss of neuroplasticity due to old age.

Neuroplasticity is derived from two words Neuron and Plastic.  Neuron refers to a nerve cell in our brain. Each individual cell is linked to another by a small space called the synapse. Neuroplasticity refers to the power of brain to create neural pathways to meet new needs. In short the ability of the brain to change in face of new challenges is called neuroplasticity.  It had been earlier held that the brain which has around 86 billion cells cannot regenerate new cells  but it is known now that this is not true in respect of certain areas of the brain and that there is cell growth in brain throughout life. So the age related cognital decline is not due to neuronal death but due to synaptic alterations.. Further the earlier notion that after age forty no new neural pathways are created is now discredited. It is now discovered that new neural cells and new neural pathways are created throughout life.  In fact certain areas of the brain increase in size with usage. So the brain can continue to learn in old age; in fact the brain never stops changing through learning throughout life.  So whatever be the age we can try to lead a brain-healthy life, even viewing the changes in fast thinking area of the brain to our advantage as it helps to avoid impulsive actions and quick judgement of people. To maintain the brain power in one’s old age, one can take the following steps as suggested in the above article and in various others. 

 1) Physical activity

Regular physical exercise aids better brain function and reduced risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Exercise gives the brain a healthy boost.  Physical exercise increases blood flow to the brain, stimulates the growth of brain cells and the connections between them, and is associated with larger brain volume.  This is more so in the case of persons with high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol, as these are associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia.  A combination of stretch and muscle building exercises of moderate intensity and outdoor-walking exposed to sunlight for a minimum of 300 minutes or five hours a week is recommended. Movement of the body in a variety of ways challenges the brain to learn new muscle skills, estimate distance and practice balance.

  2)   Healthy diet

Studies have revealed that a high intake of saturated fats, such as those found in meat, deep fried foods and takeaway food and trans fats often found in pies, pastries, cakes, biscuits and buns are associated with an increased risk of dementia. A higher intake of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats or 'good fats', such as those found in fish oil and olive oil, is associated with a reduced risk of dementia. Foods that are high in antioxidants such as tomatoes, kidney beans, pecan nuts, cranberries, blueberries and oranges also seem to be good for brain health.  So having a diet regime with an emphasis on beneficial foods, and avoidance of high risk foods is helpful in maintaining brain health until the last days.  As heart health is very much connected with brain health, any food affecting the heart health must be avoided.

   3) Regular challenge to brain 

This is very important as ‘use it or lose it’ is very much true of the brain.  Scientists have found that challenging the brain with new activities helps to build new brain cells and strengthen connections between them. There are many ways in which this can be done.  We shall see a few of them. One is to change our routine activity in an unexpected nontrivial way like changing the walking route, using the left hand to open a door or brush your teeth. Another popular one is doing crosswords, sudoku or doing puzzles that involve logic, word skills, maths and more.  Learning a new skill like painting, cookery, dancing, learning a new language, engaging in creative activity, updating existing skills, cultivating a new hobby; all these engage multiple areas of the brain. 

  4) Meditation, prayer and positive thinking  

Meditation not only relaxes the mind but gives the brain also a workout.  The creation of a new mental state engages the brain in new interesting ways besides increasing the brain fitness.  Positive thinking involves not lamenting that you are getting old and keep forgetting things, when you do not remember or recall or when there is a memory lapse.  Accept it and take necessary corrective steps for future like committing things to paper, repeating a few times mentally things you want to remember and checking it after few minutes to fix it firmly.  Regularly trying to memorize a passage and recalling it later also helps.  Focussed prayer, with a feeling of surrender to the Supreme, gives one a sense of peace that prevents depression and anxiety which in turn helps brain health. Neurological studies have shown that there is increased activity in the front lobe of the brain of believers to whom prayer is a platform to communicate with God.

  5) Social activity 

Man being a social animal, prefers the company of others rather than existing in isolation.  To help look after your brain health it's important to be social with people whose company you enjoy and in ways that interest you. It is mentally stimulating and may contribute to building brain reserve which then contributes to a lower dementia risk.  Participation in satsang with prayerful attitude, learning works of prayers like Narayaneeyam and Tiruppugazh, group yoga and group exercise combine social activity with other beneficial activities. 

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The greatest tapas

The great Sanskrit scholar Kavyakanta Ganapathy sastry approached Ramana Maharishi with the plea “All that has to be read I have read; even Vedanta sastra I have fully understood; I have done japa to my heart’s content; yet I have not up to this time understood what tapas is. Therefore I have sought refuge at your feet. Pray enlighten me as to the nature of tapas.”  Ganapathy Sastry has made a number of ‘I statements’  in his query and  Maharishi’s simple reply was “If one watches whence the notion ‘I’ arises, the mind gets absorbed there; that is tapas.” In his work 'Upadesa Undhiyar', Maharishi says in verse 19:

“For the one who continuously enquires” wherefrom does this ‘I’ arise, the ‘I’ notion drops.  This is the path of Self-enquiry, the best path for acquiring Athma Jnanam.” 

In the last verse of this work, he states:

“The destruction of Ahamkara leading to the realization of Athma Jnanam is indeed the greatest tapas.”

Putting these together we can say that Maharishi considered the enquiry into the source of ‘I’ notion resulting in destruction of Ahamkara as the greatest tapas.

One usually refers to one’s body, mind or intellect by the first person pronoun “I”. When one says ‘I am not well’, ‘I’ refers to the body.  When one says ‘I am happy or sad’, ‘I’ stands for the mind.  When one says ‘I find the problem tricky’, ‘I’ refers to intellect. But one also says, my body, my mind, my intellect implying that they are one’s possessions and not the real Self which is beyond all the three. By enquiring "Who am I", one is enquiring into the notion of ‘I’. This is enquiry about the nature of one’s real Self  and is called Self-enquiry. Maharishi’s prescription for this exercise is to turn one’s attention inward and enquire wherefrom the ‘I’ thought arises. By asking continuously in a focused way “Who am I” the mind can be made to look inward, towards the source of ‘I’ thought, the Self, which is pure Consciousness.

This pure Consciousness is none other than Supreme universal power, which is one without a second, eternal, infinite, and indivisible and which is also called Brahman at cosmic level and Athma at the level of individual.   It pervades all beings living and non-living in the universe and is the same in all; only the upadhi in each case is different.  Kena Upanishad in Mantra 2 calls it “The Eye of the eye, the Ear of the ear, the Prana of prana, the Mind of mind, Tongue of the tongue”.  It also further states in this mantra that the wise man knows the Source, the Athma, separate from these faculties.  The process of separation and transcending the identification with senses, prana, mind and intellect is achieved through Self-enquiry and leads to Self-Realization i.e. realizing Athma only is one’s Real Self. This knowledge that only Athma, which is same as Brahman is one’s Real Self is Athma Jnanam.  Maharishi calls this Athma, which is the source of ‘I’ thought, also as the heart, not the physical heart which is a muscular organ on the left side pumping blood all through the body but the spiritual heart on the right side, two digits to the right from the median, which is the core of one’s being. It is the place where one, young or old, involuntarily points his finger when he says ‘I did this or I did that” or makes some such similar statement.  Maharshi said “Call it by any name, God, Self, the heart or seat of Consciousness it is all the same…. It is by coming down to the level of ordinary understanding that a place is assigned to the heart in the physical body".

All our thoughts arise and resolve in the mind and if we analyze the mind, we find it is nothing but the flow of thoughts.  When the thoughts are arrested as in Nirvikalpa Samadhi there is a stillness of mind and direct communion with one’s real Self is achieved.  This state of stillness of mind is called the state of Manonasa.  The philosophical meaning of Manonasa is the vision that everything other than Athma, including the mind and the perceived universe, is all mithya.  Anathma can be experienced and anathma has utility; but it is only apparently real and not absolutely Real.  Further all our thoughts revolve around the ego ‘I’ thought.  So when one enquires into the source of this ego ‘I’ thought under the guidance of a competent Guru, one realizes the Athma as one’s true Self.  On this realization, deahabhimana drops off, Manonasa occurs and one feels totally fulfilled, enjoying the pure bliss of one’s divine Self.

This idea Maharishi conveys in verse 20 of Upadesa Undiyar:

When this ‘I’ notion drops i.e. the ego is destroyed, the Real ‘I’ reveals itself  as eternal,  whole, self-evident shining Pure Existence. This is the self evident eternal whole Self, the Athma. (20) 

Maharishi always lived in this state of Manonasa.  Whether he was talking to disciples, or  was alone; whether he was doing work in the ashram or walking around the mountain, he was always conscious of his identity as the eternal, infinite Chaitanyam and was fully aware that all his experiences involving  the world at large and the various people were only relatively real. It is as though his mind was blissfully singing ever, in the midst of activities or no activities- 

नाहम देहम्! (Naaham deham), I am not the body

        कोहं? सोऽहम्॥ (Koham? Soham) Who am I? I am He only

For this internal enquiry, he did not prescribe any path.  As he once told a questioner, “Guru, who is God or Self incarnate, works from within and helps the man to see the error of his ways, and guides him in the right path until he realizes the Self within …….. The Master is both ‘within’ and ‘without’, so He creates conditions to drive you inward and at the same time prepares the ‘interior’ to drag you to the Centre”. So the external Guru turns your attention inward and the internal Guru draws you to Himself and makes you realize that as Athma, you were never bound nor were you ever in samsara. So in this tapas of Self-enquiry that is started seeking something  that one considers as outside oneself, he ends up with the discovery that what he sought externally was all along with him only, with its mind-boggling corollaries,  waiting to be discovered.  So this indeed is the greatest tapas that one can undertake.

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City of Vancouver

The 11 day Denali discovery cruisetour ended in Vancouver city on the morning of 7/7/14. We disembarked, collected our luggage that has been brought to the Customs hall by the cruise lines, cleared the Customs and took a taxi to the Hotel. The hotel was Century Plaza Hotel & Spa, which we have booked earlier through Hotels.com.   The hotel was in downtown, close to the market, shops and restaurants.  As the check in was at 3 pm only, we left the luggage in hotel care and went about exploring the city of Vancouver. Vancouver city is called officially as city of Vancouver to distinguish it from the Vancouver Island and incidentally the Vancouver city is not located in the Vancouver Island. We went first to the Lookout, which was only at a walking distance from the hotel, to have a bird’s eye-view of the city. It is located on the top of the office buildings of Harbour centre and the viewing platform is only 551 ft, above street level, but it gives a good 360⁰ view of the city and surrounding landscape.  The revolving restaurant on its top is another tourist attraction.  Close to the harbour centre is the waterfront mall, which has a nice food-court.  From there we came down to Hastings Street and took the bus to Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is a sprawling urban park spread over 1000 acres and there is a rose garden, rock garden, aquarium, totem pole corner besides the sea walk along the seawall which runs round the park and is 9 km long.  There is a hop-on hop-off shuttle service covering important points of interest besides horse drawn carriage tours.  Our interest was in totem poles and so we made a bee line to that corner called Brockton point.  It has a number of poles of different heights, with different animal figure carvings. Totem poles are carved out of the trunks of trees by indigenous people of pacific region of North America and the designs and figures stand for cultural beliefs, clan lineage, notable legends etc.  But they were not symbols of worship.  The animals represent the belief that one is associated with one of nine different types of animals in one’s life.  It was good walk from the bus stop to this point and after we walked back to catch the bus and walk again to the hotel to check in, we had all the exercise to compensate for the lack of it in the last few days.  Our room was in the 27^th floor.  It was spacious and had a kitchenette, with all the gadgets, but there was no plates or bowls and so could not be made use of. But there was a good conveniences room in the 5^th floor of the hotel, with a coin operated laundrette, free internet facilities, free Wi-Fi hotspot. We made good use of it as in the ship there was no laundry and internet connection was quite slow and costly. 

We had pre-booked on-line tours for two days with West Coast Sightseeing. The first one was to Whistler and Shannon falls. We left on this tour next morning. Whistler is a popular resort town in Whistler Mountain.  Whistler with Vancouver hosted the winter Olympic games and Para Olympic games of 2010.  A platform with Olympic rings is in Whistler Mountain top and in Whistler Plaza in commemoration of the event.  The route from Vancouver to Whistler is a scenic route which is called Sea-to-Sky Highway. It is a winding mountain road with spectacular ocean, mountain and rain forest views and roaring falls.  On the way to Whistler there were halts at Horseshoe Bay Park, Porteau Cove and Squamish village centre. In the first two we enjoyed wonderful views of sea and mountain, while in the third of forest and mountain, a foretaste of things to come at Whistler.

Whistler and the adjoining Blackcomb mountains are popular ski resorts in winter.  We did not spend much time in the Whistler village.  We had our lunch in the Subway restaurant and made a bee-line to Gondola station. First we went up to the  Whistler Mountain-top in a gondola. You have the option of reaching the peak through Gondola or through a chair-lift or else by bike or walk in the respective trails.  After a visit to the Roundhouse Lodge at the top, we made to the Olympic platform for a photo session.  As we were taking in the magnificent scenery all around at the height of 6000 ft. above sea- level, we were joined by another South Indian family, settled in Seattle U.S. and holidaying in Canada. In their company we took the peak to peak gondola service between peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. This Gondola journey is the longest and highest of its kind as it spans a distance of 4.4 kilometres at a height of 1430 feet.  We travelled in a glass bottomed gondola, which is run at half-hour intervals.  The view of the rain forests below and the view of the towering volcanic peaks on the sides made it a memorable experience. In the Blackcomb Mountain we could walk up to the edge of a glacier and even in that summer there was skiing activity going on in an adjacent glacier. We left Blackcomb peak with its stunning scenery rather reluctantly as we had to catch the tour coach. 

On the way back there was a halt at Shannon falls. With water falling from a height of 1105 ft. from the ground, it is the third highest fall in British Columbia. As we were tired, we were content to rest near the base and watch the falls from a distance. We returned to the hotel at around 6 pm and had our dinner in a nearby Indian restaurant where the Indian chef, Mani, who is from Tamilnadu, obliged Rajam with a glass of hot water with pepper and crushed ginger as Rajam had developed mild dry cough. We had a good rest and carried on so leisurely next morning that we missed the booked tour to Grouse Mountain and Capilano Bridge and the company was good enough to offer an alternative tour i.e. Vancouver City and Capilano Bridge, which started late.

In this tour we had time to explore Stanley Park and its seawall and sea walk as the coach stopped there for a time before proceeding to the Bridge.  The Capilano Suspension Bridge is 460 ft. long and 230 ft. above the Capilano River.  The walk across shaky bridge is fun but a bit scary as we swing sideways, sometimes a little violently, when people rush for a view or a photo.  After going to the other end of the bridge we went on tree-top adventure walk where we wander through chain of seven suspension bridges 100 ft. above the ground. At the end of each bridge there is viewing platform around the trunks of the big Douglas fir trees from where we can view below and around, the sprawling rain forest. After this walk, we crossed the bridge to take the Cliff walk.  This is described as “heart-stopping cliff side journey” as we walk over suspended walkways jutting out of the granite cliff above the Capilano River.  It is high and narrow and in some places only the thick glass at our feet alone separates us from the canyon far below. These two walks, cliff walk and treetop adventure walk we took as a challenge to test our fitness and as we did them slowly admiring the view all around, we did not have time to visit the Raptor’s ridge.  There is a totem park and also a cafeteria, which was selling hot samosas besides sandwiches etc. in the bridge park.

After leaving Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, the coach went round the Chinatown and made a final stop at Granville Island.  Granville Island is not an island but a peninsula separated by a creek from downtown Vancouver.  It is a busy shopping district and has a big market.  It is also an art centre with a few galleries. As tour ended by 5’oclock, we took time to walk around the busy Robson Street.  To our surprise we found a section of the street closed to traffic to help people watch a street performance.  The next day we left for Sydney by United Airlines, bringing to an end a memorable tour. I have uploaded photos of Vancouver in the Flickr album “Vancouver”:  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157645834018035/

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Alaska - Cruise

On the completion of land portion of Denali Discovery Cruisetour we boarded the ship Norwegian Sun at Whittier around 6.00 pm with our hand-luggage, after completing all custom formalities.  Our main luggage was delivered directly from the coach to our stateroom by the tour company.  Our stateroom was one with balcony in 9^th deck. It was comfortable and roomy and the balcony plus long hours of sunlight helped us to enjoy the scenic passage even beyond 9 pm.  The first job we did was to explore the complimentary dining options.  We decided on Garden cafe and Great outdoor in deck 11 and we were not disappointed.  Not only we had good vegetarian options but there was rice and one Indian side dish every day, for lunch as well as dinner. And we could also get plain curd morning and evening from an obliging chef, who incidentally was from Australia.  Further in Deck 11, there was a pizza/pasta station in operation in the afternoon, which we used occasionally.

Among the passengers, we met a group of young couples of south Indian origin, alumni of the same engineering college in Coimbatore, now settled in various states of U.S. There was one other couple, Radha and Ramji, who had been former residents of Western Sydney, now settled in Texas. They had come as two families, the other that of Radha’s sister, Meera, settled in Miami.  We also met two couples from Castle Hill, Sydney; Mr.& Mrs. Sukumar and Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Pillay who had come together and also one Mr. Nagarajan, Koramangala, Bangalore who had come with his daughter and her family settled in California.  Running into one or the other of them one time or other in one place or other, it was quite a fun. Though in the ship there was a variety of entertainments and shows, we had our eyes only for the excellent scenery of glaciers, mountains, forests, waterfalls etc, which could be enjoyed from the comfort of our balcony, and the long hours of sunlight and the pleasant climate most of the days facilitated this lotus-eating laziness. Shows in Stardust and trips to Deck 11 were the only distractions from the glacier-gazing.

Day 2 was all-cruise day.  We cruised along Hubbard Glacier, one of the big glaciers which are calving icebergs. Unlike cruise in open seas, here one never gets tired of grand scenery of virgin nature. On day 3, the ship docked in Icy Strait Point, at a distance away from the shore.  The shore was reached through a tender from the ship. We went on a whale and marine mammals cruise. We could see some seals, otters and whales at a distance and were lucky enough to watch one whale taking a dive close to the ship.  Binoculars were provided to us free to facilitate whale watching and when a mammal was sighted, the ship halted and an announcement made and there was running all over to get to a vantage point.  As we took the afternoon cruise only, in the morning we went on a shore walk and spent time exploring the pier.

The next day ship docked in Juneau, capital of Alaska. Here we took an excursion to Mendenhall glacier.  The glacier is 12 miles long and nearby is a waterfall, Nugget falls or Mendenhall Glacier falls.  There is a trail leading to it and you can watch it at close quarters.  We decided to do it first before taking the trail to the vicinity of Glacier.  As we got there and were enjoying the majestic falls, floating icebergs in the Mendenhall lake and distant view of the glacier flowing into the lake, luck of good climate deserted us.  The climate that has been wonderful so long suddenly changed.  It didn’t turn cold or dark but it started drizzling lightly but continuously, and at times heavily.  So we beat a hasty retreat to the visitor’s centre where we waited for the coach, enjoying only the distant view of the Glacier from the cosy shelter of the centre. In the evening the ship cruised through Tracy Arm Fjord and South Sawyer Glacier. Oh! what a magnificent view of elevated glaciers, sheer rock falls and majestic mountains just dropping into the sea flat, floating icebergs of all sizes and shapes, single and in groups. 

The drizzle continued to dog us the next day as well in Skagway. Braving the continuous drizzle, we went on the shore excursion, the White Pass scenic railway. While we were taking in the breathtaking panorama of mountains, waterfalls, glaciers and gorges, as the train made the steep climb uphill, came the bad news that due to continuous rains some boulders got dislodged and had landed squarely on the track with the result the train before us was turning back and that ours will also terminate midway, even before reaching the tunnel.  Disappointed that we couldn’t do the journey in full, we returned to receive back half the cost of excursion as a small consolation for the interrupted excursion. 

But the next day in Ketchikan we could complete the Duck tour as the drizzle was light and sporadic in the morning and turned a bit heavy only after we returned to the ship for lunch finishing the morning tour. You can see Ketchikan by land and sea in this amphibious vehicle that glides into the water smoothly and floats around the harbour as effortlessly as it travels around the streets of Ketchikan. Ketchikan is a small island town which is called the “Salmon Capital of the World”. This is the last halt before the ship docks for disembarkation at Vancouver. The next day morning for a time the cruising was not smooth and Rajam started developing motion sickness. Luckily it did not last long as the cruising became smooth soon and the rest of the cruise along the  Inside Passage was fine and enjoyable as before. The next morning we disembarked in Vancouver and moved over with our luggage to the pre-booked hotel, “Century Plaza Hotel &Spa”.  The photos of the cruise, I have uploaded in the Flickr album “Alaska Cruise”:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157645371744637/

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Alaska, land tour

Rajam and myself went on 11 day Denali discovery cruisetour operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines starting on 27^th June 2014 from Anchorage, Alaska .  This tour combined a land tour of Alaska for 3 days and a 7 night cruise across Gulf of Alaska and inside passage to Vancouver, Canada.  We started our tour from San Francisco where we halted for 3 days to visit my nephew, niece and a long-lost friend from Sydney settled there and all their family members.  The photos of our visit to San Francisco I have uploaded in the Flickr Album “San Francisco 2014”:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157645713973624/

We landed in Anchorage a day earlier to the start of tour to enjoy the feel of the place and to go round the place on our own.  We stayed in the same hotel, as fixed by our tour operator, Hotel Millennium.  Though it was not in down-town, there was a Subway, McDonald, pizza eatery and a Tesco chain store all within walking distance from the hotel.   As food was not covered in the land portion of the tour, this was important for us, being vegetarians.  The hotel operates a regular shuttle down-town to visitor’s centre from where we can catch shuttles to other locations.  Further the hotel was overlooking Lake Spenard, a big lake which is a sea-plane base and the hotel also was having a sea plane dock.  One can also have a good view of the mountain ranges that surround Anchorage from the hotel premises.  The weather was fine and being summer even at 11 pm. there was daylight, completely disorienting our time-sense.  Anchorage though not the capital of Alaska, is its most populous city having about 40% of the state’s population. 

Next day we went to the city-centre and took a shuttle from there to visit the zoo.  We also spent time going round. There were hot dog stands all around selling the local speciality, the spicy hot reindeer dog.  In the evening we met the tour director, Scott Terry, who briefed us on the programme until embarkation at Whittier, two days later.  The next morning we left by coach to Talkeetna, where we boarded a special glass domed double-decker Gold Star rail-coach for the onward journey to Denali.  The coach has a fine dining restaurant in the lower deck and 360⁰ viewing, forward looking rotating seats and a viewing portion in the upper deck. This is a scenic route with mountains, glaciers, rivers, Tundra forests all the way. Weather being fine we could enjoy the four hour train journey , munching snacks and sipping coffee while watching the passing rugged Alaska scenery. We reached Denali Park around 4 p.m. and were transported to our lodgings in Denali Park village.

Denali Park village is situated on the banks of the Nenana river and there is also a walking trail hugging the banks.  The rooms were comfortable log cabins, spread over the village in ten single storeyed buildings. The restaurant and coffee shop were in a different building called ‘the Lodge’. As there was no rain and it was all sunshine, and as the village is set in scenic surroundings, walking to & fro for snacks, coffee, dinner and lunch was no problem, but quite enjoyable. A pleasant surprise was meeting Swami Anubhavanandaji in the Lodge on the first day. He was with his host and was staying in a different building. The next morning we were taken deep into the national park on a coach tour called Denali Natural History tour.

We could glimpse the snow covered Mt. Mckinley but did not encounter any wild animal like the bear, wolf or the moose.  We also visited a ranger cabin in use in winter called Savage cabin, as it is by the Savage river, to have a glimpse of the hardships one has to endure in winter.  Even today the Denali park village wears a deserted look in winter with a skeleton maintenance staff only visiting the facilities, we were told.  With temperature plummeting below -25 and daylight lasting for less than 5 hours, it will be all sheets of ice and darkness, we learnt.  The lowest temperature recorded in Alaska was -81 in 1971.  The bus turned round at Primrose Ridge turnaround point beyond the Savage River. Here there was an interesting presentation by an Athabascan Alaskan native of their history and their story of survival braving the harsh winter of Alaska for thousands of years. While returning we heard that there was a mild earthquake previous night in the village, the tremor of which some in the tour group experienced as they were awake at that time and that earthquakes are a common phenomenon in Denali National Park.

The next morning we left by coach for Whittier, to board the cruise ship Norwegian Sun.  On the way there were three stops.  First was in a war memorial, which was a toilet stop.  Here we could take some pictures of the surrounding scenery.  Next was at Anchorage, which was the lunch stop.  We made use of this to go round the J.C Penny mall in 5^th Avenue, the main attraction being the Subway and Starbucks in the food court.  The third stop was the wildlife conservation centre at the southern edge of Turnagain Arm. From Anchorage to Whittier it was a most scenic drive and this is called “all-American scenic Highway”, with spectacular views of mountains meeting the sea.  Towards the end to reach Whittier we cross a narrow single lane tunnel, 2.5 miles long, which is shared with the railroad.  This area had been heavily affected by the great earthquake of 1964.  Upto this point the tour was managed by Premier Alaska Tours, who operate tours for many cruise lines including Norwegian Cruise Line. The photos taken in the land tour portion can be seen in the Flickr album “Anchorage and Denali”: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157645341357769/

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Our Body, Our Mind

(This is part of my notes from “Magical Mind, Magical body" of Dr. Deepak Chopra.) 

Good health is not mere absence of disease.  It is a state of positive wellbeing which includes emotional, psychological wellbeing besides physical wellbeing.  Our body is not a frozen sculpture fixed in space and time, a physical machine that has learnt to think. It is a river of information and energy and thought is a fluctuation of information and energy in the body.  Greek philosopher Heraclitus said “In a river, you cannot step into the same water twice.”   Every second of our experience, the body undergoes change.  With every breadth we take in 10²² atoms that end up as our cells. When we breathe out, we are breathing out bits and pieces of tissues and this we are exchanging with others in the planet.  That means we are exchanging our body with the body of the universe.  Isotope study reveals that we replace 98% of atoms in our body in one year.  We make a new liver once in six weeks, a new skeleton once in six months. Our body at the current moment is of 2014 model much different internally from 2004 model.  There is a deeper reality behind this changing body which does not undergo any change while the body continuously undergoes change. 

Our body is made of atoms and atoms are made up of subatomic particles like leptons, mesons etc. which are moving at lightning speed.  99% of our body is empty space and out of this empty space come these particles as in the space outside.  These particles are fluctuations of energy and information.  A quantum unit of electricity is electron, of light is photon and of gravity is graviton. Similarly a quantum unit of mind is thought.  A thought at basic level is an impulse of information. When we have a thought we make in our brain a set of chemicals called neuropeptides, neuro standing for nervous energy and peptides for protein-like molecules.  This is the means for brain cells communicating with one another.  When one brain cell wants to communicate with another brain cell, it manufactures the neuropeptides that latches on to the receptors in the other cell.

These receptors exist in other systems of the body like immune system.  That means immune system can think and also knows what goes on in our body all the time. When the body encounters bacteria, our immune system tries to figure it out and manufacture the antibody to counter it. The body can do a million things simultaneously and correlate them as well. So it is a thinking system. In other parts of the body like intestines and colon also we have cells that have receptors. That means they are also thinking systems and so our mind cannot be confined to the heart or brain alone. We have a thinking body that has mind all through the body. So our human body is body-mind at the same time.

Universe is a non-local field of energy and information with which this local field of information & energy called physical body is exchanging energy and information unconsciously continuously.  Our body’s biological rhythms, circadian rhythms, are in tune with earth’s rhythms, which in turn are affected by planetary movements.  Universe out there is a chaos of energy soup while the deeper reality behind the body and thought is a silent witness that does not change and is beyond Time and Space. The chaos of energy soup we take into our physical system through the five senses and inject a sense of reality to it unconsciously.  But our senses are not a true test of reality.  Because of our conditioned response, conditioning caused by socio economic conditions, belief and value systems, and upbringing etc., each one of us structure a certain type of physical reality. In complete silence of thought only, mano-nasa, we recognise we are not the thoughts but the one who is witness to the thoughts. The witness is the pure Consciousness, called Unified field.  Physical body, feelings, psychological makeup does not affect the Consciousness.

This quantum mechanical body is made up of particles like leptons, mesons etc. These particles are not material objects.  They give us the experience of matter through our senses but they are really fluctuations of energy in a void of energy and information.  99% of body is empty space, and this empty space is not an emptiness of nothing but fullness of non-material intelligence that is responsible for the material expression of body and mind.  The field of non-material intelligence is called Unified Field or Morpho-genetic Field by scientists.  Morpho-genetic means that which gives rise to form, give birth to the variety and diversity that the body is. The essential I,the 'I', is not the body or mind but its source, the non-material intelligence.  As it is not matter the 'I',is not subject to the laws of matter, which are valid only in a field of time, space and causation.  ‘I’ is basically Consciousness which conceives, constructs and governs the body.  That means 'We' are not physical machines that have learnt how to think, but the impulses of intelligence that have learnt how to create physical machines and thoughts are impulses of intelligence.  'We' are the quantum events in that Field which has learnt how to create both the mind and the body.

We are shifting to a new paradigm not only of the body but also of the interpretation of the world. The old paradigm said that there is an objective world outside which is completely independent of the perceiver. The new paradigm says we live in a participatory world where as observer we create that outside world.  The old paradigm says world consists of clumps of matter separated by time and space.  The new paradigm says that world is non-material and is composed of energy fields that come from one underlying unmanifest Field. The old paradigm says mind and matter are independent and separate entities.  The new paradigm says mind and matter are the same.  The Field experienced subjectively is mind; experienced objectively is material objects.  The old paradigm said the mind is trapped in brain and intelligence is localized in the nervous system or in the body.  The new paradigm says mind is unbounded and infinite, though it finds expression in localized forms and phenomenon. The old paradigm said Consciousness is epiphenomenon of matter.  The new paradigm says matter is epiphenomenon of Consciousness.  The old paradigm said human beings are self-contained independent entities.  The new paradigm says they are only focal points of intelligence in the Field.  The old paradigm said perception is an automatic phenomenon.  The new paradigm says we learn how to interpret and that brings about perceptual changes.  And today we are moving into a new era where there is a shift in perception.

(As audio-book this is available at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23TtddwIWeg)

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Silence – the Real Self

Silence can be of body, speech or mind.  As physical silence is called stillness, we generally associate silence with speech or mind.  Of these the popular association is with speech. Silence of speech is practised more as a vrata, mouna vrata.  In mouna vrata also, one keeps the mouth shut but does not stay still and the mind also keeps its chattering and wandering. The silence, I am referring to is the silence of the mind, the inner stillness, which is also referred to as mano-nasa, the destruction of the mind.  Here the mind is not destroyed but only quietened with the thought process of the mind arrested. This state can be achieved only when there is total silence, silence of body, mind and speech.

Our mind being a product of the satva component of the pancha bhuthas i.e. space, air, fire, earth and water, which by themselves are insentient, is also insentient by itself.  It is made sentient by the pure Consciousness, called Chaitanyam that the mind manifests through its reflection in the mind, called Chidabasa. So in every thought experience called Vritti, Chaitanyam is associated.  One Chaitanyam associated with numerous thoughts is symbolically represented as Rasa Krida.  Krida stands for the coming and going of thoughts and Rasa stands for Anandha, that is Chaitanyam, which is Sat, Chit, Anandha. Rasa Krida is the figurative interplay of thoughts with Chaitanyam, which is one and changeless.  Normally we are experiencing Chaitanyam with Vritti in all our thought experiences. When the mind is silent, it is thought free and we are experiencing the Chaitanyam only and so the peace and happiness experienced in the moment of inner stillness is the peace and happiness associated with Chaitanyam. 

In Kenopanishad this is explained beautifully by the fit student first and later the guru explains it to the mediocre student. In the second verse of chapter 2, the student states as a reply to guru’s question, “I do not think, ’I know It well’, Not that I do not know; I know too.”  The student cannot know it well because Chaitanyam cannot be known as an object or as a concept.  But at the same time he cannot also say he does not know because it is part of his thought experiences. Thereafter the teacher explains this to the mediocre student in Mantra 4, with the oft-quoted statement. “प्रतिबोधविदितं मतम्”.

Here the teacher again explains to the mediocre student that Chaitanyam is associated with every thought modification of the mind.  Every experience we have has a variable component, thought and a non-variable component, Chaitanyam, the pure consciousness principle. One registers only the thought and not the Chaitanyam. To see an object one not only needs good eyes but also a source of light to illumine the object.  For even if one has good vision, one cannot see the object if there is no light and it is totally dark. But when we see an object, our mind registers the object only and not the light pervading it which makes it possible for us to see the object.  This you can experiment, while walking in the daytime.  The mind registers the objects only and not the sunlight that makes it possible for us to see the objects.  Even if there is nothing to notice, the emptiness also is revealed by the light only. In the same way not only the thought but also absence of thought is revealed by Chaitanyam. So in the moment of inner stillness, when thought is absent we have the experience of the revealing Chaitanyam and this explains the deep peace and serene happiness enjoyed at the time of inner stillness.

When mind is silent there is total silence i.e. silence of body and speech as well. And the inner stillness experienced then is the experience of Chaitanyam, which is our Real Self. This is conveyed by Mandukya Upanishad as well  through Mantras 7 and 12. Mantra 7 describes Turiyam, which is Athma and Mantra 12 describes Amatra, the state of silence, and both have identical descriptions. For as we have seen earlier, it is Chaitanyam that illuminates the chatter of mind as well as the silence of mind.  So this inner stillness is Athma that is Brahman, the Cosmic Supreme.   So if you meditate on ‘Om Namasivaya’ or on ‘Om Namo Narayana” or some similar Mantra, slowly spelling out the words mentally, concentrating on the silence in between words and lengthening the period of silence as meditation progresses, then you are  meditating  on Silence, your inner Real Self. 

This is the concept Wayne Dyer employs in his Gap Meditation, through which he says one can have conscious contact with God.  This inner stillness, Eckhart Tolle equates with ‘Now’, the container; the events that take place at any time being only the contents. So in his book “Stillness Speaks”, Eckhart Tolle states “When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself ----- This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.  Stillness is your essential nature” and goes on to equate the stillness with Awareness which is Chaitanyam. From this we can see that what Lord Dakshinamurthy does, is not teaching in silence but teaching ‘Silence’, that is one’s Real Self.

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