British Antarctic Survey(BAS) has tweeted on 26th February how an iceberg with size 1270 sq kms has broken off the Brunt ice shelf. See the video here: https://twitter.com/BAS_News/status/
The size of this iceberg is larger than New York city. It broke off from the Brunt ice shelf near Britain’s Helley research station which was luckily empty at that time. The reason for this as cited by BAS is the process of calving.
In the process of Ice calving or iceberg calving ice blocks break away from an ice shelf or the edge of a glacier. In simple language it is a sudden breaking away and release of a mass of ice.
Currently BAS is monitoring the impact of calving which is not easy to predict. Experts believe that calving of this magnitude may lead to breaking more ice bergs off the ice shelf.
Our mobiles emit harmful radiation which can cause brain,mouth and throat cancers etc.
(1)What level of radiation is harmaful and what level is safe?
Ans: 1.6 watt/kg of radiation is harmless for human being any radiation emitted by cell within these limits are harmless. But when it goes above 1.6 watt/kg then it’s harmful to human tissues.
(2)How can we check this level by using our own cell phone?
Ans: We can check the radiation level in our phone by dialing *#07# and it will show us the accurate radiation level emitted by our cell phone.
(3) what to do if it is above 1.6 watt/ kg?
Ans: If it is above the permissible limit of 1.6watt/kg then it’s better to change your cell phone.
After driving out the Mughal from India Sher Shah Suri was running high with continuous victories. He wanted to be an undisputed Lord of whole of Indian subcontinent.
To achieve this Sher Shah very well knew that he have to bring Rajputkingdoms of North India to there knees and he also wanted to teach them a lesson for helping the young Mughal king Humayun.
He decided to attack the most formidable Rajput kingdom that was the kingdom of Marwar under the king Maldeo Rathore with it’s capital as jodhpur. He marched from Delhi with around 1 lakh soldier’s.
Among all the king’s of medival IndiaSher Shah Suri had developed the most strongest and effective spy network. They gave him 100% accurate news of his enemies strength and weakness. As per his spy network it was impossible for him to win a head on clash by directly attacking Maldeo’s capital Jodhpur.They also informed him about the rajput’s valorand way of fighting wars. With this information he learned that 30 to 40 thousand rajput army is enough to annihilate his army of 1 lakh and Maldeo Rathore maintained a ready to fight army of 60 thousand troops and 10 to 12 thousand semi trained civilians who can join whenever he needs them.
Sher Shah immediately ordered his army to halt near a place called GiriSumel about 90 kms from Jodhpur. Hearing this Maldeo came out of jodhpur with 50 thousand strong force and stationed his army at the out skirts of Sumel. Both army did not attack each other as both sides were not sure of there winning possibilities.
One month passed like this and Sher Shah position became critical due to food scarcity as he had marched a long distance from delhi and his supply line was badly stretched. He had two option either to attack immediately which was not possible as Rajput army was well prepared for this or to retreat which would have severely hampered his Prestige.
Sher Shah was very cunning he started thinking other treacherous ways and ordered his spies to drop letter’s in name of Jaita and kumpa near Maldeo Rathore tent. In these letters he hand thanked Rajputgeneral’s for theiy help and promised gold coin and regions that he would allot them after his victory.
Maldeo Rathore was decieved and he believed that the letters were true and at once ordered his general’s to retreat and himself retreated with his personal body guard. Knowing this Jaita and Kumpa were greatly hurt.In the afternoon they sat infront af a lake and began thinking about what would be their future step as their king had lost faith upon them.At that time they heard local women’s talking about the conflict and saying that they have nothing to worry as long as Rajput army is there at Sumel hearing this both of them decided to stay and confront Sher Shah army even if their king had retreated.By that afternoon 42 thousand of Rajputarmymen had left the camp and retreated following Maldeo’sorder,only 8 thousand men loyal to Jaita and Kumpa stayed back.
This new’s spread like a wild fire in Sher Shah camp and at night there was a joyfully and relax environment in his camp. Sher Shah and his men believed that they had won this battle. A confident Sher Shah called his general’s and said that a handful of bajra is there in the field go bring it to me.
By the next day morning Afghan army was ready to follow Sher Shah order and prepared for the battle.
Jaita and Kumpa with 8 thousand men waited for the enimies calmly. Sher Shah watched from a distance and ordered his army to attack.In the first wave of attack 20 thousand of Sher Shah men comprising of both cavlary and infantry attacked the small Rajput formation.
To his astonishment 8 thousandRajput men under Jaita and Kumpa not only put up a strong resistance,but within hours they cut down almost the entire first wave. Seeing this Sher Shah ordered his top general’s to attack with the remaining 80 thousand forces.
But Jaita and Kumpa were determined to give a stiff fight they boosted their men moral by reminding them of their responsibility towards their land which was inhabitated by their ancestors. Rajput men stormed towards the incoming Afghan forces and inflicted heavy casualties upon them. They started pushing back the huge Sher Shah army and by afternoon end almost half of the SherShah army had perished and SherShah himself feared that he was going to loose this battle as he saw Jaita and Kumpa had started attacking his formation of personal guards.
He mounted his horse and was about to retreat when he got the news that his personal guards had killed exhausted Jaita and Kumpa. As the battle ended he went in to assess his losses and found that more than 50 thousand of his men and many of his top generals had been killed.
He appreciated the bravery of Jaitaand Kumpa and said to his minister what a battle it was for a hand full of bajra I almost lost the entire kingdom Hindustan.
Today we are celebrating Hanuman Jayanti. On this auspicious day you will be glad to know how our ancient text about Lord Hanuman contains a very important scientific fact.
If we look back at our ancient texts we realize that a lot was known by our ancestors that we somehow have forgotten and when these things are rediscovered we tend to believe that a new discovery has happened. One such thing is the distance between the Sun and the Earth.
What is the distance of Sun from Earth & Who discovered the Astronomical Unit
The distance between the Sun and the Earth is 1.49 million kilometres. The orbit of earth around the sun being elliptical the distance actually varies at different points by 3% and the average of these values is considered as the distance which is known as an Astronomical unit. In 1653 Christiaan Huygens calculated the distance between the Sun and the Earth. With due respect to his discovery he has also explained how he calculated this using the phases of Venus to find the angles in a Venus-Earth-Sun triangle.
Is this a new discovery ?
Above I have mentioned what is widely known and now I will mention something that is not known. 16th century Indian spiritual poet Tulsidas (1532-1623) has written a devotional hymn address to Lord Hanuman known as Hanuman Chalisa. The exact date of writing of Hanuman Chalisa is not known but it could be easily concluded that it was written before 1623. Along with Ramcharitmanas, Hanuman Chalisa were written by him inspired by Valmiki’s Ramayan which was written in 3rd century BCE. Now the question is how Hanuman Chalisa is related to this complex calculation of Astronomical Unit.
Lord Hanuman
Hanuman Chalisa, Valmiki’s Ramayan and many other ancient religious texts of Hinduism depicts a story about Lord Hanuman that when he was a child he thought of the Sun as a tasty fruit and went on to eat it. Lets see what is written about this incident in verse 18 of Hanuman Chalisa.
Baby Hanuman going after Sun
जुग सहस्त्र जोजन पर भानू। लील्यो ताहि मधुर फल जानू।।
Jug sahastra jojan par bhanu | Leelyo tahi madhur fal janu ||
The meaning of this verse is Bhanu which means Sun is lying at a distance of Jug sahastra jojan and Hanuman dashed upon it thinking it to be a sweet fruit. Being in Awadhi language Yug and Yojan are written as Jug and Jojan which means the same.
Now lets get to the calculations. 1 Jug(Yug) is a timespan of 12000 years and it is very common in ancient texts to use it as a unit to denote the figure 12000 . Sahastra is a Sanskrti word used to denote 1000. Jojan(or Yojan) is a unit of distance equal to 8 miles. Now,
Jug Sahastra Jojan
12000 * 1000 * 8 = 9,60,00,000 miles
Since 1 mile = 1.6 kms
9,60,00,000 * 1.6 = 15,36,00,000 kms or 153 million kms. Now the distance of Sun from Earth during aphelion i.e., when the Sun is farthest is 152 million kms approx.
Another notable thing is that Tuslsidas was no scientist but a poet and nowhere had he mentioned how he derived this distance. Calculations or whole descriptions of anything are mentioned mostly when the discovery is new. When something is widely known these thing are not mentioned. Now the Valmiki’s Ramayan which dates back to 3rd century BCE also mentions this incidents and these stories about Lord Hanuman are way older than this. But we can easily conclude that the distance between the Sun and the Earth is widely known to Indians years ago. The question here arrives how we lost our great knowledge about astronomy. We can hope all this can be unearthed soon but as of now there are a lot of scientific discoveries that can be found when we go through our ancient sacred texts.
The saddening image that became the face of the tragedy which still gives sleepless nightsThe unfortunate night of 2-3 December 1984 when the gas leak happened in Bhopal, IndiaThe whole city was filled with corpses and victims everywhereThe whole city was filled with corpses and victims everywhereThe whole city was filled with corpses and victims everywhereThe whole city was filled with corpses and victims everywhereThe whole city was filled with corpses and victims everywhereThe whole city was filled with corpses and victims everywhereThe whole city was filled with corpses and victims everywhereThe whole city was filled with corpses and victims everywhereStreets were covered with corpses of animals and cranes had to be deployed to remove themAll people wanted was to leave the city by any means be it trains, buses or on their ownAll people wanted was to leave the city by any means be it trains, buses or on their ownAll people wanted was to leave the city by any means be it trains, buses or on their ownThe lady showing her picture before the tragedyAftereffects can be seen in 2nd and 3rd generations as wellAftereffects can be seen in 2nd and 3rd generations as wellAftereffects can be seen in 2nd and 3rd generations as wellAftereffects can be seen in 2nd and 3rd generations as wellThe watched factory still haunts the residents reminding them of the disastrous nightThe watched factory still haunts the residents reminding them of the disastrous nightMemorial to remind the world that no other city in the world should become another Bhopal
In the year 1756 Ahmed Shah Abdali invaded India again for the fifth time.The Afghans decimated the already weak Mughal forces and started looting Delhi and surrounding North Indian provinces. The process carried on for several months & finally in 1757 the Afghans started marching back with huge Indian wealth,young men and women as slaves. Even the Mughalking’s daughter was taken as slave.
Word about the afghans sexual harassment of women and their loot spread like wild fire but no one had the courage to face the Afghans. Finally a battle hardened group of NihangSikhs of the Shaheedan Misl under their leader Baba Deep Singh got this news. Seventy five years old BabaDeep Singhji had retired himself from active war fare but was actively leading the group as its leader by imparting Martial arts training and making war strategy for the group. He immediately ordered his men to attack the returning Afghans.
The Sikh group successfully attacked and freed a large no of women and children. They were also able to siege huge wealth that was looted by Afghans.
Upon hearing this Ahmed Shah got furious. He decided to teach the whole Sikh community a lesson & ordered his son Timur Shah Durrani to masscare the Sikhs in Amritsar, fill the holy pond with cow carcass and to demolish the Golden Gurdwara. He left a force of ten thousand men and an experienced general named Jahan khan to complete this task. Afghans started carrying out their masters order and thousands of Sikhs were put to death and holy pond was filled with blood and dead bodies of animals and Sikh men.
That very night Baba Deep Singh saw a bad dream that Golden temple is being demolished and he is responsible for that. In morning news reached him about the ongoing Afghan atrocities in Amritsar. He felt guilty that he could not save the holy shrine & decided to come out of his self restricted retirement and use his 15 kg khanda after years. The 75 years old man began his March towards Amritsar with 500 hundred Sikhs as the group passed through villages they were joined by numerous selfless volunteers with sickles and axes in hand. When they reached Amritsar its strength had swollen above 5000 but mostly Sikh villagers with sickles and axes.
All of them had vowed to free the holy shrine and Baba himself vowed not to die till he reaches the shrine.
The battle began from the periphery of Amritsar. At one side was a battle hardened well trained Afghan army that had brought many strong rivals to there knees while at the other side was an army of sikhs mostly semi trained civilians led by a 75 year old man.
As the Sikh group pushed through the city Afghan resistance became more strong. It was looking like the Afghans will overshadow the sikhs. But with heavy casualties Sikh group managed to come within the viewing distance from holy shrine. The view of the demolished Harmandir Saheb(the golden shrine) charged up the sikhs. At that very moment two Afghan commanders delivered a deadly blow to Baba Deep Singhji’s neck area and he fell on the ground with his head slightly joined to his neck.
The remaining Sikh warriors realised the gravity of the situation as they knew that without Baba they will lose this battle. They reminded a mortally wounded BABA of his vow. Miraculously Baba Deep Singhji upon hearing this stood up and used his left hand to support his almost decapitated head and right hand to balance his 15 kg khanda(Doubleedged sword) and charged through the strong Afghan forces cutting them into pieces as if a farmer was cutting in a paddy field. This type of heavenly unimaginable valour displayed by BABA DEEP SINGHJI boosted the moral of the remaining sikhs and they started fighting like immortals. Many severly wounded sikhs got up and started fighting.
Upon seeing this prince Timur shahDurrani decided to lead himself and brought in Afghan Royal guard who stood in formation guarding the way to the holy shrine.
Baba Deep Singh pierced through the formation of afghan Royal guards and gave a deadly blow to Timur shah. Timur shah was mortally wounded and was whisked away by his personal guards.
Finally Baba Deep Singhji reached the periphery of the sacred pond and took his last breath. In the ensuing battle Sikhs emerged victorious and the holy shrine was freed from Afghans.
Today after three centuries not only Sikhs but people from different communities from around the world come to the Golden Temple and pay homage to the spot where Baba Deep Singhji laid his head. His 15 kg khanda is still preserved at AKAL TAKHAT as a symbol of Sikh bravery.
Indian culture in fact all ancient cultures over the world are full of mysterious and incredible sciences and knowledge. Samadhi and Mahasamadhi are one of them.
What is Mahasamadhi ?
According to Shaiva tantra of Hinduism the divine feminine energy is located at the kundalini of every individual and when one perform kundalini yoga this divine energy awakens. The kundalini yoga has defined seven chakras.
7 chakras of the Kundalini yoga
One has to practice Kundalini Yoga to clear all these chakras. Once you reach and clear the topmost chakra SAHASRARA , where knowledge blooms like a lotus, one attains Samadhi in which one’s soul consciously leaves the body to roam around the world.
The concept of Mahasamadhi is even higher than Samadhi. In MAHASAMADHI one voluntarily leaves the body and unite with Paramatma, the ultimate GOD. According to Yoga scriptures when a Yogi attains Samadhi or MAHASAMADHI his soul passes out through SAHASRARA which causes the blood to flow out from nostrils.
Have any human attained Mahasamadhi ?
Swami Vivekananda
It is believed that Indian monk Swami Vivekananda has attained Mahasamadhi. On 4 July 1902Swami Vivekanandaafter 9 pm when his disciples entered his room he was lying on his bed with beads of perspiration on his forehead. He cried like a baby and took few deep breaths and then a little blood came out of his nostrils. His head shook and fell off the pillow and his eyes became still. But after all this there was smile on his lips and as described by his disciples an unearthly glow was emitting from his smiling face. Medical science said that he had a heart attack or a blood vessel in his brain ruptured but his disciples believed that his vein ruptured as his brahmarandhra (an opening in the crown of his head) got pierced when he attained Mahasamadhi.
Though we have almost lost the science of kundalini yoga today but we know that there exists a high level of consciousness through which we can become one with the almighty.
Amid the death of Indian film actor Late Sushant Singh RajputMarijuana (Cannabis) popularly known as Ganja has become a hot topic of discussion. Every second day we get news update about different celebrities getting reported for possession of Ganja. In most cases the amount of drugs involved, such as marijuana or ganja, was negligible, not exceeding a few grams. But in the eyes of the law, it is a crime to possess all these substances, as administered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, prohibiting the production, possession, purchase or consumption of such as cannis sativa, such as marijuana, Hash, ganja, charas, and hemp.
What is Marijuana and what it does
History of Cannabis or Marijuana dates back to at least 2500 years ago and studies show that it was being smoked at that time also. It is also the most commonly used illegal drug in the world however it is also legal in a few countries.
Because of its various physical and mental effects like Euphoria, impaired short term memory and physical movements, altered state of mind etc it is used both for medicinal and recreational purposes. Its effects can be felt within a few minutes to one hour of consumption and may last for two to six hours. The most shocking fact about Marijuana or Cannabis is that it is less addictive than Alcohol, tobacco and even caffeine and sugar and all these substances are legal.
Marijuana ban in India
In an interview Indian actor late Irrfan Khan has said, “In our childhood Ganja was a normal thing and we could buy it easily. I do not understand the reason for its ban.” Another Indian actor Ranveer Shorey has also advocated for lifting ban from Marijuana citing the the laws are very old and need to be reviewed.
Lord Shiva who is considered a Supreme God in Indian (Hindu) culture is also depicted many times having Marijuana. Indian Saint Swami Vivekananda also used to smoke Cannabis. In many incarnations, hemp has been a part of the Indian tradition for a long time, from the devotional charas to the cannabis of cannabis during Holi. If the use of Ganja was so widespread and normal in the Indian society then what led to its ban.
Such drugs were not banned in India until the mid-1980s. In Calcutta, and elsewhere, cannabis was sold by government licensed hemp shops, noted for its analgesic properties, for medicinal purposes. In 1985, allegedly sighting the US example, which was facing a growing problem of heroin and cocaine, India banned all narcotics, including cannabis, as a suspected source of supply. Ironically, the US has now revoked the ban and had now allowed Personal use of marijuana in some states such as California.
One of the results of Marijuana ban is that the use of lab-made drugs vermac and crack has spread to young people in Punjab and other parts of the country. And these drugs are highly addictive and dangerous when compared to Marijuana.
Recently there have been condemnations in the news reports about many Bollywood celebrities,officers recovered several narcotics products which were benched in their possession. It is also reported that hash is widely used in bollywood parties. The fact is Weed or Joints are being widely used today despite the ban and it is less addictive and dangerous than many of the existing stuff of this kind. So may be it is high time to lift the US initiated drug ban and earn revenue from taxes on Marijuana as we do from tobacco and alcohol.
In Indian mythology we have heard about many great beings who for see death or had control over their deaths like Bhishma Pitamah from our ancient epic Mahabharat who can choose the time of his death. Barring epics and mythology the holy land of India had one great saint in real who happened to know about his death.
On 4 July 1902Swami Vivekananda who is known for introducing Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world and raising interfaith awareness simultaneously, died. This day was just like any other day in which he took classes and had discussions with his followers in Belur Math. But at 7 pm he went to his room and asked everyone not to disturb him. After 9 pm when his disciples entered his room he was lying on his bed with beads of perspiration on his forehead. He cried like a baby and took few deep breaths and then a little blood came out of his nostrils. His head shook and fell off the pillow and his eyes became still. But after all this there was smile on his lips and as described by his disciples an unearthly glow was emitting from his smiling face. Medical science said that he had a heart attack or a blood vessel in his brain ruptured but his disciples believed that his vein ruptured as his brahmarandhra (an opening in the crown of his head) got pierced when he attained Mahasamadhi.
What is Samadhi and Mahasamadhi
According to Shaiva tantra of Hinduism the divine feminine energy is located at the kundalini of every individual and when one perform kundalini yoga this divine energy awakens. The kundalini yoga has defined seven chakras.
7 chakras of the Kundalini yoga
One has to practice Kundalini Yoga to clear all these chakras. Once you reach and clear the topmost chakra SAHASRARA , where knowledge blooms like a lotus, one attains Samadhi in which one’s soul consciously leaves the body to roam around the world.
The concept of Mahasamadhi is even higher than Samadhi. In MAHASAMADHI one voluntarily leaves the body and unite with Paramatma, the ultimate GOD. According to Yoga scriptures when a Yogi attains Samadhi or MAHASAMADHI his soul passes out through SAHASRARA which causes the blood to flow out from nostrils.
Swami Vivekanand knew about the time of his death ?
The Prophecy: Swami Vivekanand had made a prophecy many before his death that he will not see his 40th birthday. When he died his age was 39 years and a few months.
The date: While in Egypt Swami Vivekananda had told a french operatic soprano Rosa Emma Calvet that he will die on 4th of July. Though he mentioned the date, he did not specify the year.
Conversation with Swami Abhedananda: Sometime around August 1896 Swami Vivekananda confided with his brother disciple Swami Abhedananda that he was only going to live 5-6 years more. On listening this Abhedananda got upset and protested to which he explained to him and said, “You do not understand. My soul is getting bigger and bigger everyday so much that the body can hardly contain it. Any day it may burst this cage of bone and flesh”. Although we haven’t heard of the concept of soul getting bigger but here he may have been referring about consciousness by mentioning soul.
Attained his purpose of life: Guru of Narendra (Swami Vivekananda), had told him that every soul has some purpose of its taking birth and he told him not to take MAHASAMADHI before completing his purpose. He believed that the purpose of his life is to propagate the teachings of Vedanta and Yoga. He often used to say to his disciples that he had achieved the purpose of his life.
All these facts clearly indicate that the great saint consciously took MAHASAMADHI after attaining the purpose of his life. But human mind is too tactical to accept this. Many people believe that it was just a natural human death. A renowned Bengali writer Sankar (Shankar) has mentiined in his book named ‘The Monk as Man’ that Swami Vivekanand suffered from 31 ailments including Insomnia, liver and kidney disease, diabetes, migraine, heart ailments etc. Many people attribute these physical ailments as the cause of his death but when it come to medical science they could not come to any specific conclusion. One doctor said that he had a heart attack while another said that he died due to rupture of vein in his brain and both refused to agree to each other’s claim. But the smile of contention that he had on his face when he died says something else.
