पुण्य-दान !

कल मै रोबिन्स विले न्यू जर्सी में बन रहे श्री स्वामी नारायण मंदिर दर्शनार्थ गया था. इतालियन मार्बल से बन रहा ये मंदिर विश्व का सबसे महँगा भारतीय मंदिर है. करीब 18 मिलियन डॉलर का यह भव्य भवन 10 वर्षों में बन कर 2017 में पूर्ण होगा. भारत में, 2000 कारीगर अनवरत मेहनत कर रहे हैं. भव्यता का अनुमान इसी से लगाया जा सकता है कि मंदिर की संगमरमर दीवारों और स्तंभों में श्री गणेश के 44 विभिन्न अवतार और मोर के 236 कलाकृतियाँ गढ़ी गयी हैं. रामायण और महाभारत के सन्दर्भ भी जगह-जगह दिख रहे थे.

वातावरण बहुत ही मनोहारी और व्यवस्थित लगा. मैंने पहली बार मंदिर के प्रांगण में लडको को ड्रोन उड़ाते देखा. मंदिर में किसी भी दर्शनार्थी को अधनंगे वस्त्रो में जाने की अनुमति नहीं थी. वहां वैसे लोगो के लिए शरीर को ढंकने के लिए वस्त्र दिया जा रहा था, गेरुआ लुंगी और एप्रन. मुझे बताया गया कि यहाँ की विधिवत पूजा में केवल गुजराती ही सम्मलित हो सकते हैं. कारण गुजराती भाषा में होने वाले श्लोकों का शुद्ध उच्चारण बताया गया.

इस मदिर के निर्माण में अगर 162 एकड़ जमीन का मूल्य भी जोड़ लें तो कीमत 100 मिलियन डॉलर को लांघ जायेगी. मेरे मित्र ने पूछा कि आखिर इतना पैसा आता कहाँ से है. तो गुजरात में सबसे बहुमूल्य हीरे का व्यापार होता है और यहाँ अमेरिका में गुजराती व्यापारी छाये हुए है, होटल से लेकर मॉल तक. सुनकर आश्चर्य होगा पर यहाँ की हॉस्पिटैलिटी इंडस्ट्री का 40% हिस्सा गुजराती सम्हाले हुए हैं.

दूसरा प्रश्न जो पिछले प्रश्न का ही हिस्सा था. कौन हैं जो मंदिर के लिए इतना पैसा दान देते है. जाहिर है, जिनके पास पैसा और भक्ति है. वैसे लोग भी अवश्य होंगे जिन्हें ये बात समझ में आ गयी है कि वे अपना संचित धन अपने साथ लेकर अंत में नहीं जाने वाले. उन्हें यही समझ में आया होगा कि बजाय गरीबों की सहायता करने , सामाजिक कार्यों में अनुदान देने अथवा अपने निजो की खुशहाली के लिए खर्चा करने से ज्यादा श्रेयस्कर जरिया यही होगा अगले जन्म को सार्थक करने का.

दिखा तो ये कि मंदिर के पंडित और कार्यकर्ता हृष्ट-पुष्ट और दमदमा रहे थे. यहीं नहीं, ज्यादातर लोकप्रिय मंदिरों के रहनुमाओं का स्वास्थ्य देखने लायक होता है , चमक-दमक से लेकर पेट की गोलाई तक. शायद ये वही लोग हों जिन्होंने पिछले जन्म में मंदिरों को ज्यादा दान दिया हो.

Mind your own Business !

It is rampant. It is contagious. Whenever, a few from the educated class gather together, the topic centers around the epidemic of corruption. If the gathering is of elite senior citizens, the conversation picks up politicians and people at high places. The tragedy is everybody takes a posture of “holier than thou”.

In the morning time, when we assemble after a brisk walk, it is soothing if the topic is nature based or spritual. Therefore, while some are very vocative, a few tend to remain silent. Naturally, nobody likes an odd man or misfit smiling over.

Today, I was dragged into conversation in spite of my non-willingness.

Everybody has a tendency to draw a halo around him when the matter is about dishonesty and corruption. We even do not comprehend the expanse of dishonesty and corruption.

I surprised everybody by telling that each of us is dishonest and corrupt. The scale and the principals of such aberrations might be different from one person to the other.



I find one gentlemen accepting that he saves a lot of time and harassment by offering traffic police some money. I myself told them that I had negotiated sleeper births with the train conductor many a times though I refrained from confessing several other procedures bulging in my memory bag.

The professor was smiling as if he had been into a noble profession having no scope for immorality. I reminded him that a few days back, he told us that he used to suggest his superior for nominating him to various places of tourist interest for attending seminars. One elderly who managed a jute mill at Kolkata never thought the inhuman manner in which the jute workers were treated just to earn more profit. Then, there was a metallurgist/scientist from ISRO who never thought that he succeeded in perfecting a composition for better performance in the area of powder metallurgy managing time from his duty hours. He later sold the technique in open market. One industrialist openly confessed that he had to keep statutory and regulatory authorities at bay and that there is but only one way for smoother sailing.

Persons who are in high places either in business or in politics had to climb numerous obstacles to reach the pinnacle. In the beginning, some had sold groceries on wheel carts, some other had functioned from railway platforms and yet some other had only lamp posts to avail light. There are those born with a golden spoon but they do not know the difference between a stale bread piece and a chocolate cake. Do we know what it is to live like beggars and eat like pigs ? If a beggar cannot resist his greed, if we succumb with all the proclaimed wisdom, how could we expect such decency from persons occupying a seat of power and money? A steam engine and a bullock cart are generation apart in terms of respective power and fuel. Besides, there is a cut throat competition at the upstairs and less room for ssurvival at the top.
The atmosphere became gloomy. There was restlessness as if I had abused them. Therefore, I asked the professor to ponder about the way we bribe our gods. We bribe our boss, teachers, parents, guardians, elders, servants, our spouse and most of all our children. We do not leave our pet animals. We bribe machines by lubricating and that is from where we hear about greasing one’s hand or lubricating the process for smooth sailing.

This imperfection is ingrained in us from our birth, or from the inception of homo-sapiens on the Earth, or is integrated in the mechanism by which this Earth evolved or…..from the imperfection raging in the universe. Talking of imperfection, the eminent scientist Stephen Hawking says – “One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn't exist.....Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist”

Neither you nor I would exist and so would be the universe and universes. This mounting imperfection would one day become unbearably critical. The corollary could be a perfect perfection. Either way, it is a win-win situation for the ultimate black hole getting its bag full to burst again and thus creating universes again.

There is but only one way out – “ Be true and honest to oneself”. One is accountable and responsible for one's own perfection.

आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत्।

तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी॥२-७०॥

"That person of steady intellect remains stable and passionless when desires enter in to his mind as the water of countless rivers flows into the brimmed ocean without causing it any vacillation. And this great person attains highest peace; not the one that has desires to fulfill desires."

Be Aerobic Naturally ! The Airman !!

We, senior citizens from India visiting USA on a tourist visa, have formed a walking companion group at Windsor Pond Society, 3 miles SW of Princeton Junction. Some like to walk silently, some like talking and some go beyond that indulging in hot discussions. Everybody is free to choose his liking. I like walking alone, watching birds chirping, savoring beauty bestowed by nature in the form of green grass, colorful flowers, leaves of varying shapes and sizes, and plants of various denominations. Some take a 30 minute walk of 2 miles some more energetic go for one hour walk. Finally, we gather together at a centrally located park to compare notes.

Today, I was identified by at least two groups to be avoiding them and opting to walk alone. Therefore, the subject of discussion pounced upon my temperament.  Among intellects, one has to be technically sound in explaining to their satisfaction. I tried my best.

While walking, we indulge in aerobic respiration. This is better accomplished during morning time. We inhale oxygen rich air. It reacts with body glucose and releases carbon-dioxide, water and some energy. This energy is either spent during brisk walking but mostly retained for future use. This process takes place anaerobically also but glucose breaks down lesser and there are good chances of toxins getting accumulated in the body.  If one indulges in talking, getting excited and losing temper, the energy gets wasted unnecessarily.  This breaking of glucose is beneficial for diabetic patient. Sweating disposes toxins from the body. Therefore, walking here itself presents three most beneficial properties.

I explained to them the way the plants and animals take advantage of aerobic and non-aerobic respiration. Oxygen enters plant cells through the stomata. Plants produce their food via photosynthesis and release energy from it through the process of respiration.

The anaerobic respiration inhibits glucose breakdown and produces lactic acid instead. In human, this results in cramping of muscles. This known as Oxygen debt can be compensated by obtaining Oxygen from elsewhere e.g., fresh air or oxygen mask. In plants, anaerobic situation arises when there is water logging in the soil. This results in fermentation.

We find elephants, pythons and turtles having a long life. Their breathing is deaper and longer. Those majestic trees in a silent forest live far longer. The more you are conserving energy and utilizing for beneficial purpose, the more you are healthy and live longer.

While returning, we watched people taking walk silently. They looked more cheerful and healthy. Among us , the silent one was more healthier and aged than us. 

We passed via a large pond with two high rise fountains. These fountains were making the pond ambiance far more beautiful. But, they were serving more pragmatically. They were helping the water with aerobic purification. The downpour of falling showers was absorbing oxygen to their heart fill and getting dissolved and un-dissolved waste scraped or chemically neutralized.

I summed up, the next day by quoting from an available text in the internet, which was as under:

Respiration is the process of releasing energy from the breakdown of glucose. Respiration takes place in every living cell; all of the time and all cells need to respire in order to produce the energy that they require. The energy produced during respiration is used in many different ways, some examples of what it is used for are:

• Working your muscles
• Growth and repair of cells
• Building larger molecules from smaller ones i.e. proteins from amino acids
• Allowing chemical reactions to take place
• Absorbing molecules in active transport
• Keeping your body temperature constant
• Sending messages along nerves