Random Ramblings - bits of Plato and bits of Wittgenstein

Knee Jerks from Russell's "History of Western Philosphy"

“The body is the source of endless trouble to us by the reason of mere requirement of food; and is liable also to disease which overtake and impede us in the search after true being; it fills us full of loves, and lusts, and fears, and fancies of all kinds, and endless foolery, and in fact, as men say, takes away from us all power of thinking at all. Whence come wars, and fightings and factions? Whence but from the body and the lusts of the body? Wars are occasioned by love of money, and money has to be acquired for the sale and in the service of the body; and by the reason of these impediments we have no time to give to philosophy; and, last and worst of all, even if we are at leisure to betake ourselves to some speculation, and the body is always breaking in upon us, causing turmoil and confusion in our inquiries, and so amazing us that we are prevented from seeing the truth.” (Reminds of me hiranmayena paathrena that my teacher recites during surya namaskars…) “It has been proved to us by experience that if we would have true knowledge of anything we must be quit of the body – the soul in herself must behold things in themselves: and then we shall attain the wisdom which we say we are lovers not while we lie, but after death; for if while in company with the body the soul cannot have pure knowledge, knowledge must be attained after death, if at all.”

Made me wonder about schools which talk about jivan muktas. About Ramana maharshi, who said, our nature is bliss. He compared folks in search of moksa to people who are originally under the shade of tree, who venture briefly out of shade, get exposed to scorching sun and return to shade after great difficulty.

“And thus having got rid of the foolishness of the body, we shall be pure and have converse with the pure, and know of ourselves the clear light everywhere, which is no other than the light of truth. For the impure are not permitted to approach the pure… And what is purification but the separation of the soul from the body?... And this separation and release of the soul from the body is termed death… And the true philosophers, and they only, are ever seeking to release the soul.”

Would it be wise to call this very same body, which gave us the base, the faculty to think and ponder all that is mentioned above and try to get rid of the body? Mom frequently says to me, suvar vaithu thaan chithiram varaiya mudiyum (you need a wall to paint) Can thoughts be created without a body in the first place? Of course, considering only the realm of men.

There is one true coin for which all things ought to be exchanged, and that is wisdom.

Agreed.

The founders of the mysteries would appear to have had a real meaning, and were not talking nonsense when they intimated in a figure long ago that he who passes unsanctified and uninitiated into the world below will lie on a slough, but that he who arrives there after initiation and purification will dwell with the gods. For many, as they say in the mysteries, are the thyrsus-bearers, but few are the mystics, meaning, as I interpret the words, the true philosophers.”

Talking about mysticism, my graphology teacher told me people whose ‘m’ is curved in the top at the beginning of the alphabet like to do something far from ordinary. Ok, I should not call that mysticism, perhaps, who want to put up a show of doing something what they perceive important. Reminds me of Ludwig Wittgenstein who grew angry when his students wanted to pursue philosophy. But it is equally appalling that he actually thrashed his pupils as a school teacher. He apparently found Russell mechanistic.

Wittgenstein from wiki:

Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.

The world is all that is the case.

Was der Fall ist, die Tatsache, ist das Bestehen von Sachverhalten.

What is the case—a fact—is the existence of states of affairs.

Das logische Bild der Tatsachen ist der Gedanke.

A logical picture of facts is a thought.

Der Gedanke ist der sinnvolle Satz.

A thought is a proposition with a sense.

Der Satz ist eine Wahrheitsfunktion der Elementarsätze.

A proposition is a truth-function of elementary propositions.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen.

What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.

Akin to Buddha's silence. God forbid, if we try to express silence in words.

It was a beautiful rainy bike ride

How wonderful can things get?

For breakfast, for the first time in my life, I ate 3 idlies which were like those jamuns in gulab jamun ad, where the gulab jamuns almost fly away, as one tries to scoop them with a spoon. Our idlis slided to the edge of the plates, as we we tried to eat them, idli rocks indeed.

This afternoon, i remembered reading a newspaper article on the UNESCO photo exhibition in the state museum and today being the last day, i badly wanted to go. Little did I realize that the museum would be closed on fridays. It is another matter, that I figured out the Connemara is just near the museum. After being liberally splashed by racing bikes and autos with pristine pure chennai colourful stagnated waters, my college junior and I could not help being amused. He does not walk, he ambles around like a teddy bear. He said:

Once Einstein was supposed to be received at a railway station. However, thanks to our genius's dress, the folks who were supposed to receive him, didn't recognize him. It was a long walk from the station to the final venue and Einstein apparently walked with his luggage. When the dignitary who had sent the folks to receive Einstein, apologized for missing him, the genius said, never mind, "It was a pleasant walk"

My friend just said, it was a pleasant rainy ride. And forget these irritants, or the state of snow white acoba tops or wet jeans, looking back now, it indeed was....

And ya, talking about Einstein, seems scientists have figured out folks might want to look at his thinly sliced brain pieces. Another army general wrote about how he made graveyards his training base and didn't mind, cooking or sleeping there.

Thank God! It was a soft landing

For most of last week, I had a session with my sis' sil - a physiotherapist. In spite of having a 24 hours time demanding 2+ year old baby, she slept in my room, woke up in the morning, without disturbing my pranayam, made me do her set of exercises early morning + massaged with dhanavantaram that I had, since I didn't have murivenna. She said, most lady physiotherapists don't massage general patients who come to their clinics, because it would be misconstrued by others.

I had spent 20 continuous days under panchakarma therapists years before. As one part of the whole process, they would typically heat up oil or heat up a clothe bundle containing some ayurvedic herb and give othram and pour ladles and ladles of oil and massage in a particular direction. Else they would put some paste mixture and smear it over the affected part and make you rest for while after which one could bathe.

My sis on the other hand, said, look these are the muscles, and this is where nodes are, these-these are the muscles that are tightened up and am going to release them. She applied mild currents after applying the ultrasonic gel on the muscle points.

I spent half of the 20 days sulking way back in 2007, as my ayurvedic doctor wanted obedient cooperation, while I wanted scientific explanation as to why he made panchakarma girls inject warm medicated oil inside my anus. After a fierce argument, he lamented, these days, one needs to explain why one should not jaywalk. I wish, the ayurvedic therapists and physiotherapists blended their skills with a spiritual caring mentality of reiki or pranic healing.

My sis' first time massage effect was the same as that the one by a varmam guy from village. Now this guy who practices siddha, took coconut oil, closed his eyes and massaged my lower limbs, applying so much pressure to release tightened muscles. The next day, i could not even touch those points, or towel my body.

My sis, applied hot wax cloth on the pain points to remove the pain due to massage. The reason why am writing is because of Chithi. Chithi-Chithappa went to see their niece and while returning, thanks to Velachery potholes, 54 year old Chithi landed in a dry ditch off the scooter. She could get up immediately and walk, thankfully. I knew, the effects of the impact would be felt only the next day, so I hurriedly heated up oil and had to see the muscle alignment to massage accordingly with the heated dhanavantaram. I just prayed to god to guide my hands as I massaged. Chithi was naturally shy and opted to do it herself, however, thankfully she let me massage her shoulders the next day. And it worked with the grace of god.

I was initially scared, coz, once I had massaged mom's shoulders the pain worsened, now after carefully observing beauty parlour massages, panchakarma massages and understanding the muscle structure of parts needing attention in the family and physiotherapists idea of strokes, patting... some 5 steps she said, it is very handy. Just go with the muscle flow.

Wish 3 idiots was released when I was a kid. I used to blindly mug all the muscle names in 7th standard science book just as another data point affecting my marks, now I realize, how essential it is to understand, what is immediately beneath the skin, better still, what is beneath the muscles, flesh and bones, a soul craving for a caring and loving word.

More than massages, even over phone, an assurance of prayer for our elders' pain works wonder. My first priority is health. As the second verse of īśa upaniṣad says for the lesser mortals, i should keep my body fit, so that even if live a hundred years, i won't be burden for others with my health issues and help others in every possible way without being an interference. Its amazing to learn about Fauja Singh. "I run while talking to God."

src

src

src

In fact, Vethathri Maharishi's school had taught us how to massage our face and it fits perfectly with the facial muscle structure.

src

SSKAA

White Tree Flowers

Millingtonia hortensis (Maramalli / Chameli/ Akash mallige)

Its so fragrant, that i slow down my steps as I near my house in the night. There are so many trees by the sides of the roads leading to our quarters. Enchanting...

src

Tamilnadia uliginosa (Divine Jasmine/ Wagatta, Kalikarai)

src

Nyctanthes arbortristis (Coral jasmine/Tree of sorrow/Queen of night/ हार सिंगार, शैफ़ाली/ पारिजात/பவிழமல்லி)

src

Wrightia tinctoria (Sweet Indrajao/कपार, दुधी/பாலை)
This keeps milk unspoiled even without refrigerating.

src

Mimusops elengi (Mahilam)

This tree is there in Thiruvannamalai temple. Few sites say that this tree should not be planted near homes.

src


Magnolia Champaca (Joy perfume tree/Champaka/ Shanbagan/ चम्पा)

src

Ehretia laevis (Chamror/kalvirasu)

src

Dalbergia latifolia (Black rose wood/काला शीशम/Sa: शिंशपा/நூக்கம்)

src

Tabernaemontana alternifolia (Sa: Kampilakah/குண்டலப்பாலா, பால்வாடி/ नाग कुडा)

src


Calophyllum inophyllum (Beauty Leaf/सुलतान चम्पा/ नाग चम्पा, पुन्नाग/ புன்னை)

I have been searching for this flower for years in vain. Hope I get to savour its fragrance some day, again thanks to Lalithasahasranama. Am wondering what is the difference between this and Mammea suriga सुरंगी also called punnag in sanskrit. Surangi does not have a reddish stigma or core like the Alexandrian laureal. Also surangi is smaller lining up almost the whole tiny tree branches and buds open up without any leaves around it unlike the laureal.

src

Bauhinia acuminata (Dwarf white orchid tree/ सफ़ेद कचनार/ வெள்ளை மந்தாரை/ Sa:शिवमल्ली)

src

Terminalia arjuna (अर्जुन /மருது) vs catappa

src


Terminalia catappa (Indian almond/जंगली बादाम)

src


Tabernaemontana divaricata (Crape Jasmine/ Moonbeam/ Carnation of India/चांदनी / நந்தியார்வட்டை)

Our sweet tenant amma has said that she would plant nandiyavattai in our home. In estate, our ground floor neighbour had this tree/shrub in their backyard. Every morning, there would be a carpet of these flowers. Our neighbour used to collect few flowers for seva. Later new neighbours came in and when i went back home, i was surprised to see this fragrant tree missing)

src