Monday, 27 November 2017

Shivashtakam [Full Song] By S.P. Balasubrahmaniam - Shiva Roopa Darshan

Thursday, 23 November 2017

"I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart

I asked, ‘Who are You?’
He replied, ‘You’."

Mansur al-Hallaj

Well...its Tat Tvam Asi ( तत्त्वमसि) in another form!

Sunday, 19 November 2017

The Brain Benefits of Learning a Second Language

By Deane Alban

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Learning a second language offers proven benefits for intelligence, memory, and concentration and lowered risks of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Understanding language is one of the hardest things your brain does.

The benefits of learning a second language seem, in fact, to be proportional to the effort expended by the brain.

Because language is complex, speaking or learning a foreign language gives your brain a good workout.

It’s good brain exercise that makes the brain stronger.

It’s hard to believe now, but there was a time when raising children in a bilingual home was believed to stunt their intellectual growth. (1)

Experts thought their brains would become confused and that it might even contribute to schizophrenia or split identities.

But times have changed.

We now understand that precisely the opposite is true.

It’s now known that learning another language is one of the most effective and practical ways to increase intelligence, keep your mind sharp, and buffer your brain against aging.

Here are the ways that speaking or learning a second language can benefit your brain, no matter your age.

Being Bilingual Improves Cognitive Skills and Overall Brain Function

A lot of research has been done on the effects of learning and speaking languages.

People who speak two or more languages have significantly better overall cognitive abilities than those who speak one. (2)

Compared to people that speak one language, adults who speak multiple languages are more likely to:

have higher general intelligence (3)
be better at planning, prioritizing, and decision making (4)
score higher on standardized math, reading, and vocabulary tests (5)
be more perceptive of their surroundings
avoid falling for marketing hype
understand others’ points of view (6)
have better focus, concentration, and attention (7)
delay immediate gratification in the pursuit of long-term goals (8)
have better memory and memorization skills, including better working memory (9)
exhibit mental flexibility (10)
switch between tasks quickly
be creative (11)
have good listening skills (12)

Learning a New Language Increases Brain Size and Connectivity

Learning a foreign language can increase the size of the brain’s language center and the hippocampus — the area of the brain responsible for forming, storing and retrieving memories. (13)

In one Swedish study, young military recruits were taught new languages.

By measuring their brains before and after the language training, researchers had a unique opportunity to observe what happens to the brain when learning a second language.

MRI brain scans showed that study participants increased the size of their hippocampus. (14)

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Studying a new language can also increase the number of neural pathways between parts of the brain.

In another study, English speakers’ brains were monitored as learned the Chinese vocabulary.

MRIs revealed that they developed better connectivity between different regions of their brains. (15)

Besides changes in brain function, there were also detectable changes in brain structure after six weeks.

This structural change was apparent even in the elderly, leading researchers to conclude that brain plasticity — the brain’s ability to constantly change and grow — is greater than previously realized.

Related article —
Brain Plasticity: The New Key to a Better Brain at Any Age

Knowing More Than One Language Protects Your Brain Against Aging

Knowing a second language can postpone the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s by 4.5 years. (16)

This is significantly better than the best Alzheimer’s drugs which can delay symptoms by only 6-12 months. (17)

Brains scans found a noticeable difference in brain activity of bilingual seniors.

Their brains worked much more efficiently, more like those of young adults. (18)

Scientists believe these seniors’ brains have more reserve brain power that helps compensate for age-related memory loss.

Interestingly, there is no correlation between the benefits of speaking two languages and literacy.

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There’s always been a question whether bilinguals stay mentally sharp due to overall better education, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.

Bilinguals who cannot read and write experience the same protective benefits against dementia as literate bilinguals. (19)

If knowing two languages is good for your brain, is knowing three or more even better?

It looks like that’s the case.

There is evidence that being multilingual offers even further protective benefits for the brain. (20)

Thursday, 16 November 2017

Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror (Official Video)

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्‌ ।

धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥

paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam

dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge-(Chapter 4- Stanza 8)

One of the most misunderstood stanza in the Bhagavad Geeta.

Its often lost in translation.

Reason?

Its becos of the tendency of the human mind to divide anything and everything into good and bad.

We can find many translations of this stanza mostly echoing the following:

"For the protection of the virtuous and the destruction of the evil doers and for the establishment of Dharma(righteousness)...I incarnate from Age to Age."

Yes...this is where we get lost in translation!
Right away we assume Sadhunam means Good people/Sadhus/ and Dushkrtam means all that is bad and evil doers?

But is it so?
Does God really incarnate just to save a few who claim to be good and destroy the rest whom we feel are bad?

Naah! Its the Man in the Mirror here!

Sadhunam is not just anyone..not just a Sadhu!
Sadhunam is everyone..yes..everyone.

The human has innate Divinity within which is often tainted by the layers of unawareness.

The unawareness is what is better translated as Dushkritam.

The word Dush has many meanings in Sanskrit.
Yes..Yes..I get it..it does mean Bad too but there are much more than just being BAD here.

It does also mean Tainted.
So the Dushkrtam is not just anyone whom we feel is BAD.
Dushkrtam is also everyone of us including me and you!

Everyone of us is the Sadhunam and also the Dushkrtam.

So what happens next?

The mind seeks re-alignment to get back to an equipoise state.
This is when we say Dharma has been established.

The word Dharma does not have an English equivalent translation and its often thought of as Righteousness which isnt all that accurate.

Dharma is the Mode of Existence.
It does not Judge.
Its the mode most conducive for well being of any animated entity.
That is what we need to establish.
To revert to Dharma that makes us most conducive.

Do we have to wait for the end of the Yuga for this?

Nope...Why Yuge Yuge(From Age to Age).

Why not Dine Dine(From Day to Day).

If too much heavy duty Geeta Preaching is hard to retain...worry not,
Just listen to Man in the Mirror by Micheal Jackson...change needs to start from us...we need to remove covering of "Dushkrtam" to reveal the "Sadhunam" in us!

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change