Rest in Peace, Swami

I received news not 10 minutes ago that Sathya Sai Baba has left us. His body died, presumably of heart-related troubles. I won't know the details until the official announcement is released.

For those of you who don't know, Sathya Sai Baba is my guru. He is the second incarnation of the Kali Yuga Avatar, successor to Shirdi Sai Baba. In roughly a decade, Prema Sai, the third and final incarnation, will be born, and will lead humanity into a final golden age.

That's who He was to everybody. To me, He was my teacher, my friend, my source of inspiration. He gave me hope and joy, and was always there. My only regret is that He didn't live long enough for me to go see him on pilgrimage.

I actually don't know what to feel right now. He's gone, but not gone. I feel like crying for Him, but at the same time I know He's right here. My world's been torn to pieces, but nothing's really changed. I'm in an odd position right now, and haven't a clue as to what I'm supposed to feel.

I know it's strange, but a small part of me hopes He'll come back tomorrow. Given the time-zone differences, He died exactly at Midnight on Easter. I know it might only be coincidence, but I hope from the bottom of my heart of hearts that it isn't.

I'm back!

नमस्ते everybody! I'm finally home from Costa Rica, and everything's starting to settle down now. So I'll be able to get back into posting a bit more regularly.

First, a personal update: I finally got my hands on the Gita! It's a beautiful copy. It's page edges are gold-leafed, and the inside has sanskrit verses and their transliterations on the left, and on the right is the english translation. I'm gonna start reading it soon, so I can set a reasonable schedule for myself.

Speaking of sanskrit, I'm also going to be teaching myself how to read and speak it. It's gonna take YEARS, but I don't mind.

Also, if anybody's interested in a particular topic, please feel free to request a post on it in my comments!

Naa Varain!

On Atheists

Hello everybody, I'm dropping by to make another post. Hopefully this'll herald my return to the blog-world! (or it's just a 4am motivation thing.) Either way, here it goes.


The term "Atheist" is usually met with a certain level of disgust from theological circles. They're viewed as enemies of God, as unenlightened fools, a waste of a soul, and what have you. But... are they? Are they really just selfish wastes of space, or are they a necessary force?

First, let's define what an Atheist is. The stock definition is "One who doesn't believe in God." However, practicing Buddhists would fall under this label, lumped together with the people who crusade against Christianity. Obviously, this definition needs a bit of revision. The one I've settled on is "One who says this world is all that there was, is, and will ever be." This definition keeps the trappings of Atheists (no afterlife, no God, no soul, et al) yet excludes any nihilistic faiths, such as Buddhism.

Because Atheists don't have any authority besides materialistic ones, they act as they please. Some indulge whimsically in illicit sex, carnivorous delights, mind-altering substances, and so on. They have no reason for helping somebody other than the rewards such an action would promise and the feel-good mood our baser, socialistic programming grants. That's more or less the image conjured up by the word "Atheist," and they've been described as "toxic," "evil," and "demonic."

Sadly, an Atheist's good qualities are often overlooked, due to their demonization. What people either miss or ignore is their dedication to reason and logic. To them, next to nothing is taken on faith. Everything must have a logical and sound basis and understanding. How's that relevant to Suras? Well, it's simple. Atheists provide a check against ideological corruption. Take, for example, the desi-centric nature of Hinduism. Yes, the events and myths recorded do take place in India. Yes, the Vedas are written in Sanskrit, and the culture is firmly rooted in the region's native customs. There is absolutely nothing wrong with those facts. However, there is a not-so-small segment of society that has taken it a step too far. They've declared Hinduism to be an ethnically-exclusive faith. If you aren't a full-blood, born Indian, then you're excluded from the blessings and teachings of Hinduism. The best a non-Indian can hope for is to hit the karma jack-pot and be born as an Indian. You may think I'm kidding, but I'm not. They have an entire racial/spiritual hierarchy mapped out (With them sitting on top of it all, of course!).

So, how do Atheists have any relevance? Shouldn't disciples be able to challenge them, and tear down such an abomination? Well, they should. But they don't. It's a sad thing to see, but some non-Indian Hindus actually willingly subscribe to this backwards system. Their position as a devotee clouds their minds, so they never think to challenge the unfair system. Atheists aren't hampered by any such bias. Using a few logical, well-thought-out arguments, they easily topple such a barbaric system. Similarly, they do the same "cleansing" process for nearly everything else they come into contact with. They'll find something and argue and question it, which forces a devotee to respond with something more than simple blind belief. Some things are easy to answer, such as the caste system, but others are a lot more profound, such as trying to explain how Krishna, Kali, and a rock are really all the same. By virtue of having such a fundamental conviction questioned, reasoned through, and vocalized, the devotee learns more about themselves, their faith, and ultimately God.

So, all in all, Atheists are a mixed bag of nuts. You certainly have the Demons who take full advantage of immunity to divine retribution, but at the same time you have the nice ones, who are nicer than some "Theists," and actually help spread Dharma and faith with their gentle questioning and dedication to reason.

Well, that's all for tonight.

Naa Varain!

I'm still alive

I apologize for my lack of posts. I've got alot of work to make-up from my robotics field trip, so time's pretty valuable. But fear not! I'll get back to posting regularily after all my work's caught up.

Naa Varain

On Forms

This one's probably gonna be short, given my lack of sleep over the preceding 24 hours. (Yay for calc...) But exciting news! I'm finally starting to show up. Google "The Binary Path hindu" and I'm the first link. Huzzah! Anyways, onto the blog.

The ultimate goal of most dharmic people is to attain moksha and return to Brahman. How do you go about doing this? Well, the stock answer is "realize that God is more than this, or that. Realize that the form is an illusion, and that God has no form." Typically, that'll give somebody enough of a pointer to get them started. However, it does have a curious impact on people.

Because that's the rote answer, it appears to place the Formless on a higher level than the Form. Since it's target #1, and certainly the one that's harped on the most, it's only natural to think that pursuing the Formless is a superior task than pursuing the Form. Granted, it's typically the harder of the two paths, but that doesn't mean it's superior. Quite the contrary. If you follow only a single path, you're going to end up nowhere. Why? Because by choosing to follow on path, you forsake the other. To do so is to deny the validity and divinity of something, either the world we live in or Brahman itself. It can also lead to (idiotic) superiority complexes. "The Form is better because you can touch it" or "My way is more difficult, so I'm much manlier than everybody else!" Either way, it adds road-blocks.

Instead of seeing the Form and Formless as two paths, people should see them as compliments of each other, just like clay and water. Ultimately, people want water. It's life-giving, nourishing, and basically what life runs off of. Without it, we'd all die. However, water doesn't like being scooped up for a drink. It will splish and splash around, trying to find escape crevices in your hand. Obviously, accomplishing anything involving more than a sip of water is going to be very labor-intensive and discouraging. As such, we need clay cups. Although you can't drink the clay or survive off of it, it's still a necessary item. It holds it's shape, doesn't melt in your fingers, and delivers the all-important water to anywhere it's needed without compromising itself or the water. Similarly, people who worship the Form need to do so because the water just runs through their hands far too quickly. Conversely, people who chase after the Formless have a harder time because they don't have a cup to conveniently drink water from.

Now, how's this all relate back to me? Well, it's fairly simple. I'm the backwards oddball, even in spirituality. I've little to no issue worshiping and wrapping my head and heart around the idea that EVERYTHING is God, and the God is everything. However, I still have some troubles packing God into a neat little meat puppet. As such, my worship needs to be directed more towards the Form than it currently is.

I'm sorry for the staggering and stuttering prose. I've been up for little under 23 hours straight, and I'm falling asleep at my keyboard. As such, if it's absolutely horrid, I'll take the time and re-write it in understandable English. Till then,

Naa Varain!

On ISKON

ISKON, International Society for Krishna Conscious, Hare Krishnas. Whatever you call them, they have, for better or worse, become the face of Hinduism in the west.

The first question is "Who are they?" In a nutshell, they're a Hindu sect that focuses on activly converting people to their sect. They have a fixation upon Shree Krishna, elevating Him to (or above) Brahman. They believe that in this yuga, Shree Krishna is most potent in His verbal form, so they chant their simple, signature mantra:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Second question is "Where'd they come from?" They're originally from India, but didn't really gain publicity or steam until members started showing up in the US around the 70's. They found willing converts among the hippies, who were more than willing to experiment with new and exotic things, from drugs and sexual practices to religion and spirituality. Unfortunately, that's given them a bad stigma and undermined whatever little credibility they had. However, they're still alive and kicking. Despite the stigma attached to their original audience, the criticism they've faced, and various scandals, they're still going strong.

Unfortunately, the Hare Krishnas have, more or less, become the poster children of western Hinduism. While I have no personal grudge against it's members, it's philosophies and teachings are only tangentially related to Santana Dharma. It's been likened to Eastern Christianity, and it's not hard to see why. It focuses, almost exclusively, on a single entity, has a huge emphasis on converting non-believers, and focuses on attaining some Heavenly afterlife. Compared to Hinduism, which focuses on something beyond description, has standing orders AGAINST aggressive conversion, and has an ultimate goal of moksha, Hare Krishnas have done more than a little philosophical twisting. As such, the view on Hinduism, an already hard-to-grasp and intricate faith, is now tinged an off-blue color.

In addition to their inadvertent PR nightmare, the Hare Krishnas have a few philosophical problems. While they're well-meaning, they have a few logistical problems. The biggest flaw I see is how one's next life is determined. According to them, whatever you're thinking of when you die determines your next life. On the surface, that makes sense. If you're thinking about money, you'll be born a banker (or poor, depending on your karma.) Thinking of sex will turn you into an animal so you can have sex all the time. Thinking about Krishna will earn you eternal bliss, as your soul would go to join His. That sounds great and water-proof, but there's a problem. For that to work out, you'd have to be a spiritual sprinter. You had to make the leap from materialistic desires to Krishna in a single lifetime. So if you tried and failed, you had better have failed hard. Else, you'll end up being Shiva's little toe for the rest of eternity instead of having a second go at attaining Krishna Conscious. Obviously, there's some problems with their system.

However, for all their detriments, ISKON does provide a much-needed stepping stone for Westerners. It's message is easily grasped, and it makes a point of being open and inviting to non-Desis. Hinduism does the exact opposite. It's fairly hard to wrap your mind around it, the pre-requisite cultural reference points, lack of any definitive system or entrance point, and general inter-twining with lineage-/birth-based culture makes it extremely hostile to anyone who wasn't born "into the system." Honestly, that's a shame. Hinduism has so much to offer, and so many people are in total bliss of it because it's care-takers haven't done their job in maintaining it in all it's glory.

Well, I lied. I do hold a personal grudge against ISKON. Since Krishna is one of my favorite Avatars, if not my #1, I don't appreciate the huge number of "Hare Krishna" renditions clogging up soundcloud and youtube.

I would write more, but a stats test over yonder and calc homework calls to me.

Naa Varain!

On Caste

Caste is kind of a taboo word. Uttering it invokes sickening notions of caste discrimination, the horrors of the Untouchables, and pre-determined lives. People are denied their rightful places in society because of their births, while others are accorded undue privileges. The Indian government has tried to compensate for centuries of discrimination by hindering the "upper" castes. The hardest hit are the Brahmins, who's college education has basically been squashed. In short, the modern caste system is a sickening abomination.

The caste system used to be an honorable thing, something Society could support and depend upon. Originally, one's caste wasn't irrationally based upon one's heritage. Each individual would voluntarily join a caste based on their occupation, personal leanings, and so on. That system was best, because everybody did what they were born to do. They knew where their passions lay, and dutifully carried them out. People following this system also understood that society needed all of them to function. Without the Brahmins, spiritual advancement would be hard to come by, and society would lose sight of it's over-arching goal. Should the Kshatriyas disappear, then we'd suffer lawlessness. We wouldn't have our leaders to run the country, the military wouldn't be around to protect the nation, and the lack of police would result in anarchy. Vaishyas are necessary to produce the goods we need and regulate the economy. Without them, our shops wouldn't have managers and specialty goods would be non-existent. Finally, Shurdas are an integral part of making sure society functions. Imagine a life without plumbers, janitors, sales clerks, construction workers, or anybody to perform manual labor.

People need to be reminded of this. Shurdas aren't low-life, sub-human apes. They're honest, hard-working, often-times intelligent people, no different than the unrightfully elevated Brahmins. Each just has a different path to walk, nothing more, nothing less.

Now, an example of pthreads in C/C++:


Scratch that. I just realized how ugly a program would look without syntax highlighting. So instead, I'm going to link you to a good, basic tutorial.

http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialPosixThreads.html

Just a few generic notes:
-You should always have a void * parameter. That's what pthread_create() passes, so you need one. You don't have to actually do anything with it. Shoot, it doesn't even have to be anything. Just pass it NULL. Just make sure you pass it SOMETHING.
-Your function should return a void *. Although it'd make sense to have it return void, it's just far easier to return a void * because, for whatever reason, that's what pthread_create() expects.
-Always use pthread_join(). If you don't you'll run into the problem of main() terminating long before it's threads do. Obviously, that's not good.

Well, I've got scholarships to chase.

Naa Varain