#75 Navratri

The nine auspicious nights: Navratri

Festivals are parts and parcels of life. With the commencement of the festivals, an aura full of energy and creativity spreads all over. Like every year, this year people will experience happiness in this Navratri. 

“Navratri” has been derived from two Sanskrit words, Nav means  nine and Ratri means nights. Navratri is observed twice in a year. It is a festival which is being celebrated throughout India to worship nine forms of Goddess  Durga.  According to Hindu calendar, this festival begins on the very first day of month Ashwin. This festival comes to an end with the tenth day of celebration that is called Dusshera.  

Avatars of Maa Durga

1.      Shailputri

Goddess Shailputri is the first among the nine forms and is worshipped in the first day of Navratri. Shailputri is also regarded as the daughter of king of mountain Himalaya. She holds Trishul as weapon in her hand and rides on a bull. She holds lotus in her left hand.

2.     Brahmacharini

She is the second among the nine forms and is worshipped in the second day of festival. She is the goddess who  performs Tapa. She is a symbol of love, loyalty and knowledge. She holds japa mala in her right hand and kamandal in her  left hand.

3.     Chandraghanta

She is the third form of Godess Durga and is worshipped in the third day of this festival. She is the goddess of knowledge, bliss, energy and serenity. She posses ten hands and three eyes. She rides on a tiger.

4.     Kushmanda

She is worshipped on the fourth day of Navratri. She is the controller of the entire solar system. She holds different weapons in her six hands and rose and lotus in her remaining two hands. She irradiates energy in all direction as that of Sun. She rides on a lion.

5.     Skand Mata

She is fifth among the nine forms and is worshipped in the fifth day of the festival. She holds her son named Skanda on her lap that’s why she has got such a name. It is believed that she has got such a power to transform an individual into a great source of knowledge. She is regarded as a goddess of power. She rides on a lion. She holds two lotus flowers in her two hands.

6.     Katyani

She is the sixth form of Goddess Durga who is worshipped in the sixth day of this festival. Sage Katyayan observed a penace to get Jaganmata as his daughter, so Mata blessed him and took birth as a daughter on the river bank of Yamuna.She has three eyes and four hands. She rides on a lion.

7.     Kalratri

She is the seventh form of Godess Durga and is worshipped in the seventh day of Navratri. She is dark as that of night, hence she is named as “Kalratri”. She is considered as a destroyer of darkness, ignorance and enemies. She holds a sharp wood in her right hand and rides on a donkey.

8.     Maha Gauri

She is worshipped in the eight day of the festival. She holds drums, trident and Trishul in her hands. She is more often dressed in a white sari. She rides on a bull. She is as white as moon. She is a symbol of peace and compassion.

9.     Maha Siddhidatri

She is the ninth form of Godess Durga and is worshipped in the ninth day of the festival. It is believed that she provides eight Siddhis-Anima, Ahima, Garima, Laghima, Prapti,Prakamya, lishitva and Vashitva. She is depicted with four arms. She is seated on a lotus. She is worshipped by all the sages and devotees who want to obtain religious asset.

There are lots of memories associated with this festival. In my childhood days, during Kanya Pujan, I along with my friends would go to the house of people for Kanya Pujan. We would be given lots of dishes to eat. While returning back to home, we used to get return gifts.

May goddess durga shower all her mercy upon her devotees and fill within all, a positive energy to drive away all the odds. May Goddess empower us and uplift us.

With this note, I wish everyone a HAPPY DURGA PUJA.

Sweta Sarangi

30.9.2014

#65 Pixie Dust- an interesting technology

Pixie Dust- An interesting technology

Know about Pixie Dust??? From  name, you may wonder that what it denotes exactly. You might have heard this word before if you watch cartoons of Disney. Tinker bell, a fictious character uses sparkling golden colour dust to lift herself up.

In fairy tales, pixie dust refers to the golden powder which is magical. It provides an extra ability of  fairies to fly higher. It is accompanied by "happy thoughts".

Recently researchers have found a new technology known as "Pixie dust". This technology will help to levitate particles by using sound waves. This have been already approved by researchers with single particle.

This technology is developed by Yoichi Ochiai, Takayuki Hoshi and Jun Rekimoto where they are able to lift the particles up by sound waves and form some image or patterns out of it. It will just be interesting to watch some phenomena in front of your eyes. The future application may include its use in animation or in display technology.

In the words of Andrew Liszewski "The applications for such a technology are almost impossible to comprehend at this point, since we’re so used to displays being flat and made from glowing pixels. But try and imagine the particles floating in the air coming together to suddenly form a computer screen, and you can start to realise how revolutionary this research could be."

I am ending this article with a hope that may this technology be a boon to the world of animation and display technology. Have a look how does it look like......

Sweta Sarangi

1-6-2014

#48 Telepathy

Telepathy

‘Telepathy’, this word has been derived from two greek words. Tele means distant and patheia means perception, feeling or experience. It is a process of transmission of information from one person to another without the use of sensory organs. It can be regarded as a paranormal activity. It is mind-to-mind communication without the interference of media. Mostly fictious characters, interstitial species and super humans shown in television series exhibit the characteristics of sending message signals without any medium. The message is received by the receiver irrespective of the state of mind.  

Many people have had the experience of getting a telephone calls from someone just as you were thinking about them. Now a new study claims that might not just be a coincidence. It is due to a phenomenon called telepathy i.e communication through minds.

Early researches were based on the experiment of 'mental radio' in which one of a person has to guess the mind set of other person. The experiment involves two persons: sender and receiver. This may include the selection of cards by one person, then mind-to-mind communication. The other one would try to decode the signal by guessing the exact card selected from a deck of cards.

Rupert Sheldrake is a great biologist and author who has been conducting research into hypothesis that our mind extends beyond our skull the way magnetic fields extends beyond magnet or gravitational field extends beyond any planet. The phenomenon of telepathy has been widely experienced by people all around the world.

Sheldrake conducted an experiment to note down the reaction of dogs whether they would able to sense the arrival of their owners. Most of us have observed that pet dogs often go to the door of the house to check whether their owners have arrived or not. In this experiment, the owners of dog would be given a randomized signal by pager, when they were at least five miles away from their houses. They had to travel using other automobiles that they did not use daily so that there was no chance of dog hearing the familiar sound of the vehicle of the owner.  A camera was put in the front of the main window/ gate of the house to record the behavior of the dogs. It was found that fifty percent of the dogs would come and wait at the door when their owners were on their way to home. The most sensitive dogs would wait even by the window when their owners have simple decided to come home.

Most of the pets are telepathic. They are sensitive towards their owner’s emotions, behaviors. They can predict the upcoming changes and act accordingly. One reason could be that, we share a common environment with them. Not only this, but also our thinking processes, life styles, habits etc. effect their well being as they are like family members. Animals are conscious to human beings.

From a research it has been concluded that ninety percent of the population feel that someone is looking at them, turned around to check and find that someone is there. Due to phenomenon called telepathy this happens so. Many people possess the ability to read mind of other staying at a distant.

All most all mothers are telepathic. They are able to predict the state of wellbeing of their children even if they are not in touch with them for a longer period of time. I would like to share one of such incidences. Once I had mild fever, at that time I was residing at hostel and thought not to bother anyone though my phone calls. I would go to the doctor for medicine and take rest completely. Doctors prescribed medicines of very high doses and recommended to take those medicines after eating enough meal. My mother called me that day, on hearing my voice on the other side of the phone; she enquired whether I was alright. I told her that I had caught cold, got medicines from doctor, would be alright by tomorrow (to hide the matter otherwise she would be the one to worry the most). After eating those medicines, I felt restless and vomited out many times. I felt that my health condition had deteriorated than before. Anyhow, I managed to sleep. I did not have sound sleep that night because of rise in temperature and body aches. Whenever my eyes got opened up at night, I used to call my mother in my mind to get relief. At that point of time, I wanted her to be by my side and take care of me the best ever way. Throughout the night I planned to report my relative’s house if I were not alright by tomorrow. Next morning, my mobile ranged, I grabbed that to find a call from my mother. The first question she asked me about my health and she told me that she had a sleepless night too. She experienced a different kind of sensation i.e, voice similar to mine calling her (with pain). After hearing this, I was dumbstruck. How could this be possible?? Even I did not tell her about my sufferings. She was able to decode the signal exactly that my mind sent repeatedly. Similar kind of incidences may have been experienced by many readers.

Telepathy could prove to be a unique way of sending information through the connection of mind, staying at different locations on earth similar to data of transmission of data through one electronic device to other. With the advancement of technology, there may be possibilities of exploring the mind of people and decoding various signals. I end this article with a hope that such kind of advancement may happen in future in the field which is beyond our level of imagination.

SWETA SARANGI

6.2.2014

#22 Sad songs make us feel happy

  SAD SONGS MAKE US FEEL HAPPY

                

Music is a form of art. Listening to music makes us feel relaxed and refreshed….. Most of the times it depends on the selection of the song, whether they make us feel pathetic or energetic……In reality it’s not always so.

We have got a misconception about the fact that the sad songs would make us feel gloomy and miserable.

You will be amazed to know that it is a myth. And How??? Let me explain….

A case study found that minor key music sounded sadder  than  major key music to people, but  they have more affinity towards it….

In an another study of 44 people , participants listened to one of three lesser-known classical pieces--to avoid emotional influence from memories connected to hearing the piece before--in both a major and minor key. Researchers asked them to pinpoint the feelings they experienced while listening to the music, as well as predict what kind of emotions they perceived other people would experience while listening to the song. Participants did not consider the sad music as tragic as it was thought to be , the researchers write:

“The listeners felt less gloomy, meditative, and miserable as well as more fascinated, merry, animated, and inclined to dance when they listened to sad music compared with their actual perceptions of the same music”. The reason behind feeling so could be a phenomenon called “sweet anticipation”. Even if the listeners experience sad feelings but the sweet anticipation allows them to feel happy.

From this it can be concluded that the feeling of being sad is not always the result of the situation but listening to someone singing his /her sadness is a sensational experience because this emotion is not effecting our well-being…..

BY_Sweta Sarangi