Tomay Hrid Majhare Rakhbo

stuck to this song for a while.. catchy tune..lovely music iktara and flute. lyrics too. *lost*

Tomay hrid majhare rakhbo chhede debo na...

Chalte chalte yuhin koi mil gaya tha...

For the most graceful and beautiful Kathak dancer i've known as a friend.

You might leave dance but the dance will never leave you! =)

water based pencil colours  & silver pen on paper. January 2012. collection: Sanjana Kapoor

 

Pakeezah song Chalte Chalte

" Ye chiraag bhuj rahe hain... mere saath jalte jalte "

Sleep,1937, oil on canvas. Salvador Dali

 

" The fact that I myself don't immediately understand my paintings does not imply that they don't have any meaning. On the contrary, their meaning is so deep, systematic and complex that their interpretation requires scientific knowledge... They are the precise expression of a secret, symbolic language of the subconscious."

Salvador Dali, 1976

Pyasa 1

Up early morning today.. it is 5 am. 24 hours of power cut at home. some problem in wiring and fuse at home. This means that the inverter dragged itself beyond its capacities and ultimately went off at 2 in the morning. This also means that I haven't slept at all for more than 24 hours. Not tired yet.. Used to it..but by choice..not with so much of distraction and discomfort to accompany it. Anyway, i decided that i'm not gonna waste my time anymore (since i already wasted the night lying on the bed and staring at the fan). I have been thinking of writing the following post since a long time now..

So today I'm going to highlight the principle of Classical Conditioning. Every psychology student is well aware of this widely used, tested and applied learning principle .

However, today I'm not going to explain it the traditional Pavlovian way of experiment involving a dog,bell jar and measuring the salivary responses, but i'm just relating it to a recent observation in my daily life.

These days dad and i have split our duties to water plants. Dad waters them 6 in the morning and I, 6 in the evening. It has become a routine now.. 6pm and i'm up on the terrace religiously fulfilling my duty to 'recharge' the plants. However, it is not JUST the plants that i recharge. As days went by, i noticed a routinely visit of crows on the earthen pot kept there to satiate 'their' thirst in the scorching heat. ['their' applies to the bird kingdom, flies and squirrels, however crows seem to rule the 'water supply' in this case]

Classical Conditioning is a basic form of learning in which an original, neutral stimulus by repeated pairing with a stimulus that normally elicits a responses comes to elicit a similar or even identical response. In this, 2 stimulus events become associated in such a way that the occurrence of one event reliably predicts the occurrence of other.

I noticed that as soon as i refill the earthen pot, the crows start lining up on the railing of the balcony and near the pot to consume water.

That gives us our first phase, Before conditioning which can be represented as:

Unconditioned Stimulus(UCS)    --->     Unconditioned Response(UCR)
water                                                    thirst/ [since we can't measure, i'll take it as lining up of crows].

As I decided to observe the behaviour of crows, I made a loud screeching sound of the terrace door near the water area and then shortly after presented water in the pot. This brings us to the second During the conditioning wherein the CS is paired with USC to elicit the UCR:

Conditioned stimulus(CS)  + Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) ---> Unconditioned Response(UCR)
screech of the door                            water                                             lining up of crows

On repeated pairing in the second phase(as shown above) I observed that the crows started lining up for water just on hearing the screeching sound even when the water was not presented. This shows that learning in behaviour has taken place After the Conditioning phase.

 Conditioned stimulus(CS) ---> Conditioned Response(CR)

 screech of the door                         lining up of crows

Well thanks to Classical Conditioning, I made new friends... It's nice to see them drink water! =)

Pyasa

 Watch the original experiment of Classical Conditioning by the Behaviourist Ivan Pavlov.

[ wrote it on May 21st, publishing it today.]

Happy World Environment Day! Please love nature! =D

Intent

I had some questions.. help if you can...

Can INTENT be right or wrong?
 It can..right? That is why we can have a
person with an intent to harm others and another with an intent to
love...?
However, if an intent cannot be right or  wrong, it must be a FEELING..
So is Intent a feeling?

ps: I feel soo messed up!! need to sort myself out... big time... =(

Indian Psychology- Vedanta

Alter Ego.2011

Vedanta is one of the six major schools of Brahminical philosophy. It is one of the school of thought that makes me think and remains insatiable however more I read about it.Needless to mention, its concepts have certainly influenced my art(some of which I'll display later). Sharing the basic concepts of Advaita Vedanta as I use this space to 'practice' for my upcoming exam.

This Indian school of thought presents the Advaita or non-dualist Vedantic view of consciousness. Vedanta literally means the end of Vedas, the most ancient scriptures of Hindus. It represents the highest culmination of the philosophic thought of the Vedic sages. The Upanishads form the basic authoritative source of Vedantic doctrines apart from the Vedas. The third important source is Bhagvad Gita.  During the early 9th century, Sankara(788-820) wrote commentaries on all these sources of Vedantic thought.


The fundamental doctrine of Vedanta is that there is a single principle which underlies the infinite variety of forms that manifest themselves in the Universe. This principle is called Brahman which is said to be formless, without any qualities and essentially indescribable. The nature of Brahman has been described with a triology of terms Being(sat), Consciousness(cit) and Bliss(ananda). Atman or the self is identical with the Brahman, the cosmic principle. One realizes the identity of the Self with that of the Brahman or Universal Self(Paramatman) in a superior state of consciousness called Nirvikalpa samadhi.Sankara suggested that all objects of the universe are but illusory transformations(vivarta) of the formless Brahman. The world as we see it is thus considered to be a Grand Illusion or Maya.
Sankara describes two types of knowledge-Para vidya and apara vidya
Para vidya is obtained in the experience of the identity of the Atman with the Brahman in the state of Nirvikalpa samadhi. It is the highest form of knowledge where one transcends knower-known distinction.
Apara vidya refers to knowledge of the phenomenal world. In this domain, space and time(desa, lala) and principles of causality are operational. Rules of logic operate under apara vidya.

Further, the world of Maya is governed by the Law of Karma and the continual changes in the world are ascribed to the interplay of three 'strands' or gunas namely sattva, rajas, tamas.

The Vedantic concept of Jiva('life'. 'living being') is similar to the contemporary concept of personality. The Jiva represents everything concerning the individual and is viewed a s a multi-layered entity in which 5 layers are encased in one another as concentric sheaths of onion covering the Atman. These 5 layers are:
1) Annamaya kosa- The outermost shell is the body. It is called the sheath of food(anna), since it may perish for want of nourishment.
2) Pranamaya kosa- Prana means energy. It is the next layer inside, which literally means "breath of life" It is sustained by breathing-inhaling, exhaling etc. It is the physiological processed that organize the bodily functions.
3) Manomaya kosa- Mana means mind. It involves the sense organs and the mind coordinates its functions. It is the level of processing thoughts and emotions. It is considered a seat of egoistic striving. (ahamkar)
4) Vijnanamaya kosa- Vijnana means knowing. It constitutes the intellect and represents the cognitive aspects of self.
5) Anandamaya kosa- It is the innermost core of Jiva and the seat of the experience of the bliss.

According to Sankara we have a Gross body and a Subtle body. The Subtle body consists of 5 motor organs, 5 sense organs and then the innermost instrument consisting of:
1. Mind(manas)- involved in analysis of ideas, synthesis of ideas and desicion making.
2. The Intellect(Buddhi)- involved in planning and decision making.
3. Ego(ahamkar)- seat of self awareness and arrogance
4. Psyche(citta)- involved in remembering or storage of traces left behind by past actions and experiences.

Vedanta also describes Four states of consciousness:
1. Wakefulness (jagrti)- Where the gross as well as the subtle body remain active. Jiva is involved in the enjoyment of object of pleasure. Orientation is outward bound since it is directed towards external objects.
2. Dream (svapna)- It is the intermediary state between wakefulness and deep sleep. The Gross body and the senses are at rest, the jiva is cut off from the external world but subtle body is active. The intellect(buddhi) assumes the role of experiencer and doer and 'creates' objects for its own experience of enjoyment or suffering. Sankara emphasizes the illusory nature of dreams.
3. Deep sleep (susupti)
4. Fourth state (turiya)- which is used to refer to the trance state of nirvikalpa samadhi. One who achives this state realizes that the world as he saw it during wakeful state is also illusory or unreal. In the fourth state one transcends intentionality(directedness to an outside object). The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. The person stands above pride and prejudice, manifesting the ideal human condition called sthitaprajna.

Means of attaining superior state of consciousness:
1. Discrimination between permanent and impermanent. Only Brahman is permanent, the phenomenal world is impermanent.
2. Involves maintaining an attitude of detachment.
3. Acquisition of 6 virtues:
a) sama- controlling the mind to rest it steadily on one objective
b) dama- withdrawing the senses from objects of pleasure
c) uparati- preventing the mind from modifying itself as modified when controlled by external objects.
d) titiksa- enduring hardships or pain without lamenting or becoming anxious.
e) sraddha- adopting an attitude of conviction that the theory explained by the scriptures and the directions provided by the teacher(guru) are the correct means for the knowledge of Reality.
f) samadhana- the firm resting of the mind of formless brahman without indulging the mind.
4. The fourth is the cultivation of the intense desire for liberation of the bonds created by egoism and ignorance.

Source: Paranjpe, A.C. Theoretical Psychology : The Meeting of East and West. (1894).Consciousness:The Two Indian views of Yoga and Vedanta.


P.S.- More on Vedanta may be later. The Readers are requested to please suggest some books for further reading on Indian Psychology.

Boredom