Ancient Egyptians ahead of time

The recent discovery of an industrial complex in Egypt has led researchers to revise their conceptions over what level of advancement the Nile civilization had actually reached, with their advanced glass making abilities roving that the ancient Egyptian were technologically much more ahead of their time than scholars previously thought, according to livescience.com
The site at Amarna, is on the banks of the Nile and dates back to the reign of Akhenaton (1352-1336 BC), just a few years before the rule of Tutankhamun.
Historians have said Egyptians of that time imported their glass. But a team led by archeologist Paul Nikolson of Cardiff university in Wales has reconstructed a 3000 year-old glass furnace ,showing that ancient Egyptian glass making methods were much more advance than thought.
The researchers used local sand to produce a glass ingot from their own experimental reconstruction of an ancient furnace near the site.
They also have discovered that the glass works part of an industrial complex, as they have described it. The site contained a potter’s workshop and facilities for making blue pigment and materials used in the architectural inlays.

Was Leonardo Da Vinci an Arabian???

Recently a shade has-been given to the research on Leonardo Da Vinci’s life & works that he may have had an Arab heritage. According to Italian researchers they have spied a fingerprint of Da Vinci in one of his paintings and claimed that it was his index finger that they have found on one of his famous masterpieces.

Leonardo Da Vinci used his finger to smudge a necklace’s shadow in one of his paintings. The finger print has been approved as his own after 3 years of scrutinizing 52 manuscripts and paintings. The team have found more than 200 prints and finally one has been entitled as his own.

No doubt that this invention would give weight to the increasingly popular academic theory that Da Vinci’s mother, Caterina was a slave who had come to Tuscany from Istanbul. Almost nothing is left of Da Vinci or his family. After his death in 1519; his remains were dispersed in a series of religious war.

Inspiration & Criticism

Inspiration is a source of power that leads a man beyond expectation. It is really a power that can propel a man to such a direction that the man excels his prowess, skill and performances exceeding his general output. This kind of power, consists of some good words of praise and admiration, creates an inspiration in the mind of the person and boosts up his prowess, skills and confidence. No need to say that praise plays the key role in igniting the inspiration, but criticism also plays a significant role here. Criticism helps indicating the weak points and mistakes have somehow been occurred. Criticism helps in finding the mistakes, faults and errors which can deteriorate the quality of an action. One can rectify himself from the criticism and can perform better in future. Criticism can also create an impression in a man and helps him perform better. Like praise it also generates a power into a man and fuels him to perform better. Therefore praise and criticism both are the prime elements in forming or igniting the inspiration. Praise sometimes lets one perform ignoring the moral rules but criticism restrains one and compels to behave according to the rules. Most of the people do not accept criticism as the source of inspiration. Only the people want to prosper in life accept criticism warmly. They want to learn about the errors and weak points found in their behaviors so that they can rectify themselves and perform better in future. However, accepting criticism as a source of inspiration has not yet been widely adopted.

One of my Best Poems

I have read many poems, but some of are very close to my heart. This poem is one of them....

Sonnet to the pupils of Hindu College 

Expanding like the petals of young flowers 

I watch the gentle opening of your minds. 

And the sweet loosening of the spell the binds, 

Your intellectual energies and powers, 

That stretch (Like young birds in soft summer hours) 

Their wings, to try their strength, O, how the winds 

Of circumstances and freshening April showers 

Of early knowledge and unnumbered kinds 

Of new perceptions shed their influence; 

And how you worship truth’s omnipotence. 

What joyance rains upon me, when I see 

Fame in the mirror of futurity, 

Weaving the chaplets you have yet to gain 

Ah then, I feel I have not lived in vain. 

 ***by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio

Creation & Imitation

When a child comes into this world, he knows nothing about the strange world he has come. He is then taught and trained all that are needed to survive in this world. He does not know the feeling of hunger. He does not even know how to express when he needs to go for nature’s call. Everything he has to learn. He is then trained how to speak, how to express his feeling, emotions even behavior he should do with anybody. Then he has to go through another step to acquire knowledge. That is to earn educational qualification. It is a lengthy process which claims at least a decade. After completion of this educational phase a child is becomes a Man, i.e. he is grown up.

He has acted under for a longtime before he has been entitled as a Man. He has imitated as he had been asked or ordered. Now whatever he would do in future, he would do depending on his previous knowledge he had earned. If he writes an essay in good sentence then it is to be believed that he had once been taught how to write sentences. If he makes a toy assembling the different things, then it is to be believed that he has the knowledge of assembling and a concept of how a toy looks. Every task he performs comprises of so many knowledge earned in his childhood. All that he does are called imitation. Now the point comes, what is called Creation? Indeed it is a complex question after discussing so long. That is called creation where there should be no copying, no old data but a new one with new appearance, new style, new thought, new features everything new. How that can be considered as new or creation where that would be developed depending on the previous knowledge. All the elements of the creation would be collected from the previous knowledge to give the creation its figure. Therefore why the creation would not be considered as imitation whereas the creation itself is standing on the previous knowledge earned by imitating. Defining a job as creation depends on the person who defines it. If the subject-matter of the job is totally unknown or new to a person he would then certainly define the job as creation. If it is known or familiar to him he would obviously entitle it as imitation. The word creation is indeed a relative term. And if you ask me what is called relative term then I would have to go to Einstein.

The two faces of Duty

It’s a critical topic to discuss about the two faces of Duty I have experienced in my life. Indeed it has two faces. One that performs willingly and the other is get performed. The word Duty explains the work we should do. Therefore the so called “works we should do” can be executed in two ways .One is done in full consent of our hearts. Our minds, hearts, thought fully cooperate with the work. It can be said that in such kinds of works “the feeling of doing the work” comes from the core of our hearts. The other duty or “works we should do” is get done, i.e. here our minds, hearts do not cooperate with us. Some conditions, situations or circumstances compel or force us or may be said drive us to do the work. Our hearts do not feel but some external situations force us to do this kind of duty. Let analyze the fact. I suppose have a special feeling about X. I therefore always think to do something for him and one day I got the chance and did a job in favor of him. He as per expectation became glad and asked me why I had done so much for him. Obviously my answer would be “It was my duty“It is a kind of duty I feel to do from my heart. In another example I had to do something for a person, whom I do not like, yet had to do pretending that I liked and respected him. Surely the person would be glad and ask me the same question why I had done so much for him and unfortunately my answer would be the same “It was my duty”. Now the question comes which of the specified duties should be entitled as Duty and what would be the definition of duty? When we are said by someone that it was his duty to help or serve us, how we can distinguish or recognize that it was that kind of duty he had felt from his heart? My mind does not support me to accept the service performed by a person who does not feel from his heart to serve me. I feel as if I force him to do such with my power of seniority. In fact I feel that I am being cheated. I don’t know how many of us think about it. If not I would then like to request them to think over the matter and answer me which kind of duty they would prefer to receive.

Scepticism & Superstitions

“Seeing is believing” is a well known proverb, that speaks that when a thing is seen or observed it must exist. We believe this idea that whenever a thing is observed at that very moment it is also proved that the thing has an existence. To percept a thing we need to have the thing remain in front of our eyes or in that sphere where our organs can reach. To have an idea of a thing without proper perception produces knowledge with insufficient authenticity. Thus this kind of knowledge drawn from improper perception is called “Wrong View” . This Wrong view is the motherland of Scepticism & Superstition. “Superstition” the word means a belief without proper idea, conception or judgement from scientific view.

Generally human being inherits these from very childhood. He never thinks of its connection with real life. When if he is asked to find out the connection of these with real life, he would fall in a world with so many questions piercing him. This new world is called Scepticism. It rears the superstition with care, caress, love and respect. Superstition grows up in this environment and never feels to judge the authenticity or the view of its acceptance. Whenever we are led by superstition to behave accordingly, we do not even know that we have been trapped by scepticism. Scepticism mesmerizes superstition as well as us who follow it. We act or behave following some ideas, conceptions, trend, belief those have not yet been proved to be widely acceptable. Such kind of behavior we do is called superstition. If we are asked whether we have ever tried to know the reality of these belief, we would not be able answer properly, because we have never tried to know this, or it can be said that we did not ever feel to judge it. Can anyone say why we did not feel it? It is because Scepticism had been able to occupy our minds entirely with its care, attention and skill. Scepticism mesmerizes our mind in such a way that we become unaware about the existence of it in our thought & behavior. In our daily life we act or behave according to some gesture, rule, customs we have adopted from our ancestors and have never tried to get into the core of these. Such kinds of behavior have no connection with the real life. If we try to find out the reality or authenticity we would find scepticism reigning there vigorously. But we could not feel it that our thought, judgement, reasoning had been succumbed completely by scepticism. What a shock we will get at that moment? We would waste no time but start suspecting all the things around and would not get enough confidence to believe a thing we are watching. The result is that we would cover ourselves by suspicion i.e. Scepticism. What a great judgement!!!

We all are selfish

Selfishness is a single word with wide and complex explanation. The word defines the quality of thinking only of your own advantage, caring only about what you want or need without any thought for the needs or wishes of other people. The means the person who is selfish is devoted to or caring only for himself, concerned primarily with his own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others. No doubt it is a word that is hated and disliked ostensively by all for its mean and narrow outlook.

 

Now, the questions comes what kind of act or action is considered as selfish act and what not. The opposite meanings of the word Selfishness are kindhearted, altruistic, generous etc.

 

As a broad angle, we hate selfish people, and justify ourselves as kindhearted and generous, but we all are selfish. We maintain a parallel characteristic of ours showing sympathy to others distress and thinking of our own interest. Our hearts cry whenever we find an old aged man begging or any handicapped person staggers for alms. We cannot but put our hands into the pocket for the money purse.  

 

Evidently we all dislike selfish people and try to avoid such people. Our minds, hearts don’t support us to be mean minded and so we act generously. We listen to our hearts and do accordingly. We work generously because of our own interest and to keep our minds at peace. To give a small amount of happiness to our generous minds, we pay the beggar, help the handicapped. To give a little bit joy to our hearts we spend huge amount at restaurant, buy costly dresses. We buy luxury furniture, valuable jewelleries, go for world travel, stay at exotic hotels, and spend money at Casinos. Everything we do is ONLY for our own interest. Even if we say we help the beggar as a generous kindhearted person, the question arises, what if we would not have helped the beggar? The obvious answer would be that as we are generous, kindhearted, we cannot tolerate seeing the destitute of the beggar. Our hearts compel us to help the beggar. If we would not do that, our hearts would be full with sorrow or grief. To bring happiness to our heart, we help the beggar, to keep our mind fresh and active we pay alms to the beggar. Whatever we do, we do for our own shake, our own interest. If we listen music or watch television, that too is for our own interest. We are selfish and all kinds of acts we do throughout the day are all selfish acts. We do what our hearts want. Sometimes we do some tasks being under pressure where our minds don’t support us. Still we do such work, because we know the consequences of not being obedient. To avoid such untoward situation, to give a relief to our heart we do those work. We don’t want to give any pressure or pain to our hearts and so do such heartless work. We can do anything; go any stage of extremism just to please our hearts, our minds and above all for our own happiness. Does not prove that we are selfish?

Hospitality & Sincerity

Hospitality is that great virtue what a guest expects from its host. It enriched with sincerity expresses the humbleness of the host towards the guest. Sincerity by the word means is closeness, dearness, responsibility and sympathy conjointly. The words hospitality and sincerity are not same. There is distinct difference between these two. The meaning of the word Hospitality depends on Sincerity to express itself while Sincerity independently can express itself. Without sincerity hospitality does not get its shape. And the Sincerity is traced where some “sense of duty” is present. The “sense of duty” drives one to be sincere towards his work, performance, behavior etc.”Sense of Duty” compels one to be sincere towards his performance. The feeling of “Sense of duty” is regarded as one of the greatest and important virtue human being should have. And it is one of the basic virtues human being has been nursing into his mind from the early stage of civilization. Though it has also been found that in every step of civilization a special feeling called Urge had been in active role. If the word Sincerity is analyzed we would be astonished to find that the “Urge” playing its role spontaneously. This is the urge from our heart that compels us to be sincere to all we do. The word Urge represents itself like boundness. But it has two sides. One that drives us to do something while the other comes from our heart, that does not drive but compels us. Whatever the meaning is, the Urge is found in sincerity and the sincerity is traced in hospitality. Thus the word hospitality is grateful to sincerity as it has got the way to define itself.

Perception & Phenomenon

Look, See, Peek, Gaze, Glance, Peer, Stare, Peep, Scan, Watch, Observe. All these are called Perception. There are different ways how one percepts a thing. If the ways are different, the phenomenon should be different respectively. The knowledge one earns through his own consciousness is his own knowledge. In his childhood he had been taught the way to percept the world he lives in. And the way he percepts the world is to be the best one as per his knowledge. The poor fellow he would be if he considers his conception or idea to be the best without comparing with anything. Our knowledge must be different as outlook varies. So there is no possibilities of existing extreme knowledge. Since the existence of Pure and perfect knowledge depend on the pure and perfect medium through which the knowledge is earned. Since all the people observe the world from their won angles and outlooks, the knowledge varies and therefore the concept of existing ONE and EXTREME truth is questionable. Knowledge is earned through outlook, characteristics, merits we inherit from our ancestors. The phenomenon that comes through these inherited characteristics turns to knowledge .These inherited characteristics act as media of our knowledge. And if the elements provided by the media are wrong then the knowledge must be wrong. Phenomenon, what the word defines is the subject that reaches through our inherited characteristics, i.e. what we see is phenomenon, what we observe is phenomenon, what we watch is phenomenon. The subject of perception is phenomenon.

Discussion over relations

Human relation is considered as one of the critical relations in the world and thus to say or discuss about such a topic is very difficult. In my life I have seen many kinds of relations and how these relations survive. I have seen the relations being developed, I have seen them spoiled, destroyed and even transferring them from one person to other. The wide meaning of relation covers all kinds of relationship between and among the people. The connection of buying and selling between two persons is called relationship and even the relationship of good friends, family connections or even between two lovable persons are all called Human Relation. I have started this blog wishing to write about all kinds of relations we find around us and their existence in short or long span. No doubt, it a very complex matter to discuss but  I like the readers to come and speak their heart out. It is not necessary to say about their own relationships they have, they can say about what they feel about it.