well today's saturday, the whole of last week went in slowly moving stuff from my room-mates former apartment to the new house. finally done with the moving. couldn't get anything much done in the lab the whole of the week. now the new house is almost set, all we have to do is the final cleaning of the old house and return its keys on monday.

also renewed my netflix subscription - the first 3 movies in the queue are "all the real girls", "empire records" and "big fish".

went for another hike, this time in vermont. its a 11 mile loop around stratton mountain in southern vermont, and passes by the stratton lake. there was a fire tower on the top of the mountain with a 360 degree panoramic view. it took us about 6 hours to complete the entire loop.


a picture from the top of the tower on the summit of stratton mountain. the cabin in the foreground is that of the trail caretaker.

here are links to some videos we took with my canon digital camera:
Video_1 Video_2 Video_3

my first midi recording from my yamaha keyboard.

quote for the day 2: (nisargadatta)
There is trouble only when you cling to something. When you hold on to nothing, no trouble arises. The relinquishing of the lesser is the gaining of the greater. Give up all and you gain all. Then life becomes what it was meant to be: pure radiation from an inexhaustible source. In that light the world appears dimly like a dream.

quote for the day: (nisargadatta)
True awareness (samvid) is a state of pure witnessing, without the least attempt to do anything about the event witnessed. Your thoughts and feelings, words and actions may also be a part of the event; you watch all unconcerned, in the full light of clarity and understanding. You understand precisely what is going on, because it does not affect you. It may seem to be an attitude of cold aloofness, but it is not really so. Once you are in it, you will find that you love what you see, whatever may be its nature. This choiceless love is the touchstone of awareness. If it is not there, you are merely interested, for some personal reasons.

for some reason the earlier title of my blog "AN EXERCISE IN POINTLESSNESS - the whole point is that there is no point" doesn't feel right any longer. so have changed it to the present one. "... maybe except for two things - knowledge and love". think this is in part because of the sahaj course.

quote for the day: (sri sri)
here are the signs of love: when you love someone you see nothing wrong with them. even if you see a fault in them you justify it in some way - "everyone does that; it is normal." you think you have not done enough for them and the more you do, the more you want to do for them. they are always in your mind. ordinary things become extraordinary. a baby winking at its grandmother becomes an extraordinary event. when you love someone, you want to see them always happy and you want them to have the best.

slept in the new house for the first time yesterday. arranged my room there. its all set now and looks pretty good. still have to move the kitchen and other stuff, will do so over the course of this week.

quote for the day (aurobindo):
Transform reason into ordered intuition; let all thyself be light. This is thy goal.
Transform effort into an easy and sovereign overflowing of the soul-strength; let all thyself be conscious force. This is thy goal.
Transform enjoying into an even and objectless ecstasy; let all thyself be bliss. This is thy goal.
Transform the divided individual into the world-personality; let all thyself be the divine. This is thy goal.
Transform the Animal into the Driver of the herds; let all thyself be Krishna. This is thy goal.

me at the buck mountain summit overlooking lake george.

ahem... any comments on my photographic skills? (i call it the tao way of taking pics)

panoramic views of lake george as seen from two different points on the top of buck mountain.

the sahaj course got over by saturday afternoon. went pretty well. had a small party at the end. went to the mall (target/staples) on saturday evening to get some furniture for my new room. got a small book case and two small foldable cushions.

went hiking today morning with my roomate. left home early at 6, drove to lake george, and hiked the 6.6 miles up/down trail to the buck mountain summit. the weather was really pleasant - sunny, cool and not humid at all. the view from the summit was breath-taking. took lots of snaps. had lunch near the lake george landing strip, and then went to an outlet mall nearby. since had the car for the last day, went for a long drive alone in the night.

yesterday, went to the local dmv office and got my address changed; so that the license will have the new address. drove to karavalli for lunch, had buffet plus a plate of idli. realized that the south indian food there is not as good as back home, but also not that bad. also, had the second day of the sahaj course in the evening.

drove to the sahaj course in evening. started at 5 in the evening and came back at 11 in the night. the place is about an hours drive away. today is guru poornima day, and should consider myself very fortunate to be initiated into the sahaj samadhi meditation on this day.

had my car driving road test today in the morning. passed! i had practiced parallel parking yesterday in a friend's car and wasn't really comfortable with it, but got it pretty decent in the test.

aah i hardly feel like working today. its been like that since the beginning of this week, and think it will be there till the coming weekend. since the house is not yet settled and moreover i have this sahaj course this week, i am not really able to think about work. moreover i came to know yesterday that my equipment won't be here till mid-august, so for another 3 weeks i have to pass time mainly reading stuff and and see if i can come up with any new ideas.

ok enough of these quotes for a while.
got the keys for the new apartment and also found that it already has power. so yay! of course i moved my stuff in yesterday only. but find that my room is kind of barren, no furniture at all. so have to go get some stuff like study table, chair, some shelves etc. this weekend.
also luckily got a appointment for the driving road test for tomorrow morning. if i get it, "o pani ayi potundi babu". thats telugu, when translated it reads - "man, one thing will be done with".
plus have the sahaj course this week. so will be renting the car this wednesday and keep it till monday. can also drive around to karavalli, the new south indian restaurant nearby. so this week is gonna be quite busy, don't think i'll have much time for work.

quote for the day: (aurobindo)
When we have passed beyond knowings, then we shall have Knowledge. Reason was the helper; Reason is the bar.
When we have passed beyond willings, then we shall have Power. Effort was the helper; Effort is the bar.
When we have passed beyond enjoyings, then we shall have Bliss. Desire was the helper; Desire is the bar.
When we have passed beyond individualising, then we shall be real Persons. Ego was the helper; Ego is the bar.
When we have passed beyond humanity, then we shall be the Man. The Animal was the helper; the Animal is the bar.

quote for the day: (aurobindo)
The whole world yearns after freedom, yet each creature is in love with his chains; this is the first paradox and inextricable knot of our nature.
Man is in love with the bonds of birth; therefore he is caught in the companion bonds of death. In these chains he aspires after freedom of his being and mastery of his self-fulfilment.
Man is in love with power; therefore he is subjected to weakness. For the world is a sea of waves of force that meet and continually fling themselves on each other; he who would ride on the crest of one wave, must faint under the shock of hundreds.
Man is in love with pleasure; therefore he must undergo the yoke of grief and pain. For unmixed delight is only for the free and passionless soul; but that which pursues after pleasure in man is a suffering and straining energy.

quote for the day: (sri aurobindo)
Each religion has helped mankind. Paganism increased in man the light of beauty, the largeness and height of his life, his aim at a many-sided perfection; Christianity gave him some vision of divine love and charity; Buddhism has shown him a noble way to be wiser, gentler, purer, Judaism and Islam how to be religiously faithful in action and zealously devoted to God; Hinduism has opened to him the largest and profoundest spiritual possibilities. A great thing would be done if all these God-visions could embrace and cast themselves into each other; but intellectual dogma and cult egoism stand in the way.

A passage from the book "A Duet of One" by Ramesh Baleskar. Its a commentary on the Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue.

The search, the seeking for pure happiness - the spiritual seeking - begins with the individual. First, an outside compelling urge turns the mind inwards. Then the process of disidentification begins with the identified individual either going to a guru, and/or starting to read up on the subject. With the urge driving the seeker relentlessly, he does an enormous amount of reading and acquires what he considers a great deal of knowledge (and along with it considerable pride as a seeker). What actually has been happening, however, is that during all this time, during all this reading, only those statements of "truth" are accepted which fit in the with the seeker;s conditioned notions. He has conveniently rejected (consciously or unconsciously) all those which he did not like or understand. The result is a patchwork of personal philosophy, armed with which, the seeker gets more and more anxious to reform the world. It is this "knowledge" which the sage (Ashtavakra) says must be "forgotten", which must drop off before anything worthwhile can happen. Unless this ignorance in the garb of knowledge gets thrown out, says the sage, you cannot be established in the Self, "even if Shiva, Vishnu or Brahma be your preceptor."
In the course of spiritual evolution, the seeker, at the appropriate time, realizes that that which he had been regarding as knowledge is really nothing but ignorance. He then strips off these clothes of conceptual knowledge, goes naked to a Self-realized guru (more accurately, happens to be led by circumstances to the appropriate guru) who clothes him in garments of true understanding. It is only then that the urge fulfills itself and the process - the impersonal process - of the disidentification of the identified Consciousness is completed.

saying for the day: (ashtavakra gita)
"Give up all conceptualizing altogether. Have no beliefs or concepts of any kind. You are the ever-free consciousness. How can any thinking help you in any way?"

saw "cool hand luke" starring paul newman yesterday. felt it was sort of depressing and pointless kind of movie. but not bad. didn't go to lab today, will be moving or rather vacating my present apartment in the afternoon. spent the morning packing my stuff, it hardly took an hour. after that watched "bunty and babli". its was ok, timepass as they would say. will move in the afternoon and also have to clean up the house in the evening.
but will be staying at a temperory place until august 1st, when can finally move into the new apartment. its a two bed-room apartment, in a very beautiful area, and will be staying with an old undergrad friend.

from satt:

enthusiasm for life leads to creativity,
creativity leads to joy and generosity,
generosity leads to love,
love leads to gratitude,
gratitude leads to awareness and clarity, and
awareness leads to bliss.

lack of enthusiasm for life leads to inertia,
lack of creativity leads to pro-creativity,
lack of joy and generosity leads to jealousy and greed,
lack of love leads to hatred and fear,
lack of gratitude leads to sadness, and
lack of awareness leads to anger.

sayings for the day: (ramesh balsekar)
* the sound dies, but that which hears remains; leave sound to itself and hear the hearing instead.

* spiritual seekers are lost children in a conceptual forest created by their own imagination.

* you can never know the truth. why? because you are the truth.

* the greatest freedom is to find freedom from the fear of god: i do nothing; he does everything.

* love is wanting to do something for the other without the slightest expectation of anything in return.

gave jung's MBTI test again today and got ISFJ (introverted-56, sensing-12, feeling-38, judging-1)
had given the same test about 2 months back and had got INTJ (introverted-67, intuitive-12, thinking-1,judging-33)
and on another occasion, with more idealized answers got INFJ (introverted-56, intuitive-12, feeling-12, judging-11)
- blah i know myself better than these stupid tests, in the sense can't place myself anywhere presently, or maybe just don't care.

also repeated the color test and the brain - male/female test again. got the same results. so...

VIOLET You surround yourself with art and music and are constantly driven to express yourself. You often daydream. You prefer honesty in your relationships and belive strongly in your personal morals. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

Your Brain is 73.33% Female, 26.67% Male

Your brain leans female You think with your heart, not your head Sweet and considerate, you are a giver But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

this is what i got about 3 months later

finally began setting up a rough experiment in the lab today. lets see how it goes. went swimming in the evening, now able to put one full lap with breast-stroke. then played soccer for about 2 hours. came home at 8:45. wasn't sure initially if my legs would hold up to so much stress, but they did well.

You are the little prince.


Saint Exupery's 'The Little Prince' Quiz.
brought to you by Quizilla

haiku for the day 2: (self)
if the mood now is
in none of those old blues, still
why care to label.

haiku for the day: (self)
evening summer breeze
tea in the backyard, this new
expansive feeling.

july 4th weekend: didn't go anywhere (for a change). had the cricket match on saturday. spent most of sunday and monday sleeping, listening to music, and making and eating pesarratus (kind of indian dosa with whole moong - andhra speciality).

after recently learning how to upload pics on the blog, i just had to post a photo of the one thing with which i spend most of my time, my powerbook QT.

flowers outside our house just after rain

sunset at boston harbor, went there last weekend to visit a friend.

played a 30 over cricket match on the turf against fairfield cricket club. the match started at 3, (was supposed to start at 1) and continued till about 8. we lost, but gave a decent fight, which is not bad considering most of the normal players weren't around in this july 4th weekend.
i went 5th down, scored 26 runs (1 six, 2 fours) and got out playing the most stupid shot. was slightly pissed at not getting an opportunity to bowl.
was too tired to cook, both roomates have gone out for the weekend. ordered veggie durum from ali baba (a mediterranean restaurant a stone's throw from our house) and will be eating it while watching "saagara sangamam" a gult movie, as soon as i finish writing this line.

prayer for the month: (aurobindo)

Be wide in me, O Varuna;
be mighty in me, O Indra;
O Sun, be very bright and luminous;
O Moon, be full of charm and sweetness.
Be fierce and terrible, O Rudra;
be impetuous and swift, O Maruts;
be strong and bold, O Aryama;
be voluptuous and pleasurable, O Bhaga;
be tender and kind and loving and passionate, O Mitra.
Be bright and revealing, O Dawn;
O Night, be solemn and pregnant.
O Life, be full, ready & buoyant;
O Death, lead my steps from mansion to mansion.
Harmonise all these, O Brahmanaspati.
Let me not be subject to these gods, O Kali.