Soma Purana

I saw this in New Yorker on 8/10/16 "The produce section of the grocery store is a botanical disaster. Most people know that a tomato is technically a fruit, but so is an eggplant, a cucumber, and a spaghetti squash. A banana, which grows from a flower with a single ovary, is actually a berry, while a strawberry, which grows from a flower with several ovaries, isn’t a berry at all but an aggregate fruit. The most confusing classification, though, will start showing up on American shelves this month. Shoppers will find mission figs with the grapes, kiwis, and other fruit, but a clever botanist would sell them at the florist, with the fresh-cut roses. Although many people dismiss figs as a geriatric delicacy or the sticky stuff inside bad cookies, they are, in fact, something awesome: enclosed flowers that bloom modestly inward, unlike the flamboyant showoffs on other plants. Bite a fig in half and you’ll discover a core ...

From http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/nutrition/article/are-cooked-carrots-better-raw "C ooked carrots are more nutritious, but you still get plenty of nutrients from raw carrots. Cooking, especially prolonged boiling, does reduce the vitamin content of vegetables. But carotenoids, such as the  beta carotene  in carrots, are more readily available when vegetables are cooked, chopped, or puréed. Cooking and processing help release the carotenoids, which are bound to the cell wall “matrix” of the vegetables. Once you eat them, your body converts these carotenoids into vitamin A. The same is true of  tomatoes.  For example, studies have found that people consuming an ounce or two of tomato paste end up with more than twice as much lycopene (another carotenoid) in their blood as when they ate larger amounts of fresh tomatoes. Ounce for ounce, processed tomato products such as sauce, paste, or juice contain two to 10 times as much available lycop...

I attended an AT&T Training program called Leading with Distinction (LwD) last week in Dallas. One of the sessions was conducted by Chris Johnson of On Target Living. One thing that caught my attention was his emphasis on breathing. There are two ways we breathe - chest breathing and belly breathing. See the video at http://www.ontargetliving.com/rest/breathing/ Most of the time we do the chest breathing which is shallow. This type of breathing leaves much CO2 in the body and blood causing acidosis which is not healthy. belly breathing, on the other hand, is deep breathing and utilizes the diaphragm. Your tummy rises when you take in a breath and falls when you exhale. If you breath more than 12 breaths a minute you are a chest breather.

http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/cataracts/ss/slideshow-cataracts

I am trying to gather info on the IRA rollover. I am piecing together info I found on the web. 1. Can I Use an IRA Rollover to Move Funds Out of My Company Retirement Plan While I Still Work There? Probably not. Most company retirement plans do not allow you to roll funds out of the plan while you are still employed. To find out if they do, you can call your plan sponsor, and ask if they allow what is called an "in-service distribution". Does AT&T allow? Does TIAA/CREF allow? An in-service distribution is a different type of transaction than a loan or hardship withdrawal. An in-service distribution is a transaction where you can rollover a portion of funds in your plan into a self-directed IRA account while you are still employed. Only some plans allow this. No Longer Employed Once you are no longer employed, it may make sense to roll funds from your plan into an IRA account. At that time, to avoid tax withholding, you'll want to choo...

Today March 18, 2016 is special for me. I completed 1000 Bikram yoga classes in 1000 days. On the internet I learned a couple of people have achieved this milestone, one in Boston and one in New York city. There may be more. Not everyone has the opportunity like I did to keep going day after day due to work or family or other situations. For some, Bikram yoga is expensive compared to joining a gym. As I look back, I persisted in spite of a few occasions when I felt so dizzy and light headed and nearly fainted. Once, I did throw up and faint and was taken to emergency. I knew that occasion was caused due to dehydration and doctors found nothing. But such things scare the family members. People ask me why do I keep going day after day. The amount of commitment is enormous. I get up at 4 AM so I have enough time to hydrate before my 6 AM class. I go to bed at 8:30 PM so I can get up at 4 AM. If the studio closes for snow, I do double on another day to make up. If I have to travel ...

Emma Mills Nutt hired 9/1/1878 by Bell himself! Her sister Stella was the second woman ever! "The customer response to her soothing, cultured voice and patience was overwhelmingly positive, so boys were soon replaced by women."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Nutt Emma is in the rear the picture below with her sister Stella.

I went to Plymouth, MI during this period for CP16 training. I found out a very nice Bikram Yoga place in Plymouth and had a class all seven days. Looking towards 1000 classes in 1000 days on 3/18/16!!! As a matter of fact, I did double on 3/21 Sun (took the morning class in NJ and an evening class in MI) and therefore have a extra day just in case.

I have become a little concerned with B12 since vegetarians don't get much B12. We don't need much B12, just about 1.0 mcg. Next time I go to Wegman's I will look for fortified soy milk which provides about 1.3 mcg per cup. http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=345948&storeId=10052&langId=-1#vitaminb Even though meat and fish provide plenty of B12, I was surprised to find that animals actually do not make B12 - only some bacteria and fungi do. For vegetarians there is another option called  Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula   which I am going to explore too. Some useful links: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.php http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=newtip&dbid=122&utm_source=daily_click&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_email http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vitaminb12 http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/rec

I had an event on 1/23/16 Saturday at Bikram Yoga. Towards the end, I threw up and passed out for may be a minute. I was taken to the emergency and no problems were found. I felt fine after a few minutes in the yoga studio itself. I was doing double on this day since I knew the studio would be closed due to snow Sunday. I think, the simple reason for the event was I was not hydrated enough. However, this alarmed my family - my wife and daughter were also with me doing yoga. As expected Sunday everything was closed due to historic snow. I continued yoga with no difficulty every day the following week. I am approaching 1000 classes in 1000 days (today it would be 953 in 953) and I don't want to break the flow. After reaching the 1000 milestone, I don't plan to establish any more milestones. I won't do doubles. But I will go for yoga everyday I can.

My goal is now 1000 classes in 1000 days. After that, I don't plan on having anymore targets. Probably I must do some reflection on what this yoga has done for me. Let me first say what it has not. I did not lose a single pound of weight all this time. As a matter of fact, I gained about 20 lbs. Now I have begun to lose a few pounds. I have a bigger belly, disappointing. I don't suppose weight gain is caused by yoga. It is just diet. I don't have much interest in my work. No, I am not saying Bikram caused me to lose interest in work. That is just the result of aging, I am 63 now. I have stomatitis (mouth sores) occasionally flare up and cause much discomfort. I still do, Bikram did nothing for it. I used to be plagued by frequent knee pain with Bikram. It has not gone away completely. But it happens very rarely. In general, my knees are much stronger. What benefits did Bikram do to me? Even as I am losing interest in my work, I am gaining much interest in continuing...

I wanted to suggest what type of experiences a US visitor should plan to acquire. My brother's family will visit us in West Windsor, NJ some time in the future. So I started making my list below what experiences I would arrange for them. This list is not in any particular order. I will continue to update this list. Take them to a Trenton court and see how a trial is conducted. We all see court trials on TV and movies, but that does not reflect reality. Depending on time availability see both a civil trial and a criminal trial at least one full day each.  Take them to Mercer County community college and let them sit through an entire class period (either my class class or another professor's class). This will give them an experience of how students interact with each other and with the professor. My feeling is they will see this interaction is quite different from what they have experienced in India. Take them to Princeton University and sit through a public talk, a classro...

Ian Johnson had posted this post: http://www.returnyoga.org/2012/07/09/dandayamana-janushirasana-the-ego-stands-naked/ So true!

How many times the  term "equality" appears in the originally written US constitution? Answer : zero times. How many times the  term "equality" appears in the 27 amendments to the  US constitution? Answer : exactly once. The 14th amendment says, no state shall " deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." A single reference, boy, how powerful it has been! This is a cornerstone of american civil rights.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1316376/posts

This question did not ever occur to me. Did it occur to you? We should always challenge status quo. I came across an article  that neuroscience and Buddhist beliefs agree that "the self" ever-changing. Doesn't seem far-fetched to me. I have seen numerous people who have changed so radically between their childhood and adult lives or even between two adult ages. We have heard the expression "you are not the same person anymore." Most mainstream religions seem to suggest that self is fixed. Some say self is indestructible, not even death eliminates the self. But interestingly radical transformation of "self" is visible in people who were not religious before became deeply religious (e.g., George W. Bush). Do you think Dalai Lama would be such a kind-hearted person if he were not chosen as the Lama and instead his life as farmer or a bank clerk? Religion always muddies up the water, if you ask me. While it says "the self" is fixed, ...

R proposed to S and S accepted. On 9/20 Pari and I went for dinner at Doasi Place with Anupam and Rumu. We had a wonderful time. On 9/21 we went to see a musical "Little Women" at Kelsey Theater. N came home on 9/21 and stayed with us for a few hours and drove back that night to Brooklyn. An eventful day!

I was discussing my friends Anupam and Rumu about the level of students that we teach. It is the usual diatribe about how bad they are, etc. I think it is difficult for professors to put themselves in a typical student's shoes. It is not always easy to for anyone to understand everything a professor teaches. In differential calculus, there is something called epsilon-delta definition of a limit which everyone hates. It is not all that critical and the sky doesn't fall if you skip teaching it. But most professors gamely go thru the ritual of teaching it and spoiling their hour and and their students feel they just sipped world's worst drink. My take on this, if students don't understand it, skip it. If it is really important condense it, simplify it, teach it in a way one can follow. Buddha understood this very well. He devised three different means or vehicles for imparting his teachings depending on the level of his audience. All three aim for the same Buddhahoo...

I have missed class on a few days in the last hundred days. But as before, I made it up by doing doubles on other days. I am waiting for 1000 to happen and then I will take a day off!

Interesting reading here .