Benares is the city of death. Benares is the city where you come to die or to be cremated if you wish to escape the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. I am Indian, and while we speak of heaven (swarag) and hell (narak), I don’t have a visual or other image of what heaven or hell look like.

Many images depict gods and goddesses sitting together. Some depict Shiva in the mountains, and most modern images depict gods and goddesses in an antiseptic manner.

But if you ask me to describe heaven or hell, I won’t be able to answer. I don’t know if there is a link between the Buddhist belief that life on earth is hell and the idea that we need to act in a manner that eventually releases us from this cycle of life and rebirth.

We will not explore concepts like karma deeply.

I will not explore concepts like ‘dharma,’ ‘karma,’ ‘moksha,’ and ‘nirvana.’ I will state that, despite Western insistence that ‘dharma’ is a Buddhist philosophy, it is not. Dharma predates Buddhism and is very complex. ‘Karma,’ very loosely, refers to the fruit of your actions. People like to say that if you are a horrible person in this life, you may be born as a cockroach in the next life, but if you are a good person, you will be born as a better person in the next life. The cycle continues until you have paid accumulated debts (karma) from previous lives, and then your soul finds release from this endless cycle and is released into the cosmos. We call this ‘moksha’ or ‘nirvana.’ Contrary to Western thought, karma is not a bitch, and nirvana is not a rock band.

Death and cremation in Benares bring release.

Benares is the city of Shiva, and people believe that if you die or are cremated here, Lord Shiva whispers the ‘Taraka mantra‘ into the dead person’s ear, releasing their soul into the cosmos.

I had written about my trip to Khajuraho and the crazy guide I met. This worthy gentleman told me that the other name for Benares is ‘Moksha Bhoomi,’ or the land/earth where your soul finds release from this eternal cycle of life and rebirth.

Cremations take place at the Manikarnika Ghat, and many people call it the ‘Maha Shamshana’ or ‘The Great Cremation Ground.’ The fires never stop burning, and even our Prime Minister, while sending bulldozers to demolish the ghat (presumably to rebuild it in his image), would never dare demolish it entirely and stop the cremations.

I don’t know the status, but when I visited in February, I saw that he had demolished part of the ghat, and I assume they will demolish and reconstruct small sections, one at a time. Even so, people were incensed. Silence does not mean consent or acceptance. The few people I spoke to, considered the demolitions to be sacrilegious. I assume that the local populace would have been more at peace if the authorities had taken them into confidence rather than adopting a heavy-handed approach.

Do not photograph a cremation ceremony.

I took the photograph you see in this brief essay over a decade ago with my Nikon D200, and it is noisy. Notwithstanding my earlier arrogance (my soul still carried memories of the designation I had in my last job – CEO), I was a bit wary when I made the photos, and I have never photographed a burning pyre since then.

Why, you may ask?

Even though cremations take place in the open, in full public view, funerals are deeply personal events, and families object to the cremation being turned into a public spectacle. Many Western publications sensationalized the public and mass cremations that happened during COVID-19, acts many of us considered shameful, hypocritical, and disgusting.

Apart from this, people also believe that cremations mark the transition from life to the afterlife, and that the soul of the deceased travels to the cosmos to be released or to await rebirth. Hindus believe that the person actually dies during the cremation ceremony and that photography disturbs this journey. Yet you will see many tourists – Indian and international – sitting on boats or wandering along the Manikarnika Ghat, gawking like fools and whipping out their cameras.

The Dom Community.

By doing so, they make a spectacle of a private and spiritual event.

The Dom Raja – the ‘king’ of the Dom Community – controls cremations and always has deep political connections. Yet, because the Dom Community is from a lower caste, locals discriminate against them in temples, in markets, and in daily life. This discrimination is ironic and hypocritical because, without the Dom Community, there would be no cremation and no ‘moksha’ for the deceased.

I cannot explain this strange duality in India. You may call it hypocritical if you wish. If you like, I invite you to investigate this strange behavior, but I assure you that you will not understand the duality. Accept it for what it is, for better or for worse.

Death is personal in India, in ways that may seem strange to others.

No one likes to talk about death, and we Indians do not differ from other people in this respect. Yet, death is deeply personal in that we get involved with the dead.

The dead always come home (unless the person died of a highly infectious disease) before being taken to the cremation ground. The final journey begins at home. We do not embalm the dead, and many people – friends and family – come to bid farewell to the deceased before the final journey begins.

I have no intention of writing every detail of the cremation – death – process, and you will have to be satisfied with the abbreviated version. If the cremation is done in the traditional manner – wood fire, not electric – friends and family form a chain and pass the wood from one to the other until it reaches the pyre. The priest places the body on the pyre and covers it well.

Then, the chief mourner (usually the eldest son or male member) will place a burning flame in the dead person’s mouth (mukh agni). During the cremation, the priest then invites the chief mourner to crack the skull (kapal kriya or ‘skull ritual ‘), and this releases the dead person’s soul.

Some people are uncomfortable with this act, and I have witnessed priests offering the mourners the option of passing on this responsibility to the priest, and they do this via a small, symbolic ceremony – dropping a mud container onto the ground.

The next morning, the chief mourner, with close relatives, will visit the pyre and collect the ashes and remaining bones of the deceased and place them in an urn. It is our responsibility to collect the ashes or the ‘phool’ (flowers), as we refer to the ashes and remaining bones. Finally, we go to a river or another place to immerse the ashes and bid farewell to the dead as they begin their final journey to the afterlife.

I must point out that we carry the dead on a bamboo stretcher to the cremation ground, and one fear that haunts many people is this: who will carry me when I die? You may call this process the ‘antim sanskar’ or the ‘antyetsi.’ Walk along an Indian street, especially in small towns and villages, and you will see a funeral procession happening on the road. Not every day, though!

The last respects.

The term ‘Antim Sanskar’ means ‘last sacrifice’. You can read this as the ‘last respects’ we pay to the dead. These last rites return the body to the five elements.

The process is more complex than the simple statement ‘ashes to ashes.’ Yet we come from the elements and return to them.

Read the hymn from the Rig Veda.

The practice and rituals are ancient.

This post marks the end of my Benares writing. I don’t know when, or if, I will return to Benares. Oh, no, no, no, no, no!!

I will return, but as part of a longer - almost three-week-long - road trip. That will be a fascinating trip, combining two themes in one.

Apart from that journey, Benares is not on my horizon, except possibly to lead a group of young, hopeful photographers there.

Since Stripe refuses to support Indian content writers, you can support me here.

I will start making subscriber-only posts very soon!

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Between Dhool & Roshni

The Practice of Seeing

Second Order

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was probably amongst the first of India’s new-age godmen to burst on the international scene in the 1960s. Born in 1911 CE as Mahesh Prasad Varma, he studied physics and later rebranded himself as Maharishi and Yogi. He created the practice known as Transcendental Meditation and became famous for his association with the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Donovan, and Woodstock in 1969.

Was he a fraud? I won’t hazard a guess, but many (including him, I suppose) became wealthy as godmen and yogis – Osho Rajneesh, for instance. Rajneesh, or his Ashram, owned almost 100 Rolls-Royce cars by the time he died.

Some of these godmen – Sadhduru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – are excellent businessmen. Others, like Ram Rahim and Asaram, are rapists, and others, like Yogi Adityanath, are hate-filled politicians. Then, to round up the categories, you have those who wear saffron robes spouting hatred and who somehow manage to fool many people.

The list above is depressing, and if anyone studies the lives and fortunes of these people, I won’t blame them for believing that the institution of godmen constitutes one of the most sanctimonious groups of neoliberals. Yet, and while I have not met them, many genuine rishis, munis, and yogis live in India. You won’t meet them because they shun publicity. Some may live in the mountains or forests, others not.

I started with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi because of his association with the Beatles and Rishikesh, but, like Bertie Wooster of PG Wodehouse fame, I may have run away with myself and left my minuscule audience gasping for breath, wondering what I am writing about.

Shall we get into the subject? I can only touch on this subject briefly here in this tiny post, but I promise I will dive into it over the course of the year. India is, as Diana Eck wrote, a ‘sacred geography.’

Who were rishis?

Shall we start by asking the question: who or what were rishis? A rishi, or rsi (sorry, I don’t seem to be able to insert diacritic marks). In the earliest Vedic concept, a rishi was someone who perceived the sacred truth, the cosmic order, and who could express that truth in a mantra or poetry.

Technically, a rishi was not just your run-of-the-mill holy person. In the early traditions, the rishis did not write down their ‘truths.’ They passed it on by word-of-mouth. Oral methods of transmission were widespread in many cultures worldwide, and in the early days, the rishis did not pass on the knowledge of the Vedas in writing. The earliest transmissions were oral, with great emphasis placed on proper memorization of the verses and correct pronunciation. The Vedas were the revealed sound, as perceived by the Rishis, and the succeeding generations of Rishis guarded this knowledge closely, for fear that ‘democratization’ of this knowledge would somehow dilute the knowledge.

My theory: while the original intention may have been pure, the practice of hoarding knowledge became a source of power, especially when the caste system started to ossify.

Were all the rishis really detached? I wonder. There are many versions of the Jaya-Vijaya myths, but I will give you a condensed account of one.

In another version of the myth, seven rishis went to visit Vishnu, and the rebuff infuriated them. In the version I related above, the Kumaras believed that the pair did not recognize who they were and deemed them imperfect. Yet, if we flip the coin, we may realize that, maybe, the Kumaras did not understand Jaya and Vijaya’s true nature, and so were imperfect themselves.

Who were the munis?

Now, let us turn to the munis. A muni was not the same as a rishi. A rishi perceived the sacred truth and the cosmic order. In contrast, a muni was an ascetic who focused on silent meditation, contemplation, reflection, and – possibly – withdrawal from the world.

A rishi also meditated and gained insight from ‘tapas,’ or ‘inner heat,’ a concept almost impossible to understand and explain. I have not experienced tapas so, I guess you must experience it to know it.

As the years and centuries progressed, the rishis – unlike a muni – became associated with yoga, ayurveda, philosophy, ethics, and statecraft. The last is critical: while some became associated with statecraft, they did not allow statecraft to corrupt or tempt them. That is the theory, anyway: no one knows which way an individual Rishi danced.

However, in the original concept of the word, ‘rishi,’ the rishis did not seek wealth or power, quite unlike the modern rishis like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his successors.

Remember: this post is just a short introduction, and I will research this topic deeply in the next few months.

Now, we can talk about the yogis.

Now, let’s discuss the word ‘yogi,’ and you will understand that Yogi Adityanath does not possess any of the qualities of a yogi. Wearing an orange bathrobe does not make you a yogi.

The word, ‘yogi,’ is a practitioner of ‘yoga,’ and the word, ‘yoga’ comes from the toot, ‘yuj,’ which means ‘to yoke’ the body and mind together. A yogi, therefore, was a person who practiced yoga as a path of transformation.

Raja Yoga, unlike the more popular forms practiced today (hatha yoga and ashtanga yoga) is closest to the original purpose of yoga, as a means of disciplined consciousness, mental training, meditative absorption, and spiritual transformation. An Indian-origin yoga teacher in Singapore told me that one way of looking at the physical aspect of yoga, is to prepare the body so that it can sit quietly and comfortably in meditation.

Everyone loves the calisthenic aspect of yoga, so the poor man did not last long in the yoga studio. We now have lots of people across the world dancing with yoga mats, and saying, ‘namaste’! ‘Namaste is not a universal Indian greeting!

A yogi, therefore, was a person who attempted radical mastery over mind and self. In the old days, yogis stood outside the pale of society. I don’t know if they developed twists and turns in their spare time but, since mobile phones were not around to distract these old practitioners, my theory may be tenable.

The degradation.

There is a sect of yogis called ‘Nath’ yogis and Adityanath (or, Ajay Bisht) claims to be a Nath yogi. These people were religious ascetics, politically active, and upheld military traditions, especially when high on psychedelic stuff!

Yogi Adityanath has a warped sense of religion, is politically active, and violent. In my assessment, he has debased the Nath tradition, but that is for me to state, and others to dispute.

Have the words, ‘rishi,’ ‘muni,’ and ‘yogi,’ been debased? Yes. I don’t hear many people using the word, ‘muni’ anymore but, ‘rishi,’ ‘maharishi,’ ‘yogi,’ and ‘guru,’ yes.

I will return to this topic later.

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A few links

Jaya Vijaya

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Transcendental Meditation

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rajiv.rajivchopra-2@okaxis

I remember my first visits to Rishikesh during my time in consumer sales. Rishikesh was like a lonely, forgotten backwater town, lost in Haridwar’s ephemeral glitter. We’d book our hotel stays in Haridwar’s tiny hotels, travel to Rishikesh for a day trip before concluding our business, and return to Haridwar for…

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Some old stories.

I’d like to share a strange story, and one that ought to remind everyone that you should never judge a person by their mild demeanor. Let’s travel back to Allahabad (now, PrayagRaj) for this story.

The first time I passed through Pratapgarh was when I took a bus to a small town called …

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Once upon a time, I was religious. When I returned to India, we lived with my maternal grandparents. I became friends with a lady who lived down the street. We called her Krishna Aunty because she had a huge statue of Lord Krishna in her living room. I’d help her dress the statue every evening.

Then, I went to school in Nainital, a…

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I have not read the book, but I listened to the audiobook and liked it so much that I bought it afterward. I have a selfish interest in Genghis Khan because Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, is a descendant of Genghis Khan (and Timur). Maybe I have one strand of DNA that comes from both great warriors.

One …

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Recently, I read two books quickly. I had borrowed them from the library, and the librarians asked me to return them quickly, as there was a long waiting list for the books.

Sometime in the next few months, I will borrow these two - and another one - again. I confess I have had to fight the temptation to buy them, …

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If you have allowed Taylor Swift to dominate your music tastes, there is a high possibility that you will not like Gauhar Jaan’s music. Nor will you appreciate Begum Akhtar’s music. Much though I want to claim that I am musically democratic, I confess that I find Gauhar Jaan’s music hard to swallow. Her music belongs – in lar…

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The Meaning.

It was Lohri yesterday, on the 13th of January.

Most Westerners, including those of Indian origin, mispronounce the words ‘Punjab’ and ‘Punjabi.’

They pronounce the ‘Pun’ as ‘Poon,’ which is incorrect. The ‘un’ is pronounced the same way as ‘un’ in ‘unable.’ The word comes from the root that me…

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I visited Arunachal Pradesh for the first time two years ago. There are two places I decided to visit when I was a teenager: China and Arunachal Pradesh, and I have visited both. I absolutely love Arunachal Pradesh and, even though it is far away, I intend to explore the state over the next decade, along with other …

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Ayodhya 1992 CE

I last visited Ayodhya in 1992, one week before the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and two weeks after crazed Hindutva mobs demolished the structure. I could easily identify Muslim homes by the burnt doors, as well as the desolation that hung around their homes like broken ghosts.

A few weeks ago, I visited Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and struck up a conversation with one of the lady guards there. We got talking about my many road trips, and she told me I must visit Ayodhya to see the magnificent temple built in honor of the avatar of Vishnu, Lord Ram. She had absolutely no idea of the Babri Masjid or its destruction.

People don’t have an idea of the subcontinent’s ancient or medieval history, I thought, and repressed my desire to reproach her for her absolute ignorance of India’s modern history.

Falsehoods & Our Freedom Struggle,

Our Prime Minister declared that the British Raj imprisoned members of India’s fascist organization, the RSS, during India’s struggle for independence. This statement is demonstrably false. Even though the British jailed VD Savarkar (the creator of the Hindutva philosophy), and he did suffer, he and the RSS did not fight for our independence. They were, in fact, British apologists and turned against the Muslims, who were, are (in my opinion) easier targets.

Benjamin Netanyahu & The Bible

Benjamin Netanyahu claims that the Bible states that God will bless those who support Israel and curse those who criticize it. Again, this is a false statement, and the question we must ask is, if at all, which God made that statement?

Our government now wishes to depict the Mughal kings as unrepentant tyrants – a false depiction.

So-called leaders falsify history. Beware.

Politicians, businesspeople, and academics often falsify history, a fact that we must acknowledge. We must be mindful of the lies emanating from the mouths and minds of these individuals and verify every statement that emerges from their thoughts.

At this point, I will ‘back pedal,’ and travel down memory’s dusty lanes to history class in school. I hated history in school. All I remember is the teacher forcing dates into our reluctant and rebellious brains – the dates for the First Battle of Panipat, the Battle of Plassey, the Battle of Buxar, the Great Uprising, and so on. I don’t blame the teachers, but I do accuse our education boards of being short-sighted, stupid, and primitive. The word ‘primitive’ is unfortunate because we assume that ‘primitive people’ are crude, unimaginative people. A few books I read over the last few months prove that people we deem primitive were, or are, curious about the world, and possess a trove of poetry we, who claim to be more sophisticated, dismiss with a sneer.

The Indian rote-learning system.

Our authorities based our education system on rote learning, with almost no attention paid to critical thinking. I know I keep cursing politicians and priests, but rote learning is convenient for them. Nowadays, this system has broadened its scope to include the WhatsApp University.

The Indian education system and the employment market have a history and sociology problem. When schoolchildren opt for these subjects, parents often discourage them from pursuing their interests because they do not believe their children will find suitable employment upon completing their studies.

In my time, history was a boring subject, and, when I did my MBA, sociology was even more so. Not only did our teachers dry out these subjects, serving us a desiccated dish, but they also failed to teach us the importance, uses, and implications of the lessons contained in the course material.

Contrary to popular belief, history is not a static subject. It flows like a river, forever, changing its course, picking up new material along the way. History is an interpretative subject, and the person who writes history creates history. The same principle applies to sociology.

You must read widely.

Those who read history – even as enthusiasts – must read widely and continuously. I do not recommend you ignore other genres of writing – that would be stupid – but read widely, and ignore 99% of the rubbish you receive on social media.

I’d like to illustrate my theory and recommendations, and will start with India. When I was a schoolchild, history books referred to the events of 1857-58 CE as ‘The Great Indian Mutiny.’ Many years later, I read a history book written by a British historian, in which he stated that it should be called ‘The Great Uprising.’ The events were not a mutiny, nor was this India’s first war of independence: India did not exist at the time. ‘The Great Uprising’ is, in my considered view, a much better description.

Rivers and history.

All of us grew up with the caste system, and many believe that the ideas written in the Manusmriti were cast in stone, dominating Indian thought over the centuries. While the caste system has always existed, my recent reading suggests that, in earlier years, it was more fluid than it is now.

When the British government took over the governance of India after the 1857-58 uprising, it decided to study India and carried out several census activities. A side effect of these activities was to harden the caste and religious divide in India. I did not know of this fact until a year ago.

History is like a river. You cannot step into the same river twice – the river is constantly changing. You cannot expect the interpretation of a particular historical epoch or event to be static. The British coined the term, ‘The Great Indian Mutiny.’ Another called it ‘The Great Uprising.’ The term you use will affect your interpretation of historical and sociological events.

The manner in which ‘The Economist’ writes about the war in Ukraine differs from how it writes about the genocide in Gaza. Objectivity does not exist. Like ‘democracy,’ ‘objectivity’ is an ephemeral concept, forever changing to suit the needs of an audience and the times.

I had read that the term ‘Hindu’ was originally a geographic term, encompassing the region and peoples living east of the Indus River, but books I read a few months back state that the British coined the term ‘Hinduism’ to include the diverse faiths in India, and bring them under one umbrella.

If both theories are true, then Hindus must introspect and question the universal faith they deem to be Hindu. Indeed, people find it challenging to hold more than one idea, and the current government appears intent on reducing the Hindu pantheon to a single avatar of Vishnu. If they succeed, Indians will be poorer because, as per some theorists, monotheistic religions are violent, in contrast with polytheistic societies. Many challenge this simplistic belief, however.

I believe that monotheistic faiths are more narrow than polytheistic faiths in one respect. No polytheistic faith speaks of ‘the one true God.’ In today’s India, the chant, ‘Jai Shri Ram,’ has become a call to violence, especially against Muslims and Dalits. If Indian belief transforms from its current henotheistic/polytheistic form to a monotheistic belief system, Indian society will change and become impoverished.

Strong chains bind history and sociology together. One affects the other.

The rise of mega-influencers. Will you become a puppet?

I will move to another, vital part of this short essay – the rise of ‘mega influencers.’ I came across this term while reading an article on the subject in Engelsberg Ideas, and I endorse the central theme and recommendations presented in the article.

Mass media amplifies messages, but social media has enabled the emergence and growth of mega-influencers. Nowadays, everyone has a microphone, and the relentless barrage of sensations numbs us and dulls our critical thinking faculties. The influencer becomes the message, and we forward messages from group to group, prefacing the forward with a bland statement – ‘forwarded as received.’

The sender seeks to wear a mantle of saintliness and innocence when they use that statement – ‘forwarded as received.’ I disagree, and insist that this behaviour stems from cowardice, and an absolute refusal to be accountable for the messages – truthful, false, or hateful – that they send into cyberspace.

Engelsberg Ideas suggests that we minimize the time we spend on social media platforms like ‘X’ and Instagram. Instead, we must read books, study the citations, and be open to different perspectives.

Echo Chambers: Black, White & Grey

We live in echo chambers, and being open to exploring different perspectives is far more difficult than we anticipate.

Once, I tried to have an open discussion about our Prime Minister. I told his supporter that there are aspects of our PM I admire. He labelled me a supporter and clapped me on my shoulder with approval. Then, when I expounded on my theme and explained the aspects I detest, his face turned a mottled shade of purple, his eyes bulged, and he called me an ‘anti-national.’

Suppose we cannot agree on current events or allow influencers to shape our perception of recent history. In that case, we will allow anyone and everyone to manipulate our already limited sense of history. In short, we will permit and encourage ill-informed and prejudiced goons to poison our minds.

Will you become a puppet?

Study history, and do not react when influential people bombard you with soundbites. I must end with a warning: simplistic messaging that suits social media and advertising always hides more than it reveals. History (and sociology) are subtle subjects, and you cannot reduce them to soundbites. If you do, then prepare yourself to live the life of a puppet, forever manipulated by a puppeteer.

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The Rise of the Mega Influencers

Religion & Violence 1

Religion & Violence 2

I started my career in Bombay (nowadays, people call it Mumbai) and traveled across the city in the 'local' trains, or 'locals,' as we called them. I was unaccustomed to the crowds, and nothing prepared me for the people crowding into the trains. Hey! I will stop here and move on six years to the time I lived in Delhi as a bac…

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If you permit me, I will go off on an unhinged rant, and I invite all of you to travel with me as I go off in different and unrelated directions. I don’t know how many of you are aware of the term ‘stream of consciousness writing,’ in which the writer writes without pausing to think. The words follow the thoughts that tumble continuou…

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Starting with a fabulous quote from Isaac Asimov.

I’ve been on an AI roll lately, and when I make AI art containing aliens, I am sarcastic about humanity. Before I continue, I’d like to insert a fabulous quote attributed to Isaac Asimov.

Isaac Asimov lamented the growing cult of ignorance in America. You can read about his essay by clicking this link. The essay also has a link to Asimov’s original essay.

He wrote his lament in 1980, and since then, the cult of ignorance has grown exponentially in America. What is worse is that this cult is spreading like an uncontrollable pandemic, and our generation’s greed will condemn future generations.

If you read books like ‘The Singularity is Near’ or ‘The Singularity is Nearer,’ you may ask yourself where this supposed intelligence is hiding.

Computers and artificial intelligence are valuable tools, but must not replace our brains. People like Ray Kurzweil demonstrate arrogance when they state that the human brain is slow and inefficient or that ‘intelligence’ will spread through the universe. These people even believe that we can conquer death.

The value of time.

Many years ago, I read a science fiction story in which the world’s most valuable commodity is time. Money has lost its purpose, and people trade time. Those who run out of time die. The story has a scene in which a man about to die begs for five more minutes of life, but the person before him denies him his wish and watches the doomed person die on the street. We can ask the question: Who wants to live forever? Queen asked this question in their song of the same name.

I will resist the temptation to philosophize about why we would desire to live forever. Most of us will die of ennui.

What kind of species are we?

The philosophical problem is more fundamental and relates to our behavior, not our pious words. The Israelis are conducting genocide in Palestine while the world watches. This genocide may be the world’s first documented mass murder, where horrifying visuals fill our screens, and politicians try to invade our minds with their propaganda.

The visuals in Palestine are so horrific that the majority of us ignore what is happening in Africa, Myanmar, China, India, Ukraine, and other places. Yet, we talk of human intelligence spreading through the universe and how our intelligence will be the fount of intelligence in the galaxies.

We have technical brilliance but, not wisdom.

People like Kurzweil also tell us that advances in AI will reach a tipping point somewhere around 2041 CE and then outstrip our intelligence. I use Google and an Android phone and constantly swat away Google’s repeated suggestions that I sign up for a free trial of their product, Gemini.

Why will I pay Google to take my data for their training and allow their machines to invade my brain? I am a cynical fool, and as I write these words, I am conscious of the childlike excitement pervading many people who become dependent on them.

For all our technical intelligence and remarkable progress in these fields, we are not becoming wise, which is the second part of Asimov’s quote.

We have become adept at creating ‘kill zones’ and blowing each other up. Our religion teaches us to hate each other despite our pious words.

We aim to colonize Mars, as Elon Musk declares, or to convert humans into an interplanetary species, as Jeff Bezos suggests. Yet, we cannot solve the problems of global hunger, rising temperatures, and pollution, or prevent the calamitous effects of climate change.

Bill Gates wants us to build solar panels, and he wishes to disperse sulfur particles in the air to block the sun. We are becoming obsessed with technological advancements, yet don’t care about becoming wise.

What do the aliens discover?

What will a group of aliens witness when they travel to Earth on an investigative mission to verify if our claims of superintelligence are credible or incredible?

Do watch the short YouTube video. Enjoy. Comment, and find out what they discovered!

And, please consider subscribing to my channel!

A Confession

I was to start writing about Benares this week but, because we have lots of work happening at home, I may postpone this section to the next week or, the week after.

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The Cult of Ignorance

Were Isaac Newton, Aryabhata, Bhaskara I, Bhaskara II, Al-Karaji, or Sharaf al-din al-Tusi professionals or amateurs? I don’t believe Charles Darwin was a professional either.

All the people mentioned in the previous paragraph were outstanding scientists or mathematicians. We should not forget the contributions made by Ch…

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Last week, I wrote about my class reunion and the possibility of never seeing any of my classmates again. I know I can become sentimental if I dwell on this grim possibility. We cannot deny that we have trod separate paths since leaving school. I have reconnected with some of them over the last few years, bu…

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Many years ago, when I was a student in Nainital, we had a quaint custom or rule. After dinner, we'd change into our night suits, wear our dressing gowns, and walk across the 'First Field' to the toilet block to relieve ourselves. Then, we'd return to the dormitory, where the school rules allowed us some reading time before…

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A photograph does not accompany every trip, nor do historical facts about a place. Not every journey is to an exotic location to explore the far ends of our planet, to unearth our planet’s deep, dark secrets or past. We do not always journey to distant shores, flaming sword in hand, to battle injustice, to heal the plane…

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I plan to visit Agra this weekend to photograph Maryam’s tomb, visit Sikandra, and maybe the Taj Mahal again. I will be honest: the unusual heat this month terrifies me. What can we expect in the coming months if it is so hot now? The sun is merciless, and my head hurts when I stand under that fierce, yellow orb. I just fi…

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