Ankit jaiswal

Do you know that the first vegetable to be successfully grown in space was a potato?  In October 1995, NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison partnered to cultivate potatoes aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. This experiment marked a significant milestone in space agriculture, demonstrating the potential for growing fresh produce to sustain astronauts during long-duration space missions. Potatoes were chosen for their nutritional value, versatility, and relative ease of cultivation. The potatoes were grown in a specially designed container called the Astro-Culture Unit (ACU), which provided a controlled environment with optimal conditions for plant growth. The successful cultivation of potatoes in space opened up new possibilities for sustainable food production in the extra-terrestrial environment. It also provided valuable insights into the effects of microgravity on plant growth and development, paving the way for future advances in space agriculture.

On the 554th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, with the wish that soon the egalitarian values for which Guru Ji took birth on the earth, be restored in India. An Omkar Satnam  Adi Chant Sachchu Jugadi Sach. This is also sat, Nanak is also sat. Thinking is not true You'll think a million times, So neither anything will be done nor anything will happen.  To know that beginning-truth,  Experience it within yourself. Only then will you be able to see it.  Otherwise without crossing the river.  Sitting on the edge  You will keep dreaming. Know the ultimate truth All are one, all are in one.  An Omkar Satnam

Who will be able to conquer the earth, gods, and Yama loka? The story of the gardener, who made garlands of flowers and 500 monks, Part-2 [Verse 4.(2of1):45] Place: Jétavana In the first part and the previous stanza the question was raised by the Buddha, as to who will penetrate the well-articulated Dhamma doctrine? The Buddha himself provides the answer: “the student, the learner, the seeker, the apprentice, the person who is being disciplined. He will perceive the doctrine, like the ex- pert garland-maker who recognizes and arranges flowers. It is the learner, the seeker, the student who will perceive the world of Yama, the realm of heavenly beings and existence on earth. He will discard and deter- mine the various areas of the doctrine, like a deft gar- land-maker who plucks and arranges the flowers into garlands.  Explanation:  One, who pursues the three kinds of training, is one of those seven kinds of noble disciples who have reached one of the four supermundane paths

Who will be able to conquer the earth, gods, and Yama loka? The story of the gardener who made garlands of flowers and the five hundred monks, Part-1 (Verse 4.1:44) Place: Jetvana monastery (The Buddha spoke these verses, with reference to five hundred monks.) Once, five hundred monks returned to the Jétavana Monastery, after visiting a village with the Buddha. In the evening, while the monks were gossiping about their trip, and the condition of the land, whether it was level or hilly, or whether the ground was of clay or sand, red or black, the Buddha came to them. Knowing the subject of their talk, the Buddha said to all the monks –“ dear monks, the earth you are gossiping about is an external object to the body; it is better, indeed, to examine your own body and mind and with meditation practice like an expert garland-maker will select, pluck and arrange flowers into garlands.  Then, the Buddha asked a question – "In the same way, who will examine (penetratingly) th

WELL-TRAINED MIND EXCELS PEOPLE  The Story of Soreyya (Verse 3.12:43)  Place: Jétavana Soreyya, the son of a rich businessman in certain city, in the Kingdom of Kosala. One day, Soreyya accompanied by a friend and some attendants gone out in a carriage for a bath in a pond. At that moment, venerable monk Maha-kaccayana was putting on his robes after finishing his bath and planning to go out into the city for alms. The youth Soreyya, seeing the youthful complexion of the monk, thought, “How I wish that complexion was of my wife”. As the wish arose in him, his sex changed and he became a woman. Very much ashamed, he got down from the carriage and escaped away, taking the road to Taxila. His companions looked for him, but they could not find him. Soreyya, now a woman, offered his (now her) signet ring to cart driver going to Taxila, to allow her to go with him in his carriage. Upon arrival at Taxila, her companions told a young rich man of Taxila about a beautiful lady, who ha

Artificial Intelligence - What is it? Why so much fuss? आर्टिफिशियल इंटेलिजेंस - यह क्या है? इतना हो हल्ला क्यों? हिंदी अनुवाद नीचे है! I am not a proponent of Artificial Intelligence. For me, it is neither artificial nor intelligence. So I hold nothing about it.  Well, first of all, any system will follow exactly what it has been instructed to do. Programs (algorithms) are written in order to implement the commands written by a programmer. For instance, Google has instructed it's machines to hear and pick up words that someone is talking over in social media. The machine has instructions to send ads related to that particular topic to the participant(s). I have experienced this first hand. One can cite many many examples (cases), where machines (computers) would do exactly what they has been asked to do. Therefore, what is intelligent about it? I see no reason to glorify it. Yes, its intervention in day-to-day functioning in life is steadily on the increase. Indeed,

India should ignore odd comments by the West as a measure of strength. भारत मजबूत हो रहा है, पश्चिम की हर आलोचना (झूठी) पर चिंतित होना ठीक नहीं Foreign Minister Dr. Jaishankar has remarked that the West seem to think they have a birthright to comment on internal matters, palpably motivated by disinformation campaign unleashed by disgruntled cabal who has lost power at the hands of PM Modi. Well done, but may be enough! They criticize India (albeit wrongly) because India is a solid and vibrant democracy. They don't attack China an authoritarian state that is committing crimes against humanity in Tibet and Xinjiang, with whom the West makes lucrative business deals.  Time has come to look at it in proper perspective. As a resurgent India picks up strength, power and esteem from its transformation in economic, defence, infrastructure, science, technology, space and especially political stability under PM Modi that deliveres results in growth strategy, nuances against India are bound t

There is difference between being alone and lonely Being alone mean being with yourself, enjoying your own company. Its also about cherishing solitude, deep contemplation and self reflection. Being lonely on the other hand is being miserable. It's the feeling of being left out or neglected by people around you. The best of both worlds solution is to enjoy solitude, recharge and reach out to the ones that are left out. Teach them to enjoy their compan

WRONG THOUGHTS COME OUT OF EVIL AND IGNORANT MIND  The Story of Anāthapiṇḍika Herdsman Nand Gopal. (Verse 3.11:42)  Place: Jétavana Nanda was a herdsman who looked after the cows of Anāthapiṇḍika. Occasionally, he would go to the house of Anāthapiṇḍika and there he sometimes listened to Buddha’s discourses. Once Nanda requested the Buddha to pay a visit to his house. But the Buddha declined, saying that it was not the right time but assured him that one day he will visit his abode.  After some time, while travelling with his bhikkhus, the Buddha went off his route to visit Nanda, knowing that the time had come for Nanda to receive his teaching properly. Nanda respectfully received the Buddha and his followers; he served them milk and milk products and other choice foods for seven days. On the last day, after hearing the Buddha’s discourse, Nanda attained sotapatti fruition. When the Buddha was leaving, Nanda carrying the bowl of the Buddha, followed him for some distance. After walking

WITHOUT THE MIND THIS BODY IS AS WORTHLESS AS DRY WOOD The Story of Tissa, the Monk with a Stinking Body (Verse 3.10:41)  Place: Jétavana After receiving Dhamma from the Buddha, monk Tissa was diligently practicing meditation. Once he got afflicted with a disease due to which he developed small boils all over his body. Soon he developed big sores all over. When these sores burst, his upper and lower robes became sticky and stained with body fluids, and his body started stinking. For this reason, he was addressed as Monk Putigatta-Tissa (meaning: Monk Tissa –the Thera with a stinking body).  Tathagata Buddha always surveyed the world twice a day with his divine vision. At dawn, he surveys the world, looking from place he lived called the perfumed chamber. He saw the Venerable Putigatta-Tissa and his suffering condition. The Buddha, was aware that monk Tissa was ripe for arahatship. Buddha also realised that “This monk has been abandoned by his associates; at the present time

Inflation is stubborn in some countries. Deflationary and inflationary scenarios - My essay on the inflation picture मंहगाई पर एक आलेख Quantative Easing (QE), was applied in US and Europe since 2008 for at least 10 years, when Central Banks bought large amount of bonds to a tune of $1T every year, effectively printing money without a solid foundation. Contrary to the text-book theory that QE should cause high inflation, paradoxically the world witnessed a deflationary scenario (for more than 10 years) especially in Europe where ECB indulged in QE too. There was no inflation in US and Europe for too long. In Europe bond rates (Bund and Swiss and others) became negative due to deflation. That means companies had to pay a fee for parking their money. For normal people interest rates were zero on their deposits, that continued for more than 10 years. Poor savers got nothing. In order to explain the grotesque failure of the textbook theory, I developed an argument based upon a nonlinear th

New Hypothesis Shakes Up Indo-European Language Origin Theories Nearly 450 languages of Europe, America and Asia belong to a Indo-European Language Family (Tree). It is considered that Vedic Sanskrit may be the ancestor of all these languages.  A paper has just appeared in the journal Science by a team of over 80 linguists and geneticists of the world headed by a team from Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology analyzing 161 languages. Their findings suggest an initial origin south of the Caucasus, with subsequent branching northwards onto the Steppe, and estimate the Indo-European language family to be approximately 8100 years old with five main branches already split off by around 7000 years ago. The language family began to diverge from around 8100 years ago, out of a homeland immediately south of the Caucasus. One migration reached the Pontic-Caspian and Forest Steppe around 7000 years ago, and from there subsequent migrations spread into parts of Europe around 5000 yea

Defeat – “Mara” (The Demon of Citta and Fear of Death) by the “Weapons of Wisdom, Compassion and Loving Kindness.” The Story of Five Hundred Monks (Verse 3.9:40)  Place: Jétavana Once, Five hundred monks from Savatthi, after obtaining Dhamma from the Buddha, travelled away from Savatthi and came to a large forest grove, a suitable place for vipassana meditation. The guardian spirits of the trees dwelling in that forest thought that if those monks were staying in the forest, it would not be proper for them to live with their families. So, they descended from the trees, thinking that the monks would stop there only for one night. But the monks were still there at the end of a fortnight; then it occurred to them that the monks might be staying there till the end of the vassa. In that case, they and their families would have to be living on the ground for a long time. So, they decided to frighten away the monks, by making ghostly sounds and frightful apparitions. They showed up

WISDOM DOES NOT GROW IF MIND WAVERS ||3 (7-8)|| The Story of Monk Cittahattha Part-1 & 2 ||Verses 38 & 39||  Place: Jetvana Monastery, Shravasti. A youth herdsman of a respectable family, living at Savatthi, went into the forest to look for an cow that was lost. During mid-day, he saw the cow and released the herds, and being oppressed by hunger and thirst, he thought to himself, “I can surely get something to eat from the noble monks.” So he entered the monastery, went to the monks and bowed to them. At that time the food which remained over and above to the monks, who had eaten lay in the vessel used for refuse. When the monks saw that youth, exhausted by hunger as he was, they said to him, “Here is food; take and eat it.” So the youth took and ate as much food as he needed drank water, washed his hands, and then bowed to the monks and asked them, “Venerable, did you go to some house by invitation today?” “No, lay disciple; monks always receive food from lay-peopl

प्रज्ञा (परिपूर्ण अंतिम ज्ञान) कब प्राप्त होता है? ||Verse 3.6:38|| भिक्षु चित्तहत्थ स्थविर की कहानी  एक दिन एक श्रावस्ती में रहने वाला जंगल में, अपनी खोई हुई गाय को खोजता हुआ, जेतवन के विहार पहुँच गया।सारे दिन गाय को को ढूँढते-ढूँढते गाय का मालिक बहुत थक गया और उसे भूख भी बहुत लगने लगी थी। विहार के बाहर वह सोचने लगा – "भिक्षुओं से अवश्य ही खाने के लिए कुछ मिल जायेगा" ऐसा सोचकर वह विहार के अंदर चला गया। वहाँ कुछ भोजन बचा हुआ था अतः किसी भिक्षु ने कहा, उसे एक पात्र को दिखाते हुए कहा – “इस पात्र में कुछ भोजन बचा हुआ है, उसे खाकर अपनी भूख मिटा लो" उस व्यक्ति ने भिक्षुओं के बचे हुए भोजन खा लिया। उसे भोजन बहुत स्वादिष्ट लगा। उसने भिक्षुओं से पूछा इतना स्वादिष्ट भोजन कहाँ से आया? भिक्षुओं ने उसे बताया कि बौद्ध विहार में प्रतिदिन गृहस्थ उपासकों की ओर से स्वादिष्ट भोजन आता था। यह जानकर उसने सोचा, – "जिन्दगी में इतनी अधिक मेहनत करने से क्या लाभ? क्‍यों न मैं भी प्रव्रज्या धारण कर संघ में शामिल हो जाऊँ, तब बिना किसी परिश्रम के स्वादिष्ट भोजन खाने को तो मिलेगा" ऐसा सोचकर

New findings from “The Iceman Otzi’s genome: He had male-pattern baldness and much darker skin. The skin color genetic changes took thousands of years to become commonplace in Europe. “We have always imagined that [Europeans] became light-skinned much faster. But now it seems that this happened actually quite late in human history.” “People that lived in Europe between 40,000 years ago and 8,000 years ago were as dark as people in Africa, which makes a lot of sense because [Africa is] where humans came from.” Genes conferring light skin tones didn’t become prevalent until 4,000 to 3,000 years ago when early farmers started eating plant-based diets and didn’t get as much vitamin D from fish and meat as hunter-gathers did.  Photo: Daily Mail, London UK.

DEATH’S SNARE CAN BE BROKEN BY TAMED MIND ||Verse 3.5:37|| The Story of the nephew of Buddhas’ dear Monk Sangharakkhita (Verse 37) Place: Jétavana Monastery There lived in Sàvatthi -a senior monk by the name of Sangharakkhita. When his sister gave birth to a son, she named the child Bhagineyya Sangharakkhita after her brother monk. When the nephew Sangharakkhita, grew older he also took admission into the Sangha. Once during the rainy season, while the young monk Bhagineyya was staying in a  village monastery, he was offered two sets of robes. He kept one for himself and kept the other for his uncle, monk Sangharakkhita. When the rainy season ended, he went to his uncle to pay respect and offered the robe.  But, the uncle declined to accept the robe, saying that he already have enough. Bhagineyya Sangharakkhita repeated his request, but his uncle would not accept his gift. The young monk Bhagineyya felt disheartened and thought that since his uncle was so unwilling to share

Pi (π) has been known for almost 4000 years, but even if we calculated number of seconds in those 4000 years and calculated π to that number of places, we would still only be approximating its actual value. Ancient Babylonians calculated area of a circle by taking 3 times square of its radius, which gave a value of pi = 3. One Babylonian tablet (1900–1680 BC) indicates a value of 3.125 for π, which is a closer approximation. Rhind Papyrus (1650 BC) gives us insight into mathematics of ancient Egypt. Egyptians calculated area of a circle by a formula that gave the approximate value of 3.1605 for π. First calculation of π was done by Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC), one of greatest mathematicians of the ancient world. Archimedes approximated area of a circle by using Pythagorean Theorem to find areas of two regular polygons: polygon inscribed within circle and polygon within which circle was circumscribed. Since actual area of circle lies between the areas of inscribed and circumscri

PROTECTED MIND LEADS TO HAPPINESS The Story of a Businessman’s Son turned Monk (3.4:36) ||Verse 36||  Once while residing in the Jétavan Monastery at Savatthi, the Buddha spoke this verse, with reference to a young monk, who was also the son of a banker.  Once a certain banker’s son approached an elder who resorted to his house for alms and said to him, “Venerable, I desire to obtain my release from the suffering. Tell me some way by which I can obtain this.” The elder replied, “Peace be unto you, brother. If you desire release from suffering, give fortnightly alms-food and lodging, give lodging during the season of the rains, give bowls and robes and the other requisites to Bhikshus. Divide your possessions into three parts: with one portion carry on your business; with another portion support son and wife; dispense the third portion in alms to the followers of the path shown by the Buddha.”  “Very well, Venerable,” said the banker’s son, and did all what was told to him b

भिक्षु संघरक्खित के भांजे भागिनेय्य की कथा ||Verse 3.5:37|| भिक्षु संघरक्खित भगवान बुद्ध के प्रिय शिष्यों में से एक थे। एक बार, उनकी बहन को एक पुत्ररत्न की प्राप्ति हुई। चूँकि वह भिक्षु संघरक्खित का भाँजा था अतः: उसका नाम भागिनेय्य संघरक्खित रखा गया। बड़े होने पर भांजा सामनेर भागिनेय्य भी भिक्षु संघ में शामिल हो गया।  एक बार सामनेर भागिनेय्य, वर्षा-वास के लिए किसी गाँव में रुका। वहाँ के किसी दानी ग्रामवासी ने उसे दानस्वरूप दो चीवर भेंट में दिये। सामनेर भागिनेय्य ने एक चीवर स्वयं के लिए लिए रख लिया और दूसरा चीवर संभालकर अपने मामा भिक्षु संघरक्खित को देने का विचार किया। तीन महीने बाद, वर्षाकाल समाप्त होने के बाद, सामनेर भागिनेय्य अपने मामा भिक्षु संघरक्खित के पास जेतवन विहार आया और अपने मामाजी को चीवर को भेंट में प्रदान किया मगर मामा भिक्षु संघरक्खित ने उसे लेने से यह कहकर मना कर दिया कि उनके पास पहले से ही पर्याप्त चीवर हैं तथा उन्हें और अधिक चीवर की आवश्यकता नहीं है। सामनेर भागिनेय्य ने बहुत प्रार्थना करने पर भी उन्होंने सामनेर भागिनेय्य से चीवर नहीं लिया।  एक दिन सामनेर भा

The meaning of the symbol AUM🕉 The symbol of AUM consists of three curves (1, 2, and 3), one semicircle (4), and a dot.  The large lower Curve 1 symbolizes the waking state - jagrat, in this state the consciousness is turned outwards through the gates of the senses.  The larger size indicates that this is the most common and major state of the human consciousness.  Curve 2 denotes the state of deep sleep- sushupti or the unconscious state. This is a state where the sleeper desires nothing nor beholds any dream.  Curve 3 - which lies between deep sleep and the waking state, signifies the dream state - swapna.  In this state the consciousness of the individual is turned inwards, and the dreaming self beholds an enthralling view of the world behind the lids of the eyes.  These three curves therefore represent the entire physical phenomenon.  The dot signifies the fourth state of consciousness, known in Sanskrit as turiya. It signifies the coming to rest of all differentiated,

Tributes to Dr. Homi J. Bhabha (October 30, 1909) Heartfelt tributes to Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, one of the greatest scientists of India, on his birth anniversary. Though known as father of India's nuclear program, Bhabha was an outstanding theoretical physicist, who had attained fame for his theory of Bhabha scattering of electrons and positron especially when Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), the theory for Electromagnetic force was being developed. He was interacting with the most famous Nobel Laureates of his time including Einstein, Dirac, Yukawa and Wheeler (see photo) among others.  He was entrusted with the task of India's nuclear energy program that culminated in creation of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) that is a centre of nuclear research in India. He served as president of the United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in 1955 and as president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics from 1960 to 1963. Sadly this curtailed his geniu

बुद्धिमान पुरुष अपने चित्त की रक्षा करके प्रसन्नता से जीते हैं  एक युवा उत्कण्ठित भिक्षु की कथा (3.4:36) ||Verse 36|| यह कथा उन दिनों की है, जब भगवान बुद्ध  जेतवन में रह रहे थे। एक दिन एक बड़ी उम्र का भिक्षु किसी व्यापारी-उपासक के घर भोजन-दान लेने के लिए गया, भोजन-दान के बाद व्यापारी के युवा पुत्र ने विनम्रता कर पूछा, "भन्ते'! जीवन के दुःखों से मुक्त होने के लिए क्या करना चाहिए, कृपया मार्ग बताइये।" भिक्षु ने समझाया, "अपनी सम्पत्ति के तीन भाग करके ¬¬–एक भाग से व्यापार करो, दूसरे भाग से परिवार चलाओ और तीसरे भाग को धर्म के काम करो।' व्यापारी ने भिक्षु के बतलाये अनुसार अपनी संपत्ति का विभाजन कर दिया, पर उसका मन नहीं यह मान नहीं पा रहा था कि ऐसा करने से वह अपने मन में उत्पन्न विकारों से पैदा हुए दुःखों से मुक्त हो पाएगा। अत: वह भिक्षु के पास पुनः गया और पूछने लगा कि उसे आगे और क्या करना चाहिए। इस बार भिक्षु ने उसे समझाया, "सर्वप्रथम उसे त्रिरत्न (बुद्ध, धम्म और संघ) में दृढ़ श्रद्धा रखनी चाहिए।  उसके बाद उसे पंचशील के नियमों अर्थात् – १। कभी चोरी नही