Silk a Brief Description

 Silk a Brief Description

Thousands of years have passed since China first discovered silkworms. Nowadays, silk, in some sense, is still some kind of luxury. Some countries are trying some new ways to make silk without silkworms. Hopefully, they can be successful. But whatever the result, nobody should forget that silk was, still is, and will always be a priceless treasure.

It is well known that silk is discovered in China as one of the best materials for clothing - it has a look and feeling of richness that no other materials can match. However, very few people know when, where or how it is discovered. It could date back to the 30th Century BC when Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) came into power. There are many legends about the discovery of silk; some of them are both romantic and mysterious.

Silk is one of the oldest fibers known to man. Its discovery as a wearable fibre is credited to Lady Xi Ling Shi, the 14-year-old bride of Emperor Huang Ti, the so-called 'Yellow Emperor'. One day in 2640 BC, according to Confucius, she was sitting under a mulberry tree, drinking a cup of tea into which a silk cocoon fell from above. She noticed the delicate fibers start to unravel in the hot liquid and has been credited as the first person to 'reel' or unravel a silk cocoon and use the filament to create a yarn for weaving. Whether or not the legend holds, it is certain that the earliest surviving references to silk production place it in China and that for nearly 3 millennia, the Chinese had a global monopoly on silk production.

One legend has it that once there lived a father with his daughter, and they had a magic horse, which could not only fly in the sky but also understand human language. One day, the father went out on business and did not come back for quite some time. The daughter made him a promise: If the horse could find her father, she would marry him. Finally, her father came back with the horse, but he was shocked at his daughter's promise.

Unwilling to let his daughter marry a horse, he killed the innocent horse. And then a miracle happened! The horse's skin carried the girl flying away. They flew and flew, at last, they stopped on a tree, and the moment the girl touched the tree, she turned into a silkworm. Every day, she spit long and thin silks. The silks just represented her feeling of missing him.

Another less romantic but more convincing explanation is that some ancient Chinese women found this wonderful silk by chance. When they were picking fruits from the trees, they found a special kind of fruit, white but too hard to eat, so they boiled the fruit in hot water, but they still could hardly eat it. At last, they lost their patience and began to beat them with big sticks. In this way, silks and silkworms were discovered. And the white hard fruit is a cocoon!

The cultivation of the silkworm is known as 'sericulture.' The tiny eggs of the silkworm moth are incubated until they hatch into worms when they are placed under a fine layer of gauze covered with finely chopped mulberry leaves. For six weeks the caterpillars (silkworms) eat almost continually, reaching a length of roughly 75mm. Branches are placed in their rearing houses at the end of this period, which the silkworms will climb to build their cocoons in one continuous length of silk filament. Liquid secretions from two large glands in the insect emerge, which harden exposure to the air and form silk.

Silk is an animal fibre produced by silkworm insects to build their cocoons. Although many insects produce silk, only the filament produced by the mulberry silk moth, Bombyx mori, and a few others in the same genus, is used by the commercial silk industry. The silk produced by other insects, mainly spiders, is used in a small number of other commercial capacities, for example, weapons telescope crosshairs and other optical instruments. 

Silk filament comes from the cocoons built by 'silkworms,' which are not worms at all, but silk moth pupae. If allowed to hatch, the silkworm moth has a lifespan of up to three days. The moths do not eat. They rarely fly and reach a wingspan of 40 - 50mm with a thick hairy body. The female lays 300 - 500 eggs in that time.

The raising of silkworms and unwinding cocoons is now known as silk culture or sericulture. It takes an average of 25-28 days for a silkworm, which is no bigger than an ant, to grow old enough to spin a cocoon. Then the farmers pick them up one by one into piles of dry straws. Mostly, the silkworm will attach itself to the straw, with its legs to the outside and begin to spin.

Over three days, the silkworm spins its cocoon, producing up to 950 meters of silk filament. If the moth were allowed to hatch, the silk strands would be broken. They are preserved intact by killing the pupa before it hatches with hot air or steam. The silk is then unbound from the cocoon by softening the sericin and then delicately and carefully unwinding, or 'reeling' the filaments from 4 - 8 cocoons at once, sometimes with a slight twist, to create a single strand. The amount of usable silk in each cocoon is small, and about 5500 silkworms are required to produce 1 kg (2.2 lb.) of raw silk.

The next step is unwinding the cocoons; it is done by reeling girls. The cocoons are heated to kill the pupae. This must be done at the right time, otherwise, the pupas are bound to turn into moths, and moths will make a hole in the cocoons, which will be useless for reeling. To unwind the cocoons, first put them in a basin filled with hot water, find the loose end of the cocoon, and then twist them, and carry them to a small wheel, thus the cocoons will be unwound. At last, two workers measure them into a certain length and twist them, they are called raw silk, and then they are dyed and woven into cloth.

'Raw silk' is silk that still contains sericin. Once this is washed out (in soap and boiling water), the fabric is left soft, lustrous, and up to 30% lighter! The thickness of silk filament is expressed in terms of denier - the number of grams of weight per 9000 meters. Spun silk is given a numerical designation based on the number of hanks (840yd lengths) per pound. 

Silk filament is strong, as strong as steel of the same thickness, resisting breakage up to a weight of 4g per filament, and much stronger than cotton or wool. Silk is also lower in density than cotton, wool, or nylon and as such, is highly moisture absorbent, able to absorb as much as a third of its weight in moisture without feeling damp. Silk loses strength over time if kept in bad storage conditions and weakens eventually if constantly exposed to strong sunlight (eg curtains). 

An interesting fact is that we can unwind about 1,000 meters long silk from one cocoon, while 111 cocoons are needed for a man's tie, and 630 cocoons are needed for a woman's blouse.

Chinese people developed new ways of using silk to make clothes since the discovery of silk. This kind of cloth called silk became popular soon. At that time, China's technology was developing fast. 

The Chinese realized the value of the beautiful material they were producing and kept its secret safe from the rest of the world for more than 30 centuries. Travellers were searched thoroughly at border crossings, and anyone caught trying to smuggle eggs, cocoons, or silkworms out of the country was summarily executed. Demand for this exotic fabric eventually created the lucrative trade route now known as the 'Silk Road,' of which mention is made as early as 300BC in the days of the Han Dynasty, taking silk westward and bringing gold, silver, and wools to the East.  Soon, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty decided to develop trade with other countries.

Building a road becomes a priority to trade silk. After nearly 60 years of war, the world-famous ancient Silk Road was built at the cost of many losses of life and treasures. It started in Chang'an (now Xi'an), across Middle Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. Many countries in Asia and Europe were connected. The Silk Road began at Sian and was some 4,000 miles long. A caravan tract, it followed the Great Wall of China.

Few people travelled the entire route - goods were handled mostly by a series of middlemen. With the mulberry silk moth native to China, the Chinese had a monopoly on the world's silk production until about 200 BC when Korea saw the emergence of its silk industry thanks to a handful of Chinese immigrants who had settled there. The secret was out. Eventually, other countries began to produce silk too, India and Japan being the first to do so in about AD 300. Silk had become a valuable commodity in the Western world and in 550AD Emperor Justinian I sent two Nestorian monks to China to smuggle back some moth eggs and mulberry seeds, which they did at the risk of their lives, concealing the precious goods in bamboo walking staffs. With the arrival of the silk eggs in Byzantium, China's silk monopoly was at an end.

From then on, Chinese silk passed to Europe. Romans, especially women, were crazy about Chinese silk. Before that, Romans used to make clothes with linen cloth, animal skin and wool fabric. Now they all turned to silk. It was a symbol of wealth and high social status for them to wear silk clothes. One day, an Indian monk came to visit the emperor. This monk had been living in China for several years and knew the method of raising silkworms. The emperor promised a high profit for the monk, the monk hid several cocoons in his cane and took it to Rome. Then, the technology of raising silkworms spread out.

The ancient Persian courts did not know how to make their silk, would untie Chinese silks and reweave them into Persian designs which were so beautiful that when Darius III, King of Persia, eventually surrendered to Alexander the Great, he was clothed in such silken splendour that he completely outshone Alexander, who promptly demanded as spoils of war the equivalent of £11 million in silk.

Robin Hood Meets Little John

 Robin Hood Meets Little John

Class room lesson for children

Robin Hood was a brave man living in a forest. He helped the poor but hated the rich. He had a band of bold men who lived with him and loved and obeyed him. They were all good fighters with bows and arrows and swords and sticks.

One day Robin Hood was crossing a narrow wooden bridge across a stream. He saw a giant at the other end. Both men met face-to-face in the middle of the bridge. Robin Hood asked the giant to make way for him, but he refused to turn back. Each threatened to throw down the other into the stream. They started fighting. At last, both fell into the water.

They struggled hard and reached the bank. Robin Hood blew his horn and soon his men came there and fell upon the giant. But their master, Robin Hood asked them not to do any harm to the giant. Then Robin asked the giant who he was. The giant replied that his name was 'John the Little'. He had come to join Robin's band. Robin Hood was very glad and made him a member of his band.

Answer the following questions:

1. Why did Robin Hood live in a forest?

Ans. Robin Hood lived in a forest because he was an outlaw.

2. Why did the rich hate Robin Hood?

Ans. The rich hated Robin Hood because he robbed them.

3. Write four sentences about Robin Hood's followers.

1.    Robin Hood's followers were outlaws.

2.    They loved and obeyed Robin Hood.

3.    They were bold men and good fighters.

4.     They lived in the forest with their master, Robin.

4. What did Robin Hood ask John to do? Did John obey him?

Ans. Robin Hood asked John to make way for him on the bridge. John did not obey him.

5. What did Robin Hood do to call his followers?

Ans. Robin Hood took out his horn and blew it three times to call his followers.

6. What did Robin Hood's followers do when they saw John?

Ans. Robin Hood's followers fell upon John when they saw him.

7. Why did John ask Robin Hood to pardon him?

Ans. John asked Robin Hood to pardon him because he had come to join his band.

8. What was the stranger's name before he met Robin Hood? What did Robin Hood call him?

Ans. The stranger's name before he met Robin Hood was John the Little. Robin Hood called him "Little John."

 

Frankenstein and his monster

(The story of Frankenstein.)

The Relationship Between Frankenstein and His "Monster" in Mary Shelley's Novel, is the story of a man and his scientific inventions and discoveries.

Mary Shelley wrote this novel when she was just 19 years old. She, her husband, and her friend spent evenings telling each other weird stories. Victor Frankenstein was born out of these evenings. Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley (second wife of the poet) in 1818. The story was controversial as it touched on many fragile subjects, such as human anatomy and the development of science. It also brings up the theme of human relationships and their importance in people's lives, as well as the role religion plays in this novel, where Victor Frankenstein, the creator, becomes Satan-like in the mirror of his creation.

    Shelley's mother died when she was just a few days old. Her father was emotionally detached from her, leaving her at her own devices and paying her little attention. She could write about these human insecurities because she experienced them first-hand as a baby and as a young child herself.

Shelley uses dreams to great effect in this novel. The fears and anxieties Frankenstein is experiencing are worked out in his dreams. He dreams of meeting Elizabeth and having kissed her. He notices her lips are the “hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms”. Frankenstein is giving us a glimpse into the future.

Mary Shelley’s book controversy

This science-fiction novel is the idea of who the “bad” person is in the storyline. The story shows the horrors of man, not beast. The monster did not choose to be created, he did not choose to look the way that he did, he did not choose to be rejected by everyone around him. As he tells Frankenstein when he approaches him in the Alps, “I am malicious, evil because I am miserable.” 

It is a weird tale of a medical student, who fashions an image in human form out of materials collected from graveyards and dissecting rooms. The dreadful creature, a parody of a man, comes to life; and Frankenstein, its creator, flies from it in horror. The monster escapes, spreading terror everywhere, and commits many atrocious murders. Frankenstein chases the monster to capture or kill it; but it turns on him, its creator, and tears him to pieces.

This gruesome tale may be taken as a tale. Frankenstein is man, with his scientific discoveries and inventions. In his search for knowledge and power over nature, he may be releasing forces that will get beyond his control and eventually destroy him.

Many themes are explored, such as nurture versus nature, calm versus turbulence, and love versus hate. These themes are used to explore and develop the complex relationship between Frankenstein and his monster.

Love Versus Hatred: Shelley's Profound Theme

Frankenstein agreed to create a fellow creature for the monster because he felt that justice was due both to him and his fellow creature. Here, Shelley's theme of love versus hatred becomes evident. The cry from the monster's heart is very moving as he begs Frankenstein to create for him someone to love.

Both Frankenstein and his creation are worthy of readers’ sympathy and contempt.

Frankenstein deserves ridicule for assembling a living being that he instantly neglects for the simple fact that it looks ugly. His neglect causes Frankenstein to roam Europe in search of guidance and friendship, neither of which he ever receives. Nevertheless, it is difficult not to feel sorry for Frankenstein when all his loved ones die at the hands of his creature. His reason for not creating another monster is valid: he does not want to risk the two creatures mating and creating a race of beasts to terrorize the world forever. He does not want to be responsible for the death of humanity, so his refusal to create a female monster makes sense.

Frankenstein’s creature also deserves ridicule. His response to receiving mistreatment is to murder innocent people, and this is also unacceptable. If everyone in the world who was ever mistreated and misunderstood went on killing sprees, Homo sapiens would cease to exist. And yet, much his like creator, it is hard not to have sympathy for the poor creature, who has no friend in the world and never will. Like anyone else, the Frankenstein monster craves companionship from another, if not from his creator, then from another being created with the same proportions. Victor’s refusal, although logical, is saddening.

Both Frankenstein and his monster have performed many evils against each other. They both have suffered so much that readers cannot help but offer their sympathies to both. The real enemy, as Victor Frankenstein declares at the end, is ambition: “Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition, even if it be only the innocent, one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries”.

Ambition drives Frankenstein to create the monster in the first place, and without it, the tragic ending of the story could have been avoided completely. Had he contented himself with ordinary scientific activities like the rest of his colleagues, none of his family would have been murdered. As Frankenstein has learned by the time he lies on his deathbed, even a purely innocent intention can blossom into a full-blown disaster.

In Mary Shelley’s Romanticism-era novel Frankenstein, the title character, and the monster he creates are linked in a complex, multidimensional relationship. On one hand, the Frankenstein monster is subservient to his creator, who is the only man with enough knowledge to create another of his kind. On the other hand, however, Frankenstein is subservient to his creation, because it is physically stronger than him and able to murder his whole circle of family and friends without putting forth much effort.

 

Frankenstein Mirrored in His Creation

In the novel, there are many parallels between Frankenstein and his creation (monster). Both seem to have a tremendous hatred for one another. Frankenstein seems to deny the monster what he has denied himself: a family life and a wife. This is almost what Frankenstein denied himself as his relationship can be seen as incestuous. His relationship with Elizabeth is that of sister and brother, the two having been brought up together. As he never experienced courtship, his anger towards the monster is anger vented toward himself, as he has never experienced love and is almost seen to be scared and never probes around the subject. He only experiences lust for Elizabeth and his work, and both break down due to the lack of love (which is a stronger bond than lust).

Significance of the Weather in Frankenstein

In Frankenstein, Shelley, the author, has on numerous occasions begun each scene by talking about the weather. She is setting the tone for the rest of the scene and is foreshadowing the events to come. The weather is used to dramatize the theme of calm versus turbulence, as good weather reflects calm spirits and turbulent weather reflects madness. The warm weather seems to lift the characters' spirits, while the cold, ravaging wind, such as when Victor is in the Arctic, conjures up feelings of depression.

Frankenstein's Ego and Dream Realities

Frankenstein's ego seems to command him, but his dreams rip him into reality. Frankenstein's anger towards the monster seems to be a vent of his anger towards himself as he realizes the time he has wasted, the relationships he has missed out on and his family's tragedies. He blames the creature (monster) for his passion for success.

Frankenstein is a story of a "monster" who is forcefully separated from his creator because his physical failures make him a disgrace. The "thing" was created in a state of anxiety, panic, and passion. Victor Frankenstein took great care to assemble all the body parts, and he only chose the most beautiful. He worked almost like a poet and dreamt of creating a thing of real beauty.

However, when he assembled the creature, his emotions were that of horror and disgust. The creature only wants to be loved, and it has child-like characteristics when he is first created. However, Frankenstein does not see this, and his judgment is clouded by the appearance of his creation.

Throughout the book, all the creature wants is love. This longing to be first accepted by Victor, and then the longing for a fellow creature (a lover) created especially for him, leads the monster to acts of murder and destruction. His longing for love is so great he will destroy Frankenstein if this goes unheeded.

The theme of nature versus nurture is explored here. The one who was nurtured, the man who grew up in a loving family, Frankenstein, could not return love to the creature he gave birth to. The “monster”, who received hatred from the first moment he opened his eyes, wanted love and companionship.

The Frankenstein creature gestures to his creator to have mercy on him and to do him a favour: “He continued, ‘You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do’”. In this instance, Frankenstein’s creature is putting himself in a submissive position. By saying “This you alone can do,” the creature is admitting Frankenstein’s singular intelligence and ability. Frankenstein is the only man who can create a female companion, which he believes is necessary to his being, and so the monster must assume a role of submission and reliance upon Frankenstein’s kindness.

Yet, at the same time the Frankenstein creature is submissive to his creator, the creator’s fate is in the hands of his creature. Thus, the creature forewarns him moments later about what could happen if Frankenstein does not comply with his demands: “Have a care; I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart so that you shall curse the hour of your birth”. The creature knows that he is in a powerful position as the stronger of the two, and can threaten Victor Frankenstein because of it, so much so that Frankenstein will wish he had never been born.

The creature’s method of destroying Frankenstein’s heart is not to kill him directly, but to kill those Frankenstein loves. The monster’s “domination-via-threats” approach is highlighted later in the novel when Frankenstein decides not to create another monster. The monster confronts him, saying “Remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night”. This means that on Frankenstein’s first night of being married to his adopted sister, the creature plans to be there to kill her. The monster also repeats his dominance over Frankenstein in this scene: “You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!”. Here the Frankenstein monster reasserts this belief that, although Frankenstein created him, he is under no obligation to obey him. He believes that his physical skill makes him Frankenstein’s master, although no matter who he kills to hurt his creator, he can never be happy, for he will never find companionship.

Frankenstein, a doctor, is the man who created and abandoned a creature, a monster that was capable of destruction. Shelley did not give the dreadful creature a name, perhaps for a reason. To not name something degrades it and makes that thing an It – a lack of identity due to no name and fear of the unknown.  Yet she gives it such human characteristics by allowing the beast to talk, read, learn another language, and even have the capabilities of emotions.

When the beast was created, he was brought to the world and left to interact with only himself. He discusses with Frankenstein how hard it was for him to even walk around because people would scream in fear at his appearance; Even his creator left him. 

From the beginning, we read of Frankenstein's hatred and his rapid physical decline reflecting the feeling he has for his creation. He loses his appetite, he is weak, his “heart palpitated in the sickness of fear” and his friend Clerval finds him bordering on madness.

Frankenstein recalls the night he created 'the monster', and he describes it as "It was a dreary night." The endless wanderings of his disturbed mind reflect the guilt and horror he feels for the creature he has created. He is in decline while his monster is becoming more eloquent and expressive. The more he is disturbed by the monster, the more humanlike emotions the monster exhibits.

However, Frankenstein has no sympathy for him as he becomes more and more disturbed by the daemon he sees before him. The more the monster wants to be accepted, needing his desires fulfilled, the more Frankenstein alienates himself from his own family and friends.

In Frankenstein, Shelley draws a portrait of a man crazy by the need to create. He became God-like, but his creation was Satan-like. Here lies the conflict in the novel. The themes of love versus hatred are explored in detail. As a mere man, Frankenstein cannot create a human being; only God can do so; therefore, the creation had to be ugly, a horror. This dislike could not be loved because it was man-made.

Nature's Beauty Versus Monstrous Reality

The "brute" he has created is not necessary. Indeed, it needs to be destroyed immediately. However, he finds his soul being lifted as he admires the beautiful, majestic views once he arrives at the top. The beauty of nature versus what he is next about to see. The monster suddenly appears on the horizon, and as Victor follows the monster to the hut, the weather changes, and the lightness which Victor felt before vaporized with the rain and cold.

The Monster

The monster is Victor Frankenstein’s creation, assembled from old body parts and strange chemicals, animated by a mysterious spark. He (the monster) enters life eight feet tall and enormously strong but with the mind of a newborn. Abandoned by his creator and confused, he tries to participate himself in society, only to be ignored universally. Looking in the mirror, he realizes his physical grotesqueness, an aspect of his persona that blinds society to his initially gentle, kind nature. Seeking revenge on his creator, he kills Victor’s younger brother. After Victor destroys his work on the female monster meant to ease the monster’s solitude, the monster murders Victor’s best friend and then his new wife.

While Victor feels complete hatred for his creation, the monster shows that he is not a purely evil being. The monster’s eloquent narration of events (as provided by Victor) reveals his remarkable sensitivity and benevolence. He assists a group of poor peasants and saves a girl from drowning, but because of his outward appearance, he is rewarded only with beatings and disgust. Torn between vengefulness and compassion, the monster ends up lonely and tormented by remorse. Even the death of his creator-turned-would-be-destroyer offers only bittersweet relief: joy because Victor has caused him so much suffering, sadness because Victor is the only person with whom he has had any sort of relationship.

The Role of Science in "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

When the monster approaches Victor in the mountains to ask for a female companion Victor allows himself to feel for a short time a little compassion for the lonely life the monster lives. "I compassioned him, and sometimes felt a wish to console him," Victor said, but these sentiments were immediately replaced with the old feelings of revulsion and hate.

 

Science has made tremendous strides since Mrs. Shelley wrote her tale. Many of its discoveries and inventions are no less beneficent than wonderful; but not all. In the invention, for instance, of the high-explosive bomb, the bombing aero plane and poison gas, man has released destructive forces that threaten to get out of his control. Such diabolical weapons will turn the next world war (which is constantly threatening the world), into a mass massacre of civilians", and the destruction of modern civilization. The Monster man has created is almost out of his control and may at any moment turn on its creator and overwhelm him. "Man has become a giant; he can smite with lengthened arm a distant, hidden foe: He strides the earth with seven-leagued boots, and lo! On eagle wings, he now has taken to flight. His eye can weigh, and measure spheres of light Sunk in the deep of space; and can bear Far voices from the other hemisphere: shortened by his might.

The idea of Frankenstein creating a killing machine although fictional, makes one ponder the thought of our capabilities as man. Professor Fleming said in class “Why is nuclear power frightening? Because it’s a new way to die.” We have always known how destructive man can be, the fact that we have enough nuclear bombs to destroy Earth more than once is horrifying. We create these objects to perform tasks that we think will better our lives and protect us, yet they are the ones that end up terminating us. How long will the world go until we end up having stories like Frankenstein come true?

To conclude I may write that the monster was rejected for love by everyone around him, even the person who gave life to him. He did not get to experience the true meaning of kindness and a relationship. All Frankenstein ever showed to the monster was coldness and resentment, even though it was completely Frankenstein’s fault for everything that had happened. Yes, the beast killed everyone Frankenstein loved, but he gave Frankenstein an ultimatum, he gave him a chance to fix things. Frankenstein was the true beast, he was as my father, a luminary stated, “science’s dreadful genius,” the man behind the blood. He was to society what the monster was to him; creating a killing machine that didn’t stop until it killed him too.

References:

Rodrio555 via Wikimedia Commons

https://owlcation.com/humanities/Frankenstein-and-his-Monster--by-Mary-Shelley

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGwJJhBGfvhjwWKgFVtlpcCGnfr

http://www.businessinsider.com/5-terrifying-times-pandemics-escaped-from-laboratories-2014-https://www.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/dissent/documents/AIDS/Hooper03/Hooper03story.html

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/frankenstein/character/the-monster/

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. New York: Bantam Books, 1991.

https://www.jtbrandt.com/essays/the-relationship-between-frankenstein-and-his-creature

 

 

Sri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa

Sri Rama Krishna, a great saint of India was born in 1836. He became a temple priest at an early age. He spent all his time in the service of Kali, the Divine Mother. He worshipped her with devotion. He led a hard life and often went without food and water. Once he remained in samadhi for six months.

Though a Hindu, he studied the truth in other religions. He lived the life of a pious Muslim and said prayers five times a day. He also lived the life of a Christian. Then he studied the teachings of Buddha, Mahavira and Sikh Gurus. At last, he came to understand that all religions taught the same truth and led to the same goal.

Sri Rama Krishna taught that man should live a pure life without seeking wealth, power, or fame.

Once a young man Narendra by name came to see Rama Krishna. Narendra wanted to Know the truth about God. Sri Rama Krishna said in an answer to a question of Narendra that he had seen God. When Sri Rama Krishna touched Narendra, he began to feel as if the whole world was spinning around him. Soon after, he became a disciple of Sri Rama Krishna. This young Narendra later became the famous Swami Vivekananda who spread Sri Ram Krishna's message to all parts of the world.

Sri Rama Krishna was known for his great love of truth and his dislike for worldly pleasures. He looked upon every woman as the Divine Mother.

Sri Rama Krishna died in 1886 but his service did not end with his death. He is still serving mankind through his followers. His message brings peace and wisdom to countrymen all over the world.

While teaching grandchildren the following questions were put and the answers are here.

Q1. Answer the following questions:

1. Why should people avoid quarrelling in the name of religion?

Ans. People should not quarrel in the name of religion because all religions teach the same truth and lead to the same goal.

2. What kind of life did Sri Rama Krishna live as a priest? Ans. Sri Rama Krishna lived a very hard life as a priest and often went without food and water.

3. What did Rama Krishna do to understand Islam and Christianity?

Ans. He lived the life of a pious Muslim and offered prayers five times a day. He also lived the life of a Christian.

4. How did Narendra prove to himself that his master disliked money?

Ans. One day Sri Rama Krishna was asleep. Narendra touched him with a coin. Suddenly Sri Rama Krishna's hand became bent, and his body appeared to be in great pain. In this way, Narendra proved to himself that his master disliked money.

5. What did people go to Sri Rama Krishna for?

Ans. People went to Sri Rama Krishna for advice, wisdom, and peace of mind.

6. Write your feelings about this topic.

·       We ought to be honest and truthful.

·       We ought to live like brothers.

·       We ought to help the poor and the weak.

·       People ought to be honest and truthful.

·       People ought to pray every day.

·       People ought to live like brothers.

·       People ought to help the poor and the weak.

·       You ought to be honest and truthful.

·       You ought not to be lazy and careless.

·       You ought to pray every day.

7. Describe the first meeting of Sri Rama Krishna and Narendra.

One day a young man named Narendra came to meet Sri Rama Krishna. He was a university student and wanted to know the truth about God. He said to Sri Rama Krishna, "Do you believe in God, Sir?" "Yes," said Sri Rama Krishna. Narendra asked him again, "But how do you know that God exists? Have you seen Him?" The reply was: "I see God as I see you." Narendra was satisfied. He said to himself, "Here is a man who has seen Ged." Then Sri Rama Krishna touched Narendra who felt as if the whole world was spinning around him. Soon after he became a disciple of Sri Rama Krishna.

 

Nagarjuna and his begging bowl

A beautiful story is told about a great mystic, Nagarjuna:

Guru Nagarjuna (Tibetan), who lived around the middle of the seventh century A.D. (not be confused with the founder of the ‘Madhyamika’ philosophy, who bore the same name but lived 500 years earlier.) It was said of him that he had changed an iron mountain into copper, and it was thought that he would have transformed it into gold, if the Bodhisattva Manjusri had not warned him that gold would only cause greed and quarrel among men, instead of helping them, as the Siddha had intended. During Guru’s experiments, it happened that even his iron begging bowl turned into gold.

He was a fakir, but all real seekers loved him. A queen asked him one day to come to the palace, to be a guest in the palace. Nagarjuna went. The queen asked him a favour.

Nagarjuna said, “What do you want?”

The queen said, “I want your begging bowl.”

Nagarjuna gave it — that was the only thing he had — his begging bowl. And the queen brought a golden begging bowl, studded with diamonds, and gave it to Nagarjuna. She said, “Now you keep this. I will worship the begging bowl that you have carried for years — it has some of your feel. It will become my temple. And a man like you should not carry an ordinary iron begging bowl — keep this golden one. I have had it made especially for you.”

It was precious. If Nagarjuna had been an ordinary mystic he would have said, “I cannot touch it. I have renounced the world.” But for him, it was all the same, so he took the bowl.

When he left the palace, a thief saw him. He could not believe his eyes: “A naked man with such a precious thing! How long can he protect it?” So, the thief followed….

Nagarjuna was staying outside the town in a ruined ancient temple — no doors, no windows. It was just a ruin. The thief was very happy: “Soon Nagarjuna will have to go to sleep and there will be no difficulty — I will get the bowl.”

The thief was hiding behind a wall just outside the door — But Nagarjuna, reading the mind of the thief threw the bowl outside the door. The thief could not believe what had happened. Nagarjuna threw it because he had watched the thief coming behind him, and he knew perfectly well that he was not coming for him — he was coming for the bowl, “So why unnecessarily let him wait? Be finished with it so he can go, and I can also rest.”

“Such a precious thing! And Nagarjuna has thrown it so easily.” The thief was so perplexed and ashamed that he entered the Guru’s hut, bowed at his feet, and said, “Respected sir, why did you do this? I came here as a thief. Now that you have thrown away what I desired and made a gift of what I intended to steal, my desire has vanished, and stealing has become senseless and stupid. But you are a rare being — I cannot believe my eyes. Now a great desire has arisen in me. I am wasting my life by being a thief — and there are people like you too? Can I come in and touch your feet?”

Nagarjuna laughed and he said, “Yes, that’s why I threw the bowl outside — so that you could come inside. Whatever I have should be shared with others. Eat and drink and take whatever you like.”

The thief was trapped. The thief came in, touched the feet… and at that moment the thief was very open because he had seen that this man was no ordinary man. He was exposed, open, receptive, grateful, mystified, and stunned. When he touched the feet, for the first time in his life he felt the presence of the divine.

He asked Nagarjuna, “How many lives will it take for me to become like you?”

Nagarjuna said, “How many lives? — it can happen today, it can happen now!”

The thief said, “You must be joking. How can it happen now? I am a thief, a well-known thief The whole town knows me, although they have not yet been able to catch hold of me. Even the king is afraid of me because I have entered and stolen from the treasury. They know it, but they have no proof. I am a master thief — you may not know about me because you are a stranger in these parts. How can I be transformed right now?”

And Nagarjuna said, “If in an old house for centuries there has been darkness and you bring a candle, can the darkness stay, Can the darkness give resistance? Will it make any difference whether the darkness is one day old or millions of years old?”

The thief could see the point: darkness cannot resist light; when light comes, darkness disappears.

Nagarjuna said, “You may have been in darkness for many years — that doesn’t matter — but I can give you a secret, it is better to light a candle than to curse darkness.”

And the thief said, “What about my profession? Have I to leave it?”

Nagarjuna said, “That is for you to decide. I am not concerned with you and your profession I can only give you the secret of how to spark a light within your being, and then it is up to you.”

The thief said, “But whenever I have gone to any saints, they always say, ‘First stop stealing — then only can you be guided.”

The Guru Nagarjuna, however, replied: ‘Whatever I possess should be shared with others. Eat and drink and take whatever you like, so that you need never more steal.’

The thief was so deeply impressed by the generosity and kindness of the Guru, that he asked for his teachings. But Nagarjuna knew that, though the other’s mind was not yet ripe to understand his teachings, his devotion was genuine. He therefore told him:

‘Imagine all things you desire as horns growing on your head (i.e., as unreal, and useless’). [Ref. This phrase has its origin in the well-known Sanskrit metaphor of ‘the horn of a hare’, which is used to indicate unreality.] If you meditate in this way, you will see a light like that of an emerald.’

With these words Nagarjuna poured a heap of jewels into a corner of the room, made the pupil sit down before it, and left him to his meditation.

The former thief threw himself constantly into the practice of meditation, and as his faith was as great as his simplicity, he followed the words of the Guru Nagarjuna literally and lo! - horns began to grow on his head!

At first, he was excited at his success and filled with pride and satisfaction. With time, however, he discovered with horror that the horns continued to grow and finally became so cumbersome that he could not move without knocking against the walls and the things around him. The more he worried the worse it became. Thus, his former pride and ecstasy turned into dejection, and when the Guru Nagarjuna returned after twelve years and asked the pupil how he was fearing, he told Master Nagarjuna that he was very unhappy.

But, Nagarjuna laughed and said, “Just as you have become unhappy through the mere imagination of horns upon your head, in the same way, all living beings destroy their happiness by clinging to their false imaginations and thinking them to be real. All forms of life and all objects of desire are like clouds. But even birth, life and death can have no power over those whose hearts are pure and free from illusions. If you can look on all the possessions of the world as no less unreal, undesirable, and cumbersome than the imagined horns on your head, then you will be free from the cycle of death and rebirth.”

Now the dust from Chela’s (thief’s) eyes, and as he saw the emptiness of all things, his desires and false imaginations vanished- and with them the horns on his head. He attained ‘siddhi’, the perfection of a saint, and later became known as Guru Naga Bodhi, successor of Nagarjuna.

To obtain miraculous powers -according to the Buddhist scriptures has been called siddhi, a power that is equally effective in the spiritual as in the material world. Tibetan tradition has preserved for us the life stories, legends, and teachings of a great number of mystics, who obtained those miraculous powers and who were therefore called ‘Siddhas’ (Tibetan: grub-throb). In the symbolic language of the Siddhas experiences of meditation are transformed into external events, inner attainments into visible miracles and similes into factual, quasi-historical events. If, for instance, it is said of certain Siddhas that they stopped the sun and the moon in their course, or that they crossed the Ganges by holding up its flow, then this has nothing to do with the heavenly bodies or the sacred river of India, but with the ‘solar’ and ‘lunar’ currents of psychic energy, and their unification and sublimation in the body of the Yogin, etc. In a similar way alchemistic terminology of the Siddhas and their search for the ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ and the ‘Elixir of Life’.

Another Siddha, whose name is associated with Nagarjuna, is the Brahmin Vyali. Like Nagarjuna, he was an ardent alchemist who tried to find the Elixir of Life (amrita). He spent his entire fortune in unsuccessful experiments with all sorts of expensive chemicals and finally became so disgusted that he threw his formula book into the Ganges and left the place of his fruitless work as a beggar.

But it happened that when he came to another city farther down the Ganges, a courtesan, who was taking a bath in the river, picked up the book and brought it to him. This revived his old passion, and he took up his work again, while the courtesan supplied him with the means of livelihood.  But his experiments were as unsuccessful as before, until one day the courtesan, while preparing his food, by chance dropped the juice of some spice into the alchemist’s mixture- and lo! - what the learned Brahmin had not been able to achieve in fourteen years of hard work, had been accomplished by the hands of an ignorant low-caste woman!

The symbolic character of the story is plain. The essence of life and nature, the secret of immortality, cannot be found by dry intellectual work and selfish desire, but only by the touch of undiluted life: in the spontaneity of intuition.

The story then goes on to tell, not without humour, how the Brahmin, who spiritually was not prepared for this unexpected gift of luck, fled with his treasure into solitude, because he did not like to share it with anyone or to let others know about the secret. He settled on the top of an inaccessible rock which rose during a terrible swamp or marsh.

There he sat with his Elixir of Life, a prisoner of his selfishness – not unlike Fafner, the giant of Nordic mythology, who became a dragon to guard the treasure, for which he had slain his brother after they had won it from the gods!

But Nagarjuna, who was filled with the ideals of Bodhisattva, wanted to acquire the knowledge of his precious elixir for the benefit of all who were ripe for it. Through the excretion of his magic power, he succeeded in finding the hermit and in persuading him to part with the secret.

The details of this story can be found in the Tibetan manuscript, in which the story is preserved, mentioning mercury as one of the most important substances used in the experiments of the Brahmin. This proves the connection with the ancient alchemist tradition of Egypt and Greece, which held that mercury was closely related to the ‘prima materia’. But what was meant in this case was not the metal but ‘the mercury of the philosophers’, which was the essence or soul of mercury, freed from the four Aristotelian elements, earth, water, fire and air. To the Buddhist these four elements are mahabhuta, and are well known as the solid, the liquid and the gaseous, and the radiating principle; in other words, the qualities of inertia, cohesion, radiation, and vibration, as the characteristics of the four aggregation in which the material world appears to us.A

The path of love shown by a boy

 The path of love shown by a boy

Bhagwan Swaminarayan was honoured on an elephant by many kings and rulers. The Nawab of Junagadh once welcomed him in a grand procession through the city. However, in his procession a little boy pushed through the crowds and raised his tiny arm, offering a cucumber to Bhagwan Swaminarayan. What is a cucumber compared to the gifts and garlands of the royal display? But Bhagwan Swaminarayan reached low, took the cucumber, and began eating it. Noticeably and thoughtful of the thousands who surrounded him, Bhagwan Swaminarayan remained absorbed in eating the cucumber overflowing with boy’s love and devotion.

Good Manners-For children -Aarna, Aadya and all

 

Good Manners!

Wish all children a happy new year,

What are Good Manners? A person with good manners shows respect towards the feelings and sentiments of others living in the surroundings. He/she never differentiates people and shows equal regard to everyone. Modesty, humbleness, kindness, and courtesy are the essential traits of a well-behaved person.

In the 14th century, William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, founded two great educational institutions- New College, Oxford, and the great public school at Winchester. He gave to both the same motto: "Manners maketh Man". In those days the word "manners" did not mean mere outward behaviour, as it does now, but what we should call good conduct or morality. By his motto, the wise Bishop meant that it is good moral conduct based on sound moral principles that make a man. So, he did not regard education as the mere getting of knowledge and mental training, but mainly as moral training. In other words, he recognized that the only thing that mattered in life was character.

This being so, moral education is all important. From their earliest years, children must be taught the difference between right and wrong, and trained to love and follow what is right and hate and avoid what is wrong. Such training means the formation of character on the right lines. Its object is to bring children up in such a way that they will grow up to be truth-loving, honest, brave, pure-minded, and unselfish men, and women.

Good manners mean having polite or well-bred social behaviour by the people. Having good manners in life matters a lot for living a social life. It should be inculcated especially in children from childhood. Behaving in a good or bad manner is the most important part of human nature and life.

Home is the best school for moral education. Schoolmasters cannot get into such close touch with their pupils as parents can with their children. Nor can they appeal to their love and affection as good fathers and mothers can. Moreover, moral education must begin in the earliest years of the child, long before he can go to school. And these early years are the most important. As a Roman Catholic Cardinal once said: "Give us the children up to seven years old, and you can have them the rest of their lives."

We should dedicate ourselves diligently to building a good and healthy equation in the community. We should cultivate polite behaviour towards others and must have ears to listen to others with patience. This is how the people will love us and remain in their hearts and minds.

The methods of moral training are teaching, example and punishment. The child must be taught what is right by moral lessons, advice, and warning; and he must be shown what is right by good example. So, there is a great responsibility laid upon parents to live a good life before their children; for, example is better than precept. Only when teaching and example fail should punishment be resorted to; but it has its place in moral training. At the same time, kindness, understanding and tact will often do more than punishment in keeping a boy straight. Sincere religion, too, is a great aid to morality; for one who has learnt to love and obey the good God wants to do right and be good. True religion was finely summed up by an ancient Hebrew prophet: "What doth the LORD require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

To practice good manners, look the person you are speaking with directly in the eyes and smile. Make sure to keep your gaze friendly and avoid staring at them. Phrases like “It's nice to meet you” or “I'm glad we could talk” are polite ways to show respect and appreciation.