Yogakshemam 13102020
H2H Talks – the last session of this season on 18 October is with Tushar.
More prizes:
World Food Prize – Rattan Lal – sustainable soil management.
Templeton Prize – Francis Collins – challenging the idea that science and religion are at odds. This is the largest prize money award. The Templeton prize is meant to honour those who demonstrate “the insights that science brings to the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s purpose and place within it”.
This year’s awardee, Francis Collins, as a physician and scientist, directs the National Institutes of Health. He oversees the federal government’s biomedical and public health research efforts, including the effort to find and develop a vaccine to prevent COVID-19. Earlier, he directed the Human Genome Project to completion, thus illuminating the genetic blueprint of the human species. Collins, an unapologetic atheist earlier, gradually developed strong religious beliefs. In his book, The Language of God, he argues – Belief in God can be an entirely rational choice. The principles of faith are, in fact, complementary with the principles of science. He argues that an evolution is compatible with religion.
His other books include: The Language of Life: DNA; Revolution in Personalized Medicine and Belief: Readings on the Reasons for Faith; The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions.
His initiatives include: BRAIN: Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies to develop tools to examine the brain’s cells and circuits; Sound Health: Music and the Mind examining how music can have health and wellness applications; and HEAL: Helping to End Addiction Long Term.
Heavy Rains in Hyderabad. AP, Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Once in a 100 years incident.
Floods in Hyderabad. This is the heaviest rains event after 1908 floods in Hyderabad. Great Musi Floods. Some 20 cm rain at that time. Six lakh persons displaced. It was concluded that the floods were due to unchecked urbanization leading to increase in impervious areas. This increased the run-off rate. This in turn overwhelmed the capacity of the drainage system. As a result of these floods, reservoirs came.
Today it is already 30 cm rainfall. The inundation continues. Buildings are collapsing. Leaking. People are dying. Displacement continues. Power lines cut off here and there. A standstill situation. But the rain itself in these bursts is due to climate changes. The floods are because of encroachments, haphazard construction, ill-designed drainage capacity-system.
Can we quickly go N-centric living and farming way? Or slowly towards mass extinction? David Attenborough’s Life on Our Planet illustrates that the N knows the way. We only can go N’s way.
Let us be spiritually rational, rationally spiritual, within the bounds of simple, as a habit. Let us coexist. Let us be local. Let us be useful. Now. For 7L.
Join us in the world of yoga of living, leading, learning and loving life’s raas of useful coexistence in the present –saarthakraasyoga for 7L.
G Muralidhar