Regulating Medical education
Efficiency and quality are difficult to be defined just by the presence of an individual or an institution in spacetime,unless in the long run ,time proves the outcome of the individual/institution .We can try to quantify by hours of work done by each individual,output from each institution,yet the number of hours does not always depict quality.The same hours of work,in the same discipline done by two different individuals need not be of same quality and efficiency .The workload of teachers of higher education (as shown in page 64. Item 7.57 ,UGC committee 1992 ) is as follows:
ACTIVITY AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS PER WEEK
PROFESSOR READER LECTURER
Teaching 6 8 10
Tests/exam 1 1 1
Tutorial 1 2 4
preparation 6 8 10
research 14 14 10
reading/administration 12 7 5
total 40 40 40
In the case of a pathologist,who is also a medical teacher ,and whose time of work is from 8 AM to 4 Pm (1 hour lunch) the weekly 56 hours have to be divided also for diagnostic,consultancy,discussion and lab work .Therefore ,what we do is ,make an arrangement of division of labour and rotate between the teaching,diagnostics work. Suppose there are only two professors in a pathology department and one of them refuses to take up any teaching /administrative work and opts only for consultancy and diagnostic work what measures should an administration take ? If the other professor is willing to take up entire responsibility of teaching,research and administration,curriculum planning,syllabus and the paraphernalia associated with it ,the administration should be happy to have avoided a strife .But in fact ,a responsible administration should make the professor see that teaching also is part of the work of a professor of an institution of high excellance.
Even when there is division of labour between the professors,they can consult each other regarding difficult problems of diagnostic work, exchange ideas on clinical and clinicopathological work and keep the excellance of the institution high .Quality in administration,in teaching and in consultancy and administration is the total personality development each pathologist strives for and each institution should look for .But usually ,the administration fails to see such overall total quality/personality development .CCharaka ,an ancient Indian medical personality defined human personality development in 16 different ways,7 of them sathwik,6 of them Rajasic and 3 of them thamasic.
Sathwik personality is Kalyanagunavisishta (full of auspicious qualities) rajasic personality is Roshagunavisishta( full of anger which if turned against injustice will help nation,but if directed to persons/group of persons will lead to cruelty and injustice ,wars),and thamasic personality is mohagunavisistha( with quality of desire) and not fit for intellectual quality work. The upward mobility from thamasic to rajasik and from the rajasik to sathwik is possible by proper guidance and guru tries to upgrade the shishya on this ladder of excellance .
1Sathwik :-
A .Brahmasathwa-intellectual,ethical,scientific,philosophic,aesthetic,truthful,control senses ,unselfish
B .Aryasathwa –visionary ,ability to grasp meaning of science,hospitality,controlled senses and unselfish
3 Aindrasathwa-powerful and enthusiastic speech,memory and ability to foresee
4.Yaamyasathwa –mental power to suffer any hardship,to do work without tiredness,memory power
5.Varunasathwa- Calm,bold,do work without getting tired,give to deserving people liberally,love to play in watersports
6 Kouberathathwa-Interested in worldly life,marriage,makes money and lives comfortably,does both religious and secular duties
7.Gandharvasathwa- music,dance,drama,history,storytelling,smell(perfumes),flowers,luxurious ornaments and cloths,life with beautiful women
2 Rajasic –
A Asura(also called daanava since they give alms readily and are having dharmikarosha ).Mahabali rose from this to Aindrasathwa ,and Prahlada to Brahmasathwa ,and Viswamithra first to Aindra,then in order to Arya and Brahmasathwa .
B raakshasa(selfish desires make them do sins)
C paisacha ( heinous crimes are done by them due to intense worldly desires)
D Sarpa( stoop to any low level and do any heinous crime for selfish motives)
E praitya –unfulfilled desires make them wander along thinking of the desires
F saakuna – same type ,the desirous mind flows like a bird
3 Thamasic :
A Paasavan – eat,drink,sleep and makes children .No other interest .Just like an animal( pasu)
B Maatsyan – coward,idiotic,love flattery,fickle,love travels in water /ocean
C Vaanaspatyan- lazy,sits without doing anything ,no intellectual or physical activity at all
At present education is becoming a consumer cost and resultconscious commodity ,especially at higher levels,where student fees have become exorbitant ,and the education is perceived as a provider of services and benefits .This on one hand prevents the equitybased services and benefits to all citizens alike ,and a double type of organizations /institutions are emerging ,along with different type of citizens at two ends of the spectrum . Nation struggles to overcome this and by a series of efforts/discussions come up with solutions to combat them.The success indicator of a nation/institution/individual is a personal/practice development plan and finding out solutions to all problems . The UGC committee report of 1992 had suggested a few solutions (in which the then Finance minister Sri Manmohan singh and HRD minister Arjun Singh had contributed their ideas too) and the current bill in the parliament has to be seen as an extension of the recommendations of that committee .Instead ,most of the states and institutions and individuals view it as if it is a new bill (probably because they are ignorant of the recommendations of 1992 committee ).
1.THE HINDU REPORT :-
The Hindu on Saturday July 10th 2010 (Anand Zachariah,George Mathew,M.S.Seshadri,Sara Bhattacharji,K.S.Jacob) says the complexity of issues related to education in medical and health disciplines demands a separate regulatory authority.The opportunity to recreate the regulatory council for the education of health professionals is historic in its possibilities and potential to address the crisis facing healthcare in India.According to them,the council should address issues like lack of access to basic healthcare due to inadequate numbers,the skewed distribution of healthcare providers,ensuring propriety,increasing efficiency,providing greater synergy among professionals.The new national council for higher education and research (NCHER)bill seeks to include medical education under purview of the proposed council.The regulations suggested are:
Facilitation,coordination,setting of policy by NCHER
Health council to consider syllabi,curricula and exit examinations
The local universities to regulate academic institutions
How NCHER bill address specific requirements of education of professionals not clear.
Concurrently the Government has proposed formation of National council for human resources in health(NCHRH) as a single apex body to oversee all education and practice related to health.It is apparent that there will be an overlap of functions between the two authorities.
A separate regulatory authority for health education and practice is mandatory due to :-
1 Links to health care delivery: Need to provide health service to society demands setting up a system which will sequentially address the following issues.Selection of students from local areas,sufficient training in primary and secondary care hospitals,generalist postgraduate training opportunities,for example family medicine,career opportunities in areas of need and continuing educational support .Such a system will mandate close linkage between educational institutions and healthcare delivery systems.
2.Apprenticeship model of training: At end of training the health professional should get a high level of expertise.Considerable clinical skill,under the teachers in a appropriate service environment.Such a model allows narrowing the divide between teaching,research and practice.It facilitates holistic approach to learning and captures the essence of yashpal committee report .
3.Regulating health professionals : Education and practice of medicine is a continuum and the regulation of education has to be coupled with that of practice.UK first established a dual control(General medical council and Postgraduate medical education and training board) and discarded the model and reverted to single body for oversight of both functions.
The authors ,who are professors of Christian medical college Vellore shows concerns over some certain highlighted issues .Their concerns are :
1.Relationship between health disciplines :The proposed regulatory council includes medical,nursing,dental,pharmacy,paramedical,public health and rehabilitation services.A single regulatory body /authority will result in greater co-ordination and collaboration among these disciplines.
2.Composition of the authority:The new authority should be composed of diverse stakeholders,including patient advocacy groups and social scientists ,in addition to distinguished medical and health professionals so that overall healthcare needs and not narrow professional interests are the focus.The council should not be too small so that the power is concentrated in a few hands.Nor should it be too large so that it is divisive and inefficient
3 Independent accreditation and regulatory functions.MCI handled accreditation and regulation and this diluted and weakened both processes.The authority should have two independent divisions. One accrediting education and the other oversee practice.Lack of self-regulation in past,argues for a watchdog to ensure nd enforce adequate technical and ethical standards in medical practice
4.Model of accreditation: Should focus more on describing broad principles and standards that focus on outcome.This will allow for flexibility ,innovation while maintaining basic standards.A credible and transparent system of assessment ,which balances routine self-report and review with monitoring and on-site inspections needs to be designed.
5 Relationship with government: Need for autonomy and independence of the body is crucial .The authors think that subjecting it to health ministry approval limits its role and delays decisionmaking.Government should have power to provide overall policy directions to the body and the body should serve as consultive body to ministry.
6 Relation with hospitals,universities,specialist associations: Propose a clinical stream which is under specialist associations .AAnd an academic stream upgraded to research degree who remain within universities ,while the clinical stream after degree go for practice.The authors think this will avoid conflicts existing between MCI ,and National board ,increase the number of centers for training clinicians and raise standard of research.
7 Single window: Previous regulatory procedures included separate and independent inspections by MCI ,university and state governments.This resulted in a many-tiered system that lead to huge delays in obtaining approvals,and a single window for accreditation and approval of education is necessary
8 Standardised exams and validation: A common licensing examination for undergraduates and postgraduates to maintain uniformity of defined technical standards.All health professionals should maintain standards of professional knowledge and skill through regular re-validation.System of continued education and credits and regular reappraisals is mandatory
9 Transparency and accountability: To public scrutiny .A record of excellance in one;s field should be the basis of selection to proposed council .The authors propose the Nolan principles-selflessness,integrity,objectivity,accountability,openness,honesty and leadership-to form standards for holding public office and in public service.
The knowledge commission and Yash pal committee which examined higher education identified major lacunae and suggested an overhaul of the system.There is need for broad-based holistic education and dialogues between diverse disciplines and centers of learning .The regulatory councils chould act as facilitator and catalyst for creation of knowledge for society.
NCHER can foster an interdisciplinary research and identify national priorities.It can empower institutions with a proven record to enhance their autonomy as institutes of national importance.NCHRH can serve the goal of improving education in health sciences.It must ensure that education in health science fulfil a social mandate.It should provide a vision to improve healthcare delivery .
2 WHAT I UNDERSTAND :-
What I understand is that NCHER focus on policy and regulation and not on funds .Funding will be with a separate corpus with norms for block grants.The UGC,All India council for technological education and national council for teachers education will be thus replaced .By establishment of NCHRH as single apex body to oversee all education MCI will loose the power of control over medical colleges.The objections are raised already by Kerala,West Bengal and Tamil Nad governments as violation of federal principles.
What clauses do they object ?
1.A new university will get authorization by the NCHER .This is for quality control.
2.VCs appointed from a national registry.NCHER will suggest 5 nominees from a national list .There will be a collagium to recommend names of eligible persons.Quality of the person is to be considered .
Due to objectionfrom the three state Governments ,the reconsideration was done and the second clause on VC appointment was changed .But the first clause for quality was not changed.
Tamil nad Government has moved the supreme court for changing a single national common entrance test .
A national exit examination (screening test)for students graduating from Indian medical colleges is proposed.A national court for accreditation and national medical education and training board that regulate and accredit medical colleges ,prepare a list of the entire health sector,and regulate all streams of education in health sector is to be set up.
In an attempt to make India a global knowledge hub,a draft law for “innovation universities” made and these universities enjoy total autonomy in appointments ,collaborations,and resource generation.The 14 universities selected will be not-for-profit legal entity.Eacg university will be built around a theme or subject ,these universities will enjoy total autonomy in appointments ,nomenclature of degrees.Open to all nationals ,genders,ethnicity,disability ,provided at least half the students admitted to any programme are Indians.There is no mention of caste based reservation.(HRD Ministry) Each university has to endorse a university endowment fund but have the freedom to receive donations ,contributions from alumni,and other incomes as long as 80 % of the annual income is used for development of research and infrastructure.The university will be a not-for-profit legal entity and no part of the surplus revenue will be invested for any purpose except the growth and development of the university.
Many existing universities could be truly innovative if only the autonomy in the draft bill was extended to them.The clarity of seat allotment,reservation for Indian students have to be more transparent.Innovation universities are private institutions.HRD ministry can give grants to develop them .In that case the President will be the visitor and government would have a larger role in their functioning.
Each uty has an independent board of governors empowered to discharge all functions by enacting statutes to provide its administration,management,and operation.The board will delegate powers to academic board,headed by VC that will perform financial,management and administrative functions including appointments and collaborations .The board of studies will specify programmes of study.The faculty of knowledge,manpower assessment to study and assess through research trends in emerging fields of knowledge of relevance and the research council that will interface with the research funding organizations ,industry and civil society .
The government will protect maintain and utilize the publicly funded intellectual property for which the title vests with it and it can give directions for prohibiting or restricting the publication of information to any person or entity which it considers necessary in the interests of the country.The income or royalty arising out of publicly funded intellectual property will be shared by the innovation university with the intellectual property creator in accordance with the peovision.
The 14 universities are expected to set benchmarks for excellance for other institutions of higher learning through”pathbreaking research and promoting synergies between teaching and research”.Each university will stand for humanism ,tolerance,reason and adventure of ideas and search for truth.”It is expected to attempt to provide a path for humankind free from deprivation and seek to understand and appreciate nature and its laws for the well-being of the people.
3.A FEW CLAUSES IN THE UGC COMMITTEE REPORT 1992 (DOCUMENT FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION,PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION ) :-
This I quote for clarifying the point that what the nation suggests is to solve the problem for all ,in an amicable way and if there are any loopholes for injustice,we as citizens can point out them and try to help solve them .
Page 2 item 7:- Augmenting resources (private institutions are encouraged by this) given in detail in chapter 9
Item 9 mentions increasing the resources to meet requirements
Item 10 financial assistance to needy students –frees tudentships,scholarships,student loan for equity in education in detail in chapter 10.
Page 4 .1.11.1 :- At present state funds are mainly for salary,allowances(nonplan) and campus expenditure ,local ,municipal services and not much for plan,academic excellance etc
Page 5:- Two problems noticed:- functional autonomy is not possible in financial decisions by universities .The dual administration and dual funding in some universities ,delay in getting them in time etc
Page 6 has given a few INTERIM Recommendations :- To generate a fund ,keep it as separate fund for achieving objectives of university .To give incentive grants –as matching grants-by UGC to institutions who generate own resources.And 100 % income tax concession on all endowments/contributions and to donors sponsoring selected research projects
Page 7 : Increase the burden on those who can afford financially and from that income provide for poorer sections- tuition waivers,scholarships,etc .
Essential maintainance,development requirements from state itself.Accountability in terms of quality,cost consciousness,costeffectiveness to be achieved.
The committee e noticed that nonplan expenditure is always more than plan expenditure .The universities are struggling to maintain the expenditure and fail to achieve quality.They should be designed to promote quality,efficiency,autonomy ,accountability and relevance.
Equity and social justice (page 17):- Direct support to poor deserving students –Indian situation _1.We have to preserve and promote our national integration
2.Achievement and quality performance comparable to international standards
3 Equity and social justice to poor should be safeguarded
The newly emerging beneficiaries from secondary education should be able to afford an access to higher education (the vulnerable group).
Page 18:- Universities are an
1 Essential input for meeting manpower requirements for national development
2 Critical input to ensure social justice and equity ,upward mobility
3 Input for improving quality of life –higher level of integrated knowledge available to widen base of population and preserving national and cultural heritage
Page 23 :- Scholarships and fellowships should not be reappropriated to any other head of account .Plan fund should not be diverted to nonplan fund either should be added to this clause,I think.
Page 27 : 4.15.The existing system had lead to practices in which an efficient institution is punished and inefficient institution is securing more grants and support .Therefore,universities(as well as people) become more inactive ,no new programmes,no internal generation of funds,no costeffective efficient management –the committee noted .
Page 32:- What have the universities to say ?
1.Delay in sanctioning schemes
2.Irregular release of funds
3.Inadequate delegation of powers I implementation of plan schemes
Cha 5 is on negotiated funding based on last years expenditure
Chapter 6 is proposal for future funds .What are these proposals in 1992 ?
6.5.1:- An internal academic audit system to determine needs and scope for new courses of study(page 39)
6.9.1V- Specified discretionary fund with the VC for promoting excellance in teaching and research without incurring any recurrent liability .(page 42).This is the reason why the quality of VC was specified by the new innovation bill I guess.If the VC is not of excellent character ,what happened with IMC will be repeated and money /funds may be misused .
Chapter 7 page 47 .:- 7.9 Presentation of students in terms of income groups (so that all weaker sections get access to higher education) is a welcome decision.For this allows analysis of income pattern of parents and based on this the support system to be collated and indicated (7.8)
It is interesting that the committee had anticipated resistance from the university community ,in advance (7.16 page 49) and says as in any departure from the past practice this is usual .
Nature of activity of uty/student strength/student-teacher ratio-teaching-nonteaching staff ratio ,stage of development of institution all considered in giving grants .
page 67 says Indian uty system is based on uty system of Britain . I beg to defer ,since it is the other way round .The value system of Indian university system (palkalai kazhakam /gurukula) was the model for British universities of early period.Indian UGC act was formed in 1956 but in UK the till 1980 no audit standards were established .(8.6) and after 1979 election a regulation of public life resulted in an academic standard group,an academic audit group and a university funding council (the successor of UGC )in UK .Joining with UGC ,in consultation with it,CVCP thematically based efficiency studies were designed (8.6.2) and in 1983 the standard of British university were fixed.
Selfdirected exercise by each individual/institution is the best internal audit (I call this a personal and practice development plan ) and for external audit a Guru/a sabha /samithi (committee/councils in modern sense) are set up. Accreditation and audit unit should have in its purview study alone and research is not under its control in UK .page 72(8.14)mentions performance indicators given by Mridula Sharma.
Chapter 9 is on income generation and utilization:-
As I have described the ancient university system of India(see history of Valabhi/Nalanda and other universities of vedic and Budhist India ) primary ,secondary education and care(patient care) should be entirely free or in certain cases with minimum fee /concession.The tertiary higher education and tertiary care institutions can collect fee from the rich and give free service to poor .
Beneficiaries from the first two sectors(students/patients) should get equal access to all sectors is the idea behind this suggestion .How is this possible ?One has to make internal and external audit for efficiency and excellance at each step .
What the 1992 report suggest is given below for generation of income by universities(page 78)
1.Fee from higher income student population .Keep this as a separate fund .Utilise for deserving low income students who prove merit in the previous sectors .Also for betterment of quality of institution to reach international standards
2.Rent out facilities like auditoria,classrooms,computer service,playground,guesthouse,hostels,lawn,mess etc
3 Individual departments to design programmes and short term courses of study.Thus generate resources without adverse impact on main academic activities.These units can retain a substantial amount so earned to support their main academic activities
4.Endowments,contributions,large investments,for academic and infrastructural development
5 Sponsors for research .May be state or central government agencies,public or private sectors,industries etc .These projects proposals should incorporate allocations for reimbursements for staff ,facilities and infrastructure support .Use for strengtheneing infrastructure.
6. Consultative mechanisms: Institute and members as a whole (not management alone) –faculty,students,alumni,nonteaching staff have representatives in this
7.Incentives to inculcate and implement measures –UGC support,encouragements as positive incentives and grants (page 79)
Page 80 (9.23) asks to have a separate fund for keeping high standards of excellance .
9.24 A part of it kept for building up a corpus fund ,the interest of which is for support activities of uty
9.25 a part goes to needy students and for academic improvement
Chapter 10 enumerates the existing financial assistance for scheduled cates/scheduled tribes .
10.2 : Department of welfare gives tuition fee and living expenses for scheduled catses/tribes .But there is delay in getting the amount .UGC suggests the advance grant to be given to uty in April itself (calculating the previous year expenditure and adjusting the amount at final stage of payment ) so that students and uty will have no problem.
10.3 .JRF has a 10 % cut off marks for SC/ST students
Also through open selection without qualifying examination they are being enrolled for higher education seats.
10.4 Bookbanks are functioning for the weaker sections of students
10.12. Of the weaker sections 10 % of entire student population of uty is from economically poor weaker sections.The rest study with concessional rates based on merit .
10.13 Freeship schemes
10.14 existing loan schemes
The newly generated fund is for reducing the financial restraint on state and public fund and make the stronger(financially) sections of society share the funds for the sake of weaker sections and make equity come true from a national point of view .
This is what I have understood ,being part and parcel of Government medical college (teaching and practice )and part of a private institution of excellance which take money from rich and try to help the poor/deserving .The problems of public sector funding and the problem of equity when privatization of higher education happens ,are thus taken into account by the UGC committee (which report I read in 1995 ) and I think it is these recommendations which the current Loksabha has passed as the bills ,as mentioned in the Hindu .
The aims are thus understood.To put it into practice all citizens,all institutions should be willing . It is not laws or committees and recommendations which we lack.It is the right attitude of national integration,and of duty consciousness,a right attitude to achieve personal,institutional,professional and national excellance as a responsible human being which each and every one of us should cultivate.No political party,no religion ,no other sectarian interests or personal selfish interests should bar that ultimate aim of a purely sathwik personality of excellance as Charaka ,our ideal Vaidya justly pointed out.Make us achieve that upward journey to excellance as a single united nation .
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
MUSIC AND MEDICINE
MUSIC AND MEDICINE
Power of Music in life and health
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
The humanity of music ,value of musical expression ,contemplation and thought and transcendence of idea as expressed through sound are concepts that regrettably continue to decline in modern world.Music has become isolated from other areas of life,and is no longer considered as a necessary aspect of intellectual development .Just as in Medicine,the music world has evolved into a society of specialists who know more and more of less and less.The musical education has become increasingly specialized and limited .This educative system produce competent instrumentalists and vocalists who possess little knowledge or fundamental ability to delve into,comprehend ,and express essential substance of music.The student is advanced technically in executions essential for a professional musician just as a medical graduate .Nature of music is inexpressible except through sound.From this deep mystery of essential truth,current practice is moving away ,focusing more on the separation of physical dexterity to produce sound on an instrument/or vocalist and dissecting the music structurally and harmonically without concentrating on the active participation or experience of its power on living beings.This is because of overwhelming growth of music as a business in present times ,and I equate this to Medical business.Both requires a new impetus to its goals and deep understanding and an integration of these two disciplines brings about precisely this .
Listening with open ears and mind/heart is the first prerequisite for experiencing the power of music.This in Yoga is called Sradha .One can understand the depth of musical knowledge that allow oneself to enjoy it,(a thoughtful introspection called Manana) and also the intention and originality of the performer ,his/her approach to music and audience and how it is manifested in oneself and on audience behavior as a group/community and how the effect is sustained by the sradha of the listener as well as the genuineness of the perfomer/listener interrelationships.This observance of a public performance,and the continued criticism of effect of it on audience and also an appreciation of its various aspects for social benefit constitute a music therapy programme .Thus it is practical as well as contemplative ,insightful,and is not just a personal reaction to a sense object and its experience but an attempt to enter the heart of music through the performer and his/her motivations and the effects it produce on his/her listeners for improving physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health .The obvious,the literal and readily understandable or graspable things are seen by all.But to have insight into the hidden meanings ,the rare jewels of musical repertoire regarding musical experience is not in the realm of all.It needs to be addressed in communications(books/speeches/media etc) so that everyone can at least have a basic knowledge of the depth of music in everyday life and in health .There are no two aspects of being human that are not related to one another.Therefore music and its relation to every other science and art of the land and to human life and health is essential for this integrated approach .Logic is inseparable from intuition,rational thought is inseparable from emotion ,because our brain is structured in that way .Music has both logic,science,and emotion .If we separate these elements in music ,what we are left with ,is not music but just a collection of sounds .That is why I said in the beginning that the music education for technical excellance is leading us to that realm in modern times.The principle of integration is there in acoustic balance to peace talks .While I was a 14 year old girl ,I was interested in the Four-Power summit meet for global peace and my elders were surprised that I am so much involved in a global peace treaty at that age .(One of my aunt’s letters –My aunt is the Padmabhooshan/Saraswathy Sammaan author BalamaniAmma-expresses that wonder).Probably when a seed germinates its inner qualities are expressed even in the sprout stage to show how it would develop into a tree .Intellectual and emotional balance is the homeostatic thermostatic balance we need as global citizens to enjoy a peaceful co-existence .Music as Saamaveda ,gives us this power .
Music is a cultural field .The interest in music is a dynamic changing phenomenon from infancy to old age as a continuous spectrum of superimposed tastes that develop right from the cradle/or womb .It is our daily life .
Many performers and celebrities are having mood changes and eccentricities recorded by several critics.Glenn Gould’s eccentricities and extraordinary performances are recorded by his fan and critic Edward Said .An intelligent audience cannot be satisfied by a loud and fast playing alone.There is a virtuosity of style,where we feel intellect as well as taste allied with formidable technical command.Premodern music festivals were symbolic rituals connected with agriculture,religion,astronomical events and modern music festivals like Markazhi festival in Chennai is commemoration of of such prehistoric,historic,premodern concepts of humanity .They have now become great commercial and tourist attractions too.Our dim anthropological past and the dazzling modern /postmodern existence are interwoven in such events .The tourists get a musical experience as well as a taste of our anthropological past and an enhanced enjoyment different from the routine life .The aesthetics of such music festivals is due to this integrated past and present in our memory and experience .Bits of original inspired and rare music making adds flavor to the experience for an intelligent and highly attentive listener .The festival music is for the multitudes,in a charming aesthetic locale with an extraordinary past ,at a specific astronomical moment for harvest,agriculture and devotional thanksgiving and worship of the divine.At festivals music is a part of the occasion and a long series of performances at a festival is like many records we have in our library –available,accessible,ready for instant use ..And it is very rare to find teaching and singing rare and new compositions in a festival season except by a few singers .Original performers have to include usual numbers for mass satisfaction and then ,include a rare and lost Krithi /composition for protection of that composition/krithi and for satisfaction of the ardent listeners .Only then we can do justice to the discipline of music ,apart from getting wide publicity as a performer .
New York has a Mozart festival. Guruvayur has a Chembai festival. Thiruvananthapuram has a Swathi festival. And Ohio and Thiruvayyar has Tyaagaraja festivals and so on . The Markazhi festival is different because it is a festival in the name of Markazhi (an astronomical and seasonal event in the subcontinent ) and not in the name of any individual singer .All singers are respected ,celebrated alike in Markazhi festival as torch-bearers of the discipline of Music .It is music that is celebrated and the astronomical anthropological season and hence is beyond regional histories and individual histories,yet encompassing both . This makes Markazhi festival different .This is so in the case of Navarathri festivals also .Each singer ,each piece of music is a homage or offering made by each singer at the feet of the divine Brahma and his consort/sakthi the Goddess of Vidya .There is a sort of Apourusheya vedic aspect in such a festival .In a festival in the name of a single singer this apourusheya vedic aspect may not there .But ,the shishya and the followers of each living Guru starts such festivals in honour of their Guru so that the style of the Guruparampara is not lost to posterity .
The language of music is expressive but mysteriously elusive too.Musicological analysis can describe changes in life,in styles,features of form,tonal palette ,logic and harmonic language of the work as well as the effects it produced for a better life and health .The connections in a meaningful way of the singers and listener’s lives and musical enjoyments and its sustained relationship only can explain the effect of music on a listener .It is a synthesis of all these .
We all know that Mozart’s six children survived infancy and that Mozart was always in precarious health and died in 36th year ,an exhausted ,pathetic man of acute rheumatic fever in December 1791 .Wearing sumptuous and gaudy clothings,inventing Adam as one of his wedding-document names,and a marked antipathy to France and an irrational fear of trumpets till age nine ,Mozart’s life history is far from any therapeutic effect on himself or his family .His relation with son Leopold was of disquieting emotions,rebellious and trying to conceal the wounds and powerless to change the course (pp193 Edward W.Said).
Recently I studied a case study on Beethoven by Dr John Dagga(1933),a musical genius but a man who suffered wide mood swings ranging to maniac-depressive and is said to be bad in everything except music.He was deaf(from 27th year),had continuous chronic intermittent fevers,recurrent musculoskeletal pains and in 1821 he had jaundice .In 1823 he had pain in eyes and photophobia,in 1825 haemoptysis and epistaxis and weight loss.He had severe inflammation of bowels ,a gross abdominal swelling developed with jaundice,pleurisy and diarrohoea and a marked leg swelling .Four time his abdomen was tapped and 12 litres of fluids removed each time.The fluid leaked continuously after one such occasion and Beethoven remembered “Moses striking a rock with staff to bring forth water “.Coma supervened later and even in the last stages of his illness he continued to compose his 10th symphony and he had no tremor in writing out the composition (though the writing trailed off at the right of the page).That is he had no hepatic neuroenchephalopathy .
The deafness was due to otosclerosis.He had skin abnormalities of his face which was scarred and coloured and simulated leprosy and atrophic discrete and confluent scars and tissue thickenings around lose and lower face.Dr Johann Wagner and the famous Dr Rokitansky performed postmortem on Beethoven.Despite the paracentesis there was four quarts of turbid fluid remaining in abdomen.The gut was dilated and gas filled.Liver shrunken half its size and beset with nodules ,the size of a bean.Spleen was double the normal size ,gall bladder filled with gravelly sediments.Pancreas indurated .
Macronodular cirrhosis,splenomegaly and portal tension will be the diagnosis in modern terminology .The guts were dilated due to ileus.Auditory nerves atrophied ,shriveled .But when grave reopened in 1863 and 1888 and skull got in several pieces,the temporal bones were missing .
Interpretations of chronic ulcerative colitis and chronic active hepatitis,sclerosing cholangitis,and an autoimmune multisystem disorder and an abuse of alcohol and Syphilis as cause of his multisystem involvement and autoimmune disease as well as deafness was interpreted .Mozart had a pauper’s funeral but Beethoven had a pompous showy one in Vienna .Beethoven died in his 56th year .In contrast to his genius creativity Beethoven was a physical and emotional wreck .He didn’t even had the good fortune to listen to his own beautiful music .Yet his Olympian musical energy ,imagination and innovation triumphed over it all to enrich music and enjoyment of music lovers.But ,certainly Beethoven did not enjoy the Beethoven effect ,and so was Mozart.In the life of ancient singers of India , this sort of dissociation of personal life from professional musical life is a rarity because for them music was a yogic sadhana ,merged in their lifestyle ,not just a hobby or a commercial passion alone .
This case history I quote ,just to show that being a musician alone does not keep us disease-free (just as being a doctor alone does not keep us disease-free).All the modern musicians have to think over this and learn to integrate the physical ,mental,intellectual and spiritual health in their personality so that both music as a discipline and music therapy for themselves for a better individual life will be of some use . Music is an ocean.Medicine is another ocean .When we integrate these two oceans ,a larger ocean and an ocean which is more than the sum of the two is born within us and I do hope the readers will be able to visualize that peaceful ,waveless,timeless ocean of Vidya within .
Ref : 1.The Healing Arts .An Oxford Illustrated Anthology .Ed R.S.Downie .Oxford University Press.page 60-68 A case Study: Beethoven (Reprint 1995)
2.Music at the limits .Edward W Said:Bloomsberry 2008
Power of Music in life and health
Dr Suvarna Nalapat
The humanity of music ,value of musical expression ,contemplation and thought and transcendence of idea as expressed through sound are concepts that regrettably continue to decline in modern world.Music has become isolated from other areas of life,and is no longer considered as a necessary aspect of intellectual development .Just as in Medicine,the music world has evolved into a society of specialists who know more and more of less and less.The musical education has become increasingly specialized and limited .This educative system produce competent instrumentalists and vocalists who possess little knowledge or fundamental ability to delve into,comprehend ,and express essential substance of music.The student is advanced technically in executions essential for a professional musician just as a medical graduate .Nature of music is inexpressible except through sound.From this deep mystery of essential truth,current practice is moving away ,focusing more on the separation of physical dexterity to produce sound on an instrument/or vocalist and dissecting the music structurally and harmonically without concentrating on the active participation or experience of its power on living beings.This is because of overwhelming growth of music as a business in present times ,and I equate this to Medical business.Both requires a new impetus to its goals and deep understanding and an integration of these two disciplines brings about precisely this .
Listening with open ears and mind/heart is the first prerequisite for experiencing the power of music.This in Yoga is called Sradha .One can understand the depth of musical knowledge that allow oneself to enjoy it,(a thoughtful introspection called Manana) and also the intention and originality of the performer ,his/her approach to music and audience and how it is manifested in oneself and on audience behavior as a group/community and how the effect is sustained by the sradha of the listener as well as the genuineness of the perfomer/listener interrelationships.This observance of a public performance,and the continued criticism of effect of it on audience and also an appreciation of its various aspects for social benefit constitute a music therapy programme .Thus it is practical as well as contemplative ,insightful,and is not just a personal reaction to a sense object and its experience but an attempt to enter the heart of music through the performer and his/her motivations and the effects it produce on his/her listeners for improving physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health .The obvious,the literal and readily understandable or graspable things are seen by all.But to have insight into the hidden meanings ,the rare jewels of musical repertoire regarding musical experience is not in the realm of all.It needs to be addressed in communications(books/speeches/media etc) so that everyone can at least have a basic knowledge of the depth of music in everyday life and in health .There are no two aspects of being human that are not related to one another.Therefore music and its relation to every other science and art of the land and to human life and health is essential for this integrated approach .Logic is inseparable from intuition,rational thought is inseparable from emotion ,because our brain is structured in that way .Music has both logic,science,and emotion .If we separate these elements in music ,what we are left with ,is not music but just a collection of sounds .That is why I said in the beginning that the music education for technical excellance is leading us to that realm in modern times.The principle of integration is there in acoustic balance to peace talks .While I was a 14 year old girl ,I was interested in the Four-Power summit meet for global peace and my elders were surprised that I am so much involved in a global peace treaty at that age .(One of my aunt’s letters –My aunt is the Padmabhooshan/Saraswathy Sammaan author BalamaniAmma-expresses that wonder).Probably when a seed germinates its inner qualities are expressed even in the sprout stage to show how it would develop into a tree .Intellectual and emotional balance is the homeostatic thermostatic balance we need as global citizens to enjoy a peaceful co-existence .Music as Saamaveda ,gives us this power .
Music is a cultural field .The interest in music is a dynamic changing phenomenon from infancy to old age as a continuous spectrum of superimposed tastes that develop right from the cradle/or womb .It is our daily life .
Many performers and celebrities are having mood changes and eccentricities recorded by several critics.Glenn Gould’s eccentricities and extraordinary performances are recorded by his fan and critic Edward Said .An intelligent audience cannot be satisfied by a loud and fast playing alone.There is a virtuosity of style,where we feel intellect as well as taste allied with formidable technical command.Premodern music festivals were symbolic rituals connected with agriculture,religion,astronomical events and modern music festivals like Markazhi festival in Chennai is commemoration of of such prehistoric,historic,premodern concepts of humanity .They have now become great commercial and tourist attractions too.Our dim anthropological past and the dazzling modern /postmodern existence are interwoven in such events .The tourists get a musical experience as well as a taste of our anthropological past and an enhanced enjoyment different from the routine life .The aesthetics of such music festivals is due to this integrated past and present in our memory and experience .Bits of original inspired and rare music making adds flavor to the experience for an intelligent and highly attentive listener .The festival music is for the multitudes,in a charming aesthetic locale with an extraordinary past ,at a specific astronomical moment for harvest,agriculture and devotional thanksgiving and worship of the divine.At festivals music is a part of the occasion and a long series of performances at a festival is like many records we have in our library –available,accessible,ready for instant use ..And it is very rare to find teaching and singing rare and new compositions in a festival season except by a few singers .Original performers have to include usual numbers for mass satisfaction and then ,include a rare and lost Krithi /composition for protection of that composition/krithi and for satisfaction of the ardent listeners .Only then we can do justice to the discipline of music ,apart from getting wide publicity as a performer .
New York has a Mozart festival. Guruvayur has a Chembai festival. Thiruvananthapuram has a Swathi festival. And Ohio and Thiruvayyar has Tyaagaraja festivals and so on . The Markazhi festival is different because it is a festival in the name of Markazhi (an astronomical and seasonal event in the subcontinent ) and not in the name of any individual singer .All singers are respected ,celebrated alike in Markazhi festival as torch-bearers of the discipline of Music .It is music that is celebrated and the astronomical anthropological season and hence is beyond regional histories and individual histories,yet encompassing both . This makes Markazhi festival different .This is so in the case of Navarathri festivals also .Each singer ,each piece of music is a homage or offering made by each singer at the feet of the divine Brahma and his consort/sakthi the Goddess of Vidya .There is a sort of Apourusheya vedic aspect in such a festival .In a festival in the name of a single singer this apourusheya vedic aspect may not there .But ,the shishya and the followers of each living Guru starts such festivals in honour of their Guru so that the style of the Guruparampara is not lost to posterity .
The language of music is expressive but mysteriously elusive too.Musicological analysis can describe changes in life,in styles,features of form,tonal palette ,logic and harmonic language of the work as well as the effects it produced for a better life and health .The connections in a meaningful way of the singers and listener’s lives and musical enjoyments and its sustained relationship only can explain the effect of music on a listener .It is a synthesis of all these .
We all know that Mozart’s six children survived infancy and that Mozart was always in precarious health and died in 36th year ,an exhausted ,pathetic man of acute rheumatic fever in December 1791 .Wearing sumptuous and gaudy clothings,inventing Adam as one of his wedding-document names,and a marked antipathy to France and an irrational fear of trumpets till age nine ,Mozart’s life history is far from any therapeutic effect on himself or his family .His relation with son Leopold was of disquieting emotions,rebellious and trying to conceal the wounds and powerless to change the course (pp193 Edward W.Said).
Recently I studied a case study on Beethoven by Dr John Dagga(1933),a musical genius but a man who suffered wide mood swings ranging to maniac-depressive and is said to be bad in everything except music.He was deaf(from 27th year),had continuous chronic intermittent fevers,recurrent musculoskeletal pains and in 1821 he had jaundice .In 1823 he had pain in eyes and photophobia,in 1825 haemoptysis and epistaxis and weight loss.He had severe inflammation of bowels ,a gross abdominal swelling developed with jaundice,pleurisy and diarrohoea and a marked leg swelling .Four time his abdomen was tapped and 12 litres of fluids removed each time.The fluid leaked continuously after one such occasion and Beethoven remembered “Moses striking a rock with staff to bring forth water “.Coma supervened later and even in the last stages of his illness he continued to compose his 10th symphony and he had no tremor in writing out the composition (though the writing trailed off at the right of the page).That is he had no hepatic neuroenchephalopathy .
The deafness was due to otosclerosis.He had skin abnormalities of his face which was scarred and coloured and simulated leprosy and atrophic discrete and confluent scars and tissue thickenings around lose and lower face.Dr Johann Wagner and the famous Dr Rokitansky performed postmortem on Beethoven.Despite the paracentesis there was four quarts of turbid fluid remaining in abdomen.The gut was dilated and gas filled.Liver shrunken half its size and beset with nodules ,the size of a bean.Spleen was double the normal size ,gall bladder filled with gravelly sediments.Pancreas indurated .
Macronodular cirrhosis,splenomegaly and portal tension will be the diagnosis in modern terminology .The guts were dilated due to ileus.Auditory nerves atrophied ,shriveled .But when grave reopened in 1863 and 1888 and skull got in several pieces,the temporal bones were missing .
Interpretations of chronic ulcerative colitis and chronic active hepatitis,sclerosing cholangitis,and an autoimmune multisystem disorder and an abuse of alcohol and Syphilis as cause of his multisystem involvement and autoimmune disease as well as deafness was interpreted .Mozart had a pauper’s funeral but Beethoven had a pompous showy one in Vienna .Beethoven died in his 56th year .In contrast to his genius creativity Beethoven was a physical and emotional wreck .He didn’t even had the good fortune to listen to his own beautiful music .Yet his Olympian musical energy ,imagination and innovation triumphed over it all to enrich music and enjoyment of music lovers.But ,certainly Beethoven did not enjoy the Beethoven effect ,and so was Mozart.In the life of ancient singers of India , this sort of dissociation of personal life from professional musical life is a rarity because for them music was a yogic sadhana ,merged in their lifestyle ,not just a hobby or a commercial passion alone .
This case history I quote ,just to show that being a musician alone does not keep us disease-free (just as being a doctor alone does not keep us disease-free).All the modern musicians have to think over this and learn to integrate the physical ,mental,intellectual and spiritual health in their personality so that both music as a discipline and music therapy for themselves for a better individual life will be of some use . Music is an ocean.Medicine is another ocean .When we integrate these two oceans ,a larger ocean and an ocean which is more than the sum of the two is born within us and I do hope the readers will be able to visualize that peaceful ,waveless,timeless ocean of Vidya within .
Ref : 1.The Healing Arts .An Oxford Illustrated Anthology .Ed R.S.Downie .Oxford University Press.page 60-68 A case Study: Beethoven (Reprint 1995)
2.Music at the limits .Edward W Said:Bloomsberry 2008
Saturday, September 4, 2010
GURUDINAM
Today is Teacher's day.The day of the Teachers and students.And of the most learned president India had ever seen.
Therefore I thought ,in honour of Him as well all the teachers and students of the world I should share a chapter of my new book on ancient education in Vedic and Budhist India and how Nalanda and Valabhi universities functioned and who were the vicxe chancellors and teachers of these universities who helped in spreading knowledge nationally and internationally.
Visit this link for reading the article:
http://www.mediafire.com/?9cll1hb77445h
I receive 3 newspapers daily.When I opened the Hindu I saw a message from IGNOU ON PAGE 18 LOWER PART OF PAGE WITH 2 BEAUTIFUL QUOTATIONS.
ONE SAYS: a LIFE OF JOY AND HAPPINESS IS POSSIBLE ONLY ON THE BASIS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE. FROM DR SARVEPALLY RADHAKRISHNAN HIMSELF.
THEN A MESAGE FROM IGNOU.
Great teachers dont just teach,they are mentors,advisors,role models,guides,and above all,shapers of great human beings.
Opening The Times of India I find page 10 entirely devoted to teachers and student and changing patterns of relationship of Guru and shishya.
Then I open the Malayalam daily and find no message related to teachers or to education.
What had happened ?Have the Malayalam media forgotten that today is teacher's day and a message of love,compassion,and importance of learning is needed for today's society ? It is sad that people forget the most important things in life and give importance to that which is least important .Education and values are the most important things in life.Without that all other things are wasted .
Therefore I thought ,in honour of Him as well all the teachers and students of the world I should share a chapter of my new book on ancient education in Vedic and Budhist India and how Nalanda and Valabhi universities functioned and who were the vicxe chancellors and teachers of these universities who helped in spreading knowledge nationally and internationally.
Visit this link for reading the article:
http://www.mediafire.com/?9cll1hb77445h
I receive 3 newspapers daily.When I opened the Hindu I saw a message from IGNOU ON PAGE 18 LOWER PART OF PAGE WITH 2 BEAUTIFUL QUOTATIONS.
ONE SAYS: a LIFE OF JOY AND HAPPINESS IS POSSIBLE ONLY ON THE BASIS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE. FROM DR SARVEPALLY RADHAKRISHNAN HIMSELF.
THEN A MESAGE FROM IGNOU.
Great teachers dont just teach,they are mentors,advisors,role models,guides,and above all,shapers of great human beings.
Opening The Times of India I find page 10 entirely devoted to teachers and student and changing patterns of relationship of Guru and shishya.
Then I open the Malayalam daily and find no message related to teachers or to education.
What had happened ?Have the Malayalam media forgotten that today is teacher's day and a message of love,compassion,and importance of learning is needed for today's society ? It is sad that people forget the most important things in life and give importance to that which is least important .Education and values are the most important things in life.Without that all other things are wasted .
Friday, September 3, 2010
Yesudas effect
Everybody thinks of Mozart effect when they hear about Music therapy .They have read about it in internet and therefore are familiar with that term. But what is Mozart effect and how did that term come to stay? Tomatis, a Medical professional tried Mozart in autistic spectrum disorders and found that the children show better response than to other types of western musical forms. And the method is called Tomatis method and the effect as Mozart effect .The greatest blame on this method and effect has been that it does not help develop or improve language in autistic children.
Probably the reason for this is the lack of vocal part in the music he used.
My method is Yesudas effect .It is vocal music based on Indian Ragas I use for my patients/aquaintances/friends/myself.. And it is a whole range of healthy and unhealthy people of extremes of age groups and adults, of both sexes and of at least four different languages affected over four decades that I have at my disposal for demonstration/proof of Yesudas effect . And ,the effect of music is not just for curing an illness ,but for a self healing process of the entire society ,and for being at peace with oneself and the world-the internal and external miliue-the biofield and cosmic field of energy that Indian classical Raaga music is devised. And I use it in such a way .I don’t know whether this can be called Suvarna’s method just as Mozart effect is called Tomatis method who did research and therapy with Mozart effect (If we adopt modern medicine standards.) But ,though I propagate the method ,it had been there for millennia used by our ancestors ,and I know that it cannot be called either my method or Yesudas effect but it is the effect of music ,of raga,of swara rendered in a specific way and utilized in a specific way. That is the Indian way of discoveries and practices in Sruthi.And music is always Sruthi.
What I did and how this started is important because it gives an idea of my method and its evolution over four decades that is ever since Yesudas started his singing career. I have been a born music lover from age 3 as far as I can remember and my first listenings were of M.S.Subbalakshmy,Chembai VaidyanathaBhagavathar, that proceeded to P.Suseela, Latha Mangeshkar and Mohammad Raffi ,not to speak of P.B.Sreenivas,A,M.Raja ,and other stalwarts of the time. .The experiments with music started on me and my study patterns (on concentration, memory) and then on the children (normal) of my own family like my brother, and kids who were given in my care by my cousins and sisters to put to sleep with lullabies. Then when I became a medical student and knew something about the peculiarities of human ear and of acoustics, and the physiology of nervous system I could understand some reasons for the effects of music on me and on children and adults .This became a real research protocol when my son was born and I studied it systematically.
Why people hear music?
The purpose of music listening is many and it is subjective.
1. Timepass
2. use as a background music while doing household chores
3. Hobby
4. Relaxation
5. Professional musicians critically hear to learn and improve
6. Out of genuine love for music.
7. as a research
In my case it started as a music Rasika (music lover) by birth and then evolved as a research due to my inherent nature of questioning and search for truth, and then as a medical professional and a medical teacher and researcher it evolved as a system of music therapy .When you are a doctor naturally the effects of music on physiology and anatomy and neuropsychoimmunology etc will be thought of and understood and experimented with. All these in a teaching profession made me think of a curriculum and syllabus and research protocols for study and treatment and this evolved through my method of Yesudas effect.
I have given these details in four of my books on music.
1. Music therapy for administration, management and education.Readworthy publications
2. Ragachikitsa.Readworthy publications New Delhi.
3. Naadalayasindhu (Raagachikitsaamritham) D C Books Kottayam
4. without a stumble. A book on spirituality of music .Nalapat books
What is important with Yesudas that helped my research protocol: _
One is the range of music he has produced.
Second is the range of languages in which they are produced so that I can do a national level protocol.
Third is that he has popular music, devotional music (in all religions), nonfilm light music and classical Hindustani as well as Karnatic music for use in any range of population speaking any Indian languages .Among the popular music itself I could find people with a range of interests like Romantic, philosophical, poetical, humourous, children songs and devotionals and all these ranges from Yesudas alone. And for autistic children the use of Yesudas music has been of use to language recognition and improving language and communication skills most of the case histories from parents themselves.
The research on Yesudas’ classical music and live kutcheris evolved out of these preliminary studies and free association surveys over several decades. The prospective research on kutcheris started in 1998 (since 12 years) and I have listened to 150 and odd live kutcheris of just this one singer for the sake of a research project on his music in these 12 years. I have a collection of many other stalwarts in classical music on several ragas along with that of Yesudas for this purpose. The reason for hearing live kutcheris of a single musician as many times as possible is that it is essential for any researcher who wants to know about the many aspects of music and certain nuances of a kutchery which one learns not from books .For a person who spent time for time pass or for hearing music as a hobby and relaxation this may not be necessary. But for a researcher who uses the vocal music of a single person and do research on its effect on health of individuals and on society this is mandatory. To follow a musician’s music is to follow his kutcherys and his recorded music as far as possible and have a rapport with him .An almost similar protocol was done on sufi music(khawali) of India and Pakistan by Regula Berkhardt as explained in her book “Sufi music of India and Pakistan”.
The journey started first by understanding how my habit of hearing music for five minutes and then studying for 15 minutes and repeating the cycles regularly helped me to concentrate more and memorise more and what type of music helped me to do so.Later on I understood that the method is actually giving me five minutes alpha waves and then allow my brain to be more receptive again to what I learn in next 15 minutes when my beta waves work .
The use of 72 melakartharaaga for therapy, I base on its mathematical, astrophysical, musical, sine cosine wave functions and also on the philosophy of ayurveda, and yoga in Indian way of life. Thus it is an integration of several sciences and arts. It depends on sine wave and harmonics which is common to music, biocycles like cardiac cycles (which is also 72/mt incidentally) and astronomical cycles. The Doppler effect as described by Sankaracharya and the other scientist/philosophers before him in India had helped them to develop the harmonics of sine waves of music to control sine waves of blood circulation and to develop Naadalayayoga.To prove this a pilot project was done at Amrita hospital and it was successful statistically .
Hence my method use the principles of medicine like:
1. Doppler effect in cardiovascular system flow
2. Principle of EEG in transforming beta waves to alpha waves or meditational waves
3. All stress and strains and tensions of life-professional, domestic and others- cause several disorders which are somatic. All these can be treated and prevented by music which reduce stress and strain
4. Psychoneuroimmunology
5. Immunological parameters
6. Both prevention and cure of disorders
7. At extremes of life and in people with and without mental retardation and with or without memory loss one can use music but the principles of use is different in each
8. In narrative medicine and family medicine
9. In cancer and heart disease and also obstetrics and gynecology
10. in surgical wards
11. in traumatic head injury and coma
12. in educational institutions
13. in professional life
14 In integration of all branches of medicine for proper healthcare of society
15. for world peace
16. in therapy for rapport
17. I think that this can also be used in agriculture for better food production and in animal husbandry since music has no boundaries between anything and anyone. I haven’t done research in that field but assume that it is possible and if anyone from these fields can start a programme of research it would be good.
It is not just an adjunct therapy but a golden thread which integrates all branches of sciences and arts, especially for integration of all branches of medical care
Thus the use is from lullaby to deathbed and the method is cost-effective and without side effects if used judiciously
I understand that God had made me an eternal music lover by birth, and a medical teacher by profession, just for doing good for society, for humanity and for the discipline of music therapy so that I am made to develop this method for education, health and integrated approach for all sciences and arts for peace of individuals, society, nation and the world. In that research protocol of God, my birth at a time when Yesudas lived and sang was probably inevitable.
Everybody thinks of Mozart effect when they hear about Music therapy .They have read about it in internet and therefore are familiar with that term. But what is Mozart effect and how did that term come to stay? Tomatis, a Medical professional tried Mozart in autistic spectrum disorders and found that the children show better response than to other types of western musical forms. And the method is called Tomatis method and the effect as Mozart effect .The greatest blame on this method and effect has been that it does not help develop or improve language in autistic children.
Probably the reason for this is the lack of vocal part in the music he used.
My method is Yesudas effect .It is vocal music based on Indian Ragas I use for my patients/aquaintances/friends/myself.. And it is a whole range of healthy and unhealthy people of extremes of age groups and adults, of both sexes and of at least four different languages affected over four decades that I have at my disposal for demonstration/proof of Yesudas effect . And ,the effect of music is not just for curing an illness ,but for a self healing process of the entire society ,and for being at peace with oneself and the world-the internal and external miliue-the biofield and cosmic field of energy that Indian classical Raaga music is devised. And I use it in such a way .I don’t know whether this can be called Suvarna’s method just as Mozart effect is called Tomatis method who did research and therapy with Mozart effect (If we adopt modern medicine standards.) But ,though I propagate the method ,it had been there for millennia used by our ancestors ,and I know that it cannot be called either my method or Yesudas effect but it is the effect of music ,of raga,of swara rendered in a specific way and utilized in a specific way. That is the Indian way of discoveries and practices in Sruthi.And music is always Sruthi.
What I did and how this started is important because it gives an idea of my method and its evolution over four decades that is ever since Yesudas started his singing career. I have been a born music lover from age 3 as far as I can remember and my first listenings were of M.S.Subbalakshmy,Chembai VaidyanathaBhagavathar, that proceeded to P.Suseela, Latha Mangeshkar and Mohammad Raffi ,not to speak of P.B.Sreenivas,A,M.Raja ,and other stalwarts of the time. .The experiments with music started on me and my study patterns (on concentration, memory) and then on the children (normal) of my own family like my brother, and kids who were given in my care by my cousins and sisters to put to sleep with lullabies. Then when I became a medical student and knew something about the peculiarities of human ear and of acoustics, and the physiology of nervous system I could understand some reasons for the effects of music on me and on children and adults .This became a real research protocol when my son was born and I studied it systematically.
Why people hear music?
The purpose of music listening is many and it is subjective.
1. Timepass
2. use as a background music while doing household chores
3. Hobby
4. Relaxation
5. Professional musicians critically hear to learn and improve
6. Out of genuine love for music.
7. as a research
In my case it started as a music Rasika (music lover) by birth and then evolved as a research due to my inherent nature of questioning and search for truth, and then as a medical professional and a medical teacher and researcher it evolved as a system of music therapy .When you are a doctor naturally the effects of music on physiology and anatomy and neuropsychoimmunology etc will be thought of and understood and experimented with. All these in a teaching profession made me think of a curriculum and syllabus and research protocols for study and treatment and this evolved through my method of Yesudas effect.
I have given these details in four of my books on music.
1. Music therapy for administration, management and education.Readworthy publications
2. Ragachikitsa.Readworthy publications New Delhi.
3. Naadalayasindhu (Raagachikitsaamritham) D C Books Kottayam
4. without a stumble. A book on spirituality of music .Nalapat books
What is important with Yesudas that helped my research protocol: _
One is the range of music he has produced.
Second is the range of languages in which they are produced so that I can do a national level protocol.
Third is that he has popular music, devotional music (in all religions), nonfilm light music and classical Hindustani as well as Karnatic music for use in any range of population speaking any Indian languages .Among the popular music itself I could find people with a range of interests like Romantic, philosophical, poetical, humourous, children songs and devotionals and all these ranges from Yesudas alone. And for autistic children the use of Yesudas music has been of use to language recognition and improving language and communication skills most of the case histories from parents themselves.
The research on Yesudas’ classical music and live kutcheris evolved out of these preliminary studies and free association surveys over several decades. The prospective research on kutcheris started in 1998 (since 12 years) and I have listened to 150 and odd live kutcheris of just this one singer for the sake of a research project on his music in these 12 years. I have a collection of many other stalwarts in classical music on several ragas along with that of Yesudas for this purpose. The reason for hearing live kutcheris of a single musician as many times as possible is that it is essential for any researcher who wants to know about the many aspects of music and certain nuances of a kutchery which one learns not from books .For a person who spent time for time pass or for hearing music as a hobby and relaxation this may not be necessary. But for a researcher who uses the vocal music of a single person and do research on its effect on health of individuals and on society this is mandatory. To follow a musician’s music is to follow his kutcherys and his recorded music as far as possible and have a rapport with him .An almost similar protocol was done on sufi music(khawali) of India and Pakistan by Regula Berkhardt as explained in her book “Sufi music of India and Pakistan”.
The journey started first by understanding how my habit of hearing music for five minutes and then studying for 15 minutes and repeating the cycles regularly helped me to concentrate more and memorise more and what type of music helped me to do so.Later on I understood that the method is actually giving me five minutes alpha waves and then allow my brain to be more receptive again to what I learn in next 15 minutes when my beta waves work .
The use of 72 melakartharaaga for therapy, I base on its mathematical, astrophysical, musical, sine cosine wave functions and also on the philosophy of ayurveda, and yoga in Indian way of life. Thus it is an integration of several sciences and arts. It depends on sine wave and harmonics which is common to music, biocycles like cardiac cycles (which is also 72/mt incidentally) and astronomical cycles. The Doppler effect as described by Sankaracharya and the other scientist/philosophers before him in India had helped them to develop the harmonics of sine waves of music to control sine waves of blood circulation and to develop Naadalayayoga.To prove this a pilot project was done at Amrita hospital and it was successful statistically .
Hence my method use the principles of medicine like:
1. Doppler effect in cardiovascular system flow
2. Principle of EEG in transforming beta waves to alpha waves or meditational waves
3. All stress and strains and tensions of life-professional, domestic and others- cause several disorders which are somatic. All these can be treated and prevented by music which reduce stress and strain
4. Psychoneuroimmunology
5. Immunological parameters
6. Both prevention and cure of disorders
7. At extremes of life and in people with and without mental retardation and with or without memory loss one can use music but the principles of use is different in each
8. In narrative medicine and family medicine
9. In cancer and heart disease and also obstetrics and gynecology
10. in surgical wards
11. in traumatic head injury and coma
12. in educational institutions
13. in professional life
14 In integration of all branches of medicine for proper healthcare of society
15. for world peace
16. in therapy for rapport
17. I think that this can also be used in agriculture for better food production and in animal husbandry since music has no boundaries between anything and anyone. I haven’t done research in that field but assume that it is possible and if anyone from these fields can start a programme of research it would be good.
It is not just an adjunct therapy but a golden thread which integrates all branches of sciences and arts, especially for integration of all branches of medical care
Thus the use is from lullaby to deathbed and the method is cost-effective and without side effects if used judiciously
I understand that God had made me an eternal music lover by birth, and a medical teacher by profession, just for doing good for society, for humanity and for the discipline of music therapy so that I am made to develop this method for education, health and integrated approach for all sciences and arts for peace of individuals, society, nation and the world. In that research protocol of God, my birth at a time when Yesudas lived and sang was probably inevitable.
Measurements in psychological field and mind space
Measurements in psychological field and mind space
Since homosapiens evolved, we have been observing, comparing, seeking to classify what we observed, recording these observations as memory of generations of human’s races .The concept of these measurements we can see in every civilization. The mathematical precision achieved by Indians, the archeological and literary evidences for it is extensive as we all know. These ancient concepts have gradually lead to human values, conditions, lifestyles, culture and development of evolution as a whole for millennia. Therefore, negation of such values and sciences and arts of our legacy is like a suicidal action which will kill our own culture, heritage as well as self-awareness.
Truth or reality is objective and can be measured or verified by methods which involve a unit of measurement. This was learned by human beings (our ancestral homosapiens) living in India from very ancient prehistoric times. They understood that knowledge for transference to next generation has to be reduced to objective dimensions for easy understanding and verification and later on integrated .For this there should be subjective experience of truth by each one verifiable by the objective measurements of truth. It is this method which we see in the Upanishad traditions.
The student who study the culture of a people is studying the stored memories ,the cognitive processes and the methods used for it ,perfected through millennia .When we speak of Indian classical music as a tool for healing individual mind, and thus the entire society and the world through principle of integration we should not forget this fact.
Meditation with chanting musically increase the coherence, harmony in our brain waves which give great synchronization of the two hemispheres .This allows a higher order to be achieved spontaneously (without effort) from a lower order .The higher order imply a higher quantum of energy potential also .Communication through music thus gives both shakthi (strength) and shanthi (peace) for individual and society.
We know the uniqueness of man is his power of communication. The symbols man created for communication are many. The language and literature, arts, sculptures, paintings, music and dance-drama, various sciences etc are such symbols of communication. The intellectual description of these as jargons like logic; semantics, lingustics, metalinguistics etc are there.
Analysis of words related to things, processes, events, meanings are guidance to the fundamental problem of relation of man in his psychosocial totality. The naama(name)roopa(form) of prakrithi(nature) is thus known by the knower(Athman/Brahman/Jeeva) or cogniser,the creator and transmitter of the symbol and his/her successors is a very ancient concept .The observation (darsana) the data (forms and details of it) stored as a symbol(naama in language with a picture as symbol drawn in caves of ancient man) started as early as human race itself .So science is not a new thing but the oldest human activity. This is the most nonviolent communication through a holistic, wholistic, scientific and artistic integrated way which was known to our ancestors of India .There had been violent communications of power and separatist tendencies in that history, but such violent actions were kept well under control by the supremacy of the nonviolent teacher (Guru) lineages who had academic, valuebased training. Even the nonverbal communication of a Guru observing silence was considered the best communication to reduce and transform the violent one-the kshathriya warrior class.
If we consider the modern schematic diagram of the spectrum of mind-brain system we know how this ancient concept is correct.
Qep=quantum energy potential possible on vertical axis
Ch time is chronological time on horizontal axis
V=violent communications (at. minimal level)
Nonv=non violent communications
Ituiti=intuitional level
Nonverb=non verbal communication (silence) or shaanthi (at maximal level)
Also see the diagram of mind states with 6 quantum jumps below which explains the maximum energy potential of mind and maximum expression of consciousness:-
Consc= consciousness
Epote=energy potential
P=physical
Psy=psychological
1= the first quantum jump of scientific thoughts
2. The second jump of discoveries
3. Observation for verification of what others say
4. Pays attention to values
5. Awareness and selfrefferal .self-analysis
6. Meditational /universal consciousness .Oneness of creation
Both violent and nonviolent communications are functions of quantum energy potential or hierarchical expression of consciousness as functions of chronological time. (That is in two developmental stages ).Violent communication is at a lower level and constructs a false duality or dwaitha(separatist feeling).Nonviolent communication is at a slightly higher level and the mind starts to comprehend the truth of oneness(advaitha) which enhance awareness of values.
Intuition is at much higher level and it works along with nonviolent communication and moves to the maximum communication even in silence as in dhyaana of a Buddha .There the timeless message between two souls happen without language (between Guru and shishya).The Bhakthi to Guru is thus at the nondual frame of mind where compassion and love are most for entire creation.
Albert Schweitzer said: - Be reverent towards life.” Because life is valuable in itself. Man’s psychological evolution is unique and it is beyond the biological evolution of Darwin. The quantum jumps happen when love for all happen and it is not an evolutionary ladder but actually a wheel that self perpetuate by repetition.
This is where the spirituality and science meet at the practical side of life as well as at the logical, analytical theoretical levels .At the right and left brain levels they merge in harmony. Whatever dissonance is there will be nullified for a total integration of personality for welfare of entire life and survival of all races of life forms, from a tiny unicellular to the complex multicultural human.
Thus the modern science and ancient spirituality are not contradictory to one another but has to be known in the proper perspective and integrated. The universal language of music is the best for integration of everyone and all branches of knowledge for healing to happen.
There is interdependency of all branches of knowledge ,since there is interdependency of our brain parts which occur between cortex,hippocampus,and between numerous nerve channels and plexuses .If an electric current is given to hippocampus, the changes will be seen in cortex though it is not getting the electric current .Brain is an integrative organ by nature. It is not hierarchical as the mosaic patternists would claim. It is what distinguishes brain from a computer. Computer is synchronous and totally regulated while brain is asynchronous. Human mind is flexible while computer is not. At the synapses lie the choice point which converts the human brain system from a dull one into an uncertain dynamic interesting functional one.
Computer Human brain
solid Animated
Programmable Defy formalities and programming
Not flexible Flexible
No free will Free will
Predictable probabilities
Synchronous Asynchronous
Hierarchical Integrative
Machine Nonmachine
Artificial Natural
Cannot comprehend natural language Comprehend natural language
How does the human mind work?
How are our intelligent thoughts propagated?
In what form memories are stored?
The first door to unbolt and find answers is the research with languages.
The second door is the research on thoughts and how our brain produce a thought. The third is to penetrate a human mind at its highest functioning order (not at clinical psychiatry and clinical psychology of deranged mind function).Then we find that our languages are only the tips of an iceberg .The expression of a thought by a specific symbol is language. It is an efficient method of communication or expression of our mind, our thoughts. The thought and language are thus intimately weaved. Language is the way to secrets of human mind. A natural language is developed by natural thinking of humanity and generates a wider universe of thoughts, concepts, and inferences from each structure it understands.
Music is another symbol which communicates very effectively and used by all our ancestors and is universal to homosapiens. The silence of tropical forests and the musical birdsongs have been suggested as the first development of saaman chanting in Indian subcontinent by researchers. Thus the first natural language a human ancestor developed is music. The human larynx and vocal cords could sing before the human thumb was developed to make him a tool-making animal. That means even before tool-making stage human ancestors sang. This is the most natural faculty and the first and best developed in a child too. Integration at this universal level is therefore most rewarding and practical.
Computer as an artificial intelligence has several important functions and impacts in current society.
1Potential impact on healthcare. The diagnostic expert systems complementing the knowledge of the physicians
2. Education:-Through computer one can set up individual tutorial lesson plans based on each student’s need and ability to learn. The vistas of educational field with computer is ever-expanding
3. Social welfare: For the isolated, the disabled, the intelligent machines as companions and as physical therapists
4. Policies:-Assess the ebb and flow of public opinion, presents reports to influence decision makers at a quick pace
5. Quality and organization of life has improved.
With all these a computer is still inferior to the human brain. And it is just another technological tool and an improvement in the tool making potential of human beings which has evolved over millions of years. It cannot replace the human brain and cannot sing the same way as a human being (even a small child) sings. Therefore to measure the child and its potential computer is not enough. A living loving person with a dynamic brain –a parent, teacher etc- is the best judge of even a child. This is true of every relationship and every judgment made by a data processing machine and a judgment made by a loving living brain.
Bharthruhari has rightly put:
To judge a jewel a goldsmith is best.
To judge Krishna only a Krishna devotee is best.
Like that to judge music a music lover is the best.
But do not forget! There are different modalities of music and types of music and each one has subjective likings. The best is to be decided by the joined effort of the client and therapist to suit the needs of each person and it is an interpersonal intrapersonal relationship based integrated approach in medicine .It needs some specific training for the therapist to choose what is best for another individual and to make it work wonders too .Compassion, love for entire creation is the message of this new discipline but it is done in the most scientific possible way using protocols of research accepted by medical science.
Since homosapiens evolved, we have been observing, comparing, seeking to classify what we observed, recording these observations as memory of generations of human’s races .The concept of these measurements we can see in every civilization. The mathematical precision achieved by Indians, the archeological and literary evidences for it is extensive as we all know. These ancient concepts have gradually lead to human values, conditions, lifestyles, culture and development of evolution as a whole for millennia. Therefore, negation of such values and sciences and arts of our legacy is like a suicidal action which will kill our own culture, heritage as well as self-awareness.
Truth or reality is objective and can be measured or verified by methods which involve a unit of measurement. This was learned by human beings (our ancestral homosapiens) living in India from very ancient prehistoric times. They understood that knowledge for transference to next generation has to be reduced to objective dimensions for easy understanding and verification and later on integrated .For this there should be subjective experience of truth by each one verifiable by the objective measurements of truth. It is this method which we see in the Upanishad traditions.
The student who study the culture of a people is studying the stored memories ,the cognitive processes and the methods used for it ,perfected through millennia .When we speak of Indian classical music as a tool for healing individual mind, and thus the entire society and the world through principle of integration we should not forget this fact.
Meditation with chanting musically increase the coherence, harmony in our brain waves which give great synchronization of the two hemispheres .This allows a higher order to be achieved spontaneously (without effort) from a lower order .The higher order imply a higher quantum of energy potential also .Communication through music thus gives both shakthi (strength) and shanthi (peace) for individual and society.
We know the uniqueness of man is his power of communication. The symbols man created for communication are many. The language and literature, arts, sculptures, paintings, music and dance-drama, various sciences etc are such symbols of communication. The intellectual description of these as jargons like logic; semantics, lingustics, metalinguistics etc are there.
Analysis of words related to things, processes, events, meanings are guidance to the fundamental problem of relation of man in his psychosocial totality. The naama(name)roopa(form) of prakrithi(nature) is thus known by the knower(Athman/Brahman/Jeeva) or cogniser,the creator and transmitter of the symbol and his/her successors is a very ancient concept .The observation (darsana) the data (forms and details of it) stored as a symbol(naama in language with a picture as symbol drawn in caves of ancient man) started as early as human race itself .So science is not a new thing but the oldest human activity. This is the most nonviolent communication through a holistic, wholistic, scientific and artistic integrated way which was known to our ancestors of India .There had been violent communications of power and separatist tendencies in that history, but such violent actions were kept well under control by the supremacy of the nonviolent teacher (Guru) lineages who had academic, valuebased training. Even the nonverbal communication of a Guru observing silence was considered the best communication to reduce and transform the violent one-the kshathriya warrior class.
If we consider the modern schematic diagram of the spectrum of mind-brain system we know how this ancient concept is correct.
Qep=quantum energy potential possible on vertical axis
Ch time is chronological time on horizontal axis
V=violent communications (at. minimal level)
Nonv=non violent communications
Ituiti=intuitional level
Nonverb=non verbal communication (silence) or shaanthi (at maximal level)
Also see the diagram of mind states with 6 quantum jumps below which explains the maximum energy potential of mind and maximum expression of consciousness:-
Consc= consciousness
Epote=energy potential
P=physical
Psy=psychological
1= the first quantum jump of scientific thoughts
2. The second jump of discoveries
3. Observation for verification of what others say
4. Pays attention to values
5. Awareness and selfrefferal .self-analysis
6. Meditational /universal consciousness .Oneness of creation
Both violent and nonviolent communications are functions of quantum energy potential or hierarchical expression of consciousness as functions of chronological time. (That is in two developmental stages ).Violent communication is at a lower level and constructs a false duality or dwaitha(separatist feeling).Nonviolent communication is at a slightly higher level and the mind starts to comprehend the truth of oneness(advaitha) which enhance awareness of values.
Intuition is at much higher level and it works along with nonviolent communication and moves to the maximum communication even in silence as in dhyaana of a Buddha .There the timeless message between two souls happen without language (between Guru and shishya).The Bhakthi to Guru is thus at the nondual frame of mind where compassion and love are most for entire creation.
Albert Schweitzer said: - Be reverent towards life.” Because life is valuable in itself. Man’s psychological evolution is unique and it is beyond the biological evolution of Darwin. The quantum jumps happen when love for all happen and it is not an evolutionary ladder but actually a wheel that self perpetuate by repetition.
This is where the spirituality and science meet at the practical side of life as well as at the logical, analytical theoretical levels .At the right and left brain levels they merge in harmony. Whatever dissonance is there will be nullified for a total integration of personality for welfare of entire life and survival of all races of life forms, from a tiny unicellular to the complex multicultural human.
Thus the modern science and ancient spirituality are not contradictory to one another but has to be known in the proper perspective and integrated. The universal language of music is the best for integration of everyone and all branches of knowledge for healing to happen.
There is interdependency of all branches of knowledge ,since there is interdependency of our brain parts which occur between cortex,hippocampus,and between numerous nerve channels and plexuses .If an electric current is given to hippocampus, the changes will be seen in cortex though it is not getting the electric current .Brain is an integrative organ by nature. It is not hierarchical as the mosaic patternists would claim. It is what distinguishes brain from a computer. Computer is synchronous and totally regulated while brain is asynchronous. Human mind is flexible while computer is not. At the synapses lie the choice point which converts the human brain system from a dull one into an uncertain dynamic interesting functional one.
Computer Human brain
solid Animated
Programmable Defy formalities and programming
Not flexible Flexible
No free will Free will
Predictable probabilities
Synchronous Asynchronous
Hierarchical Integrative
Machine Nonmachine
Artificial Natural
Cannot comprehend natural language Comprehend natural language
How does the human mind work?
How are our intelligent thoughts propagated?
In what form memories are stored?
The first door to unbolt and find answers is the research with languages.
The second door is the research on thoughts and how our brain produce a thought. The third is to penetrate a human mind at its highest functioning order (not at clinical psychiatry and clinical psychology of deranged mind function).Then we find that our languages are only the tips of an iceberg .The expression of a thought by a specific symbol is language. It is an efficient method of communication or expression of our mind, our thoughts. The thought and language are thus intimately weaved. Language is the way to secrets of human mind. A natural language is developed by natural thinking of humanity and generates a wider universe of thoughts, concepts, and inferences from each structure it understands.
Music is another symbol which communicates very effectively and used by all our ancestors and is universal to homosapiens. The silence of tropical forests and the musical birdsongs have been suggested as the first development of saaman chanting in Indian subcontinent by researchers. Thus the first natural language a human ancestor developed is music. The human larynx and vocal cords could sing before the human thumb was developed to make him a tool-making animal. That means even before tool-making stage human ancestors sang. This is the most natural faculty and the first and best developed in a child too. Integration at this universal level is therefore most rewarding and practical.
Computer as an artificial intelligence has several important functions and impacts in current society.
1Potential impact on healthcare. The diagnostic expert systems complementing the knowledge of the physicians
2. Education:-Through computer one can set up individual tutorial lesson plans based on each student’s need and ability to learn. The vistas of educational field with computer is ever-expanding
3. Social welfare: For the isolated, the disabled, the intelligent machines as companions and as physical therapists
4. Policies:-Assess the ebb and flow of public opinion, presents reports to influence decision makers at a quick pace
5. Quality and organization of life has improved.
With all these a computer is still inferior to the human brain. And it is just another technological tool and an improvement in the tool making potential of human beings which has evolved over millions of years. It cannot replace the human brain and cannot sing the same way as a human being (even a small child) sings. Therefore to measure the child and its potential computer is not enough. A living loving person with a dynamic brain –a parent, teacher etc- is the best judge of even a child. This is true of every relationship and every judgment made by a data processing machine and a judgment made by a loving living brain.
Bharthruhari has rightly put:
To judge a jewel a goldsmith is best.
To judge Krishna only a Krishna devotee is best.
Like that to judge music a music lover is the best.
But do not forget! There are different modalities of music and types of music and each one has subjective likings. The best is to be decided by the joined effort of the client and therapist to suit the needs of each person and it is an interpersonal intrapersonal relationship based integrated approach in medicine .It needs some specific training for the therapist to choose what is best for another individual and to make it work wonders too .Compassion, love for entire creation is the message of this new discipline but it is done in the most scientific possible way using protocols of research accepted by medical science.
Solving challenges for a healthy survival
Solving challenges for a healthy survival
Music Therapy:-
MahaathmaaGandhi said: Truth and love Is Ahimsa .They are the only things that count.
Science is a human activity. Therefore to think that science need not have virtues and values and should be separated from ethics is a misunderstanding. Science depends upon observation, enquiry, recording data in orderly fashion, and thus after analysis and discussion (using both own experiences and the experiences of others as references) systematically arranging knowledge and then believing them. When the same procedure is done for self-enquiry and self acquaintance of total psychological movement of our own mind-brain system in action, that also is science. This process leads us to a self-surrender of ego which leads to a perception of wholeness of life .The benevolent nature of our intellect and intuition together views the situation, and guides us to harmony, justice, love and compassion.
Life, if considered as a stream of river, on one shore we have modern technological development, chaos and entropy created by erosion of values, unequal economical planning and its disasters. The other shore has peace, harmony, justice, love, compassion, surrender of ego and selfishness, and as Gandhi said truth and Ahimsa.A balance of these have to be struck by the 21st century human being. This is a great challenge humanity is taking up at present.
The “ Value,Education,peace and modern physics –USA Townsend letters for Doctors April 1992 pp 281-83 last paragraph reads thus:-“The breakthrough in mind-brain research proposed the first model of human psyche .Let this model be examined by world physicists,scientists,physiologists,psychologists,social scientists ,educators and mystics. Such a dialogue will lead to a second model of the human psyche. This is the only way to “heal the planet”and”healing ourselves” which is called the Humanist Technology. This will save humanity from annihilation”.
Arthur Schopenhauer:-All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second it is vehemently opposed. Third it is accepted as being self-evident.”
When I started a process of Grand Unification of all sciences and arts and sciences and the integration of both west and east (science, and philosophies) I was made to remember the famous words of Arthur Schopenhauer because I was passing through the first two stages which he mentioned for truth. My unification is through the golden thread of music for peace and self-healing which will heal all separatisms in the long run.
Challenges:
1. Restructuring science .The outer objective field and inner subjective field (physics and psyche) is a single dynamic harmonious flow. They are interrelated, interpenetrated and inseparable. The objective sciences have to restructure themselves to take subjective sciences in its fold .Because true science is the dynamic interplay of objective as well as subjective sciences. It explores all co-ordinate systems, to borrow the words of Einstein, of our mind spectrum. It implies to investigate the unit of perception, the cartography of a unified inner space, transcending all psychological imbalances, the fields of human self-awareness called realm of consciousness and his being the subject and not the object.
2. Holistic education: This is for the cultivation of the total human being. The educating the educator introduces the psychodynamics of the mind-brain system in science faculty and transpersonal psychology in art faculty at all levels. This should lead to perception of wholeness.
3. Valuebased education:-When the external perceptual –conceptual image blurs and the internal perceptual image is activated, it gives us values. Values are not mere subjective nature of thoughts .Without cultivating values education becomes a farce.
4. Integration:-The reasoning logical thinking mode and the creative value perception mode have to be integrated in human personality for character building. We have to nourish intuition –insight mode and explain it at the intellectual level. This will lead to integration of the two hemispherical functions of brain and integration of all arts and sciences.
5.Holistic health: The subjective is verified at an objective science level .The cost of medical treatment in the Developed countries, its lack of cost-effectiveness, the new diseases developing as a challenge to modern medicine causing panic among people, the stress-related major diseases (including cardiac disease, digestive disorders and cancer)on the increase etc have given awareness to levels of quantum healing and holistic health .How to regenerate and self-fortify and self-heal our own immune system (instead of killing the outside forces as pathogens) and heal the mind –brain-body complex as a single whole (by psycho-neuro-immunology principles) has become more important now .6.Ecological problems and how to solve them is another major challenge .
It is detrimental to life on earth and is causing major health problems and effective handling of it is mandatory for existence of our nature and its life forms in a healthy co-exisence.
7.Violence is another problem we see around. There are three types of violence. The physical, mental ,and intellectual level violence .All violence and crime is an expression of the inner fragmentation and separatisms .It is the sign of suppressed psychological imbalance of the person who commit it and hence of a society.
We have a fragmentaryReductionistic society.The social sciences have several branches like economics, politics ,social laws etc.The healing sciences have several branches –western and eastern- foreign and indigenous to be integrated. Similarly there are opposing ideas of religions which has to be integrated .The inner dynamic revolution is never violent but nonviolent as Gandhi pointed out .This inner revolution which is a psychological transformation from violence to nonviolence has to happen by proper educational system innovations which requires integration ,not separatist slogans.
8.Peace: Peace is related to inner space of human beings. It is a state of mind that does not create entropy .chaos/stress to the system. For this to achieve we need an inner freedom.Shaanthi is the word used by ancient Indians for peace. The search for shanthi in oneself and thus create it in society for the prosperity of entire living things is the oldest way to know a new dimension of human consciousness and remains to be so.
All these challenges have to be met by a method which is universally applicable. That method is my music therapy. It is the golden thread on which all the pearls,corals,and jewels of sciences, arts and ideologies can be strewn in a beautiful integrated way so that physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health can be achieved for a better future.
Music Therapy:-
MahaathmaaGandhi said: Truth and love Is Ahimsa .They are the only things that count.
Science is a human activity. Therefore to think that science need not have virtues and values and should be separated from ethics is a misunderstanding. Science depends upon observation, enquiry, recording data in orderly fashion, and thus after analysis and discussion (using both own experiences and the experiences of others as references) systematically arranging knowledge and then believing them. When the same procedure is done for self-enquiry and self acquaintance of total psychological movement of our own mind-brain system in action, that also is science. This process leads us to a self-surrender of ego which leads to a perception of wholeness of life .The benevolent nature of our intellect and intuition together views the situation, and guides us to harmony, justice, love and compassion.
Life, if considered as a stream of river, on one shore we have modern technological development, chaos and entropy created by erosion of values, unequal economical planning and its disasters. The other shore has peace, harmony, justice, love, compassion, surrender of ego and selfishness, and as Gandhi said truth and Ahimsa.A balance of these have to be struck by the 21st century human being. This is a great challenge humanity is taking up at present.
The “ Value,Education,peace and modern physics –USA Townsend letters for Doctors April 1992 pp 281-83 last paragraph reads thus:-“The breakthrough in mind-brain research proposed the first model of human psyche .Let this model be examined by world physicists,scientists,physiologists,psychologists,social scientists ,educators and mystics. Such a dialogue will lead to a second model of the human psyche. This is the only way to “heal the planet”and”healing ourselves” which is called the Humanist Technology. This will save humanity from annihilation”.
Arthur Schopenhauer:-All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second it is vehemently opposed. Third it is accepted as being self-evident.”
When I started a process of Grand Unification of all sciences and arts and sciences and the integration of both west and east (science, and philosophies) I was made to remember the famous words of Arthur Schopenhauer because I was passing through the first two stages which he mentioned for truth. My unification is through the golden thread of music for peace and self-healing which will heal all separatisms in the long run.
Challenges:
1. Restructuring science .The outer objective field and inner subjective field (physics and psyche) is a single dynamic harmonious flow. They are interrelated, interpenetrated and inseparable. The objective sciences have to restructure themselves to take subjective sciences in its fold .Because true science is the dynamic interplay of objective as well as subjective sciences. It explores all co-ordinate systems, to borrow the words of Einstein, of our mind spectrum. It implies to investigate the unit of perception, the cartography of a unified inner space, transcending all psychological imbalances, the fields of human self-awareness called realm of consciousness and his being the subject and not the object.
2. Holistic education: This is for the cultivation of the total human being. The educating the educator introduces the psychodynamics of the mind-brain system in science faculty and transpersonal psychology in art faculty at all levels. This should lead to perception of wholeness.
3. Valuebased education:-When the external perceptual –conceptual image blurs and the internal perceptual image is activated, it gives us values. Values are not mere subjective nature of thoughts .Without cultivating values education becomes a farce.
4. Integration:-The reasoning logical thinking mode and the creative value perception mode have to be integrated in human personality for character building. We have to nourish intuition –insight mode and explain it at the intellectual level. This will lead to integration of the two hemispherical functions of brain and integration of all arts and sciences.
5.Holistic health: The subjective is verified at an objective science level .The cost of medical treatment in the Developed countries, its lack of cost-effectiveness, the new diseases developing as a challenge to modern medicine causing panic among people, the stress-related major diseases (including cardiac disease, digestive disorders and cancer)on the increase etc have given awareness to levels of quantum healing and holistic health .How to regenerate and self-fortify and self-heal our own immune system (instead of killing the outside forces as pathogens) and heal the mind –brain-body complex as a single whole (by psycho-neuro-immunology principles) has become more important now .6.Ecological problems and how to solve them is another major challenge .
It is detrimental to life on earth and is causing major health problems and effective handling of it is mandatory for existence of our nature and its life forms in a healthy co-exisence.
7.Violence is another problem we see around. There are three types of violence. The physical, mental ,and intellectual level violence .All violence and crime is an expression of the inner fragmentation and separatisms .It is the sign of suppressed psychological imbalance of the person who commit it and hence of a society.
We have a fragmentaryReductionistic society.The social sciences have several branches like economics, politics ,social laws etc.The healing sciences have several branches –western and eastern- foreign and indigenous to be integrated. Similarly there are opposing ideas of religions which has to be integrated .The inner dynamic revolution is never violent but nonviolent as Gandhi pointed out .This inner revolution which is a psychological transformation from violence to nonviolence has to happen by proper educational system innovations which requires integration ,not separatist slogans.
8.Peace: Peace is related to inner space of human beings. It is a state of mind that does not create entropy .chaos/stress to the system. For this to achieve we need an inner freedom.Shaanthi is the word used by ancient Indians for peace. The search for shanthi in oneself and thus create it in society for the prosperity of entire living things is the oldest way to know a new dimension of human consciousness and remains to be so.
All these challenges have to be met by a method which is universally applicable. That method is my music therapy. It is the golden thread on which all the pearls,corals,and jewels of sciences, arts and ideologies can be strewn in a beautiful integrated way so that physical,mental,intellectual and spiritual health can be achieved for a better future.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Avathaara
Posted for Krishnavathara day special:
Bhagavatham skanda 2 chapter 7 .
Avathara of Vishnu as told by Brahma
1.Varaha protection of earth by yagnavaraha
2.Suyagna son of Ruchi and Akuthy
3.Kapila son of Kardama and Devahuthy The samkhya and the period of king Sagara
4.Datha in Athri and Anasuya Anasuya is credited with bringing rain and cultivating the fields even during famines and producing food .Dathathreya is brahmagnaani and starts the sakthy cult with his brother sage Durvasa.
5. The sanatkumara 4 in number Gnaana and Bhakthy movements
6.Nara and Narayana in Dharma and Murthy Tapas and conquering of kaama
7.Prithu son of vena –Earth and its resources identified and used for the benefit of the citizens by a just king.
8.Rishabha son of Nabhi and Sudevi(First theerthankara of Jaina and his sons the navayogins spread Bhagavathadharma for the first time on earth)
9.Hayagreeva in the sacrificial vedi of Brahma (The vedic rites and the Lalithasahasranaama and sakthy cults)
10.Matsya during the pralaya in the 6th Manuanthara in Dravidanripa Satyavratha’s period In 13600BC there had been a deluge which was experienced all over the world due to the melting of northern glaciers.If we consider this as a landmark,
11.Katchapa in the churning of milky ocean-The renewal of the earth and its life,the earth again becomes habitable after the oceans go back to original position but with some major changes in geography.
12.Nrisimha during Prahlada’s time .The earth is inhabited by Hiranyakasyapa ,and his people .The next generation(Prahlada)are worried about the earth’s fate and the new era is ushered by advent of Narasimha .(The power of destruction against destructive forces)
13 Vamana ,son of Aditi and kasyapa during Mahabali’s reign The concept of wellbeing of citizens and the duties of ideal king and ideal state and the teaching that selfsacrifice at Gods feet is the best .
14.Danwanthari(Medicine)
15 Vishnumohini –birth of Ayyappa son of Shiva and of arts and music.
16.Parasurama son of Renuka and Jamadagni-time of Karthaveerya/viswamithra and towards the end of his life Srirama is also born.. Kerala is formed from the oceanbed (Towards the end of Parasurama’s life the period of Ramayana Mehrgarh period 9000 BC)(End of Threthayuga.which is 12960 yrs)Kerala was formed during the last flood and its aftermath ,that is well before the birth of Rama.During Vamana’s time
17.Rama son of Dasaratha and Kousalya in just before Mehrgarh period roughly.
18 Balarama with the plough and
19 Krishna with the flute are contemporaries of Pandava of Hasthinapura(3100 BC)Early to Late Harappan End of Dwaparayuga.
20Paashandavesha is predicted but no name mentioned.Some consider this as Budha but Mahabhagavatha has not mentioned any name.)
21.Kalki is predicted.
(If we take the 3 sanatkumara and Nara as separate as we did with Balarama and Krishna,total 25 is there.But Mahabhagavathapurana omits Mohini and makes it 24.)
Taking the 13600 BC as the base ,
And computing the periods of traditional units of the yuga in 4:3:2:1 ratio,
17280
12960
8640
4320,
From BC 3104 beyond,the threthayuga must have ended in BC 11744 and.the yugapralaya was in kritha/threthayuga period.The Mehrgarh period is then not in Threthayuga but in Dwaparayuga and the yadu /chandravansa were having an upper hand in trade and administration
Bhagavatham skanda 2 chapter 7 .
Avathara of Vishnu as told by Brahma
1.Varaha protection of earth by yagnavaraha
2.Suyagna son of Ruchi and Akuthy
3.Kapila son of Kardama and Devahuthy The samkhya and the period of king Sagara
4.Datha in Athri and Anasuya Anasuya is credited with bringing rain and cultivating the fields even during famines and producing food .Dathathreya is brahmagnaani and starts the sakthy cult with his brother sage Durvasa.
5. The sanatkumara 4 in number Gnaana and Bhakthy movements
6.Nara and Narayana in Dharma and Murthy Tapas and conquering of kaama
7.Prithu son of vena –Earth and its resources identified and used for the benefit of the citizens by a just king.
8.Rishabha son of Nabhi and Sudevi(First theerthankara of Jaina and his sons the navayogins spread Bhagavathadharma for the first time on earth)
9.Hayagreeva in the sacrificial vedi of Brahma (The vedic rites and the Lalithasahasranaama and sakthy cults)
10.Matsya during the pralaya in the 6th Manuanthara in Dravidanripa Satyavratha’s period In 13600BC there had been a deluge which was experienced all over the world due to the melting of northern glaciers.If we consider this as a landmark,
11.Katchapa in the churning of milky ocean-The renewal of the earth and its life,the earth again becomes habitable after the oceans go back to original position but with some major changes in geography.
12.Nrisimha during Prahlada’s time .The earth is inhabited by Hiranyakasyapa ,and his people .The next generation(Prahlada)are worried about the earth’s fate and the new era is ushered by advent of Narasimha .(The power of destruction against destructive forces)
13 Vamana ,son of Aditi and kasyapa during Mahabali’s reign The concept of wellbeing of citizens and the duties of ideal king and ideal state and the teaching that selfsacrifice at Gods feet is the best .
14.Danwanthari(Medicine)
15 Vishnumohini –birth of Ayyappa son of Shiva and of arts and music.
16.Parasurama son of Renuka and Jamadagni-time of Karthaveerya/viswamithra and towards the end of his life Srirama is also born.. Kerala is formed from the oceanbed (Towards the end of Parasurama’s life the period of Ramayana Mehrgarh period 9000 BC)(End of Threthayuga.which is 12960 yrs)Kerala was formed during the last flood and its aftermath ,that is well before the birth of Rama.During Vamana’s time
17.Rama son of Dasaratha and Kousalya in just before Mehrgarh period roughly.
18 Balarama with the plough and
19 Krishna with the flute are contemporaries of Pandava of Hasthinapura(3100 BC)Early to Late Harappan End of Dwaparayuga.
20Paashandavesha is predicted but no name mentioned.Some consider this as Budha but Mahabhagavatha has not mentioned any name.)
21.Kalki is predicted.
(If we take the 3 sanatkumara and Nara as separate as we did with Balarama and Krishna,total 25 is there.But Mahabhagavathapurana omits Mohini and makes it 24.)
Taking the 13600 BC as the base ,
And computing the periods of traditional units of the yuga in 4:3:2:1 ratio,
17280
12960
8640
4320,
From BC 3104 beyond,the threthayuga must have ended in BC 11744 and.the yugapralaya was in kritha/threthayuga period.The Mehrgarh period is then not in Threthayuga but in Dwaparayuga and the yadu /chandravansa were having an upper hand in trade and administration
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