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Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
As a visionary person, I can realize what will happen next. Answers come from inner soul during meditation. I believe that I am a time traveler. Sometimes, I am a son, a brother, a friend, a student, and a loving husband. Text books have shaped my scientific and artistic views, my passion to study history, novel, politics, and philosophy, create me an introspective person. The distress of life made me a retrospective person. The teachings of Vivekananda and Vedanta have figured my wisdom and views. This life is a chapter of an unknown book. However, I believe that the book also has a joyous conclusion. The happy ending of the traveler may be the happy beginning of something that nobody knows. I have a dream; the divine infinite will call me one day to go back to my home. Now I am waiting for that moment. The chapter of the traveler will finish one day but this blog will tell the story of the traveler to the future being.

Jul 9, 2010

God is Crazy and I will make him more Crazy



This is my 2nd amusing story in my life. I don’t want to hurt any religion. Or I don’t have any desire to propagate any hate to people of any sects. But when I saw and heard from my friends, relatives and nearest people who are crazy about God, I laugh and think of the story below. My English is not so good. If any of my American friends help me in developing my English skill, it will be great. One very earnest request to my friends – please do not copy my story. If you like it you can tell it to others but never try to tell it as your story.

Can you recall a class room when the examination is held? We are all very attentive writing down the examination paper. When the test is over, the examiner collects all the papers from students. Later on, based on performance he will grade the students.

Here the teacher (the examiner) designs the course curriculum as own will. There are some marks are allocated for Lab works, a number of marks are allocated for class performance, a great quantity of marks are allocated for class test ( Multiple choice questions) and a few marks are allocated for descriptive questions. The teacher does not design the program for different types of grades. There are only two grades A or F, similar to pass or fail based on the overall performance. In this short story, the teacher never present in the class, no students feel his presence in the class. He is invisible teacher. But most of the students are afraid of this invisible teacher based on what they believe and their courageous label. In the class, they are two categories of students – who obey this invisible teacher, and those who don’t. The gentle student is categorized as the one who obeys the invisible teacher and those who don’t obey him or don’t believe in him are typed as the stupid, idiot whatever the fucking words existed in the world u can name them. The latter categorized people are 1/6 in the class. The primitive students of very earliest episodes who already graduated from the class did not know about the invisible teacher. But the students of the medieval period discovered that there is someone behind the class room who is basically our teacher. He supplies all the reading materials, all the resources they need, all the fate of the examination center and so on. But they portrayed him in such a way that the invisible teacher seems to be very crazy to current students. The another mistakes by the medieval student was that, they divided themselves and elected their own captain who was more intellectual, lovely, talkative and a little bit deceptive guy. But the female student was very silent and every time obeyed what their male classmates told. But the present female students are not silent, they became very talkative; it seems like whatever their previous female students did not talk , they should talk. They also think about the previous female student, how coward they were! If they created their own leader, they are not facing too many troubles at present time.

Now we should know about the teacher more. The invisible teacher is very kind, he is the king of everything, he rules everything, he gives the students everything even, and he creates classrooms, students and so on.

In the class room, there are two doors – in one door student can enter and another door student can exit. The door is one way only. The problems of the students are that, they do not know anything about outside of the class room. But there are a few students who tried to really know what happens or will happen after crossing the door. But most of the students do not try what happens after the next door. However, some do not have any headache about these. But most of the students believe that the teacher will pass him in the examination.

Now let us see, what will happen according to most believers – the students who will pass in the exam paper (that will be checked when all the papers will be collected), will be awarded with lots of things; who will fail, will be punished with lots of terrible things.

Someday in the class, the students quarrel each other for the description given by their ex- leader about the invisible teacher. The reason is that these ex-student leaders portrayed him differently and demanded their supremacy and legacy of their own statements.

Suddenly, one day a student ask his friends- hey guys what will happen of the student who sat in the corner of the class room who does not know anything about our teacher? Did he punish him?

One female student asks a male student – what is the gender of the teacher as he/she creates us as his/her own image?

Another courageous student asks to everybody – why are there only two grades (pass or fail – heaven or hell) for examination paper (our deeds)?

The doubtful student asks himself – Will it be fair if he will judge the paper with biases such as more marks to multiple choice questions ( Believe in god (yes/no), believe in what different leader ( messenger) told) rather than Lab works (our deeds).

Now there are lots of noises come in the class. Who knows what will happen after classroom (world)? Can everybody pass in the examination (life)? Is there any invisible teacher (God) out of the class room plot? Can few students (scientist) discover the mystery behind class room (mystery of life)? What will happen in the class after next 100 years (what will happen in the world if we busy with God that is disputably described at different religions? Is the teacher (God) or the student (Human being) is crazy? If the teacher was not crazy then why did he make so many doubts about himself to different leader (prophet)? If he really exist, he will be crazy after reading this story. The students (people) are now totally doubtful. Most of the students want a new leader (prophet) and waiting for him who will guide them. But they do not want any new idea of the teacher or any new dogma which will divide them more.

What will happen if we don't trust any dogma at all?




by Suman Chowdhury
Industrial Engineering
West Virginia University

My complete Visual Basic Coding for Hip joint Biomechanics ( Vector geometry)

Sub copy_data()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("B1:G500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("BS1:BX500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("H1:J500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("CT1:CV500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("K1:M500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("DL1:DN500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("N1:P500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("CN1:CP500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("Q1:S500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("DF1:DH500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("T1:V500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("AC1:AE500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("W1:Y500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("AX1:AZ500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("Z1:AB500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("Q1:S500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("AC1:AE500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("W1:Y500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("AF1:AH500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("DX1:DZ500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("AI1:AN500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("DO1:DT500").Value
Worksheets("Selected markers").Range("A1:A500").Value = Worksheets("raw").Range("A1:A500").Value
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Sub THETA_L()

Dim LastRow As Long
If WorksheetFunction.CountA(Cells) > 0 Then
'Search for any entry, by searching backwards by Rows.
LastRow = Cells.Find(What:="*", After:=[A1], _
SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
SearchDirection:=xlPrevious).Row

End If

For i = 4 To LastRow


Cells(i, 41) = Cells(i, 2) - Cells(i, 8)

Cells(i, 42) = Cells(i, 3) - Cells(i, 9)

Cells(i, 43) = Cells(i, 4) - Cells(i, 10)

Cells(i, 44) = Cells(i, 41) * Cells(i, 41)

Cells(i, 45) = Cells(i, 42) * Cells(i, 42)

Cells(i, 46) = Cells(i, 43) * Cells(i, 43)

Cells(i, 47) = Cells(i, 44) + Cells(i, 45) + Cells(i, 46)

Cells(i, 48) = Cells(i, 47) ^ (1 / 2)

Cells(i, 49) = Cells(i, 43) / Cells(i, 48)

Cells(i, 50) = WorksheetFunction.Acos(Cells(i, 49))

Cells(i, 51) = ((Cells(i, 50)) * 180) / 3.14

'theta_R

Cells(i, 53) = Cells(i, 5) - Cells(i, 11)

Cells(i, 54) = Cells(i, 6) - Cells(i, 12)

Cells(i, 55) = Cells(i, 7) - Cells(i, 13)

Cells(i, 56) = Cells(i, 53) * Cells(i, 53)

Cells(i, 57) = Cells(i, 54) * Cells(i, 54)

Cells(i, 58) = Cells(i, 55) * Cells(i, 55)

Cells(i, 59) = Cells(i, 56) + Cells(i, 57) + Cells(i, 58)

Cells(i, 60) = Cells(i, 59) ^ (1 / 2)

Cells(i, 61) = Cells(i, 55) / Cells(i, 60)

Cells(i, 62) = WorksheetFunction.Acos(Cells(i, 61))

Cells(i, 63) = ((Cells(i, 62)) * 180) / 3.14

'theta_LP


Cells(i, 65) = Cells(i, 35) - Cells(i, 14)

Cells(i, 66) = Cells(i, 36) - Cells(i, 15)

Cells(i, 67) = Cells(i, 37) - Cells(i, 16)

Cells(i, 68) = Cells(i, 65) * Cells(i, 65)

Cells(i, 69) = Cells(i, 66) * Cells(i, 66)

Cells(i, 70) = Cells(i, 67) * Cells(i, 67)

Cells(i, 71) = Cells(i, 68) + Cells(i, 69) + Cells(i, 70)

Cells(i, 72) = Cells(i, 71) ^ (1 / 2)

Cells(i, 73) = Cells(i, 67) / Cells(i, 72)

Cells(i, 74) = WorksheetFunction.Acos(Cells(i, 73))

Cells(i, 75) = ((Cells(i, 74)) * 180) / 3.14

'theta_Rp


Cells(i, 77) = Cells(i, 38) - Cells(i, 17)

Cells(i, 78) = Cells(i, 39) - Cells(i, 18)

Cells(i, 79) = Cells(i, 40) - Cells(i, 41)

Cells(i, 80) = Cells(i, 77) * Cells(i, 77)

Cells(i, 81) = Cells(i, 78) * Cells(i, 78)

Cells(i, 82) = Cells(i, 79) * Cells(i, 79)

Cells(i, 83) = Cells(i, 80) + Cells(i, 81) + Cells(i, 82)

Cells(i, 84) = Cells(i, 83) ^ (1 / 2)

Cells(i, 85) = Cells(i, 79) / Cells(i, 84)

Cells(i, 86) = WorksheetFunction.Acos(Cells(i, 85))

Cells(i, 87) = ((Cells(i, 86)) * 180) / 3.14


'dia L


Cells(i, 89) = Cells(i, 2) - Cells(i, 20)

Cells(i, 90) = Cells(i, 3) - Cells(i, 21)

Cells(i, 91) = Cells(i, 4) - Cells(i, 22)

Cells(i, 92) = Cells(i, 89) * Cells(i, 89)

Cells(i, 93) = Cells(i, 90) * Cells(i, 90)

Cells(i, 94) = Cells(i, 91) * Cells(i, 91)

Cells(i, 95) = Cells(i, 92) + Cells(i, 93) + Cells(i, 94)

Cells(i, 96) = Cells(i, 95) ^ (1 / 2)


'dia R

Cells(i, 98) = Cells(i, 5) - Cells(i, 23)

Cells(i, 99) = Cells(i, 6) - Cells(i, 24)

Cells(i, 100) = Cells(i, 7) - Cells(i, 25)

Cells(i, 101) = Cells(i, 98) * Cells(i, 98)

Cells(i, 102) = Cells(i, 99) * Cells(i, 99)

Cells(i, 103) = Cells(i, 100) * Cells(i, 100)

Cells(i, 104) = Cells(i, 101) + Cells(i, 102) + Cells(i, 103)

Cells(i, 105) = Cells(i, 104) ^ (1 / 2)

'delthetaL A


Cells(i, 107) = Cells(i, 2) - Cells(i, 5)

Cells(i, 108) = Cells(i, 3) - Cells(i, 6)

Cells(i, 109) = Cells(i, 4) - Cells(i, 7)

Cells(i, 110) = Cells(i, 107) * Cells(i, 107)

Cells(i, 111) = Cells(i, 108) * Cells(i, 108)

Cells(i, 112) = Cells(i, 109) * Cells(i, 109)

Cells(i, 113) = Cells(i, 110) + Cells(i, 111) + Cells(i, 112)

Cells(i, 114) = Cells(i, 113) ^ (1 / 2)

Cells(i, 115) = Cells(i, 20) - Cells(i, 23)

Cells(i, 116) = Cells(i, 21) - Cells(i, 24)

Cells(i, 117) = Cells(i, 22) - Cells(i, 25)

Cells(i, 118) = Cells(i, 115) * Cells(i, 115)

Cells(i, 119) = Cells(i, 116) * Cells(i, 116)

Cells(i, 120) = Cells(i, 117) * Cells(i, 117)

Cells(i, 121) = Cells(i, 118) + Cells(i, 119) + Cells(i, 120)

Cells(i, 122) = Cells(i, 121) ^ (1 / 2)

Cells(i, 123) = Cells(i, 107) * Cells(i, 115) + Cells(i, 108) * Cells(i, 116) + Cells(i, 109) * Cells(i, 117)

Cells(i, 125) = Cells(i, 123) / (Cells(i, 114) * Cells(i, 122))

Cells(i, 126) = WorksheetFunction.Acos(Cells(i, 125))

Cells(i, 127) = ((Cells(i, 126)) * 180) / 3.14

'del_LT

Cells(i, 129) = Cells(i, 2) - Cells(i, 32)
Cells(i, 130) = Cells(i, 3) - Cells(i, 33)
Cells(i, 131) = Cells(i, 4) - Cells(i, 34)
Cells(i, 132) = Cells(i, 5) - Cells(i, 32)
Cells(i, 133) = Cells(i, 6) - Cells(i, 33)
Cells(i, 134) = Cells(i, 7) - Cells(i, 34)

Cells(i, 136) = Cells(i, 29) - Cells(i, 26)
Cells(i, 137) = Cells(i, 30) - Cells(i, 27)
Cells(i, 138) = Cells(i, 31) - Cells(i, 28)

Cells(i, 140) = Cells(i, 129) * Cells(i, 129)
Cells(i, 141) = Cells(i, 130) * Cells(i, 130)
Cells(i, 142) = Cells(i, 131) * Cells(i, 131)
Cells(i, 143) = Cells(i, 132) * Cells(i, 132)
Cells(i, 144) = Cells(i, 133) * Cells(i, 133)
Cells(i, 145) = Cells(i, 134) * Cells(i, 134)

Cells(i, 147) = Cells(i, 140) + Cells(i, 141) + Cells(i, 142)
Cells(i, 149) = Cells(i, 143) + Cells(i, 144) + Cells(i, 145)
Cells(i, 148) = Cells(i, 147) ^ (1 / 2)
Cells(i, 150) = Cells(i, 149) ^ (1 / 2)

Cells(i, 152) = Cells(i, 136) * Cells(i, 136)
Cells(i, 153) = Cells(i, 137) * Cells(i, 137)
Cells(i, 154) = Cells(i, 138) * Cells(i, 138)
Cells(i, 155) = Cells(i, 152) + Cells(i, 153) + Cells(i, 154)
Cells(i, 156) = Cells(i, 155) ^ (1 / 2)


Cells(i, 158) = Cells(i, 129) - Cells(i, 136)
Cells(i, 159) = Cells(i, 130) - Cells(i, 137)
Cells(i, 160) = Cells(i, 131) - Cells(i, 138)
Cells(i, 161) = Cells(i, 132) - Cells(i, 136)
Cells(i, 162) = Cells(i, 133) - Cells(i, 137)
Cells(i, 163) = Cells(i, 134) - Cells(i, 138)

Cells(i, 165) = Cells(i, 158) * Cells(i, 158)
Cells(i, 166) = Cells(i, 159) * Cells(i, 159)
Cells(i, 167) = Cells(i, 160) * Cells(i, 160)
Cells(i, 168) = Cells(i, 161) * Cells(i, 161)
Cells(i, 169) = Cells(i, 162) * Cells(i, 162)
Cells(i, 170) = Cells(i, 163) * Cells(i, 163)

Cells(i, 172) = Cells(i, 165) + Cells(i, 166) + Cells(i, 167)
Cells(i, 174) = Cells(i, 168) + Cells(i, 169) + Cells(i, 170)
Cells(i, 173) = Cells(i, 172) ^ (1 / 2)
Cells(i, 175) = Cells(i, 174) ^ (1 / 2)


Next i

ActiveWorkbook.Save

End Sub

My promise

I am following the right path, irrespective of hatred from peoples. I do not care what others think, or how many peoples are with me. I am promised to never reject the path of truth and principle even if I am alone and whole world is against me, because in the end, it is only the truth, which will prevail. Ameen!

Jul 5, 2010

Use of Cell Phone while Driving results serious injury

I have submitted a research very similar to the above topics at Elsevier.com for the journal of “Safety Research”. But this writing is totally different than what we did. Here I am mentioning about the impacts of cell phone on drivers. From our study with eye tracking system, it was vivid that the sharing of attention among the primary and secondary task of driving greatly affect the visual behavior of the driver. The equipment used in our original study included a driving simulator, an eye tracking system, digital video cameras, computers, and cellular phones.
Here I am trying to mention the incidence rate and visual blindness due to dual task of driving to create awareness to my reader so that they will not use cell phone during driving. Enclosed are the main points of my study.
Although driving a vehicle seems like a simple, routine activity to most of people, lack of attention and distraction while driving can result in serious life threatening accidents. Our visual senses are loaded the most during driving as they continuously gather information from car controls, roadways signs and warnings, other vehicles on the road and their behavior. In addition to information from these primary stimuli, various other in-vehicle technologies such as cellular telephones, vehicle equipment, entertainment and navigation systems, compete for the drivers’ visual attention. While these supplementary devices are designed for drivers’ convenience, they may cause distraction resulting in serious car crashes. Based on the recently published data by National Center of Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 2008 , distraction during driving was estimated to account for 19% of overall vehicular crashes (1,100,000 out of 5,811,000). The classification based on types of crashes showed that inattention caused 16 % of fatal crashes (5331 out of 34071), 21 % of injury crashes (350,000 out of 1,630,000), and 18% of property damage only crashes (745,000 out of 4,146,000) (NHTSA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2009).
The use of cell phones while driving is widespread and likely to become even more pervasive as cell phone popularity continues to grow. According to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA–The Wireless Association), the total estimated wireless mobile subscribers were 286,646,191 in 2009 and it is projected that the subscribers will have skyrocketed at 348.6 million in 2013 [Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association-2009].

During high traffic and complex situation of additional traffic signs and symbols, the mental workload is increased and thus drivers are less able to maintain required situation awareness. Hence if a driver continues telephonic conversation while driving in a more complex traffic situation, the addition of mental workload and visual inattention may result to an increased likelihood of crashes. Based on the model of human control and behavior by Rasmussen, training in a particular task like driving moves the activities such as operation of controls from the knowledge or rule-based levels towards the skill-based level. This causes a reduction in mental/cognitive workload required for the operations involved in the driving task.

The dual task of driving while phoning causes the following facts:

1) The driving speed is decreased when the driving talking in cell phone. Drivers exhibited faster speeds at the beginning of the lead-vehicle brake event, relative to the baseline condition which may indicate that drivers diverted their attention away from speed monitoring while engaged in phone conversation

2) The dual task – driving and conversation on cell phone causes the increment of lane position variation from the center. In addition, this dual task decrease the number of times drivers changed lanes


3) The effect of conversation significantly causes steering variability and hence originates lane deviation. The rate of steering corrections that the driver has to make in order to retain the desired lane position was decreased due to the increased distraction

4) Generally female without dual task exhibit better driving performance than male but when they are engaged with dual task- driving while conversing in cell phone show evidence of worse driving performance than male.

5) Some researchers demonstrated that age was an examined variable significantly related to phone conversation task performance, with younger individuals performing better than older individuals. In a field study, the researchers showed that dual task of conversation with cell phone during driving exhibited a significantly slower Braking Response Time (BRT) specifically the aged drivers showed long BRT than the younger drivers due to distraction. Moreover, the older drivers had much more substantial decrease in stopping time (ST) before traffic line than the younger drivers.

6) Drivers show signs of longer headways at the beginning of the lead-vehicle brake event, relative to the baseline condition which may indicate that drivers diverted their attention away from speed monitoring while engaged in phone conversation, but compensated for the increased task demands by increasing their headways

In Summary, Due to the attention lapses, the driver’s mental/cognitive workload increased which may result in life threatening death. So we should omit the habit of talking in cell phone while driving.

Jul 1, 2010

Bangladesh Vision 2021


Economy will drive the vision


(PART 1)

When I was an employee of Maxwell Stamp Ltd. ( a British consulting firm, who is holding most of the project launched by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB) in Bangladesh ), I had a good chance to look at the database of different industrial sector. When I visited at different industry, I saw the enthusiasm on worker’s eye. But I did not find any keenness at government institution to assist our private sector, especially to develop our small and medium enterprise. The project for developing our small and medium enterprise was funded by Asian Development Bank.

Now I am far away from my home. But still I feel the same passion that I found in our poor workers.

Bangladesh has the potential to join the ranks of the middle-income countries by 2021. But these tasks of poverty alleviation in Bangladesh are all the more challenging and compelling in view of the persistence of extreme and chronic poverty with a growing inequality in income distribution. By 2021, the structure of the Bangladesh economy is expected to change further.
This long-term development strategy must also envisage optimum utilization of our resources including gas, coal and water.

In my opinions, certain factors will push the dream towards its goal. I try to explain the fact that I know and believe.

Energy security: Energy securities of our natural resources play an important policy objective to meet the needs of domestic investors, and attracting FDI. Still for gas and oil exploration and distribution, we depend largely on foreign company. Our government can give opportunity to FBCCI to take any initiative to launch an petroleum company for our domestic exploration – I mean we should reduce dependency on foreign company. Otherwise, energy security would be a dream even for our future generation. In finally, Electrification of the entire country will be given the highest priority and will be completed by 2021.

Greater productivity of agriculture and agro-processing: Agriculture is a primitive industry. Still our agriculture system depends mainly on primitive mechanism; the poor farmer does not get enough knowledge on scientific way of farming to get advanced productivity. On the other, the share of cultivable land is declining day by day at whole over the country. So Govt. should take special attention about that issue. The government should also take necessary steps for greater investments in quality research, extension, mechanized cultivation and crop diversification. Our specialized banks can play a good role as a major lender for the agricultural sector. Our agro-processing industry like flour mills, rice processing industry, rubber industry, bakery, foods and beverage etc may play a greater role in contributing to economic growth and more importantly, in creating opportunities for those rural workers who will no longer be absorbed by the agricultural sector.


Attention to SME (Small and Medium Enterprise): Special attention will be given to developing and enhancing the productivity of small and medium industry to meet the growing demand of the domestic market as well as to service the export market. To meet the needs of this sector, institutions and policies will be designed to ensure ready access to credit, technology up-gradation and the advantages of external economies through integrated infrastructure, which enable small entrepreneurs to aggregate their capacities in order to compete, on better terms, in the global and national market.

A competitive investment climate: Improving the investment climate is a cross-cutting issue which will be required to ensure the competitive strength of our industry and services sectors in the future. This will entail an institutional set-up that is free from corruption and unnecessary regulatory hassles, existence of harmonious labor relations and labor laws that meet global standards, simplified export and import procedures via the use of e-investment services, an improved law and order situation, deepening of the capital market. Development of infrastructure facilities and services especially in the areas of highways, port and airport facilities, telecommunications and the power sector will be of crucial importance in this context.

Increased global market access by Bangladeshi firms: In the context of increased trade liberalization and globalization, Bangladesh will have to remain an open economy with the fullest access to export markets. Securing such access will necessitate internationally competitive export supply capabilities such as reliable infrastructure, export financing schemes, appropriate technology acquisitions, human resource development for skilled and technical expertise, and compliance standards tomensure quality control, to name a few.

Establishing more EPZ (Export Processing Zone): Opportunities in export-oriented industry other than in the RMG sector will need to be secured in a world where there is increasing globalization of production. Sectors that appear to have high potentials include pharmaceuticals, ceramics, home textiles, leather products, toys, cement, eco-packaging using jute, clay costume jewellery, assembled electronics and data processing.

Transit Facility: Still a very sensitive issue, Chittagong port was a transit point from 1000 years ago. When Arab invaders came to India, they used Chittagong port for trading, afterwards, this port was used by Protégées and English merchant. But when Bangladesh formed, we now very cautious to secure our land by opposing transit facilities. I am claiming that if the today’s government can give the transit facility to any foreign country, the economy of the people of Chittagong, and surrounding area will be improved very much.
(Continued)

By Suman K Chowdhury
Industrial Engineer, West Virginia University, USA

THAT IS GOOD


Long ago in India a king ruled the land. Always by his side was his minister, who was known for his wisdom, but also for a strange habit that often annoyed the king. For no matter what happened, he always responded by saying, "That is good, that is good."

One day the king was out hunting when his horse was startled by a large snake. The king was thrown from the horse and dragged some distance, in the process deeply cutting his foot and losing a toe. As his minister knelt beside him to inspect the damage he said, "That is good, that is good."

"How can you say that is good?" the king screamed in out­rage. "What kind of minister are you? You are dismissed from your post immediately."

"That is good," said the minister, "that is good," and off he went to the palace to pack his bags.

The king returned home and his foot eventually healed, minus the toe. Again one day he decided to go hunting. This time he became separated from his hunting party. Suddenly he was ambushed by the tribal people who lived near those woods. He was tied up and taken back to their village.

Now these tribal people had a custom of sacrificing their prisoners (the king in this case) to their god. They prepared him for the sacrificial celebration, washing and decorating him. The celebration began with music and dancing as he was led to the slaughtering place like a goat. The king shook with terror from head to foot. He nearly fainted when the priest carne forward waving a long knife. The priest danced around him, inspecting him from every angle. Suddenly he motioned for the music and dancing to stop. "This-one is no good," he said. "He has been cut." He pointed to the missing toe. "We cannot sacrifice to God something that has already been cut." The priest slashed at the vines that bound the king's hands and legs, and set him free. The king limped back to the palace as quickly as he could.

Once back in the safety of his palace, the king remembered his minister and called for him. He told him the story and said, "You were right. It was good that my toe was lost. Because of it, I was not sacrificed by the tribal people. But why did you say `This is good' when I fired you from your post?"

"There is always some good to come out of things, your high­ness," replied the minister. "If I had not been fired, I would have been with you that day when you were captured by the tribal people. Because I have all of my toes, I would have been next in line for the sacrifice."

"You are truly right, my friend," said the king. "That was good, that was good indeed, and so is your wisdom. You shall advise me always." And he did. And it was good.

A Biased Mind Cannot Grasp Reality

"The person whom I respect most currently"

Religious Harmony

His Holiness Dalai Lama



I am extremely delighted to attend this inter faith seminar on the Preservation of Religious Harmony, Co­existence and Universal Peace organised by the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), Ladakh group. Thank you very much for the detailed explanation of the association's history, activities, objectives and their relevance in the present century. I have nothing to add on what the speakers said earlier. But I would like to say a few things.
We are now in the twenty ­first century. The quality of research on both the inner and physical world has reached quite high levels, thanks to the tremendous stride in technological advancement and human intelligence. However, as some of the speakers said before, the world is also facing a lot of new problems, most of which are man­-made. The root cause of these man­-made problems is the inability of human beings to control their agitated minds. How to control such a state of mind is taught by the various religions of this world.
I am a religious practitioner, who follows Buddhism. More than a thousand years have passed since the great religions of the world flourished, including Buddhism. During those years, the world had witnessed a lot of conflicts, in which followers of different religions were also involved. As a religious practitioner, I acknowledge the fact that different religions of the world have provided many solutions about how to control an agitated mind. In spite of this, I still feel we have not been able to realise our full potential.
I always say that every person on this earth has the freedom to practice or not practice religion. It is all right to do either. But once you accept religion, it is extremely important to be able to focus your mind on it and sincerely practice the teachings in your daily life. All of us can see that we tend to indulge in religious favouritism by saying, "I belong to this or that religion", rather than making effort to control our agitated minds. This misuse of religion, due to our disturbed minds, also sometimes creates problems.
I know a physicist from Chile who told me that it is not appropriate for a scientist to be biased towards science because of his love and passion for it. I am a Buddhist practitioner and have a lot of faith and respect in the teachings of the Buddha. However, if I mix up my love for and attachment to Buddhism, then my mind shall be biased towards it. A biased mind, which never sees the complete picture, cannot grasp the reality. And any action that results from such a state of mind will not be in tune with reality. As such it causes a lot of problems.
According to Buddhist philosophy, happiness is the result of an enlightened mind whereas suffering is caused by a distorted mind. This is very important. A distorted mind, in contrast to an enlightened mind, is one that is not in tune with reality.
Any issue, including political, economic and religious activities human beings pursue in this world, should be fully understood before we pass our judgement. Therefore, it is very important to know the causes. Whatever the issue, we should be able to see the complete picture. This will enable us to comprehend the whole story. The teachings offered in Buddhism are based on rationality, and I think are very fruitful.
Today, a lot of people from different religious backgrounds are present here. In every religion, there are transcendent things that are beyond the grasp of our mind and speech. For example, the concept of God in Christianity and Islam and that of wisdom truth body in Buddhism are metaphysical, which is not possible for an ordinary person like us to realise. This is a common difficulty faced by every religion. It is taught in every ­religion, including Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, that the ultimate truth is driven by faith.
I want to emphasise that it is extremely important for practitioners to sincerely believe in their respective religions. Usually, I say that it is very important to distinguish between "belief in one religion" and "belief in many religions". The former directly contradicts the latter. Therefore, we should resolutely resolve these contradictions. This is possible only by thinking in contextual terms. A contradiction in one context might not be the same in the other. In the context of one person, a single truth is closely associated with a single source of refuge. This is of extreme necessity. However, in the context of society or more than one person it is necessary to have different sources of refuge, religions and truths.
In the past it was not a major problem because nations remained aloof from each other with their own distinct religion. However, in today's close and inter-connected world there are so many differences amongst various religions. We must obviously resolve these problems. For example, there have been a lot of religions in India for the past thousand years. Some of them were imported from outside whereas some have grown in India itself. Despite this, the fact is that these religions have been able to coexist with each other, and the principle of Ahimsa has really flourished in this country. Even today, this principle has a strong bearing on every religion. This is very precious and India should really take pride in it.
Ladakh has been a predominantly Buddhist area 'for so many centuries. But other religions such as Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism have also flourished here. Although it is natural for the people of Ladakh to have attachment to and love for their own religions, yet this place has a very peaceful environment with no major problems of religious intolerance. During my maiden visit to Ladakh, I heard elderly Muslims using the phrase "community of sangha" in their speeches. Although such phrases are not found in Islam, yet a reference of this kind invokes a lot of trust amongst the Buddhists. Therefore, people from different religious background in Ladakh are very close to each other and live in harmony.
As far as the Muslims are concerned it is appropriate for them to have complete devotion to Allah while praying in the mosques. This is also the same with Buddhists who are completely devoted to the Buddha when they pray in Buddhist temples. A society, which has many religions should also have many prophets and sources of refuge. In such a society it is very important to have harmony and respect amongst the different religions and their practitioners. We must distinguish between belief and respect. Belief refers to total faith, which you must have in your own religion. At the same time you should have respect for all other religions. This tradition of believing in one's own religion and having respect for others is in existence in Ladakh since your forefathers. Therefore you do not have to invent it. The most important thing at the moment is to preserve and promote this tradition. I would like to thank all of you for working hard regarding this and request you to continue to do so in the future.
If a harmonious relationship is established amongst societies and religious beliefs in today's multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural world, then it will surely set a very good example for others. However, if all the sides become careless, then there is a danger of imminent problems. In a multi­ethnic society the biggest problem is that of between the majority and the minority. For instance, in the capital Leh, Buddhists constitute the majority of the population whereas Muslims belong to the minority community. The majority must consider the minority as their invited guests. The minority, on the other hand, should be able to sensitise with the majority. In other words, both sides should live in harmony. In order to sustain this harmony, both sides should not take lightly the sensitive issues between themselves. Indeed, the majority should pay attention to and appreciate the views and opinion of the minority. Both sides should discuss and clearly express what they think about the other's view and opinion. The minority, on the other hand, should be careful about where the sensitive issues of the majority lies and express whatever doubts they have in their minds. If problems are resolved in such a friendly manner; then both sides will gain. Suspicion of each other will only harm both communities. Therefore, it is very important to live in harmony and analyse where the opinion of the other lies. The best way to do this is to engage in dialogue, dialogue and dialogue.
Excerpts from His Holiness the Dalai Lama's address to the inter-faith seminar organised by the International Association for Religious Freedom, Ladakh Group, in Leh on 25 August.