Tagged: Life

Brain Vs Heart

When we talk about the brain we instantly remember ‘thoughts’ and for the heart, we remember ‘feelings’, in other words, it is the mind and emotions.  If you put this as an example, like in a car has so many parts that are designed to work for so many functions, even in a single gearbox, one gear is moving forward and the other is moving behind.  It is the command (or the function or change of gear) that changes the directions, likewise, in a single human body, two distinct parts deliver contrasting functions – the brain and the heart, two parts that one commands and the other delivers, ironically the second one blamed for no reason.

The heart blamed every time for every inhuman act. The reason humans think this way is because our elders taught us this way.  Have we ever re-analyzed this?  Following the elders is one effective way of development, however, on the other hand, we need to analyze whether our path of going is correct or not, during our journey of life.  There could be hundreds of reasons that some of our elders could have been misled by their seniors or taken the wrong path without any knowledge or influenced or forced by somebody or some reason to catch the path that we are travelling on.  Hindu religion, otherwise called Sanatana Dharma always encourages arguing anything with logic and with the intent of exploring, not merely opposing anything meaninglessly or for self-ego.  In the form of enhancing knowledge of one owned already and the one is pursuing, the Hindu religion has the option called Tarka Shastra – the philosophy of dialectics, logic and reasoning and art of debate that analyzes the nature and source of knowledge and its validity.  As most of you know the Sanskrit term ‘Tarka’ means debate or argue and the term ‘Shastra’ means teaching, giving knowledge, instruction or some command, etc.  As I said earlier, Tarka must be used for a reason to enhance one’s knowledge.

This is how that goes:  Tarka Shastra has two parts, called Purva Paksha and Apara Paksha. If a learned develops any doubts or wants to enhance any points, he/she raises a point (Purva Paksha) and the other party either clarifies or criticizes it (Apara Paksha). This is how the debate will start. Each party will try to support their point of view by giving various references at their best-obtained knowledge level. The Tarka does not imply a purely logical analysis but also a complex activity of discourse guided by strict definitions and goals by these learned scholars. 

That means a human i.e., a learned human must follow the footsteps of ancestors and should learn to analyze whether what he/she follows is the right one.  This is for self-learning and updating or re-establishing one’s understanding.  This kind of teaching is only available in Sanatana Dharma.

What the modern education system is saying about such logic or reasoning of study is also to be discussed here for better clarity and understanding.  If we talk scientifically, the communication between the heart and the brain is a dynamic, ongoing, two-way dialogue with each organ continuously influencing the other’s function.  Research has shown that the heart communicates to the brain in four major ways: neurologically (through the transmission of nerve impulses), biochemically (via hormones and neurotransmitters), biophysically (through pressure waves) and energetically (through electromagnetic field interactions).  Communication along all these conduits significantly affects the brain’s activity, moreover, one research shows that messages the heart sends to the brain also can affect the performance of it. 

Some of the first researchers, Mr. John and Mr. Beatrice Lacey, in the field of psychophysiology examined the interactions between the heart and brain. During 20 years of research throughout the 1960s and ’70s, they observed that the heart communicates with the brain in ways that significantly affect how we perceive and react to the world.

Now the point is your thought becomes your feelings and eventually your action/behavior.  Unlike what we think heartless action or behavior of a person is nothing to do with the heart but the reflection of the brain.  The brain needs reasoning to analyze the thing and act.  The heart does not need any outside inputs to behave on its own but receives command from the brain.  Heart attacks happen when the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart is blocked, causing the death of heart muscle tissue.  The way you manage your anger (few emotions) can have an influence on your heart.  Emotions such as anger and hostility ramp up your “fight or flight” response. When that happens, stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, speed up your heart rate and breathing.  Your blood vessels tighten. Your blood pressure soars.  You’re ready to run for your life or fight an enemy. If this happens often, it causes wear and tear on your artery walls.

“If you have a destructive reaction to anger, you are more likely to have heart attacks,” says cardiologist Dave Montgomery, MD, of Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.

Hence it is the brain that runs the show, why blame the heart alone?

The concluding point is the next time you hear somebody blame the heart for some atrocity, remember the brain’s deep involvement in that.  Your brain is the CPU of your entire computer body.  Why blame the poor heart without any reason?

Balaji Canchi Sistla

6-12-23 from Chennai, India

Reference:

https://handwiki.org/wiki/Philosophy:Tarka_sastra

https://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/heart-brain-communication

https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/features/how-anger-hurts-your-heart

What is Life?

Most people around the world hardly understand the very meaning of LIFE.

Life is not just passing your day after day in any routine.

Life is not the one that just needs another companion as a spouse or the living together – way of life.

Life is not just to spend life in offices/businesses to make money for self or one’s family members.

Life is not just to spare your entire time with your favourite sports and win a few medals and awards.

What life is at all then?

It is something or somebody should not command/dictate our day but we should be able to make it on our own.  Let me put it this way.

An ideal day should commence with peace and pleasure and then be followed with a loved job/studies with the humanity services whenever/wherever possible and when you go to sleep at night, you should have the satisfaction of entire day and you probably anticipating another such great day to come.

Peace, pleasant, loved job/studies, humanity service, satisfying day of life at the end of the day and a pleasant sleep……….. Is it all possible, every day, with everybody?

Yes, of course, it is, if and only if life is perceived rightly. Is there any tool to accomplish this?  In life, your versatility and flexibility in taking up the issues faced every day and sharing experience whatever happening around you, accompanied by the maturity of utilizing previous experiences will only do, not any tools and techniques.  To understand this easily, let me share my experience.

A friend of mine is a doctor by profession, married a girl after a few years of love. The girl belongs to another community. Right from basic rituals, all her customs are different from his.  All our friends were eager as to how he would take up his future life with this girl who was raised in a different environment.  My doctor friend does understand not only the functions of body parts but also the functions (typical thinking) of the human mind.  Yes, it is almost 20 years of marriage life, sailing smoothly with the same flavour of love he had before marriage.  What is the secret?  It is the adaptability of facts and versatility in changing life according to the present.  What one can make life better than these ways? Life is not life when it is not felt from the bottom of the heart.

In a get-together session of our old-batch mates after a gap of 20 years (barring me and the other two, most of our friends meeting him after a long gap), can you guess what would be the first question?  Yep, you guessed right. ‘How is your marriage life?’ was the question. For me (even to my doctor friend, I suppose) it was not a surprise. The answer was a surprise to all our friends who raised the question. He said, “For me, life is not bearing but sharing”. How true it is. The fact is that most of us do fail in this. Tell me guys, how many of us sharing our life with spouses, children, elders and friends? We indulge in all other activities which have no relevance with life but hardly have time for our beloved. Do we blame our destiny, our elders or God? No one gifts life, but it is to be made, day-by-day with your experience, maturity and sharing. If you cannot understand your past mistakes and overcome that, you would ultimately find yourself in the ruins of your life. Some of the people who are unable to face the hurdles in their day to day life, without understanding the precise reason for what happened and find a way to come out of it, would rather prefer to take even extreme steps, like suicides. This is something that needs to be addressed in school life itself.

Children are brought up, nowadays, in a manner in which maybe get a better education but not better life understanding. Success and failure are parts of life. Our mind becomes joyous when success comes. On the contrary, it does not want to hear the word ‘failure’ even.  Children in the home and school must be taught the value of failure. No success tastes good without the previous experience of failure. Nobody’s life is perfect but everybody can make life satisfactory only when you understand it.

For a husband and wife, sharing is the key to make life more enjoyable and satisfactory. Sharing in all aspects with your spouse right from homemaking to official business (if it required to be), from raising children to maintaining a relationship with your neighbours and relatives, from bringing supplies to paying monthly bills.  Why the life of most of the people does not sail smoothly because we always merely discuss, do not share. Discussions can be with anybody, but the sharing can only be with your near and dear.

Sharing is not just in words, clothes or bed with your spouse, but from the bottom of the heart, you ought to mean it. Fight with your partner? Yes, it can be, but the fight should be issue-based, not character-based or one’s weakness based.  Disagree with the spouse? Yes, you can, but you should be capable enough to make him/her understand that why you are not agreeing and what would be right.  Are you not able to understand and tackle problems? Don’t hesitate to talk to your spouse. Your ego has no role or meaning in this. Probably sometimes, you might lose the best opportunities in your life, when you do not share with your spouse. Who knows she/he might be more knowledgeable than you on the subject.  I will share my other experience with you all.

One of my neighbours, who was an accountant by profession, working in a small office and was married recently when this happened. All of sudden he lost the job, just because his computer hard disk, the one he operates daily at office, crashed. The entire company account details were on the computer. He did not maintain the backup for few weeks. Taking disciplinary action against his irresponsibility at work, he was sacked. However, he was given an opportunity, if at all, he could retrieve the data from the lost hard disk, his dismissal might be revoked. He honestly tried his best to resolve the problem, unfortunately, couldn’t do it in the given time and lost his job. Of late, he came to know that his wife is an expert in retrieving lost data from any kind of crashed hard-disks. Had it known earlier, it would have saved his job in time. They never shared their past life it seemed. This example suffices to understand the very value of sharing life.

What all we need is to know how to live, not merely how to earn. Most of the education systems in the present days, unfortunately, dealt with only the second part instead of giving stress in leading a life without pressure but with full of pleasure. Life is a journey of education where you learn more and more new happenings every day. Maybe a few ‘good ones’ and ‘bad ones’, but life has to continue its course without break. Consider bad as an experience to avert such things in future and good as the fruit of your effort. Whether you like it or not, good and bad do happen, how you are going to make such things in your favour is all that matters.

Before I call a halt to this article, let me share the discussion of two phenomenal discoveries of this country, Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda. The part of the discussion was going like this:

Swami Vivekananda asked, “How can one get the best out of life?” In a reply to his question, Swami Ramkrishna Paramhamsa smiled and said, “Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Life is a mystery to solve, not a problem to resolve. Life is wonderful if you know how to live”.

Balaji Canchi Sistla

31-10-2014 @ 5.05 pm at Hyderabad