I visited my Dad for an evening towards the end of this week. I hope you enjoy our dialogue . . .
Dialogue: Mind & Mind on Mind
Overture
SPK: Hi Dad, how was your week?
RVK: This new Instant Pot electronic cooker, has made my life very easy.
SPK: I know, ..... you have been talking about this!
RVK: Indeed, I have been using it for six months now, and it is dramatic how convenient it is!
SPK: One commercial taken care of. Any other products to endorse?
RVK: ha ha ok. What is on your mind?
SPK: yes
RVK: (pauses for a couple of seconds) Michael Pollan stuff?
SPK: Yes! Terrific book about psychedlics. But I assure you I only read his book.
RVK: I am your Dad. So that is all you would say. But I believe you.
SPK: How about we go teensy Michael Pollan with a pot of coffee?
RVK: That I endorse....
The Practicals
RVK: So what have you been up to?
SPK: Well, thanks to my friend, I cleaned up my eating habits with the Whole30 program. It has been 60 days and I feel absolutely great!
RVK: Another commercial?!
SPK: Sorry
RVK: Never mind. What has that got to do with the mind?
SPK: Well, since I cleaned up my eating, I was wondering if I could clean up my mind as well!
RVK: Good idea!
SPK: So I styled myself a program and called it Mind30.
RVK: Interesting. What did you do?
SPK: I planned to sit down quietly each morning for 30 straight days. First ten days for 10 minutes each. Next ten days for 20 mins each and the next ten days for 30 mins each
RVK: Wow. Did you do it?
SPK: Yup, yesterday was my last day!
RVK: Did you do this alone?
SPK: I have my classmate to thank who gave me daily counsel from afar ....
RVK: Excellent! Is this why you have come to see me?
SPK: Yes
RVK: What would you like to share?
SPK: Well, a question really. Have you done anything like this yourself?
RVK: Yes, I meditated daily for 7 - 8 years in the late 1970s and 80s when I was your age.
SPK: oh gee! You got me beat!
RVK: It is not a competition. But let's discuss
The Observations
SPK: Can you tell me what you observed in your 7 years
RVK: I want to stipulate that I am a scientist (happily retired, I might add). A hard core scientist at that. So I was only doing it to calm my mind down to get ready for my day at work.
SPK: But to carry on for 7-8 years means that it had an impact for you?
RVK: Unquestionably
SPK: What happened?
RVK: Well, I sat quietly each morning for approximately for 15 minutes, observing my breath and not try to actively think.
SPK: ..... and?
RVK: I was always refreshed for the rest of the day.
SPK: That's it
RVK: Well....
SPK: Yeah ...?
RVK: On many occasions I would only be aware of my thoughts with no awareness of my physical body.
SPK: An out-of-body experience?!
RVK: Well, more like in a suspension tank.
SPK: Gee ...!
RVK: How were your 30 days?
SPK: Comical!
RVK: Let's hear it ....
SPK: The first ten days, when I tried to sit quietly for 10 mins, and focus on my breath, my mind was a ping pong ball that was hit hard. Bounced everywhere
RVK: How did you react?
SPK: I laughed to myself. I had never actually observed the mind at work. It was a veritable monkey on a bed of hot coal.
RVK: What happened during the second ten days?
SPK: The bumping around subsided, but huge waves of thoughts passed through me.
RVK: What about?
SPK: Everything. Work related urgencies. To do lists. Projects at the house. Doctor appointments for our dog, Fred. They were like gusts of wind. I could see them forming and "whoosh" flow through me.
RVK: How did you react?
SPK: I did not laugh as much as I did the first ten days. But I did find this absurd. Each "wave" of thought caused feelings in me of anxiety, urgency, mirth or other emotions.
RVK: What happened in your final stretch?
SPK: I did not get to 30 mins of sitting right away in the last ten days. I worked up to it. The very act of sitting still for 30 mins without doing anything is surprising to me that I can do that.
RVK: Indeed. What was your experience.
SPK: I did feel refreshed like you. I constantly was able to focus and ask, "who is observing all this ...?"
RVK: And?
SPK: Well ....
RVK: Go on .....
SPK: My mind completely calmed down. The ping ponging ended for sure. The gusts of thoughts subsided. All the chirping of the birds, the passing by of the train of the Boston "T-", the rustling of the squirrels in the branches all subsided and I felt suspended in quiet.
RVK: Excellent. How did you feel.
SPK: As though there is a spring flowing inside and if I were quiet enough I could tap into it. Does that sound ridiculous? Could I be making this up?
RVK: Let me assure you that I felt the same!
The speculations
SPK: What do you think this means?
RVK: It is a way to rejuvenate?
SPK: Could we speculate on a deeper meaning?
RVK: I am scientist, so we could hypothesize!
SPK: Hypothesize away!
RVK: Our mind could be an antenna.
SPK: Gee. Want to watch the British Open or something?!
RVK: Well, what I mean is that if you are truly quiet in the mind, you are tuning into what your inner universe is, which is the same as the outer universe. And thus you can gain resonance with it, without the cloud of thoughts and worries.
SPK: Interesting hypothesis. And nice way to slip in a Physics reference with resonance.
RVK: Do you have one?
SPK: Yup - endorphins plus ...!
RVK: Go on.
SPK: If find that if I am in the least troubled, then some vigorous activity like gardening, or raking or mulching completely refreshes me. It turns out that the body under such activity releases endorphins that act as pain blockers. That plus the mind being focused on the activity at hand, makes one feel wholly refreshed after.
RVK: But in your Mind30, you were not vigorous, but quite the opposite?
SPK: Indeed.
RVK: So what is your hypothesis?
SPK: That when we are quiet, our brain releases something else, that is not an endorphin, but has a similar effect...
RVK: AHA!!
SPK: Indeed, apparantely plants and animals all possess a molecule call DMT, that is a psychedelic.
RVK: Paging Michael Pollan!
SPK: Indeed. Instead of ingesting some pyschedilic, the quieting of the mind, causes the brain to release it.
RVK: (pauses): Gee ....
SPK: Let's put our two hypotheses together
RVK: Indeed! Plants and animals have this DMT molecule, that gets released when we are quiet, and we become an antenna to connect with our surroundings.
SPK: Hypothesis?
RVK: Hypothesis!
Finale
SPK: So what are we to make of all this?
RVK: Balance
SPK: Meaning?
RVK: Eat well. Be happy at work. Refresh yourself physically. Refresh yourself mentally by connecting to your surroundings. Take care of your family. Contribute to the community. Nothing out of proportion. All in balanced measures.
SPK: Thank you Prof. Buddha!
RVK: Prof. Kolluri will do ....
SPK: How about we celebrate by watching an old movie together?
RVK: Let's do it!
(A 25 year old video CD, of a 65 year old B/W movie was enjoyed by SPK & RVK, with loud articulation of the dialogues along with the actors ....)
Previous Dialogues with my Dad:
Probability: A conversation
Nothingness & Being: A Conversation
Abstraction: A conversation
Dialogue: Mind & Mind on Mind
Overture
SPK: Hi Dad, how was your week?
RVK: This new Instant Pot electronic cooker, has made my life very easy.
SPK: I know, ..... you have been talking about this!
RVK: Indeed, I have been using it for six months now, and it is dramatic how convenient it is!
SPK: One commercial taken care of. Any other products to endorse?
RVK: ha ha ok. What is on your mind?
SPK: yes
RVK: (pauses for a couple of seconds) Michael Pollan stuff?
SPK: Yes! Terrific book about psychedlics. But I assure you I only read his book.
RVK: I am your Dad. So that is all you would say. But I believe you.
SPK: How about we go teensy Michael Pollan with a pot of coffee?
RVK: That I endorse....
The Practicals
RVK: So what have you been up to?
SPK: Well, thanks to my friend, I cleaned up my eating habits with the Whole30 program. It has been 60 days and I feel absolutely great!
RVK: Another commercial?!
SPK: Sorry
RVK: Never mind. What has that got to do with the mind?
SPK: Well, since I cleaned up my eating, I was wondering if I could clean up my mind as well!
RVK: Good idea!
SPK: So I styled myself a program and called it Mind30.
RVK: Interesting. What did you do?
SPK: I planned to sit down quietly each morning for 30 straight days. First ten days for 10 minutes each. Next ten days for 20 mins each and the next ten days for 30 mins each
RVK: Wow. Did you do it?
SPK: Yup, yesterday was my last day!
RVK: Did you do this alone?
SPK: I have my classmate to thank who gave me daily counsel from afar ....
RVK: Excellent! Is this why you have come to see me?
SPK: Yes
RVK: What would you like to share?
SPK: Well, a question really. Have you done anything like this yourself?
RVK: Yes, I meditated daily for 7 - 8 years in the late 1970s and 80s when I was your age.
SPK: oh gee! You got me beat!
RVK: It is not a competition. But let's discuss
The Observations
SPK: Can you tell me what you observed in your 7 years
RVK: I want to stipulate that I am a scientist (happily retired, I might add). A hard core scientist at that. So I was only doing it to calm my mind down to get ready for my day at work.
SPK: But to carry on for 7-8 years means that it had an impact for you?
RVK: Unquestionably
SPK: What happened?
RVK: Well, I sat quietly each morning for approximately for 15 minutes, observing my breath and not try to actively think.
SPK: ..... and?
RVK: I was always refreshed for the rest of the day.
SPK: That's it
RVK: Well....
SPK: Yeah ...?
RVK: On many occasions I would only be aware of my thoughts with no awareness of my physical body.
SPK: An out-of-body experience?!
RVK: Well, more like in a suspension tank.
SPK: Gee ...!
RVK: How were your 30 days?
SPK: Comical!
RVK: Let's hear it ....
SPK: The first ten days, when I tried to sit quietly for 10 mins, and focus on my breath, my mind was a ping pong ball that was hit hard. Bounced everywhere
RVK: How did you react?
SPK: I laughed to myself. I had never actually observed the mind at work. It was a veritable monkey on a bed of hot coal.
RVK: What happened during the second ten days?
SPK: The bumping around subsided, but huge waves of thoughts passed through me.
RVK: What about?
SPK: Everything. Work related urgencies. To do lists. Projects at the house. Doctor appointments for our dog, Fred. They were like gusts of wind. I could see them forming and "whoosh" flow through me.
RVK: How did you react?
SPK: I did not laugh as much as I did the first ten days. But I did find this absurd. Each "wave" of thought caused feelings in me of anxiety, urgency, mirth or other emotions.
RVK: What happened in your final stretch?
SPK: I did not get to 30 mins of sitting right away in the last ten days. I worked up to it. The very act of sitting still for 30 mins without doing anything is surprising to me that I can do that.
RVK: Indeed. What was your experience.
SPK: I did feel refreshed like you. I constantly was able to focus and ask, "who is observing all this ...?"
RVK: And?
SPK: Well ....
RVK: Go on .....
SPK: My mind completely calmed down. The ping ponging ended for sure. The gusts of thoughts subsided. All the chirping of the birds, the passing by of the train of the Boston "T-", the rustling of the squirrels in the branches all subsided and I felt suspended in quiet.
RVK: Excellent. How did you feel.
SPK: As though there is a spring flowing inside and if I were quiet enough I could tap into it. Does that sound ridiculous? Could I be making this up?
RVK: Let me assure you that I felt the same!
The speculations
SPK: What do you think this means?
RVK: It is a way to rejuvenate?
SPK: Could we speculate on a deeper meaning?
RVK: I am scientist, so we could hypothesize!
SPK: Hypothesize away!
RVK: Our mind could be an antenna.
SPK: Gee. Want to watch the British Open or something?!
RVK: Well, what I mean is that if you are truly quiet in the mind, you are tuning into what your inner universe is, which is the same as the outer universe. And thus you can gain resonance with it, without the cloud of thoughts and worries.
SPK: Interesting hypothesis. And nice way to slip in a Physics reference with resonance.
RVK: Do you have one?
SPK: Yup - endorphins plus ...!
RVK: Go on.
SPK: If find that if I am in the least troubled, then some vigorous activity like gardening, or raking or mulching completely refreshes me. It turns out that the body under such activity releases endorphins that act as pain blockers. That plus the mind being focused on the activity at hand, makes one feel wholly refreshed after.
RVK: But in your Mind30, you were not vigorous, but quite the opposite?
SPK: Indeed.
RVK: So what is your hypothesis?
SPK: That when we are quiet, our brain releases something else, that is not an endorphin, but has a similar effect...
RVK: AHA!!
SPK: Indeed, apparantely plants and animals all possess a molecule call DMT, that is a psychedelic.
RVK: Paging Michael Pollan!
SPK: Indeed. Instead of ingesting some pyschedilic, the quieting of the mind, causes the brain to release it.
RVK: (pauses): Gee ....
SPK: Let's put our two hypotheses together
RVK: Indeed! Plants and animals have this DMT molecule, that gets released when we are quiet, and we become an antenna to connect with our surroundings.
SPK: Hypothesis?
RVK: Hypothesis!
Finale
SPK: So what are we to make of all this?
RVK: Balance
SPK: Meaning?
RVK: Eat well. Be happy at work. Refresh yourself physically. Refresh yourself mentally by connecting to your surroundings. Take care of your family. Contribute to the community. Nothing out of proportion. All in balanced measures.
SPK: Thank you Prof. Buddha!
RVK: Prof. Kolluri will do ....
SPK: How about we celebrate by watching an old movie together?
RVK: Let's do it!
(A 25 year old video CD, of a 65 year old B/W movie was enjoyed by SPK & RVK, with loud articulation of the dialogues along with the actors ....)
Previous Dialogues with my Dad:
Probability: A conversation
Nothingness & Being: A Conversation
Abstraction: A conversation
17 comments:
This is a great conversation.
I took up meditation via Yin yoga a little over a year ago. It is one of the best things I have done in my entire life and I am a very fortunate person. Yin combines long floor poses with stillness and meditation. I too have experienced the stream and also the peaceful floating amongst clouds.
As we say at the end of each class. “May all sentient beings everywhere experience peace.”
And now off to Catholic mass where we say “Peace be with you.”
Loved it
Pretty cool. I like the dialogue and also flowing hypothesis.
Play on Hypothesis: I do align with the notion that we may have some kind of antenna that our brain cells tap into..
Also, as a prof, I feel that when I am close to the hypothesis, I turn to the literature and see sometimes some one has proposed it already.
So did I conceive this idea based on my training and mentoring by my teachers or it came through an invisible antenna?
I feel that there is a blurring of science and religion happening!
some religious concepts/hypothesis we had before are being proven correct/modified with new data? For example, yoga .. meditation ...
Also, in metallurgy there is a new topic called high entropy alloys.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_entropy_alloys
This was done by our siddhas long time back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchaloha
Now I am reading the book :When Einstein walked with Godel by Jim Holt.. interesting read.. there is a chapter on brains and about Dehaene
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislas_Dehaene;
interesting concepts about numbers.
Love the following:
"...if you are truly quiet in the mind, you are tuning into what your inner universe is, which is the same as the outer universe. And thus you can gain resonance with it, without the cloud of thoughts and worries."
"...vigorous activity like gardening, or raking or mulching completely refreshes me. It turns out that the body under such activity releases endorphins that act as pain blockers. That plus the mind being focused on the activity at hand, makes one feel wholly refreshed after.”
"Plants and animals have this DMT molecule, that gets released when we are quiet, and we become an antenna to connect with our surroundings."
This is fantastic.
Whole30 - I’m trying it!!
So then the statements my spiritual teachers made about how meditation is a safer and deeper way towards transcendence of one sort or another than using psychedelics is not just metaphorical but actually biochemical.
Interesting. My teachers didn’t know how true that statement was.
Thanks … except for that balance thing… who wants to do that? :-)
It is pleasing in multiple ways - for a beautiful father son relation for the scientific temper for the spiritual stuff etc etc ... !
Eat well. Be happy at work. Refresh yourself physically. Refresh yourself mentally by connecting to your surroundings. Take care of your family. Contribute to the community.
Very interesting conversation experiences exchanged between Prof & Son on Mind30.
Needless to say meditating is no easy feat when we r boggled down with our daily routine work.
Good that you have successfully completed your Mind30 and shared your hypothesis meditating helps rejuvenate and hits the refresh button on your mind and I liked two important aspects in the whole exchange - Resonance & Balance
When I try to think towards that which I have no perception all I can do is speculate...and when we speculate without fundamentals everything ends in hallucination....
Spirituality for many has become a hallucinatory world...
Pls don't be too hard on me for saying this!
A mesmerizing dialogue between father and son. It is scientific and spiritual at the same time. An antenna to connect with the surroundings.
Great hypothesis. Have a relaxed life.
Glad that Prof Kolluri enjoys cooking. His statement below is a great recipe for life:
Eat well. Be happy at work. Refresh yourself physically. Refresh yourself mentally by connecting to your surroundings. Take care of your family. Contribute to the community. Nothing out of proportion.
All in balanced measures.
Special thanks to Srini for suggestions on your Mind30!
I enjoyed reading the dialogue between you and your dad. Thanks.
Also, previously the dialogue about you and the bot version of yours.please continue to share the posts.
Very interesting indeed.
Professor turned out to be the most apt person to whom who could relate your meditative experiences.
Surprised that at the end you couldn't identify an inner nonphysical entity as YOU.
But you seem to have felt the outer and inner universe's continuance.
Fruitful effort
Interesting write up laced with humour and at the same time very profound...would urge you to try a nice app available in both apple and android... CALM... guides you on meditation...i
I tried this and was quite happy....
of course irespective of it the monkey in my mind refused to leave
But that's an another story altogether
This is very good and very funny. What was the movie?
Thank you - I had fun penning it!
The old “Bollywood” movies borrowed heavily from Charlie Chaplin and some of the Shakespearean themes like “Taming of the shrew” etc ...
Congratulations to you if you were able to blank your minds for 10 minutes.
There is a center in the Bay Area called as the South Asia Heart Center, with an amazing program directed towards folks of South Asian descent. Their program focuses on four principles - Diet, Exercise, Rest and Meditation.
Enjoyed the write up in the conversational format !
Firstly, by describing the process and its effects in a simple manner, you may have motivated a few!
That you achieved these effects, the quietening of the mind and consequently rejuvenation, within 30 days is wonderful!
Prof advice at the end, pearls of wisdom!
I will say that you made wine out of mere grapes!
The comments here are also extraordinary in the sense that only intellectuals like them can relate the same to their own experiences and contribute to the dialogue.
I am extraordinarily lucky that I can have such conversations with you
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