Sunday, July 26, 2009

...Justice for All...reality or fiction?

I'd joined a Facebook group about 15 days back - Justice for Professor Sabharwal...as i type these words i hope that a good number of people are there right now near India Gate [New Delhi] supporting the protest...

The Facebook group profile has the following words...

Yesterday - Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Mattoo and Nitish Katara
Today - Professor Sabharwal
Tomorrow - Me, You and Our Family

The Late Prof. Harbhajan Singh Sabharwal Served as a Professor of Political Science at Madhav College, Ujjain (M.P). At the time of his murder on the 26th of August’2006. He, while on student election duty, was allegedly murdered in cold blood on the fateful day.

It was just a day after i joined the group that i read an article here in The Telegraph, Kolkata "Professor case in sabotage rut "

....It's sad...it's bad..Forget about arresting the guilty..."Some others were rewarded. Manoj Singh, the then city superintendent of police who was accused of not trying to save the professor, was promoted as additional superintendent of Indore."

Click HERE to read more. [The Telegraph]


Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Music: Origins | Jubal Cain


Recently watched X-Men Origins | Wolverine and that’s why I’ve got the post title as above. So please X- cuse me for using this bold post title. I could make this post short & precise or long & interesting….but since I don’t feel I’m good enough a writer to achieve either, I’ll TRY to stick to the middle path. Wait. Don’t think even this is going to be possible. Lost all writing skills - whatever I had over the last 6 years. Blame it on the habit of simply ticking off answers from multiple choices and not having to write up credible looking answers on my answer sheets during exams. Alright enough of the intro…on to the main piece.

Why is rock and roll music associated with the devil? Or…there is no such thing as Gospel Rock….There is NO music ever used or approved in the worship of the Holy Spirit…. Besides coming across such statements, I’ve also always wondered about the consistent use of the 5 pointed star [inverted]….goat’s head kind of imagery etc….in the album / merchandise artwork of metal and rock bands.

It was early this year that I started getting a little deep into trying to read and learn more about the link between music and the devil so to say. Google up subjects like this and one instantly gets so many links on it. So for awhile I got interested in something “off topic” -- the Illuminati and their mission to create a new world order or world domination -- which I myself have been planning all along. [ I gave up my world domination attempt when all my mission plan data files were wiped out -- my hard disk crashed last month.]

So anyways back to music… it was an odd dark stormy afternoon in May at the office, [please note: during spare time :-) ] … that I came across the ultimate webpage that gave me the answer I was looking for regarding the Satan & Music equation. Just as I was about to click the icon on my browser to save the site on my list of favorites the power went off and my UPS failed to give a power back up. Sorry I just lied. It was my boss who came to me at that moment and said that some of our sites were being infected with an “iframe.inf” virus…and they’d traced someone in Russia who was injecting the malicious code. They wanted me to fly up to the hacker’s location and exterminate him. However, my body was in no condition to execute such an important mission. [I was recovering from the effects of a street food eating incident gone wrong] Whew!!! thus I was able to carry on reading the contents of the web page.
Now, the subject I was reading on the site was not at all on music. It was on Freemasonry and Catholicism by Max Heindel [1865-1919]. Part two of this exposition titled The Masonic Legend mentions that the Masonic legend “has points of variance from as well as agreement with the Bible story”…. [Genesis]. And it was here that I read that Jubal Cain [a descendant of Cain] “originated music”. At this point I assumed that Jubal Cain was someone who only appeared on this Masonic Legend. Later on I came across another site which mentioned "In pagan traditions, musical instruments are invented by gods or demi-gods, such as titans. In the Bible, credit is assigned to antediluvian patriarchs, for example, the descendants of Cain in Genesis 4:21...”


I read the line again. Back home I opened my Bible and looked up the mentioned verse in Genesis chapter 4. Now, I did go to Sunday School as a child and learnt about the creation of the earth, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, The flood & Noah’s ark, The Tower of Babel and so on but honestly I never went back to reading or paying attention to Genesis 4:21..”…Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. and verse 22 ...“...Tubal-Cain who forged all kinds of tools….” [Please note: I mention these points from a Christian/Biblical perspective] So, there we have it!!! Jubal Cain invented the harp and the flute…and I guess he and his sons also made other musical instruments. Thus justifying my post title: Music: Origins… :-) and yes, Tubal Cain too; important man….first man -- inventing tools to make work easier.[Note: The man in the image is NOT Jubal Cain.]

On trying to read more about Jubal Cain on the internet I also came across a band called Jubal Cain :-) [They have a pretty funny FAQ section.] I guess naming ones band after the father of musical instruments does not guarantee musical “rockstardom”…Just Google or Bing up the band.


X-Men Origins…love the opening sequence that follows just after Logan [Wolverine] kills his real father…Oh, wait; I’ve not mentioned the Devil and music equation thing have I?

Back to the FreeMasonic legend / Max Hiendel part. In the Bible, Cain’s father = Adam.
Not so in the Masonic Legend.

The following lines - extract from Hiendel’s exposition:

“…It [Masonic Legend] states that Jehovah created EVE, that the Lucifer Spirit SAMAEL united with her but that he was ousted by Jehovah and forced to leave her before the birth of her son Cain, who was thus THE SON OF A WIDOW. Then Jehovah created ADAM, to be the husband of Eve, and from their union Abel was born. Thus from the beginning there have been two kinds of people in the world. One begotten by the Lucifer Spirit Samael and partaking of a semi-divine nature …..”

So, this particular legend [ for me] is how I believe all these Rock Music = Devil’s Music kind of statements and stories have come to be made and told. After all, this Masonic legend states that the descendants of Lucifer invented musical instruments. Now there are other myths/stories to be read which link up the devil with music.

"Slightly less familiar are the Devil's musical exploits. He not only loves singing but is master of the violin, of which instrument of evil he is reputedly the inventor. By the same token he can give mastery of the violin, bartering infernal skill for the pupil's soul.

These legends are related to the larger belief in the supernatural origin of musical skill and individual songs." (Botkin, B. A., A Treasury of American Folklore, Crown Publishers, p. 718; Cf. The Devil and the Fiddle, Herbert Halpert, Hoosier Folklore Bulletin, Vol II (Dec., 1943).
However, again from a Christian perspective the issue regarding the use of musical instruments in worship is something that I have to read and learn more about to give a definite opinion.

I end with yet one more extract.


In the story of Genun or Jubal, Musical worship is treated as Satan's change agent to seduce God's people down into his dusty world where he lives and where God, in Genesis, assigned him. The following story has many parallels in Scripture often hidden in parable-words in which Jesus said the Truth of God was put in safekeeping from those who see "godliness as a means of financial gain."
Kenneth Sublett, Hohenwald, Tennessee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Bibliography: [click on the links below to read more]
Freemasonry and Catholicism by Max Heindel [1865-1919]
Instrumental Worship in Music
Genun - Jubal - Musical Worship - Book of Adam and Eve

Image:
Johann Martin Schleyer (1831-1912), photography from 1888http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JM_Schleyer_1888.jpg

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Googoo Gaagaa Google!!!

Besides speaking on the phone.. and sending photos... Google Maps helps.. :-) Featured below is the area where my folks, little daughter & wife currently reside..


View 23.761350, 92.734940 in a larger map

Was "playing" inside Google Maps yesterday....and it's pretty fun to fiddle with in free time...creating labels, exploring areas where you've been, where you want to go..or maybe searching for ahem..someone's house...okay we are getting into intrusion of privacy [stalker] territory .. :-)

Once you've created your map..you get a code to embed.. just like embedding Youtube videos. Google is cool!!! Now about the intrusion of privacy part + Google. Yesterday i was reading some Freemason stuff..and after i few minutes ...i was immediatley getting ads for FreeMasonic clothing..whatever that is. [Ads appear as links to the site inside gmail-- the sponsored links]

So, back to the privacy.. exert from Michael Hyatt's blog..
"For all practical purposes, privacy is dead: get over it. Via Google, people can find out more about you in ten minutes than was possible in a lifetime ten years ago. You might as well intelligently feed the Google search engines with what you want people to know about you. You need to be smart about it, but you are in control."... [+ read more] (Michael's post regarding Twitter) Affirmative i say.

Another new? feature that i read about Google Image search is the added option inside Advanced Search: Usage Rights which includes options like "labeled for commercial reuse with modification" ..pretty neat . I did a random search with certain words and got some pretty good photos [high res too]... and also a good way to look up for images to spice up your blog post.
So i guess i should end with --- Enjoy the world wide web responsibly!! and usefully :-) Cheers.


Monday, July 6, 2009

Already July....time Flies


What did i do yesterday?...alone on a Sunday.. rain pouring down?

Well i aint no Lennon
and far from Cohen
Just a wannabe Dylan... so i picked up my guitar and tried to write a song...that goes..

It's already July
the rains have come...
Oh.. how time flies
under the sun.....

Said i'd be home
but here i am....
Speaking on the phone
from another land.... ----- to be continued :-)

------------------------------------------------

Watched a film called Into the Wild.....directed by Sean Penn. One word..Wow!.. this man can direct too...direct well. And good acting from the actors. [Great Soundtrack too...for PearlJam/Vedder fans.. Eddie Vedder songs in here are beautiful...]

And talking about Sean Penn... i have not yet seen his latest Oscar winning performance in Milk.. a film in which he portrays an American gay rights activist - Harvey Milk. Now out here in India the dropping of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that makes homosexuality illegal... is making news. I never even knew that it was "classified?" as a
criminal act.

My opinions on this subject?.... I was briefly talking with a friend the other day on this issue. Now without beating around the bush....and at the risk of sound a little explicit. The Sodomy part = unnatural behaviour.


I know this is a sensitive issue and i'm not gonna say much more.
But this is my take on it .. ( Probably a very immature way of looking at it) But here goes..
Friends of the same sex. Normal. Having physical relationships [sodomy]?....Not normal.

Human teeth as can be seen in the image.. Canine, molars, Incisors... God gave us these different types so we can eat both Vegeterian and Non Vegeterian food. Animals...--Cows they don't have Canine / Incisors to cut into flesh. They have good teeth to chew veggies. ...herbivorous. Humans, omnivorous.

Now did God design our bodies for homosexual physical activity? No. Again at the risk of sounding crude... the male body only has the part for you know what and not THE OTHER part for well....

I will end my uneducated take on this subject but this is what i feel. It's definitely not a Criminal Act. Rather i think it's a Medical or rather Mental thing involved. Gays should be
treated with respect and Care.
---------------------------------------------------
Teeth image - courtesy: USA 2017[dot]com
....