Similar beliefs across religions

In Hinduism, in many Puranas, there are mentions of heaven & hell where the virtuous & vicious go respectively. But the stay in heaven is temporary. After the virtues are worked off, the souls are believed to be reborn on earth. This is true even in the case of those who performed Vedic rituals faithfully. The goal of human life in Hinduism is not heaven but "Moksha", release from rebirth, which is obtained by dispassion in the world & single minded devotion to God. This is explicitly stated in the "Mundaka Upanishad."

But still, most may want to go to heaven, though temporarily, with eventual rebirth, as evinced by the common saying "Usko Swargavas ho gaya!"

In the Qur'an, it is stated that the believers go to "Jannat" (heaven of sensual delights) & the others go to "Jahannum" (hell of eternal torment). It is made clear that Allah is NOT in Jannat. Still most Muslims may prefer to go to  "Jannat" as most Hindus prefer to go to Swarga! The Sufis believe that they attain Allah as revealed by Rabia of Basra, who rejected both Jannat & Jahannum, but wanted to be permeated with love of Allah.

In the Bible, Matthew, (19:24) it is said " It is much harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God (NOT HEAVEN), than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle." Also in Matthew (6:24), "You cannot serve both God & Mammon." But still most Christians are obsessed with wealth.

Mary, Mother of Christ, is called "Queen of Heaven," It is evident that this heaven is not a sensual one. Even in Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress", his goal, the Celestial City, is the abode of God. The female Christian Saints' description of their mystical experiences, also envisage spiritual union with Jesus Christ. Rather than the sensual, St.Julian of Norwich's eighth prayer for "shewing" is the opposite, an experience of Christ's Crucifixion!

Another common hankering, cutting across religious barriers, is the insatiable one for wealth. Winthrop Mackworth Praed, a nineteenth century clergyman & poet is famed for the quote "Dame Fortune is Fickle." Incidentally in Hinduism also, Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth is widely known to be fickle. But still, she is more worshipped than her learned sister, Saraswathi, whose blessings last a lifetime.

The commonality across religions is the human tendency to choose the short-term pleasant goal of Swarga or Jannat or the grace of Lakshmi over Moksha, proximity to Allah or the perennial blessings of Saraswathi.

Sacred "Live In" relationships

"Live In" relationships commonly means people living together without marriage. But if one expands the relationship beyond the merely physical, a wonderful world of spirituality beckons.

An outstanding example is Akka Mahadevi, who though nominally married to a king, considered herself the spouse of her "Chenna Mallikarjuna", i.e., Shiva. As she puts it in one of her Vachanas,

If one is hungry, one can beg.

If one is thirsty, there are ponds.

For hot or cold weather,

There are fans & cloths.

For sleep, disused temples;

For my soul's company.

You are there, Channamallikarjuna.

Even earlier, was Rabia of Basra, who when asked about her marriage, said;

The contract of marriage is for those

Who have a physical existence;

I have ceased to exist,

My existence is in Allah,

I am totally His.

Comments Margaret Smith in her pioneering study, "Rabia Basri the Mystic", writes "So like her Christian Sister's in sanctity, Rabia espoused a heavenly Bridegroom."

Speaking of her Christian Sister in Sanctity,  St.Julian of Norwich went so far as to ask for the experience of Christ's Crucifixion as a boon. It was vouchsafed to her in her eighth "shewing", as she describes her vision.

As all these saints, cutting across religious barriers, express basically the same identification with the Divinity, there may be some truth in the assertion that their Bliss was incomparably higher than the utmost human Bliss.

Quantitative analysis of Human & Higher Bliss In Taittiriya Upanishad

Human Bliss(hB) is defined as the highest unit of human Bliss, possessed by a young person, healthy, strong, intelligent, educated with all the wealth of the world at his command. If he/she is also happy, their bliss may be measured as one unit of hB (human Bliss).

The Bliss of Gandharvas (earthly musicians & dancers) is one hundred times hB (human   Bllis) or eG Bliss = hB X 10 squared.

The Bliss of Celestial Gandharvas (cG) (celestial musicians & dancers) is one hundred times eG = hB X 10 to the power of 4.

The Bliss of Deceased Ancestors is 100 times the Bliss of cG or hB X 10 to the power of 6.

The Bliss of Devas is 100 times the Bliss of Deceased Ancestors or hB X 10 to the power of 8.

The Bliss of Karma Devas is 100 times the Bliss of Devas or hB X 10 to the power of 10.

The Bliss of Ruling Devas is 100 times the Bliss of Karma Devas or hB X 10 to the power of 12.

The Bliss of Indra, King of Heaven, is 100 times the Bliss of the Ruling Devas or hB X 10 to the power of 14.

The Bliss of Brihaspathi, the Guru of the Devas, is 100 times the Bliss of Indra or hB X 10 to the power of 16.

The Bliss of Prajapati, Lord of creation, is 100 times the Bliss of Brihaspati or hB X 10 to the power of 18.

The Bliss of Brahma, is 100 times the Bliss of Prajapati or hB X 10 to the power of 20. But no less joy than Brahma has the seer to whom the self has been revealed & who is without craving.

This highest Divine Bliss may be presumed to be enjoyed by seers like Sri Ramakrishna & Sri Ramana Maharshi. The Bliss of these is the highest human Bliss X 10 to the power of 20! Similar comparison of highest human Bliss & Divine Bliss are also explicit in "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna."

(The exact meaning of terms like Karma Devas & Ruling Devas vary from text to text. They can be inferred to be gradations.)

Abstracted from "The Upanishads" by Swami Prabhavananda.

Bane of Bigotry in Politics & Religion

Bigotry is against human reason, though very common among humans. How can one political party be totally toxic & others totally good passes human understanding. The absurdity of it becomes evident when people change parties. Do they suddenly become Mr. Hyde, transforming themselves from Dr Jekyll? Most politicians have a (secret) agenda of their own irrespective of party affiliations. So taking a polarised view in these matters may not be wise for the electorate. DVG, the noted Kannada (& English writer) in his two treatises on politics called "Rajya Shastra" & "Rajyanga" puts forward an eminently sane viewpoint, devoid of dogma & bigotry.

Bigotry in religious matters is even more illogical & dangerous. Swami Vivekananda took the bull by the horns, when he boldly stated that there is no one true religion (as claimed mostly by the Abrahamic ones). If one is true, all are true. He even went further & stated that it is desirable for each to have their own personal religion.

Probably watching inter-religious strife, due to bigotry & dogmatism, throughout the ages, Thomas Paine, in his hugely influential book, "The Age of Reason", declared war against all organised religions, though he was a believer in God. In his equally pathbreaking book "Common Sense", he debunks the "Divine Right to Rule" leading to Monarchy. This may be another form of bigotry that accident of birth may enable persons to rule others. It may be recalled that Thomas Paine's Pen was as effective as George Washington's Sword in gaining American Independence."

Especially in the twenty first century, dogmatism & bigotry are being fuelled by the popularity of Indian film stars & popular cricketers. To get cheap popularity by the masses & probable later entry into politics, the dialogues are written for the actors to boost their image to the ridiculous extent that a few even give "darshan" outside their houses to their fans, like divine personages! This mindless exercise is peculiar to India. The ads by cricketers may also pass on subliminal messages. The minds of the gullible public being manipulated by what after all are mere entertainers & not nation builders is pathetic.

There are no better words against bigotry than those of Rev.Martin Luther King, Jr, who said "There is some good in the worst of us & some evil in the best of us. When we know this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

Two "Great" Ladies in Literature

"Miss (Dorothea) Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Her hand & wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters, & her profile as well as her stature & bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments, which by the side of provincial fashion gave her the impressiveness of a fine quotation from the Bible in a paragraph of to-day's newspaper."

Such is the fastidious description of dignified feminine beauty at the very start of one of the greatest novels in English Literature, namely "Middlemarch" by George Eliot.

Later, Dorothea, lovingly called 'Dodo' by her younger sister Celia, marries disastrously an elderly dry scholar, enamoured by his learning.

After his death, his conditional will, humiliates her.

When she visits Rosamund Lydgate, an equally beautiful lady, in her carriage & pair, the maid Martha, on enquiry, says "I am not sure, my Lady; I will see, if you will please walk in" in a confused way, but collected enough to be sure that 'mum' was not the right title for this QUEENLY YOUNG WIDOW in a carriage & pair.

Throughout the novel, in spite of her mistaken marriage, her true nobility of character is never in doubt.

The other 'Great' lady in fiction is Melanie Hamilton from Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind." Though her sister-in-law, the feisty Scarlett O'Hara, aspires to be one like her mother, who was a truly great lady, she lacks the character for it. The character Rhett Butler, knowing her inside out, brutally says, "You are not even a lady, let alone a Great one." To rub salt into her wound, he adds that Melanie Hamilton is a true Great Lady. Scarlett thinks Melanie is a goose, but Rhett knows better & goes to Melanie to cry on her lap, when he loses his darling little daughter in a riding accident.

Whole Tone Scale in Western, Hindustani & Carnatic Music

This scale uses only whole tones & no semitones. All tones are the same distance apart & as there is no leading tone, it creates a blurred, indistinct effect. Though it was used as early as by Bach to end his Cantata BWV 60, it was also used by Mozart in his "Musical Joke." Though the Russian Composers used it extensively, it was mainly associated with the Impressionist music of Debussy, his "Voiles" being almost within the whole tone scale.

In Hindustani music, it is called Raga Sahera & used in a Ghazal by Mehdi Hasan & played on the Sarangi by Sultan Khan. "Raga Junglism" points out that this raga is "Self Murchana" (rotationally symmetric) & palindromic (same intervals forwards & backwards.)

In Carnatic Music, it is called Raga Gopriya, a janya of Melakarta Rishabhapriya, with the Panchama being dropped. Also  Rishabhapriya itself is the Pratimadhyama variant of the popular Charukeshi. Vidwans Suryaprakash Ramachandran, Ramanathan Muthuganapati & Madurai N.Sivaganesh have performed compositions in Gopriya.

The Three Quotients

The first one of these three, Intelligence Quotient is widely known as an index of one's intelligence. The second, Emotional Quotient  is the ability to manage one's emotions in a positive way. It is more effective than the first in navigating one's way through life, the most popular example being "Forrest Gump" who though having a below average IQ, lived a successful life.

The third, which is quite neglected, is Cultural Quotient, which really enriches a truly human life. Here, it is timely to remember the root of the word "Culture", which is "Cultus" or Divine Worship according to Josef Pieper, a German Catholic, who wrote an influential book "Leisure, The Basis of Culture." It was in reaction to the frenetic reconstruction of post-war Germany, which was in accordance with "The Protestant Ethic & The Spirit of Capitalism" by Max Weber earlier. Pieper's message was "The idolatry of the machine, the worship of mindless knowhow, the infantile cult of youth & the common mind are drifting us towards the slave society." (New York Times Book Review.)

Pieper felt that the core of Culture (Cultus) is Divine Worship. It is noteworthy to recollect that music & literature also began as a part of Divine Worship. (Gregorian Chants, Samaveda etc.,) In the West, Divine Worship is being sidelined with increasing social aberrations as collateral damage. In the East, it is just used to procure what the IQ or EQ cannot.

Pieper's book has become more relevant than when it was first published half a century ago as religion has been pushed out & overwork glorified beyond its worth. Generations are coming up who are not even aware that they are culturally severely challenged.

Dr.Zena Hitz, a Ph.D from Princeton, also buttresses similar ideas in her "Lost in Thought - The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life." She also spent some time in a Catholic Community, leading a Thoreau like life. She writes that few experiences are so fulfilling as the inner life, whether that of a bookworm or amateur musician, or someone who takes a deep interest in one of countless other subjects.

Rat Race: To enter or Not

The term "rat race" means to compete with peers for Wealth & Status. On in other words "To Keep Up With The Jones". This instinct is prevalent in animal societies also, as they compete for territory & mates. It is called "Pecking Order." The advantages of entering the rat race & succeeding are, it satisfies the inbuilt ego factor. But it also entails a lifelong chase after futile goals as evinced by suicides among conventionally "successful people."

The other, more interesting option is not to enter the rat race at all, but be content with the basic requirements of life. This invites the opprobrium of being labelled "A Loser" by all & sundry. As Thoreau, probably the most famous person to opt out of the rat race, said that "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, it is perhaps because he hears a different drummer."

But in order to so, it may require one to be free of family commitments, as otherwise it may be unfair to the family to deny their normal aspirations. Here, it may be pertinent to note that Thoreau & all his three siblings remained unmarried & none survived beyond 60 years.

Here it is important to note that one should march & not remain idle, but only "to a different drummer". The goal of the march need not be wealth & status as with the majority, but may be spirituality or cultural pursuits, which are uniquely human & not shared with animals.

By doing so, one may leave the rats to race & be a cultivated human being.

Mughal Royals Reverence for Advaitic Text

"Yoga Vasishta" is an Advaitic text which deals with a conversation between Lord Rama & his guru Vasishta. It is set before Rama's marriage. It is ascribed to Valmiki & is longer than his Ramayana.

However because of the unflinchingly Advaitic viewpoint, it is not popular among Dvaitins.  But in a curious turn of events, it was appreciated & commissioned to be translated into Persian (then a language which opened the doors not only to Persia but to the West.) 

Supriya Gandhi, a Harvard & Yale scholar, writes in her meticulously researched "The Emperor who never was", (a biography of Dara Shukoh, the eldest brother of Aurangazeb), that the first to do so was Jehangir, then a prince, who asked his Persian scholar Nizam Panipati to collaborate with Sanskrit pandits to translate an abridged version in 1597. Five years later, his father, Emperor Akbar, commissioned his own version by one Farmuli. Gorgeously illustrated with 41 miniatures, this manuscript still survives today.

Dara Shukoh, the eldest brother of Aurangazeb, had a dream during a night in 1655/6. Dara saw not the Prophet but Vasishta teaching Rama. Dara had recently read a few pages of Shaikh Sufi about Yoga Vasishta. Dara wrote that he immediately prostrated before Vasishta & he told Rama that this is a sincere disciple, please embrace him. Rama embraced Dara. Vasishta gave sweets to Rama to feed Dara, which he ate. Dara took this dream as a sign that he should produçe a new translation of Yoga Vasishta, better than the earlier ones. The rest is history. 

The sad fact about this is that a text which has gained world wide renown & acceptance through efforts of Mogul royals, has been sidelined by the Hindu Dvaitins, because it does not agree  with their ideology.

Universality of Children's Literature

These fictional children have transcended their national & period barriers to become truly loved all over the world even to the present day. In the interest of brevity, only one child from each country is considered.

To start from the most popular, the quintessentially ENGLISH girl, Alice, is immortalized in "Alice in Wonderland" & "Through the Looking Glass." Countless children of all races & times have followed her adventures as she follows the white rabbit in a hurry.

The CANADIAN orphan, "Anne of the Green Gables" ends up with the Cuthbert siblings, Matthew & Marilla, after untold sufferings. Though a fiery redhead, she has oodles of imagination & brains enough to top her class. Her supreme sacrifice of her career to care for an aging, lonely Marilla is exemplary.

The SWISS orphan Heidi, dumped unceremoniously on her grouchy grandfather by her selfish aunt, quickly wins not only his heart but the heart of another poor unrelated Granny in the bargain. She also sacrifices a luxurious life in a city to be with her beloved grandfather.

The SWEDISH orphan, Pippi Longstocking, inhabits a "Magic Realistic" world of Villa Villekulla. Her gravity defying pigtails, different coloured stockings on each leg & superhuman strength on occasion, make her a memorable character.

The FRENCH Madeline, living in a "little old house in Paris, making up twelve little girls (going out) in two straight lines" is an exemplary character, who loves the other eleven girls & her dog Genevieve. Her remarkable bravery in undergoing an appendectomy cheerfully is commendable.

The AMERICAN orphan, Jerusha Abbott, features in "Daddy Longlegs" written by Jean Webster, a grand niece of Mark Twain. Her desire for knowledge is recognised by a mysterious man, who sponsors her College education. Her letters to her patron, mainly dealing with her acquistion of a liberal education, are fascinating.

Books & their illustrators

Initially books like "Aesop's Fables", "The Pilgrim's Progress" & "Gulliver's Travels" were illustrated to attract children's attention. When Children's literature started appearing,  illustrations enhanced their appeal.

However, some illustrators were identified so closely with certain authors & books that they became inseparable in the readers' mind. The classic example is Gustav Dore's 190 woodcuts for Cervantes' "Don Quixote." So also were Sir John Tenniel's work for Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" & "Through the Looking Glass." Later they were also coloured. (Few are aware that even the surrealist Salvador Dali illustrated this book!)

Though George Cruikshank illustrated first  Charles Dickens' books, he also illustrated the first English edition of "Grimm's Fairy Tales." But the later Arthur Rackham made them his own by 62 b/w & 40 colour illustrations. Of course many children's books were illustrated by noted artists. 

Beatrix Potter & Jill Barklem being gifted artists, illustrated their own books about Peter Rabbit & Brambley Hedge, as did Ludwig Bemelmans, who created Madeline. A.A.Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" was  unforgettably "decorated" by E.H.Shepard.

Incidentally his daughter, Mary Shepard,  illustrated the "Mary Poppins" books authored by the fastidious P. L. Travers. All of Roald Dahl's children's books were illustrated by the quirky Quentin Blake.

Inga Moore's "wall to wall" illustrations for Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" & Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden" brought book illustration nearer to great art.

Tovey, Keller & Philip

Sir Donald Francis Tovey's "Essays in Musical Analysis" is the quintessential work on appreciation of Western Classical Music compositions. They were first published between 1935-44 in seven volumes. They were program notes of a high order with numerous musical examples. Such was their authoritative nature that they are still in print. But they are not very accessible to those unable to read staff notation. Nowadays, not everyone is a Satyajit Ray, who was able to follow a pocket score, while listening to  records. A kindred soul & fellow Kolkatan, was Nirad Chaudhuri.

Coming to the present time, when many may  not have that ability, Keller & Philip have come up with reader friendly books. "Chamber Music - A Listener's Guide" by James M.Keller, published by Oxford University Press in 2011, contains analysis of nearly 200 popular pieces of Chamber Music. "The Classical Music Lover's Companion to Orchestral Music", compiled over a period of 30 years & published in 2020, is a labour of love by Robert Philip. A hefty volume of nearly 1000 pages, analysing 400 orchestral works, it is a tour de force of musical scholarship, published by Yale University Press. Together, they cover most of the repertoire of Western Classical Music & make accessible the wondrous world of Western classical music, even for those unable to read music. Now all music being available to listen online, books like the above help us to heighten our enjoyment.

Marine Biology inspiring Classical Music

The January 1979 issue of the "National Geographic" magazine, contained an unique surprise. The page 24A & 24B bound into the magazine was a flexible plastic (vinyl?) 7 inch  record, 33 rpm Stereo entitled "Songs of the Humpback Whale." It contained live recordings of the sound of the animal. It could be detached from the magazine &  played on an ordinary record player. It had also an explanatory commentary by Roger Payne, Ph.D. Research Biologist, New York Zoological Society.

This recording inspired the American Composer, George Henry Crumb (1929-92) to compose a work called "Vox Balaenae" (Voice of the Whale) for three masked players playing electric flute, electric cello & electric piano. The composer advised that each of the three players wear a black half-mask throughout the performance of the work. The masks, by effacing a sense of human projection, will symbolise the powerful impersonal forces of nature. It is hard to imagine that only flute, piano & cello (all electronically enhanced) are capable of producing the sounds of this piece. (From "Chamber Music - A Listener's Guide" by James M.Keller, Oxford University Press, 2011).

Sri Ramakrishna, Christianity & Islam

Sri Ramakrishna was a 19th century saint who was one of the first to preach the essential validity of all religions. Apart from cleansing Hindu society of his time, especially in Bengal, of many regrettable practices, he was one of the first to practice the spiritual disciplines of Christianity & Islam till he attained their respective goals. These are given in considerable detail in his spiritual biography, "Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master."

The obvious question arises as to why Sri Ramakrishna practiced the spiritual disciplines of those religions. In addition to proving that the highest goals of those religions were similar to those of Hinduism, he might also have provided first hand validity to those practices.  Then one would wonder whether any saints of those religions had also practised the spiritual disciplines of those religions & recorded their mystic experiences. The answer is yes, they did.

One of the first female saints was Hildegard of Bingen (11th Century), who was a mystic & polyglot to boot. Her vision of the "Cosmic Egg" as a symbol of the Cosmos, is strikingly similar to the "Hiranyagarbha" of the Rig Veda. Another was Julian of Norwich (14th century) who famously prayed for & obtained the priceless boon of experiencing the exquisite physical pain of Christ's crucifixion in her own mortal body. The Spanish St.Teresa of Avila (16th century), author of the revelatory "The Interior Castle", with its metaphorical seven mansions of God (similar to the eight chakras of Hinduism) was a visionary mystic, who was exploring her spirituality with her sister nuns, when her male counterparts were persecuting heretics in the notorious Spanish Inquisition.

The 8th century Sufi saint, Rabia of Basra, whose birth & influence was foretold by the Prophet himself (in a dream to her father), famously prayed for the pain of hell & exclusion from paradise in return for the love of Allah.

In conclusion, when we revere Sri Ramakrishna, we can also bow in reverence to the earlier mystics in Christianity & Islam, in addition to countless Hindu saints, who preceded him.

Who directed the Ben Hur Chariot race scene?

No, it was not William Wyler, the credited director of the film. The most famous scene by which the film is remembered was shot by Andrew Marton & Yakima Canutt, the second unit directors.

Any large project, including films, is divided into various UNITS, whose work can go on independently of each other, so as to save TIME. This is known in management parlance as the "Critical Path Method."

The CPM is an algorithm for planning a set of activities, so as to identify the longest stretch of DEPENDENT activities & measuring their duration. It is used in conjunction with PERT, (Programme Evaluation & Review Technique), another management tool.

These are used to get the project done in the shortest time, as time is money. This can be illustrated by another film "Cleopatra", which despite being the highest grossing film of its time, did not recoup its cost for a long time, because too much time was wasted during its making.

To end on a lighter note, when Barbara Streisand was approached for "Funny Girl", she asked who would direct. When told it was Wyler, she reportedly said "Oh, the Chariot guy! What does he know about girls?"

"Nannerl" Mozart & Fanny Mendelssohn

These were the talented sisters (both four years older!) of their famous younger brothers.

A film named "Mozart's Sister" (2010, French) has been made on her life. Her father did not favour either her composing or becoming a professional musician, even though she played the harpsichord & violin as well as her brother & could also sing. According to the film, the Dauphin (Crown Prince) of France, fell in love both with her music & herself but had to marry another for reasons of State. She later married a twice-widowed magistrate with 5 children (Shades of "The Sound of Music!") at the age of 32. After his passing away, she lived until the age of 78, blind & tired, though not in want.

Fanny, as talented as Felix Mendelssohn, was also discouraged by her father to be a professional. After her marriage, when she wanted to publish her compositions, her husband did not object, but Felix did! She obeyed her younger brother! But when she died of a stroke at the age of 38, Felix was shattered. But he recovered enough to compose a string quartet in Fanny's memory, visited her grave & died himself within six months of Fanny's death. Her great-great-great granddaughter, Sheila Hayman, has made & released a feature length documentary on her illustrious ancestor in late 2023.

Most Joyous Composers in Western Music

Probably the first composer to introduce the String Quartet & the Symphony into the Western repertoire, Josef ("Papa") Haydn was also pre-eminent in producing joyous music.

One of his humorous passages occur in his Symphony No.94 in G Major, nicknamed the "Surprise" Symphony. The surprise occurs in the otherwise peaceful second movement andante being interrupted by a fortissimo chord, after which the placid movement continues.

One of the most Joyous pieces is also the Vivace assai Finale of his Symphony No.96 in D Major. This piece supposedly so excited the audience that they left their seats & rushed towards the stage, applauding. At this stage, a chandelier crashed down on the vacated seats! So this symphony was nicknamed "The Miracle"!

The other composer to compose joyous music was Felix Mendelssohn. His very first Symphony in C Minor, Op.11, composed when he was fifteen, is full of unbridled youthful high spirits. In addition, as Julius Harrison writes, "Mendelssohn had already indicated how neat, even fastidious, and colourful each detail must be in its expression, to say nothing of the balance between the instruments necessary to ensure a proper distribution of sounds in the bigger passages."

His fourth in A Major, Op.90, nicknamed the "Italian" has one of the most dramatic openings in symphonic literature. "Happy in its outlook, pictorial in ideas & orchestration, it is one of the symphonies to which one returns to find enjoyment in every note" concludes Julius Harrison.

Education, Employment & Earning

The difference between animals & humans is the latter's curiosity about the world. This curiosity, being recognised as an essential human characteristic, led to the organising of Education. After acquiring education, it was utilised to obtain gainful employment,  generating Earning for livelihood. This classical progression seems to be given the go-by in recent times.

Instead of the first step in this chain, namely curiosity, leading to Education (or knowledge) has almost disappeared as the primary human motivation, being replaced by Earning (or Wealth) as the primary human goal, followed closely by Status (as a means of feeding the Ego) as the be-all & end-all of human existence. Employment is also not because of interest in the work, but to earn optimum money, whether ethically or not.

Because of this mindset, even religion & culture, being the other two uniquely human attributes, are also sought after, only if they provide wealth or fame (another facet of Status). Praying to God is also for the latter two objectives. Cultural activities are also tolerated only if they produce Wealth or Fame. Same goes for Sports also. Instead of playing for "Joie de Vivre", as they are meant to be, the same old goals of Wealth & Fame are the dreams at the end of the rainbow.

Worse, those engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, culture, sports or spirituality for their own ends, are deemed a laughing stock by quite a large majority of unenlightened population. Even the great Dr. Samuel Johnson reportedly said "Only a blockhead ever wrote except for money!". If this trend of the only human interests being wealth & status continues, can the mental regression of humans into sub-humans be far behind?