VRIKSHAM - The Vedantic metaphor

लक्ष्मीनाथ समारम्भां नाथयामुनमध्यमाम् 

अस्मदाचार्यपर्यन्तां वन्दे गुरुपरंपराम्

Vedanta, which literally means 'End(or objective) of Vedas' is known from time immemorial for its metaphors to describe the state of affairs of this world, i.e., samsara (the cycle of birth and death) and the physical body of living beings, the mystery of which still captures our imaginations. The evanescence of this material existence is an important theme.

When we analyse the cause and effects of a phenomenon/problem , we naturally tend to talk in terms of the 'root cause' or the 'seed' of the problem and the 'fruit' as the result. This suits vedanta very well and hence we find the metaphor of the tree used creatively in similar contexts but with varying interpretations in different texts. The similes and metaphors of sanskrit literature are timeless. Deviating a little from the topic, let us look at one subhashitam to illustrate this point.

दीपो भक्षयते ध्वान्तं कज्जलं च प्रसूयते 

यादृशं भक्षयेदन्नं जायते तादृशी प्रजा      ||

[The lamp consumes darkness and generates soot/smoke. (Similarly) The type of food you

eat has a corresponding influence on the offspring.]

This is really an elegant comparison. At least I have never thought of darkness and soot as raw material and finished product, and that too relating them because of their black colour. The fact that a black input produces a black output is capitalized here to assert the importance of saatvik food. (Another variation of the subhashita ends as 'तादृशी मति: ' which means that the food you eat produces the quality of thinking that emanates from you).

Coming back to our metaphor, the tree**, the first example(and a famous one too) is from the Mundakopanishad (3.1):

द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते |

तयोरन्य: पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नानन्यो  अभिचाकशीति ||

[Two birds living together, each the friend of the other, perch upon the same tree. Of these two, one eats the sweet fruit of the tree, but the other simply looks on without eating]

The two birds are the Jivatma(individual soul) and paramatma (Supreme soul). The tree is nothing but the human body while the fruit is the results of past karma. Here the onlooker, the paramatma, is not touched by karma whereas the jiva is bound to the cycle of rebirth. Observe how the flow of meaning occurs with this metaphor. An occurrence of the  natural world is transformed into profound metaphysics.

** The tree is often used as a metaphor to describe the Vedic literature. The four vedas including the various shakhas, six vedangas, Itihasas, puranas, dharmashastras, agamas, sutra granthas, bhashyams and acharya sri sooktis are all different parts of the tree of veda.

In the Bhagavatha puranam(11.12.21-23), Lord Krishna, responding to Uddhava's question uses the tree as a metaphor with even more detailed correlations between its parts and the worldly existence. 

य एष संसारतरु: पुराण: कर्मात्मक: पुष्पफले प्रसूते  ||

द्वे अस्य बीजे शतमूलस्त्रिनाल: पञ्चस्कन्ध: पञ्चरसप्रसूति: 

दशैकशाखो द्विसुपर्ण   नीडस्त्रिवल्कलो  द्विफलोर्कं प्रविष्ट:   ||

अदन्ति चैकं फलमस्य गृध्रा ग्रामेचरा एकमरण्यवासा: 

हंसा य एकं बहुरूपमिज्यैर्मायामयं वेद स वेद वेदम्   ||

[This tree of mundane existence has no beginning, is characterized by activity and puts forth flowers and fruits. Two are its seeds, innumerable are its roots, three are its lower trunks, five are its upper trunks; it yields five kinds of sap, eleven are its branches; it bears the nest of two birds; three are the layers of its bark; it bears two fruits and spreads as far as the realm of the sun. Full of carnal desires, men of the world partake of its one fruit while the swan-like men of wisdom dwelling in the forest eat the other. He alone knows the Vedas, who through spiritual preceptors comes to realize the one God appearing as many forms through his Maya]

Here the objects indicated are:

Two seeds - Paapam and punyam
innumerable roots - Innumerable cravings
three lower trunks - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas
Five upper trunks -  Panchabhutams(the five elements)
Five kind of saps -  Objects of five senses(five tanmatras - touch, taste etc.)
Eleven branches -  Mind, five karmendriyas, five jnyanendriyas
two birds - Paramatma and Jivatma
three layers of bark - the three humours (vatam, pittham and kapham)
Two fruits - happiness and sorrow

Thus the metaphor ties together all the important concepts of Vedanta in a coherent manner.

Lord Krishna uses the tree metaphor with a variation in Bhagavad Gita(15.1-3). 

ऊर्ध्व मूलमध:शाखमश्वत्थं  प्राहुरव्ययम्   |

छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित्  ||

अधश्चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास्तस्य शाखा गुणप्रवृद्धा विषयप्रवाला:|

अधश्च मूलान्यनुसंततानि कर्मानुबन्धीनि मनुष्यलोके ||

न रूपमस्येह ततोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर्न च संप्रतिष्ठा |

अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूलमसङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा   ||

[The wise speak of the imperishable banyan tree, which has its roots above and branches below. Its leaves are the Vedas and he who knows this is the knower of the vedas. Its branches extend all about; nourished by the three gunas, the sensory objects are its shoots and below, in the world of men, its secondary roots stretch forth, binding them in Karma. Its real form is not perceived here, nor its end nor beginning nor its foundation but with determination one must cut down this strongly rooted tree with the weapon of detachment]

The inverted nature of the tree is important. Since Brahmam or the Supreme soul is the substratum for all activities and existence itself, it is the root of all worlds and hence this tree is rooted in Brahmam. However, during every creation cycle, After samashti srishti (i.e., creation of raw materials like the 5 elements and their admixture, Sriman Narayana, the eternal Supreme soul creates Brahma, who then creates with his knowledge of vedas, the rest of the material universe that he is in-charge of. Hence the tree has its trunk as Brahma, who then goes on to create the inhabitants of all the fourteen lokas including bhoo lokam. Hence the tree's branches extends all over this material realm. 

The comparison of leaves of the tree to Vedas are is very clear to my level of understanding. However, I have an interpretation. The leaves are the receptors of sun's energy and nourish the plant because of this property. They lead to all further growth, production of flower and fruits in the tree. Similarly the Vedas are the source of any kind of prosperity, be it monetary or spiritual. Hence they are the leaves of the samsaric tree.

We find in the foregoing discussion that the tree is used as a metaphor for both the physical body of organisms as well as the whole world of samsara and this is an interesting fact in itself. There is school of belief which sees an organism's body as a microcosm. Every physical body is a universe in itself and undergoes the cycle of birth, growth and decay very similar to the universe. Thus the universe is the largest reflection of this microcosm.

Now what does this have to do with the tree?

'Hunting the hidden dimension'- a NOVA documentary on fractals has an interesting fact on the relationship between a tree and its parent forest. The distribution of sizes of the individual  trees within a forest appears to exactly match the distribution of sizes of different branches within a single tree. The forest has a fractal structure with the tree as an element and of course the tree itself has a fractal structure. Similarly, the whole world of existence could be thought of as a fractal of the innumerable jivas who undergo the cycle of their own.

The tree occurs in many other texts like Kathopanishad, AnuGita and other parts of Mahabharata, Vivekachoodamani of Adi Shankaracharya and also alluded to in devotional hymns, from which we can be quite sure that our ancestors wanted to get this message across to us down the ages. At least the spiritually inclined people, instead of trying  accumulate more wealth and/or power and fame, must strive to cut down this tree.

The solution to this 'tree' problem is given by the Lord himself in the Bhagavad Gita(15.4)

तत: पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यं यस्मिन्गता न निवर्तन्ति भूय: |

तमेव चाद्यं पुरुषं प्रपद्ये यत: प्रवृत्ति: प्रसृता पुराणी                ||

Thereafter, one must seek that place from which, having gone, one never returns and surrender to that Supreme Purusha (i.e., Lord Sriman Narayana) from whom has streamed forth everything, from time immemorial.

Jai Sriman Narayana. 

Debunking the 'Hindu evolution'

There is a lot of talk that goes on these days about how Hinduism is 'Scientific'. I also wrote a post a while back pointing out some similarities between the Nasadiya suktam in Rig Veda and the Big-bang theory but I also indicated that neither is a proof or evidence for the other and they run along different lines as to being sources of information on cosmos and reality. While we can compare, contrast and observe the similarities and differences, it is not very good to extend it beyond a certain measure and certainly not to the extent that Hinduism is 'Scientific'.

Now, I am pointing this out because if there is a revelation in any religion, which the Vedas are, then they do not come under the purview of science which only depends on pratyaksham(observation through the senses) and anumanam(inference) . Let us take up the dasavatharam, the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu and examine if they really have any connection with Darwinian concept of evolution.

The only feeble connection that we can observe superficially between the dasavatharam and evolution is that in the list of ten that is popular, the first is an aquatic creature(fish) followed by an amphibian(tortoise) and then by a land animal (boar). Then it is described further how the rest of the avatars typically represent an ascent and an evolution to man and beyond. I quote the following from another blog(as this presents the view that I aim to critique)

Source:http://mailerindia.com/god/hindu/index.php?vish6

In fact in the study of the manifestations of Lord Vishnu, better known as the Dasha- Avatars, we find that the theory of evolution has been explained in a very subtle manner. They are

01. The first entry was made as The Fish (Macha-avatara). The life in water, as an amphibian, the earliest known life on the earth, from where the progress was chronicled.

02. Then came a life sustaining not only in water but progressed to some extent on land. The Lord took shape of a Terrapin (tortoise). (Koorma-avatara).

03. Amphibian became semi-amphibian, and then an animal in swamp or slush. Lord became a Boar (Varaha).

04. The animal progressed to half-human in the shape of Half lion + half-human (Nara-Simha)

05. Evolution, the path of progress took the half human to full human shape. The next avatar was that of a Dwarf (Vamana).

06. It is but natural that Dwarf will progress to a full human, but with a wavering mind, uncontrollable, and acting without reasons. Yes he came as Parasurama, a man without control.

07. Slowly the man became perfect. He was Rama. Always giving importance to the penance than the pleasure ever respecting the guru and the elders and remaining dutiful to others wherever he was.

08. And then the perfect human form emerged with cleverness and ability to think and win. A person of intelligence, taking decisions to suit the situation. He was Krishna. Ready to fight. Ready to mediate, and ready to love and ready to be loved.

09. Tranquility, submission, passion for peace is the next step from achieving everything. He was Buddha.

10. The cycle has to end, so that it can start again. Kalki, they say will come to destroy the world. So that evolution can take place again.

If the above had been presented as observations about these two pieces of information, then it is a fun comparison to read. However, there are so many inconsistencies in the way it has been presented especially with no mentioning of the various differences between traditional thought and Darwin's idea that we need to take a second look at it.

1. For this to be an evolutionary theory, the fish or the tortoise should not co-exist with any human beings or higher forms of intelligence like devas whereas we know clearly that a king named Satyavrata was the one who gave the fish a place in his palace before it grew bigger until reaching the size of the ocean. Similarly the tortoise. Lord Vishnu helped the Devas to get the amritakalasha by being a support for the mandara mountain while they churned the milk ocean.

2. These avataras all do not happen on earth. The matsya began its lila in South India while the kurma avatar happened somewhere in a non-human realm of milk ocean. The varaha avatara definitely did not happen on earth as it is Earth that he lifted out of another ocean.

3. The assumption that matsya is the first avatar of a cycle of creation is wrong. It is not supported by the Bhagavatha purana according to which it is the last avatar of the previous manvantara. The Lord takes the form of the fish to save the seed of all species so that they can start procreating after the end of the deluge. Hence even by this time cycle, it is not the first in the evolutionary line.

4. The Vaishnavas do not consider that the Lord's fish avatar is inferior to his varaha or narasimha avatara. They may have some differences but the lord usually comes with all his splendour everytime he appears to anyone in samsara lokas. Thus seeing an evolution into higher forms of life in the dasavathara is against the accepted traditional view of the nature of the avataras.

5. Elaborating on the previous point, it is not very intelligent to consider that Lord Krishna is more 'evolved' than Sri Ramachandra. In fact it is stupid. The choice of name and form and character of the avatara is in the hands of the Supreme almighty who is the all-knowing and all-observing consciousness. 

6. The important point that is overlooked by the avatar-evolution group is that these ten avatars are just a set that has been formed so that it is simple to handle even for illiterates. By no means do the puranas say that this is the exhaustive list. In fact, Bhagavatha purana lists 24 avataras.

http://vicharvandana.tripod.com/24avataars.html

One glance can tell us that it is not in an exclusive animal to man order. So, the complete account of the avataras by no means supports evolution.

7. Overlapping with some of the previous points is the fact that the timescales of puranas and current science do not correlate that well. If we consider the beginning of Brahma's day, then it is way shorter than science's estimate of 4.5 billion years for current age of earth. However, if we consider Brahma's birth as the beginning, then Vedic thought posits trillions of years to the universe whereas science has 13.7 billion years as its most recent estimate for age of the universe. Also, humans and all of creation has existed for all these years rather than being evolved from a single-cell organism upward.

8. The puranas, though differing in their account of creation, agree on the fact that after the creation of panchabhutas, tanmatras, indriyas and manas, Brahma was created by Lord Sriman Narayana. Brahma then created plants, animals and humans in that order. Nowhere is it said that he dropped a single cell onto the earth which then by itself evolved through random mutation and natural selection into millions of species found on the planet today.

So, the stupidest thing anyone can say is:

Thus Darwin didn't propound anything new, but we presume that he studied our scriptures deeply, and came out with his theory. He had to win the laurels, because his name is such. Daar in Sanskrit (also in Arabic) means Doorway. So standing at the doorway to win, he won.

There is actually another view that Darwin can be somehow made to be a spokesperson for Vedanta. This is also not a tenable view because he neither talked about rebirth nor spiritual evolution through different species in different births. His theory was more or less materialistic, though explicitly he did not negate god. Also, a man can be reborn in the animal or plant kingdom according to his karma. Therefore evolution has nothing in common with vedanta. Individuals who can see into the actual concept conveyed in different texts must burst this myth of Darwinism in vedic scriptures. This has been written, rewritten and regurgitated so many times that it has become an accepted truth (similar to 'vedic mathematics' which is marketed as being present in the Vedas while it is not). It is time we stop imagining things and start making progress in our respective fields, be it sciences/humanities/interdisciplinary ones.

We must analyse the assumptions and premise of each view(evolution or dasavathara) before coming to any conclusions about one being the same or derived from other. In short, it is the same people who point out that Krishna's life history is very similar to Christ's story, propagate this ridiculous idea of 'Hindu' theory of evolution.

Two more posts advocating the idea of dasavathara-evolution:

http://bharatnirman.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/hinduism-and-evolution-ii/

http://www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog/2008/06/hindu-evolution/

Note: The author of the second article is hopelessly entangled by the idea of everything in science is already present in Hinduism and tries to present some quote or the other from the scriptures trying to bend it to some concept in science. It is better to ignore him while studying both Science as well as scriptures.

Resumes to interviews to offers - Part 3

The Onsite interview

The undergraduate qualifying interview that is held on-campus(my experience is from India) consists mostly of one round of HR (Human Resource) and one or two rounds of technical interview depending on the company. The onsite interviews that I faced in the US for all the technical positions gave me a whole new perspective on interviews. So, in this part I would like to share my and some of my friends' experiences during onsite interviews.

Follow up after the phone round typically takes anywhere between a week and two. However, there are abnormal cases which can extend upto a month even. Some companies do not bother to let you know the result of your interview at all (even if you try asking them).The last statement is true even for the result of some onsite interviews. I was asked to give a list of three references after 10 days after one of my onsite interviews and never got any news after that. Recently, one of my friends told me that the onsite interview that had already been scheduled, was cancelled at short notice because of the company's decision to go on a hiring freeze for a few months.

Companies, especially smaller ones and startups look for the local candidate pool in order to avoid spending on travel and relocation. So, if you are in a situation where there is very little local job availability and you know friends who are staying elsewhere, then you can mention their addresses on your resume to get a call. This really is helpful since smaller companies do not consider you even if you are ready to relocate at your own cost. However, the profitable thing to do in that case would be to accumulate at least a couple of interviews in that locality and visit the place later to face the interviews.

If you are scheduled to have the onsite interview in a place other than yours, then the company books the flight tickets, hotel and rental car 1 week in advance. I must say, they seamlessly do this for the candidates. In fact they can give you a pre-loaded debit card later on to compensate for your expenses during the stay.

Now on to the interview.....

Typically, the interview is scheduled to anywhere between 4 hours  to 8 hours consisting of 4 to 8 rounds. Not many companies however have 8 hour interviews. There is the other extreme. One of my friends had 12 rounds from morning 9 am to evening 7pm at Apple.

I am writing all of the following from an electrical engineering interview perspective but I think much of this might overlap with any other engineering discipline too.

Some companies give the schedule of the rounds before hand. If that is the case, then you have lesser hassles. You have a good idea of what kind of questions might be asked. It is good to be abreast with what your friends/seniors are facing in interviews. For example, in a round consisting of Circuits, one can expect with a good degree of confidence questions about set-up, hold times of flip-flops, comparison of different logic families, dynamic logic etc. Even in these kinds of subtopics it is easy to know the kinds of question usually asked, by reading the textbooks thoroughly and asking others. Do not go unprepared for fundamental questions. Some students might have the impression that onsite interviews mostly involve  advanced questions. This is a myth. I have often been asked basic questions in many rounds of onsite interviews. And if you mess up these, then you end up maintaining the status quo (of unemployment) for a long time. You cannot be sure of the result.

Team members sometimes frame a nice question reflecting a problem that the team might be trying to solve at the moment. It can also be a block level description of the fundamental environment that will be encountered during work. If such a broad open-ended question arises, then try to  use all that you have studied and gathered to give the best possible answer. My friend was asked "what is a computer?. Can you explain me the basic blocks of a computer? We can proceed from there". Candidates might get stumped on hearing such questions because not everyone is really prepared beyond exam-type questions. Having an overall knowledge of the systems involved in your area of specialization is a very good idea.

One interview tip (especially for onsite) --- State and explain your answer even if you are very doubtful about it. This helps the interviewer gauge your thinking process. One interviewer was leading me to one small problem after another in the scheme of a big problem. At one stage, I had an answer in my mind but was just not telling him that for I felt that would look stupid. Eventually, he explained the solution and that ended up being the same thing that I had thought of. When I exclaimed that "That was exactly what I was thinking" the interviewer snapped back saying "I can't give credit to you for that. No matter what you say  now, it can't change my mind ".  Not everyone gives you that sort of reply. However, it might very well be the thought in their minds.

Be truthful when replying to questions that seek the level of your knowledge in a specific area. If you blow your trumpet now and fail to answer even basic questions later on, that could be the end of it. One interviewer was happy with my performance because I had told him earlier in the round that I had only a theoretical knowledge of a particular topic and he tested me on the fundamentals alone(This was a round on the PERL language).

Sometimes, the name of an interview round is misleading. For eg, I got my schedule for an onsite interview that had a round called "Architecture". Right from that moment, I nurtured a doubt in my mind that it could not be only computer architecture but might include something else too.  This was supported by certain questions that I had faced in the phone round and the requirements in the skill set. It turned out to be right to such a huge extent that there was no computer architecture(as we study at college) at all in the round. Instead, it was all about extempore thinking at a higher level of abstraction called transaction level modeling (that consists of blocks like Arbiter, generator,monitor, FIFO etc). I asked the interviewer at the end of the round about the absence of questions from the computer architecture area to which he replied that he did not want to ask  those questions precisely because students study them at college!

Interviews can be held in a dedicated conference room where the candidate is imprisoned, so to speak. The interviewers shuttle between the rooms in case of rush interviews where often there are more than five candidates being interviewed simultaneously. This was the case with all my onsite interviews except one which was conducted in the cafeteria. While this might evoke thoughts of a noisy environment, it would most likely not be the case as you would be asked to settle in a corner which is relatively isolated.

Though aptitude questions are generally not encountered in EE interviews, one team asked me to solve a few puzzles. So, if you are not a person who is naturally interested in brainteasers and puzzles, then it is a good idea to resort to these for relaxation during your interview preparations. It also generally helps you improve your lateral thinking and problem solving abilities. I was uncomfortable at first, when I saw a few sheets in the interviewer's hands that had "Algorithmic logic puzzles in C". However, I was relieved when he handed out the other sheet and I saw the monks, the eggs and the like on it.

There is another difference in questioning methodology. Interviewers can have a scratchpad or a laptop from which they ask you questions and you have to work out your answer on a sheet of paper or on the board(which looks funny if the interviewer sits there in his "formal shorts" and you write on the white board wearing your blazer). Alternatively, you can be given a sheet with questions and space for solutions.(It is advisable to carry a bunch of plain sheets along with at least 4 or 5 copies of your Resume to an onsite interview). You have to work it out while the interviewer 'supervises' and interrupts you to know how you arrived at a particular answer. In any case you are expected to be interactive. You must ask all the relevant questions in order to churn out an answer/solution. This in itself is a positive attribute. I can tell that with some confidence because I was told "Good. You did not disappoint me" at the end of such a round.

Finally, an increasingly important round in interviews. ie, Behavioral.  When I first heard this name, I thought it was related to behavioral modeling and verilog. However, looking at the other rounds, I found out that this was to check how the interviewee acted in specific employment-related situations. Some people like to call it 'an advanced HR round'. This round is important but not taken too seriously for engineering job offer decisions though. It asks the same old questions with which you have been uncomfortable all along, like 'Tell me about yourself' , 'what are your strengths and weaknesses' , 'Why should we hire you?', 'Why do you want to work here?', 'Where do you see yourself in 5 years?', albeit in a more polished way, old wine in a new bottle. Though the answers to these might be simple or straightforward or might not even exist , you are supposedly tested for your "attitude" here. So, take time to go over behavioral interview preparations on the internet. There are nut cases that can come up with questions like "Will you quit your job if you get $1 million in a lottery?" .

The Lunch hour is usually a relaxation time during the interview process. I say 'usually' because there are known cases of eat-as-well-as-answer-a-question Lunches. I was fortunate not to face one. Theories run around that you are being indirectly 'tested' during lunch hour for your socialization skills. Though I will not deny that there is some truth in that statement, it is ridiculous to put on an artificial 'attitude' during that time. 'An interview candidate who was smiling/laughing throughout the lunch time sealed his fate then and there' observed one of my friends. He probably put on the dunce cap unknowingly while trying to impress people. Just relax and be normal. Do not overact.

In conclusion......

The interviewers look for basic knowledge and analysis skills in an interview. They write out a detailed report on how you performed, what are your strong areas and so on. This along with your resume can influence what task you are assigned initially in the company. Therefore, take good care to present your answers and your thought processes. Also, do not think that an answer is too simple to be true. Just start answering and develop it. Just be. Tackle the moment. You will sail through smoothly.

All the best for all those people searching for jobs.

PANCHABHUTAM

மரத்தை மறைத்தது மாமதயானை
மரத்தில் மறைந்தது மாமதயானை
பரத்தை மறைத்தது பார்முதல்பூதம்
பரத்தில் மறைந்தது பார்முதல்பூதம்

This is an ancient tamil verse that betrays an important aspect of panchabhutas or what we translate today as 'the five elements'. This verse can be rendered into english as follows:

The collossal elephant hid the wood
The colossal elephant was hidden in the wood
Panchabhutas hid Paramatma
Panchabhutas were hidden in Paramatma

(Please bear with my crude translation)

It is a wonderful simile to illustrate how the gross and the subtle work in the universe. If we are so engrossed in the fact that the wooden elephant is an 'elephant' then we recognise it only as an elephant. However as it dawns upon us that it is in reality just wood, then the 'elephant' that we cognized earlier is sublated by the realization. Similarly, until we are spiritually underdeveloped and just see the world as made of five elements only, then they adumbrate our imagination, effectively screening out the Paramatma from our ambit of cognition.  However, as we progress in our path, we realise that the all these gross elements are indeed the body of Paramatma who is our supreme goal.

The dualism between the Paramatma on one hand and jivatma & prakriti on the other simultaneously is one side of the coin. The other side is the organic whole. We also clearly find references in Veda samhitas as well as later commentaries that each of the elements is an aspect, a manifestation of Paramatma. It is only well suited to see how this obscure boundary , if at all it exists  is illustrated by the wooden elephant.

The concept of 5 bhutas was not of mere textual interest to ancient Indians. They formulated many interesting and useful theories with this concept and put them to practice too. As people with modern education, we tend to think that 5 element theory was a primitive one. However, this view has its origin in the ignorance of this ancient idea. This modeling of the world is at a higher level of abstraction.

Panchajanya shankha of Lord Sriman
Narayana is a symbol of 5 elements

Prakrthi* is the term that is commonly used to club the gross matter in the universe(as opposed to jivatma and paramatma which are non-materialistic in nature). Here we take this word to mean the material cause of the universe. The five bhutas are Akasa(ether) , Vayu(air), agni/tejas(fire), ap(water), prithvi(earth). Some schools of thought like the charvakas admit only 4 elements.

(*Note that the word prakrthi has many different meanings in Indian tradition. Three clusters of meanings can be distinguished: 1. Prakrti  is that which precedes, the first, that which is in its own form. 2. Prakrthi is the material cause, the producer of effects, the innate power of transformation and manifestation. 3. Prakrthi as the principles, constituents, parts or components of a whole.)

Creation is envisioned in the shastras as grosser elements emanating from more subtler elements. The verse "akashat vayu: vayor agni:...." declares that From Akasa comes Vayu. from vayu comes agni. From agni comes ap. From ap comes prithvi. Each element progressively has more tanmatras(or subtle elements). The sense of hearing, touch, vision  , taste and smell constitute the tanmatras. The following image I gathered from the internet depicts this.

It is interesting to note that a similar idea is echoed in sciences, though a strict parallel is difficult to visualise. From the Singularity, Space was created and then it expanded. (This can be compared to akasa). Then all the elementary particles were created and were floating in a plasma-like soup.(Though strictly not air, this is similar to air). Then these particles combined through massive explosive nuclear reactions to form the first known matter (and dark matter probably). This is the agni phase. These slowly formed very hot molten material in galaxies (ap or water phase) which solidified slowly to form rocky worlds(prithvi or earth phase). 

Here we should also understand that the five elements do not signify only the physical elements. They are more subtle than that. Anything solid has prithvi in it. Anything that is flowing and has properties of a liquid is made up of ap element to a large extent. Anything that has hotness(even latent) has agni in it and so on. 

The voluminous project called the Kalatattvakosa by the Indira Gandhi National Center for the arts is rightly called the lexicon of fundamental concepts of Indian arts. Many volumes have been planned out of which six have been published so far to my knowledge. The third volume in this series is titled 'Primal elements-Mahabhutas' and is undoubtedly an encyclopedia on this topic. I have used this work as a major reference for this blog post. However, I am refraining from including information on how the elements are depicted and interpreted in the arts for want of space and time.

To summarise and understand more about individual bhutas, we will consider them one by one.

Akasa(Space)

The permeating space

Space(or ether) is the first element to emanate from the Supreme self, initially as a subtle principle and thereafter a gross matter. Space, abounding in the attributes of sattva, is the subtlest of all elements. Space provides room for all further creation and its specific quality is sound. It is a symbol of the Supreme self(Paramatma). When used as a metaphor, it indicates the supreme self. It is conceived as fullness, filling everything and sometimes as vacuum. The geometric form that represents akasa in the tantras is the circle that symbolises the totality of creation. Akasa has no form and is not an object. Its only similarity with the other four elements is that it has a distinctive quality which is perceptible to one of the senses, that is sound.

There are layers of meaning to all of the panchabhutas. Akasa can mean material space(bhutakasa) or space of the mind(Chittakasa). The adhyatmika meaning of space is the transcendental space of consciousness(chidakasa), the seat of brahman. The Chandogya upanishad (8.1.3) makes it clear:

'This space within the heart is as vast as this space (outside). Within it indeed are included both heaven and earth, as also both fire and air, sun and moon, lightning and stars. Whatever this one has here and whatever he has not, all that is included in that'.

Vayu(Wind)

The detached wind

Air, wind and breath are the same reality of vayu pervading the cosmos and the human body. The macro and microcosmic manifestations of vayu are differentiated  as gross,subtle and subtlest. These are also the adhibhautika, adhidaivika and adhyatmika meanings. They are respectively vaata, vayu and prana. Vayu is the devata who reigns over antariksha(mid-space), who is the life energy and spiritual power. Vayu possesses sound and sensation of touch.


'Pranaad vaayurajaayata..' says Purusha sooktam. Therefore we know that breath of Brahmam gave rise to the cosmic wind. This element is very important as it is intimately tied to 'vac' or divine speech. In Indian tradition, the srutis or the vedas are also called the breath of brahmam. The sound of wind is the primordial sound of nature, Om. Vayu is called 'sabdayogin' the one who produces the seven musical notes. Vayu, is ultimately the same as the Paramatma. This is   because Sriman Narayana, the Paramatma is the antaryami of Vayu and originally has the name vayu(that is later on taken up by the deva). He is addressed as Vayu in the Vishnu sahasranamam also. Vayu plays a very important role in madhva's dvaitam philosophy.

Agni(Fire)

The dazzling fire

As the third element, agni has the properties of sound, form and touch. It is both subtle and gross. The gross form is generated through panchikarana, a process of combination with the other bhutas.

Agni originates from vayu and is understood to have atleast 3 layers of meaning in the vedas. The adhibhautika meaning of agni is the physical fire. In its visible form, agni appears as sun in the sky, lightning in the atmosphere and as fire on earth. (This includes the sacrificial fires of which ahavaniya, garhapatya and dakshinagnis are well-known)

This is called as 'aranikkattai' in Tamilnadu and is
made from agnivriksha. It is used to produce fire for
all vedic karmas

At the adhidaivata level, Agni means the fire-god, the divine agent and the mediator. He is specially churned out and maintained during yajnas and carries the havirbhaga to all the respective devatas. Those who are well-versed in the shastras advise us to give full attention to the agni before looking at laukika karmas during any ceremony.

It is variously conceived as digestive fire, speech and divine will at the adhyatmic level.
Agni is also identified with the brahman itself. It is a symbol of divine splendour and spiritual illumination.

Ap(Water)

The life-giving water

Water or ap is one of the most important bhutas in Indian thought that it has ubiquitous presence in Indian life and rituals. Having born from agni, It has four qualities including taste. The Nighantu, which is a kind of Indian thesaurus, has 101 words for water.

Rains, rivers, sea and all the visible water bodies are the Adhibhautika level of water. At the adhiyajnika level (which may not exist for all elements), its function is purification. Adhidhaivata  meaning is one of the devatas associated with water, Varuna/Apam-napat/Ganga etc. Adhyatmika symbolism of water is inner purification, life and fullness .

The philosophical nature of rivers is more than evident from the following quote :

"The river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth...in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future. It is unchanging and yet it is always changing within, deeper inside beneath the surface. The voice of the river is the one word he had known since childhood that is Om, calling together the unity of all things and people at once."  --Siddhartha by Herman Hesse


Prithvi(Earth)

The animate earth

The last but not the least, our home or Prithvi. She is poornam and has all the five qualities including smell.
Prithvi can mean territory. In this sense it has given rise to the term parthiva, a term for the king. The earth as the bearer of life is regarded as the mother of all beings.

The adhibhautika meaning is of course land/soil. Bhuma devi is not different from earth in the adhidhaivata sense. However, it must be noted that Bhudevi is not a narrow deity just for the earth. She is the life-giving force in the universe and in all universes.

'bhur' the word for earth is derived as follows: "all originates(bhavati) from this hence it is called bhuh, the source. Thus the source or Brahmam is the adhyatmic meaning of bhumi/prithvi.

A very important aspect of the way in which the earth is conceived is as a firm support. She not only supports all created beings but upholds all ritual activities of man. She herself is held up by truth. She was carefully lifted from the cosmic ocean by Lord Varaha, who saved both mankind as well as dharma by saving Bhudevi who is no different than these.

The Ayurveda utilises the panchabhuta concept extensively and I thought it would ease the burden of the reader if I reserve this for another post.

Update Dec 11th 2011: A Good webpage with quality information on panchabhutam here

Jai Sriman Narayana

Hot air balloon over Napa Valley

Napa Valley is located about 80 miles North East of San Jose and is known for its wineries. It is equally famous for its hot air balloon rides. Here are some of the pictures and a couple of videos that I took when I ascended on the balloon 'discovery'.

There were many balloons ascending simultaneously. Ours started at about 6.30 am while some of them had started earlier. Thus, while we were at about 1000 feet we could spot balloons 1000 feet above our level. This is a typical time for the rides because that is when they can be more or less assured of favourable winds and weather.

A balloon at an higher altitude (our balloon is seen in the top of the picture)

Some tend to think that it will be scary when you are on high altitude(upto 2000 feet in Napa valley), but it is not so unless you are acrophobic.The ascent can be made very fast or relatively stagnant. Even a fast ascent can be seen clearly but not felt that vividly. For eg, compare the following two pictures. It is the same hexagonal house's top view from 2 different altitudes just 3-4 minutes apart.

I could see the balloon rise very clearly. The driver of the balloon controlled the ascent and the direction of flight through an open fire. A vent is controlled to enable a descent.

The basket that was our carrier had a capacity of 16. This is cheaper compared to 8 capacity baskets.

(view along with the basket)

The buzzing sound heard in the video atleast twice is the sound of the open fire that controls the flight of the balloon.  It can be seen that the basket is slowly tilting in its course. Also seen are two balloons that have already landed and are about to be deflated. There is a group of vehicles (they are for transporting passengers to the starting place) that moves around the area to exactly match the landing spot of the balloon. This is because it is difficult to precisely control the landing location.

 (Closeup view of another balloon)

(The driver said that this altitude is about 820 feet above ground)

A couple of more top views of the Napa valley and the residential area there.

(The smooth patterns seen in the pictures are wine producing crops of the valley)

The descent was made a little interesting by our driver by accelerating it. It bumped once, lifted few feet above the ground and finally landed.See this video.

 

I also managed to capture the balloon and the open fire. The other balloons were deflating at this time.

 (deflating our balloon which is more of a parachute in my opinion)

(the fire that propelled)

The tour was completed at about 7.50 am and we reached our starting place in another 20 minutes. It was a nice experience.I had forgotten to take my jerkin but was helped by the open fire to keep warm throughout the flight.

And here is a fine photograph by National geographic covering the hot air balloons at Cappadocia in Turkey.

Resumes to Interviews to offers-Part 2

The First round(s) of screening

This is generally a phone interview and can sometimes be just a one on one interview at a job fair or through skype. One of my friends had a phone interview followed by 2 skype rounds after which they decided to call him for onsite interview (phew!). However, he had by that time got a better offer and hence fortunately did not undergo the grilling here.

The job fair, at least in my university was more of a formality. That situation was amplified due to the recession in the 2008-2009 period. That does not deter the recruiters there to ask you some questions when you hand them your resume. So, go prepared with the basics to a job fair. I was not interested to pursue a full-time analog position. However, when I went to the job fair, Microchip volunteers asked a series of analog electronics questions to many candidates standing in the queue before me. I was afraid to some extent as I was not prepared for it. I however wanted to apply for the digital positions in the same company. I was waiting for a long time in the queue and then moved on to meet volunteers of another company due to time constraint. This was accelerated by my lack of confidence in analog electronics.

Now, the above situation might not seem to be a very bad one because I was not confident in what I did not what. However, it was partly responsible for me not applying to other positions here. It becomes detrimental when you are not prepared to answer questions upfront in your own field. Search for a technical volunteer rather than a HR person in amongst the company personnel in a job fair. This is actually one of my friend's tip. This can give your resume a better possibility than a paper shredder.

Phone interview can scare students especially the first time. However, there are candidates who are tensed even in their 4th or 5th phone interview. Apart from each person's nature, this is greatly influenced by the amount of knowledge that you have gathered with respect the position. Also be very clear about all the projects and internships that you have listed on the resume. Students sometimes(or often?) list projects that they have not actually done in school(this word is used as a synonym for a college too in the US). This is because, there could be a dearth of projects/courses related to areas that are typically required for the industry. So, if you are resorting to this tactic, then be very clear about what you have exactly written there , down to the grassroot level. Not knowing something in the resume is a very serious blackmark for a candidate.

For the first couple of interviews if you are not confident in certain areas you can write down brief hints on a sheet of paper, so that you are not stuck up badly in fundamentals and other expected questions. Skype rounds could be a little tricky as you might not have this freedom.

Average length of a phone interview is 1 hour. I have faced a half-an hour, a one hour and a one and a half hour phone interviews during my search. A friend of mine has had a 2 hour phone round too! . Sometimes interviewers have a very specific topic in mind and  hence make the interview short. The other possibility for a short interview is poor answering from the part of the candidate. 

A peculiar problem that some candidates face in the phone round is difficulty in understanding the accent of the  interviewer. A chinese person called one of my friends and he had to ask, ask and ask him to repeat his question until he realised that what the person in the other end was asking was a flip-flop instead of a FIFO. Sometimes, interviewers do not give much attention to how they will sound to the person on the other side. They sit in a conference room and just speak while turning around in different directions. So, the best bet for the candidate is to ask the interviewer till he gets the question right(the fear of giving a negative impression makes the candidate not to do this). Also, just make an intelligent guess simultaneously as to what the interviewer could be asking. This is probably not that tough. I faced this problem in an interview where after repeated queries, I heard his word as color display. I was thinking quite hard as to what exactly a color display is doing in a verilog interview. When I finally said, I don't know what that command does, he was audibly disappointed. Later, I realised that he had asked for $display (pronounced as dollar display) command. It was a very common command in verilog and hence his disappointment.

Usually, they browse the spectrum of topics that the candidate needs to know for the position. However one of my friends always advises us to prepare in depth even for the phone interview. I did not quite realise the importance of this statement until I myself faced an interview where the interviewer suddenly jumped to an area which In had thought till then to be an on-site material. So, more knowledge, the better. Many a time you can guess what is in store for the onsite interview by pondering over the phone screen questions. If you feel that there was some question that was a little out of place in the interview, then you need to pay attention to it. This is because sometimes what the candidate surmises as the areas required for the position  may not be an exhaustive list. If you get to know that the same person who interviewed a friend is going to call you for a similar position, then expect a very similar set of questions and prepare well.  The interviewer either calls or emails the candidate to ask for a comfortable date for the interview. Allow yourself a reasonable time to prepare because postponing an interview that has been fixed might not strike a good chord with the interviewer. Also, get the email address of the person who calls. This is a good idea because many interviewers call from numbers that can't be called back. I got calls from Microchip that showed up as "unknown" on my display. Intel was a lot courteous as they did not act so underground-ly when calling a candidate.

A friend( and  a guide) of mine who has worked for Intel for 11 years advised me to send a thank you note via email to the interviewer after both a phone round as well as on-site. It is good to ask when you will get to hear from them at the end of a phone interview. In addition I have tried asking them about my performance in a couple of interviews. One of them gave a straight answer that I did quite well. The other told me that they usually don't and can't discuss the performance with the candidate. This does not  necessarily mean that he feels negative about your performance. Ask this question only if you are not a pessimist. In the phone rounds that eventually led me to two offers, the interviewers themselves expressed a positive feeling about the interview and one of them actually told me that he would ask his manager to proceed to the next round within next 2 weeks.

Finally, one last experience. After some point in my job search, I applied to India positions even though I was stationed in the US. I got a call from Hyderabad for a FPGA verification position. This person said he will call me over phone at the scheduled time and asked me to ensure that I had access to the internet for code sharing. During the interview that went on for an hour, he asked me to write certain code snippets(in perl) through gmail chat apart from other questions.

In general,prepare well, be confident and station yourself in a quiet place for the phone/skype rounds. Have a paper, pen, calculator nearby apart from any notes.(Dont rely on too many of them for you can't search for them during the short duration). Remember that most likely the interviewer is looking for a short crisp answer(not a tough one). Listen carefully and speak clearly. All the best for your phone interview.

To be continued in part 3........

Resumes to Interviews to offers-Part 1

When I told my friends, that I got an offer from Intel, there was visible happiness in their tone and faces. It was more so because I was one of the last in my batch to get an offer after a long waiting period. Since I have some interlude before joining the company, I thought of writing a post on job search.

 There are different kinds of students who look for a job in different disciplines and different market situations. However, there could be a few guidelines that can be common to all of them. I decided to put together this post because I thought it was prudent to do so before I forget what I went through during the job search. For those who are specifically in VLSI specialization, please see the follow-up posts for some interview questions that I faced.

Now, Resume is the first and important step in the job search. You do not have to really worry too much regarding many of the myths running around about these. There are people who vehemently oppose anything more than 1 page in a resume. It actually depends on the requirements for a particular position and what the general mentality of the people in a particular company is. If the position focusses on a specific subset in your discipline (for eg, digital electronics and related knowledge in electrical engineering), then you can exclude your other projects and coursework details (in this example analog related ones) from the resume(in which case the whole thing is called a C.V and edited version, the resume ). However, my personal experience as well as observation of my friends tells me that no one is bothered much if you give a 2 page resume. Many of us had 2 page resumes and did not fail to get calls from atleast 2 employers like Intel, Microchip, Marvell, Qualcomm, Apple, AMD, freescale semiconductors, Maxim etc. Don't get scared if someone suggests a top to bottom revamping of your resume. There are as many opinions on this as are people. Ask a couple of people and your own self about the clarity and content. If satisfied, go ahead.

Having an objective in a resume is optional. If you have one, then try to make it not too specific or too general. Another thing that most people make fuss about is references. There are mostly 3 categories of people when it comes to this. Some of them actually list down their 3 or 4 references with contact information in the resume itself. This has its own pros and cons. It shows that you are well-planned and confident but wastes that much of your resume space. Others just include one line "References available on request" . This is a better way because, it mentions about references but does not occupy space. I come under the third category of people who do not write anything about references at all in their resume. This option worked for me at least (I got 2 offers) and is advised by some experts too.

It is imperative that you talk to your references before listing them out on the resume. It is quite important to choose the references properly as they can make or break your offer in many cases. See this for an interesting tip.

 Professors(from both undergraduate and graduate colleges), collegues during part-time job, internship mentors could be possible references for RCGs. Every candidate should be careful in choosing someone who will surely talk positive things about them.

As for as the rest of the resume , the format should be neat and not too cluttered. Bullet points are helpful as the attention span of anyone and especially hiring managers and assistants are very short in the current era. List your skillset (relevant softwares, operating systems, instruments etc that are relevant). For many positions, the resumes are searched for key-words. So, just remember that including words like oscilloscope, digital multimeter etc can also help at times.

Listing relevant courses also helps to some extent. I have observed that it is especially helpful in a job fair, where this list itself can actually impress a potential employer. They know that RCGs rely heavily on coursework compared to experience and hence this is the base to build on. I had listed just the course names. However, one of my friends suggested that it will be even better to briefly indicate the important things that has been covered in the course(I know this sounds crazy because it is difficult to compress all that here but let me give an example). If I list computer architecture as one of the courses, then I can probably say things like assembly language programming, caches, pipelining, dynamic scheduling, Tomasulo algorithm, branch prediction, multi-threading, simplescalar, superscalar, virtual memories etc. or a subset of these key words. In fact this can be done for the most important areas that are required for the job.

After listing your experience in the reverse chronological order(for RCGs it could be internships done during undergraduation and graduation) list the college projects. Do not list too many of them. 5 to 7 would be a reasonable number. Give a brief description of what was actually achieved in each project/internship. List down the tool used to accomplish these tasks alongside. If your internship is little more than 2 years old and you do not remember all intricate details, then I would really encourage you to sit down and think about all the key concepts that were involved in the work. When I submitted my resume to Fujitsu in a job fair, the recruiter there saw my resume and was interested in it. She was looking for verification and design engineers. She went through the resume and asked me to explain my internship experience. When I was describing it, through certain questions she understood that I had worked on something that is exactly what she was looking for. However, I was careless enough not to mention it in the resume. Therefore right keywords can make a lot of difference.

After the projects, I listed out my extra-curricular activities and I would suggest the same to anyone else too. However, if you are hard-pressed for space already, then you can skip this one. This section helps sometimes in behavioral rounds which is often a detested round for many candidates.

Applying

I actually just have a concise message for candidates who apply to any kind of position, internship, full-time fresh grads or full-time experienced. A third party recruiter succinctly words what should be done.....

Though what she says is mostly true, I would ask you to apply to all jobs online in addition to  contacting recruiters directly. This is just to ensure that we keep all options wide open.

Ensure that you apply to as many companies as you can get access to. Though I personally had little success getting calls from any small company, my friends did get such calls. Use social networking sites and any other good way of networking. It sounds(and IS) opportunistic but that is precisely what one has to do if one has to land in a job. (It is imperative for International students as they do not have many benefits of greencard holders or citizens in the US). "Resume pushing" as it is popularly called, is the most important activity in the pre-interview stage of your job search. My personal experience (as far as engineering is concerned) tells me that more than 85 to 90% of all interview calls are through such references.

To be continued in Part 2.....