God Never Laughed

Fifteen hundred years back a major climatic change on planet earth caused brilliant men from the two hemispheres to meet, collaborate and come up with reparation that remained concealed in an incredible place for hundreds of years. Before the great wars, portions of this document were discovered unknowingly by some archaeologists. The quest for the newfound Holy Grail resurfaces again in recent years from the finding of a war diary - a path strewn with mystery, death, unexpected twists that could ultimately lead to a revelation; a revelation perhaps too advanced for humankind.


I chose 599 CE for the book when the language was predominantly moving from verbal to written. It was just the reverse of what we witness today - a sentence spoken verbally could very well carry a code under the guise of a ballad, meter or lyric, while writing the same was not easy; the sentence constructs did not permit so. What the verbal Puranas and unified Veda were trying to communicate became distorted (or perhaps even modified deliberately to meet the needs of the times) to present day anecdotes. Here's an example of what I think of numbers - 108 the magical number is 27x4 - four lunar months or Chaturmas - where the sages would sit tight for the rains to be complete. The challenge was how to count the days while you are locked up inside - the prayer beads and the temple stones. Mind you 108 is not an easy number. So they must have decomposed it to its core - 1^1 x 2^2 x 3^3 - easy instructions for the temple maker to set the stones and assemble the prayer beads.

Numbers were represented by consonants. The Arabic or Roman number system was adapted much later. Bhagavad Gita 17.2 reads - “datavyam (worth giving) iti (thus) yat (that which) danam (charity)”. I have kept the transliteration next to the words. Datavyamiti - broken up in consonants is 31415 - looks like a sequence, but it is the value of PI - 3.1415 - I reckon the meaning must have been a “charity is truly circular and complete with a thousand donations”. Some folks may call it absurd and completely pooh-pooh it, but there must be something in the sequence.

Paul Bradshaw travels thousands of miles to the land of Vedas to find that a quest that began fourteen hundred years before remains shrouded in mysterious disappearances. Is Paul at the end of this frantic hunt? Who is the real enemy? Why broken terracotta tablets are such a closely guarded secret? Can he defy death that lurks in every shadow?

God Never Laughed brings out such a story of man's struggle with powers fiercer than his.

What happened in 577 CE and 799 CE is still beyond the anvils of a wordsmith and the flash of a fine sword of steel. 

Review By Mamta Madhavan for Reader's Favorite: "Most parts of the story are set in the Himalayas and there is a spiritual vibe that runs through the story, giving it an aura of mysticism despite the harshness that permeates the plot. The narration is descriptive, detailed and aesthetic so that it is able to capture the scenes visually. The word choices are exquisite, adding to the aura of the plot."

Kernel of Vedic Truth

I completed three more books covering the span of Post Vedic, Pre Upanishadic eras.

Kernel of Vedic Truth explores the history and philosophy of Vedic thought from the days the Gods left the planet. The book references Bhagavata Purana and Sandilya's Bhakti Sutra providing a genuine insight into questions around the birth of this universe, our role on this planet and thereafter, oneness of god in everything and the true yoga of meditation and devotion. The ancient seers were extremely earnest in their desire for the truth and provided an eternal covenant that lay concealed in the realms of the sacred lore of the Vedas, Puranas and Sutras. The book follows the style of a ballad - stanzas never exceeding four lines. The book is a story within a story within another. The themes are short and meaningful. As the contents unfold, the central theme becomes evident providing a genuine, simple translation of what the forepersons saw, witnessed, practiced, underwent, and left for us a means to continue that wonderful, spiritual experience.  Kernel of Vedic Truth is strictly a philosophy centered on Krishna, Siva, Rama, Rishabha, Kapil, Bharata, Maitreya.

Cause Divine a prequel to "Ballad Divine", explores the history of human thought from when it endeavored to undermine the first divine cause. More than two thousand years back, the hymns written for a pantheon of Vedic gods slowly began to evolve into a redefined philosophy of one supreme god who was benign and universal. While the older manuscripts led the transition from the many Vedic gods to Brahma, the supreme, the newer scriptures focused on the single monistic god.

The original texts have many aphorisms, metaphors and simile. In Cause Divine, excerpts have been taken from Brahma Sutra, Rig-Veda, Katha Upanishad, Taittiriya Upanishad, Svetasvatara, Kena and Mundaka Upanishads on the subject of first cause. The reader may initially feel a little overwhelmed and swamped with alien words and texts. With repetition and reinforcement, the concepts enrich the readers understanding and comprehension. All this without bogging the reader into obscurity.

The translations presented in Cause Divine are as direct to the original manuscripts as possible and transliterated words and sentences accompany the stanzas as they unfold.

Insight Divine provides deep insight into the workings of Vedic and Celtic Natal Astrology.

Insight Divine is an easy to follow course in Vedic and Celtic Astrology that provides a solid foundation for anyone interested in the myth, the art and the technology of this divine mathematical system the ancients had devised. Insight Divine is natal astrology, giving you insights about you as a person and your charter on this planet. While you have already unraveled some portions of it and have swung between gain and loss, pleasure and pain, Insight Divine can help you overcome some of the future hurdles.

Stanza by stanza, the book leads you into a practical application on which Jotiz.Com is founded. Jotiz is a PHP framework that lets you implement a dynamic astrology website with all computations, and the bells and whistles. Insight Divine provides you both, the technology means and practical insights into astrology to become an expert quickly. The code in the book lets you create and analyze different astrological charts, tree sign readings and Dasas. It lets you use the inherent features of PHP to generate beautiful geometrical charts.

My book 'Ballad Divine - Bhagavad-Gita' is now available at Amazon. It took a few painstaking years to get there, but every moment was worth it. The printed book and Kindle editions are available at Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Ballad-Divine-Bhagavad-Gita-Dev-Bhattacharyya/dp/1495969835/. You may also review the book. Would love to hear about your reactions to the book. 

Several years back, I spoke to a child about Krishna. The child was so delighted even though she could not pronounce the name properly. I felt if just the lord's name could have such a profound effect, his ballad needed to be re-visited. I went through innumerable books spanning nearly 150 years from Annie Besant, Max Mueller, to Swami Vivekananda, Swami Parmananda, Swami Nikhilananda, S. Radhakrishnan, Srila Prabhupada and Swami Dayananda to name a few. Of course, inspired by Chaitanya's Kirtans, I spent many-a-day on Sri Aurobindo's Essays on the Gita, Bankim Chandra's - Krishna Charitra -- and Ballad Divine is the final rendition.

Ballad Divine brings back the Bhagavad-Gita in a very easy to read composition; minus the rhetoric. It is an accurate reference of the original and observed facts and uses the same systemic method to divinity. 

Ballad-Divine is organized around the mainstays of Krishna's doctrines, those of philosophy, action, discipline, concentration, knowledge, meditation, devotion and surrender. These pillars are in turn expounded from smaller building blocks. The theme in the sentences are repeated throughout reinforcing the subject. It is styled mostly as a ballad expressing eighteen different chapters by short stanzas; of which some are metrical.

Excerpt from Chapter 4, Lines 7 and 8

When there is fading of dharma 

And increase in infamy and sloth

Then into birth, 

I loose myself going forth. 

For deliverance of good

For destruction of terror

For enthroning of rights 

I am born from one age to another.

Chapter 18, Lines 69 and 70

No mortal performs 

Service that I value more

No other on earth

Is dear to me than the one I adore.

Judge I will 

Those who study

This sacred discourse of ours

Who offer me sacrifice

By knowledge of course. 

Realize your profession

I sometimes wonder what held me back then when I was about to write what I am narrating today many years later - Fear? Consciousness? Perhaps both or a manifestation of both. It takes a lot to realize an iota of what one really is - I think I have but reached just the tip of the iceberg; therefore the haste in writing. Duality exists - it is what makes us human. We see all existence with dual eyes - and perception of every eye is never overruled by the other - therefore the binocular duality; notwithstanding the dreams and astral visualization we witness as we tend to sleep, I reckon we still see it with multiple visions - the reason is simple, as mortals born on this earth, we have been entrusted with almost everything in dual or plural form - funny, we have never trust One. Not intending to be sarcastic, it is but true, we question even ourselves; our own very shadows when in doubt. My two cents - the dollar bill should have read - "In ONE God we trust".

Astrology is extremely interesting - astrological predictions are so apparent to so many so quickly - I have witnessed some folks who can predict events accurately to the day and month. Yet, some unfortunate folks like me who have studied astronomy and its applications in astrology in depth for many years are still afraid of making a basic prediction. Why? Because duality persists in a mortal like me, it does not in the privileged. Privileged? I call it privileged because these humans are endowed with something which I am not. Well, every every step towards divinity is timed with a purpose - a purpose well laid out well before life is born and by when it will be snuffed.

Let's understand one thing - there is no such thing as fate - not if you are a seeker. While you are a maker of your own destiny; the destiny is only confined to earth and not beyond. If the very purpose of our existence was just a mere molecular, chemical interaction with compatible molecular structures (I have no idea what that could really mean), then this life, this existence could be very well be explained. Unfortunately genetics and genetical growth patterns, unlike classical, statistical, predictive algorithms are very predictive in their manifestations. While mediocre parents tend to produce mediocrity, it is difficult to explain how a child who is merely two and a half years old know fully well that the computer mouse sets navigational cursors on the computer screen and not outside and sliding the thumb left to right unlocks the IPhone, never having seen one before. It's baffling what genes can do.

Nature will never send us back in time, unless there is a purpose - I would rephrase that - unless God has a purpose. While we are confronted with the ever changing landscape of man made technology (good or bad); something still beckons us to seek the immortal, the beliefs that constitute our spiritual genes.

Allow me to revert back to where I started - duality vis-à-vis non-duality. We as human beings get attracted to one of the duality in a certain time of our lives. Astrology can accurately state when. There was a time when I would find myself completely lost if I were not up to date on the latest that technology had to offer. I had to be on the cutting edge, not just abreast. The malefic in 10^th from the moon ensured that was the driving force. The benefic from the ascendant in the 10^th lay silent till a few months from now. The switch in duality makes me laugh when I realize the lessons it has taught me. The 10^th house is far from the ascendant - it should be, it determines your purpose and direction in life - illegitimately called the profession. The profession is only one side of the coin and quite the veiled side. Following the Ninth house which determines your inclination towards righteousness (otherwise spirituality), the tenth house could never have befallen into anything as materialistic as profession. The 10^th house is your direction - you have a choice - stay with materialism or stay out of it. I used the words 'out of it' - materialism must not drive you. Money is needed - it is badly needed if you want to even spend a few minutes in spiritualistic purposes; but it can never appease the insides.

The 11^th house benefits from the 10^th. It is a house of benefits not fortunes. The 10^th can only lead to the 11^th. I learnt this lesson from a strongly inclined business person many years back - something which no MBA will ever teach - that money is meant to be spent and some of it saved for a rainy day. Spend, expend what your 10^th house offers to the maximum - that will fulfill the needs of the 11^th and whatever's left will be needed when the going gets rough in the 12^th.

Circular Predictability

Time - because of its circular – rather rotational nature; just like the seasons, assumes predictability. Which simply means, like the four seasons, or 12 zodiacal divisions or even 27 lunar mansions (nakshatras), life is a predictable entity. Does it not contradict the fact that a person is a maker of the person's destiny? Well, simply put - No, while fate is predictable, life is not. Fate was chosen; life is lived – there are always 'deltas' between what was desired and what transpired – all this not too deviant from the chosen karma.

Predictability is an immense assurance of what may happen. And, assurances lead to faith. Faith drives our ambitions. The chances that a person well versed in medicines will otherwise lead a life of doom is seldom the case – therefore predictability becomes an important aspect of determining the characteristic and personality of a person. Even chaos is predictable. Buddha classified the predictable life as that of middle path. The Middle Path Life is the easiest to lead as it also falls closely to the karmic choice of the individual.

Note – human professions (or professions created by humans) may not be the one chosen for a karmic life. Again, human rules are not astral in nature. Therefore, while predicting, it is important to determine whether a person chose the life to have the following characteristics – belief, faith, peace-loving, honest, water loving, land loving, nomadic or static life. Based on these characteristics, one can narrow down to the human created profession that suits the personality the best.  

Time is Circular and therefore predictable

Time is definitely not linear. The circular nature of time is explicit and inevitable. Incidents, history repeat. Therefore does life. The passage of time (as the expression goes) is well phrased – time is slow in propagation and yet directional. It is truly a passage. However, it is like a voyage in a sailing ship. It would almost be impossible to figure out the world is round, had it not been for faster ships and perhaps revelation.

Circularity is inevitable. Only then can be explained the theory of indestructibility. How about time in the other plane – the other dimension. The passage and units could differ and it probably does – that explains the uniqueness of every creature that is born or exists in this universe.

In the illustration N expresses Natality, M - maturity, D - Decay and inevitable Death. The return path seems to be a reversal of time - perhaps, perhaps not. The question - is life a choice or is it inevitable?

Parallel Universes

All matter defaults to parallelism. Parallelism in roles and actions is easily conceivable. A person on the phone, with a sandwich, coffee and newspaper driving a car is a rich display of parallel activities. The same lady in life plays a mother, aunt, daughter and wife. While watching all this, beyond a point our minds stop assimilating every other parallel other that exists. Its time we let the five senses and idiosyncrasy guide the mind. It's high time we went beyond the limitations of 'Maya - illusions' and (perhaps) try and understand the true parallelism. For convenience of understanding, let us adhere with just 'duality' a much smaller subset of parallelism as it is easy to fathom and decipher – simple - yin and yang; white and black.  The illustration on the left denotes duality. A with it's dual A~ complement. B with parallel B~. We will get to the attachments and fallen A in a while.

Simply put, all existence in this universe has duality with another one. By the way, the word used here is existence and not life. Life by definition is enjoyed for short time-spans by living organisms. Existence, however spans a much larger domain. It goes far beyond the short lifespan of macrocosms like humans, mammals, reptiles perhaps even insects and smaller creatures. The microcosm that we all contain within us lives on a time scale that is very different from us. Life in the micro-world occur for shorter spans measured at macro levels. Like the bacterial population ceases to exist in human conceivable micro-second time spans.  

It is not about duality between macrocosm, microcosmic or even super-macrocosm existence. These are all perceptive; limited by optical and other senses. They also tend to exhibit uniqueness. Where therefore is the duality – all religions have taught us it is beyond the perceptions – the question therefore is – is the existence form or formless? Religious power-stations have also deliberately confused the duality through visually perceivable artifacts – like 'heaven' and 'hell'.

Gods that came down on this earth and lived among humans exhibited traits that were the expressions of that era – pain, emotions, concepts of good, bad and evil. Through subtle parables they spoke about duality; about parallelism. Jesus, Buddha, Krishna shared this earth with humans and yet left in a incredibly divinely manner. Their communication with the parallel form was quite explicitly perceived by folks around them. Such an extraordinary exhibition happened only to a few – or was it simple exaggeration? Whatever happened then cannot be recreated – whatever was there made them different – divinity was profoundly expressive for the chosen few.