Some writing of Saroj Kant Mohapatra

Model of myoglobin (Source: Wikipedia) - with inverted colours In biochemistry, one studies molecular structure by first preparing a crystal of the pure substance. This is not always easy. I knew a scientist, who was really good at making crystals. She was also a good cook. When we ask her how she makes crystals, she would say: you know, as we work in the kitchen, so we follow a recipe in the lab. We follow procedures throughout our life. E ating, washing face, putting on shoes, typing words on a computer, are all procedures. This kind of procedural knowledge ( knowing how ) is different from  referential knowledge ( knowing what ). ---- Babette's feast <https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTgyNDY0OTA1Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDkyNDcyNA@@._V1_.jpg> A secret recipe is available with someone to prepare a meal. Follow protocol, step 1, then step 2, ... up to step n, and one gets a good meal prepared. One knows  how , but does one know  what  is it that is being pre...

Deepavali - Festival of lights. Originally, it referred to Deep, or the Indian lamp. Now-a-days, it is much convenient to set up an illumination with electrical lights. However, what is it about a Deep ଦୀପ, that distinguishes itself from an electric bulb, when I reflect upon Deepavali? Is it only nostalgia for the pre-electric era? Deep or other variants with flame (candle, etc) have a special property in addition to removal of darkness. That is, you can light a Deep from a flaming Deep. There is a direct transmission of a flame from another flame, which seems to me quite natural, and symbolic in a human way, of how one glowing heart, through the process of sharing, can transmit joy, knowledge. Only if there is motivation on one side and receptivity on the other. This has been expressed in the song Jyot se jyot jagate chalo.  In today's world, we cannot do without electricity. But we live our lives, sharing what lights we have, large or small. In that sense, it is Deepavali everyda...

     I see you one last time,      You, the beautiful chatterbox,     A nd your friends, keep hovering,     I n my visions.      Memories are formed like this,      You know, human memories.      When I go from here,      A part of you is carried inside,      Like a flower petal pressed      Within the pages of my favorite book.      When my mind is painted in your colour,      A soundless melody is heard somewhere,      A silent artist listens to you again,      A blanket of intimacy from afar      Gently wraps the moment in itself, and then     Simply  asks:      What is ordinary life?      Ocean, sky, rocks, birds, trees, all -       What you gave me - a moment,      When the word chooses the w...

  A friend arranged pieces of an orange in the shape of a duck. It cannot be said that the orange was hiding the shape of the bird. The orange has nothing to do with the bird. The shape of the bird is an idea, carried by a human mind, and can be recapitulated by appropriate arrangement of the physical units available. I imagine the following manner in which this particular structure came to be. In the beginning, it is only an orange. Then someone peels the orange and takes out the pieces. The pieces along with peels and the whites are lying on the table. A creative imagination captures the mind of the person. With the core idea of a duck. Place one piece here, another there, continue with the arrangements. Use a seed for the eye. White  for the beak, Cut the pieces of a peel for the feet. The ways in which the pieces can be arranged are constrained  by the shape that is being realized. There are very many ways of randomly arranging the orange pieces, and most such ar...

This is a time of worshipping the maternal energy who destroys the evil and protects the righteous. There is an intellectual tradition behind the feminine energy, Shakti. One other tradition is of the nurturing energy, that looks after the world. Then there is the tradition of destructive energy (Samhara-karta) which is also simultaneously generative (phallic symbolism, control of animal energy - Pashupatinath). These are three major intellectual traditions in India, with specific festivals and rites. It is best not to confuse one tradition with another. It does not mix.

I walk on the road without any effort. I feel the thoughts pass through me as simply as I feel the earth below, responding to my foot steps. Music from a nearby Puja Pandal fill my ears. There is a joy in the air. Every one knows what is happiness. And its many variants, joy, bliss, pleasure. Ananda comes most easily to us. Being conscious of oneself is an act of self-reference. I get it, eventually. To know oneself is a breakthrough, sort of. To know that one existence has multiplied itself and projected itself in various forms. To be the point which is at the center of the universe. And also the point at its periphery. It is like a child growing from being happy to being aware of oneself to being a complete person. I retrace the path from Ananda to Chit to Sat.