Epics of India

So the story that most intrigued me this week was the one with 4 of the Pandavas dying and Yudhistira answering riddles to revive them. Basically what happened, was that a large deer scooped up some prayer items from a monk in the woods and the brothers gave chase. Eventually they got really tired and thirsty. Thusly, they decided to look for water and one by one came upon the same pond. When each of them got there, they were issued a warning not to touch the water, but promptly ignored it and died. When Yudhistira finally came around, he headed the warning and ended up answering a large number of riddles from a god that turned out to be his father. His father then granted him a boon of being unrecognizable. This would make a pretty good story involving a vivid description of the pond and the game of wit. Yudhistira Bibliography: Title: The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Author: R. K. Narayan Year: 1978 Link

So I finally decided I wanted to start with the Hanuman page. Shocker really, considering my two favorite stories that I've written so far are about him. While looking through the page this time around, I found mention of Bhakti Yoga . Honestly, I thought yoga was yoga so I naturally decided to look deeper. Turns out that Bhakti Yoga is a "spiritual path of loving devotion to a personal Divine." My interpretation of that is that you spend time every day in quiet meditation, relaxing your body and praying to the Divine that resonates most with you. I'm not sure if that is correct, but that's what I understood. This particular yoga was apparently discussed in the Bhagavad Gita . This is a collection of verses and scripts that discuss the interactions of Arjuna and Krishna. This book is apparently a part of the Mahabharata , which is much larger than the version we are reading for class. From the sounds of it, the original Mahabharata is 2000 verses. For re

So this week, I've been in the computer chair a lot and decided to do the deskercise challenge. Being a self conscious person, I really liked the article here , which is specifically non-embarrassing yoga. From this, I will definitely be using the open chest stretch very frequently, as the muscles in my chest tend to get really tight, and this seems to help a lot. Interestingly, the reverse prayer pose was also very calming, and I am not at all opposed to using it some more. The deep breaths provide a nice reminder to relax a little and not stress so much. Classy

I decided to talk to my girlfriend about growth mindset. We've been dating for a long time, so it wasn't a very awkward conversation. She has actually done quite a bit of work towards developing growth mindsets in younger children through her work. She works for the KISS Institute of Practical Robotics, and spends her time teaching kids about robots and programming. She said that one of the more important things is to keep everything interesting. As long as she can keep the kids interested, they are more than willing to tackle new challenges head on, even if they may fall short every once in a while. It is honestly really cool that a company like this one exists right here in Norman. KIPR

This week was really great. We had the first, second, and third snow-days of my college career at OU this last week. I transferred in to the college after the last one happened a couple years ago, so this was a nice surprise.  The bummer was that this last week was also Engineers' Week, meaning a lot of events got cancelled. That's okay though, I still got to decorate the engineering quad with some cool people and we got to go to the fluid dynamics lab on Friday. It is the best time of year to be an engineer, and there is just a wonderful sense of community at every event that goes on. The snows days helped me get a little ahead in some of my classes, but more importantly, I was finally able to catch my breath. It seems like I have been going nonstop since the semester started, so this was a more than welcome break for me. In other news this week, I got to try out the alternative to the story telling assignment. The story planning is interesting to do, because

This week, I found this cool video about sacred trees in India in the stream. It talks about all kinds of different tress and their place in the culture. As someone who really likes plants, this was just neat to watch. Link

Here is a map of Sri Lanka, which is speculated to be the ancient country of Lanka. From here, Ravana would have overseen his kingdom.

In the Mahabharata, Arjuna's acquisition of Gandiva is very briefly mentioned. It was gifted to him from the god Agni, after he burned a forest with the aid of Krishna. They burned the forest for Agni for his own 'well-being,' as he needed the fats of the animals consumed in the inferno. That is more or less all the story has to offer of this incident. Looking further into the tale, I have found several extra details regarding Gandiva, Agni, and Arjuna. Gandiva is a mythical bow with 108 strings, one of them celestial in nature, that thundered when an arrow was loosed from it. With it, Arjuna defeated entire armies, before eventually relinquishing it when his fighting was done. Arjuna is son of Indra, and the reincarnation of Nara (Vishnu's companion). Also of particular interest to me is the fact that his chariot bore a banner of Hanuman, whom I've already had a bit of fun writing about. Apparently, Arjuna met Krishna (Vishnu) in the Khandava Vana, an

Arjuna The main focus of this reading was a large gambling match. It was actually awful to read how carried away they got with the betting. Yudhistira bet away their entire kingdom and even his brothers and wife. Then, the old king took pity and gave it all back, but what did Yudhistira do? He bet again and he and his four brothers were exiled. While exiled, Arjuna acquires a bunch of divine weapons, but also becomes a eunuch. Bibliography: Title: The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Author: R. K. Narayan Year: 1978 Link

Arjuna Reading through the Mahabharata, there are a lot of babies being made. So many, that the names of all the couples and the names of their children and children's children are very hard to keep track of as you read. The gist is to build up to the battle later in the book. There are essentially two sets of sons in particular who very much don't like one another. They are the Pandavas and the Kauravas. There are only 5 Pandavas brothers, but 100 Kauravas brothers. The Kauravas are not as popular as the Pandavas, and as such, decide to trick them by building a house of joy. The Pandavas burn it down and secretly escape, successfully faking their demise. Now in hiding, the Pandavas fight deadly Rakshasas, relying almost entirely on Bhima. Eventually, the story brings us to a competition for a bride. One of the Pandavas, Arjuna, strings a bow and hits a target, thus winning Draupadi's hand.  But instead, Draupadi marries all five brothers. Bibliography: Ti

Saraswati So I had seen somewhere mention of a goddess, Saraswati , who is the goddess of all knowledge. In reading about her, I saw the word Dharma , which has been continuously popping up in this class, and I decided to finally read on a little about it. Dharma is essentially a bunch of different behaviors that make the universe possible. It seems to be a pretty abstract concept. But reading through its page, I came to Yudhishthira , who is the son of some god and goddess, but more importantly to me, he took part in the Kurukshetra War . This is also know as the Mahabharata, so I got a little taste of what is to come in our next book. It sounds like a power struggle between two factions for the throne.

In this article , 'Don't Waste Your Time With Bad Resolutions,' Tim Herrera talks about setting goals for yourself the right way. He talks of how we shouldn't set goals based on the ideals of others, but on what we want for ourselves. He then goes into detail on the SMART goals model. This model is the process of making goals smart, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely and I've personally seen just how well it works when utilized properly.  SMART goals are basically a good way of making realistic goals that you can actually accomplish. They may be a stretch, but you can still reach them. They aren't frivolous or vague. They are very specific and have milestones in them for you to reach.  He also talks very briefly about how we shouldn't be overly positive about things, and that a little negativity can help keep us grounded in the present and moving forward. This is a relatively new thing for me to think about. I am probably going to look for s

Link This week, I found out a lot more about what teachers can do to empathize with students. It has become a growing trend in our society that teachers remain distant from their pupils for various reasons. This has led to a loss of connections between the teachers and their students. I believe that doing things like the 'I wish my teacher knew..." will help the teacher connect more with these kids, and be able to teach them in a manner more suited to them. If there isn't a close connection between students and teachers, it is harder to create a positive learning environment. It also tends to lead to a lack of compassion on both ends. If the students and teachers have a closer bond, then they are more able to help one another in rough times. For example, the teacher could be having a really rough day, and the normally rowdy students would be exceptionally well behaved, just to make things a little easier.

Greatness This picture is wonderful, and as someone very passionate about STEM and fantasy, there's no way it wouldn't be my favorite this week. I picked this video, not because it's new to me, but because I have seen it before in a leadership seminar. This is a great piece of animation for demonstrating empathy, and it can really teach a lot. Plus, everyone loves a cute dog.

This past week has been a little better than last week. Rather than getting injured, I instead had a difficult exam, so I guess things have improved. I have also been spending an ungodly amount of time in the machine shop, making parts for my capstone. We have been running the CNC machines ragged to get all our parts ready for this next Wednesday when we have another technical presentation to prepare us for actual testing of our rocket nozzles. This week, I wrote another fun story about Hanuman. I am discovering more and more, that he is really easy for me to write about. He is a very personable character, and has a lot of potential for so many different stories. I also got to read a different version of the Ramayana, and I do believe it was better, although I did not at all like the ending. While the treatment of Sita may have been pretty common when the Ramayana was written, it doesn't come into a modern setting very well. Cultural and social opinions have changed, and ar

For my notifications, I actually left most everything at its default setting. I like getting the updates in my OU email at the end of the week and whenever a grade is posted. I did turn off the discussion notifications, as those can get rather irritating with some of my other courses.

NOTICE: This story has been updated in my portfolio, and can be found  here . Sand flew behind Hanuman as he ran along the thin beach. For an hour now, he had been running as fast as he could with the tide creeping slowly higher on the sandbar. The next island in the chain was in sight, but he still had a fair distance to cover.  Just a little faster , he thought to himself. Putting in a little extra, his pace picked up and his breathing deepened. He had done this for the past few days, going from island to island between the tides on the natural sandbars that formed between them. The sun danced on the edge of the horizon, casting long shadows from the shells strewn about, and playing tricks with his eyes. He put his foot down hard on a mostly buried conch and yowled in pain, stumbling forward and crashing into the ground. Spitting sand and picking himself up, Hanuman chanced a glimpse of a shadow moving in the deep. Fleeting and faint, but definite movement. He started h

The story of Hanuman setting Lanka ablaze contained a lot more detail in this version of the Ramayana. It went to great lengths to explain how he was captured and let loose from his bonds. Also shown in more detail was how Rama and his army crossed to Lanka. Previously, the bridge building hadn't been very specific. The battle at Lanka contained much more detail and felt like almost too much was happening. The author went to great lengths to explain how each individual fight in the battle happened, and each phase of the battle held several fights. The final difference here is what happens after they return. There is another rejection of Sita's purity, and she is exiled and has Rama's sons who return later and recite the Ramayana before their father. This version ends with the return of Rama to heaven with his brothers. Building of the bridge Bibliography: Title : Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Ramayana Author : Sister Nivedita Year : 1914 Link

From what I can tell so far, this version of the Ramayana is very similar to Narayan's. The key differences are in the details. Most of the stories in this version have more dialogue, and more development of setting and character. However there are slightly different variations in the plot of the overarching story, such as Ravana taking Sita away by her hair rather than by picking the earth up underneath her. This version is shorter, but it seems more enthralling than the first version I read. There are also stories such as the one with Vali and Rama, that don't get any detailed discussion whatsoever. A story told in this one that I had not seen in the other version of the Ramayana, is the short bit when Hanuman is leaping across islands towards Lanka, and is caught by a sea demon. He grows even larger in size and kills her, before proceeding upon his way to Lanka. Sinhikha Bibliography: Title : Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Ramayana Author : Sister Nived

Hindu Deities Here is the link for the video I watch on Ganesha's secret for extra reading this week. The first story that this video goes over is a race between Ganesha and Kartikeya. Ganesha wins the race by using a different view of the world. He says that his world is his parents, so by going around them, he beat Kartikeya, as his world matters more to him. The next part of the video talks about how gods do not have forms, but people need some notion of the divine, so we give form to them in manifestations. It also explains why Brahma has 4 heads (4 goals of life), and what his hymns represented. It also talks about men and women coexisting. Next we get into local manifestations of god, which are when the divine come to earth. These manifestations are extensions of the divine concepts. This includes a great many gods throughout the land that represent the same divine being so that each community in the land can have their own local needs, but also connects them to t

We've read about Lanka quite a bit recently, so I decided to look a little bit more into Sri Lanka , which is supposedly one and the same as appears in the Ramayana, and the bridge of islands fits the tales. It turns out, that Sri Lanka has had many names in its history. This led me to find that the first is the name of the first kingdom to exist in Sri lanka: Tambapanni , which means "copper-red earth." It was apparently once inhabited entirely by she demons called Yakkhinis. And I found that  Prince Vijaya made Tambapanni his kingdom after landing on the beaches on the day of Buddha's death. Vijaya tied threds around the wrists of his followers for protection, which eventually led Kuveni , one of the she-demons, to become his consort, since she could not kill his men. That seems a little odd to me, but whatever. She had been the queen of the Yakkhas. He eventually makes her leave the island, after using her to kill all her sisters. Vijaya sounds like he was a c

The video I ended up watching was the one about Dr. Who being a religion. This is actually a pretty interesting idea, and the guy puts forth some pretty convincing arguments. I believe a religion is built in the people who practice it, and the video points out multiple times how the fan-base goes about its business. I'm not entirely sold that it is a bonefied religion, but it ranks about the same to me as Pastafarianism. Here's the video so you can watch it and decide for yourself: Also, I found this really neat image/quote about books, which happen to be pretty great things to have in your life. ( link )

This week has been pretty crazy for me. I ended up doing a lot of machining for my capstone class and subsequently getting a tetanus shot after standing up into a piece of metal. Yay rusty steel. Luckily, there wasn't really a serious injury, just another scar to brag about my clumsiness. On the bright side, I managed to get our test stand completely welded and we machined a mount for rocket nozzles to attach to, just in time for a progress update. But overall, it has been the most productive week of my semester so far. I've gotten so many things done it is almost ridiculous. I was able to manage my time a little better this week than last, and it really payed off. I even wrote my best story so far. I mean, I liked it enough to put it into my portfolio project, even if the ending kind of tapered off a bit. Hopefully next week I might be able to go back and see if I can change it a little bit. I took the story of Hanuman burning Lanka to the ground after being captured, an

So I tried the pomodoro technique while doing my last couple of posts for this class, and I'm pretty sure I'll keep using this technique. It really helped me to keep focused as I was reading and writing my blog posts. When I got through 4 rounds, I was still feeling motivation to keep going, so after my long break, I was able to just jump right back in and keep at it. I may go for a shorter long break next time to get things done faster. I even looked into physical timers so I don't have to use my phone, and I found some really neat ones. Timer

( Link ) I already knew that we can learn a lot from new and challenging experiences, but I guess I hadn't thought much about how much we can learn by having an open and creative conversation with someone else. Thinking about it now, I have worked out so many problems in my life just by talking with someone else about it, that it almost seems silly to not count those kinds of conversations as learning opportunities. I will probably end up looking more into creative conversations here on the internet and how to make them more numerous in my day to day life.

So far, I have been able to do every assignment for this class on time. I can attribute that to the to do lists I keep on my phone. But that doesn't mean I just skipped over the canvas calendar. I used it to populate my to do list for the semester where I could. The problem, is that not all instructors fully understand Canvas, so it can't be as effective as I would like. Instead, I started with the Canvas calendar, and populated my lists from there, and then I have gone to each course and found assignment dates for the semester that are currently visible and added them as well. As new assignments come up, I have a clear view of when everything is due, and can adjust accordingly, well ahead of time.

You can find my portfolio and my edited stories here . Hanuman

NOTICE: This story has been updated in my portfolio, and can be found here . Three days. He had been captive for three days now. Three days alone in the dark, with the cold damp of the stones behind his back and his eyes fixed in the direction of the cell door. No one had come to question him. No food had been brought. No sound had been heard outside his cell for the entirety of his captivity. Truth be told, Hanuman was starting to feel forgotten. He had come to Lanka looking for the wife of his lord, who had been abducted by the king of demons, Ravana. He found her under a tree, guarded by Ravana's underlings. Under the cover of darkness, Hanuman had slipped between the guards and made his way to the tree. He told Sita she had not been forgotten by his lord, and that he was coming. That's the point where things got a little more difficult. Sita was shocked by a talking monkey and blew his cover. Honestly, she couldn't have been a little more considerate, given

In the final reading of the Ramayana, the monkey Hanuman let's himself be captured by Indrajit, who brings him to Ravana. Ravana questions him and learns of Rama. Hanuman offers Ravana a chance to surrender, which is quickly shot down. Then Ravana wants to dispose of Hanuman, but is warned off of killing a messenger. Instead of being killed, Hanuman's tail is set on fire. He breaks free and uses his own burning tail to light the entire city on fire and burn it to the ground. Ravana is furious, and has an architect of the gods rebuild it. Lanka Burning Title : The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Author : Kamban / R. K. Narayan Year : 1972

The first reading this week pulled me much deeper into the Ramayana, and I particularly enjoyed the story of Sampathi. As the great army searching for Sita came to an ocean after their one moth deadline had passed, they felt defeated. Hearing the people mention his brother, Jatayu, Sampathi appears to the men. They have come to the place where he fell after being burned by the sun god. Upon hearing Rama's name, the great bird is restored to his former glory and tells the men that he saw Ravana carry Sita to Lanka, across the sea before them. Sampathi Title : The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Author : Kamban / R. K. Narayan Year : 1972

So this week was a little bit busy for me, thus why most of my assignments were done Sunday night.... Mostly, this week has been a series of new ideas and changes of plans for me.  In my capstone, a particular goal we had been heading towards was changed. I think ultimately it will be for the better, but it still feels a little bit sad to see some progress lost so quickly. We realized there were better alternatives that let us better focus on the science behind what we are doing, rather than dividing our effort towards several things. On the bright side, our test stand for the rocket nozzles is almost completed, with only a small amount of work remaining. Here's an image of what our stand is going to look like when it's all together: On that same note of change, it seems that every organization I'm involved in is gearing up for elections already, and it's a lot to deal with as we try to find the best officers for next year. It feels especially strange sinc

In my own life, I apply growth mindset best in a hands on setting. The more I make mistakes while physically doing something, the faster I learn. This can most easily be seen when I'm working in the machine shop learning a new tool, or how to work with a different material. Any time that I can physically put my hands on something and just work with it until I know it, I learn better from my mistakes. As far as school goes, this is pretty difficult to do with my math heavy coursework. I can't just reach out and pick up an equation in the same way I do with a bar of metal. Instead, I try to imagine the situations where equations can be applied to physical objects that I understand, such as support beams and machinery. ( link )

I picked an article that talks about how students sleep. What I learned is that we aren't nearly as deprived of sleep on average as people think. And generally speaking, students are getting an adequate amount of sleep. That is, until we get stressed. I'd like to explore more on how night owls maintain sleep, because the more I know about my own situation, the better I'll be able to manage my own sleep schedule. On a normal night, I go to bed around 2 or 3 A.M. and wake up around 9:30- 10:00. So I'm still getting around 7 hours of sleep. I plan on looking into this a little more tonight before I go to bed, to see what going to bed later means, and what effects it can have. ( link )

So I installed the Canvas app at the beginning of the semester to see how well it works, and it's been pretty convenient for checking up on assignment due dates and discussions in certain classes. The only complaint I have about it is that if I am typing a discussion post for a class on the app, my keyboard will close at random. This may only be because I am on a fossilized android phone, but it is still an inconvenience. Overall, I think the app has been pretty useful.

The first article I read on feedback is " How to Craft Constructive Feedback. " The purpose of this article, which is actually a transcription of  an infographic, is to give some steps for giving useful feedback to others. The first step is to know when a person is actually looking for feedback, and when they are just expressing themselves. This can be tough to do and requires you to listen intently to what is being expressed and the way in which the person asks for criticism. If they want a full critique, you follow three steps for each feature you want to critique. First, you Observe  the feature in question, then Describe  what that feature does in detail, before going on to your own Suggestions.   Honestly, this may seem like some pretty basic stuff, but it is very easy to forget when you are looking over other people's work which may be done in a style completely different from what you would have done. My second choice of article is " Criticizing Praise .

This week, I decided I would look deeper into the role of animals in Indian mythology. I started with looking at Vishnu again, as he has a total of 4 animal incarnations. He is incarnated as a fish, turtle, boar, and man-lion. Of these, I enjoyed reading the tales of his fish form, Matsya , and his turtle form, Kurma , the most.   In the tale of Matsya from the Mahabharata, some guy is doing some rituals along a river and a little fish asks for his protection. He protects the fish for quite some time and it grows enormous, then saves him from a storm on the ocean. It's pretty neat, and I'm excited to read the full story when we get there instead of just this little summary. This is the first story I've thought about using as a core concept. The story of Kurma is also a really cool story to read. Some gods get cursed, and need the nectar of immortality to survive. Vishnu becomes Kurma, a giant sea turtle, and puts a mountain on his back and swims into the cosmic

King Sakara sat atop his throne, surveying the lofty view of his kingdom. At the top of the palace, one could see the horizon curve and the land give way to the sky, yet the edges of Sakara's domain were further still. Sitting now in quiet contemplation, he had a pleasant view of the sun setting over his lands. While the last rays of light were fading, Sakara wished for them to stay, and keep his kingdom shining so beautifully. Suddenly the king sat upright, a smile on his face. The light would always shine on his kingdom if only the whole earth were his.  Calling his many sons together, King Sakara set forth a plan to complete the ritual of aswamedha. Sakara would then become the true king of all the lands. Hearing this, the gods grew fearful of one man ruling all of earth, no matter his purpose.  When the ritual commenced, the great god Indra descended from heaven and stole the sacrificial horse. He descended deep into the underworld and released the beast. Outraged,