Are we really Gods?

I recently read The Lost Symbol (again... third time). It has sparked a few questions. Hell no.. I'm not promoting the book! Most of what has been discussed in the book has already been discussed in Hinduism. When I gained some Wiki-wisdom about Advaita and Dwaita philosophy it kind of left me confused. Both these philosophies talk about God (Brahmam) and Soul(Atman). While Advaitam says both are the same, Dwaitam talks about them being two different things. I'm not knowledgable enough to say which is right but generally speaking, the essence of life is to find oneself through which we find God. So I guess soul is part of God. But what or who is God? Religiously speaking, God is the Supreme Being. He (or She, the female version) controls the world - created the world, created the animate and the inanimate, controls the nature.. even controls luck to some extent! In Hinduism, we have so many choices of Gods - the real Gods controlling the creation, sustenance and destruction, some other Gods controlling the software part of humans - Knowledge, Wealth and Courage and numerous other Gods who we even believe to have walked the earth in the form of incarnations.

That leads us back to the topic of the book - "Know ye not that ye are Gods". In Hindusim, Vishnu's incarnations on earth have been called "divine" and are the crux of our epics - the Ramayana and Mahabharata. But I wonder if their contemperories knew that they were divine? They were exemplary men. They charmed the people around them. They helped people around them. They destroyed evil. They imparted wisdom to the people around them. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone(or many) like them around us? Someone, who doesn't get upset or angry with our behavior, someone to correct us if we are wrong, someone to protect us and someone who doesn't play politics! Would we call them Gods? I guess we wouldn't. Why? Simply because it is too good to be true to happen in today's world! We would suspect some scheming happening behind such good behavior. We would keep watching out for traps that we simply wouldn't enjoy the company or relationship of such a person.

The closest I've seen to being divine are parents. They correct their children if they're wrong, they don't play politics, they protect them (at least until their children are living with them), they don't expect anything in return from them but of course they do get angry with their behavior!! When a parent can exhibit such behavior towards the child, why can't we, as a person, exhibit a similar behavior towards others? Do we do that? No. Why? Simply because we are afraid of losing. If we correct someone else's mistake or not play politics, they will use us as ladders. We will be at the losing end. We will be left behind while the rest of the world advances.

So how can man unleash the divinity within himself? How can we be divine and sustain at the same time? Somehow, this situation seems to be similar to what Arjuna felt on the battlefield. He was not ready to kill his relatives and teacher but that means accepting defeat. But Krishna justified that Arjuna had to answer the call of duty. As a warrior, it is Arjuna's duty to kill. He is not comitting a sin by carrying out his responsibility. Bhagavad Gita talks about God(Brahmam), Soul(Atman) and duty(Karma). When Arjuna fighting the war is justified, the war that we wage with our contemporaries needs to be justified too, right? Well, according to me, the answer is yes! We have to function according to our capacities. When we need to be tough on people when we have to be. We have to justify the roles we play, without attaching ourselves to the results. Well, we can't live without hikes or bonuses... but you are getting paid for what you did. So it is still within our responsibility to get what is rightfully ours. So where does divinity come in? Contentment. In simple words - happiness. The smallest of things that make you happy and content brings out the divinity within us 'cos for that single moment we forget everything else - the past, the future, the implications, ifs and buts. Be it your favorite movie on TV once again, or the first words your kid says or finding the first program that you wrote works. How many times a day do we feel really happy? We become God by making ourselves happy and how happy can we get when people around us are happy too!!

My new Creative Inspire T3100

I have been looking for speakers with subwoofer for my laptop for quite sometime. My favourites fell into two separate categories - cheap and good quality. My favourites for cheap were Logitech R 20 and Cyber Acoustics 3001. But I had my eyes set on Logitech's Z 2300 simply b'cos of its rating in cnet.com (http://reviews.cnet.com/pc-speakers/logitech-z-2300/4505-3179_7-30993080.html). Only it size and its cost kept me at bay.

It was then that my eyes fell upon the deal (thanks to deals2buy) on Creative Inspire T3100. Though I did not spend much time on "researching" it, the deal ($25 MIR) made me fall for it. The few reviews that I read on it sounded convincing. I thought a better quality speaker for the price of Logitech R20 was a good compromise and picked them up from CompUSA.

Boy, what a wonderful set of speakers they have been! The sound is clear and does not get distorted at higher volumes. The Bass, tweeter and the mid-range have all been excellent. The size of the sub-woofer though slightly bigger than R20 is way smaller than Z2300. When I listened to the same piece of music on the Z2300 and the T3100, trust me, I felt absolutely no difference! There could be differences, perhaps, at higher volumes since Z2300 will not be THX certified without a reason and also have higher output levels. But for home use.... my laptop and my mp3 player I did not need to look beyond. These are just perfect.

Anything I'm unhappy about? The bass knob is located behind the sub-woofer so adjusting it is a little pain. No complaints otherwise.

I think these a great set of speakers that not only produce good quality sound but also look great and perhaps the best deal for such quality at that price.