Thursday, October 3, 2019
hungry little minds hbr.
Conversation runs out quickly when talking to a newborn. They don’t say anything back. They won’t groan when you tell them it’s going to rain, or smile when you tell a joke.
At the same time, those early weeks are shrouded in a cloud of exhaustion. My baby didn’t sleep when he was meant to, which meant I couldn’t either. It’s no wonder that conversation wasn’t exactly flowing.
It starts to feel easier when they become more responsive, but it still didn’t come naturally to me to “coo” in response to my baby’s gurgles, or speak in “baby-ese” with big, loud, slow vowel sounds. I would often look in awe as other, seemingly more parental types, would have whole conversations with my baby.
A few months in, as babies start to respond more with babbles and giggles, it becomes easier. But studies show that some parent still do not speak to their children much, and that this can have lasting negative consequences – consequences even visible in the brain.
It was in the mid-1990s that a worrying discovery was made about a stark difference in language achievement in children. Researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley went into homes of families from different socioeconomic groups, spending an hour each month recording them over more than two years.
Analysing the data, they found that children from the poorest backgrounds heard one-third as many words per hour as those from higher income backgrounds. Scaling up, they proposed that by the time the children were four years old, there would be a 30-million word gap between children from poor backgrounds compared to those in wealthier, professional households.
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This study was far from ideal. It had a small sample size, and it’s not clear if the word gap is as large as the researchers first suggested. Other critics have since shown that low-income children hear many more words than Hart and Risley reported when factoring in language they overhear from conversations both inside and outside the home. Responding to these critics, another group highlighted that “young children do not profit from overheard speech about topics of interest to adults”.
If this “word gap” does exist, it is problematic because language is known to be one of the most important predictors of how you are going to do later in life, from your earliest school years to university and in turn, your career. In order to read, learn basic numeracy and even to articulate memories, you need language.
“If that’s not where it needs to be, you’re already starting at the race behind,” says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, who directs the Temple University Infant Language Laboratory in Philadelphia.
This lag also plays out in the brain. Neuroscientists are now able to show how the brain responds to early language exposure. One group, led by Rachel Romeo, a neuroscientist and speech language pathologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, showed that conversational interactions can have a visible benefit on brain development. The team recorded conversations in families’ homes monitoring both the amount of language they were exposed to and the number of conversational turns. Children who had more turn-taking conversations were better at language comprehension tasks.
These children also had stronger white matter connections in the brain in two major areas important for language, an increase that could speed up processing in these areas. This, says Romeo, shows that conversational turns contribute to brain development. “We found that more conversation correlated with stronger connections in this pathway, which in turn related to children's language skills,” Romeo says.
Indeed, a large body of evidence shows that it is not passive hearing – or even the amount of words a child is exposed to – that matters most. Instead it is the quality of the conversation that is important. That is, the back and forth, turn-taking nature that requires listening and responding. It’s what Hirsh-Pasek and her long-time collaborator Roberta Golinkoff refer to as a “conversational duet”, because “you can’t sing it alone”. In fact, another study found that if a conversation is interrupted by a phone call, the child does not learn a newly presented word, but will learn it if the conversation is not interrupted.
Romeo’s team went one step further in a small follow-up study that helped parents understand the importance of turn-taking conversations. In this group, they found increases in grey matter in language and social regions of the children’s brains.
“That’s not a coincidence,” she says. It makes sense that the social and language areas of the brain are “coming together” in these child-parent relationships, as language underpins our social relationships, and both are fundamental for how we learn. “We have this human desire to communicate,” she says. “On top of that we build our language skills and those language skills add a foundation for higher level cognition.”
Meanwhile, another group, this one at the Princeton Baby Lab, monitored babies and experimenters’ brains to find that when they were engaging in interactive play, such as singing or reading, their brain activation patterns started to converge. In other words, their brains “become coupled together”, explains Elise Piazza of the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute, the lead author of the work. At other times when taking part in separate activities, the “neural synchrony” between their brains disappeared, she says.
“It’s as if you become so tuned in that you’re operating not as two people, but as one. That’s where we believe the learning gets heightened and takes place, and that’s what conversation brings you,” Hirsh-Pasek says of the work.
Socioeconomic status
Given how important conversations are from such a young age, how worried should we be about the “word gap” – and where does it come from?
Even if Hart and Risley’s study wasn’t perfect, the idea that a significant socioeconomic gap exists has been replicated by dozens of studies. In 2008, for example, Meredith Rowe of Harvard University found that types of conversations do differ significantly between low- and high-income families – in part due to the differing levels of education reached by the parents in these groups.
In other words, “parenting knowledge” contributes positively to vocabulary development, says Rowe. In this study, higher-income parents used longer sentences and more vocabulary than the lower-income parents. “The key finding here was that the influence of poverty on how parents communicated with their children was explained by how much the parents knew about child development,” she says.
If there is any association between socioeconomic status and verbal abilities, it may be because poverty is linked to both lower levels of education as well as to greater stress. Both factors mean the quality of conversations can suffer.
But socioeconomic status isn’t determinism.
In one 2015 study, Hirsh-Pasek and colleagues looked at the speech of 60 children, all from low-income families, at age two; they returned one year later to see how these children had developed. As anticipated, the children who were taking part in more conversations at two had more advanced language one year later. Those who had fewer conversations scored worse on language ability.
As these children were all from lower-income backgrounds, the results show that poverty alone is not what predisposes a child to poorer language skills.
“It’s not just about whether you were born into an under-resourced environment, but it's how you interact with your child in that environment that seems to make a difference,” says Hirsh-Pasek.
Though a word gap can have lasting consequences, the good news is that all parents talk to their children at least some of the time. If parents understand that quality interactions are more important than quantity, then all children could benefit.
The more social experiences they have, whether with their parents or with any other caregivers around them, the more they will learn, she adds.
There are other ways to help speed this process along, too. Parental coaching is effective, but it is time consuming and expensive. Fortunately, there are other simple, tried-and-tested ways that help encourage more quality conversations.
Hirsh-Pasek and colleagues have shown that in under-resourced communities in some of the poorest neighbourhoods of Philadelphia, putting prompts in supermarkets increases meaningful conversation by as much as 33%. These could be as simple as colourful posters asking questions like “Where does milk come from?” and “What is your favourite vegetable?”.
I visited several sites in Philadelphia – including at a bus stop, as well as a playground at a library and at human-sized board games in Philadelphia’s Please Touch children’s museum – where Hirsh-Pasek and her team are trying another approach. Here they use games to encourage several important aspects of learning, from the social to the cognitive, from impulse control (hop scotch) to executive function (problem-solving games). Crucially, they were carefully placed in areas where people already gather in groups. And though the games are geared towards children, they were remarkably fun for us adults too.
The project, called “Playful Learning Landscapes”, involved collaborating with city councils and architects to “transform everyday places into learning opportunities”. What’s more, close monitoring by nearby researchers showed that some of these projects helped increase conversations by 30-55%. “As an added gift, when you make these environments interesting, their parents are more likely to put their cell phones down, look in the eyes of their child and have a meaningful conversation,” says Hirsh-Pasek. “Imagine what we could do if we made the world just a little bit more fun.” With enough will, the researchers say it should be easy to recreate similar spaces in many other cities.
In the UK, the government has launched a related project online, where simple prompts encourage parents to talk to their children more. Hungry Little Minds is a three-year campaign with the aim “to encourage parents to engage in activities that support their child’s early learning and help set them up for school and beyond”.
For some, the stress of day-to-day life can leave less time for talk and play. But it is now clear that subtle tweaks in how we speak to children – and how we listen – can literally grow their brains for the better.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Kubera.
Brahma had a son Pulastya who'es son was Gaviputra Vaisravana who deserted his father and went to Brahma who as a reward made him immortal and appointed him to be the God or riches (Kubera) with Lanka for his capital and also gave him Pushpaka as a vehicle.
Pulastya being incensed at the desertion reproduced half of himself in the form of Visravas (tasyakapata pta rajan sasarjat manam atmana sa jajne Visravah nama tasyat mordhena vai dvijah) {Pulastyasya tu yah krodhad ardhadeha bhavadmunih Visravah nama ityadi) This Visravas looked upon Visravana with indignation. Visravana strove to pacify his father and with this view gave his father three elegant Rakshashis to attend to him. Pushpakala, Malini and Raka. Pushpakala had two sons Ravana and Kumbhakarna. Malini bore Vibhishana and Raka bore Khara and Shoorpanaka. These sons were all valiant and skilled in the Vedas and were observers of riligious rites; but perceiving the prosperity of Vishravana they were filled with jealously. They accordingly except Kara and shoorpanaka began practice of austerities to propitiate Brahma. At the end of a 1000 years Ravana cut off his own head and threw it as the oblation into the fire. Brahma then appeared to stop their austerities and offer them boons. He ordained that Ravana should have heads and shape at will and should be invincible except by men. Kumbakarna who was influenced by the quality of darkness should enjoy long sleep. Vibhishana asks that even in the greatest misfortunes he may never mediate any unrighteousness and that Brahma's weapons may become manifest to him without being learned.
Having obtained the power Ravana expells Visravana Kuvera from Lanka.
Pulastya being incensed at the desertion reproduced half of himself in the form of Visravas (tasyakapata pta rajan sasarjat manam atmana sa jajne Visravah nama tasyat mordhena vai dvijah) {Pulastyasya tu yah krodhad ardhadeha bhavadmunih Visravah nama ityadi) This Visravas looked upon Visravana with indignation. Visravana strove to pacify his father and with this view gave his father three elegant Rakshashis to attend to him. Pushpakala, Malini and Raka. Pushpakala had two sons Ravana and Kumbhakarna. Malini bore Vibhishana and Raka bore Khara and Shoorpanaka. These sons were all valiant and skilled in the Vedas and were observers of riligious rites; but perceiving the prosperity of Vishravana they were filled with jealously. They accordingly except Kara and shoorpanaka began practice of austerities to propitiate Brahma. At the end of a 1000 years Ravana cut off his own head and threw it as the oblation into the fire. Brahma then appeared to stop their austerities and offer them boons. He ordained that Ravana should have heads and shape at will and should be invincible except by men. Kumbakarna who was influenced by the quality of darkness should enjoy long sleep. Vibhishana asks that even in the greatest misfortunes he may never mediate any unrighteousness and that Brahma's weapons may become manifest to him without being learned.
Having obtained the power Ravana expells Visravana Kuvera from Lanka.
Monday, September 30, 2019
ancestral worship.
This is the time for Pitru Paksha Shradh, preceding the autumnal Navratras, when ancestors are worshipped, and prayers offered for the repose of their souls. The ritual is considered even more important than the worship of God, because a person owes his physical birth to his lineage. When Rama observed the Shradh for his illustrious ancestors, one sadhu ate so much that the Lord’s three brothers got tired of feeding him. They sought Ramchandra ji’s help, who said that he would serve the sadhu himself. While doing so he recognized him as Shiva. The god smiled and vanished.
Shradh were recommended by the religious text Karam Kand (which emphasizes homage to ancestors), and observed from the autumnal full moon to the following Amavasya (dark night) for 15 days. On Amavasya day, the worship is to unknown ancestors. The period starts with Parwa, Dwitiya, Tritya, Chauth, and so on, for the full fortnight and a day
Black til (oilseed) for tilanjali, and chawal (rice) are among the main ingredients. Water is offered to the ancestors in front of the rising sun in the morning. Puja, havan, daan (prayers, fire offerings, and charity) mark the period, in which no festive functions are held, and devotees abstain from non-vegetarian food, and even onions and garlic.
During the Shradh, it is believed that ancestors appear in dreams, to warn of impending dangers in the coming year. Each day of the Shradh is equal to a year, and so the multiplication goes on to include all ancestors for 15 generations and beyond. Ancestor worship starts with the father and mother, and includes grandfather, grandmother, great-grandfather. and great-grandmother back to as many generations as one can remember, with reverence paid to both paternal and maternal ancestors. For the unknown ancestors, Rookha or Seedha (raw) food is offered in a thali that includes wheat flour, rice, kheer (milk pudding) and sabzi (vegetables).
Homage to ancestors is as old as humanity. The belief is found worldwide. The Chinese practised it, so did the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. . The Jews remember them when they observe Passover, the Christians devote the full month of November to departed souls, the Muslims pay homage on Shab-e-Barat. The Buddhists and the Parsis too have ceremonies to honour their ancestors. The Parsi dawn prayer Hosh-Bam recalls the deeds of Iranian heroes of old, the names of whom are recited early in the morning. Tribals worship ancestors confined in the forest tree-trunks, like the spirit Arial in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.
The South Indians, Bengalis, and North Indians have their own special ways of observing the Shradh. For the Bengalis, the climax is reached at Mahalaya, when the Chandi mantra is recited early in the morning. In the poem Kubla Khan by Coleridge, Kubla, the Mongol warlord, hears the voices of his ancestors at the capital Xanadu, prophesying war. Even a ruthless killer like him believed in mellowing down for ancestral worship.
An interesting story is told about the legendary physician Dhanwantri When he died, his disciples wanted to hold his Shradh. He had told them not to do so, but to eat his flesh so that they could become like him. As the disciples were preparing for that, Yama, the god of death appeared, and, fearing losing their souls, forbade them from eating the body. He cunningly told them to throw away the flesh that they had already cut out.
This, the disciples did, and three other living beings ate it: the ants, the kites, and a woman from the so-called cobbler caste, named Cheta. All three were blessed with longevity. Some say it was not the kites, but the crows. Hence, the practice of feeding crows at Shradh time, when the souls of ancestors are said to visit homes as crows. Incidentally, even today, Vaids begin their prescription with the word “Cheta” to assure long life for their patients.
During the Shradh all directions for travel are considered closed for 15 days because of the influence of Disa Sal, the spirit of the pathways. They are said to open up only after the Amavasya bath. The other days are utilized for offering prayers to ancestors, in which lies Moksha (salvation), both for those performing the rituals, and for the long departed ancestors.
Shradh were recommended by the religious text Karam Kand (which emphasizes homage to ancestors), and observed from the autumnal full moon to the following Amavasya (dark night) for 15 days. On Amavasya day, the worship is to unknown ancestors. The period starts with Parwa, Dwitiya, Tritya, Chauth, and so on, for the full fortnight and a day
Black til (oilseed) for tilanjali, and chawal (rice) are among the main ingredients. Water is offered to the ancestors in front of the rising sun in the morning. Puja, havan, daan (prayers, fire offerings, and charity) mark the period, in which no festive functions are held, and devotees abstain from non-vegetarian food, and even onions and garlic.
During the Shradh, it is believed that ancestors appear in dreams, to warn of impending dangers in the coming year. Each day of the Shradh is equal to a year, and so the multiplication goes on to include all ancestors for 15 generations and beyond. Ancestor worship starts with the father and mother, and includes grandfather, grandmother, great-grandfather. and great-grandmother back to as many generations as one can remember, with reverence paid to both paternal and maternal ancestors. For the unknown ancestors, Rookha or Seedha (raw) food is offered in a thali that includes wheat flour, rice, kheer (milk pudding) and sabzi (vegetables).
Homage to ancestors is as old as humanity. The belief is found worldwide. The Chinese practised it, so did the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. . The Jews remember them when they observe Passover, the Christians devote the full month of November to departed souls, the Muslims pay homage on Shab-e-Barat. The Buddhists and the Parsis too have ceremonies to honour their ancestors. The Parsi dawn prayer Hosh-Bam recalls the deeds of Iranian heroes of old, the names of whom are recited early in the morning. Tribals worship ancestors confined in the forest tree-trunks, like the spirit Arial in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.
The South Indians, Bengalis, and North Indians have their own special ways of observing the Shradh. For the Bengalis, the climax is reached at Mahalaya, when the Chandi mantra is recited early in the morning. In the poem Kubla Khan by Coleridge, Kubla, the Mongol warlord, hears the voices of his ancestors at the capital Xanadu, prophesying war. Even a ruthless killer like him believed in mellowing down for ancestral worship.
An interesting story is told about the legendary physician Dhanwantri When he died, his disciples wanted to hold his Shradh. He had told them not to do so, but to eat his flesh so that they could become like him. As the disciples were preparing for that, Yama, the god of death appeared, and, fearing losing their souls, forbade them from eating the body. He cunningly told them to throw away the flesh that they had already cut out.
This, the disciples did, and three other living beings ate it: the ants, the kites, and a woman from the so-called cobbler caste, named Cheta. All three were blessed with longevity. Some say it was not the kites, but the crows. Hence, the practice of feeding crows at Shradh time, when the souls of ancestors are said to visit homes as crows. Incidentally, even today, Vaids begin their prescription with the word “Cheta” to assure long life for their patients.
During the Shradh all directions for travel are considered closed for 15 days because of the influence of Disa Sal, the spirit of the pathways. They are said to open up only after the Amavasya bath. The other days are utilized for offering prayers to ancestors, in which lies Moksha (salvation), both for those performing the rituals, and for the long departed ancestors.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Nithi neri vilaccam.
If knowledge be not thine; thou art as one in deep mid stream so wide that both the banks are hidden from thine eyes.
When may my thoughts be fixed alone on thine who is Himself all sweetness, made all things, Whom all the Vedas sought though seeing dim, who saveth him that to his mercy clings.
When will my God attract to him my soul, and keep it ever near, beneath his care, just as a magnet draws as to a goal unto itself the weighty iron bar.
When will that God who hath no earthly shape, of all the end, and yet who maketh all, whose clear pervading eye nought can escape, accept my services all my soul enthrall.
I have learned of him, and find no single thing in all the world. to show how great his glory, words must fail, to tell the joy, the bliss i have in him. Yet when I try no man believes my speach.
O God I once knew nought of what thou art; And wandered far astray, But when thy light pierced my dark; I woke to know my God. O Lord I long for thee alone. I long for none but thee to dwell within my soul.
When thou didst make me thou didnst know my all, But I knew not of thee, tis not till light from thee gave me to understand of thee, that i could know, But now where ever I sit or walk or stand thou art for ever near.
Can I forget thee that art mine and I am only thine. Even with these eyes I see and with my heart perceive that tho art come to me as lightening from the towering sky.
If thy poor heart but choose the better path and in this path doth worship only God. His heart will stoop to thine, will take thy heart and make it His. One heart shall serve for both when thy poor mind has always God within. The highest one will surely dwell with thee will rob thee of thy sins, as with a tool the artisen will shave or cut clear off each roughness from the wood so will he make thee free from sin and all together pure.
To lay her eggs the turtle swim forth far to reach the sandy shore she buries them and swimmeth back again yet doth her mind adhere to them when young ones break their shell they feel the tie, it draws them like a rope along their mothers path at last they meet. Just so hath God placed us. we wander here while he is far above. Yet in his mind we ever stay the tie doth reach to earth from highest heaven If we but follow we cannot fail to reach and live with Him.
Some think to find their God upon the hills and climb with weary feet. So some declare he is beyond the seas they sail afar to find him out Oh! ignorant and fools Its pride that prompts your work.
HIS sacred feet are in your heart. If there you seek our soul will find the being that alone is real.
Not for a single moment this my God forgotten this helpless me.
Oh! only GOD my king and king of kings I could not live one moment without thee. One mercy more. Bestow that praise may dwell upon my tongue.
When may my thoughts be fixed alone on thine who is Himself all sweetness, made all things, Whom all the Vedas sought though seeing dim, who saveth him that to his mercy clings.
When will my God attract to him my soul, and keep it ever near, beneath his care, just as a magnet draws as to a goal unto itself the weighty iron bar.
When will that God who hath no earthly shape, of all the end, and yet who maketh all, whose clear pervading eye nought can escape, accept my services all my soul enthrall.
I have learned of him, and find no single thing in all the world. to show how great his glory, words must fail, to tell the joy, the bliss i have in him. Yet when I try no man believes my speach.
O God I once knew nought of what thou art; And wandered far astray, But when thy light pierced my dark; I woke to know my God. O Lord I long for thee alone. I long for none but thee to dwell within my soul.
When thou didst make me thou didnst know my all, But I knew not of thee, tis not till light from thee gave me to understand of thee, that i could know, But now where ever I sit or walk or stand thou art for ever near.
Can I forget thee that art mine and I am only thine. Even with these eyes I see and with my heart perceive that tho art come to me as lightening from the towering sky.
If thy poor heart but choose the better path and in this path doth worship only God. His heart will stoop to thine, will take thy heart and make it His. One heart shall serve for both when thy poor mind has always God within. The highest one will surely dwell with thee will rob thee of thy sins, as with a tool the artisen will shave or cut clear off each roughness from the wood so will he make thee free from sin and all together pure.
To lay her eggs the turtle swim forth far to reach the sandy shore she buries them and swimmeth back again yet doth her mind adhere to them when young ones break their shell they feel the tie, it draws them like a rope along their mothers path at last they meet. Just so hath God placed us. we wander here while he is far above. Yet in his mind we ever stay the tie doth reach to earth from highest heaven If we but follow we cannot fail to reach and live with Him.
Some think to find their God upon the hills and climb with weary feet. So some declare he is beyond the seas they sail afar to find him out Oh! ignorant and fools Its pride that prompts your work.
HIS sacred feet are in your heart. If there you seek our soul will find the being that alone is real.
Not for a single moment this my God forgotten this helpless me.
Oh! only GOD my king and king of kings I could not live one moment without thee. One mercy more. Bestow that praise may dwell upon my tongue.
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