From Birds to Telepathy

 
Sparrow by  Laitche



The house that I live in presently was built in stages  beginning in 1991 during  vacations and sabbaticals in my career. By 1995, the ground floor of the house was more or less complete except for some finishing that continued later. In the center of the roof of the living room was a hole meant for a center light. To hide the protruding wires a small round plastic sheet covered it with another circular hole in the center of it for the light. A similar one existed in the front porch of the house.

I lived in the house through most of 1995 with frequent visits of three or four days to Delhi. At this time a pair of house sparrows occupied the porch roof cavity and made it their home. There were no complaints about that since it was not intended to fix a light there in a hurry. Sparrows are cute little birds anyway and I often leave seeds out for them in the garden.

Sometime later the female of the pair moved into the living room cavity and began nesting there. Perhaps she felt that it would be a safer place to breed. She had noted my timings. Every morning I got up at around seven in the morning and moved outdoors with a cup of tea. This was the time it would follow me and move outdoors too. In the evening I would come out into the front garden again from the front door and it was at that time the sparrow would return to its nest in the living room seeing that the front door was open.

Some mornings, I was late in getting up. The sparrow had scouted the home and found how to reach the bedroom through a turning hallway. It would sit on the bedroom curtain rod, patiently wait for me to get up and let it out. If it was especially late for getting up on some days, it would beat with its beak on the metal rod and wake me up. It was a wonderful morning alarm of bird knock that prevented me from getting up very late every morning.

One evening as I was sitting in the front porch with the front door closed. A neighbor dropped in and we began to chat. One forgets the topic of conversation but it must have been an engaging one because soon it was beginning to get dark. The poor sparrow must have been waiting patiently somewhere in the front garden for the front door to open and for her to return to her room in the living room roof. When we failed to notice her and continued to chat, she suddenly flew over my head ruffling my hair. I immediately realized her need and responded “ Hang on, I will just open the door”

Later I wondered about this episode and it had seemed to me that the bird had actually spoken to me, “ Come on, open the door, I am late”. But, the sparrow had not made any sound and I wondered if the sparrow had communicated telepathically and I had become receptive to that communication. As our relationship progressed my worry was about my forthcoming visit to Delhi. I usually departed in the morning and decided to ensure that I do not leave the bird locked indoors while away for a few days. The bag for the visit was packed early in the evening and then I went outdoors waiting for the sparrow to enter inside for the night. To my surprise it refused to come indoors on that day. Therefore next morning I left for Delhi, secure in the knowledge that the bird was not locked in. After my return the bird returned to her older practice of moving outdoors in the morning and returning in the evening. How did the sparrow know about the visit? Did she read my mind? I believe the answer is yes.

My later experiences, too numerous to describe here, improved my communications with birds, ants and dogs and a variety of animals (Patanjali, the father of yoga too suggests that when such abilities are awakened they get awakened for any life form ones attention is directed to). My experience is that bird communications consist of brief sentences (that they can repeat near endlessly like a small human child) and sometimes paragraphs of two or three brief sentences. Perhaps birds have no need for long paragraphs like humans. Perhaps this new found power was a blessing from the ancient King Solomon the Wise whose works I read frequently with utmost respect. He was known to have this ability as well and it has been mentioned in ancient spiritual texts that one tends to acquire the powers of one’s spiritual teachers if the devotion is strong enough. Since then I have read carefully the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali and he too has explained how this power may be acquired by some through certain yogic practices. This and another magical effect of another yogic exercise described by Patanjali, the ability to cross great distances on foot at great speed without tiredness (something that ants do all the time) have helped to affirm my belief in ancient yogic practices and their validity even in the modern scientific world. But it must be admitted that at first although I read the yog sutras with respect, there was disbelief in the stated words until this personal experience.  Some of these effects are included in a recent novel (nude besides the lake, available at amazon) although one has to say that the effect is  rare and with me occured only on rare occasions. I did ensure that both these experiences were no trick of the mind through whatever method that were available to me. But then I have not been steadfast in my practice. Perhaps if I repeated the intense practice they can be made to reoccur but there is no desire for that being reminded by a story of an ancient Sage Shankracharya - when he met another sage who had practiced for dog years in the Himalayas and then learnt to fly as a bird - Shankracharya remarked, " what a pity, had you devoted as much effort to your liberation you would have achieved Nirvana." There is another older post in this blog that explains why such powers are not common among humans and that explanation has been included in the novel just mentioned too.

The following year, I returned to Delhi to a busy professional appointment in a very crowded city. During the first few months of my visit, when the realization dawned that I could read the minds of my professional colleagues realizing what they had to say, before they had said it. Not just face to face but also on phone. Apparently the telepathic ability is not limited by distance. Gradually though, the ability faded as I continued to live on in Delhi for nearly four years. It seems that the existence of the ability requires serene, lonely surroundings for it to function. Much interaction with other humans and life in a busy city causes the ability to vanish, at least for me. Since that time the ability has come and gone several times according to my life style that has varied.

My experience with birds is that they communicate with sounds and even gestures but this is the least part of their communications. Most of it takes place by telepathy. That is the reason members of a bird family can locate each other even when they fly apart in dense cities and dense forests. In comparison, human children are lost easily in a crowd.

I have now realized that it is not just animals that can communicate telepathically. Another life form perhaps does it much more often because it has more need of it. That is trees, bushes and plants of all kinds. The rose bush in my garden communicates with the bee and the tree with me when it needs water. One of the visitors to this blog had pointed out that plants do not have a brain therefore they cannot feel pain. My response was that the brain is not required for feeling pain but consciousness is required for it and all life possesses that and it is the consciousness that communicates telepathically. In fact it is precisely the reason why most humans cannot communicate telepathically because they suppress their sixth sense through much use of the brain.

PS: This note was updated recently in 2012 to include reference to novel and Yog Sutras by Patanjali

UPDATE: JUNE 2014; Communication with ants is mentioned in the article and my recent experiences further confirms that both ants and bees are highly receptive to loving telepathic communications ( even though one speaks the words but they appear to catch the thought). Ants are even kind enough to move out of a space you do not wish them to enter just as long as one is kind to them, request them about it,, and take care not to hurt them. It seems that both bees and ants will readily sting a person they are angry with but are most gentle and affectionate to those who have been kind to them. Truly life is wonderful and it is the same consciousness that runs through all life.

UPDATE JULY 2015:  With greater experience there is more to do where non-verbal communication is concerned than telepathy. Although one may interpret it as telepathy, a communication or connection seems to take place at the level of consciousness that is difficult to explain precisely in words, because being experiences out of the ordinary, words do not exist for it.  Just wrote a post on my experience with black ants here:
http://someitemshave.blogspot.in/2015/07/refugee-ants-and-universal-consciousness.html

 

Comments

Vincent said…
"The rose bush in my garden communicates with the bee"

Yes, Ashok, but if you are calling it telepathy you undermine much science, including evolutionary theory. Is this your intention?

The symbiosis of flower and bee has been much studied, and entails co-evolution over millions of years.

How are we to take your telepathy? It seems like a word to explain phenomena which have not till now been explained by science.

Are you challenging the right of "Western science" to hold a monopoly on the explanation of phenomena?

Isn't it the case that telepathy is a simple label for unexplained phenomena, rather than an explanation?

These are just a few of the questions which spring to mind!

Not that I'm in every sense a sceptic on this, having experienced lots of occurrences that I would call magical. But I see magic as tricks of consciousness.
keiko amano said…
Ashok,

I love the story of sparrows and you. You can write a short short story like Vincent and submit it to DBA Lehane. It’ll be a wonderful story for children, too. If you write, please describe their faces, eyes, beaks, hands and feet, and their songs. Flannerly O’Connor had her lifetime experience with birds, and she wrote about them and also painted their pictures. She described very well about peacocks. It was hilarious.

I used to think sparrows were so busy, and they weren’t friendly to humans. Whenever I went near them, they flew away. But in recent years, I’ve seen friendly sparrows in Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Yes, it’s in the middle of the city! Isn’t that amazing? I love the high ceiling of the beautiful Union Station. I can imagine Greta Garbo or Humphrey Bogard there. I stop and rest there on the way to the airport and back. Sometimes, I meet a friend there and have a cup of coffee and talk before heading to a museum. There, sparrows come near us, and just like a Disney movie, they hop on tables and the back of chairs looking for bread crumbs. Other sparrows sing here and there in the large waiting hall. It’s so wonderful. I love it. Come to think of it, that’s what I want to do next week: Go and talk with sparrows in Union Station. Because of this blog, I searched on the web and fount the birding info in Los Angeles area.
ProfAshok said…
Vincent I am afraid I do not agree with the very statement

"Are you challenging the right of "Western science" to hold a monopoly on the explanation of phenomena?"

Firstly because I really do not understand what western science is. I am ascientist by profession, that is where my living has come from and part of it was practiced and learnt in the west and a part in other parts of the world.

Science is a human effort that has involved all the leading civilisations of our world for its development from ancient times as it continues to even today. It is true though that in recent centuries many contributions have come from the west to science. Please do not hijack that heritage into a western phenomenon. I strongly disagree with your or anyone elses view that there is a western science and an eastern science. Science is simply science

Secondly there is no question of challenging the monopoly of science. I have never believed even as a practicing scientist that science has ever held that monopoly. It is a valuable discipline that has contributed much to the explanation of phenomenon just as many other disciplines including direct intutive knowlege, knowledge from dreams, traditions, spirtual sources etc. etc.

The structure of benzene ring an important organic chemical was discovered by a well known scientist in a dream. Upto that point it was intutive language. Later when backed by hard scientific evidence it became a part of science. This is how many scientists sometimes come up with their contributions including myself during my carreer.

Thirdly and most important of all I keep an open mind to phenomenon and have never joined those who hold on to anything rigorously/fanatically as a religious book or the current state of scientific knowledge. Especially, if a scientist did that science would die. It would stop developing and revising, improving theory. Relativity would never have been discovered or accepted if the scientists of the time had told the same thing to Einstein

" Are you challenging the monopoly of English Science and Newton?"

Such monopoly exists in the mind of the public perhaps. Science can ill afford it or ill afford it to narrow it down to British Science, Egyptian Science, Arabic Science, Indian Science, American Science, Southern Science etc.

Science is free of boundaries of geographical regions or even galactic ones.

As regards your scepticism of the explanation of telepathy that is welcome though. Without it the exploration of phenomenon stops and often incorrect direction of exploration pursued worthlessly. Science welcome the debate. They are just as valuable for its progress as the debates in legislatures are for the devlopment of legislation.
ProfAshok said…
Keiko, thanks for your nice comments.

I am afraid though that I am no good at writing stories but if you ever decided to do that using the material here (I will agree to be a co-author) I will be delighted.

I am delighted to hear of your love for sparrow. Although not very colorful they are very gentle birds that love humans. If you open your heart to them they will be able to read your mind and you theirs as well with just a little practice.
ProfAshok said…
Please do excuse my grammatical, spelling and other errors in my responses. Part of them are due to my keyboard and in the main, because after punching in, I press the submit button without reading/correcting in the hope that the ensuing conversation would assume an air of informality.
ProfAshok said…
Vincent,

Now that I expressed the greater part of my disagreement, I am finding some valuable substance in your comments.

"How are we to take your telepathy? It seems like a word to explain phenomena which have not till now been explained by science."

Yes, I agree in my knowledge too, Science has not yet discovered telepathy. But that is no surprise the mysteries of the universe are endless and the process of discovery will continue.

As regards another statement of yours

" The symbiosis of flower and bee has been much studied, and entails co-evolution over millions of years."

Thanks that would seem to explain my observation that flowers and bees communicate. Much focus and relationship is required for a telepathic communication to take place. If it was not so we would be inundated by communications from the universe.
Vincent said…
Sorry, Ashok, I didn't express myself well. What I meant by western science is probably misnamed because it is universally accepted. I meant science with various safeguards such as repeatability of findings, peer review of published papers and so on.

There are or have been other forms of science which don't follow the model now accepted for science internationally. Healing methods such as acupuncture, homoeopathy and ayurvedic medicine are based on theories and practice less rigorously controlled.

Coming back to the question of telepathy, I repeat that it's a label and not an explanation. It is normally used to describe a phenomenon which has not been satisfactorily explained.

I don't think it is necessary to use telepathy as contributing to co-evolution or any other phenomenon whilst there is the possibility of proving an actual explanation of the mechanism used.

So in the case of bees, we know that they perform a particular kind of dance to one another when they return to the hive, to tell their fellows the direction of a good source of nectar, and the distance. This has been well-attested for many years. Other explanations have been found for direction-finding in the migration of birds and fish.

If we too hastily assign every unknown phenomenon to telepathy, then how can science persist in discovering the real mechanism?
ProfAshok said…
Vincent, I fully agree with you regarding the definition of Science. Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Ayurveda and so on are not science even though they may or may not be valuable disciplines of human knowledge, and in certain specific explanations even more valuable than science. But they can easily have a lot of misled and erroneous info and practices too since they do not follow the rigors of Science.

Telepathy is a phenomenon, that needs exploration. Perhaps science will discover it in time. Yes there are always other explanations possible. In the case of my bird experiment mentioned in the blog, I wondered if the sparrow had noted me packing my bag and on an earlier occassion had been locked in after the bag was packed and that is why she refused to move in. However as far as I recall she was not indoors when the bag was packed. She might have come in unseen and then flown out quickly after seeing the bag out of the closet, or seen something from the windows. She often did especially from indoors to chat with her mate who was outside. They would both come to the window and chat. Other explanations are possible. It is a matter for future discoveries.
ProfAshok said…
Having said that Vincent, I have had enough experience with telepathy by now, even from across distance, where no such explanation as with the bird is feasible or possible, therefore I have come to regard telepathy as a valid phenomenon even though not scientifically discovered yet.
Vincent said…
I do agree that there are mysterious phenomena not yet explained, for which telepathic communication may be a possibility.

Your tale of the sparrow reminds me of the behaviour of a cat we used to keep.

We lived on a suburban road, through which many cars would pass, though not very fast. When we returned in our own car after dark, our cat would sometimes jump out into the road in front of the car as it slowed, or even leap on the bonnet to greet us, before it had stopped.

If it had chosen the wrong car it might have been killed. I've never been able to work out how it recognised us. I don't suppose it could distinguish number plates. Possibly it knew the sound of the engine. But I think its behaviour persisted even when we changed to a different car.
ProfAshok said…
Vincent, That is an interesting story with the cat. Pets never cease to amaze us. I have had that sort of experience with dogs, not mine but those of neighbors, that I became friendly with and their understanding still amzes me, but I will leave it at that since thats quite another story that will need a new blog post, perhaps someday.
Rebb said…
Ashok, I enjoyed your sparrow story very much. Sparrows in particular cheer me up. When I have a stressful day and I’m out and about, I can count on a sparrow to fly by me and it immediately brings me back to center. I feel as thought the little guy is telling me to cheer up and not worry. On normal occasions, I just love watching them fly around, and if they happen to land nearby, I try to soak them up with my eyes.

Your little sparrow probably sensed that you were leaving even before you began packing. That’s great that your senses became heightened and you were able to know what your colleagues were going to say. That is something that I personally would not want to work on opening up. I already feel people’s energy and I think I would “tilt” like a pinball machine if I could read other people’s thoughts. It makes sense that these senses waken in us when we are not surrounded by noise, then our minds are able to go into more related states.
ProfAshok said…
Rebb

As I remarked earlier yoo, you are wondefully connected with nature and derive much strength from it.

I often feel sorry about other fellow humans who spend much of their lives in a very busy city largely divorced from the strength and pleasure that nature brings.

Sparrows are in my view too some of the sweetest of creatures that live around humans.
ProfAshok said…
Rebb, that is a nicer , more confident looking new profile pic. Are you sporting your new pixie cut well combed in non-pixie style?
Rebb said…
Ashok, I know what you mean. I too feel for those that don’t take a few moments to appreciate nature. And more often, I see people—older and younger—with their heads down busily typing messages into their hand held devices. It’s a shame that people seem they can’t live without these little gadgets. Even walking on a lovely trail, people need to be connected to some type of noise, rather than the sounds around them on the walk.

Sparrows are definitely sweeties.

Thank you, Ashok. This is indeed my new pixie, photo fresh off the press—a self portrait mind you. I decided to comb it with my fingers and put the blue headband that I wore in the previous photo to keep it a little more in order. I think it’s still pixie style. I’ve seen many style variations.

p.s. Have you read the book by Daniel Quinn called, "Ishmael"? If not, I think you would enjoy it.
Hayden said…
First, thanks so much for sharing these lovely stories, which I tend to accept at face value since I've had my own experiences. (But I'd like to hear more about your communications with plants!)

two quick comments to this lovely post, but I'm sure I'll return later:
1) I happen to have 2 cars, and 1, the Civic hybrid, has been in the garage since I got Pike the cat. I recently got it running so I could drive it on my last adventure to Maine and Vermont. Pike turns invisible when I am away. Neither his former owner nor my niece ever see him when they come to change his water and leave out food. Calling him does not help. Despite having driven the Civic only a couple of times before I left, when I arrived home I could hear Pike coming across the field before I was able to get to the front door. (He calls in a VERY loud voice, continuously, as he runs. I typically hear him for a full minute or two before he's able to reach the door.) So - for whatever reason - either the sound of this car that he shouldn't be familiar with, or listening in on my thoughts - he was there to greet me as soon as I arrived home.

2) I'm afraid I don't share your enthusiasm for sparrows in general, although it sounds like your relationship with this one was charming. They've been notorious for driving out native birds here, including the lovely and highly valued eastern bluebird. Their tactics are simple. They raid the nest, break the bluebird eggs, then lay their own in their place. Bird lovers here guard their bluebirds by visiting the nests weekly and removing sparrow eggs. The bluebirds don't mind, nor do they mind humans checking their nests after the babies have hatched. In this manner it's been possible to also help them with parasite infestations in their nests. (Bluebirds have been dependent on humans for nests since before Europeans came to this continent - Native Americans used to put out gourds for them near their gardens, as they're wonderful hunters of insects. Now we tend to use a wooden box with a hinged top, mounted on a post with a pulley, so the contents can be easily inspected.)
ProfAshok said…
Hayden,

I can well imagine sparrows could be vicious when they want to. I have seen them guard there bird seed very viciously on some occassions.

There are many varieties of sparrows and many different forms of behaviour that the sparrows are capable of. I dont hold it against them though just as I do not the vicious behaviour of some humans against others on some occassions. It is said to hear of this bluebird and sparrow war though. If I had the opportunity I might have tried to breed some chicks together in an attempt to inculcate friendship between them.

You had mentioned about the abilities of pigeons in another comment. Recently it is being discovered that birds are far more intelligient then we suspected. Here is a nice link to that:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6DF123BF932A35751C0A9639C8B63

That would have to be copied and pasted in the browser.

Aside from the intellectual abiliies of birds this article talks about they seem to have sixth sense abilities that exceed those of humans by far.
ProfAshok said…
Hayden,

The communication with plants is at an intutive level. It is felt but cannot easily be described and there is a communication in general with nature that includes plants. Just a couple of incidents:

The most loved tree in my garden here was a Silver oak tree. it had grown so tall and beautiful that it was the pride of the street. However, by early 2007, it exceeded the height of nearby electric wires. I began to worry seriously that it may fall in a storm and create a disaster. I could never dream of chopping or pruning the tree because of my love for it. Soon after it mysteriously began to dry off and died. Therefore we chopped the dry tree. It was a sad moment and at that time I launched a seperate blog all in the memory of this tree called tree love. The blog has since been removed although some of its images with the name of the blog remain in my Picasso web album.

Earlier this year I had begun to imagine aboult growing a custard apple tree near my gate and was looking for one. It is a small tree and there is room for just one such small tree in the garden. Mysteriously, perhaps will the help of bird seeding the tree came up on its own at the very same location. Presently it is about a foot high.

I sense the presence and wisdom of tall trees of the pine variety most, especially in the mountains. To me they give the impression of very wise creatures of this universe. A creature full of contentment that is happy to be rooted at one place and to serve the world, mother earth and many of its offsprings from its fixed home.
Vincent said…
On the love of trees, as well as the love that I can feel from trees and shrubs, I have written before. But I con't respond in detail now. Here are some extracts from my post of 24th April 2007:

"More and more I have only to look at a tree in order to connect to its soul. . . and whatever . . . different things, different things.

"Connecting to a tree’s soul: I didn’t just mean a tree, but also a shrub . . . It wasn’t that I could identify and choose an object (is a blade of grass an object? Or a whole lawn?) but that something identified itself to me and presented to me its soul. When I said, “and whatever”, followed by “different things, different things”, it was to acknowledge the immensity of irreducible diversity. My tree was not just an example of x: it was a particular x unlike any other x."
Hayden said…
Ashok, Vincent, yes I think I understand both of you. As an aside, everything in nature can fill the role of "oracle" in tradtional shamanism, offering up advice or consolation as it is needed.

At my last house I was very close to two trees, a hedge, and a rose bush. On various occasions, each "spoke" to me - that clear voice that comes in your head, often unbidden. One tree in particular, a magnolia stellata I'd planted that was no more than 5 feet tall (but about 12 years old) was very strong. I needed to explain about selling the house so she would release it; having bonded to me, she was prepared to discourage others from coming to live there. The house sold soon after I broke my bonds with her and urged her to find new residents that she liked. The new owners are gardeners, and have done a great deal of planting and maintenance this year. I hope she's happy!

I've not yet bonded/connected to any particular tree here, though my relationship with the orchard is - well, - "growing."

Ashok, I wonder if your wishes for the custard apple came to the attention of your land deva? That sounds likely - your intentions made the spot desirable, and perhaps the land deva enlisted the birds to help. I don't know how they work.

As for crossing sparrows and bluebirds, I'm sceptical about success, as they have quite different habits. (Size is similar though, and the same sized opening in the house works well for both.) The type of sparrow that is such a robber here is called an English sparrow, but I don't know what he's called elsewhere. He has a black and russet cap and is very cheeky & cute. Bluebirds turn to fruit and seeds in the winter, but in summer they eat predominantly insects, while these sparrows eat seeds year 'round. Slightly different bill shape, the sparrow very short and sturdy for seeds, while the bluebirds is a bit longer and less food-specific. Bluebirds are exquisitely beautiful - there are 3 varieties - the eastern type, which is what we have here, is purest blue everywhere, like a piece of sky broke loose and flitted into your garden. My understanding of their history, though, is that they've been extensively cultivated through the centuries because of their good work in eating pest insects while having little interest in eating the products we wish to eat. I will add 4 or 5 nest boxes next spring: I believe it's as many as this piece of land will hold. They are territorial. I saw one last spring and almost fell over, I was so startled at the beauty. When I was young they'd become very rare and I don't recall ever spotting one; now with the attention to building nest boxes for them they've become more common again.
Hayden said…
(animal psychics are not uncommon here. I know several who are quite skilled at it. Trish, who has a blog link on my blog, is one.)
ProfAshok said…
Hayden, Vincent

I realise that I have created some confusion in my post by using the often used word Telepathy, but the query from Hayden regarding communiaction with trees and plants and Vincents observations helps me to clarify this a little more. Perhaps, I shall write another post to elaborate later. We tend to put a label of telepathy on many forms of non-verbal communications a bit too hastily, as I too have done. Telepathy perhaps implies a more mechanical/physical sort of thing where a receiver picks up a signl from a transmitter something like a radio and something that has not yet been discovered to happen with thoughts by science yet.

There is however another type of communication that can occur at the level of consciousness. If we assume (and that is a matter of faith for many including myself) that the underlying consciousness in all life, throughout the universe is one and that it only appears divided because bits of it centered in different life forms are focussed on their own lives.

It seems perfectly reasonable that the consciousness that observes feelings and thoughts can also observe and feel the thoughts of another part of that consciousness either at all times for a fully united consciousness (God or a spiri close to God) or intermittently and in special cases for other portions of the consciousness on occassions if united by love or some other uniting force either one way or both ways.

Such a non-verbal communication will not need a knowledge of language as telepathic communication might. It would also explain how a pet can sense the arrival of its care giver, a mother the need of milk by its infant,. a tree, the fears of its loving master that it could cause a disaster and so sacrifice its life etc.
ProfAshok said…
Vincent,

Grass is an example of a bonded plant family where the offsprings dont leave the physical connection with their mothers unless made to by man or nature. They are so united that it is often difficult to pick out independant members
ProfAshok said…
that is lawn grass. Some other forms of grass from the grass family such as wheat lead their independant lives.
Vincent said…
Ashok, yes, we are together on this, I think, that the link is not so much telepathic communication, like some supernatural telephone system, but a consciousness thing whereby parts of the whole can tune in to recognize one another, including one another's needs.

And I could envisage at some future time the possibility of a fourth stage of evolutionary theory (after Darwin/Mendel/DNA) in which the universal consciousness might be found to have helped shaped the creation of species. But I certainly wouldn't want to confuse such idle speculation with actual science.

Have you (Ashok, Hayden or other reader) read Wonderful Life: the Burgess Shale and the Nature of History, by Stephen Jay Gould? It's based on the discoveries, from the fossil record, of what happened 570 million years ago; and how these discoveries should be interpreted.

Any dispassionate observer of these fossils would come to the conclusion that Nature is endlessly creative, but doesn't exactly know where it's going within a long-term plan.

Which is not the same as saying it's all a random throwing of the dice.
ProfAshok said…
Thanks for your comments Vincent. I am glad that we have been able to clarify this matter of interspeices communication.

I shall certainly make a note of that book along with another that Rebb has suggested for reading whenever they become available.

In the very near future it is my intention to acquire an electronic book reader but the present models have not satisfied me. I am waiting for a model that opens like a book with screens on both sides that read like two sides of an open book with a single option line at the bottom ( page no., next page, last page, first page etc.). I guess in the very near future that kind of a thing might become available at reasonable prices. With online book stores like Amazon available and with Google books that would indeed be a handy library at call. Such a book reader would need to become a browser as well so that books can be downloaded in whic case one side can change to a key board and the other to a browser window. I hope sony or someone will pick up that idea from here.
ProfAshok said…
Hayden,

One tends to develop a deeper bonding with humans, animals and trees if one has nurtured them from a very young age. The apple trees were already there when you took over the farm so one may not expect more than a growing friendship. When you have planted your almonds or weeping willows a deeper bond is likely to develop. Perhaps not with the filberts because they are so much of a crowd.

I feel that trees protect their owners too by instilling a sense of fear in the minds of unwanted intruders. A large tree like a chestnut or tall erect ones from the pine family might to a better job of it though. I do not know if these grow well in your area or if you like them.
Trish said…
Well, ashok, I dropped by after seeing your comment on my blog and look at the treat I had in store! I'll stop by more often.

Thanks for the mention Hayden :)
Hayden said…
ahhhh..... fascinating! I've never attempted to talk with grass - what you say makes sense, but --- who knew? Yes, planting does play a key role. I like your idea of protection - I knew that in a peripheral way, but hadn't thought of it. I am looking for trees to line my drive (about 200-250 ft long... I guess that's roughly 70-80 meters.) Perhaps chestnuts would be a good choice. The trees are east of the house, so I prefer deciduous trees.

Soon - I hope - (maybe spring?) I'll plant a few trees along the drive, and a cluster of 3 trees (assuming I'll prune out at least 1 later) in a north-westernly spot behind the house (to help block the drifting snow and winds).

So many trees to add. It will take time to place them all and learn what will work best in each location. What I long for are the delicate understory trees, with their tracery of branches, approachable size and gentle blooms. But those will be a long way out: it may not fall to me to plant them.

It's interesting. I feel like waving off all of this specificity that tries to detail the properties of telepathic communication. The problem with doing that is we must speak in terms we know: 'it is a little like this, but more like that...'

In the end, it's something very different. Seems easier to me to recognize that up front and not worry if it means voices that speak in English. I've picked up moods, warnings (non specific bad feelings), and - of all things! - suggestions for writing projects! Those are very, very verbal indeed. But even then, there's a mystery about it, as with all writing projects that deeply draw me: - I suspect it's the need to define the mystery in clearer terms that provides the allure.
ProfAshok said…
Hello Trish,

Thanks for dropping in, I found your white tornado technique post a really useful and benificial one for anyone to get empowered and deal with the business of life. The best part was that you started with a single breath and progressed to a day long effort of mindful breathing. Your technique combines in it an attitude of gratefulness along with the ancient Buddhist practice of mindful breathing. I strongly recommend it to any seeker at

http://scottfree2b.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/the-white-tornado/#comment-4115

I too have written about breathing exercises in some of my older posts and it is time for another briefer and simpler one after being encouraged by your post.
This is somehow linked to survival. As most of us know that the creatures in the wild depend more on smell as compared to other senses.
But the amazing thing I remember from my childhood experience is like this: In those days peacocks would roam on rooftop in my village (this is no more true now). My grandmother, my mother and my sisters would feed grains to peacocks from their palms. But I could never win the trust of peacocks ( as I had realised later) because I was not kind to birds or other such creatures in my childhood. Possibly peacocks had sensed that trait in me even without witnessing my behaviour.
ProfAshok said…
Birds, peacocks included probably depend on their sensory capacity most, since they have such small brains and I am certain they can sense love

besides they also sense empathy. At and around the time of the experience mentioned in this post i could call and feed sparrows anywhere but nowadays they do not heed my call as much although i still feed them and love them, probably because I have had less time to focus on them and therefore have less empathy.
ProfAshok said…
what you say about sensing traits is very significant Hari Ji. it seems that if one has hurt or killed creatures like snakes etc. they tend to attack more whereas if one has been kind and loving to them then they do not attack such persons, even after long periods in different locations. patanjali too mentions this in his yog sutras and that is how lonely mystics of the forest could live in harmony with fierce animals of the forest.
ProfAshok said…
Karla Boyd commented on this post in her blog,

"We both then are delighted in our mutual love of animals. I loved your blog and your growing relationship with a sparrow. It was delightful to see first that she was near the roof, then the living room and then waking you up if you slept in late.

As I read comments at your blog site, I reflected on the distinction of Western Science to that of Eastern, Hindu and Buddhist perspectives. The latter knowing that the life pulse is in everyone. Therefore the study of science cannot leave out the value of ALL sentient beings if it is to have meaning and ethical contribution.

The sparrow touched me in her wanting to know and communicate with you. You might also enjoy one western author who joined Patanjali in talking about accessing telepathy or non-verbal communication. The book is Kinship with All Life by J. Allen Boone.

Thank-you for dropping by to read my blog. The more of us who get the word out the better connected our world can become."

Her blog is: http://consultingforpassion.blogspot.in/
Anonymous said…
I have an experience of communicating with Ants and guiding their movements on a kitchen floor for some time; same with birds, and squirrels. It was part of the Chi Gung practice and occasionally I would find myself in flow states where I was one with the environment.
ProfAshok said…
Thanks for sharing your experience Anthony, it is similar to mine and yes I have another post (if you care to search) on 'Gaia Consciousness cares for you' about the environment being one with us even when we are not.
Airda6 said…
I believe in you and I like sparrows. For me, it was the opposite where I had started to hear telepathic thoughts from humans first. I was able to confirm this when I'd hear a person's thoughts and then hear the person say the same thing out loud with the same tone of voice. This happened multiple times,so I could confirm to myself that I wasn't going nuts. This past summer I had started to hear sparrow's thoughts in between chirps. As you said, just a few words. I will hear 'save us' , " help us, " or "we're hungry" and "feed us". I assume the first two are in regards to global warming and helping them there. I also will obsess at times by worrying if they are trapped in the garage or under the car. I just don't want to hurt them and wish I could do more and not feel helpless ehen they cry out to me. Thanks for your story.
Btw, we're the invasive species, not them. Their population has declined, just like much of wildlife population has. We've more than doubled our population since 1975. Half of the wildlife population has disappeared in that amount of time.
Airda6 said…
I believe in you and I like sparrows. For me, it was the opposite where I had started to hear telepathic thoughts from humans first. I was able to confirm this when I'd hear a person's thoughts and then hear the person say the same thing out loud with the same tone of voice. This happened multiple times,so I could confirm to myself that I wasn't going nuts. This past summer I had started to hear sparrow's thoughts in between chirps. As you said, just a few words. I will hear 'save us' , " help us, " or "we're hungry" and "feed us". I assume the first two are in regards to global warming and helping them there. I also will obsess at times by worrying if they are trapped in the garage or under the car. I just don't want to hurt them and wish I could do more and not feel helpless ehen they cry out to me. Thanks for your story.
Btw, we're the invasive species, not them. Their population has declined, just like much of wildlife population has. We've more than doubled our population since 1975. Half of the wildlife population has disappeared in that amount of time.
ProfAshok said…
Dear Adria,

Delighted to hear that you share similar experiences.

You are right about the planet. Too many trees have been removed over the last century destroying homes for birds and wild life. I plant trees whenever I can and encourage others to do same. I hope they do else Mother earth has her own ways, some that shall not be nice for humans.

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