How long do you worry about your kids???

Is there an imaginary cutoff period when
offspring become accountable
for their own actions?

Is there some wonderful moment when
parents can become
detached spectators in
the lives of their children and shrug,
'It's Their life,' and feel nothing?


When I was in my twenties,
I stood in a hospital corridor
waiting for doctors to put a few stitches
in my daughter's head and I asked,
'When do you stop worrying?'
The nurse said,
'When they get out of the accident stage..'
My Parents just smiled faintly
and said nothing.


When I was in my thirties,
I sat on a little chair in a classroom
and heard how one of my children
talked incessantly, disrupted the class,
and was headed for a career making license plates.
As if to read my mind, a teacher said,
'Don't worry, they all go through this stage
and then you can sit back,
relax and enjoy them.'
My Parents just smiled
faintly
and said nothing.


When I was in my forties,
I spent a lifetime waiting
for the phone to ring,
the cars to come home,
the front door to open.
A friend said,
'They're trying to find themselves.
'Don't worry!
In a few years, they'll be adults.
'They'll be off on their own
they'll be out of
your hair'
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.



By the time I was 50,
I was sick & tired of being vulnerable.
I was still worrying over my children,
but there was a new wrinkle..
Even though they were on their own
I continued to anguish over their failures,
be tormented by their frustrations and
absorbed in their disappointments..
and there was nothing I could do about it.
My Parents just smiled faintly
and said nothing.



My friends said that
when my kids got married
I could stop worrying
and lead my own life.
I wanted to believe that,
but I was haunted by my parent's warm smiles
and their occasional,
'You look pale. Are you all right' ?
'Call me the minute you get home'.
Are you depressed about something?'


My friends said that
when I became a grandparent
that I would get to enjoy
the happy little voices yelling
Grandma! Papa!
But now I find that I worry
just as much about the little kids
as the big ones.
How can anyone cope
with all this
Worry?



Can it be that parents are sentenced
to a lifetime of worry?
Is concern for one another
handed down like a torch
to blaze the trail of human frailties
and the fears of the unknown?
Is concern a curse or is it
a virtue that elevates us
to the highest form of earthly creation?


Recently, one of my own children
became quite irritable,
saying to me,
'Where were you?
I've been calling for 3 days,
and no one answered
I was worried.'
I smiled a warm smile.
The torch has been passed.

Image via Wikipedia

Acharya Hemchandra

Born: 1089 in Dhandhuka, Gujarat, India
Died: 1173 in Gujarat, India

Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson

Hemchandra's mother was named Pahini and his father Chachadev. The name Hemchandra was one he took later in life and he was named Candradeva after he was born. The city of Dhandhuka where he was born is about 50 km south west of Ahmadabad the capital of Gujarat. Candradeva, when still young, was taken to a Jain temple where he became a monk and changed his name to Somacandra. He was instructed in religion, Indian philosophy, the sacred scriptures, logic and grammar. When Candradeva was ordained in 1110 into the Shvetambara (White-robed) sect of Jainism and he was given the name Acharya Hemchandra.

Gujarat at this time was ruled by the Solanki dynasty. Gujarat expanded to its largest extent under this dynasty and learning flourished, particularly in the economic and cultural fields. King Siddharaja made excellent use of Hemchandra's great skills, knowledge and learning in ruling Gujarat. King Kumarapala succeeded King Siddharaja and from 1125 he was advised by Hemchandra. Of course as a spiritual leader, Hemchandra was in a strong position to see that his ideas were put into practice and indeed this led to Gujarat becoming considerable more advanced in culture and learning. Hemchandra was a strong believer in non-violence and Gujarat flourished in peace for many years. He convinced King Kumarapala to bring in laws which not only prohibited violence between people, but also made it illegal to kill animals. Hemchandra convinced the King to make the Jain religion the official religion of Gujarat.

Hemchandra was an eloquent religious teacher, skilful political advisor, and a scholar of the highest standing ^[1] :-

A prodigious writer, [Hemchandra] produced Sanskrit and Prakrit grammars, textbooks on science and practically every branch of Indian philosophy, and several poems, including the Trishashtishalakapurusha-carita (Deeds of the 63 Illustrious Men), a Sanskrit epic of the history of the world as understood by Jain teachers. He was also a logician. Although derivative in many ways, his works have become classics, setting high standards for Sanskrit learning.

The book Deeds of the 63 Illustrious Men ^[2] mentioned in the above quote has now been translated into English by Fynes and published by Oxford University Press. The book recounts in a collection of fascinating stories historical myths of the Jain religion.

One might reasonably ask at this point why we have included Hemchandra in an archive of mathematicians. The answer lies in his contribution to the Fibonacci numbers which was made fifty years before Fibonacci wrote Liber Abaci with its famous rabbit problem. Kak, in ^[3], explains how these entered Hemchandra's writings. In a text written about 1150 he looked at the following problem. Suppose we assume that lines are composed of syllables which are either short or long. Suppose also that each long syllable takes twice as long to articulate as a short syllable. A line of length n contains n units where each short syllable is one unit and each long syllable is two units. Clearly a line of length n units takes the same time to articulate regardless of how it is composed. Hemchandra asks: How many different combinations of short and long syllables are possible in a line of length n?

Hemchandra then finds the answer explicitly. Suppose that there are f (n) possibilities for a line of length n. The line of length n either ends in a short syllable or in a long syllable. If it is the former than there remains a line of length n-1 which can be composed in f (n-1) ways and if the line of length n ends in a long syllable then there is a line of length n-2 remaining which can be composed in f (n-2) ways. Hence, argues Hemchandra,

f (n) = f (n-1) + f (n-2).

Before we rush to try to change the name of the Fibonacci numbers into Hemchandra number it is worth noting that Gopala had studied these numbers in about 1135 and Indian mathematicians as early as the 7th century had looked at sequences which are produced by the familiar Fibonacci rule.

source: here

Related articles

• Something more on Fibonacci numbers (cartesianproduct.wordpress.com)
• Meta programming: giving Integers a "fibonacci" property in Groovy (cartesianproduct.wordpress.com)
• Fibonacci Poetry (underpaidgenius.com)

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• Jains have contributed immensely in the education of India right from day one through their monasteries distributed across the country.
• The family is the first school and nucelus for education in India.
• In the primitive India, father and mother were the basic teachers of their children.
• Jains also accepted the family concept which prevailed earlier the rise of the Jain religion and Jain philosophy.
• Jains also focussed and developed the family based system of education not only of Jain religious values but other aspects of life social, cultural, business and others.
• Grammar and correct speech and languageand communication was taught at home.
• Their monastries continued to impart instructions and lectures and education on religious and secular values.
• In the monasteries, the curricula included  instructions in religion, literature, arts and physical cultures.
• The Jain monastries admitted the students of all castes.
• Teachers were of two kinds : teaching religous values and other teachers teaching secular values.
• The teachers/monkds in the Jain monasteries were required to study not less than three hours to upgrade and educate and evolve themselves.
• Intermonasteries debates and sharing thoughts were encouraged.
• In the Jain monastries library, the books, scripts relating religion, philosophy, astronomy, logic and arthmetic could be found.
• Youths of mercantile communities were admitted and trained.
• Rulers of ancient India competed with each other in honouring Tirthankars for their various kinds of contribution including that of the education.

to be continued.

by Dr B M Sharma

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but dont you quit.


Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint on the clouds of doubt,

And you can never tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar.

So, stick to the fight when you're hardest hit

It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.

~ Unknown

Life is responding to you. Life is communicating with you. Everything you see-every sign, color, person, object-every thing you hear, every circumstance and event, are on your frequency.

When you are feeling happy, and you keep feeling happy , then only happy people, circumstances and events can come into your life. Think of something you love , and make it your symbol of the force of love.Whenever you see your symbol or hear it, you will know that the force of love is with you.

Place the force of love ahead of you in everything you do. Imagine each thing in your day going well, and feel love inside yourself as much as you can, before you do anything.

The force of love has no opposite. There is no other power in life but love. All the negative things you see in the world are always, always a lack of love.

''The power for happiness, for good, for everything we need of life is within each one of us. The power is there-unlimited power.''

~ Robert Collier