Link Between Nikola Tesla And Vedas

Link Between Nikola Tesla And Vedas

Human beings are inherently curious, so our quest to discover “what is” will never end. After the popularity of our piece on ‘The Schrödinger And Upanishads Connect‘, we bring forth the sequel on how Nikola Tesla was inspired by the Vedas, Swami Vivekananda and his theory of free energy.

Crux of the Matter

What Are The Vedas?
Included in the Sanatan Dharma or “Eternal Order’, the Vedas are ancient, religious, Hindu texts written in Sanskrit. The term “veda” means “knowledge” and thus are thought to contain the fundamental information relating to the underlying cause of and personal response to existence.

  • 4 Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda, Source: VF

Who Was Nikola Tesla?
Serbian-American physicist and engineer, Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) made several breakthroughs in the production, transmission and application of electric power. He was the inventor of the first alternating current (AC) motor and developed AC generation technology.

How Did He See The Universe?
Nikola described the universe as a kinetic system filled with energy which could be harnessed at any location.

  • Source: IPMA

All perceptible matter comes from a primary substance beyond conception, filling all space, the ‘akasha’. This is acted upon by the life-giving ‘Prana’, calling into existence, in never-ending cycles all things and phenomena.

Nikola Tesla, Man’s Greatest Achievement

What Is Prana?
Prana stands for the sum total of the energy that is in the universe. It is carried throughout our bodies via the Vayu (wind), which is responsible for transferring and channeling the energy. One of the eight limbs of yoga, Pranayama, is intended to expand prana.

What Is Akasha?
Akasha (sky) is a term used for space or æther in traditional Indian cosmology. It is one of the Panchamahabhuta, or “five elements” that make up the universe, i.e earth (prithvi), water (jal), fire (Agni), air (Vayu) and space (akash), with the main characteristic as Shabda (sound).

  • Source: SCA

Where Did He Learn About These Terms?
As per the archive in the Nikola Tesla Museum, Tesla gained knowledge of the Vedic terms during his meetings with the learned Indian Monk, Swami Vivekananda, who is considered a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the West.

So That Is How His ‘Free Energy’ System Was Envisioned?
Free energy or zero-point energy utilizes the substance that exists all around us and converts it into usable energy. Tesla proposed how this would give us a limitless source of energy. He further studied the possibility of wireless power transmission.

In one of his experiments, he used two large zinc sheets, suspended them from the auditorium ceiling and connected to a power source. Under low lighting, Tesla stepped between the sheets, holding a gas-filled tube in each hand.

  • Source: GAIA

The electrostatic field made the tubes glow as he told the captivated crowd how electric lights could be moved around, without being tethered to wires. He also proved he could power light bulbs from more than two miles away with a 140-foot Tesla coil in the 1890s.

Is Wardenclyffe Tower Linked To This?
Yes, it was also called the Tesla Tower that was built in New York. It was his experimental, wireless transmission station and he intended to transmit messages, telephony, and even facsimile images (reproduction of an old book) across the Atlantic to England. This was based on his theories of using the Earth to conduct the signals. The project’s primary backer, J. P. Morgan couldn’t fund additional investment from the one planned, so the project never became operational.

  • Source: GAIA

How Do We Use Wireless Power Now?
Wireless charging devices are being manufactured for cell phones and small electronic devices. A New Zealand-based startup, Emrod has developed a method of safely and wirelessly transmitting electric power across long distances without the use of copper wire, and is working on implementing it with their second-largest power distributor, Powerco. For reaching Tesla’s goal, we need to have a wireless network of power for anyone in the world to tap into.

  • Source: 9to5Mac
Curiopedia
  • Emrod, a New Zealand based startup, developed a method of safely and wirelessly transmitting electric power across long distances without the use of copper wire. Work is under way to build a 40-meter demonstration system, although prototypes currently operate indoors at a distance of just 2 meters.
  • Wardenclyffe Tower, also known as the Tesla Tower, was an early experimental wireless transmission station designed and built by Nikola Tesla in New York in 1901–1902. Tesla intended to transmit messages across the Atlantic to England and to ships at sea based on his theories of using the Earth to conduct the signals. Although, due to lack of funding, the project was abandoned in 1906.
  • My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla is a book compiled and edited by Ben Johnston detailing the work of Nikola Tesla. The content was largely drawn from a series of articles that Nikola Tesla had written for Electrical Experimenter magazine in 1919, when he was 63 years old.
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India-Maldives: New Connectivity And Strengthened Relations

India-Maldives: New Connectivity And Strengthened Relations

India recently provided a surveillance aircraft to Maldives amidst their joint surveillance activities. With the move being preceded by the opening of a new trade route between the two as well as India financing a ‘connectivity project’ in Maldives, the relations between the two countries have strengthened in recent years.

Crux of the Matter

Aid To Monitor ‘Dragon’ Threat
On 29 September, 2020, India provided the ‘Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft’ to Maldives. While the aircraft would operate under the MNDF (Maldives National Defence Force), India would bear its functioning cost.

The aircraft would aid the joint surveillance tasks of India and Maldives of the “exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Indian Ocean archipelago”, while also reportedly assisting in “monitoring the activities of Chinese vessels in regional waters”.

New Connecting Routes
On 26 September, 2020, an Indian cargo vessel (MCP Linz) arrived at Kulhudhuffushi town in Maldives. In doing so, it became the first traveller of the new Cargo Ferry Service between the two countries.

The new cargo ferry service was formally announced on 13 August, 2020, and connects Tuticorin and Cochin ports (India) to Kulhudhuffushi and Male ports (Maldives).

Connectivity Project
On 13 August, 2020, India announced to finance a $500 million ‘connectivity project’ in Maldives. The funding would be done via a $400 million line of credit and a $100 million grant.

Titled the ‘Greater Malé Connectivity Project (GMCP)’, the project would have a 6.7 km long bridge connecting Malé (capital of Maldives) to 3 islands in the vicinity (Villingili, Thilafushi, and Gulhifalhu).

India-Maldives Ties
Ties between the two have improved since Ibrahim Mohamed Solih became the latter’s President in 2018. There is a stark difference to the policies of the previous Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen, who leaned more towards China.

  • Solih’s first foreign visit after being elected was to India in 2018.
  • PM Modi made his first foreign visit after being re-elected in 2019 to Maldives. In the visit, Solih announced his “India-First Policy”.
  • Financial aid of more than $2 billion in forms of loans and grants has been provided to Maldives by India as of August 2020.
  • November 2019: Maldives backed India in the Kashmir issue, labelling it an “internal matter” of India.
  • April 2020: India extended $150 million emergency Foreign currency swap to Maldives.
  • India supplied 6.2 tonnes of essential medicines to Maldives through airlift under ‘Operation Sanjeevani’ as the supply was stuck due to Covid-19 lockdown.
  • May 2020: Maldives defended India from Pakistan’s accusations of Islamophobia at an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meet.

India’s Relations With Other Asian-Pacific Countries

Malaysia

  • India and Malaysia have shared a cordial relationship. However, strain occurred recently as Malaysia was critical of India after the abrogation of article 370 and also condemned the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
  • Consequently, India restricted its palm oil purchase from Malaysia in January 2020.
  • Relations between the two improved after PM Mahathir Mohamad resigned in February 2020, with India resuming the palm oil purchase as before.
  • However, Malaysia continues to refuse India’s demand to extradite Zakir Naik (an Islamic preacher accused of funding terrorism and inciting religious violence).

Indonesia

  • India shares historic relationship with Indonesia – Indian epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana are prevalent in Indonesian culture. Indonesian island Java has reportedly been mentioned in the Ramayana as ‘Yavadvipa’.
  • Indonesia has called for dialogue between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue but maintains neutrality.
  • Both countries signed a Defence Pact in 2018.
  • In July 2020, both sides agreed to expand on defence and other agreements.
Curiopedia
  • The 1988 Maldives coup d’état was the attempt by a group of Maldivians led by businessman Abdullah Luthufi to overthrow the government of Maldives. The coup d’état failed after the Indian Special Forces eliminated the terrorist leaders of the group. 
  • Malé is the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. It is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The whole island group, the Maldives, is named after its capital. The word “Maldives” means “the islands (dives) of Malé”.
  • Mahathir bin Mohamad is a Malaysian politician, statesman and author who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and 2018 to 2020. His father and subsequently himself, has Indian Ancestry. Mahathir’s paternal grandfather had come from Kerala and married a Malay woman.
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Monetary Policy And RBI’s Issue

Monetary Policy And RBI's Issue

In the second part of the two-part series, we will have a look at what monetary policy is. Did you know that recently RBI conducted auctions for government bonds but did not accept any bids? Let us understand this issue in context of the Monetary policy to get a better understanding of RBI’s issue.

If you missed the first part, you can read it here: Understanding Fiscal Policy.

Crux of the Matter

What Is Monetary Policy?
Monetary policy refers to the actions taken by a nation’s central bank to control the money supply to achieve macroeconomic goals that promote sustainable economic growth. Like Fiscal Policy, Monetary policy can be classified as expansionary or contractionary.

This policy consists of management of money supply and interest rates, which aids in achieving macroeconomic objectives such as controlling consumption, liquidity, inflation, etc.

These are achieved by modifying the interest rates, regulating foreign exchange rates, buying or selling government bonds, etc.

Components Of Interest Rate Lever
Repo Rate
It is a rate at which the central bank of a country lends money to commercial banks. An increase in repo rate results in an increase in the interest rate at which banks can borrow and thereby at which the public can borrow and save. This eventually leads to the public borrowing less and decreasing money and credit flow in the economy as people may not want to borrow at high costs.

A decrease in repo rate generally results in a decrease in interest rates. This eventually leads to an increase in credit and money flow in the economy as people can borrow cheaply.

As of 6th August 2020, RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 4%.

Credit Reserve Ratio (CRR)
It is a certain percentage of the total bank deposits that a bank has to keep with the Central Bank (here RBI). Banks cannot utilize this amount for any commercial or economic activity and it remains in the current account, not earn any interest.

An increase in CRR, strips the banks of cash, and resultantly banks cannot lend more loans. On the other hand, a decrease leads to surplus cash in the hands of a bank to incentivise them to lend more.

As of March 2020, CRR was 3%.

Statutory Liquidity Ration (SLR)
SLR is the percentage of total bank deposits that a bank has to invest in securities, primarily central and state government’s. As opposed to in CRR, in SLR deposits banks earn interest on the investments, albeit a lower one.

Similar to CRR, increase in SLR leaves the bank with less cash to lend, which can possibly fetch a higher interest. A decrease leaves a bank with more cash to lend at rates higher than what government securities fetch.

As of April 2020, SLR was 18.00%

CRR, SLR, etc also ensure that banks don’t become insolvent.

Government Securities And OMOs
G-Sec or Government Security is a tradeable, fixed interest bearing debt instrument issued by a central or state government. Treasury Bills are short term securities, with a maturity of less than a year, whereas bonds/notes are long term securities.

Government’s banker RBI buys and sells G-Sec to manage the money supply in the economy – the process known as Open Market Operations.

To increase the money supply in the economy, RBI will purchase bonds, and to decrease the money supply (also to raise money for the government), RBI will sell the bonds.

RBI’s Recent Issue With OMOs
On September 24, RBI rejected all bids worth ₹66,473 crores – six times the offer of ₹10,000 crores – saying the yields demanded by participants were high. Experts say that if RBI accepted the yield, it would have meant that government will have to borrow at a higher cost. As the government’s banker, RBI would obviously not want that.

The RBI thinks that the yield asked for by market was higher than what RBI would have liked; on the other hand, the market is saying that with no rate cut and large scale OMO, the rates should have been higher as inflation and government borrowing concerns remain.
– Harihar Krishnamoorthy,
Treasury Head, First Rand Bank

Curiopedia
  • The Keynesian Revolution was a fundamental reworking of economic theory concerning the factors determining employment levels in the overall economy. The revolution was set against the then orthodox economic framework, namely neoclassical economics.
  • Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of governments in controlling the amount of money in circulation. Monetarist theory asserts that variations in the money supply have major influences on national output in the short run and on price levels over longer periods.
  • Sher Shah Suri was the founder of the Suri Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He is often credited for introducing the currency of rupee or rupiyah.
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Can You Control Your Dreams?

Can You Control Your Dreams?

Yes, now we can. Researchers from MIT, Media Lab have introduced a method called Targeted Dream Incubation, which works with a wearable sleep device. So how do we sleep and how can this be helpful in changing the content of our dreams? Let’s dig deeper.

Crux of the Matter

Why Do We Dream?
Dreaming is thought of as hallucinated experience during sleep, which is possibly related to events from the prior day or older, often related, memories. However, the mechanism of its construction and function remain mostly unknown.

How Do We Sleep?
Sleep begins with a Non-REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep stage, cycles through the three Non-REM stages, and is followed by a REM period, which occurs 90 minutes after falling asleep. Dreams can be experienced in all stages of sleep but are most vivid in REM.

  • MCH Neurons that helps remove unimportant stuff from brain, are least active in wakefulness and most active in REM, Source: Inverse

Is Sleep Important?
The way you feel when you are awake depends on what happens while you are sleeping.
During sleep, your body works with the brain to maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development. In fact, sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.

What Is The New Dream Study?
In a new paper, MIT researchers have introduced a method called Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI). It is implemented through an app, which works with a wearable sleep-tracking sensor device called Dormio.

Controlled Dream Experiences?
It helps record dreams and guides dreams toward particular themes by repeating targeted information as the user sleeps. This gets added as a new content in the ongoing dream/gives direction for the start of a dream.

What Does Dormio Do?
Individuals can still hear audio in Hypnagogia, the first stage of Non-REM, that let’s us transition from wakefulness to sleep. Dormio delivers audio cues based on our sleep data, at precise times in the sleep cycle, to make dream direction possible.

Dormio — i...
Source: Adam

What Were Some Interesting Results?
One of the subjects was given “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” with an audio prompt as he slept. He started being in a chocolate waterfall. But as he was lactose intolerant, the waterfall was made of dark chocolate, a piece of information already in his subconsciousness.

How Is This Useful?
Upon awakening, a person’s guided dream content can be used to complete tasks like creative story writing, language learning and avoid nightmare related anxiety and help patients suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). It can also help understand how dreams impact emotion, creativity, memory, and beyond.

Curiopedia
  • World Sleep Day is an annual event organized by the World Sleep Society since 2008. It is celebrated on the Friday before the March equinox.
  • The ancient Greeks were great believers in the restorative power of sleep. Hypnos, the god of sleep, was seen as the remover of all pain, suffering, and sorrow.
  • Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which a person is aware but unable to move or speak. During an episode, one may hallucinate, which often results in fear.
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Aircraft From Airbus Set To Have Zero Emission!

Aircraft From Airbus Set To Have Zero Emission!

Global aviation industry has committed to cut carbon emissions to half their 2005 levels by 2050, as per the Paris Agreement for Climate Change. The Aerospace Pioneer, Airbus has now launched 3 new concepts for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircrafts serviceable by 2035. So what is the tech behind it?

Crux of the Matter

What Is This Emission Free Fuel?
All 3 aircraft concepts proposed by Airbus use hydrogen gas or ZEROe fuel. So the only emission when burned, is water vapor. Hydrogen can be:

  • Combusted directly through modified gas turbine engines.
  • Converted to electric energy via fuel cells.
  • Used to produce synthetic kerosene, when combined with CO2.

What Is The Concept Of The First Aircraft
Also called the Short Haul Turboprop aircraft, it would be powered by a pair of modified gas turboprop engines, with six-bladed propellers, designed to burn liquid hydrogen. The aircraft also uses electric batteries charged by the engines, in order to give power boost to the engines when required.

  • Source: Airbus

  • Capacity: 100 passengers
  • Travel Distance: Upto 1,000 nautical miles or 1,850 km
  • Purpose: short-distance trips.

How Is It Different From The Current Models?
The seats at the back of the aircraft have been removed to make space for the hydrogen tanks, resulting in less passenger space. This results in less passenger space and is comparable to the Airbus A220-100 design.

Why Is Tank Design Crucial?
Hydrogen becomes liquid at -425 °F, so the tank will have to be designed to ensure that temperature is maintained from takeoff to landing.

What’s The Concept Of Second Airbus?
It’s the Transcontinental Turbofan aircraft and would be the fitting successor of Airbus A320. As with the prior model, the liquid hydrogen fuel in this aircraft would be stored in tanks installed behind the rear pressure compartment, and distributed to the engines on the wings.

  • Source: Airbus

  • Capacity: 120-200 passengers
  • Travel Distance: Upto 2000 nautical miles or 3700 km
  • Purpose: Longer distance trips, for going across the Atlantic Ocean.

What If There Is A Gas Leak?
There is a chimney built into the vertical stabilizer to vent the hydrogen gas in case of a leak. A stabilizer is a structure designed to reduce aerodynamic side slip and provide directional stability.

The Most Unusual One – Third Aircraft Concept
Also called the Blended Wing Aircraft, it looks like a giant flying wing. This configuration has been tested with Airbus’ MAVERIC demonstrator.

  • Source: IE

  • Capacity: 200 passengers
  • Travel Distance: 3700 km.

What’s Great About This Design?
While the other two models look like conventional passenger jets, this aircraft has wings that merge with a fuselage or main body of the aircraft that is much wider. This allows more room and efficient configuration options to accommodate more passengers and store and distribute hydrogen fuel.

Look Forward To More Aerospace Partnerships
One of the airlines, easyJet has already publicly supported the ZEROe concepts and has started working in partnership with Airbus to research more about hybrid and electric aircraft designs and infrastructure.

Curiopedia
  • The Airbus A380 is a wide-body aircraft manufactured by Airbus. It is the world’s largest passenger airliner. The A380 project was announced in 1990 to challenge the dominance of the Boeing 747 in the long haul market.
  • The Volkswagen emissions scandal began in 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to the Volkswagen Group. The agency had found that Volkswagen had intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate their emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing.
  • Fly-by-wire is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. Airbus’ A320, was known for being the first commercial jet to use a digital fly-by-wire control system.
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