Theos-Talk Archives (March 2005 Message tt00456)

Mar 21 2005

Dear bro. T:

Many thanks as usual

Also for the fine account of the JANTAR MANTAR in Jaipur -- similar to the
one Sawai Jai Singh built for emperor Akbar in Delhi.

I have admired them many times -- unfortunately the largest one in Ujjain
(near Indore and Gwalior in Central India) was destroyed by an invading
Muslim army. It was said to be even more impressive and exact.

Dallas

Have a look at this:

STARS AND NUMBERS

 
ANCIENT civilization saw nothing absurd in the claims of astrology, no more
than many an educated and thoroughly scientific man sees in it today.
Judicial astrology, by which the fate and acts of men and nations might be
foreknown, [hardly] appeared, nor does it even now appear, any more
unphilosophical or unscientific than does natural astrology or astronomy-by
which the events of so-called brute and inanimate nature (changes of
weather, &c.), might be predicted. 

For it was not even prophetic insight that was claimed by the votaries of
that abstruse and really grand science, but simply a great proficiency in
that method of procedure which allows the astrologer to foresee certain
events in the life of a man by the position of the planets at the time of
his birth.

Once the probability, or even the simple possibility, of an occult influence
exercised by the stars upon the destiny of man admitted-and why should the
fact appear more improbable in the case of stars and man than in that of the
sun-spots and potatoes?-and astrology becomes no less an exact science than
astronomy. 


STARS INFLUENCE EARTH

The earth, Prof. Balfour Stewart, F.R.S., tells us-"is very seriously
affected by what takes place in the sun" . . . a connection "is strongly
suspected between epidemics and the appearance of the sun's surface." 1

And if, as that man of science tells us, "a connection of some mysterious
kind between the sun and the earth is more than suspected" . . . and the
problem is a most important one "to solve," how much more important the
solution of that other mystery -- the undoubted affinity between man and the
stars -- an affinity believed in for countless ages and by the most learned
among men! 

Surely the destiny of man deserves as much consideration as that of a turnip
or a potato . . . And if a disease of the latter may be scientifically
foretold whenever that vegetable crops out during a "sun-spot period," why
should not a life of disease, or health, of natural or violent death be as
scientifically prognosticated by the position and appearance of the
constellation with which man is as directly connected and which bears the
same relation to him as the sun bears to the earth?


ASTROLOGY IN ROME AND India

In its days, astrology was greatly honoured, for when in able hands it was
often shown to be as precise and trustworthy in its predictions as
astronomical predictions are in our own age. Omens were studied by all
imperial Rome, as much, if not more than they are now in India. 

Tiberius practised the science; and the Saracens in Spain held
star-divination in the greatest reverence, astrology passing into Western
Europe through these, our first civilizers. Alphonso, the wise king of
Castile and Leon, made himself famous in the thirteenth century by his
"Astrological Tables" (called Alphonsine); and his code of the Siata
Purtidas; and the great astronomer Kepler in the seventeenth, the discoverer
of the three great laws of planetary motions (known as Kepler's laws)
believed in and proclaimed astrology a true science. 


KEPLER

Kepler, the Emperor Rudolph's mathematician, he to whom Newton is indebted
for all his subsequent discoveries, is the author of the "Principles of
Astrology" in which he proves the power of certain harmonious configurations
of suitable planets to control human impulses. In his official capacity of
Imperial astronomer, he is historically known to have predicted to
Wallenstein, from the position of the stars, the issue of the war in which
that unfortunate general was then engaged. 
No less than himself, his friend, protector and instructor, the great
astronomer Tycho de Brahe, believed in, and expanded, the astrological
system. He was forced, moreover, to admit the influence of the
constellations on terrestrial life and actions quite against his will or
wish, and merely because of the constant verification of facts.


KABALA

Closely related to astrology is the Kabala and its system of numerals. 

The secret wisdom of the ancient Chaldees left by them as an inheritance to
the Jews relates primarily to the mythological science of the heavens and
contains the doctrines of the hidden or occult wisdom concerning the cycles
of time. 


MATHEMATICS -- NUMERALS -- PYTHAGORAS

In the ancient philosophy, the sacredness of numbers began with the great
FIRST, the ONE, and ended with the naught or Zero, the symbol of the
infinite and boundless circle, which represents the universe. 

All the intervening figures, in whatever combination, or however multiplied,
represent philosophical ideas relating either to a moral or a physical fact
in nature. They are the key to the archean views on cosmogony, in its broad
sense, including man and beings, and relate to the human race and
individuals spiritually as well as physically. "The numerals of Pythagoras,"
says Porphyry, "were hieroglyphical symbols, by means whereof he explained
all ideas concerning the nature of all things" (De vitâ Pythag.). 

GEMANTRIA -- THEMURA

In the symbolical kabala-the most ancient system left to us by the Chaldeans
-- the modes of examining letters, words and sentences for hidden meaning
were numerical. The gemantria (one of the three modes) is purely
arithmetical and mathematical, and consists in applying to the letters of a
word the sense they bear as numbers-letters being used also for figures in
the Hebrew as in Greek. Figurative Gemantria deduces mysterious
interpretations from the shapes of letters used in occult manuscripts and
the Bible.

Thus, as shown by Cornelius Agrippa, in Numbers (X. 35), the letter Beth
means the reversal of enemies. The sacred anagrams known as Zeruph yield
their mysterious sense by the second mode named Themura, and consists in
displacing the letters and substituting them one for another and then
arranging them in rows according to their numerical value. 


GEOMETRY -- MAGIC -- WISDOM

If, of all operations in the occult sciences there is not one that is not
rooted in astrology, arithmetic and especially geometry are a part of the
first principles of magic. The most recondite mysteries and powers in nature
are made to yield to the power of numbers. And let this not be regarded as a
fallacy. 

He who knows the relative and respective numbers or the so-called
correspondence between causes and effects will alone be able to obtain of a
certainty the desired result. A small mistake, a trifling difference in an
astronomical calculation and-no correct prediction of a heavenly phenomenon
becomes possible. 

As Severinus Boethius puts it, it is by the proportion of certain numbers
that all things were formed. 

"God geometrizes" saith Plato, meaning creative nature. If there are so many
occult virtues in natural things, "what marvel if in numbers which are pure
and commixed only with ideas, there should be found virtues greater and more
occult?" asks Agrippa. 

Even Time must contain the mystery number; so also does motion, or action,
and so, therefore, must all things that move, act, or are subjected to time.
But "the mystery is in the abstract power of number, in its rational and
formal state, not in the expression of it by the voice, as among people who
buy and sell." (De Occulta Phil. cap. iii. p. cii.) 

The Pythagoreans claimed to discern many things in the numbers of names. And
if those who having understanding were invited to "compute the number and
name of the beast" by the author of St. John's Revelation it is because that
author was a Kabalist.


PLATO and ARISTOTLE

The wiseacres of our generations raise daily the cry that science and
metaphysics are irreconcilable; and facts prove as daily that it is but one
more fallacy among the many that are uttered. The reign of exact science is
proclaimed on every housetop, and Plato who is said to have trusted to his
imagination is sneered at, while Aristotle's method built on pure reason is
the one accepted by Science. 


UNIVERSALS TO PARTICULARS

Why? Because "the philosophical method of Plato was the inverse of that of
Aristotle." Its starting-point was universals, the very existence of which
is, "a matter of faith" says Dr. Draper, and from these it descended to
particulars, or details. Aristotle, on the contrary, "rose from particulars
to universals, advancing to them by inductions" (Conflict between Religion
and Science). We humbly answer to this, that mathematics, the only exact and
infallible science in the world of sciences-proceeds from UNIVERSALS.


CONJUNCTIONS

It is this year especially, the year 1881, which seems to defy and challenge
sober, matter-of-fact science, and by its extraordinary events above, as
below, in heaven as upon earth, to invite criticism upon its strange
"coincidences." Its freaks in the domains of meteorology and geology were
prognosticated by the astronomers, and these every one is bound to respect.
There is a certain triangle seen this year on the horizon formed of the most
brilliant stars which was predicted by them, but none the less left
unexplained. It is a simple geometrical combination of heavenly bodies, they
say. As to that triangle, formed of the three large planets – Venus, Jupiter
and Saturn -- having aught to do with the destinies of either men or nations
-- why that is pure superstition. "The mantle of the astrologers is burnt
and the predictions of some of them, whenever verified, must be attributed
to simple and blind chance."

We are not so sure of that; and, if permitted, will further on tell
why-meanwhile, we must remind the reader of the fact that Venus, the most
intensely brilliant of the three above-named planets, as was remarked in
Europe and for all we know in India also-suddenly parted company with its
two companions and slowly moving onward, stopped above them, whence it goes
on dazzling the inhabitants of the earth with an almost preternatural
brilliancy.

The conjunction of two planets happens but rarely; that of three is still
more rare; while the conjunction of four and five planets becomes an event.
The latter phenomenon took place in historical times but once, 2449 years B.
C., when it was observed by the Chinese astronomers and has not recurred
since then. That extraordinary meeting of five large planets forebode all
kinds of evils to the Celestial Empire and its peoples, and the panic then
created by the predictions of the Chinese astrologers was not in vain.
During the following 500 years, a series of internal broils, revolutions,
wars, and changes of dynasty marked the end of the golden age of national
felicity in the Empire founded by the great Fu-hi.

Another conjunction is known to have happened just before the beginning of
the Christian era. In that year, three large planets had approached so
closely together as to be mistaken by many for one single star of an immense
size. Biblical scholars were more than once inclined to identify these
"three in one" with the Trinity, and at the same [time] with the "star of
the wise men of the East." But they saw themselves thwarted in such pious
desires by their hereditary enemies -- the irreverent men of science, who
proved that the astronomical conjunction took place a year before the period
claimed for the alleged birth of Jesus. Whether the phenomenon forbode good
or evil is best answered by the subsequent history and development of
Christianity, than which, no other religion cost so many human victims, shed
such torrents of blood, nor brought the greater portion of humanity to
suffer from what is now termed the "blessings of Christianity and
civilization."

A third conjunction took place in 1563 A. D. It appeared near the great
nebula in the constellation of Cancer. There were three great planets and
according to the astronomers of those days -- the most nefarious: Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn. The constellation of Cancer has always had a bad
reputation; that year the mere fact of its having in its neighborhood a
triune conjunction of evil stars, caused the astrologers to predict great
and speedy disasters. These did come to pass. A terrible plague broke out
and raged in all Europe, carrying off thousands upon thousands of victims.

And now, in 1881, we have again a visit of three other "Wanderers." What do
they forebode? Nothing good; and it would seem, as if of the great evils
they are likely to pour on the devoted heads of hapless humanity, the fatal
prelude is already being played. 

Let us enumerate and see how far we are from the truth. The nearly
simultaneous and certainly in some cases unexpected deaths of great and the
most remarkable men of our age. In the region of politics, we find the
Emperor of Russia, Lord Beaconsfield, and Aga Khan; 2 in that of literature,
Carlyle and George Eliot; in the world of art, Rubinstein, the greatest
musical genius. In the domain of geology -- earthquakes which have already
destroyed the town of Casamiceiola on the Island of Ischia, a village in
California and the Island of Chio which was laid entirely waste by the
terrible catastrophe -- one, moreover, predicted for that very day by the
astrologer Raphael. 

In the domain of wars, the hitherto invincible Great Britain was worsted at
the Cape by a handful of Boers; Ireland is convulsed and threatens; a plague
now rages in Mesopotamia; another war is preparing between Turkey and
Greece; armies of Socialists and red-handed Nihilists obscure the sun of the
political horizon in Europe; and the latter thrown into a violent
perturbation is breathlessly awaiting the most unexpected events [in the]
future-defying the perspicacity of the most acute of her political men. In
the religious spheres the heavenly triangle pointed its double horn at the
monastic congregations and-a general exodus of monks and nuns-headed by the
children of Loyola, followed in France. 

There is a revival of infidelity and mental rebellion, and with it a
proportionate increase of missionary labourers (not labour), who like the
hordes of Attila destroy much and build but little. Shall we add to the list
of signs of these nefasti dies, the birth of the New Dispensation at
Calcutta? The latter though having but a small and quite a local importance,
shows yet a direct bearing upon our subject, i.e., the astrological meaning
of the planetary conjunction. 

Like Christianity with Jesus and his Apostles the New Dispensation can
henceforth boast of having had a forerunner in starry heaven-the present
triune conjunction of planets. It proves, moreover, our kabalistic theory of
periodical cyclic recurrences of events. As the Roman sceptical world of
1881 years ago, we are startled by a fresh revival of mendicant Ebionites,
fasting Essenes and Apostles upon whom descend "cloven tongues like as of
fire," and of whom we cannot even say as of the Jerusalem twelve, "that
these men are full of new wine," since their inspiration is entirely due to
water, we are told.

The year 1881, then, of which we have lived but one-third, promises, as
predicted by astrologers and astronomers, a long and gloomy list of
disasters on land, as on the seas. We have shown elsewhere (Bombay Gazette,
March 30, 1881) how strange in every respect was the grouping of the figures
of our present year, adding that another such combination will not happen in
the Christian chronology before the year 11811, just 9,930 years hence,
when-there will be no more a "Christian" chronology we are afraid, but
something else. 

We said: "Our year 1881, offers that strange fact, that from whichever of
four sides you look at its figures-from right or left, from top or bottom,
from the back, by holding the paper up to the light-or even upside down, you
will always have before you the same mysterious and kabalistic numbers of
1881. it is the correct number of the three figures which have most
perplexed mystics for over eighteen centuries. The year 1881, in short, is
the number of the great Beast of the Revelation, the number 666 of St.
John's Apocalypsis -- that Kabalistic Book par excellence. See for
yourselves: 1+8+8 +1 make eighteen; eighteen divided thrice gives three
times six, or placed in a row, 666, "the number of man."

This number has been for centuries the puzzle of Christendom and was
interpreted in a thousand different ways. Newton himself worked for years
over the problem, but, ignorant of the secret Kabala, failed. Before the
Reformation it was generally supposed in the Church to have reference to the
coming Antichrist. Since then the Protestants began to apply it in that
spirit of Christian charity which so characterizes Calvinism to the Latin
Popish Church, which they call the "Harlot," the "great Beast" and the
"scarlet woman," and forthwith the latter returned the compliment in the
same brotherly and friendly spirit. The supposition that it refers to the
Roman nation -- the Greek letters of the word Latinus as numerals, amounting
to exactly 666 -- is absurd.

ORAL TRADITION

There are beliefs and traditions among the people which spring no one knows
from whence and pass from one generation to the other, as an oral prophecy,
and an unavoidable fact to come. One of such traditions, a correspondent of
the Moscow Gazette happened to hear in 1874 from the mountaineers of the
Tyrolian Alps, and subsequently from old people in Bohemia. "From the first
day of 1876," says that tradition, "a sad, heavy period will begin for the
whole world and will last for seven consecutive years. The most unfortunate
and fatal year for all will be 1881. He who will survive it, has an iron
head." 

An interesting new combination, meanwhile, of the year 1881, in reference to
the life of the murdered Czar, may be found in the following dates, every
one of which marks a more or less important period in his life. It proves at
all events what important . and mysterious a part, the figures 1 and 8
played in his life. 1 and 8 make 18; and the Emperor was born April 17
(1+7=8) in 1818. He died in 1881-the figures of the year of his birth and
death being identical, and coinciding, moreover, with the date of his birth
17=1+7=8. The figures of the years of the birth and death being thus the
same, as four times 18 can be formed out of them, and the sum-total of each
year's numerals is 18. The arrival at Petersburg of the late Empress-the
Czar's bride-took place on September 8; their marriage April 16-(8+8=16);
their eldest daughter, the Grand Duchess Alexandra, was born August 18; the
late Czarevitch Nicolas Alexandrovitch, on September the 8, 1843;
(1+8+4+3=16, i.e., twice 8). The present Czar, Alexander III, was born
February 26, (2+6=8); the proclamation of the ascension to the throne of the
late Emperor was signed February 18; the public proclamation about the
Coronation day took place April 17 (l+7=8). His entrance into Moscow for the
coronation was on August 17 (1+7=8); the Coronation itself being performed
August 26 (2+6=8); the year of the liberation of the Serfs, 1861, whose
numerals sum up 16-i.e., twice 8!

To conclude, we may mention here a far more curious discovery made in
relation, and as a supplement, to the above calculation, by a Jewish Rabbi
in Russia -- a Kabalist, evidently, from the use he makes of the Gemantria
reckoning. It was just published in a St. Petersburg paper. The Hebrew
letters as stated have all their numerical value or correspondence in
arithmetical figures. The number 18 in the Hebrew Alphabet is represented by
the letters-"HETH" = 8, and "JOD" = 10, i.e., 18. United together Heth and
Jod form the word "khaï," or "Hai," which literally translated means the
imperative--live and alive. Every orthodox Jew during his fast and holy days
is bound to donate for some pious purpose a sum of money consisting of, and
containing the number 18 in it. So, for instance, he will give 18 copecks,
or 18 ten copeck bits, 18 rubles or 18 times 18 copecks or rubles-according
to his means and degree of religious fervour. Hence, the year 1818 -- that
of the Emperor's birth -- meant, if read in Hebrew-"khaï, khaï"-or live,
live-pronounced emphatically twice; while the year 1881-- that of his death
read in the same way, yields the fatal words "Khaï-tze" rendered in English,
"thou living one depart"; or in other words, "life is ended."

Of course, those sceptically inclined will remark that it is all due to
blind chance and "coincidence." Nor would we much insist upon the contrary,
were such an observation to proceed but from uncompromising atheists, and
materialists, who, denying the above, remain only logical in their
disbelief, and have as much right to their opinion as we have to our own. 

But we cannot promise the same degree of indulgence whenever attacked by
orthodox religionists. For, that class of persons while pooh-poohing
speculative metaphysics, and even astrology -- a system based upon strictly
mathematical calculations, pertaining as much to exact science as biology or
physiology, and open to experiment and verification -- will, at the same
time, firmly believe that potato disease, cholera, railway accidents,
earthquakes and the like are all of Divine origin and, proceeding directly
of God, have a meaning and a bearing on human life in its highest aspects. 

It is to the latter class of theists that we say: prove to us the existence
of a personal God either outside or inside physical nature, demonstrate him
to us as the external agent, the Ruler of the Universe; show him concerned
in human affairs and destiny and exercising on them an influence, at least,
as great and reasonably probable as that exercised by the sun-spots upon the
destiny of vegetables and then -- laugh at us. Until then, and so long as no
one is prepared with such a proof and solution, in the words of Tyndall --
"Let us lower our heads, and acknowledge our ignorance, priest and
philosopher, one and all."

	
-- H P B 

Theosophist, June, 1881

----------------------------------------------------------------
 
1 One of the best known vegetable epidemics is that of the potato disease.
The years 1846. 1860, and 1872 were bad years for the potato disease. and
those years are not very far from the years of maximum sun-spots . . . there
is a curious connection between these diseases affecting plants and the
state of the sun. . . . A disease that took place about three centuries
since, of a periodical and very violent character, called the "sweating
sickness" . . . took place about the end of the fifteenth and the beginning
of the sixteenth century . . . and this is exactly the sun-spot period. . .
. (The Sun and the Earth, Lecture by Prof. Balfour Stewart)

2 H. H. Aga Khan was one of the most remarkable men of the century. Of all
the Mussulmen, Shiahs or Soonis, who rejoice in the green turban, the Aga's
claims to a direct descent from Mahomet through Ali rested on undeniable
proofs. He again represented the historical "Assassins" of the Old Man of
the Mountain. He had married a daughter of the late Shah of Persia; but
political broils forced him to leave his native land and seek refuge with
the British Government in India. In Bombay he had a numerous religious
following. He was a high-spirited, generous man and a hero. The most
noticeable feature of his life was that he was born in 1800-and died in
1881, at the age of 81. In his case too the occult influence of the year
1881 has asserted itself. 

===========================================
 

-----Original Message-----
From: THOMAS 
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 5:35 AM
To: 
Subject: HELLO THERE :



Dear Dallas & Valerie"

Below I have pasted a weekly newsletter which comes form my friend Josh
Young who lives in the Ozarks of Missouri. Several years ago he made a
trip to Mother India and his guide and friend was Puneet Sharma who took
him many places. One being the mystic city of Jaipur and the Amber Palace
of Jai Singh.

I just wanted to share this history with you because i know how much you
remember your life and times of living in India so many years ago.

I hope the day is full and wonderful for you.


Thomas (see posted message below)

=====

Taking time for the sundials of Jantar Mantar © Josh Young 2005

=====================

As someone who lives on an herb farm, and is supposedly in tune with
Nature, I am embarrassed to admit I had gotten so busy with my
off-the-farm job lately, it took a teenager in Springfield to remind me
of the vernal equinox this week.

No self-respecting farmer should ever forget the first day of Spring. It
is a day which should be anticipated for weeks, and celebrated with
ceremony.

In our high tech world of managed climates and electronic wizardry, it
is too easy to become detached from the movement of the sun, the moon,
and the planets. No such ignorance would be tolerated in cultures we
sometimes view as backward.

I had an education in this fact a few years ago when I traveled to India
and saw the sundials of Jantar Mantar in the city of Jaipur.



JANTAR MANTAR -- ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY

Jaipur, Delhi, Ujjain

Jaipur

Inside high walls I was at first startled to see a large collection of
what appeared to be magnificent modernistic sculptures scattered about a
sunny courtyard. These starkly beautiful structures were particularly
remarkable, given we had just come through crowded narrow streets on a
motorized rickshaw which dodged bicycles, cars, and camels to deposit us
at this location.

"Who was the sculptor?" I asked casually, wondering which of Frank Lloyd
Wright's disciples had come to India in the 1950s to build stairways leading
nowhere out of marble and bronze.

"These are the sundials. They were built by the Maharaja Jai Singh II in
about 1730," my friend and guide Puneet answered patiently, and then he
smiled as he saw he had my full attention.

Puneet explained Jai Singh was perhaps the greatest of the Rajput kings,
famous as both a warrior and an astronomer. Wealthy beyond belief, he
ruled a sizable kingdom from his Amber Palace, which is perched on the
mountains above Jaipur. 

Jaipur was the modern city Jai Singh constructed, following ancient Hindu
principles, on the plain below Amber, when he decided he needed more room.

Nowhere in Jaipur is the view of Amber more spectacular than from atop the
sundials of Jantar Mantar.

But Jantar Mantar is not just a collection of big structures to cast
shadows and serve as convenient lookout towers for tourists. 

At one of the smaller sundials I learned Jai Singh could calculate time for
any
location in the world. I would have been satisfied with that, but such a
small sundial (about 10 meters high) was hopelessly imprecise for Jai
Singh. 


He therefore constructed the 90 foot Samrat Jantar which calculates time to
an accuracy of three seconds. The sun's shadow passes along the graceful arc
of Samrat Jantar at rates reaching 4 meters an hour. It is more accurate
than most of the wristwatches tourists wear there today.

I wandered around Jantar Mantar in a delightful daze. The mathematics I
could comprehend made me dizzy. What I could not comprehend made me weak.
Here were tools for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars, and
determining other ephemeredes. 


I saw smaller, separate sundials for each of the signs of the zodiac. When I
was told these could be used to predict the future, I suspended my
disbelief.

Jai Singh was not satisfied with the knowledge at hand when he wanted to
construct Jantar Mantar, so he sent his scholars to the capitals of Europe
to learn what they could from the Christian world. In a open-minded quest
for knowledge and truth which is too rare yet today, Jai Singh embraced
wisdom from wherever he could find it and from whomever would share. Jantar
Mantar serves as a magnificent monument to that love of learning.

Fearing I would not get enough of the place absorbed into me in the short
time we had, I mounted the mammoth steps of Samrat Jantar to view the
complex from its highest point. This was no small feat, as the individual
steps are almost three feet high, and it took considerable leg muscle to
climb them. I would feel it for days. But the climb was worth the effort,
for I was rewarded with still another great view of the bustling city of
Jaipur, the Amber Palace, and surrounding forts, above.

I took uncalculated time to simply stare at the mathematical marvel of
Jantar Mantar. I allowed myself to contemplate this creation of a political
leader almost three hundred years ago. The closest star I could compare him
to in our American political constellations was Thomas Jefferson, and yet
Jantar Mantar was built even before our greatest inventive leader was born.

As my mind grappled with these thoughts, I looked across the expanse of
rooftops to where a man was shaking carpets. Turbaned, as he might have
been three hundred years ago, he faced into the wind and gave a great shake.
The cloud of dust from the carpet enveloped him. He paused and shook that
carpet again. Another cloud passed over him. He repeated the process for a
minute or more, and then took up another carpet to shake. 

Somewhere well into his carpet shaking routine, the hapless chap paused
and deliberately turned around to face downwind. Now the clouds of dust
flew away from his face instead of into it.

Here, I thought, is the whole range of human potential. From the
mathematical genius represented by Jantar Mantar, to the man who shakes
rugs, but doesn't know to automatically face downwind, there is an abyss.
Most of us are somewhere in the middle. 

I'd love to see us, someday, get everybody across to the heights of
Jantar Mantar.

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