Tuesday, February 19, 2013 | TechNews

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UTSAV GANDHI

3

Vedic Vision Society: Qualities that make us human

Sneha Saraf
STAFF WRITER

Speaker Nityananda Pran began Fri,
day’s lecture, “Qualities That Make Us Human",
with a brief review of the Descending System
of Knowledge The Descending System is one
through which knowledge is passed down
from generation to generation, through an
unbroken chain of bona fide spiritual teachers
and students who later become teachers ime
parting knowledge in disciplic succession.

The speaker listed the four propene
sities that are common to humans and ani
mals: 1) eating, 2) sleeping, 3) mating and 4)
defending So what makes the human form
of life so special? Nityananda Pran explained
that human life has a greater purpose, which,
in one word can be summarized as “dharma":
The definition of dharma in this case can be

‘relationships’, as higher purpose of life cannot
be attained without loving relationships, which
are only natural to the soul:

So, the dharma of human beings is
relationships, particularly in serving: Service
encompasses everything that human beings
do: the husband and wife serve each other, par
ents serve their children, children serve their
parents, airlines and hotels provide customer
service, we serve our pets, etc: But one cannot
serve, say, a table, since the table is an inanie
mate object: The relationship of service only
applies when one serves other conscious living
beings, whether they are other human beings
or even animals:

According to the speaker, it is
through service that we form relationships
There are three components to service: 1) the
served, 2) the servant/server and 3) the service
being provided: One of the most important
things in this relationship is that the service
must be for the benefit and satisfaction of the

one being served: If one performs a service
only for the sake of one’s own benefit, then it
can no longer be called a service , it becomes a
business: Therefore, the servant needs to have
a clear sense of the other person’s preferences,
likes and dislikes:

There are several qualities which
manifest in one who serves others out of love:
The servant is kind and respectful, he has a
quality of ‘pridelessness’, full of humility (will,
ingness to learn), compassion and gratitude;
he is honest and trustworthy; and many other
things: Out of all the qualities listed, Nityanane
da Pran gave three main ones: 1) Inquisitive,
ness (ie: spirit of inquiry), 2) Humility, and 3)
Gratitude: It is important to have a spirit of in,
quiry, to ask questions from bona fide sources
in order to seek knowledge on the spiritual
platform: Humility then comes into play; to be
humble here means ‘to act in one’s true posi
tion’: For example, an employee who works un
der his boss will not say, “You are doing your

job wrong , let me teach you?’ Instead, that
employee listens to his boss’s instructions and
criticisms, and then acts on those instructions
accordingly Finally, when one has gratitude,
that person automatically expresses this gratie
tude in the form of service, which deepens our
ability to receive spiritual truths because there
is that relationship for knowledge to flow

It is only through the three qualie
ties mentioned above that one can access the
Absolute Truth: This Absolute Truth pertains
to knowledge on the spiritual platform, and
does not change regardless of time, place, or
circumstance: And when we access Truth, we
also access a whole list of qualities that make
us human beings:

Next week will be an overview of
“Anatomy of Anger", or how and why we get
angry and how to overcome it: As always,
tasty free lunch is provided, as well as food for
thought:

WIIT sporting modern equipment, eager for new DJs

Utsav Gandhi
CAM PUS EDITOR

Ever walked by the pool tables in
the MTCC and glance to your left to see the
college radio station? Did you regularly tune
in to SGA/UB’s weekly radio show on Thurs,
days at 1 pm: last semester? Ever wondered
how this same organization, completely stue
denteled, managed to work with the Office of
Campus Life to bring in Bill Nye, definitely
one of most recordebreaking, welleattended
events from the last semester? Did you know
that the college radio station can be streamed
directly online, too?

This is WIIT, 88:9FM, IIT’s own rae
dio station; and it is looking for student volun
teers to serve on the exec board as well as fill
up some remaining spots for DI’sl Utsav Gan,
dhi, Campus Editor for TechNews, was able to
interview the station manager, Craig Sewell
and the Technical Director, Kevin Sampson,

f f” ._

last week to get a little update on what’s new at
WIIT

One of the oldest student organiza
tions, WIIT has been around on IIT’s came
pus since the 1920’s: Operating out of a small
room in one of the fraternity houses, it was
called WOUI and was an AM radio station
back then: The studio was recently renamed as
the Sydney A: Katz studio, honoring an alum,
nus (EE, ‘62), significant donor and previous
DJ who is now apartner in the law firm Husch
Blackwell Sanders, Welsh & Katz

Over the years, WIIT has served as
a local platform for music artists from differ,
ent genres to showcase their talent and cur
rently has shows such as the “Caribbean Pow,
er Hour," “The Melting Pot" (hosted by two
freshmen), “The Sunday Cram," “IazzBop,”
etc: In the past it has also hosted a popular
program called “Band Night," where local mu,
sicians, like the Future Laureates, were called
in every week: One of the ideas brought up
during the conversation was the idea of hav

ing an international news broadcast (WIIT is
required by law to have a Public Service An,
nouncement every hour as an educational,
noneprofit community outreach initiative),
catering to the wide international audience we
have here at IIT

WIIT recently underwent a major
redesign, with new boards, a neat throwback
logo, a new speaker system, and freshlyepainte
ed walls: The Technical Director and Station
Manager have worked very hard to revive the
radio stations presence on campus, and they
are now in need of students to fill positions
on the exec board as well as take up some
of the empty time slots as DI’s: They believe
IIT’s techesaWy student body usually doesn’t
take too long to learn the electronics, so even
those interested without previous D] experi
ence should contact the station manager: Even
those not interested in DIing but wishing to
gain some experience in how to run a student,
led, logistical and administrative enterprise
should definitely look into this as a unique op

portunity to get involved on the IIT campus:
The exec board currently needs a treasurer,
a web director, an events director, a public,
ity director, a music director and a design]
communications coordinator If you have any
questions about any of these positions please
contact Craig Sewell, the Station Manager at
wiit@iit:edu or Kevin Sampson, the Technical
Director attd:wiit@iit:edu: You can also drop
by their lounge in the MTCC right next to the
radio station if you see them there: You can
visit radio:iit:edu for more information about
the current schedule, open slots for DI’ing, the
livestrea.m, and to request a show, take a look
at WIIT policies, or read their blog:

Along with the campus newspaper,
the IIT Magazine, IIT Today and the online
presence of some of the bigger student orga
nizations like Union Board and Student Gov,
ernment, WIIT Radio has contributed to IIT’s
history for almost a century now: Getting in,
volved with it would be one awesome way of
showing some school spirit!

 

Photo by Utsav Gandhi

The Bog attracts sweethearts, singles on Valentine’s Day

 

Photos by Chandranshn Singh