The four extremes

Buddhism has the denial of the four extremes. Monism, dualism, eternalism and nihilism.
The New Age is mainly concerned with Monism and eternalism. Monism is concerned with everything is one. We are all God. It also has a belief that everything has meaning and that randomness does not operate. Since Buddhism is an antheistic religion there is no God so monism is denied.The main reason there is no God in Buddhism is that there is no first cause. Buddhists believe that Mind has always existed and will always exist. Our thoughts arise from this Mind which are called small mind.
Eternalism says that everything has meaning. This is partcular true at the present moment when people think of the second coming and the signs that will appear. I'm afraid all the eathquakes and hurricanes are just the random functioning of the universe and has no ultimate purpose. People make alot of money predicting the end of the world but it never comes. Let us even suppose there is a second coming as in revelations, what then. Will there be heaven on earth.In order for that to be the case, everyone would have to be good. If that were possible, why hasn't that happened already. Heaven must exist in the present moment, otherwise its a delusion.
Nihilism is a popular belief now, where nothing has meaning and there is only this one life.Spiritual practice however shows us that we can become better people and Mind does continue from life time to life time.If you ever meet realised beings you realise that they could not have made all that progress in just one life time.
The other thing thing that is very confused is karma. Karma in the Buddhist sense is perception and response. How we perceive things determine how we respond.If we change are perceptions are responses change.It is not cause and effect. Cause and effect does operate but also randomness and order also operate.
The only purpose is life is to achieve realisation. To realise that form and emptiness cannot be divided and are non-dual. Form is everything that we can name. Emptiness gives rise to form and then it dissolves back into emptiness. Think of a sound. First there is silence. Emptiness. A sound arises form, then it dissolves emptiness. Non-duality is the experience of sound and emptiness at the same time, this is called Rigpa. There is only this exquisite dance at play. What generates suffering is our attachment to Form and our rejection of emptiness. A Utopia is not possible however. Emptiness will always occur. Nothing lasts forever except that which was never created in the first place.

Completeness in Dzogchen

Completeness in Dzogchen does not depend on anything external. We often feel incomplete because we are not in a relationship or do not have the right career. This has nothing to do with Dzogchen. Provided we have food and shelter then we are complete. Not only are we complete, but we are happy and luminous. This is why it is called the self perfected state, as it needs nothing apart from itself. This has to be understood at an experiential level and not an intellectual level. When one understands this then you are free from all manipulation as you no longer require external things to make you happy.

Vedic Maths - One More than the one before

There is a simple way of squaring numbers that end in 5.
75^2 (75 squared) . We multiply 7(the number before the 5) by the next number up which is 8 = 56. This is the first part of the answer. Then we simply multiply 5 X 5 which is the second part of the answer, which is 25. So the final result is 5625.
Imagine you can do this in your head.
65 ^2 = 6 X 7 = 4225
Try this one for yourself :-
25 ^ 2 =

Vedic Maths - Ratios

To Simplify ratios we divide each one by its highest common factor.
So 24:6 is equal to 4:1 as 6 X4 = 24. So every ratio which is not a simplest ratio can be simplified to a simplest ratio.
Sometimes we have to increase a ratio to get whole numbers:-
1.5/2.5 = 3/5.
Splitting into a ratio.
If we want to split £20.00 into the ratio 3:1, we get 15:5. We first add the ratios to get 4, then divide 20/4 = 5. Then we multiply out to get 15:5.

Vedic Maths - Highest Common Factor

When numbers are close together, the HCF will also be a factor of the sum and of the difference of the numbers.
So 411 and 417. The sum is 828 and the diffence is 6. 2 is not a common factor but 3 is
411 / 3 = 147 417/3 = 139. This is useful if the numbers are close together.
This is the Sutra By addition and by subtration.
Try this one for yourself:-
56,58

Prime and Composite Numbers

Prime Numbers have only 1 and themselves as factors, examples are 7,11, 13. Numbers that are not prime are composite numbers and can be expressed as a product of prime numbers. e.g 6 = 2 X 3
Prouct tree for 12
12 < 6
2
6 < 2
3 So the numbers at the tips of the branches are all prime so 12 = 2 X 3 X 2
Lets try another one 60 < 4 < 2
2

15 < 5
3
So 60 = 2 * 2 * 3 * 5.
Highest Common Factor
Suppose we have two numbers 70 and 99
Express each as prime factors we have 70 = 2 X 5X 7 and 99 = 3X3 X 11
We see there are no common factors except 1, so these numbers are relatively prime, they are prime in relation to one another.
Now Consider 18 and 30
18 can be written as 2 X 3 X 3 and 30 = 2 X 3 X 5
The common factors are 2 and 3 and 6. The highest common factor is 6. So to get the HCF(Highest Common Factor) we express each number as a product of prime factors and then multiplying togethers all the factors which the prime factors have in common. Another way of saying this is find the largest number that divides into both. 6 is the largest number that divides inot 18 and 30.

Multiplication on the flag

Multiplication is also done from left to right. So 237 X 2 is done. 4,6,14 = 474.
236 X 7 = 14,21,42 = 1652. Try this for yourself 73 X 7.