About Me

Hi there ! ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ, నమస్కారం, नमस्ते !

My name is Satish B. Setty, a Bhāratīya born in the mercantile Arya Vaishya (Komati) community. I’m an ordinary tax-paying engineer by education and profession for the past 20+ years. I belong to the Reservation-Quota-less ‘General’ category and hence had to work extra hard, relying on my merit alone. As such, I’m an inclusive meritocrat – I associate with people based on their intrinsic merit and skills, irrespective of their identity markers (gender, skin colour, social class, etc.). My interests lie in spirituality, Indology, mathematics and linguistics apart from software engineering.

Comments and opinions on my articles are welcome. You can submit them to Reddit and tag me the discussion or mail them to me directly: satish.com.in ‹@› mаіl (read right-to-left) (click on it).

My Computer Setup

Operating system: Debian Testing GNU/Linux
Terminal: uxterm, tmux
Editor: Emacs
Window manager: i3
Desktop: MATE
Audio player: moc, audacious
Video player: vlc
Image viewer: viewnior
IRC: #emacs and #debian on Freenode

… all running on a Dell powered by an old-ish Intel Core i5.

I like C, Lisp and Python, but have dabbled with various languages from time to time (C++, Java, Fortran, Haskell, Rust, etc.). This blog is composed in Multimarkdown from which Python scripts crunch out HTML.

I’m proficient in Kannada and Telugu. Know enough Sanskrit to delight in simple verses from Ramayana. Can manage broken Hindi.

People: HH Chinnajeeyar Swami, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Richard Stallman, M.K.Gandhi
Books: Bhagavad Gita, Malgudi Days, The Design of Everyday Things, Programming Pearls
Music: Ambient, Downtempo, Carnatic instrumental, old Kannada songs
Movies: any good sci-fi
Hobbies: cycling, running
Map projections: Kavrayskiy VII > Winkel Tripel > Robinson > Wagner VI

Value System

I usually don’t care so much about Hindu religiosity, but do like to live by the principles of Dharma, Ahimsa and Vegetarianism. I’m inclined towards Vaishnava philosophy and occasionally do meditation. My contemplations are on a separate page.

As is normal, the older I get the more I’m inquisitive about my roots and heritage. I believe in leading a value-based life where every activity is done with real knowledge of sharing.

There are five levels of realisation: bodily, familial, societal, environmental and Almighty. One level should not contradict the other. And one’s work need not be different for different levels. With one action, everything should be attained.

In my teenage, I was fortunate to read Swami Prabhupāda’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is. It shaped my worldview at a nascent age. However, these days I’m enthusiastic about Sri Vaishnavism of Ramanujacharya, thanks to the teachings of Sri Tridandi Chinnajeeyar Swamiji. His message of spiritual, social and gender equality, anti-discrimination, inclusiveness and sēvā attitude (kaiṅkarya) resonates in my heart.

Serve all beings as service to God.

Not just service to humans, but pujya jeeyar swamiji emphasises the Vedic principle of service to all beings, living and non-living, i.e., animals, plants and environment included.

Worship your own, respect all.

In other words, acknowledge your identity but don’t discriminate against others just based on their identity. Mutual respect (not one-sided “tolerance”) is necessary.

As long as one identifies oneself with the bodily attributes (gender, race, ethnicity, caste, etc.), self-realisation is not possible. The essential position of a jīva (living entity) is that of His servitor. As a panentheist realist, this universe is not illusory but a real manifestation of the body of God. Can you “see” God? Ramanuja says, yes – the whole world around you is the body of God because He is the indwelling soul (antaryāmi) of all creation.

Equality is not possible until you focus on the inner spirit self in every living entity. Ideas of equality based on bodily identities (gender equality, caste equality, animal rights, etc.) fail to realise this concept.

Other influential teachers have been Prof. Dr. K.S.Narayanacharya of Karnataka and Swami Raghavacharya Maharaj of Ayodhya.

Disclaimer

Website content is copyrighted © Satish B. Setty and distributed under CC BY-SA International License, with attribution via backlink to the page you took content from, including its title and license notice. All views expressed on this website are my own and do not reflect the views of my current or past employers or their clients.