Govinda is a name of Krishna, referring to his youthful occupation as a cowherder. The ancient text Sri Brahma Samhita describes him as the source of all that is and the original cause of all causes.

The sages call Krishna “Govind” as he pervades all the worlds, giving them power. The Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata states that Vishnu restored the earth that had sunk into the netherword, so all the devas praised him as Govind, protector of the land.

In the Harivamsa, Indra praised Krishna for having attained loving leadership by saying, “So men too shall praise him as Govinda.” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in his commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, states that Govinda means “master of the senses”.

A famous prayer called the Bhaja Govindam states; “If one simply worships Govinda, one can easily cross this great ocean of birth and death.” This refers to the belief that worshipful adoration of Krishna can lead believers out of the cycle of reincarnation, or samsara, and into an eternal blissful life.

Psychology depicts love as a cognitive and social phenomenon. Psychologists have formulated a triangular theory of love and argued that love has three different components: intimacy, commitment, and passion.

Intimacy is a form in which two people share confidences and various details of their personal lives, and is usually shown in friendships and romantic love affairs. Commitment, on the other hand, is the expectation that the relationship is permanent. Passionate love is shown in infatuation as well as romantic love. All forms of love are viewed as varying combinations of these three components.

Following developments in electrical theories such as Coulomb’s law, which showed that positive and negative charges attract, analogs in human life were developed, such as “opposites attract.” Research on the nature of human mating has generally found this not to be true when it comes to character and personality, and that people tend to like people similar to themselves.

However, in a few unusual and specific domains, such as immune systems, it seems that humans prefer others who are unlike themselves, since this will lead to a baby that has the best of both worlds.

Some Western authorities disaggregate into two main components, the altruistic and the narcissistic. This view is represented in the works of Scott Peck, whose work in the field of applied psychology explored the definitions of love and evil. Peck maintains that love is a combination of the “concern for the spiritual growth of another,” and simple narcissism. In combination, love is an activity, not simply a feeling.

A cancer survivor is an individual with cancer of any type, current or past, who is still living. About 11 million Americans alive today, or one in 30 people, are either currently undergoing treatment for cancer or have done so in the past. Nearly 65% of persons diagnosed with cancer are expected to live more than five years after the cancer is discovered.

Many cancer survivors describe the process of living with and beating cancer as a life-changing experience. It is not uncommon for this experience to bring about a personal epiphany, which the person uses as motivation to meet goals of great personal importance, such as climbing a mountain or reconciling with an estranged family member.

In October 1996, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer, with a tumor that had metastasized to his brain and lungs. His cancer treatments included surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. He went on to win the Tour de France each year from 1999 to 2005, and is the only person to win seven times.

In 1995, the Grammy-nominated American poet, activist and author Nikki Giovanni was diagnosed with lung cancer. Alive today, a 15-year survivor, she denies that her cancer has made her a better person, adding that “If it takes a near-death experience for you to appreciate your life, you’re wasting somebody’s time.”

Terror management theory is a theory within psychology that focuses on the implicit emotional reactions of people that occur when confronted with the psychological terror of knowing we will eventually die. Empirical support for terror management theory has originated from more than 175 published experiments which have been conducted cross-culturally both nationally and internationally.

The theory builds from the assumption that the capability of self-reflection and the consciousness of one’s own mortality can be regarded as a continuous source for existential anguish. This irresolvable paradox is created from the desire to preserve life and the realization of that impossibility because life is finite.

Humans are aware of the inevitability of their own death. Culture diminishes this psychological terror by providing meaning, organization and continuity to people’s lives. Compliance with cultural values enhances one’s feeling of security and self-esteem, provided that the individual is capable of living in accordance with whatever particular cultural standards apply to him or her.

The belief in the rightness of the cultural values and standards creates the conviction necessary to live a reasonable and meaningful life. This cultural worldview provides a base of making sense of the world as stable and orderly, a place where one rests their hopes on symbolic immortality such as having children, fame, or legacies of wealth, or literal immortality such as the promise of a life in an afterworld.

Hylomorphism is the theory that all things are a combination of matter and form. Aristotle was one of the first writers to approach the subject of life in a scientific way. Biology was one of his main interests, and there is extensive biological material in his writings. He believed that while matter can exist without form, form cannot exist without matter, and therefore the soul cannot exist without the body.

According to Aristotle, all things in the material universe have both matter and form. The form of a living thing is its soul. There are three kinds of souls: the vegetative soul of plants, which causes them to grow and decay and nourish themselves, but does not cause motion and sensation; the ‘animal soul’ which causes animals to move and feel; and the rational soul which is the source of consciousness and reasoning which Aristotle believed is found only in man.

A properly organized body is already alive simply by virtue of its structure. However, the property of life or soul is something in addition to the body’s structure. The analogy of a car can be used to explain this interpretation. A running car is running not only because of its structure but also because of the activity in its engine. Likewise, a living body is alive not only because of its structure but also because of an additional property. The soul is this additional property, which a properly-organized body needs in order to be alive.

Duende is a difficult to define phrase used in the Spanish arts, including performing arts. The artistic and especially musical term was derived from the original meaning of a fairy or goblin-like creature in Spanish and Latin American mythology.

The meaning of duende  has to do with emotion, expression and authenticity. In fact, duende can be loosely translated as “having soul”. It is the spirit of evocation. It comes from inside as a physical and emotional response to music. It is what gives you chills, makes you smile or cry as a bodily reaction to an artistic performance that is particularly expressive.

Folk music in general, especially flamenco, tends to embody an authenticity that comes from a people whose culture is enriched by diaspora and hardship; vox populi, the human condition of joys and sorrows. It is thus as universal in its meaning as it is immensely personal and culturally contextual by its nature.

To a higher degree than the muse or the angel, duende seizes not only the performer but also the audience, creating conditions where art can be understood spontaneously with little, if any, conscious effort. It is, in Lorca’s words, “a sort of corkscrew that can get art into the sensibility of an audience… the very dearest thing that life can offer the intellectual.”

The Argentine Black and White Tegu is a carnivorous terrestrial reptile species that inhabits the tropical rain forests of east and central South America. Adult males are much larger than the females and can reach 3 feet in length at maturity and continue to grow to lengths of 4-4.5 feet.

They make good pets, have a tendency to become attached to their owners, and are generally quite docile as adults. A well cared for animal will live for 15 to 20 years in captivity, and possibly even longer in the wild. However, as with most reptiles, if not handled regularly they will show more aggressive signs if they are less comfortable with a handler.

Argentine Tegus will go into brumation (a form of hibernation) in autumn when the temperature drops. A level of intelligence unusually high for reptiles has been observed, along with a high level of physical activity during the wakeful period of the year. It is believed that individuals of this species sometimes actively seek human attention, as would for example a cat or dog.

Tegus are also recognized for their impressive ability to remember details. Tegus that have escaped or been illegally released have adapted to life in the wild in some of the more remote areas of South Florida.

English Ivy is a species native to most of Europe and western Asia. It is an evergreen climbing plant, growing to 100 feet high where suitable surfaces such as trees, cliffs or walls are available. It climbs by means of aerial rootlets which cling to the substrate.

Recent research has used new imaging techniques to analyse the attachment process of English Ivy in detail. It was found that the plant makes initial contact with the object it will climb, which then triggers the second phase, when the plant’s roots change shape to fit the surface of the structure they will climb.

The roots alter their arrangement to increase their area of contact with the surface, then small structures called root hairs grow out from the root, coming into contact with the climbing surface. The plant then excretes a glue to anchor it to the substrate. Finally, the tiny root hairs fit into tiny cavities within the climbing surface. There, they dry out, scrunching into a spiral shape that locks the root hair into place.

English Ivy is considered an invasive species in a number of areas to which it has been introduced. Like other invasive vines, such as kudzu, it can grow to choke out other plants and create “ivy deserts”. State and county sponsored efforts are encouraging the destruction of ivy in forests of the Pacific Northwest. Its sale or import is banned in Oregon. In its mature form, dense ivy can destroy habitat for native wildlife and creates large sections of solid ivy where no other plants can develop.