Was surprised to see a small "knowledge panel" on Google against my name - Ravi S. Iyer

Last updated on 10th May 2020

I thought I should inform readers that searching for my name with initial S (as Ravi S. Iyer or as ravi s iyer) on Google, shows a "knowledge panel" associated with me and my work.

But what is a Google knowledge panel? From https://support.google.com/knowledgepanel/answer/9163198?hl=en: "Knowledge panels are information boxes that appear on Google when you search for entities (people, places, organizations, things) that are in the Knowledge Graph. They are meant to help you get a quick snapshot of information on a topic based on Google’s understanding of available content on the web.

Knowledge panels are automatically generated, and information that appears in a knowledge panel comes from various sources across the web. In some cases, we may work with data partners who provide authoritative data on specific topics like movies or music, and combine that data with information from other open web sources."

A couple or so days ago, I initiated the process of "claiming" the knowledge panel which needed me to provide some info. to Google. I await a response from Google on that.

Note that just searching for Ravi Iyer shows many other Ravi Iyers (and does NOT list me). The Knowledge Panel shown then is for the musician Ravi Iyer (from Mumbai I think).

Given below is a screenshot showing knowledge panel on the right.

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

This development of Google 'knowledge panel' associated with my name, is a learning process for me. I think this indicates that Google is giving me some recognition as a small knowledge contributor on the Internet. I think adding my 3rd book to Google Books triggered this recognition (later I added my previous 2 books also to Google Books as previews).

I think this essentially puts more responsibility on me to continue to be truthful in my writings and to continue to be responsible in my writings on the Internet, all of which are freely accessible (no money charged and anybody on the Internet can view my blogs and download all 3 of my books for free). I pray to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to continue to help me as I continue playing this Internet based free service writer-contributor role.

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Am I falling into an ego trap because I put up a post on Google small 'knowledge panel' associated with my name?

Perhaps some readers think that I am getting caught up in an ego trap :-). If so, they are surely entitled to their views.

But my view of the matter is given below.

Well, if I were worried about such things then I would not have become a non-anonymous (public) writer as then one has to use one's name on one's public writings and be accountable for them. Note that before Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba Mahasamadhi in April 2011, I used to focus on my individual spiritual efforts, do my software technology related free Seva (as a spiritual offering), and share some of my spiritual stuff over email (content somewhat like my posts now) to few friends. I was quite content with that. A few months after Bhagavan Mahasamadhi, as the situation in Puttaparthi had changed enormously, I suspended my individual spiritual efforts and started my humble efforts of trying to contribute to the community through blogs, with two key blogs being written under a pseudonym.

A couple or so years into my blogs, it had become clear to me that writing under my own name would make the blog posts more accountable and so viewed more seriously by some readers. Some readers, including some very discerning readers, have some skepticism about anonymously written posts on the Internet, suspecting that it could have some hidden agenda due to which the author chooses to remain hidden.

I think around 2013 or 2014, I started writing blog posts under my own name and dropped using pseudonyms. I became active on Facebook around 2015 and did my posts & comments under my own name, thereby allowing myself to be held accountable for my writings, including controversial whistle-blower writings. Note that such accountability could also involve Indian courts of law, if somebody felt that my writings have broken some Indian law(s), specifically Indian defamation law(s).

I think it is my writing under my own name that lent crucial weight to my controversial whistle-blowing posts. I was ready to defend my views, if legally challenged, in an Indian court of law.  I think even my general (not whistle-blowing) spiritual writings and miscellaneous writings got viewed more seriously when I started writing under my own name.

Did I get caught up in an ego-trap as I did all this? I don't think so. Some of my writings had to be done using my own name, and so I did it not only for those writings but for all of my public writings. I know without a doubt that my reality is an eternal unchanging awareness, and that the mind-body complex called Ravi S. Iyer is like a dress worn over (or projected by) the unchanging awareness, and which mind-body complex is eventually going to disappear. The mind-body complex called Ravi S. Iyer is NOT my ultimate existential reality. My ultimate existential reality is my unchanging eternal awareness (consciousness).

There are many in Sathya Sai devotee circle who do not write publicly on independent platforms like social media but have contributed spiritual articles to some publications. In the past few years (after Mahasamadhi), I have tried, mostly in vain, to get some of them whom I know personally to write publicly on blogs. Perhaps some of them are held back by "ego trap" related concerns and criticisms, and so do not write articles on wider platforms like blogs.

I hope more people who have had great experiences of Sathya Sai physical form directly, and have had spiritual experiences in Sathya Sai organization & Sathya Sai devotee circles, are motivated to write about them publicly on the Internet as that is how posterity can have easy access to them. I am so glad that some Shirdi Sai devotees shared their experiences of Shirdi Sai Baba, with chroniclers of those days (including the famous post-Shirdi-Sai-Mahasamadhi chronicler of Shirdi Sai Baba, Shri B.V. Narasimhaswami, with key works of his now being freely downloadable on Internet - see https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Narasimha+Swamy%2Cb.v%22 ), due to which Shirdi Sai experiences other than what is mentioned in official Shirdi Sai trust works like Shirdi Sai Satcharitra, are easily accessible to people like me who are fascinated by Shirdi Sai Baba, besides Sathya Sai Baba.

And hopefully more such people who write about their experiences of Sathya Sai, and the Sathya Sai devotee community and its work, get recognized on the Internet by not only Google but perhaps by Wikipedia too, so that such experiences become more reputed accounts in the eyes of the world at large.

I think an important reality of these early 21st century times that we live in, is that the Internet is a very powerful medium for information sharing/knowledge sharing, perhaps the most powerful medium, and Google is an important gateway to that Internet medium. Recognition of an author and his/her works by Google, adds more weight to the works of the author.