Skip to main content
UploadLanguage (EN)Support
BusinessMobileSocial MediaMarketingTechnologyArt & PhotosCareerDesignEducationPresentations & Public SpeakingGovernment & NonprofitHealthcareInternetLawLeadership & ManagementAutomotiveEngineeringSoftwareRecruiting & HRRetailSalesServicesScienceSmall Business & EntrepreneurshipFoodEnvironmentEconomy & FinanceData & AnalyticsInvestor RelationsSportsSpiritualNews & PoliticsTravelSelf ImprovementReal EstateEntertainment & HumorHealth & MedicineDevices & HardwareLifestyle
shriniwas kashalikar, profile picture
Uploaded byshriniwas kashalikar
DOC, PDF123 views

Conceptual stress for reference

The document provides prayers and dedications from Shriniwas Janardan Kashalikar's book "Conceptual Stress Understanding and Management". It offers prayers to various Hindu deities including Lord Ganesha, Goddess Saraswati, Goddess Gauri, and Lord Narayana to bless the writing and success of the book. It also offers prayers to cosmic principles like the Guru principle and all enlightened beings. The document explains that the prayers are meant to establish a link with the infinite cosmic powers to overcome ego and difficulties. It is dedicated to helping others attain salvation or liberation through the book.

Education◦
Download to read offline
CONCEPTUAL STRESS UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGEMENT BY Shriniwas Janardan Kashalikar. PRAYER [THE CONTENT AND CONCEPT] SHRI GANESHAAYA NAMAH Before beginning to write, I offer my prayers to Lord Shri Ganesha who is the God of realization for enabling me to express health promoting content with accuracy in this book. The meaning of the expression “God of realization” is very interesting and profound. In the nature there are various divine ‘powers’ or ‘energies’ and express or manifest themselves in different forms. Lord Ganesh is the source of experience of pure knowledge in a human being. It is therefore customary and appropriate to pray Lord Ganesh before starting any writing work. Since the realization of truth is the prerequisite to accurate vision, decision, commensurate desire and intention to act, conviction and strength to act, accurate action, it is appropriate to pray Lord Ganesh before starting any work. These all constitute HOLISTIC HEALTH or SWADHARMA. Hence it is said VAKRATUNDA MAHAAKAAYA SURYAKOTISAMAPRABHA NIRVIGHNAM KURU ME DEVA SARVAKARYESHU SARVADAA Which means O Lord Ganesha with beautifully twisted trunk and gigantic body you are bright like billions of suns. Please very work of mine devoid of deficiency and defeat. ** Now I offer my prayers to the goddess of knowledge i. e. Sarasvati. Because she gives the ability to transform realization into thoughts
and thoughts into language, either spoken or written. She also gives the ability to grasp various forms of art and knowledge and their expression in different forms. Hence I pray YAAKUNDENDUTUSHAARHAARDHAVALAA YASHUBHRAVASTRAVRUTAA YAAVEENAAVAR DANDAMANDITAKARAA YAASHVETAPADMAASANAA YAABRAHMAACHYUTA SHANKLARAPRABHUTIBHIRDEVAISADAAVANDITAA SAA MAM PAATU SARASVATI BHAGAVATI NIHSHESHAJAADYAAPAHAA Which means Oh goddess Sarasvati who is fair complexioned like flowers of KUNDA [JASMINE], moon and snow showers, clad and in white clothes with hands adorned by VEENA-the string instrument [which produces divine melodies], sitting on the white lotus being worshipped by BRAHMAA, ACHYUTA, SHANKARA and other deities and one who destroys the shackling fossilizing ignorance, please protect me [from ignorance and evils born out of it]! I also pray SHULKAAM BRAHMAVICHAARASAARAPARAMAMAADYAM JAGADVYAAPINEEM VEENAPUSTAKADHAARINEEM ABHAYADAAM JADYANDHAKAARAPAHAAM HASTE SPHAATIKAMALIKAAM VIDADHATEEM PADMAASANESANSTHITAAM VANDETAAM PARAMESHVAREEM BHAGAVATEEM BUDDHIPRADAAM SHAARADAAM Which means Oh enlightening Shaarada goddess, who is fair complexioned means full of SATVAGUNA [conscientiousness], the essence of the knowledge of self realization, the source of energies encompassing the whole universe, holding the VEENA and book, destroyer of
darkness of ignorance and thereby making you fearless, holding the rosary of SPHATIK beads, sitting on lotus I prostrate in front of you and offer my salutations to you. Now I also pray the guru principle. GURURBRAHMAA GURURVISHNU GURURDEVO MAHESHVARAA GURUH SAKSHAAT PARABRAHMA TASMAI SHRI GURUVE NAMAH I refer this by the word principle because it is a cosmic principle BRAHMA or the origin of the universe which embodies all the qualities of the three deities BRAHMA, VISHNU and MAHESH representing three GUNAS viz. SATVA, RAJA and TAMA. SATVA is nothing else but crystal clear conscience governed perceptions. Feelings and actions. RAJA is ego driven perceptions, feelings and actions and TAMA means ignorance driven perceptions, feelings and actions. This principle manifests through either human body, scriptures, through dreams and even through various manifestations in the nature! The guru principle is said to embody three deities or three gunas because a loving guru takes beyond the three gunas viz. SATVA, RAJA and TAMA because guru takes us from the ignorance to knowledge. Now I pray goddess Gauri. I reverently offer my salutations to her and pray her to bless me for success of this book in every possible way. May she bless all those concerned with this book in every walk of life in every possible way. SARVAMANGAL MAANGALYE SHIVE SARVAARTHAASADHIKE SHARANYE TRYAMBAKE GAURI NARAYANEEM NAMOSTUTE Which means Gauri, Narayani, Tryambaka are the names of the divine energy which manifests in the form of regulator of fulfilling elegance and success in every activity. I prostrate in front and salute her again and again.
After these prayers I offer my prayers to Lord Narayana who is traditionally worshipped in our family, for His blessings. He is the supreme consciousness. In fact it is He who is responsible for all this that is being written JANGAMAAJANGAMAMCHEDAM JAGANNAARAYANODBHAVAM YOGODNYAANAM TATHAA SAANKHYAM VIDYAASHILPAADIKARMA CHA Which means Plants and animals have developed from NARAYANA in as much as YOGA, DNYAANA, SAANKHYA, ARTS, CRAFTS are originated from Him. Hence I wish to pray NAMOSTVANATAAYA SAHASRAMURTAYE SAHASRAPAADAATKSHISHIRORUBAAHAVE SAHASRANAAMNE PURUSHAAYA SHAASHVATE SAHASRAKOTI YUGADHAARINE NAMAH I offer my humble salutations, to Ananta [Lord Narayana ] which means the infinite, who has thousands of forms, thousands of feet, thousands of eyes, thousands of heads, thousands of chests, thousands of arms, thousands of names and who is eternal PURUSHA [supreme consciousness] occupying thousands of billions of epochs called YUGA. Now I pray all the yogis, saints, prophets and the rishis. They are the manifestations or incarnations of the supreme consciousness and have been enlightening, empowering and guiding the mankind for ages. I pray that they bless this book and enable it to serve the mankind Lastly I pray for the welfare of the universe. SARVETRAH SUKHINAH SANTU SARVE SANTU NIRAMAYAH SARVE BHADRANI PASHYANTU MA KASCHIT DUKKHAMAPNUYAT [Let everyone be happy, healthy and well meaning and let there be no grief in anyone’s life]
With this feeling underlying this book I offer the book with utmost reverence at the lotus feet of Lord Narayana. Many of us may have strong objection to prayers. They may feel that such praying is an indication of weakness, diffidence and dependence. According to some this can be even paranoid behavior. Even as I have no intention to change this point of view [as that can happen only through one’s experience and not by mere explanations], it is still thought appropriate to give explanation which may prove helpful to the concerned ones. However it is not expected that anybody agrees with whatever is written. It is always a healthy thing to read, think over and verify the contents rather than accepting them without scrutiny and verification. These prayers are meant for getting strength from the infinite cosmic powers, of which we are manifestations or extensions. The cosmic energies, gods and goddesses can be compared to the powerhouses and we can be compared with the electric bulbs, which are the extensions of the electricity from the powerhouses. In case there are blocks in the wiring, then the bulbs will not illumine adequately. In such case the only way to illumine the bulb would be remove the blocks and facilitate free flow of electricity. In case of human beings ‘blocks’ develop due to natural development of ego, pettiness and superficial values. These ‘blocks’ can be effectively removed by the prayers and also by chanting or remembering the name of God. We can take another example. We are leaves of a life tree. Because of ego we tend to identify ourselves as isolated, alienated, disconnected, discrete, disjointed ‘leaves’! This makes us weak, petty, arrogant, diffident, cynical, depressed and frustrated. Prayers are like reestablishing the link with roots of the tree of which we are the leaves!
DEDICATION PRAYENA DEVA MUNAYAH SWAVIMUKTIKAMA MAUNAM CHARANTI VIJANENA PARARTHA NISHTHA NAITANVIHAYA KRUPANAN SWAVIMUKTI EKO NANYAM TADASYA SHARANAM BHRAMATONUPASHYE Oh Lord, in general, most of the great saints, sages, yogis and rishis renounce the world, live in seclusion and observe silence in search of salvation/liberation for themselves. Since you are the only savior for my billions of brothers and since they can not get salvation from anywhere else [in case I do not seek it from you for them], I do not want to be a mean person to seek liberation for myself alone. So says the great Pralhada as is articulated in SHRIMAT BHAGAVATAM. This is especially important in view of the fact that though stress [and hence conceptual stress also] is a universal phenomenon, it is not understood by everyone. Only a few fortunate ones would be able to understand and manage it. It is their privilege and DHARMA to help others in managing stress. In this regard it is interesting to note that in these days neither individual liberation nor individual stress management are possible! They are intricately and inseparably bound with the liberation and stress management of billions others, who can neither read, nor understand this book and who can not manage stress. Bhagiratha [who is said to have brought the Ganges from heaven to the earth] and Prometheus [who is said to have stolen fire from the gods] to save the mankind and many others have set examples for us to follow. * * I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO THE ETERNAL LIGHT THAT HAS BEEN ENLIVENING THIS UNIVERSE AND ENLIGHTENING THE LIFE OF MILLIONS THROUGH MILENNIA AND TO MY LATE MOTHER AND FATHER [THROUGH WHOM MY LIFE (and hence this work also) MANIFESTED] SHRINIWAS JANARDAN KASHALIKAR CONTENTS Prayer Dedication Meaning of conceptual stress Necessity to write this book
Why should you read this book? Importance of managing conceptual stress effectively Concepts related to healthy living I] Concept of holistic health II] Healthy aging III] Concept of Good Morning III] Concept of Observance of Silence [Mauna] IV] Concept of Drinking Water the Sap of Life VI] The Concept of Bath VII] Massage VIII] Walking IX] Concept of composed mind. Concepts related individual life 1.Concept of physical pain 2. How to overcome the shame of being non-normal? 3.How to overcome the fear and shame of disease? 4. How to reduce the unpleasantness of death? 5. How to overcome loneliness? 6. How can we overcome negative or depressive thoughts? 7.How to overcome jealousy? 8. How to overcome frustration? 9. Why do we indulge in or refrain from things and repent later? Concepts related to social life i] How can we overcome the stress caused by conceptual chaos in the field of education? ii] Stress resulting from inadequate understanding of the consumer interest iv] Conceptual confusion about communalism
vi] How to manage the stress resulting from inadequate grasp of ever growing corruption? vii] Employees-employer relations v] Understanding causes of strikes in public hospitals in India viii] Concept Of Functioning of a Municipal Body Concepts of abstract nature A] Is it true that KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA, justifies injustice, exploitation and inequality? B] Concepts of superstition, faith and rationality C] Is it useful to find out the degree of pleasure or sadness? D] We are taught to obey. But is it always correct to obey blindly? E] Ideology F] Non Violence G] Concepts of charity and swadharma H] What is satisfactory living? I] Family life J] Miracles K] The Concept of Holistic Medicine L] Practical utility of understanding death and immortality
M] Are there any other concepts, which give rise to the fear and unpleasantness of death? N] It is said that the ultimate aim of human life is MOKSHA or LIBERATION from the cycle of birth and death. If this is true then how do we explain the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu? How can we explain the reincarnation re-incarnation of Krishna [He assures in Geeta that he reincarnates in every epoch]? Or even for that matter Dattatreya? O] Understanding of first eight chapters of Geeta found useful in the management of conceptual stress. Meaning of conceptual stress Conceptual stress is not a separate entity. It is a part of over all process of stress. We can also call it intellectual stress. In modern life where the pace of change of life has become very fast, we are unable to understand the rapidly emerging new issues in life. Our conceptual framework gets
shattered and we become helpless and miserable. This state of helplessness and misery and consequent deleterious effects on individual and social life, constitute conceptual stress and it has acquired menacing dimensions! Morality, ethics, customs, traditions, conventions etc. i.e. guidelines of past in every sphere of life are being proved inadequate and also irrelevant. To give a simple example, cancer phobia [excessive and unfounded fear of cancer] is nothing but a case of conceptual stress. Cancer phobia many times results from inappropriate view, feelings and actions [conceptual deficiency] about the phenomenon of cancer, its nature, its symptoms such as pain and its outcome. What are the symptoms of cancer phobia? A patient of cancer phobia always suspects that he/she has cancer, whenever he gets pain. If he/she gets repeated pain, in a particular organ then he/she starts suspecting cancer of that particular part! This leads to morbid fear, anxiety, worry, and sense of helplessness. Conceptual stress involves defective or deficient perception, deficient ideas, inaccurate thoughts, disproportionate emotions, unreasonable instincts and unnatural physical needs, which are associated with abnormal electrophysiological interactions between various neurons in the brain. The secretion of different neurotransmitters, secretion of hormones and metabolic activities are abnormal and involve deleterious effects on personal and social health. Conceptual stress is minimal or absent if you are totally ignorant and adjusted to a self centered, petty, indifferent, reflexive, passive, and stereotyped life style like a lower animal. Conceptual stress is maximum when your perspective assumes global dimension, your feelings reach out to the miseries of the millions and your thinking reaches out to the mysteries of millennia! Your conceptual stress magnifies when your heart starts bleeding for suffering in even the remotest part of the world and even to the suffering of animals! Your conceptual stress worsens when you actually start searching for solutions as you come
across conflicting opinions. This stress gets further multiplied when you start coming close to the solutions and begin to encounter difficulty in expressing them. This becomes more disturbing when you see every one turning away from you and your solutions being proved ineffective, though not inaccurate! Since you are not proved wrong, you do not find valid reason also to abandon your views and work. You land in an agonizing question, “Why you are ineffective if you are accurate?”. At this point the very foundation of your existence begins to shake and your existence almost gets uprooted! Then gradually if and when you begin to see increasing matching, agreement, or harmony between your life and the universe [which in most cases would constitute changes in the direction of global welfare] your conceptual stress begins to get relieved simultaneously as that of the others! It is true that we manage to ignore some questions, and rightly so e.g. mathematical problems need not as a routine, bother a biologist. Similarly, problems in one’s educational career are best dealt with in the text-books and guides of those subjects and or solved by the expert teachers in that particular field! But there are issues which are a] unavoidable, b] are faced by most of us, c] affect our personal and family lives immensely and d] affect the well being of the society immensely and produce CONCEPTUAL OR INTELLECTUAL STRESS in almost every one! Necessity to write this book? There are thousands of books in the market on personality development, making money, being effective, making friends, winning people and so on. There are thousands of books, which deal with psychology, philosophy, religion, ethics, yoga, meditation, prophets, saints and such topics. A lot of information on these subjects is available on electronic media and Internet also. In fact the explosion of information on such subjects is mind boggling. Further, the information technology, internet, email, fax, ISD, and other modalities of satellite transmission have taken this information to a large majority of people, who hitherto did not have the access to this information. But there are three reasons because of which I decided to write this book.
The first is that it is usually not possible to precisely find out what would guide accurately in conceptual stress. This is because, there are many views and most of them are apparently conflicting and confusing. Efforts to search for information and get answers to day to day problems prove either futile or in fact add to confusion and frustration and prove counterproductive. The second reason is that majority of this information is characteristically restricted to superficial aspects of human life. Because it is superficial, it is incapable of improving the understanding of life. This hollow and impotent information therefore is devoid of the content and power to enable readers to live with inner growth, magnanimity, fulfillment, harmony and happiness. In fact it makes you miserable. It stimulates your desire to become rich, famous, powerful, etc. and creates a sense of perpetual and ever increasing demands. This gives a feeling of deficiency. As a result, discontent and jealousy grow. Glorification of ordinary people for commercial, political and other benefits, sugar coated implicit indoctrination of pettiness, misleading advertisements can and do create self-pity. There are advertisements, which implicitly drive home a ridiculous message that you do not love your children because you do not give them a particular soap, or chocolate or something of that sort! There are other advertisements which proclaim albeit indirectly that you are clumsy if you do not wear a particular shirt, stupid if you do not smoke a particular cigarette or out of fashion if you do not drink a particular whisky! One can quote hundreds of examples of such surreptitiously brutal and criminal information, which humiliates you! Another damaging impact of this information is that it gives an impression that sanity has no place in the future. Thus it can shake your faith in goodness and sanity! It can tear your senses apart and confuse you. It can shatter your faith in yourselves and destroy your hopes in any bright future for yourselves, or the society! As a result, it can force you into spending hours, days, weeks, months and even years after years in utter selfishness marked by rabid material pursuits and criminal activities or utter depression, bitterness and frustration, marked by suicidal activities.
The third reason is that everyone has conceptual stress to a greater or lesser extent and also frank or subconscious desire to manage it effectively. As I went on writing, it gave me immense satisfaction and vigor in spite of the fact that such writing involves total personal consumption. I am sure that it would rejuvenate you and help you to help yourself and also the others in need! Why should you read this book? Even after reading the foregoing you still may have a question, “Why should we read this book?”. This question is quite appropriate. You may ask and quite justifiably so, even more questions such as the following. “Why should we not give preference to our business, service, domestic work, or things such as part time additional job, shares or anything that either earns or saves money for us? Why should we not opt for some wonderful things such as hiking, trekking, swimming, jogging, physical exercise etc, which are good for physical health? If there is extra time then why should we not get involved in some charity work? Lastly, if we have inclination for things such as music, socialization, good food, good company, good drinks, etc. which relax us, then why should not we indulge in them and become happy?” The answer to these questions is simple. It is for you to decide whether to read this book with priority or not and in fact even whether to read it at all or not! But think of issues such as education, child labor, charity, physical pain, fear of diseases, loneliness, fear and grief of death and so many such things. These are issues, which influence individual as well as social life. These are such issues that that neither can you ignore them, nor can you escape from them. Added to this is the fact that you do not have enough time and energy to solve them. They are the ones, which if not understood properly, can cause you conceptual stress. In view of the fact that they would go on nagging you through out, spoil your health and that of the family and society, you would definitely welcome if you are offered solutions for them. It is precisely such solutions that I have offered in this book for which you may want to read this book!
It so happened that I got involved in the issues, which are apparently unrelated to individual life [but actually are not], in addition to those in my personal and family life. Further, I could spend time, energy, money and everything one could, to study them on priority basis. Hence I feel privileged to have got the solutions to my satisfaction, which now appear so simple! I feel ecstatic to offer them to you. I do not intend to entangle you in any complex, tedious, scholastic, boring and exasperating intellectual exercise, but directly offer the solutions. I am sure you will experience clarity, harmony, peace, love, romance, buoyancy and enthusiasm while reading this book! You would experience happiness of overcoming the instinctual suffocation, emotional turbulence, behavioral disharmony, intellectual confusion and inappropriateness and ineffectiveness of action in society. This is my promise based on my first hand experience. However, you may not believe in me at this juncture but there is no harm in verifying my statement; for which you have to read at least the next page! Importance of managing conceptual stress effectively The only way of effective stress management is to understand the nature, causes, dimensions, mechanisms, effects and principles of management of stress. Basically this involves improvement in cognition, affect and conation. In other words, this involves improvement in our views, our feelings and our actions. In my book, “STRESS, UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGEMENT, A WAY TO TOTAL WELL BEING”, I have discussed these things. But having studied the basics required in stress management one looks forward for greater efficiency. For more effective management of stress, management of conceptual stress is essential and for that, further improvement in views, feelings and actions is essential. For this, it is imperative to study issues, such as those mentioned on page XII, which affect private as well as public life and especially those issues, which are pertinent to our fields.
Please remember, WITHOUT EVOLVING VIEWS, FEELINGS AND ACTIONS WITH RESPECT TO ISSUES IN INDIVIDUAL AS WELL AS SOCIAL LIFE, PERTINENT TO YOUR FIELD, STRESS IN GENERAL AND CONCEPTUAL STRESS IN PARTICULAR CAN NOT BE MANGED EFFECTIVELY. I have discussed some issues in my previous book but in brief. In this book we will consider such several issues of immediate relevance in day to day lives. I am sure this will pave a way for conceptual clarity and thereby more efficient stress management. Unfortunately many of us try frantically to manage stress [and conceptual stress], without this understanding and as a result, create and perpetuate misery for themselves and the society. All short cuts marketed under the disguise of stress management can at times be temporarily useful but ultimately prove useless and even counterproductive in personal and social life. Now let us see why effective stress [and conceptual stress] management is essential. Every one of us has stress. Thus a student may have stress of examination or competition and a doctor may have a stress of treating a difficult disease. A farmer may have stress of drought and a mill worker may have stress of lay off. A Prime Minister of a country may have stress of a crucial decision making such as nuclear testing, dealing with religious sentiments or flak from media etc. It has to be appreciated that just as the causes of the stress vary, just in the same way the implications of the stress also vary. Thus the adverse effects of the ineffective management of stress in individual life as well social life vary. Thus the student may avoid appearing from examination, the doctor may shirk from his duty, the farmer may commit suicide and the mill worker rendered jobless may be forced into illegal underworld activities. The wrong decision of a Prime Minister may influence not only his life but also that of the generations after generations of one or more countries, in adverse ways.
This clearly illustrates that the adverse effects of stress are not restricted to one’s own body and one’s own family. The ineffective management of stress by political leaders, industrial leaders, union leaders, media leaders, religious leaders and in general people involved in decision making can adversely affect various walks of life and even the future generations directly or indirectly. This is comparable to most dangerous and rapidly spreading pandemic infectious disease. The patient suffering from such infectious disease, if does not undergo proper treatment, then he/she would harm himself/herself as well as the others. Effective management of stress [and conceptual stress] therefore, is vitally important for one’s own well being and that of the society as well CONCEPTS OF HEALTHY LIVING CONCEPT OF HOLISTIC HEALTH Holistic health in adult human beings is nothing else but ongoing movement towards increasingly accurate perception, appropriate feelings and precise actions, with increasing pleasure, power, prosperity and profundity. Perception, feelings and actions are also expressed by terms Cognition, Affect and Conation respectively. A] Cognition In short, cognition means processing [appraisal] of a huge variety of sensations impinging on us. You can appreciate the importance of this faculty if you consider the two important facts viz. 24 hours of the day and twelve months of the year, every one of us gets sensory inputs in the form of physical, instinctual, emotional and intellectual stimuli, which may be painful or pleasurable in the form of a variety of personal, familial, social, national and international events. Cognition involves sensing, interpreting, memorizing, questioning, pattern finding, analyzing, correlating, synthesizing, contemplating, understanding, appreciating and hypothesizing on the basis of this information input.
2] Affect Affect means the effect of the variety of stimuli which, may impinge on us. The affect is in a way, “sandwiched” between cognition or perception of stimuli and the conation or response. In general it involves the activity of various parts of nervous, endocrine and metabolic changes. The affect is usually experienced as a] confidence, enthusiasm, pleasure, happiness, love, attraction, patience, comfort etc. or b] sadness, jealousy, hatred, depression, inhibition, diffidence, loneliness, listlessness, impatience, discomfort etc. 3] Conation or action i.e. response Conation is the response of an individual. This can speaking, writing, listening, watching, and other interactions usually referred to as behavior. In traditional parlance this was called fulfillment of four PURUSHARTHAs, viz. DHARMA, ARTHA, KAAMA and MOKSHA through practice of SWADHARMA. DHARMA refers to accuracy in perception, affect and conation. This leads to ARTHA i. e. acquisition of material gains, followed by KAAMA i. e. satisfaction of the mundane desires [DHARMA AVIRUDDHAH KAAMAH i. e. the desires which are not against the DHARMA i.e. principles of global welfare.]. KAAMA is followed by MOKASHA i. e. liberation from all sort of bonds. In short it must be appreciated that for most of us holistic health refers to ever increasing and appropriate satisfaction of physical, instinctual, emotional, intellectual needs and fulfillment and happiness arising from it. Healthy Aging By the word ageing we generally think of an unpleasant process associated with dysfunction and disability. We think of a phenomenon full of dependence and helplessness. It seems to indicate only cumulative wear and tear due to micro insults and time dependent programmed loss of structure and function. It seems to imply physical, psychological, intellectual and social incapacitation. It seems to involve choking of charm, routing of romance, decay of dreams, annihilation of aspirations and end of
new beginnings. It seems to be an entity that signals us to wind up every thing get ready to quit this world- the world that we are so much long to live in. So let us study what is underlying this process of ageing. But before we do that we have to distinguish it from the handicap or dysfunction that results from diseases and the changes resulting from diseases and the natural process of ageing, i.e. one which would take place in the absence of diseases. One can appreciate that such distinction is quite difficult. Most of us suffer from one ailments such as infections, malignancies, diabetes, IHDs, as well as environmental onslaughts in the form of ultraviolet radiation, heat, cold, pollution, food additives, allergic substances, physical and chemical injuries etc.. But still the ageing that results in absence history of gross or major diseases roughly represents the true ageing and is generally attributed to two basic facts 1] Genetic programme : Decides the range of the longevity of life for a specific species and determines genetic programme by virtue of which there time dependent loss in structure and function. Genes programme senescence and death. Fibroblasts show 40 to 60 doublings. Ovary, testis, breasts, uterus, thymus etc. 2] Accumulation of injuries or micro insults : Since very little is understood in this respect there many theories based on these two tenets to explain the ageing. Since they focus on a specific change, they are inadequate. But together they do give us some insight into the process of ageing. 2] THEORIES OF AGEING : A] The Error Catastrophe Theory : Random increase in errors of protein synthesis i.e. defects in transcription and translation. But these seem to be post translational modifications.
Further, in senescent cells accumulation of misspelled proteins is not found and Induction of synthesis of erroneous proteins experimentally does not give rise to ageing. B] Somatic mutation theory : This suggests that there is age associated increase in chromosomal aberration. This is suggested to give rise progressive increase in inefficient cells leading to organ dysfunction. C] Free radical theory : accumulation of metabolic waste products and radical mediated cell damage e.g. hydroxy peroxide, aldehydes and ketones, superoxide radical, singlet oxygen and hydrogen peroxide.. Lipid peroxidation at cellular level is not demonstrated in ageing. And antioxidants are not as yet proved to be useful in delaying ageing. D] Ionising radiations and such other environmental factors may cause cell injury. E] Cellular dysfunction in tissues such as CNS, endocrine and immune system and influence other systems. Thus decrease in synthesis, increased breakdown, decrease in receptor number, decrease in H-R combination, decrease in HR internalisation etc. F] Sedentary jobs, late night parties, noise, crowding, stress of highly competitive life, uncertainty of socio-political surroundings, consistent and protracted denial of the recognition and appreciation in life, habits such as excessive smoking, lack of enjoyable job, lack of promotions and incentives in jobs etc. can definitely contribute to hastening of the process of ageing. These factors are somehow either not thought of or are not given due importance and hence not mentioned the text books. 3] VARIOUS CHANGES TAKING PLACE DURING AGEING PROCESS Overall changes in the body are decrease in the height, increase in the length of nose, increase in the length of ears, decrease in the circumference of neck, decrease in the circumference of thighs, osteoporosis, bending of the vertebral column causing kyphotic deformity, reduction in the periorbital fat causing sinking of the eyes etc.
a] PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES Broadly speaking, maximum capacity, tolerance, peak performance and reserve are reduced. I] Matrix : Collagen becomes stable, more rigid, more insoluble and also reduction in its content and increase in its degradation. In addition there are changes in proteoglycans and plasma proteins. This is due to damage due cross linking, less formation of collagen, reduction in the elastin. Fascia, tendons, ligaments, bones, joints, and peripheral vascular disease become rigid. Skin becomes dehydrated, devoid of subcutaneous fact and less elastic thus skin becomes wrinkled, dry, pale due to reduction in capillary bed, more susceptible to injury. II] Blood : Red bone marrow is replaced by yellow bone marrow in the long bones first, flat bones and then vertebrae. Physiological reserve capacity for erythropoiesis and leucopoiesis is reduced. III] Gastrointestinal tract : Teeth : Enamel, dentin and cement all show decline. Loss of teeth due to caries, periodontal infection and reduced masticatory efficiency. Weakness of cricopharyngeus, reduction in presure gradient and inability to relax the lower esophageal sphincter cause dysphagia. Stomach : Age related atrophy of mucosa causing achlorhydria. Pancreatic lipase reduced causing streatorrhoea. Motility of GIT is reduced : Hence there is tendency towards constipation. In Ayurveda this is categorised under VAATA VRIDDHI. Intestinal lactase activity is reduced and villi are reduced and absorption is reduced. Liver cells reduce in number fibrous tissue increases and size of liver cells increases. Protein synthesis and microsomal mixed oxidase activity required for metabolism of drugs and steroids become less. Thus functions are reduced but since the reserve is great the tests are in normal limit. IV] The immune system: shows decrease in the T cell activity, decrease in AB production and presence of auto anti bodies due to reduced tolerance to antigens formerly recognised as self. There is susceptibility to infections. Since immunological -surveillance is believed to eliminate neoplastic cells there
is higher incidence of cancer. Following stress of bereavement there is steep decline in cell mediated immunity and this causes death following death of spouse or any other near / dear one. V] Reproductive system : The hormonal secretion reduces and there is stoppage of ova formation, ovulation in females and there is gradual reduction in the spermatogenesis causing reduction in the sperm count. Females show a distinct and identifiable change in the form of menopause where has such change is not distinct in males. VI] Central nervous system and special senses : Atrophy of the brain and neuronal loss. Accumulation of lipofuscin and loss of synapses and dendrites. Cholinergic deficit is demonstrated in Alzheimer's disease and Dopamine defect is demonstrated in Parkinson's disease. Milder form of cholinergic deficit may be responsible for commoner forms of senile dementia and milder form dopaminergic deficit may be responsible for milder form of hypo-kinesia seen in old age. There is deficit in autonomic responses leading to postural hypo-tension and impairment of temperature regulation Decrease in sleep : There is difficulty in getting sleep as well as there is tendency to wake up during night and waking up early. Presbyopia, cataract, rise in intraocular pressure. Presbyacusis i.e. difficulty in hearing causes difficulty in understanding speech and localisation of sound. Sense of smell and taste also decline with age but are not studied adequately perhaps because they do not cause serious functional deficits. VII] Endocrine system : There is decrease in sympathoadrenal axis and there is reduced tolerance to stress. VIII] Cardiovascular system : In those where there is no atherosclerosis, there still reduction in elasticity of aorta. Increase in systolic and pulse pressure. But no change in diastolic pressure. Atherosclerosis, Atrophy of myocardium, Accumulation of lipofuscin, Fibrosis, Deposits of amyloid, Contractility of heart is diminished, contraction and relaxation time are increased, Decreae in ventricular cmopliance, stenosis of aortic and incompetence of mitral valves, Number of pacemaker cells is reduced and so, responses to sympathetic as well as parasympathetic stimulation reduce and this causes postural hypotension.
Maximal HR during exercise is reduced in aged but cardiac output is maintained by increasing stroke output. IX] Respiratory System : Microscopic changes : The alveoli become flatter and narrower and ducts enlarge. Walls of the alveoli become thin, capillaries decrease in number. Alveolar surface area decreases by 4 % every decade after the age of 30. Pulmonary blood vessels show age related increase in wall thickness. Functionally there is decrease in total and timed vital capacity. Increase in residual volume. Due to reduced elastin lung compliance increases but compliance of the total respiratory system decreases due rigidity of chest wall after the age of 60 years. Due to loss of elastic recoil the pressure which has to be built during expiration from the alveoli so that air from alveoli forces open the airways, is decreased. Due to this there is tendency of the airways to collapse. This tendency to collapse increases during expiration when expiration must become active. Due to decrease in capillaries there is reduction in diffusion. The response to hypoxia and hypocapnia are reduced. Thus ventilation, diffusion and regulation are all impaired in elderly individuals. X] Muscles : Atrophy, reduction in contractility, decrease in tone, cataract, hernia and rupture of inter-vertebral disc etc. XI] Excretory system : Kidneys reduce in size, renal plasma flow and GFR reduces 10 % per decade after 30, nephrons and their secretory and absorptive functions reduce and fibrous tissue increases. Kidney vessels show age related changes irrespective of hypertension. It has been hypothesised that due to high protein diet there may high solute load on the renal capillaries leading to chronic dialation of the capillaries leading to extravasation macromolecules in renal glomeruli leading to mesangial reaction causing renal damage. b] PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES : Frustration, depression, fear, anxiety, insecurity, loneliness, vacuum, dejection, self pity, sadness are some of the hallmarks of old age.
With ageing there is increasing restriction on the kind of enjoyments one is accustomed to and this can lead to frustration or depression. The increasing chances of death especially due death of the contemporaries cause alarm, concern, anxiety and fear of death, diseases and debility. Due to lack of job after retirement or physical inability there is always a sense of insecurity. Lack of the children's company due to their being increasingly independent gives a feeling of loneliness. This can happen due to children going abroad or away from home for their jobs. Since most of the people of younger age groups have their own pre- occupations the elderly are left out. More over the ideas, choice, preferences and other areas of interests differ and hence the elderly are cut off from younger generation. This distance gradually increases with advancing age. This leads to vacuum, dejection, self pity and sadness. Thus overall the old people tend to become increasingly melancholic. d] ECONOMIC CHANGES The ageing almost always associated with reduced income and increasing economic dependence on the others. c] SPIRITUAL CHANGES : In Idia we find that there is an increasing tendency to visit temples and SATSANG. This is because they want a certain kind of solace which they do not get from day to day life and routine activities. This is also to fill the vacuum created due to retirement, and get company of those who sail in the same boat. This has given to a widely prevalent yet totally wrong notion that the spiritual pursuit should be undertaken at old age. But the courage, alertness, enthusiasm and other physical and mental faculties which are extremely important to undertake spiritual pursuit [ i.e. growth of consciousness ] considerably diminish in old age. Old people become some what disinterested and indifferent towards life. But this should not be taken as detached attitude described in Geeta. Old people are generally detached because they accept that they cannot do anything to either prevent things which they do not like, or to make things
happen which they like. Thus their detachment is out of giving up, or acceptance of defeat. Some elderly individuals develop ascetic thoughts due to losing interest in the routine life because they are tired of responsibilities and dynamism required for their job or profession. This may mean reduction in income. But this has not do with financial sacrifice. It is only a fallout of exhaustion. It is not a spiritual virtue of selflessness. Some individuals lose interest in the surroundings due to decreasing sensory perception and decreased mobility. They become shy about their deficiency. So they avoid socialisation. Gradually they become increasingly self centred and selfish. They become over-concerned about themselves and less sensitive to others' problems. They become more rigid, adamant and at times obstinate. In an attempt to assert themselves they become unreasonable and erratic. But this impression which we get from the foregoing is quite inadequate and therefore wrong. Further it is dangerously pessimistic and depressing. The horror of ageing, as made out to be by merely observing certain physical or psychological changes without realising that there is a vast difference between the ageing of the animals and that of the human beings, only creates fear about ageing. Thereby instead of helping the aged we expedite the process of ageing and its ill effects not only in the elderly but also in the younger minds by creating fear psychosis. We may call it gerontophobia, or genrontoneurosis. The meaning of the word ageing is not merely becoming old but also developing and maturing. Hence ageing of wine raises its market value! The depressing notion about ageing fails to notice the fact that while ageing, a person accumulates not merely micro insults and injuries but simultaneously accumulates a variety of experiences, associated with increasingly appropriate and accurate interpretation of those experiences and increasingly accurate responses to challenges in life.
Ageing is also associated with either greater and greater degree of fulfilment, satisfaction, and contentment due to achievements in life, success in the aims / ambitions / aspirations. In the lesser fortunate ones it is associated with happiness of havng procreated and seen children and grand children grow. It is associated with experience of their love. Even in the least fortunate ones it incorporates the satisfaction that one has lived [ has not died young ]. Further it has be realised that while ageing the aged individual gradually learns the inevitable nature of ageing and death and hence gradually learns to accept them uncomplainingly and gracefully. Age is respected in Indian culture as against some cultures in other parts of the world where the age and aged are treated as liabilities. Thus age brings extra care and respect to the individual. He gets more services and comforts in preference to the younger lot. Though this scenario is changing, it is still not out of control. However, after having seen that ageing need not be dreaded at all it is NOT ONLY NOT impertinent and unnecessary to study the process of ageing BUT INFACT is VERY essential to study it in a holistic manner i.e. from every possible angle and as a part of our existence. Because this can help us overcome our fear of old age, it can help us age gracefully and it can also help us to help the aged people. This can help us in helping the aged to help themselves also. This can improve the quality of everyone's life aged as well as to be aged. CONCEPT OF GOOD MORNING According to some, the time from 2.30 a.m. to the sunrise and according to some, the period of two hours before the sunrise constitute BRAHMAMUHURTA. As the name suggests this time is the best time for conceiving, understanding, experiencing or merging with BRAHMA, the eternal truth, the eternal purity and the eternal bliss. This is the time of liberation from the shackles of every kind. It is not a matter of belief for those who have experienced the joy of getting up fresh from the bed at this time!
There is a Sanskrit shloka [verse], which depicts the sub-classification of this enchanting period. PANCHA, PANCHA USHAHKAALA SAPTAPANCHAARUNODAYA ASHTAPANCHA BHAVET PRAATAH SHESHA SURYODAYO MATAH It means: 55 GHATIKA after the sunrise of previous day the USHAH KAALA the time of USHAA begins. After 57 GHATIKA, the time of ARUNODAYA and after 58 GHATIKA the time of PRAATAH begins. The remaining time till sunrise is called the time of SURYODAYA. [The day is constituted of 60 GHATIKA. GHATIKA is approximately equivalent to 24 minutes.] It is with the grace of mother earth that this fortune is granted to us. We walk on her body in a mindless manner through out the day. So there is a tradition to be grateful to her before we start our day by praying the mother earth. This wisdom helps us unite with the forces of which we are extension and thereby empower ourselves and also be humble and environment-friendly. SAMUDRAVASANE DEVI PARVATASTANAMANDALE VISHNUPATNIM NAMASTUBHYAM PADASPARSHAM KSHAMASVA ME Oh goddess earth, who is clad in the beautiful attire of oceans and the mountains are whose bosoms and who is the wife of Lord Vishnu, I offer my grateful salutations to you and ask for forgiveness as I put my feet on you [touch you with my feet]. This prayer orients us appropriately in such way that it opens up our hearts to the glorious bounties of earth and her love towards us. It starts nourishing us as well as gives us the perspective of loving our mother earth, which is so much essential for awakening our responsibilities towards her. Then we pray
KARAGRE VASATE LAXMI KARAMADHYE SARASVATI KARAMULE TU GOVINDAM PRABHATE KARADARSHANAM The meaning is At the tips of the hand there stays Laxmi the goddess of prosperity At the middle stays the goddess of knowledge Sarasvati At the root of the hands stays Lord Govinda i.e. Lord Vishnu Hence [I] always watch my hands with reverence! This is such a wonderful prayer! It helps us to reveal and establish the connections between the deities, which are the sources of our power. It helps us explore the potentials of prosperity, profundity and fulfillment in our life and thereby helps us develop respect for ourselves. Such respect as you know, is essential for taking due care of our body while simultaneously directing it to do things in life which would help us in gaining holistic health. There is one more and simple prayer in SHUKLA YAJURVEDA. It is as follows. BAHU ME BALAMINDRIYAM HASTAU KARMA VEERYAM AATMA KSHATRAMURO BHAVA I pray that my arms and my all organs be strong and my soul and my heart be the healers. SHUKLA YAJURVEDA 20.7. CONCEPT OF OBSERVENCE OF SILENCE [MAUNA] It is interesting to see how speech reflects the mind of a person and in turn how regulation of the process of speech has beneficial influence on mind! One of the shlokas says,
PAPENAIVA NRUNAANAM VAANEE BHAVET KATUKABHASHINEEDAINYA MAATSARYA PARAMAA SHUBHAASHUBHAVIVARJITA Meaning It is because of diseased mind with utmost lowliness and jealousy that the speech becomes scalding with no concern whatsoever for about the welfare or otherwise of the listener. In Geeta it is said, ANUDVEGAKARAM VAAKYAM SAYAM PRIYA HITAN CHA YAT SVAADHYAAYAABHYASAN CHAIVA VANGMAYM TAPA UCCHYATE GEETA 17.15 Meaning Speech which does not humiliate and thereby hurt [the listener], thus which is true and pleasant and beneficial is really the product of penance involving the entire neuro-physiological and neuromuscular processes of speech and articulation respectively. There is another shloka which advocates silence during certain physiological acts. It is as follows. UTSARGE MAITHUNE CHAIVA PRASTRAVE DANTADHAAVNE SHRAADDHE BHOJANAKALE CHA SHATSU MAUNAM SAMAACHARET Meaning During defecation, urination, removal of secretions of nose, skin, ear and eyes [dirt], during bleeding, during sexual intercourse, cleaning of teeth, during SHRAADDHA [ritual performed to commemorate the death anniversary of an individual] and while eating food one should observe silence i. e. speechlessness. During defecation usually there is breath holding and contraction of abdominal muscles. This is essential for building adequate pressure in the abdomen so as to move the feces towards anus. Due to talking the breath holding ceases and the abdominal muscles also relax. This
would create difficulty in smooth defecation. One can also consider the distraction [due to talking], which can be disturbing to defecation. Urination also involves increase in pressure in the abdomen and also in the urinary bladder. Talking can alter these pressures and hence the urinary flow can be disturbed. When we are removing the secretions from nose [respiratory secretions], skin, ears and eyes we should be careful to remove the dirt carefully so as to avoid trauma to theses structures In general, all the excretory processes, viz. defecation, urination, respiratory secretions, sweating, secretions in the ear and eye involve autonomic nervous activity linked with reticular formation in the brain. Talking can alter respiration, activity of reticular formation, and activity of mind, autonomic nervous activity, endocrine and metabolic activity and also the excretory activity. Sexual intercourse invariably involves autonomic activity and hence it is strongly recommended that silence is observed during sexual intercourse. It is important because the intensity of the emotional integration and depth of ecstasy are apparently hindered due to talking during sexual intercourse. Bleeding can either be physiological bleeding as in case of menstrual bleeding and it can also be due trauma [injury]. The process of bleeding and arrest of bleeding are tremendously influenced by cardiovascular activity, which in turn is influenced by autonomic nervous activity. Hence talking that disturbs autonomic activity is recommended to be avoided. During cleaning of the teeth there is a prayerful attitude with respect to the plants or herbs used in the process. So talking is avoided. But from practical point of view, talking during cleaning of teeth and gums can cause inadvertent biting of fingers or injury to the oral cavity. During SHRAADDHA silence is probably advised solely for maintaining pious atmosphere, which is understandable. During eating the silence advised to avoid vulgar and even mundane thoughts being articulated [thereby hindering the sanctity of the eating] on the one hand and to avoid accidental regurgitation of food in the trachea on the other.
It can be seen how thoughtful were our ancestors with respect to understanding of life. It has to be appreciated these are relatively superficial aspects of keeping silence. Learning to keep silence in terms of avoiding talk is a very preliminary process of achieving real silence. It is the achievement of this silence, which is called KARMANI AKARMA in Geeta [4.18]. This is full of peace and full of activity. It is very real and deepest personal experience and also the cosmic phenomenon that links one with the universe. MANAHPRASAADAH SAAUMYATVAM MAAUNAM AATMAVINIGRAH BHAAVASAUNSHUDDHIRITYETAT TAPO MAANASAMUCCHYATE GEETA 17.16 Inner harmony associated with vocal silence that emanates life-giving joy are indicators of pure existence and referred to as MANASAM TAPA. If we keep quiet for sometime, then we can easily observe the turbulence of thoughts, which keep on crowding our minds. This observation tells us that the thoughts are neither our creation nor are restricted to our body. They are the link, between, the cosmos and us and illustrate the continuity between an individual and the universe. Keeping silence has a humorous and practical implication also. AATMANO MUKHADOSHENA BADHYANTE SHUKA SAARIKA BAKASTATRA NA BDHYANTE MAUNAM SARVAARTHA SAADHANAM Meaning It is because inappropriate [ too long, too harsh, stupid, meaningless, too enticing] speech is a cause of slavery, imprisonment or other type of losses. Ability to remain silent is extremely beneficial. This is clear from the examples of SAARIKA and parrot who are caught and kept
in cage whereas crane is free! Hence while negotiating in business or in politics or even playing cards, silence can play a pivotal role! CONCEPT OF DRINKING WATER THE SAP OF LIFE We must know that 66 % of the body weight is constituted by water. Out of this about 66 % i. e. about 28 liters is in the cells called intracellular fluid and about 34 % i. e. about 14 liters is outside the cells called extracellular fluid. The water is so much important for the body but what alas, its importance is hardly described in textbooks of physiology or even preventive or curative medicine. Right in the beginning it must be appreciated that water is essential for the saliva to form and give amongst other things, us the ability to taste. Formation of saliva would be tremendously compromised if there is inadequate availability of water. It is common experience that drying of mouth is associated with sensation of thirst as well as speechlessness, besides developing bad odor to breath [halitosis], oral infections and caries of teeth.. Water is also required for the formation of gastric, pancreatic, intestinal and bile juices. Water is required amongst other things for temperature regulation through formation of sweat. It is by getting dissolved in water, that the nutrients can reach different parts of body. It is the water that various chemical reactions take place so as to generate energy and also to build different body tissues, from the nutrients consumed. The water is also required for dissolving and carrying away the waste material from the body cells. Water is very much required for removal of waste products through the rectum and urinary bladder. The dry feces can be extremely painful and harmful and dry urine [oligouria, anuria] can be fatal. This probably does not require further elaboration as most of us have experienced the burning micturition and dry feces during fever and/or due even mild deficiency of water due to one reason or another. But in addition water is also required for removal of toxic gases like CO2 by forming [ CO2 + H2O = H2CO3 = HCO3- + H+] NaHCO3. In fact, it is required for dissolving, neutralizing and detoxifying several substances from all the body cells as well as specialized cells like those of liver. It is worth noting
that some individuals develop allergy to some substances including some drugs. In such situation, drinking large quantities of water is found to be beneficial. It is also important to note that many of those who get dehydration and head ache can get relief by drinking lot of water. This is because of lot of water is consumed for metabolism of alcohol leaving the body dehydrated. It is interesting to note that the gastrointestinal tract is nothing else but the internalized skin! It is therefore natural that this tract has lot of sensory receptors in as much as it has various glands and muscles. Therefore apart from everything else, mentioned above, the first thing that happens after we drink water is that we feel fresh! Secondly it cleans various secretions of no consequence or those with injurious effects. Thirdly it would also stimulate movements of the stomach, intestine, small intestine etc. as a result of which there is facilitation of movement of feces towards the anus. This helps in relieving constipation. This is like internal bath. Drinking of water can be beneficially used for many of those who wish to control habits such as tea, coffee or tobacco, alcohol etc. Since water has the paramount quenching effect it does allay the anxiety and restlessness which is developed because of abstinence of these substances and helps overcome these habits [though other measures may also be required depending on the severity of an individual case]. Some people viz. the advocates of “water therapy” advise as much 1.260 liters of water to be drunk at a time. They claim that a variety of diseases, are actually prevented and cured by such water drinking In view of all the above, the custom of drinking water in morning called USHAHPANAM. [Actually this a general and nonspecific term. Ushaa means the time before the sunrise and paanam means to drink.] is very beneficial. Water is life giving. Hence water itself is called life [JEEVANA]. It is very interesting to note that n India there is a custom of offering jaggery and water to the visitors. Water is served right in the beginning even in restaurants.
THE CONCEPT OF BATH The concept of bath is more profound than is usually considered to be. The bath in neither a mechanical and meaningless religious ritual nor it is a physical procedure that merely involves cleaning the body and simply refreshing the mind. It has to be appreciated that bath has direct influence on the activities of all the cells of the body through its effects on central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, immune system and metabolic activities. It is true that the details of the effects are not described in the text- books of physiology as they have are not studied or even thought over adequately. In addition, there is a tendency amongst researchers to rely on experiments and not accept [or even consider] what appeals to reasoning unless substantiated by experiments, even if it is obvious. This is somewhat similar to increasing reliance of clinicians on gadgets and investigations. This has prevented us from understanding and appreciating the benefits of bath described in the following shloka. GUNA DASHAH SNANAPARASYA SADHO ROOPAM CHA TEJAM CHA BALAM CHA SHAUCHAM AYUSHYAM AROGYAM ALOLUPATVAM DUHSWAPNA GHATAHSH CHA TAPAM CHA MEDHA The meaning is Oh gentleman! The bath is beneficial in ten different ways. It improves physical state of existence. It is to be appreciated that ROOPAM does not mean mere appearance. It includes all the physiology. This is why ROOPAM and NAMA are some times compared and contrasted. ROOPAM is everything that is identified by all the terminology [NAMA] in the physiology. It improves the TEJAM i.e. all the activities that generate energy. In modern parlance this refers to formation of ATP [Adenosine Triphosphate] and CP [Creatine Phosphate]. It improves BALAM. BALAM refers to the actual power, endurance and working capacity of an individual [through efficient formation ATP and CP]. It imparts SHAUCHAM i.e. purity. SHAUCHAM is not merely physical cleanliness of the skin. Bath stimulates the circulation and
helps wash away all the waste products likely to be accumulated in and around the cells present in nook and corner of the body. It gives AYUSHYAM i.e. life. AYUSHYAM is defined as PRAANALAKSHANA VAAYUNAA YOGAH, which means availability and utilization of oxygenation by all the parts of the body. This is achieved through stimulation of central and autonomic nervous systems as well as through their stimulation, stimulation of the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, which are vital in reaching the oxygen to the body cells. But that is not all. It also stimulates the endocrine, immune and metabolic activities. It improves AROGYAM, which is defined as DHAATUSAAMYAM, which means right proportion of everything in body so as to give power, pleasure, profundity, peace and so on for prolonged time! It gives ALOLUPATVAM, which means capacity rise above gravitating, enslaving, depressing, and frustrating forces in life. This is important in every sphere of life. In fact ALOLUPATVAM refers to the state of mind which is invincible. DUSVAPNAGHAATASH means one, which destroys bad dreams or nightmares. Bath can achieve this through achieving a state of alertness by overcoming the unsteady, imbalanced state of mind, which causes bad dreams and nightmares. TAPAH is of three types [Geeta 17.14, 17.15, 17.16] involving roughly speaking body, intellect and emotions. The TAPAH is also further classified [Geeta 17.17, 17.18, 17.19] into divine, mundane, and devilish. TAPAH means coordinated and controlled activity at an individual level, in the best interest of the universe, which is made easier through bath. Bath taken thrice a day [TRIKAL SNAANA] in itself, is a difficult accomplishment and involves all three types of TAPAH! MEDHAA means enlightened intelligence. The bath involves not only physical cleanliness but it shifts the level of consciousness. This is particularly important because with such shift in consciousness, the perceptions, desires, aims and actions become increasingly more accurate.
Prayer of Ganga NAMAAMI GANGE TAVA PAADPANKAJAM SURAASURAIRVANDITADIVYARUPAM BHUKTIN CHA MUKTIN CHA DADAASI NITYAM BHAAAVAANUSAARENA SADAA NARAANAAM This prayer when recited before actual SNAANA, helps in more than one way. It links us with the river Ganga [who has been worshipped by our ancestors], thereby it links us with the land and our culture and it links us with our history and our forefathers.This very prayer has thus tremendous potential to help us get rid of isolated, alienated, lonely existence. The diabetics may try bathing thrice a day and verify the beneficial effect of bath. Like bath cleaning of mouth after getting up in morning is also probably universal in nature. In India it is called MUKHA MAARJANAM [MUKHA means mouth and MAARJANAM means cleaning. Another term used is DANTADHAVANA. DANTA means teeth and DHAVANA means to purify. It is usual to clean nose, eyes, ears and whole face along with mouth and teeth. In modern dentistry it is advised that the teeth be brushed at bedtime. This is in view of preventing accumulation of food particles trapped in dental crevices. There is nothing wrong about it. But some of us tend to think that brushing teeth in morning is not necessary, since nothing is trapped in the teeth as nothing is eaten during sleep! This is due to the misconception that this is merely a cleansing [shaucha] procedure. Actually the use of the tooth powder as is traditional in India involves rubbing tongue, gums and palate and is useful in terms of causing stimulation of salivation and circulation in the areas surrounding the mouth [especially] in and around the maxillary and ethmoid sinuses. In addition this procedure stimulates the pertinent areas of brain and hence refreshes the mind. Alternatively a stick of about nine inches of a banyan or a neem tree, by biting it at one side is used.
The following prayer is recited before or while cleaning the oral cavity, gums, tongue and the teeth. AYURBALAM YASHO VARCHAS PRAJA PASHUNVASUNI CHA BRAHMA PRADNYAN CHA MEDHA CHA TVAM NO DEHI VANASPATE MASSAGE Massage is MARDANAM. SNEHASCHA DHATUN SANSHUSHKAN PUSHNATYASHU PRAYOJITAH BALAMAGNIBALAM PUSHTIM PRANASCHASYABHIVARDHAYET The dry DHATUS [weakened body matter] becomes stronger if oiled and massaged. Even the AGNIBALAM [i.e. fire principle in body i.e. the metabolic activity] is rejuvenated and the PRNAS [i.e. peripheral, autonomic and central nervous and neuromuscular activity] is also strengthened. VYAYAMASVINNAGATRASYA PADBHYAMUDVARTITASYA CHA VYADHAYO NOPASARPANTI SIMHAM KSHUDRAMRUGA IVA One whose body has perspired because of exercise and massaged by feet becomes so strong that just as timid deer do not come even nearby a lion, similarly the diseases do not come even in the vicinity of him/her. BHARATIYA SANSKIRI KOSHA VOL.7, pages 90-91. There are different types of massage which improve circulation in almost every nook and corner of your body. In the evenings the head massage is especially useful. You can do it yourself. You can use Brahmi oil and get the additional advantage. Massage eyes, face etc. Once in week whole body massage can do wonders to your health. You can use Narayan oil for additional benefit. It is useful to
massage the feet twice or thrice a week. The best time to massage the feet in the evenings. Feet take all the burden of the body. But they are not enough attention. Callosities, corns, scaling, fungal infections, bruises are common on feet. This is especially so in case of those who do a job where standing for long time or walking is required. Ill fitting shoes, allergies to synthetic shoes are also common problems. They keep an individual nagging and disturb one’s peace of mind. Regular massaging ensures flexibility of the small joints and adequate circulation and micro-circulation in the feet. This is especially useful in diabetics who are more to develop vasculopathy and resultant damage in the feet, in the form of necrosis and gangrene. Massage when given with love and care c be far more soothing and healing than when given by a professional [who may be indifferent WHAT IS IMPORTANCE OF MASSAGE? Massage is very useful. I have discussed it here because it has an inseparable element of emotional soothing. There are different types of massage. All of them help you to improve circulation in almost every nook and corner of your body. In the evenings the head massage is especially useful. You can do it yourself. You can use Brahmi oil and get the additional advantage. Massage eyes, face etc. As far as body massage is concerned, it may not be feasible to take it every day. But at least once in week whole body massage can do wonders to your health. You can use Narayan oil for additional benefit. IS IT USEFUL TO HAVE FOOT MASSAGE? Yes. It is useful to massage the feet twice or thrice a week. The best time to massage the feet in the evenings. Feet take all the burden of the body. But they are not enough attention. Callosities, corns, scaling, fungal infections, bruises are common on feet. This is especially so in case of those who do a job where standing for long time or walking is required. Ill fitting shoes, allergies to synthetic shoes are also common problems. They keep an individual nagging and disturb one’s peace of mind.
Regular massaging ensures flexibility of the small joints and adequate circulation and micro-circulation in the feet. This is especially useful in diabetics who are more to develop vasculopathy and resultant damage in the feet, in the form of necrosis and gangrene. . Massage when given with love and care can be far more soothing and healing than when given by a professional [who may be indifferent]. THE CONEPT OF WALKING According to Mahatma Gandhi walking is the best exercise. Locomotion is a characteristic of most species. But in human beings this characteristic has almost disappeared and is replaced by mechanization, mechanized motion, automation and automated motion! Most of the time we are sitting in chairs and our legs are idle, neither supporting nor balancing our body. They either hang from the chairs passively or are resting on the footrest under the table. This sedentary life style has led to either development or aggravation of several ailments. It is not necessary to go into the details of these ailments. But some of them such ischaemic heart diseases, diabetes mellitus, varicose veins, hernia, low body resistance are obvious. Walking is being one with one’s biological specie identity. Just as locomotion is natural as well as essential for the survival in case of most animals and birds, it is natural and though not essential for survival, in view of availability of sex, food, protection etc. without locomotion, essential for the health. Walking involves synchronous activation and inhibition of general sensory and general motor neurons in the nervous system and thereby also a variety of muscle groups. This has two major effects. The prefrontal cortex and limbic system involved in activity of intellect and emotions and characterized by reverberating circuits associated with confusion, dilemmas, diffidence, inertia, indecision, anxiety etc are kept in abeyance. Hence walking alleviates the anxiety. Walking is solacing because of its synchronizing influence on the brain and mind. In addition it has the same beneficial effect of exercise, of producing endorphins and cooling the mind.
Walking is associated with contraction of the lower extremities, which help in returning of the blood from the lower parts to the heart. This prevents development of varicose veins and reduces load on the heart. Since pumping activity of the heart is reduced the possibility of heart failure is reduced. As a byproduct of improved venous return, the lungs are perfused better and ventilation is not wasted or in other words, oxygenation is improved. Walking is associated with, associated movement of arms and neck and hence the possibility of degenerative changes in these regions causing spondylosis and frozen shoulder are reduced. Gradual and supported walking helps the patients of parkinsonism, paraplegia, hemiplegia etc gain confidence [which is vital for early recovery]. Even the senior citizens are benefited in terms of being able to assert their physical stamina. Walking is useful as form meditation called GAMANA [walking] VIPASYANA [meditation]. Those who like to recite the name of God [NAMSMARAN] or those like to recite prayers can do so while walking. By practice, is possible synchronizing NAMSMARAN, with footsteps, which are synchronous inhalation and exhalation and the relaxation and contraction of abdominal muscles. Walking reduces the stress produced because of immobility. This is especially true in cities where we have to spend in our life in “matchbox prisons”. The stress caused by such immobility is proved to cause a variety of damaging i. e. injurious effects on the body. Walking gives us opportunity to breathe at least some fresh air which so rare in cities like Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi etc. While walking we get breeze which is important from the VIHAR point of view in ayurveda and giving the body air element from the point of view of naturopathy. In fact, walking provides, TEJA [sun], VAYU [air] and AKASH [space] and thus fulfilling naturopathic requirements excepting mud and water. It is true from allopathic point of view that air, sun and space [by providing contrast] stimulate millions of receptors on the skin and also inside the body [as circulation increases] and cause overall
rejuvenation of the nervous system and thereby other systems including circulatory and respiratory systems. Like any other exercise is associated with increase in circulation, respiration, sweating and excretion of toxins and thus it helps the kidney by reducing load over it. Walking is important for healthy sweating. Sweat is antiseptic and protects the skin from bacteria. In addition sweat actually washes away the obnoxious collections on the skin also. Sweating is important in thermo-regulation. Because of increased blood supply to skin healing/prevention of chronic skin ulcers and increased blood supply to mucus membranes and stimulation of the production of mucus cleaning the lungs and prevention/healing of ulcers in the stomach can also be helped. Besides, skin converts the bilirubin into lumirubin, which is excreted in sweat. This is important additional/alternative way of excretion of bilirubin. Reduces blood sugar, cholesterol, triglycerides etc, as like exercise, it also stimulates metabolic [anabolic activity]. Walking in morning gives exposure to sun and this is good for natural supplement of vitamin D from the UV rays in the sunlight. Regular walking gives us rest and freedom from many compulsions, which we impose on ourselves. Walking almost certainly ensures sound sleep, which is one of the important aspects of health. If we are walking alone and recite either some MANTRA or the name of God, then as we are not talking mundane matters we can gain most virtuous fruit of Maunam i.e. observance of silence. This is called MANAS TAPA in Geeta [17.16.]. This also helps in avoiding backbiting, abusing etc. and thereby help in purifying one’s speech. This is called VAACHAA SHUDDHI. Actually this helps in purifying the thoughts also. From social point of view, deep and selfless bonds of love are developed amongst walkers. Walking alone [without company] gives confidence and fearlessness by helping overcome the fears developed as result of paranoia found in many of us developed as a result of some physical or psychological trauma.
Not merely the medical problems are reduced and the safety is increased, but medical bills are also reduced. In addition obesity related food, [overeating], clothes [excess size] and perfumes are also reduced. This economic aspect of walking is also interesting. CONCEPT OF COMPOSED MIND BODY POSTURES Body posture is defined as the position of the body specific to the specie. Wrong posture can affect your emotions adversely and conversely emotional disturbances affect the posture adversely. In fact emotions are most of the times reflected through body posture. In this why body posture constitute body language. Good actors use the body language to enact their role. In routine life erect posture is preferred whenever possible. It is important to sit with back and loin touching the back of the seat. This reduces undue strain on back and reduces the chances of backache. Erect and steady body [trunk], neck, head and eyes focussed on the tip of nose are conducive mental peace and rejuvenation. PADMASANA and VAJRASANA are famous postures in YOGA. MEDITATION There are several techniques of meditation. One may practice any method that suits him or her. But it is important to remember that all the techniques are [should be ] meant for overcoming ego, broadening the mind and developing global perspective. In other words they are aimed exploring the link between the individual and universe. Some common techniques of meditation include, transcendental meditation, Shavasana, dancing mediation, laughing meditation, walking meditation, reciting prayers called stotrapathana, singing the praise of God called Bhajana, narrating the life of prophets and saints in musical and entertaining form called Kirtana, idol worship etc. But use of alertness and rational thinking are very important as in absence
of these they can shroud one’s mind and take it away from the day to day realities in life. AUTOSUGGESTIONS The mind is usually full of opposing ideas, opposing thoughts, opposing feelings and hence the dilemmas such as the famous “To be or not be?” develop. Dilemmas lead to diffidence, indecision and inefficiency. Autosuggestions are usually meant for helping an individual develop positive frame of mind and overcome the negative thoughts, develop confidence, decisiveness and efficiency. However, by making thoughtless autosuggestions one may get trapped in one’s own petty ideas of success and failures. But some autosuggestions are based on profound philosophical insight. They are of value. A] I shall not get angry or feel sad today because it is about, past which has gone by. B] I shall not worry or get restless because it is about future, which may not come. C] I shall thank the nature or God for the bounties, because they are many times concealed and not apparent. D] I shall respect everyone, because global unity is an objective reality. E] I shall do my duty honestly because honesty means exploring the socially beneficial element in my work and that would prevent dragging of mind from getting distracted towards and infatuated by fallacious and illusive glamour present elsewhere. BREATHING CHALE VAATE CHALE CHITTAM NISCHALAM NISCHALO BHAVET If your breathing is uncontrolled and erratic then your mind also remains disturbed. Conversely if your breathing is controlled and steady then your mind also becomes steady and stable. Deep, slow and controlled breathing is very useful. It seems to act through the harmonization of reticular activating system. This makes you calm and fresh and reduces mental agitation and disturbability. However, Pranayama usually involves retention of breath. Timing of inspiration, expiration, retention and that of holding the breath after
expiration, are important. The proportion of the timings is also important. The force and the frequency of respiration have also to be appropriate. The status of the body systems in general but particularly the status of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems has to be judged properly before one starts pranayama. Besides all these there has to be a Guru who is expert and can guide the student efficiently and safely. One of the authorities on pranayama Swami Rama calls pranayama as the PATH OF FIRE AND LIGHT. Therefore for common individuals like us it is safer and wiser to use simple breathing exercises rather than going for difficult techniques of pranayama. NAMASMARAN This traditional practice of remembering God’s name is universal, simple. It is supposed to act as an anchor for thoughts and prevents abnormal wandering of thoughts and flights of imaginations. This does not require any training. CONCEPTS RELATED TO INDIVIDUAL LIFE Concept of physical pain My first and unforgettable encounter with pain was when I was in eighth standard. It was when I had to get my molars filled. Every time the dental surgeon used to inject my gums for giving local anesthesia it used to be a real hell for me. The actual process of filling as a whole also was terrifying! One of the interesting things about painful and pleasant experiences is that anything associated with them is remembered better. I still remember how I used to go in a crowded S.T. bus from Savantwadi to Vengurla for this. I remember my dental surgeon Dr. Albert from Saint Luke’s hospital very well. He was a tall, dark and impressive person. I can not forget how warm and affectionate he used be. His waiting room was beautiful. I can visualize it now also. There used to be some American
magazines on the tea poi and the walls were adorned with paintings of flowers, Jesus and Merry. There were many such encounters with pain, which I remember vividly. But the most important thing is that they never could shake me! Why me alone, most of us do not get shaken by pain. This is because pain is usually not a permanent thing and never appears so. The experience of pain per se therefore does not pose a major problem in terms of bearing or controlling it with analgesic drugs popularly called painkillers. But such experiences do not teach much about pain either. Therefore I am going to tell you the experience of pain, which definitely posed a problem and taught me quite a bit, about handling of pain. It is very recently that I had this opportunity to learn about pain more authentically. I had gone to another dental surgeon. [I must be thankful to my dental surgeons for all they have done for me, but most importantly for what I have learned from the dental treatment]. This dental surgeon again a very thorough gentleman and well behaved, kind person, filled my tooth. But as the luck would have it, he realized that there was something wrong and had to remove the filling. In the best interest of my teeth and me, he started hammering to dig out that filling which had hardened. That hammering continued for such a long [or at least it appeared so], that I started palpitating and perspiring. I became almost breathless. There was not even a moment of relief! All my senses came to standstill. [I do not deny the possibility of having a very low pain threshold, but the symptoms are true! No exaggeration!]. In that utter agony I ultimately felt totally defeated in every possible way. I felt all the philosophy that I read, wrote and practiced was totally bogus, fake and useless. I felt that I was totally wrong in practicing as well upholding the NAMASMARAN as the panacea for individual and social problems! I thought that the physical pain, disease, suffering and even the cure proved the supremacy of matter over, the so-called spirit. I sank into
shame and pity about my body, my suffering, my reading, my concepts, my practice of years, my writing and my entire self. But the next moment I realized that I was not actually remembering the name of God at that moment! I was trying to fight the pain by refusing to accept it, which was actually in accordance with the law of physical existence! The next moment I thought that let me test the power of NAMASMARAN. Let me practice the NAMSMARAN right now. I still do not know how that thought came in my mind. But I immediately accepted the pain and started remembering the name of God in my mind. Believe it or not, all the apprehension and fear of that pain disappeared. It seemed as if when I started remembering the name of God, I lifted myself from the plane of physical existence and allowed the things to happen in their natural way and pass through their natural course, rather than trying to resist them or reject them. The process of pain had its way to pass through my body. It passed and in fact passed away much more smoothly! If you understand pain it can be easier to bear it. Pain is protective in general. It alarms you about a disease and helps you to get treated. So it is like a watchman or loyal dog, who protects you from trespassers, thieves, etc. So do not hate pain. Do not try to resist it. Learn to accept it. (I know this easier said than done, but try it. At least it can reduce your pain in some instances). Second reason why pain becomes worse is because of the lowliness associated with it. Pain makes you feel lowly. This multiplies the unpleasantness of pain. Do not feel lowly. Everybody gets pain at one time or another. Long lasting pain can create fear of a serious disease such as cancer and this fear itself can be extremely painful! Usually the pain is temporary and hence every time you get pain remind yourself that it is temporary. So if we get rid of the resistance, feeling of lowliness and fear it can at least reduce the unpleasantness of pain. It also useful to remind yourself that pain in most instances is temporary.
The next thing that may work is try to figure out the processing of pain sensation in your brain. Try to remember the name of God you worship. This can further reduce the fear and the apprehension the unpleasantness associated with pain. Yet another thing that makes pain unpleasant is the fact that pain usually distracts you from your job. This is especially true if it is an intellectual job. In such situation you start feeling suffocated, as you are not able to work. T overcome this feeling of suffocation, let yourself get the freedom to relax and stop thinking about the work. However, in spite of everything written above about pain, pain may be very difficult to manage in many circumstances. In such cases it is wise to take recourse to powerful analgesic [pain-killer] and axiolytic [anti-anxiety] drugs or other measures under the guidance and instruction of a competent family doctor or consultant. In India also there are pain clinics where the intractable pain is efficiently relieved. How to overcome the shame of being non-normal? Most of us think in a particular manner and hence fit in the range of normality. They fit in the range of conventional acceptability. But some of us think differently. Others sometimes ridicule them and that leads to development of some kind of shame or feeling of inferiority. This is especially so till they achieve social status. In my view these individuals can be asset to the society and hence, a] ridiculing them must be stopped and b] they should realize that they are swans and not ugly ducklings. Here is a reason for this. Consider this question. “Can we refer the light as white or bright darkness and darkness as black or dark light?” It appears foolish. Isn’t it? It may appear strange or merely semantic and even absurd to many others. Most of us would say, “When ever and where ever there are light rays we call it light and when ever and where ever there are no light rays, we call it darkness. So there is no question of referring light as darkness and referring darkness, as light!”
Actually the question is not absurd. The answer is as follows. What we call as darkness, in fact constitutes the electromagnetic radiations, which we do not and can not see with naked eyes. The darkness therefore does not imply absence of light. In fact these radiations are “light” which appears dark or black to us, as we can not see them. So the so called, darkness is not at all absence of light but actually constitutes the vast majority of radiations. In fact the number of radiations present in so called darkness which we do not see are several times in number as compared to those, which we see. So it is quite appropriate to refer the darkness, as dark or black light! Also what we refer to as light is actually constituted of radiations which have wavelengths between about 400 to 700 nanometers only. This is a very small fragment of the entire electromagnetic spectrum! But, this, so called light gives us the impression, or in fact imparts the illusion, that we see everything and know everything! There is nothing beyond what we see or what we know, think, contemplate, project, imagine and interpret based on what we see! Considering the fact that this is nothing else, but ignorance, it is appropriate to call this as white or bright darkness. Humility and boldness are one side of a coin and shyness and arrogance are the other side of the coin. Reality is infinite and eternal. Discovering link with it gives us happiness and boldness and recognizing limitations of ourselves as individuals gives us humility. Inability to recognize our limitations makes us arrogant and inability to link ourselves with the eternity makes us timid and shy! Master and servant, leaders and followers, guru and disciple, teacher and student, doctor and patient and in fact all of us must consider this example and develop mutual respect, boldness and humility if we aim to achieve welfare of ourselves and that of the mankind. How to overcome the fear and shame of disease? It is true that some diseases such as venereal diseases bring trouble as well as shame. The recent addition to venereal diseases is AIDS. But there are many diseases, which create fear of physical [and financial] trouble as well as well as public humiliation. For example if we develop ischaemic disease,
we would be blamed for a particular life style. If we get diabetes, we would be blamed for our diet. If we get liver cirrhosis and if we happen to be drinking even moderate quantity alcohol, we would be blamed for alcohol. Actually in ischaemic diseases stress plays a very important role. Hence the ischaemic disease is found in many individuals who do not indulge in any of the implicated risk factors. Diabetes mellitus is a multifactorial disease. It means there are many causes such as stress, family history, sedentary nature of job, viral infection [which is not given adequate attention and importance] and so on. 50 to 60 % cases of liver cirrhosis present with the past history of serum hepatitis caused by hepatitis B virus. But the people and the victims too assume that all cases of cirrhosis are because of alcohol They mindlessly begin to ridicule a cirrhotic patient, his family and everybody concerned with the alcohol [irrespective of the amount that was consumed by that person]. Ironically the patient also develops guilt complex and adds to his/her misery. The interesting thing is that attack of serum hepatitis may go unnoticed and after several years the person may suffer from liver cirrhosis. [One should never conclude from this that drinking is harmless. Whether taken in moderate quantity or excess, every individual may respond differently and hence if at all may drink at his or her own risk. Here the point is that of overcoming the fear of disease.] We have to appreciate that many times we indulge in things, which are neither approved by society we live in, nor by us. This creates a sense of guilt in our mind. This is further intensified by the medical literature, which keeps on bombarding us with a variety of risk factors and make us neurotic about a variety of diseases. We come to a point when we start losing all the charm, romance and happiness in life. We should understand that the bodily health, material possessions and family pleasures are not constant. If we get diseased today, tomorrow we may be healthy. If we are healthy today, we may be handicapped tomorrow. The fatal diseases foretell the death and suffering but their absence does not exclude the possibility of both suffering as well as death. Fear of disease is based on our ignorance about these facts.
The fear can be overcome if we try to develop communion with our true selves, accept the verdict of cosmic wisdom and try to do what we can in our humble way with humility and submit our deeds to the cosmic consciousness referred to as God. One of the ways of learning to do this is by learning to chant the name of God along with slow and deep inspiration and expiration. Through that we become aware of our innate and hence true aspirations and this awareness helps us in defining and implementing our priorities preferentially. This in turn makes us more and more free and satisfied. The fear of disease, which is usually because of having unfulfilled wants and desires, becomes lesser due to this fulfillment. How to reduce the unpleasantness of death? To get a reasonable and satisfactory answer for this question we need to understand why first of all death is unpleasant. This is because even as the concept of death is condered on pages 37-64 it is still necessary to consider our psychological response to death so that its unpleasantness can be reduced. A] Death of a near and dear one is one of the most unpleasant phenomena because of several reasons, many of which are too obvious to be discussed here but some of them are as follows. The death of a near and dear one is associated with a feeling of shame, loss, misery, missing, being left out and so on. The shame is because of what is interpreted as misfortune. The loss is because having longevity of life is considered to be gain or plus point. The feeling of misery is because of the social interaction of sympathy or pity. The feeling of missing and feeling of being left out are because of the breech in the happy association to which one is habituated. Death can be even more stressful if it is untimely, accidental, sudden, homicidal, suicidal or criminal. This becomes additionally painful because it is challenges the very foundation of one’s mind. It defies the unconscious presumption and logic that death is associated with old age. It inflicts severely state of
complacency or unguardedness. It makes us vulnerable to psychological shock. In the present circumstances the medical treatment has become extremely expensive and death of a near and dear one can take place merely because of financial constraints. This would be associated with sense of guilt and add additional painful dimensions to the sad event. Death of a spouse or son/daughter is considered to be far more stressful than that of the others. This is because it is associated with several other factors which cause crippling of the daily existence. Death of spouse can mean besides intense emotional bereavement, crippling economic loss. It can mean tremendous deficiency in bringing up of the children, looking after household affairs to many other problems. These things create besides extreme unpleasantness fear and apprehension about death of the near dear ones. This leads to constant anxiety and worry about our close ones’ security. B] Our own death is also probably the most dreaded and unpleasant phenomenon for every one of us: In Marathi there is a poem which states: MRUTYUNE JANA BAHATAT PARI TE BHOGASA VAITAGUNI MRUTYO YEU NAKO ASE VINAVITI SARE PARANTU MANI This means, many of us, may say that they want to die but it is only because of the frustrations and troubles in life [and also because of the lack of appreciation of the gravity of death]. But when it actually comes to die they realize how ghastly it is and request the death not to come to them. This is probably because we witness that death is usually associated with misery, helplessness and pain for the dying person. We see a characteristic desire to live in the eyes of a dying person. We witness the desperate and frantic efforts to live and the despair and defeat in the face of impending death. We notice the feeling of utter shame and indignation. There is pining, begging and urging to the doctors or God, or a friend for some more breaths. This picture is agonizing and creates permanent aversion and fear about our own death.
In addition, we notice the plight of the family members of the deceased. It produces fear in our mind that if we die there could be similar plight of our dependents. We fear that our death could cause sense of loss, sense of insecurity, sense of self pity, feeling of guilt, feeling of shame [for being the target of mercy, pity and sympathy and so on] to our near and dear ones and let them down. We start despising the very thought of death. There is one poem describing this: ROJ SAKALI RAVIKIRANANSAH YUDDHAKAHANYA GHUSATI NETRI ANI BHAYACHA PADADA GHEUNA ZHURATO AMHI DIVASA RATRI The poet describes that when he gets up in morning and opens a newspaper, the news of war pierce his eyes! They assault him! He finds this so much shocking that he begins to live miserably day and night constantly in the veil of fear! The unpleasantness and/or fear of the death of near and dear ones can be overcome to a great extent by internalizing the concept of SANKALPA and KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA. The deeds in this and previous lives of that person [KARMAPHALA OR PRAKTANA] and the desire of the person or his/her plans for the next life [SANKALPA] which neither he/she nor any one us know, decide the course of events. We however are usually unaware of our ignorance and hence arrogant. This ignorance coupled with arrogance makes us over reactive to death. It almost makes us hysterical. It can explode us from within and destroy the very foundation of charm and hope in life. By virtue of this ignorance the extent of unpleasantness increases tremendously. Our ignorance and arrogance cause confusion about the logic and justification of the course of events. We fail to understand or grasp the events and interpret them meaningfully and that makes us feel even worst. If we train ourselves in the concept of KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA AND SANKALPA then we would be able rise above our personal feelings and then think of the whole series of events from the point of view of the life of that person who is dying.
Even death of one’s son or daughter can become less painful if the parents are given to understand this point of view of KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA and SANKALPA. If the parents are trained in these concepts and trained to look at the event in their light then feeling of loss, humiliation, misery etc can be significantly reduced. Every one of us is bound to leave our body some time or other. If we grasp above concepts then we would be able to face diseases, handicap or death in a more dignified manner in view of the KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA and SANKALPA of ours. This helps us to recognize our ignorance and thereby enables us to overcome apparent discrepancy between our expectations and the actual reality. It gives us the insight into the possible link of causality not known to us. How to overcome loneliness? We feel lonely because we are habituated to physically meet and interact with family members, colleagues, friends, etc. We are habituated to meet and interact with even the characters in TV serials, dramas, movies, whom we do not actually meet! We also are habituated to dream and interact with those whom we neither see on TV, stage or on screen! Alternatively the “stars” in different field get addicted to public applaud either directly or through mail and hence feel lonely when this vanishes. If we are old, then we feel even lonelier. This is because we habituated to authority. We are habituated to act as respected decision-makers. We are used to caring for, looking after and supporting our children. We are used to believe that all along we have been shaping them and their future! Once our children are independent and away, everything starts dwindling. Our children are no more dependent on us for physical, emotional, intellectual, economic, or for that matter, any kind of support. They do not need our guidance, help, love, warmth and care etc. But far more important is the fact that our children create independent and separate “shells” full of new relationships and new interactions! We are not allowed in the intimate emotional, decisive intellectual transactions going on in these “shells” i.e.
families of our daughters or sons. We are rendered secondary and tertiary and relegated to outer or peripheral region. In fact this is like having been forced to severe all links with the insiders and stay outside the boundary of a village! We are forced to live outside the “mind home” of our children and relatives! We in fact feel the loneliness more intensely because we are no more required except for sundry household work! Loneliness is on the rise everywhere, in all societies, in all strata of society and in all age groups! Therefore it is worthwhile trying to find out some way of overcoming this shattering loneliness, which has acquired such a menacing form and which is one of the major causes of wide spread incidences of unrest, sadness, depression and even suicides! Can the advanced communication system help in this? Can the extraordinary growth in traditional media such as news papers, weeklies, monthlies etc and more modern media like radio, telephones, pagers, cellular telephones, TV, Internet, cyber cafes help in solving the problem of loneliness? Can the rapidly proliferating meeting places, such conference rooms, restaurants, hotels and clubs etc. help? If loneliness had been because of mere physical separation then they could have proved useful in solving the problem. But unfortunately loneliness is not because of mere physical separation. It is because of individualism, which has fractured the individuals from within and torn them apart from one-another! Remember that I am not talking about that individualism which inspires a person to live a life of an ascetic in search of that unifying reality and in turn lead a truly universal life. I am talking about that individualism which misguides and prompts the family members to break apart in pursuance of physical and/or material pleasures. Such individualism nurtures the pettiness and superficiality within us and ultimately cuts us apart from our near and dear ones and makes us lonely! The gadgets can never help when they are promoting individualism, which harnesses pettiness and superficiality. In fact because of this, the revolution in the information technology and communication system has not helped and can not help in “wielding” the process of fracturing within an individual and of incessant process of fission of hitherto relatively
homogenous, harmonious and orchestrated minds. In fact it is nurturing the excessive engrossment in material pursuits worsening the problem of loneliness. The gadgets can not create love, warmth, affection and cohesiveness amongst estranged individuals. It has to come from within! But still the technology can be useful provided it is used to convey right message and thereby inculcate the importance of promoting the evolution of the present day “primitive” individualism into more evolved individualism, which is concept and process of self-realization. The self- realization embodies realization of one’s immortal core that is one and continuous with the cores of the billions of individuals. It helps rise above the fettering pettiness. It helps us get rid of meanness, which nurtures psychological fission and separation and loneliness. It helps us see the magnanimous role we can play in revealing the intrinsic unity to the mankind and thereby express our true self, in our respective fields. In fact the ascetics, who apparently are alone and in solitude, are in communion their true self and that of the billions of citizens of the world and also the rest of the living and nonliving universe, are not at all lonely even in the absence of any gadgets! How can we overcome negative or depressive thoughts? A variety of negative thoughts keep coming in mind. Negative thoughts are reflection of egoistic assumption that we should be blessed exactly in a way which our conceptual framework projects! It is necessary to be humble about our grasp of life and kind and considerate about the sufferings of others. It is necessary to learn to hammer our ego of being robust [simply because we enjoy good physical health] also. It is essential to abandon the great error of fitting the unfathomable, infinite universe and infinite number of processes in it, in our conceptual framework, which are too frail. It is important to learn to accept the verdict of God [or nature if you do not believe in God, by realizing our limitations and ignorance], how much ever it may appear unjust! It is necessary to learn the significance of the concept of submitting our work in the heart of heart to God and adjust to the cosmic wisdom rather than trying to defy it. It is the SANKALPA i.e. the plan of subtler
self from last births and the accumulated deeds of ours which decide our suffering, happiness, success and failures in as much as our specific place in he universal panorama or “stage”! We must accept the SANKALPA and KARMA PHALA [results of our forgotten past deeds] even if they appear wrong or unjust. This unconditional acceptance is like accepting the ambience in which we live. Thus if we are in water we first accept it. This usually happens reflexly and we frantically begin to try swimming. Were we to negate the existence of waer what would happen? Thus this acceptance does not suggest acceptance of defeat and inaction, but appropriate and effective way of response and action. Further, such acceptance of our condition, opens up hundreds of possibilities, which are concealed by our resistance or denial of a given situation. This opening up of possibilities gives us tremendous strength and vision for appropriate action. To give an example, it is such denial of the ambience that frustrates many well-meaning, sincere and dedicated scientists, leaders, artists, social reformers etc, who develop extreme bitterness and depression in later stages of their lives, because of failiures. The negative thoughts that we are lowly, unfortunate, miserable would begin disappearing along with dissolution of egoistic assumptions as we start accepting whole heartedly the fate of our work, as well as well being. They would gradually start disappearing as we start to realize that somewhere deep inside we have to confront the reality with respect to life and death. Realization of truth is always coupled with immense fearlessness, bliss and independent of the fate of our work or any other external factor. In simple words, it is a state when you are in communion with God and that enables you to remain stable and strong in every situation, which we accept as the verdict of cosmic wisdom. Moreover since we are in communion with that cosmic consciousness it appears to be our own desire. This resolves the problem of likes and dislikes and
automatically helps us remain steady in our goal and activity as a worship of God or the manifestation of our conscience. It is very true that all negative thoughts and actions do not disappear. But there is no harm trying the ideas described in the foregoing because they are harmless and are likely prove useful if not immediately at least in the course of time. How to overcome jealousy? Some jealousy is normal. The other commonly used word for jealousy is heartburn! It is to some extent natural to feel jealous when we find that those individuals who according to us are undeserving get much more than what we [the more deserving in our own opinion!] do. But when individual considerations take supreme place in our lives we become increasingly mean and jealous. It becomes troublesome to others, as well as to us. This is because we do not understand and hence unknowingly disobey the wisdom of homeostasis and harmony. If we understand the concept of homeostasis, then we can definitely overcome morbid jealousy to a great extent! Homeostasis means maintenance of various physical and chemical characteristics of the internal environment of the body within certain range. This is important for the health of an organism. All the cells of the body of an organism, which perform their functions, participate in this process also. Remember that the organism is healthy if the cells are healthy and doing their work thereby contributing in homeostasis. Conversely the cell is healthy if the organism is healthy. Different body cells which when perform their roles with complimentarity and in harmony ensure health of the organism, which in turn ensures the health of individual cells. The society is like an organism. Every individual is like a cell of this organism. Different individuals have different duties just as different cells have different functions to perform.
When different individuals and social groups perform their duties with complimentarity and in harmony, ensure healthy, happy and prosperous society. This in turn would ensure the health [happiness and prosperity and profundity] of an individual! The control mechanisms in body which if work properly and ensure proper homeostasis, the organism would enjoy health and the control mechanisms would in turn be healthy. The various government agencies and power centers in society are like the control mechanisms, which govern the overall process of homeostasis. If the government agencies and power centers ensure that various individuals and social groups do their duties with complimentarity and in harmony, then society would enjoy prosperity and profundity. This in turn would ensure strength to the government. Today the governments are finding it difficult to ensure “homeostasis”. Previously, the old orders functioned as control mechanisms and ensured social homeostasis i.e. working of individuals and social groups with complimentarity and in harmony, by compromising the freedom of the individuals. With rapid rise of individualism and disappearance of old orders, a process of petty pursuits and rat race for material gains [under the attractive name of individual freedom, individual aspirations etc.] began to disrupt the complimentary and harmonious transactions and relationships. Everything within the individuals, between the individuals and between different groups became diseased. In turn the society has become “diseased”. Every individual has become “diseased”. The governments have also become diseased. [Hence they are weak, short lasting and/or malfunctioning! This is a result of rapid disintegration and disappearance of the old orders and lack of their replacement with new appropriate and efficient orders. Jealousy can be overcome to a great extent, if individualism is evolved into and taken to its logical culmination, viz. self-realization. It helps in revealing the concealed unity and harmony within ourselves as well as outside. It helps to explore and acquire the powerhouse within you. It
brings out your innate desire to do socially beneficial physical, economic, social and political work in your respective specialty, so that you can simultaneously achieve personal and social welfare. Your efforts in this direction are so satisfying that you almost no more feel jealous even if you do not get anything in return or in fact get flak and harassment. One of the simple ways of doing this is practicing remembrance of the name God. Some people call it “thought anchor”. Remembering the name of God helps us to get rid of superficial and petty considerations, born out of ignorance and responsible for jealousy [which can actually spoil our family life, friendships and even image, status in the society and most importantly even physical health!] How to overcome frustration? It has to be appreciated that life is never static. The situations do not remain the same. Naturally, the frustration also in most cases is temporary. It is not at all unusual to get frustrated from time to time and overcoming the frustrations also from time to time. But in some cases frustration can be much severer. In such cases it is associated with tremendous damage to one’s self esteem and a feeling of defeat, humiliation and shame. It is associated with enormous demoralization and diffidence. Frustration in such cases can last for years and can prove to be abysmal and even fatal if untreated. Hence it is essential to learn about frustration and evolve and practice the ways [learning about it is in itself a way to overcome it] to overcome it. What is the usual cause of frustration? The usual cause of frustration is a setback. The setback may be in the form of failure in examination, failure in love life or failure in one’s goal. The nature of setback and its severity would determine the degree of frustration. As stated earlier, in most cases the setbacks are trivial and the frustration also mild and relatively less damaging and short lasting. How do setbacks cause frustration? The setbacks are usually attributed by others and knowingly or unknowingly by you us too, to either our stupidity or to sinful behavior!
Even sad events in family such s accidents, diseases, death etc on which may not have any control, are many times attributed to some sins in the past. So such calamities make us additionally miserable and lowly and ashamed and guilty. It is also true that the frustrations worsen because of aggressive advertising that stimulates the desires and creates ever- increasing demands, without correspondingly increasing the capacity to fulfill those demands! This increase in unfulfilled demands makes us feel lowly in even in otherwise acceptable circumstances. Advertisements also tend to create and nurture the elements of competitiveness and jealousy, which lead to frustration in the instances of failures in pursuits. Can setbacks be avoided? It appears that it would have been wonderful if setbacks could have been avoided. But the nature of life is such that setback is a part of it. In fact set backs are actually useful and help us rise above our ego. Besides they enhance the taste of success. It is true that in many instances the setbacks can be due to stupidity. But it is essential to appreciate that it is not at all unusual or abnormal to be stupid in some situations. There is nothing wrong in it. There is nothing to feel lowly about it. It is always easy to point out mistakes and hence people may point out others’ mistakes but that never means that they do not commit mistakes. In fact they may be committing even worse mistakes. So we should not let ourselves down by setbacks or insulting comments made on our setbacks Also, we must take care not to get carried away by selfish, stupid, maniacal a variety of wrong acquaintances around who besides hurting can misguide and harm us. But for our own sake it is always beneficial to keep the mind open to suggestions and learning from other [but proper] people. If we listen to honest and selfless advice coming from the expert in your field, then we are likely to commit fewer mistakes. This can help us avoid many setbacks in many instances. But in many instances the set backs can not be prevented. Even as everyone prefers to be perfect no one is actually perfect. Even as ideally we all feel that we should be flawless actually we are not. In such instances if we carefully observe, we would realize that we do not have control on the past
deeds. Therefore the only way to overcome frustration born out of setbacks associated with the feeling of guilt and shame born out of our “sins” or “mistakes” is, to analyze the nature of setbacks, rationally. Setbacks in robbery and setbacks in efforts of saving a life can cause equal degree of frustration! But the frustration in these two cases is qualitatively different. These two examples illustrate the importance of pursuit. Therefore we must learn to distinguish between mistakes, failure and frustration in pursuit of excellence and the same committed in pursuit of social destruction. The pursuit in which we suffer setbacks and as a result get frustrated is extremely and possibly the only important thing. Our pursuit determines quality of life! This understanding of the pursuit itself is the first and foremost step to accept the setbacks and failures in a dignified manner and overcome the frustration. In some cases it is possible that you might have got frustrated because your pursuits as well as action both were criminal and led to damaging effects on your life. Even in such case I would urge you not to let yourself down in your own eyes. Accept yourself unconditionally irrespective of your likes and dislikes (or values inculcated in you right from your child hood) and also insulting comments from others. The traditional practice of NAMASMARAN is useful for this. We must remain concerned and particular about proper nutrition, cleanliness, aesthetic selection of clothes, color combinations, perfumes etc. hese help us improve self-image, feel better and thereby overcome frustration more efficiently. Always remember that it is never too late to start all a new and shape your future. Instead of brooding over your past mistakes and even crimes, it is always better to learn from them and improve. It is always nice to remember how the robber Walya became the great sage and poet Walmiki who wrote RAMAYANA. The next thing is to overcome the feeling of helplessness and despair. Due to this one starts developing a tendency to avoid people, friends, relatives etc. This leads to isolation and deprivation of support and even the imagination that the others think low about us i.e. treat us as lowly. This leads to bitterness and a process of perpetual isolation, helplessness, lack of support and bitterness.
You may try and speak about it to selected good friends but it is generally better to talk as if you are discussing some body else’s problem and not yours! By this way you learn about the issue without letting yourself down in the eyes of your friends. The last thing is to understand the difference between the realized souls such as saints etc. and common people like us. It is true that the realized souls are always in bliss. This is because they work from a different level of consciousness. They are enlightenment personified. They are like engineers and architects who do not have to actually work like a mason (a common man). You can take the example of a doctor and a nurse. The doctor gives prescription and the nurse complies with it. The nature of the work of a doctor and that of a nurse are different. The doctor may sleep peacefully when the nurse is actually attending the patient at ungodly hours! It has to be appreciated that just as the body consciousness [thinking that we are mere body], makes us susceptible to fear and apprehension, similarly entanglement in what we call as “our work” also causes tremendous anxiety, depression and frustration. Our thoughts, work, aims etc. are not our personal property and hence should not be taken too seriously. Let them pass through the body, mind and intelligence! They manifest from eternity and disappear back into eternity. Our bodies, minds, intelligence etc. are not the doers. They are only the vehicles through which, the so called “our work”, gets delivered! This statement is not polemical or metaphorical. Actually speaking neither our bodies, nor our mind nor our intelligence can even choose our parents, the environment and the subsequent opportunities, though we may feel so. This has one more implication. Since it is not “our”, neither is it appropriate to feel ashamed about “our work”, or, for that matter, all that we did, would do, enjoy or suffer, nor is it appropriate to feel proud about it. Neither is it correct to give up and do nothing nor is it correct to helplessly and obsessively get entangled in the work and its results. We should maintain our “vehicles” very well and use them properly to “carry the goods”, which we are supposed to deliver! BUT WE ARE NOT VEHICLES! Continuation of efforts to make your perspective universal, evolve
universally beneficial policies and evolve their administration and implementation can significantly reduce the degree of frustration and can give at least some strength and help you to overcome frustration, in case you have it! Why do we indulge in or refrain from things and repent later? It is true that many of us plan to live in one way or another. We have our ideas about pleasures, happiness, comforts, dreams, aspirations etc. which result from myriad of influences which act on our body, instincts, mind, thoughts and so on. The nature of influences varies from person to person and from one place to another. It varies from society to society. These influences range from literature promoting celibacy to literature upholding eroticism. They vary from preaching of asceticism to propaganda of indulgence. They are in short, quite confusing and make it very difficult for us to find out what exactly we want! We keep negotiating with these influences through out our lives and while doing so also trying to define a “state of happiness”! It has to be appreciated that the idea of such a state is ever changing and inconstant. It varies! In the process we keep on attributing to the state of happiness some characteristics [which also keep on varying] and then keep on trying to modify ourselves accordingly! Thus we keep trying to get rid of some things and acquire some others. These things also vary from time to time! The nature of these things varies from trifles such getting a cake of choice to relish to controlling the desire. It varies from getting into a particular lucrative career to leaving everything and becoming a nun. It varies from getting a hall ticket for the examination to bunking the exam. It varies from winning someone’s heart to marry to remaining unmarried. It varies from acquiring a particular skill to getting rid of the same. It varies from desire of acquiring a particular knowledge to developing disgust about the same and getting interested in another. It varies from getting sexual gratification to keeping celibacy. It varies from desiring to smoke to desiring to quit it. It varies from indulging in drinking alcohol to abstaining from it.
The problem is that we are usually not able to understand the nature of our instincts, emotions and intelligence and hence there is always a discrepancy between what we want to be and what we actually turn out to be! There are a couple of things, which if we understand and internalize, then this problem could be overcome at least to some extent. The first thing is that we must appreciate that we do not understand ourselves. The subconscious mind is not accessible. The past beyond a certain range is not accessible. The future is not completely predictable. Even the influences beyond a certain range are too subtle to be recognized and understood. We should therefore be humble and not get into a feeling of uselessness or helplessness about failing to practice of what we think, feel and project [we may use the word expectations, predictions etc.]. This helps us to accept the discrepancy between our expectations, predictions, demands, desires, aspirations and so on [in our life as well that in the life of the others and the society] and what actually happens! It must be appreciated that such acceptance does not mean inactive witnessing of what happens but it means poised, and wiser response! It is usually beneficial not only to ourselves but to others as well. The second thing is to preserve and harness the capacity to appreciate our ignorance and responding wisely. The time-tested remedy for this, is regular chanting of the name of God or Guru. Regular chanting or remembering the name of God helps us elevate ourselves above the confusing and chaotic ideas. It helps us to overcome the gravity of our preferences and our apprehensions. Through the practice of remembering the name of God it starts becoming clear that the sense of guilt as well as sense of pride result from, the deep seated ignorance of the ignorance! Hereafter we gradually start actually internalizing the importance of accepting the situation in personal as well as public life as it is and then start working on it without instinctual and emotional turmoil and intellectual confusion. This marks the beginning of true inner harmony and freedom from the damaging and disturbing guilt and equally troublesome agrandizement and arrogance about what we can not and what we can achieve respectively.
Gradually we begin to appreciate that what we do is a result of the preponderance of SATVA, RAJA and TAMA within and outside our limited existence. Our limited thinking has no right to be proud about it and no reason to be guilty about it. Our brain has no reason to be perplexed and we have no reason to be sad! There is great fun in taking life in one’s stride! [Even in making attempt to do so!] CONCEPTS RELATED TO SOCIAL LIFE How can we overcome the stress caused by conceptual chaos in the field of education? Most of us get disturbed by what is going on in the field of education. But we do not understand the causes of the chaos and the remedy for them. We will be benefited if we review in brief the concept of education and merits and demerits of the traditional education system in brief. Education is defined in various ways but it can be safely said to have three domains, which are as follows. The first domain is called AFFECTIVE DOMAIN. This means the state of mind. In simple words affective domain relates to how we feel. Thus when our mind is full of alertness, attention, enthusiasm, buoyancy, affection, concern, joy, tolerance, self esteem, mutual respect, mutual trust, commitment, dedication, confidence, positive and victorious spirit, we would call it healthy affective domain. In addition the zeal and concentration needed in the pursuit of excellence in intellectual field, tenacity and endurance required in skillful activities and patience and commitment essential for satisfying and socially beneficial actions constitute affective domain. The purpose of education is to nurture this domain by designing suitable curricula and syllabi. The second domain of education is called PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN. This implies ability to appreciate skills and ability to perform physical and mental skills, with speed, accuracy, elegance, ease of performance etc. This
may involve appreciation and performance of skills such as surgery, playing a musical instrument, playing basket ball or doing carpentry! The purpose of education is to nurture this domain through not only designing suitable curricula, syllabi but also by providing sufficient practical and demonstration classes with all the necessary equipment. The third domain is called COGNITIVE DOMAIN. Cognitive domain incorporates accurate perspective, contemplation, correct perception understanding, conceptualization, analysis and recall of problems, ability to evaluate, synthesize, correlate and make decisions, make appropriate policies, plans and expertise in the management, administration, etc. It is clear that all the domains have three components viz. Cognition [Perception], affect [Feelings] and conation [Response]. Let us consider the traditional system in a dispassionate manner and scrutinize the merits and demerits. It is obvious that we will not be able to consider all the details of the system as they varied from time to time and from place to place. But a general review of the system would help us to overcome our disturbance! This can be done only if we rise above the petty considerations of religion, region, caste, political power and other vested interests. This would help us rectify the present education system. Conversely, unless the existing education system is rectified appropriately subsequent generations may not be able to develop the three domains of education adequately. Many of you may argue here that this task can not be accomplished by common people, but can be successfully accomplished only by the politicians, political advisors, the decision-makers and the top administrators. This argument is valid, but not completely. It has to be appreciated that no statesman, no political leader, no policy maker and no administrator can bring about change in an existing system unless, there is consensus about these changes in the vast majority of people whose cooperation in such matters is very vital.
So let us take at least a cursory look at the traditional system of education in India. The traditional education system in general ensured that: a] Careers were not selected on the basis of monetary gains, b] Careers were not selected arbitrarily on the basis of idiosyncrasies and whims, c] Some lucrative careers could not be sought after excessively, in preference to the others, d] All careers ensured income and production from early age, e] All careers ensured that society was benefited, f] All careers ensured security to all the social groups, g] All the careers ensured intimacy and closeness between young and old in the families. h] All careers ensured ethical education and passage of experience from generation to generation. In my view these were merits. But it is true that: A] The traditional system was marked by deprivation of scholastic education to many people, B] It was also marked by apparently unjustifiable distribution of a variety of jobs amongst different castes. C] It did not have the infrastructure for collective scientific and technological efforts D] Suppressed talents and individual aspirations amongst the children and parents from many castes. E] It had an element of arbitrary imposition of hierarchy and exploitation. As the education shifted from homes, home industries and farms to; nurseries, K.G. schools, schools, colleges, universities, corporate industries, research institutions etc. Cognition suffered because of: a] Huge number of students, in a single class making following three things almost impossible. These things are i] individual attention ii] dialogue iii] discussions, b] Lack of adequate salary, accountability, incentive and economic security to the teachers taking away the initiative of nurturing cognitive domain c] Increase in alienation with respect to student’s background and aptitude
d] Lack of adequate incentive to the students in the form of creativity, production and earning, service to the family and service to the nation, takes away the motivation required for building up cognitive domain e] Lack of conviction essential in the growth of cognitive domain in the teachers and students because of outdated practical and demonstration classes, lack of interdisciplinary dialogue and in general the irrelevance of education to the realities of day to day life in as much as almost predictable consecutive unemployment at the end! The lack of conviction could be partly due to lack of participation by teachers in decision-making, policy making, development of curricula, syllabi etc. f] Emphasis on recall and hence rote learning thereby denying free inquiry, reading, questioning etc. thereby directly thwarting the cognitive domain g]] Too many examinations with irrelevant parameters or criteria of evaluation [besides being unfair in many instances] lead to misguided and in most cases counterproductive efforts thus adversely affecting the cognitive domain h] Competitions where the manipulative skills, callousness, selfishness are given more respect, destroy the enthusiasm of growing in cognitive domain i] Information explosion can affect cognitive domain by either causing enormous and unnecessary burden on memory or inferiority complex j] Pressure of interviews causing constant tension and sense of inadequacy, right from the tender age, k] Protracted hours of homework in schools denying the students their legitimate right to enjoy their childhood and make them physically, mentally and intellectually unfit to grow in cognitive domain l] Irrelevant and unnecessary information loading in lectures in the form of monologue, leading to suppression of the spontaneity, originality, interest and enthusiasm so much required in cognitive development amongst the students, Affective domain suffered due to, A] Isolation of the children from their parents and their domestic environment at an early age [Making the parents also equally sad] B] Lack of warm bonds due to huge number, C] Cut throat competition, D] Inadequate facilities of sports, trekking, educational tours, recreation and physical development etc
E] Alienation from one’s social environment and culture Psychomotor domain suffered due to A] Almost total lack of opportunities to actually participate in skillful activities such as drawing, painting, sewing, sculpturing, carpentry, knitting, weaving, music, agriculture, horticulture, other handicrafts, various sports, performing arts etc. It is important to realize that promotion of psychomotor domain is evident but in its caricature form. It has no concrete economic realistic basis. The activities have no economic incentive and no productive element. The present education system basically and almost completely prevents a huge section of society such as teachers, students, clerks, servants, sweepers and many others such as education inspectors, etc. from being creative and productive. In addition it causes colossal loss of space, electricity, construction cost and so on. In addition because of the typical emphasis on rote learning it leads to phenomenal waste of educational material such as paper, bags, pencils, ball pens etc. Lack of productive element in education not only causes colossal loss to nation but it also causes economic loss to children while suppressing and starving their psychomotor domain! The lack of productive element and economic incentive is a single most important cause of 1] Reduction in the dignity of labor amongst those who continue to learn, as well as reduction in the income of the concerned families and the nation 2] Lack of education, lack of employment and starvation or criminalization amongst those who are forced to drop out because the poor villagers’children normally contribute to the earning of the family. 3] Inhuman suffering of those dropouts, who somehow manage to get into cheap labor for subsistence. It has to be appreciated that billions of rupees are spent on construction, decoration and maintenance of schools and colleges. Billions more are spent on payment of millions of teachers and other staff members engaged in unproductive exercises. Billions are spent on electricity, and so called educational material. Billions more are spent on the exams conducted to test the “capacity and merit of rote learning”. This way we weaken the national economy, jeopardize the
developmental activities and force millions of students to drop out due to economic reasons and get into the hell of child labor, besides starving and suppressing the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of millions. In short, present day education system harnesses [amongst those who continue to learn] arrogance coupled with lack of confidence leaving all the domains viz. cognitive, psychomotor and affective, [including creative and productive skills and physical health] defective, deficient and underdeveloped. Further, when this education fails to give a job, it tends to create vindictive attitude transforming an individual into a criminal or develops frustration and transforms an individual into a mental wreck. It must be appreciated that some institutions and individuals are making illustrious efforts in the direction of rectifying the education at their level. But the chaos in the present education and the resultant conceptual stress cannot be managed effectively, unless we propagate this conceptual understanding about education and try to see that suitable changes are made to nurture cognitive, affective, psychomotor and productive domains. In short it can be stated that every school, college, university etc must become the centers of production and service besides being centers excellence in science, art, literature, philosophy etc. The student must have economic incentive for what he/she is privileged to make. Besides, everybody connected with education directly or indirectly must be involved in production or service. Everyday approximately 20 % of the time must be spent in production, service etc. 20 % of the time must be spent in physical activities 20 % of the time must be spent in personality development and 20 % of the time must be spent in entertainment 20 % of the time must be spent on cognitive domain Production may be of suitable items and service can involve community projects such plantation, cleanliness etc. Physical activities can include sports, exercise, trekking, hiking etc. Personality development refers to broadening of perspective through various means such as invited guest lectures, seminars, discussions on holistic health, educational tours and visits to places where the student gets
exposed to rapid developments in the society such as laboratories, airports, government offices, share market, farms etc. Entertainment could include playing musical instruments, dance, painting or anything that makes a student happy such as mimicry, singing, story telling, drama, movie etc. Development of cognitive domain can include teaching of languages, history, geography, mathematics etc with utmost emphasis on interpretation and relevance in day to day life. Thus typical questions in the examination of history, languages should be totally done away with. The subject such as economics, psychology, civics, philosophy, logic, sociology etc must include field work and made relevant to the present society. Conceptual stress arising out of chaos in education can not be managed effectively unless and until a situation where millions are “imprisoned” unproductive work and millions are forced into unemployment and inhuman cheap labor is eradicated through law and government rules, besides public awareness. Stress resulting from inadequate understanding of the consumer interest Most of us think that consumer interest is restricted to quality production, appropriate preservation, proper transportation, fair exchange and fidelity in advertising. This is not incorrect understanding but this is certainly not complete understanding of consumer interest. As a consumer in any given place or field, we should be aware of the plight of the consumers elsewhere and in other fields. We can not be balanced, objective and holistic in the absence of such awareness. In fact such lack awareness tends to make us selfish, short sighted and mean. The perspective of consumer movement becomes tubular and hence can not give proper direction to the government perspective, policies, decision, administration and implementation, with respect to customers every where. In fact this is precisely what has happened to consumer movement in developed countries. A huge section of consumers in developed as well as many developing countries [like India] is very sensitive about its interests. These interests are with respect to quality, preservation and pricing. No one
can argue in favor of bad quality, faulty preservation and unfair exchange or cheating. Another concern of this section of consumers is their insistence on fidelity with the advertisement. They insist that there should be no exaggeration and/or falsification in the advertising. Even this point can not be refuted. No one would justify exaggeration and/or falsification. So this section of consumers is not just unopposed but is actually supported all over the world enjoys and moral and ethical supremacy. But note that this section of consumers has no perspective of global welfare. It has always neglected the major issues such as environmental protection, proper and universal education, world harmony, universal brotherhood, global health, global housing, proper handing of droughts, famines, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruption, nuclear proliferation, effect of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the long run and such issues. This section has nothing to do with the needs of rest of the mankind. It continues to consume several times more than their counterpart in either the same or other countries. This negligence towards the needs of rest of the mankind makes this section selfish, short sighted, mean and callous. The elite consumer [in as much even the poor] in India also has adopted this selfish, short sighted, mean and callous perspective. This is why the consumer movement [in spite of having some genuinely good elements in it] has miserably failed at global and local level, to influence the government perspective, policies, decision, administration and implementation, with respect to consumers every where and every strata of life. Few examples of such policies are with respect to prevention famines, preservation of forests, advertisements of alcoholic beverages, advertisements of cigarettes, advertisement of gutkha [a specially processed tobacco that is used for chewing and which is at present a craze amongst school children in many parts of the world] etc. It is precisely because of this selfish, short sighted, mean and callous perspective that many of us applaud the construction of fly over bridges in cities while unknowingly neglecting the plight of farmers and villagers where there is no drinking water, no proper shelter and no proper education. We do not seem to understand that the fly over bridges is no solution to the congestion and other problems of cities and the only
solution is the holistic development [in contrast to mercenary urbanization of villages, and which was incidentally the dream of Mahatma Gandhi.]. It has to be appreciated that consumer interest can not be restricted to mere material financial gains and utility for above reason. It has to be coupled with perspective of global welfare as a result of which balanced and accurate policies, plans, decisions, administrative efforts and implementation at global and local level can be evolved. In fact this constitutes spiritual, intellectual, emotional, instinctual and physical health. This is the only way to manage conceptual stress as a consumer. There is no other way. With narrow perspective you can not manage conceptual stress. Even if with narrow, selfish, short sighted, mean and callous perspective, you seem to gain materially, ultimately you will be the loser, materially as well as spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, instinctually and physically. This is because majority the present policies at global and local level are sure to entail destruction of individual as well as the global life if not timely corrected. Your doctor if knowledgeable enough, will endorse this, when you visit him/her next. Conceptual confusion about communalism In Sanskrit there is a proverb PINDE PINDE MATIH BHINNAH KUNDE KUNDE NAVAM PAYAH JATO JATO NAVACHARAH NAVA VANEE MUKHE MUKHE The meaning of this is simple and enlightening. It boosts the spirit of tolerance. It implies, every individual has different intellectual capacity, every source of water contains different water, every community has different tradition and different linguistic expression is present in every individual mouth!
So merely belonging to different castes, different religions or merely following certain customs running through generations in a family and a community etc. do not make us communal. According to the world book dictionary, communalism refers to self- governance of a commune or communes and this is a kind of federalism. Communal means related to commune. But in India this word has different connotation. In India, communalism implies disproportionate pride, concern about one’s caste, tribe, religion or any such group and disproportionate hatred and prejudice about those of others. This is almost always associated with practices harmful to others. Communalism has become an everyday problem. It has infiltrated every walk and every stratum of life a cancer. Thus political parties, a variety of unions, various organizations etc and associations are diseased with communalism. Similarly, policies regarding employment, promotions, admission to different educational careers, competitive examinations in almost every sphere of life have been infiltrated by communalism. To understand and overcome the menace of communalism and bring about harmony and justice in society effectively, we have to understand the caste system and the caste specific job distribution that has come into existence and remained for centuries and the emergence of religions and their impact on social life. In this chapter we will consider the development of caste system. In my view, the caste system in India was based on the physiological principle of homeostasis where many different type of cells perform different functions so as to maintain constancy of internal environment and thereby health of the organism. Secondly it was based on the principle of variety, complementarity and harmony in nature. Thus the emergence of caste system was based on the observation that neither in body nor in nature the individual components perform the same work or job. In fact this kind of “equality” is dangerous. Complementarity of components is important and conducive to health. This entailed distribution of different jobs. This distribution of the jobs initially depended on the capacity.
However the distribution of jobs gradually became independent of the capacity and started depending on one’s caste. How could have this happened? Firstly, it appears to me that this took place because of the observation of heredity in nature. The mango tree gives mango fruits, banana tree gives banana and coconut tree gives coconuts. The offspring of a tiger is tiger and offspring of a cat is a cat. This heredity in nature was probably extrapolated to human beings. It must have been thought that such heredity must be working in human beings also. In fact, such extrapolation must have been buttressed by the observations that children do carry the traits of their parents which may include, a variety ranging from mathematical talents to musical skills, besides physical constitution and looks. In fact even today we use expressions such as “ There is music in his blood”, “There is acting in his blood” “There is business in his blood “ and so on. These expressions are based on centuries of observations. So every community was seen or conceived as a particular organ or tissue of an organism, which would give rise to specific type of cells. The second reason for this change must have been due one of the most prevalent concepts viz. KARMA PHALA SIDDHANTA. In Marathi this is expressed as KARAVE TASE BHARAVE. In English this is expressed through “ As you sow, so you reap”. This concept gives a basis for why a particular child is born in a particular community or caste. This led to the notion that those who are born in a particular caste are born according their deeds in the past life. This lent a conceptual foundation for the stability and continuance of the caste dependent job distribution. So every individual was conceived as a particular individual cell in a tissue. Now it can be appreciated why there were restrictions on all the communities [analogous to organs or tissues] to do a particular job. Obviously this was to achieve social homeostasis [analogous to homeostasis in an organism]. Clearly this was to avoid competition based on petty selfishness and unabated personal ambitions, which could at times, jeopardize the welfare of a society [analogous to different tissues trying to perform certain functions and thereby endangering the homeostasis and life an organism].
The caste system also had one more and important aspect and that was punishment at local level. This punishment depended on the nature of “crime” or “sin” and the verdict of the traditional beliefs, conventions and consensus. This particular system included [in today’s context totally unjustifiable] the punishment of outcasting. It is well known in India that the father and mother of the world famous saint of 12th century, saint Jnaneshvar were outcasted and forced to commit suicide because of their “crime” of going against the then prevalent conventions. Those who were outcasted were condemned to live as the outcaste. This system of giving “justice” apparently did not have any provision for the upward traffic of the outcasted “lower” castes, though it must have forced many “upper” castes into “lower” castes because of what was then considered a “crime”. However one does not know with certainty whether there were any ways of absolving from those so called “crimes”. Today these “crimes” may not be considered even mistakes. It appears that these castes which were forced to live outside the villages were declared untouchable. Due to the same notion of heredity, which consolidated caste system, their progeny was also considered inferior and forced to stay out of the village border, was made to accept dirty jobs and were declared untouchable. This is many villages in India used to have and still has in many regions, people staying beyond the boundaries of the village. The caste system has been primarily a result of all that has been said above, though the influence of other factors such as characteristic social, political, psychological, geographic etc. can not be totally ruled out. It can be clearly understood from the foregoing that the caste system in India which deteriorated into increasingly unjust and grave perversion was not a conspiracy as is made out to be by many individuals. The theory that it was a conspiracy can prejudice and mislead the young and innocent people can create division, hatred and strife amongst different castes and can not solve problems of the millions. In fact this has been vindicated by the history of caste-interactions in India of last several decades.
The fact that the caste system did not develop as conspiracy can be clearly evident if following points are considered. 1] Caste system to be conspiracy, has not primarily been a result of political wars or religious wars also. Though the influence of such relationship can not be entirely denied. Political reasons appear too simplistic to explain the phenomenon, which has spread all over India and in every nook and corner of even the interior most aspects of country ruled by extremely different rulers with extremely diverse backgrounds. 2] Caste system to be a conspiracy has not been primarily a result of winner-loser relationship. If that had been the case then there would not have been as many restrictions on certain “upper” castes as have been there in India. 3] If there had been winner loser relationship between two groups then one would have found fairly uniform characteristics amongst “upper” and “lower” castes. This is not so. Everyone would agree that there are people with very low capacity in so called “upper” castes and there are people with far greater capacity ni so called “lower” castes. In fact almost all types of people are seen in all the castes. This applies not only to capacity but also to morality and social commitment. 4] Caste system was not based on equality. But it was basically and to start with not based on inequality, injustice and exploitation also. It was based on as is said earlier the interpretation of homeostasis, heredity and complementarity, social harmony, stability, order and well being. It has to be appreciated that because of this, even as most of the saints did not practice caste discrimination, religious discrimination or any kind of discrimination for that matter, they did not condemn Indian scriptures with codes of conduct for different age groups, different professionals, different members of the family etc such as MANUSMRITI, PARASHAR SMRUIT, VASISHTHA SMRUTI, NARADA SMRUTI and so on. This was because they knew that by condemning them, the old wisdom of social homeostasis would be lost and by supporting and practicing it the exploitative, coercive and inhuman element would be justified and would continue. For this reason they chose the middle way. The saints did not make any disruptive and provoking statements because they knew that this was not the solution to the evils of caste
system. They knew that the solution to the evils of caste system lied in the opening of the floodgates of enlightenment for one and all. This is why, without making any stunts and gimmicks they spent their lives in trying to open the floodgates of enlightenment for one and all. They suffered during their lifetime because of the harassment from callous, rigid, orthodox and inhuman conservative elements and centuries after their death continue to be misunderstood, misquoted, condemned and ridiculed by many. One does not know with certainty but from the work of the saints it appears that the saints did see a major flaw and end of caste system [without losing the essential concept of social homeostasis] through generalized enlightenment irrespective of caste, religion, region etc. Appreciating this major flaw and rectifying it is of paramount importance in really annihilating the castes even today. The major flaw in the caste system that rendered it extremely exploitative, coercive and inhuman is the fact that mango, coconut, tiger and cat do not have the choice and freedom to transcend their mango-ness, coconut-ness, tiger-ness and cat-ness. In contrast human beings have this potential and hence must get choice and freedom to transcend their caste characteristics, the process which is called enlightenment or self-realization. The saints also seem to have realized that the children are not of the parents [to get exactly the same characteristics or to be blamed for the “sins” of their parents], but they come through the parents. The saints also seem to have realized that it is a great fallacy to condemn some one as sinful because of being born in a particular caste, punish him/her for the so called sins and so called crimes of the past generations or past lives. The purpose of this chapter is not to glorify or to condemn anybody, or to describe the detailed history of caste system but to conceptualize the main determinants of caste system and thereby take it to its logical end. This implies that everything coercive in caste system comes to an end and the wisdom continues. This is because, we must remember that while destroying the caste system, there are two diseases by which the mankind is likely to be
plagued by. These are individualism and superficiality. In the rest of the world where there was no caste system like that in India, these two diseases have played havoc and are continuing to do so. You will appreciate that these two diseases have started plaguing people in India also. We must learn from the saints the importance of opening the floodgates of self realization to people irrespective of caste, religion etc. and secondly we must prepare an intellectual framework which would evolve laws, rules and conventions by which material conditions conducive to self realization and enlightenment would be actualized. You would appreciate that the suffering of the victims of caste system and the conceptual stress of ours are inseparably linked and can begin to reduce simultaneously if the education system as suggested earlier, is brought into practice, throughout India and world. With respect to India, it is high time to realize that ad-hoc steps such as reservation policy, free education [of present nature], concessions, free food, subsidies etc. have benefited financially, a small percentage of downtrodden and will continue to do so. But even if there is 100 percent reservation in parliament, assemblies, jobs, promotions, admissions to different courses and for that matter, in every possible field, it will never solve the problems of majority of the suffering billions. How to manage stress resulting from inadequate grasp of corruption? Corruption is widely talked about but poorly thought over and understood. Because of this, deceptive sense of pride, hypocrisy, guilt, confusion, conflict, helplessness, victimization and many such things result. In short, we are in a state of inner disharmony and discomfort or in simple words, STRESS. This STRESS is sometimes consciously experienced but many times goes unnoticed. Take an example of donations. If we give donation to a school we feel we are doing right thing for our child but we also are made to feel guilty because it is, in most cases illegal in India. Conversely, if we are running a school and if government authorities do the formalities only after being bribed, then collecting donations from students for every admission and on various other occasions becomes an
unavoidable part of our life. If we do not do this, then our work gets delayed and we start getting depressed and frustrated. This dilemma is responsible for STRESS. Take another example, that of registration of a flat. We register our flats or blocks with government because it is compulsory, but many times we land up paying extra and get a feeling of being cheated on the one hand and guilty of paying bribe on the other. Conversely, if we are working in a particular government registry and if we are “instructed” to collect funds for the ruling political party and if we wish to retain our job in a desirable township, then making collections at every registration is inseparable from life. If we do not do it we are likely to be transferred to an interior place and suffer along with our family in every possible way. This mental tug of war is responsible for STRESS. One can take several such examples. Present understanding of CORRUPTION is restricted to the illegal transactions of money, nepotism, favoritism, administrative irregularities etc. This [inadequate] understanding is due to influences of some so called, advanced countries, which have amassed wealth and technology but are deficient in the perspective of global unity and welfare. CORRUPTION actually includes expansionist, exploitative, oppressive, discriminatory activities. It includes the religious persecutions, fascist massacres and harassment of craftsmen in the other countries. It includes the reckless addition to pollution of environment and irresponsible consumption of power at the cost of other nations. It includes apartheid polices and their implementation. Many so called, advanced countries selectively forget their expansionist, exploitative and oppressive activities and the harm done by them to other countries. Through such selective forgetfulness and the blindfolds of vested interests of their own prosperity, they develop tubular and blurred vision and assume condescending and self-righteous position. They either don’t understand or deliberately neglect the fact that the aberrations in the social, political, cultural and economic transactions amongst the different societies, develop as a result of several factors, including invasions and exploitation to which
these so called advanced countries themselves were/are responsible. Ignoring or not conceding, their own role, though indirect, in these aberrations they try to impose themselves as the moral and ethical saviors, leaders and judges on the rest of the world. They therefore, begin to use technology and facilities to make surveys on various issues and start passing their judgements. They try to enforce their norms, in the form of sanctions on industries which involve child labor, or in the form of linking labor conditions with trade pacts, through deliberations of World Trade Organization viz. WTO. They start rating the countries in terms of quantitative and qualitative corruption! It is equally pitiable that many of the Indian newspapers uphold them give wide publicity to these judgments and make every Indian feel ashamed of their motherland and guilty of corruption. This self-pity is indeed a cause of stress for an individual and detrimental to the national progress. It must be appreciated that branding the developing countries as corrupt is tantamount to saying that all the countries which have indulged in invasions, exploitation, oppression are morally and ethically superior, merely because they are now prosperous and do not have the same aberrations in socioeconomic fields! One can surely find in these countries other aberrations, which are either concealed or given legal and moral acceptance. If we appreciate the fact that illegal transactions of money, nepotism, favoritism, administrative irregularities etc. are, symptoms of corruption and invasions, exploitation, oppression of other countries and societies constitute ACTUAL CORRUPTION, then it would be easy to deal with corruption effectively and lead more enriched and profound life. The “advanced” countries must understand that most of them have indulged in corruption and are continuing to do so in different forms such as, arms race, nuclear proliferation, supplying the arms to terrorist countries etc, and hence are responsible for the symptoms of corruption in the developing countries. This is because, through such understanding alone, can they help themselves as well as the other countries, to rectify the corruption they have indulged and have been
indulging in and thereby help, the rest of the countries, to rectify the symptoms of corruption, prevalent there. This would be far more beneficial for the world and for the advanced countries themselves than the surveys [involving colossal wastage of money], arbitrary sanctions and coercive conditions of trade, [which thwart the progress of and demoralize the entrepreneurs, traders and common people of the developing countries]. If the advanced countries and people therein understand this, then they probably would develop due humility and volunteer to understand the root cause of corruption. The root cause of corruption [and subsequent symptoms of corruption] lies in: A] Defective cognition [perception, understanding, interpretation etc. including racist, sectarian, selfish perspective, B] Inappropriate affect [feelings, experience, development of superiority complex, condescending attitude etc.] and C] Inaccurate conation [policies, plans, administrative actions etc., adopted to serve the interests of one society or country at the cost of the others] This concept can be applied to an individual [who may be either a common man or a policy maker] as well as a country i.e. government or people of a particular country. These three constitute interactions between mindsets and situations. Mindsets depend on A] Genetic make-up B] Experiences [physical, instinctual, emotional, cultural, intellectual etc.] Various situations depend on A] Various laws, rules, conventions, traditions, economic policies, political policies, implementation of the policies etc. B] Financial status of a nation and/or an individual C] Social support systems D] Family atmosphere E] Geographical conditions social conditions
F] Legacy of the past rulers This list can be increased but it is not essential in view of shortage of space. We can understand how corruption and symptoms of corruption are produced, by some examples. With respect to India, the mindset of British rulers interacted to a situation, and the result of this was coercive rules an discriminatory treatment to Indian people. They neglected the development of a country. They left behind a very alien and unproductive education system. The mindset of subsequent Indian leaders, with very few exceptions like Mahatma Gandhi, interacted with this situation and the result was continuation/promotion of most of the British policies/culture. This led to a situation full of illiteracy, diseases, poverty, unemployment, inadequate development in almost every field (when viewed from the point of view of a villager, or a worker or a tribal). This situation for which the rulers, their think tank, their advisors, policy makers, implementers, administrators are responsible has plagued the mindset of most of the common Indians. Fear, insecurity, pettiness, hypocrisy, dishonesty, meekness, selfishness, shamelessness, irresponsibility, indiscipline and dirtiness, have literally shackled them. One feature of which is increase in unemployment especially in villages and exodus from villages to cities. Now, in such a situation where unemployment is rampant, let us see how mindset of a common man such as a footpath vendor is likely to work and give rise to symptoms of corruption. Thus if we are footpath vendors in a metropolis like Mumbai, then bribing the police is in general integrated with our survival. If we resist this, then our survival comes in peril. If we are police, then seeking such bribes is intricately coupled with, if not our survival, preferred education of our children, appropriately pompous marriage of our daughter, pampering or entertaining our dependents, relatives, friends, living in better conditions, avoidance of transfer etc. If we refuse to be get bribed, then the others are likely to start distancing themselves from us and the seniors are likely to start feeling insecure in our presence and we are either likely to be transferred to inconvenient place or made to feel uneasy and unwise on most occasions. Our wives are likely to remain dissatisfied, our children
not get the education of their choice, and we fall short of money when it comes to expensive occasions such as marriage of our daughters. If we are ordinary civilians, then witnessing this symptom of corruption and conceding it either willingly or unwillingly is a part of our existence. Neither reporting of particular incident nor keeping silence yield beneficial results. Helplessness and stress usually continue perpetually. You will appreciate that merely attacking and criticizing these instances viz. symptoms of corruption can never solve the problem of corruption which is deeper phenomenon affecting the situations and mindsets. If the so called, advanced countries or those influenced by them, keep on flagellating the symptoms of corruption, without understanding and treating the corruption proper and its causes, then the corruption and the symptoms of corruption not only will continue but will actually grow. Not only criminals, but also the well-meaning people, would begin to show the symptoms of corruption! The hypocrisy would escalate and the symptoms of corruption become acceptable and respectable in the heart! Similarly arbitrary measures such as trying to purify the bureaucracy and impose rigorous rules etc. would never prove effective in reducing symptoms of corruption and the corruption proper. This is because the so called honesty in job [absence of symptoms of corruption] is almost always exploited by, the actual corrupt elements [at national and international levels] thereby facilitating perpetual continuation of corruption and symptoms of corruption in such cases erupt elsewhere! In Marathi there is a saying, “ ANDHALA DALATAY KUTRA PEETH KHATAY” which means a blind [honest but unwise] individual grinds the flour and a dog [corrupt and cunning element] eats it. So A] MAKE EFFORTS TO ERADICATE ROOTS OF CORRUPTION, IN THE MINDSETS AND SITUATIONS. DO NOT DEVELOP SENSE OF GUILT OR PRIDE BASED ON THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF SYMPTOMS OF CORRUPTION RESPECTIVELY. FOR THIS, B] EVOLVE AND NOURISH APPROPRIATE COGNITION, AFFECT AND CONATION [MINDSETS] BY PARTICIPATING IN EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE SITUATIONS BY INFLUENCING PERSPECTIVE, POLICIES, LAWS, RULES, REGULATIONS, IMPLEMENTATION,
CONVENTIONS, TRADITIONS ETC. AS MAY BE RELEVANT TO YOUR FIELD OF WORK. YOUR STRESS WHETHER NOTICED BY YOU OR NOT WOULD STOP ERODING IF YOU DO THIS! Employees-employer relations Quite a lot has been written on the relationship between employers and the employees. In today’s world this relationship is found to vary from company to mill, village to city, public sector to private sector, farm laborers to quarry workers and from contract labor to permanent employees with their respective employers. In short class division as well as the caste distinction have blurred considerably. The working class has become quite heterogeneous. Thus the priorities and interests of different groups of workers differ because a particular policy simultaneously benefits some sections of working class and harms the interests of the other sections. This is especially evident in case of working class of affluent countries and that of developing countries. The financial benefits tend to go to the working class of affluent countries at the cost of working class of the developing countries. These facts however, are either ignored, neglected, unnoticed or unattended to. Because of this, the movements of the working class have not been able to succeed adequately in making the society more just though working class conditions have improved to some extent. The working class movements have not been able to equip themselves with the power of enlightenment and therefore, lack in fundamental sense of unity so much required in their policies, strategies and the definition and selection of issues for struggle. This has resulted into considerable reduction in the strength of the working class and their movements, all over the world. This is largely because they have not adequately developed their strategies on the background of the vision of nonsectarian global welfare. This is possibly because of their inadequate insight or misconceptions about VEDANTIC philosophy. On the one hand irresponsible and cancerous growth of consumerism [at the cost of others] has taken place and on the other there is pathetic and helpless poverty and exploitation.
The moral and spiritual degeneration has been enormous and perpetuating. The solution to this can come with global perspective, which can result from Namasmaran, which according to great seers can free the society divided into classes into truly unified and classless society. This can be understood if one understands that it is the inner unity when and if unraveled that can lead to external unity envisaged in the concepts of the classless society. But mere attempt of extinction or annihilation of class can not help any class. Whether a person is a union leader or a sanitary worker the practice of Namasmaran as experienced by many can almost certainly open new avenues of development in their fields which are vital for accurate thoughts and actions. The opportunist and selfish pursuit or materialistic considerations of the present leadership of establishment as well as working class and the sense of helplessness and apathy of the land-less laborers, child laborers and such others, has to be overcome. Namasmaran as preached for centuries can be compared to light, which is indispensable irrespective of the types of residence (a palace, a bungalow or a hut). It seems to have the capacity to endow the cultural profundity which in itself is an effective and powerful weapon that can be used by those interested in true welfare of the mankind irrespective of whether they belong to the side of employers or employees and make them invincible. This can be realized more fully by the practice of Namasmaran and not otherwise. Intellectually however one can imagine how by Namasmaran one can become more objective, and thereby more beneficial to greater sections of society and how thereby one can gain undefeatable strength in his efforts to free himself as well as the ailing mankind both materially and spiritually. Strikes in public hospitals in India Since the strikes affect most of us, it is essential to find out the root causes of the strikes and try to deal with them. This is one of the intellectual measures of stress management and benefits an individual. Though it is true that strikes occur for various reasons and from time to time, those,
which occur in public hospitals, have a specific cause that can be detected and treated. The cause of strikes in public hospitals is the prevalence of the two concepts on which these institutions work. These concepts are, free medical care and economic dependence of these institutions on the government revenue and donations. FREE MEDICAL CARE The free medical care gives rise to parasitism, beggarly tendency, meekness and irresponsibility towards personal and public health amongst the patients. The free medical care creates a special and extremely favorable situation and golden opportunity for the powerful, rich and famous individuals to exploit the government revenue and tax payers’ money. The free medical care leads to zero returns and subsequent deterioration in the facilities given to patients and employees. The free medical care associated with perpetual absence of returns leads to unjustifiably low salaries, delay in filling the vacancies, delay in promotions. This state of affairs demoralizes the sincere and dedicated employees and promotes irresponsibility, lethargy, absenteeism, corruption etc. amongst the employees who are not paid properly due to [inadequate returns due to free services]. ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE OF THESE INSTITUTIONS ON THE GOVERNMENT REVENUE AND DONATIONS The public hospitals are not self-sufficient and do not have any productive/ commercial projects to support them. Naturally since there are no returns either from patients or from any other source, for what is spent, the public hospitals are always in loss. This has lead to inadequate progress in terms of inadequate facilities, inadequate salaries, inadequate employment in terms of number of employees in almost every category, protracted duty hours, worsening working conditions, worsening of staying conditions for the employees and crowding of patients due to huge patients/employee ratio.
All these factors have lead to deterioration of the quality of medical care. In fact because of this a large number of lower middle class and even poor patients turn to private practitioners, consultants and hospitals. This deterioration can be overcome by trying to make the public hospitals self-sufficient. For this, the concept of free medical care has to be revised and productive/commercial activities are undertaken. It is high time that the public hospitals are not run on FREE BASIS. This would bring adequate revenue to ensure progress in terms of adequate facilities, adequate salaries, appropriate employment which could ensure normal duty hours, improvement in working conditions, improvement in staying conditions for the employees and preventing excessive and many times [because the services are free] unnecessary crowding of patients. The patients should have to pay for the medical service they get. One may raise the objection that this is difficult to implement in case of very poor, helpless, unsupported patients. It is very true no sensitive and sensible individual would think of doing it as well. These patients who are in agonies, in emergencies, or helpless etc. should be made exception and a separate arrangement can be made for them. But in most other cases the problem can be overcome by making provision for payment through “services” or soft loans. Another way to make the public hospitals self-sufficient is by buttressing them with productive / commercial projects. One can think of more innovative plans as well. This is important because: A] it would inculcate a sense of responsibility towards one’s own health, towards public funds, towards public services, amongst the patients. B] it would generate the sense of accountability, satisfaction and fulfillment amongst the employees C] It would ensure optimal progress in medical care D] It would improve the lives of patients as well as employees E] It would make the revenue hitherto squandered on free medical care available for other developmental work thereby facilitating national progress.
CONCEPT OF FUNCTIONING OF A MUNICIPAL BODY The story of a hen we have heard It used to give eggs, which were of gold Its greedy owner killed the hen And he repented forever, in vein. The moral of the story is that, if we do not care for an institution or the city, on which our own as well as that of others’ survival is dependent, then it is suicidal besides leaving behind abyss for our future generations. Let those, who are adopting helpless attitude of witnessing, as well as those, who are in the frenzy of amassing wealth for their own children realize, that it would be a hell in which their children would have to live in. This is because whether rich or poor everyone citizen would be leaving in the hell of pollution, grave infectious diseases, dangerous diseases of life style, perversions such as cheating, frauds, violence in different forms and a variety heinous crimes born out of the pettiness-the legacy they get from their parents. In addition there would be many more other evils disrupting the whole social, family and individual life. We i.e. administrators, employees, union leaders, general public and political leaders-if do not take cognizance of this and do not act promptly and appropriately then our future generations will never forgive us. As administrators we should be clear in our concepts of holistic health and try to impart it to our people. This necessitates avoiding two extremes, viz. mercenary and corrupt transactions and totally free service. One has to understand here the difference between charitable, professional, commercial, mercenary and corrupt. Selfless services given to people are generally considered charitable. Without going into the depth of this it has to be accepted that such selflessness presupposes existence of institutions which would sustain such selflessness. Even the freedom struggle was sustained by many institutions private and public as well as individuals.
However, today honest charity has come in peril because of the onslaught of vested interests. The purpose of honest charity is usually defeated by vested interests. This is especially evident in squandering of money under the garb of charity, involved in subsidy, free services etc. This kind of squandering public money is disastrous to the well being of the MC and the people, honest taxpayers, who live under its jurisdiction and those benefited [in whom disastrous beggarly, irresponsible and parasitic attitude is developed]. Professional activity presupposes honest service and commensurate compensation. Commercial activity involves provision of quality goods or services in a commercial set up that involves proportionate profit or commission. In both of these there are certain codes of conduct or conventions which are observed and they are beneficial to both parties and hence generally not detrimental to the society. Mercenary activity involves transactions within legal framework but involve mere and disproportionate profits at the cost of customer and the people. Corruption involves transactions, which are illegal and detrimental to those, who indulge in it [as they get dehumanized by killing the humane element within themselves], to the institution and the people working in it [as their welfare come in peril] and the people whose development suffers. At present the municipal corporations [MC] are running hospitals, schools, colleges, medical colleges and is maintaining gardens and many other tourist spots etc at the cost of taxpayers. MC should adopt professional and hence truly benevolent approach and immediately start charging at least nominal fees for providing services and/or goods. This is not merely for getting revenue but for nurturing the sense of responsibility and understanding towards the value of services for which somebody pays. It must be appreciated that the well being of hospitals, medical colleges, municipal schools, offices, tourists spots such as gardens, caves, museums, zoos etc do not merely suffers because of the free-ship but actually leads to corruption, illicit and unlawful activities and so on. One need not make a list of examples here as it can become obvious even if one considers the maintenance of hospitals, colleges, schools offices etc. and tourist spots such as caves, museums, gardens and zoos [which have become plagued with unlawful activities]. It has to be
appreciated that the sickening of these institutions leads to cancerous growth of elements, which are commercial, mercenary or corrupt in nature. The revenue from this should be utilized in improvement in all these institutions, the employees, the plants and the animals therein as well as the people in general. The concept of professionalism also includes incorporation professional element in running these institutions. Thus, the schools, colleges, libraries, offices and any other buildings wherever feasible, should be made available for professional and even commercial use on non-working days and also at nights. This can get more revenue as well as generate more jobs. The incorporation of professionalism in running these institutions also involves understanding and introducing element of production in maximum number of jobs, which are involved in mere paper work or any other type of non-productive work. There are many departments in MC, which are totally unproductive [and consume tremendous revenue making it impossible in time to come, to fill vacancies, give incentives such as bonus and make new employment]. It is essential that some attitudinal changes be also adopted in this process. As administrators we must get rid of sense of insecurity, fear, cynicism and despair. We must try and convince the people concerned about the policies, plans and administrative strategies, which will be in the interest of society and the MC. It is also essential to stop praising us on the basis of petty achievements [while neglecting major failures] and giving excuses. As employees, It is high time that we learn our role in the development and welfare of the society and our responsibilities towards it and become irresponsible, irregular, accountable, sincere and so on. Because this makes us lose the public sympathy which is so much essential for fighting against injustice. We should be interested in our own well being as well as that of the institutions, on which our survival depends. We should not get lured by mere short- term economic gains, which are usually at the cost of the departments of MC in which we work, people and us.
As union leaders we must learn that we do not choose the easiest way of luring the employees with short-term economic gains, merely for our survival in view of the rabid competition in this field with respect to which union leader can give more short term economic gains. We must do our duty towards the employees in terms of giving them the education of politics and their role in a broad political scenario and broaden their vision, which is otherwise likely to become tubular and petty. Whether we like or not this pettiness breeds indifference towards national, social and even regional interests. This vision is either directly or indirectly responsible for success of movements nurturing casteism, sectarianism, religious fanaticism and so on. It is this fact which has made the labor movements unpopular and in most instances ineffective and unsuccessful on the one hand and successful but damaging to others on the other. We as union leaders if continue to do this, then one day may find ourselves in deep trouble. The employees and their generations to come besides the general public are going to blame us forever. Our leadership of course would come to a humiliating end without fail! As general public we are too much engrossed in our own problems that the problems of the city appear beyond our reach. In some cases it is true. But in general we must learn to voice our opinion and as far as possible studied opinion about public and social issues [and not remain interested only in public issues!]. We must realize the importance our contribution towards the decay and death or growth and prosperity of the society we live in and the city and its administration viz. MC, which has sustained us. We must participate in the cleanliness of the city and its environment. As political leaders we should not remain biased and nurture the vested interests of our voters and those patronizing us. This jeopardizes the developmental activities. Partisan interest can be overcome if one resolves to do so. Seeking proper advice for inner growth and our own holistic health is one way of doing this. CONCEPTS OF ABSTRACT NATURE Is it true that KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA, justifies injustice, exploitation and inequality?
Let us try to understand KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA properly then decide whether it justifies injustice, exploitation and inequality and whether it is valid today or not. It is essential to appreciate why it is criticized severely and is not quite popular today. The possible reasons for this are as follows. 1] First thing is that our ego prevents us from accepting or agreeing with KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA is that such acceptance appears to it amount to a] accepting the present situation [PHALA] even if it is unpleasant and b] accepting the link between or cause and effect relationship between the present unpleasant situation and our past (mis)deeds, referred to as KARMA. Obviously this is because we do not want our misfortune to be theoretically justified on the basis of our faults or misdeeds as we find it insulting! Isn’t it true that our usual unspoken sentiment is that we are always immaculate, accurate, righteous and virtuous? Even when we “accept” our faults, it is only because we need a face of modesty for gaining social acceptability! 2] This is also because the effect i.e. PHALA does not follow the KARMA immediately and hence does not fit in the usual concept of cause and effect. The relationship between KARMA and PHALA is not as simple as a chemical reaction between hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. Therefore it is not easily comprehensible and predictable. But the discerning readers would appreciate that all the effects need not follow the causes immediately. In clinical medicine it is not at all unusual to find that many times there is a gap of several years between the cause of a disease and its manifestations. There are many genetic disorders, which manifest several years after the birth even when their causes are present in the genes right from the time of conception! 3] The third reason why this concept does not appear to be acceptable is because of our own kindness. It is painful for us to see social evils such as diseases, poverty, crimes and such many things in society. We feel that everybody should be happy. We find it difficult to digest the fact that some people suffer throughout and some seem to always enjoy. This is especially so when we find that those who are good hearted persons according to us
are seen suffering in life, whereas as those who are rogues according to us appear to enjoy! This disturbs us and we start feeling that KARMA PHALA concept is a baseless justification of status quo. Obviously this is because we do not know the link between KARMA and PHALA. 4] Fourth reason is that when we get emotionally charged, we immediately get attracted to the concept of equality either on our own or because of the propaganda done by, a variety of self-styled conscience keepers of the society. The propaganda is so powerful that we are unable to see the fallacy in the concept. We start believing blindly that there are only two choices viz. equality and inequality. We forget that there had never been equality in the past and there is no equality anywhere in the world even today. We do not understand that there can not be can not be equality in terms of identical incomes, identical houses, identical jobs etc. We do not realize that just as artificially imposed discrimination and hence inequality is cruel and barbaric, arbitrary insistence for such equality is absurd and fanatic. We do not understand that though discrimination is demonic, differences are not. We do not appreciate that beyond equality and inequality there is a third and wiser concept viz. harmony. Hence unity in diversity and harmony in the different groups is natural and desirable. Just as every tree in universe is different and the insistence that they should be same is irrational, in the same way insistence on the equality of every individual is unreasonable. We do not appreciate that opportunities of education, careers and material progress should be abundant and opportunities of enlightenment to choose socially and individually beneficial opportunity should also be abundant! But this requires transcending the hypocritically perpetuated of concept of equality and cruel practice of inequality. KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA is a law that links millions of different events in the space and time. It therefore also gives an idea about the characteristic and unique though not intelligible in terms of details, link of events intrinsic to every person’s life, which is different from that of the others! Every one of has a unique place in universe. KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA is nothing else but appreciation of the fact that everyone is unique.
Having said this, what do we do about the suffering in the society? Should we witness it indolently and callously? No. It has to be appreciated that even as every individual life is unique availability of time, earth, water, food, growth, reproduction are common features to every living being. Similarly even as every one of us is different yet everyone requires must get a chance to grow,heahily in every possible way! In short, even as we concede the KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA, it does not mean that we sit idle, but we make endeavors for the empowerment, growth and progress of everyone in his/her own unique way. In fact KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA teaches us to accept our responsibility for the pleasures and pains in our lives as well as concede and respect every individual life as unique and respect it. This in contrast to developing patronizing, condescending attitude and feelings such as pity, mercy on the one hand and feelings such disgust, hatred, condemnation etc on the other. It teaches us to try to promote policies, plans, programs etc. which would benefit everyone in terms of prosperity, profundity and real empowerment, growth and progress. Thus KARMAPHALASIDDHANTA teaches us to look at life [ours as well as that of the others] as it is and appreciate and concede the uniqueness and thereby helps us to overcome tendencies to make designs, plans and programs based on short sight and inadequate grasp of life, for our life and that of the of the others. In fact this gives us strength to overcome disturbance arising out of the discrepancy between our subjective and hence deficient schemes and the objective reality. We learn to accept the reality and act on it according to our unique capabilities. This can become clear from the fact that I am writing this i.e. present situation [PHALA] as a result of my characteristic efforts in past [KARMA] and many are doing other things [PHALA] according to their past [KARMA]. You are reading this [PHALA] according to your past [KARMA]! So every one of us is unique and hence deserves unconditional respect and love. Hence prophets, visionaries, saints shower everyone of us-even the criminals- the sinners, with profound love and blessings.
CONCEPTS OF SUPERSTITION, FAITH AND RATONALITY It appears that everywhere in the world there are believers and nonbelievers. These words obviously relate to belief in God. Belief in God may be branded as superstition by some nonbelievers and the believers may brand non-belief in God as heretic. Actually belief or non-belief in God are subjective perceptions of individuals. Moreover they do not determine the course of life of an individual. Thus a person can be paranoid and criminal even if he/she calls himself/herself believer and a person can be decent even if he/she says that he/she is a nonbeliever. Therefore in most cases such belief or non-belief in itself does not guarantee good or bad behavior and hence it is always better to grant the others the privilege to either believe or not believe in God. But there are instances when the nature of belief (or so-called non-belief, because while proclaiming non-belief actually belief in the nonexistence of God is proclaimed!) becomes fanatic and even antisocial. It is in such circumstances that there manifests criminal intolerance towards the opinion of the others. Such fanaticism usually thrives on superstition. The superstition is nothing else but unreasonable, unrealistic and adamant belief in a particular phenomenon even when the opposite of it is objectively proved, repeatedly and in several places. The belief as well as the non belief, assume the dimension of a superstition, when the belief of the believers and the non belief of the nonbelievers (which is actually belief in their petty self or the petty self of their leader) lead to killing of the others. The believers as well as non-believers in such circumstances are actually engaged in capitalizing on the weakness of a common man. The nature of activities of the fanatic believers as well as nonbelievers is always mean, deceptive, full of ulterior motives and dictatorial and demeaning the people. It is interesting to note that in the case of fanatic believers as well as non- believers it may assume formation of terrorist groups. It may take the form of false propaganda. It may take the form of deification of an ordinary charlatan in case of believers and extreme glorification of a political leader in the nonbelievers. It may take a form of selling false miracles, promises
and forecasts in the case of believers and it may take the form of selling “make believe dreams” in the case of nonbelievers. It can be appreciated from the foregoing that superstitions are born in maniacal and petty minds and thrive on the petty and weak minds. They are not restricted to any religion, cult, party, organization constituted by believers or nonbelievers alone. While thinking about belief and non-belief it is interesting to note that most of our activities are knowingly or unknowingly centered around faith. Thus, there is faith in our mind about our parents, our children, our relatives, our acquaintances, our teachers, our doctors and so on and so forth. In fact large section of our life is based on and determined by faith or belief. So let us (whether we are believers or nonbelievers) understand what this word faith or belief meant to most of the religions. This may help us to be tolerant and save us from going to the stage of superstitiousness and fanaticism. Traditionally total faith either in God or in the ‘Guru’ is equivalent to total submission of ego or total surrender of one’s petty self. This submission reduces the unleashing of one’s petty self. In today’s times there is always a possibility that non-belief as well as belief may actually be devotion to the petty ego of one’s own or that of another. This can prove to be selfish and exploitative on the one hand and damaging or destructive on the other. Hence in view of paucity of reliable counseling or gurus, it is better to believe in no body and instead choose NAMASMARAN or name of a God so that one can develop a thought anchor and gradually learn to overcome one’s petty ego and thereby selfishness and foolishness. Thus we can overcome the maniacal petty traits and also the petty and weak traits within us as well as others ourselves and thereby protect and save oneself and also the others from the menace of superstitiousness and fanaticism. In general one can roughly observe three stages with respect to development of an individual in terms of faith. The first stage is that of ignorance. In this stage, the person, his thoughts and his actions are centered around his petty self and flow automatically in
total lack of awareness of one’s true self. This stage is in one sense that of child like innocence and not that of malice and viciousness. The second stage is beginning of awareness of one’s true self in terms of love and compassion for the others and the petty self in terms of sexual passion, lust for power etc. This is associated with struggle between the two elements classified as divine and devilish or godly and demonic. This stage may be associated with certain norms, conventions, precepts and practices such worship, chanting the name of God etc to struggle for rights of the downtrodden, independence struggles etc which promote divinity and to contain the petty self as against those which promote the unleashing of the petty self, such as exploitation, riots, looting, drug peddling, terrorism etc! The third stage is that of efforts to realize the aphorism that essence of the universe and the essence of an individual are united and continuous. One begins to try to experience the merger in the ocean of love with eternal life. One tends to verify whether the Namasmaran i.e. remembering the name of God takes us from the firm illusion of transient fragmented disunity to the realization of the eternal reality which unites and “governs” the universe. Having said this much about faith and superstition, let us understand the meaning of rationalism and its importance, scope and limitation. The development of analytical thinking, the pursuit of intellectual verification, the passion for intellectual conceptualization, the advent of accumulation of factual information etc. have benefited the mankind tremendously. This understanding is important in stress management also. We can understand this by an example. Imagine swimming pool, with a facility of a nice diving board. Imagine beautiful steps to reach that diving board. Imagine that you can not swim unless you dive! Now, swimming in the pool after diving wonderfully and enjoying it is like managing stress. The steps to reach that diving board are like rationality or intelligence. Those of us who do not climb the steps obviously cannot swim. Irrationality and blind belief are hurdles in the management of stress. Similarly those who climb the steps and reach the diving board, but do not jump from it can also not swim. Getting imprisoned in intellectual framework or one’s rationality [without realizing that it has its own limitations] is being blind to millions of possibilities which are beyond the
range one’s own intelligence and hence also can act as a hurdle in stress management. Climbing the steps, reaching the diving board and jumping from it [getting freed from the enslavening shackles of one’s own paradigms and intellectual frames], help one efficiently manage the stress!! For getting this point it is important to appreciate the difference between being rational and rationalist. Being rational, as everyone understands is making intellectual efforts to unravel the truth while simultaneously conceding the scope and limitations of the methodology. Being rational involves awareness about one’s limitations. Because, it is a fact that there are limitations, to the capacity, of the human neurophysiology Being rationalist is (as far as I understand) harboring the belief that everything in life must be governed in what that person feels is rational. Rationalist seems to forget that lot of things are quite irrational and yet extremely beautiful and valuable aspects of human civilization. Take for example the unbounded love defying all rationality between Romeo and Juliet. Rationalist (again, as far as I understand) appears to denigrate or at least disapprove, human transactions, which have instinctual basis, emotional basis and intuitive basis. One of the classical examples is that of the faith between a wife and husband. In absence of such faith the wife or the husband would have to provide the partner with proof, evidence, witness etc for her or his all day to day activities. I am sure that rationalist are in most instances driven by their conscience and are very humane. But I am trying to voice the flaw in their assumptions. In nutshell, rationality has obviously contributed to the development of human civilization. But even the rationalist thinking also has done a very good job when it comes to opposing the crass superstitions (conducive to cheating and exploitation). But rationalistic approach has the potential to contribute to disintegration of interpersonal faith and trust. In the process of being inquisitive about facts and principles governing them, we ought not to get carried away by rationalistic frenzy, which can make us skeptical and suspicious about the finest of reality viz. the intrinsic unity of mankind. Rationalist frenzy can lead to misconceptions about the traditional practices such as Namasmaran. Imprisonment in one’s intellect can lead to suicidal
notions that Namasmaran is an intellectual liability. Such thing is possible because of cancerous growth of unenlightened intellectual process. Traditional practice of Namasmaran has the potential (as repeatedly taught by the seers) to enrich us with the strength and wisdom to develop and use all our faculties including intellectual in a healthy and socially as well as individually beneficial manner. Is it useful to find out degree of pleasure or sadness? Yes. It is quite a useful thing to do. This is because the quality of life can be improved and happiness in life can be multiplied by this simple endeavor. This is how we can actually experience it. Most of us experience boredom, depression, restlessness, vacuum, sense of loss, sense of having wasted life and so on. This is because we are not satisfied with our achievements. We feel that that we have not lived to the best of our own expectations and of those whom we love and respect. But this stage which comes sometime around the age of forty five and many time corresponds to the age of menopause [cessation of monthly cycle] in women can be overcome or prevented by learning to find out the degree of pleasure or sadness in any given activity that we do. We can find out the degree of pleasure or sadness from its intensity, its duration and its impact on the surrounding society. Thus small things such a tasty dish gives pleasure but it lasts for a short time, its intensity has its own limits and its influence on the society is minimal. In childhood we enjoy these things and that is quite normal. [But if we see a middle age mother or a father, fighting for a chocolate or ice cream with children, we would surely feel that it is abnormal!] Compare this activity with a discovery of a vaccine or a socially beneficial concept. The intensity would be tremendous, duration would be spreading over years and influence could be on millions. As and when we grow, we gradually and intuitively learn to find out the degree of pleasure. This is also called as acculturation or getting cultured. In fact the quality of our life can be easily judged by the aim that we have and