Body should be Healthy and Strong

Meaning: The line of Athervaved 5/3/1 says us that – for victory in the struggle in this world, it is necessary that the body be healthy and strong. A weak body does not have that strength and luster by which to rule and lead.

Message: Man is a social animal. He shines with the qualities of mutual cooperation and generosity. He opens many varieties of doors to knowledge, experience, means, production, contemplation and development by cooperating with others through intellectual and active cooperation and can move forward on the road to progress. But not every man can do this. There are also wicked, men with bad tendencies and bad conduct in the society who work for harming others, instead of mutual cooperation. They go on spreading bad thoughts, bad habits, bad customs and anarchy everywhere. Government can punish some criminals, provide the means for economic progress, but it is beyond
Government’s control to abolish individual foolishness, wickedness, social corruption and disorganizations.

In a democracy, the responsibility for human and societal reforms is that of public servants or social workers. They have to provide leadership to the society on this front. Only such men can be capable in raising high the level of the society and the nation. For that, first one’s own individual life has to be made of a high level so as to be able to influence others properly. He has to lay an ideal before the society by his own conduct. By looking at the sorrows and difficulties of others, he has to reduce his own facilities, has to deal courteously and in a civilized manner with others, speak pleasantly and keep his promises, has to adopt the policy of honesty and present the ideal of fulfilling properly his responsibility to the society. It is very difficult to change the bad customs in the society. For that he has to establish the traditions of healthy customs. For reforming the society, for running it and for spreading healthy traditions, constant struggle is required.

To develop such capacity for leadership, physical and spiritual strength is necessary. It is most important that the body be well built and disease-free. Gandhiji was extremely weak in built and very thin, but he had the brightness of spiritual strength which astounded the whole world. The daring produced by profound spiritual strength becomes capable of battling the bad customs of the society. In this battle there is resistance from every side, ridicule and non cooperation from the people and the social reformer has to make the tremendous effort of swimming against the current. Only with strong health at both individual and societal levels, the bliss and contentment of material and spiritual progress like that of civilized and organized people can be achieved.

This is the only royal road to victory in the struggle in this world.

Air is Life

Meaning: According to the line of Samved 1841 – Air is life, it is health –giving and hence taking in this life-giving air in the dawn gives as much happiness as a father, brother or a friend.

Message: Real beauty in the world is in Nature only. Whatever attempts we may make to increase our beauty with artificial means, but the health, energy and beauty obtained by our body through contact with Nature is superior in many ways. By observing the rule of Nature and by exercise and natural food, balanced development of the muscles takes place and every limb shines with beauty. By regular breathing of happiness-giving air in the dawn and by physical exercise, man becomes disease-free and long-lived. If we wish to be strong, powerful and brave then we must adopt this regular daily routine.

Regularity has great importance. Most people get up in the dawn just for 3-4 days, do a little exercise and then put a full-stop to it. In this way, it will only cause harm instead of benefit. One should cultivate a habit of getting up daily at a fixed time and taking exercise. Doing regular exercise is a very good habit, which has a surprisingly good effect not only of increasing physical strength but also mental strength. The best and cheapest medicine for producing good appetite and good sleep is to do hard labor throughout the day. But the magic of exercise is special. Its effect is not limited to the body only, but it also facilitates cleansing up of one’s nature and increases willpower. The wrestler exercising for two hours in the gymnasium is more powerful than the black-smith beating the iron by the forge throughout the day. The reason for it is the enthusiasm connected with exercise. The feeling at that time is of the worship of health and the psychological effect of that faith influences our health.

The body becomes rock-like, beautiful and well-proportioned by regular exercise and regular games, the power to bear hunger, thirst, heat and cold is produced, the muscles become energized, the lungs becomes strong, the blood purified, intelligence sharpened, longevity achieved, disease and old age do not dare to come even nearby and death always remains away. Depending on the region and the kind of time prevailing, indigenous and light exercise, and yogaasana must be performed and games played. To imitate foreign countries and to run after cricket, tennis and other such costly games is a crime against the nation. This does not also mean that we should spend the entire time in exercise or games. One should arrange a time-slot according to one’s needs and partake of the fresh air of the dawn and take exercise. This is the best arrangement for remaining healthy. The evening can be utilized for some game or taking a walk, but it must be remembered that even though the available time may be less, there should be regularity.

A regular routine makes the life pleasant.S

Achieve the Objective of Life

Meaning: The line of the Athervaved 19/60/1 says us the truth about our objective. May the power of air never get destroyed from my mouth, or the vitality of air from the nose, nor vision from the eyes, and hearing from the ears? May my hair not turn grey, may my teeth remain firm and may there be strength in my hands.

Message: According to Nepalese tradition, man’s life is divided into four phases called ‘aashrams’ God has granted a life of one hundred years to man and the rishis (sages) have allotted 25 years to each phase of life called “Brahmacharya, Gruhastha, Vanaprastha and sanyaas aashrams. The first 25 years of life are for observing brahmacharya (celibacy and closeness to God), learning and developing the body. The next 25 years are for discharging one’s responsibilities to the family, the next 25 years are for the joint-endeavor of self development and doing public welfare activity while simultaneously making the family self dependent and cultured. The last 25 years are for freeing oneself from the attachment to the family, and complete surrender to God and nation while moving around in the country. This wise and practical division of life-span is applicable and useful for the present times also.

Will it be enough if we get a hundred years life span by the grace of God? To enjoy the happiness of this long life, full energy and freedom from disease are necessary. Only then one gets happiness in life. Otherwise dragging around a diseased body for a hundred years is like severe punishment. Therefore it becomes a man’s duty to maintain his diet, conduct and dealings etc in such a way that be remains fully healthy while achieving longevity, keeping his eyes, ears, nose, and teeth working at full capacity and there is no slackening of life’s vitality.

Suppose by the grace of God, along with a hundred years life-span, good health is also maintained, then will that be enough and life’s objective achieved? No. What is the use of mere physical fitness? Even more important is mental and spiritual health. In their absence, the physical strength will be misused as it was misused by the demon king Ravan and by the wicked Duryodhan and man will not be able to see beyond selfishness, attachment and greed. All his energies or powers will be used in the pursuit of wealth and more wealth and still more for all the facilities and comforts. By being immersed in the desires for children, money and fame, his activity will increase for exploiting others. Everywhere there will be an atmosphere of plunder, robbery and fights. Their energies will be utilized in creating the scenario of ‘might is right’. The man trapped in the whirlpool of desires will neither himself be happy nor will allow others to be happy.

Along with physical health, mental personal and spiritual level also should be excellent for achieving happiness, peace, prosperity and contentment in individual, familial and societal life. We can achieve the objective of life on the basis of such good efforts.

Body Mind and Soul

There are three vital areas that could enable us to fulfill the purpose of our lives to become self-realized. The three dharmic obligations are: Bhoutika dharma or worldly obligations that are fulfilled through the body, mano dharma that is fulfilled through the mind and intellect and atma dharma that activates and empower the soul. All you need to do is follow four steps:

1              Value the body: We normally value our body for its beauty, youth, health or usefulness, without realizing that it is a walking miracle. From birth to death, the body carries out innumerable life-sustaining activities. The heart beats 86,400 times and lungs breathe 21,600 times every day. All this is possible due to the inexhaustible power called the soul that is enshrined in the body which is making life throb around it. When we are aware that we constantly carry this sacred energy, we will never misuse it to perform actions which are harmful, demonic, criminal or destructive in nature. We follow a strict regimen; Niyama with a definite schedule of time for food, sleep and regular routing of sadhana. Thus we discipline the body.

2              Process the mind: We should examine every thought and emotion scrupulously to check whether it falls within the framework of righteousness with great objectivity and vitality. Chanting Aum , which is the seed mantra or syllable of the soul, energies the mind and transforms it into an impartial witness. This also churns the mind and draws out all thoughts and emotions hidden in its subconscious layers.

This is symbolically depicted in churning the kshirasagara or ocean of milk to obtain the nectaar of immortality. Here, the mind is the said ocean and the sacred syllable Aum, from which the whole universe emerged, is the churner. Our good thoughts, dharma, represent the gods and bad thoughts, adharma, represent demons. As we begin churning the mind by chanting Aum for at least 30 minutes at a stipulated time every-day, cleansing of the mind begins and the negativity within is thrown out and divinity is retained.

3              Eliminate negativity: As we continue our sadhana by chanting Aum with total faith and belief, Shiva in the form of a guru removes all the negativity as soon as it rises up from within us. All negative thoughts, tendencies and feelings we have accumulated over many lifetimes rise to the surface. This negative energy constricting the mind is eliminated through the grace of the guru and our intellect, concentration and memory become razor sharp. We make quick, accurate decisions and complete our tasks at lightning speed. Everyday expands to give us ample time for further sadhana and we become more and more absorbed in the vibrations of it.

4              Create Wealth: As this point you will begin to create nidhi or treasure. As we immerse completely in sadhana, we transcend our senses and the mind blossoms and the heart expands to embrace all beings. We generate only selfless, dharmic desires which benefit all and are instantaneously fulfilled by Cosmic Will. We develop selflessness which is one of the important characteristics of Self-realization and our atma dharma is there by fulfilled.

Devotion Versus Intellect

There are two approaches to the final goal of enlightenment according to Buddhist scriptures. They are the path of devotion and the path of reasoning. Of these two, the devotional path or the path of shraddha is more practicable for the average person. Unshaken positive attention towards an object or a cause is what we are taking about when we use the word devotion. Devotion has been categorized into three types on the basis of characteristics. The first is devotion with serenity. The second is devotion with confidence and the third is devotion with inspiration.

Consider the body, speech and mind of the Buddha and let us understand these with our mental projection of the Buddha: His body full of serenity, the soothing sound of his voice speaking the truth, and his mind, compassionate and all-knowing. Such a perception of the Buddha is devotion with serenity. Attention to speech is devotion with confidence and attention to the mind of the Buddha is devotion with inspiration. When we see or imagine a beautiful status of the Buddha, for example, of the Gupta period, we feel the sense of serenity of not only the face of the image but can feel almost as though Buddha is speaking to us with compassion/. We can get the feel of an atmosphere of simplicity and peace around us.

These three kinds of devotion are also explained in another way on certain occasions. This is to understand them with the help of the Buddhist trinity; devotion with serenity towards Buddha, devotion with confidence towards dharma or the teaching, and devotion with inspiration towards sangha, the spiritual community.

The second way of explaining the three kinds of devotion is a more philosophical way than the first one. One experiences the serene atmosphere, in which the Buddha appears in order to benefit many living beings, and the main act of the Buddha is to show the path he himself found and traversed; one also gets confidence that the dharma is the definite and the only way to enlightenment. Your spiritual friends - the kalyanmitrea circle - are a source of inspiration. This is because you may have found the right path to enlightenment, but without inspiring role models around you, it is difficult to proceed with the experience.

Sometimes there is a tendency in Buddhism to look down on the devotional path in contrast to the philosophical one. In any faith one may find the shift of emphasis between the paths of devotion and philosophy and the idea that the philosophical approach is for the sharper intellect while devotion is for the one with duller intellect. This is too much of a generalization. One thing is clear. Every spiritual seeker cannot be expected to be a philosopher. Therefore, it is important to appreciate the role of devotion. A Mahayana Buddhist sutra states that devotion precedes all the other spiritual qualities because it is devotion that will guard and further develop all the spiritual qualities. For, human beings look forward to the appropriate basis of life, some degree of confidence and a lot of inspiration from many sources.

The acts of devotion are many. One practical way is chanting of name mantras. Mindful repetition of such mantras increases concentration on the one to whom the mantra is addressed and thereby the first step of devotion is taken.