Kindle Life – Navarasa – Episode:7

There are “Navarasa’s” (nine state of a being) mentioned in Vedic literatures as characteristics of human beings. I could not find an equivalent English word to describe a “Rasa” and kindly permit me to use the word “Rasa” through out this article. More than characteristics, I would imagine “Rasa” is the manifestation of behavior of human beings in each of these Rasa’s at different times in our Life. The nine Rasa’s are:

• 1.     Hasya – Humour
• 2.     Adbudha – Wonderment
• 3.    Shringara – Romance (very approximate translation)
• 4.    Raudra - Anger
• 5.     Karuna – Compassion
• 6.    Veera – Valor (Fearlessness)
• 7.     Bhaya (Fear)
• 8.     Bibhatsa – Disgust
• 9.    Shanta – Peace 

We are indefinitely striving for the ninth Rasa “Shanta, the Peace” through several means throughout our life. We hardly reach there, as the means are invariably wrong which has no capability to take us to that destination! In this article I wish to cover the macro picture of each of these Rasa’s and their importance in our life.

1. Hasya – Humour:

 In our childhood we found everything amusing right from the butterfly to airplane and we never had any inhibitions to laugh and giggle. As we grew up whenever we laughed, we were told that we have to be serious to achieve in life. Parents and teachers progressively ensured that we loose our ability to have humour in life. In our corporate World humour has no place which acts as lubrication in our life and improves efficiency and relationship. The research shows the organization with lighter atmosphere achieves more and has the least attrition. Humour sabotages outcome is a myth and believing that seriousness means absence of humour is absurd.

People who blend humour in their transactions found to have better relationship and produce results better than people who are always serious. Medically smile is found to have therapeutic value for well-being. I recently attended E-Lab (Energy Lab) programme of Swami Shukbodananda where we were taught how to develop the sense of humour including flexing the cheek muscles, which have become rigid without usage of laughing. People with light heatedness are found to have healthy and long life. Let us have “Hasya Rasa” in our daily life.

2. Adbudha Rasa - Wonderment

The Adbudha rasa is an integral part of us when we have born. When we were a toddler we kept every object in our mouth to figure our what that object is all about. We were very curious and wondering to see everything around us. As we grew up, slowly got into the rut of conformity taking everything granted and no wonderment in spite of everything is a miracle around us. The heart beating, breathing, digesting and any other functions of the body happening without our conscious effort is a miracle. Earth rotating without a spinning mechanism, flowers blossoming, lotus not getting wetted by water and everything we see around us is a miracle. If we are  are  open for this vision there will be wonderment and we have closed our senses they are events of daily life. The falling apple was a wonder for only one human being when billions of them saw in the past and taken for granted as a normal incident. It was jokingly said when Newton asked his father “why the apply has fallen down?”, his father had no answer and seem to have said “My son it was falling during my father and grand father days as well! All of them took it, polished it and ate it! My son you also do the same!”

The learning quotient - LQ is a function of wonderment which kindles curiosity and some of us remain as learners throughout our life. “One who knows not that he knows not is a fool” which means that there are large domain in this universe still remains as a mystery to be unfolded and we don’t know that we don’t know. When we are in this domain the wonderment is the only Rasa that will help us investigate this mystery the nature has kept in its bosom and waiting its children’s to discover. Let Adbudha rasa keep your LQ drive your life.

3. Shringara Rasa – Romance

One of the experiences all of us would have gone through is Shringara – the romance either in our pre-marital or after marriage at least in the first six months. In Tamil there is a saying “Asai aruvadu nall, moham mupadu nall” which means that desire after marriage will last for 30 days and lust will last till sixty days. This means that the romance is temporary till the lust is present. All of those who fell in love or infatuation will recall that we felt the woman or men who we fell in love with is going to provide eternal happiness we experienced in the dating days! Alas, the fact is disastrous after marriage; why? The astronomical telephone bill during pre-marriage dating has not even reduced to answering sms once a day!

The Shringara rasa is not Lust for sex! It is far beyond the physical needs. Today needing a partner at adulthood is for either satisfying sexual needs or serving the person and that explains the disappearance of Shringara once the lust is fulfilled. Let me quote Kahlil Gibran’s version of marriage:

“You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love.

Stand together yet not too near together: for the pillars of temple stand apart”

The Shringara is the most bonding ingredient between men and woman which adds spice to life even during the old age as it is free from lust for ephemeral aspects of life. If Shringara rasa is predominant during the married life it can keep the fire of love forever.

4. Raudra Rasa – Anger:

In my previous article “Anger Management” I presented the evil effects of anger. If anger is evil, the nature would not have created a Rasa of its kind. Let us look at the positive aspect of Raudra rasa.

The Raudra is divided into two rasas namely positive and negative. Positive anger ensures that you are not used as a doormat or taken for granted by the people around you. When anger expressed in a controlled manner it always has a positive effect. If the anger is expressed in an un-controlled manner it becomes a negative anger which spoils relationship and affects the image of the person. When one says “I am angry about ………” and expresses in a cool manner, the other person understands that the act is reprimanded and not the person. Often it is taken more seriously than expressed through an un-controlled anger. Raudra rasa hence is the positive anger that enhances your personality.

5. Karuna Rasa:  

The approximate translation of Karuna Rasa is what Buddha called as “Compassion”. It is not sympathy as it is often misunderstood. Sympathy leads to giving and enforces the ego of the giver feeling superior to the receiver. As Vivekananda says “Giving is possible only when the receiver is willing to accept and hence we need to thank the receiver for accepting our giving!”

Compassion is a state of a being where we are so tolerant to the people that none of their act can hurt you as you feel that “They knows not what they are doing” as Jesus said when he was crucified or Lord Buddha was spat on his face. In modern days we feel that when someone slaps us in one cheek, we should slap them in both their cheeks! It is very hard to make the modern man to understand what is compassion is all about.

There are several occasions we come across a situation in our family and professional life where we react heavily and regret later that those reactions could have been avoided. Such a feeling comes only when we are compassionate to those beings that we felt have hurt us. Hence compassion is none other than of a state of a being when we forgive those who commit mistakes and seemingly hurting us. Hence Karuna is an advanced state of a being which one can master after developing the previous 4 rasas.

The balance Rasa’s to follow soon. Wish you all the best to apply the Navarasa’s in your life.

Love

NC

NC's Quotes

"Life is a biological process; Living is a choice you make"

"Human being saying "not feeling happy" is like fish saying “I am thirsty"

"Abundance or scarcity is a state of mind that decide your actions; Abundance expands your horizon"

"You can't create your future from your past"

"If you feel you are a product, you have limited possibilities; if you feel you are a process, you have abundant possibilities"

"Possibility thinking is the exclusive prerogative of human amongst all the species"

"Analyzing the past is like inspecting the garbage before disposal"

"Learn from your past; don't try to create your destiny from it"

Work Life Balance (Part-2):

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Tip-1: Quality vs Quantity of time:

I remember long time back, when I was facilitating a Personal Growth lab for one of my clients, my daughter who was 14 years old then, accompanied me. While I was handling a session on work-life balance, one of the participants asked my daughter “Hi Sashi, your father being a busy consultant, may be hardly spending time at home; how do you feel about it?” And my daughter spontaneously answered, “It is not the quantity of time that is important but the quality of time is more important –and he spends Quality time with us!” I was amazed by her answer; as a young girl, she had rightly acknowledged her father’s contribution to her life.

I agree, in modern life style we get little time with the family and often we wish to stare at the idiot box most of that time instead of indulging in a conversation with our spouse or the children. Many of us feel that we can’t really have long, meaningful conversations with our children, as we do not really have much in common to talk about with them, considering the generation gap; and this thinking is the result of trying to find  meaning in whatever we do; which, at times, in not possible.! My grandson is 2 ½ years old and, I agree, it is not possible to discuss with him about my business plans. He has his own agenda while I spend time with him, and I decide to go with his agenda as that is the only thing that is possible! Even if I spend just half an hour with him, while he beats me at least twice in between, I have realized that I enjoy every moment (including beatings) of it, as I have to go back to my childhood to match his frequency. And it brings immense joy. Please remember, life is a bundle of human interactions and to spend quality time with our spouse and our children, we need to make a conscious choice and some adjustments.

Tip-2: Don’t aim to win all the time:

Many husbands avoid going home early as they think will have to negotiate conflicts with their wife and hence they tend to pretend they are busy at office. I am surprised to see how men and women can talk for hours when they are courting and that too without many conflicts and how things suddenly change once they are married. You’ll find them in perennial conflicts. Why? Well, finding an answer to this question is closer to attaining nirvana to me! How two human beings, who have started to share their life, can have huge conflicts in any conceivable agenda? The only root cause I could think of is that each one of them wants control the other human being – the aim is to win all the time. Even if they know secretly that their argument is futile. But they still want to win the argument and have an upper hand in the conversation. No wonder, divorces are increasing world over, including India, as both the spouses don’t want to give up their so called “rights”.

Life is not all about winning and controlling always.  It is also about being controlled and loosing, sometimes. While you play hide & seek game with your child, you hide in a place where the child can find you out because eventually you want the child to win. You derive pleasure in losing and not winning. Similarly, there are many occasions between husband and wife where losing can be more pleasurable than winning. For example, the wife always wants to select her husband’s clothes while she does not want her husband to choose her saris! Have you not experienced this when you affectionately buy her a sari, expecting she is going to hug and kiss you? But instead she ruins your excitement by scolding you to buy her such an expensive sari; because she thinks that the shop keeper charged you more than the real worth? Initially, I thought it is only me who has had this experience; but after checking with many friends, I concluded that all the husbands around, without exceptions, have resolved not to buy any clothes for their wives in their life time for having had similar experiences!  

Please allow your partner to decide few things without your interruptions. The sari is just a medium through which husband expresses his love and not an end in itself. Ignore the sari and see the love!

Tip-3: The Family came FIRST:          

We often have confusion, “Is the job for family or Family for the job?” The social arrangement called family has a strong rationale and it came first and the job came later; for the livelihood of the family and not the other way around! For some unknown reasons all species wish to live together – you see a flock of same feathers and herds of the same kind of animals. There is no system called marriage in an animal kingdom and it never posed any social problems also but the same logic cannot be extended to human beings who live in a society and are an advanced version of the same species.

Psychology says, “we exist in others listening” – what does this really mean? It means that I can be sane only in the presence of other human beings and my identity comes from others. For example, if I am alone on this planet, “I as NC” cannot be defined and I will also be another kind of animal altogether. So the necessity for a family comes from the paradigm that for remaining sane you need loved ones. – But we get so involved in everything else that we forget to love them back!!

Jobs came next; with the primary aim of supporting the family, but unfortunately they assume more significance than the family, which was the very reason for the job in the first place. The means has assumed more importance than the end. Unless we are conscious of this fact, there will be no redemption for us. For many, career assumes more importance than seeing a smile on the child’s face.

Tip-4: Make intelligent Choices

I recently met a successful young professional and was exchanging pleasantries with him on the topic of ‘work-life balance’. Quite surprisingly, he mentioned that he had stopped reading the newspaper and watching TV since last 3 years; so that he can gain time to spend with his family. I was happy to hear that my son and I did the same thing long time back. For a modern mind, this may look stupid as the obvious question that comes to our mind will be, “How do you know the developments in the country, without reading or watching the news, which is also needed to do your job better?” So he also cited a dialogue he had with his boss, who had questioned his ability to perform without reading economic times.

Let us deal with this rationale. My son Naveen used to say, “Newspaper is a good companion while you are on the toilet seat when your body is busy, so your mind also can be engaged on something!” If you carefully examine the contents of newspapers today, most of it covers politics and crimes, which is good for nothing and pollutes your mind. At least definitely not something you want to start your morning with! Tell me, for how many business decisions that we have taken, the inputs have come from the newspapers?  Unless otherwise you are a Narayana Murthy of Infosys or a CFO of a large corporate or if being updated on various happenings is a chronic need for your business! If you record yourself during your ‘TV viewing’ in a video camera and view it later, you will find your attention span and enjoyment!

It is not the argument in favour of or against the newspaper or TV. The real point is that at the cost of spending time with your loved ones, all other activities are simply worthless. It is the matter of choice you have to make.

Tip-5: Share & Build your Child         

According to me, one of the most awful schools of thought in India is keeping children at bay in the name of respect for elders. I grew up in Tamilnadu, where I hardly remember having any conversations with my parents; except being controlled by them on all occasions. We, inadvertently, seem to feel that children cannot understand complex things and so we tend to avoid sharing our thoughts and concerns with them. As kids, we were kept in dark on many matters that the family was negotiating. The fact is that the child starts learning when it is the womb itself and, to me, the very meaning of the “generation gap” is accepting with humility that the next generation is far more intelligent and sharp in learning. Indian epics are kept in our homes for the parents to instill values through storytelling in to their children. I used to share all my key learning with my children when they were very young, even if they yawned or showed signs of indifference. Now, when they are grown ups and lead their own lives, they say,  “Dad, all that you shared when we were young, was not making any sense then, but that was ingrained in our sub-conscious and it became the North Star of our life.” And I feel extremely happy to hear that.

Tip-6: Don’t fail to leave a memorable moment

I remember my son re-calling now an incident from his childhood’ when he was merely 5 years old. He got hurt while playing and was admitted to the hospital. On the day he was discharged, he wanted a Ferrari car (of course the toy car only!) but I found all shops closed. I made one of the shop keepers open his shop and bought him that Ferrari. I really doubt if the happiness that toy gave him back then can ever be equaled even if I were to gift him real Ferrari now. It may look like a silly event, but to that little child, it made all the difference with my assurance to him that, “I am there with him.”

The point I am making is Life is a bundle of such prima facie-trivial moments, which may not be equal to receiving a Nobel price but, when you look back in retrospect, you will remember such small joyous moments more than the Nobel prize. Seeing smile on the faces of your loved ones (including your spouse), needs only a small act of kindness and compassion but it is worth a million and the joy there from is unparalleled.

God Bless you

NC   

Business Excellence Vocational Award

I am pleased to announce that Rotary International has selected me for the Vocational Award for Business Excellence Consulting. I am thankful to all those supported and encouraged me to achieve this.

  

Kindle Life: Work-Life Management – Episode:6 (Part-1)

One of the grievances all urban population has is the insufficient time available to spend with their family. The modern men and women are torn between the two priorities “Work” and “Family” and often feel they are either doing injustice to one of them. Work-life balance has become one of the HR agenda and often the reason for divorces and poor relationships in families these days. We reach home late evening almost tired enough to skip dinner and ready to hit the bed. The loved ones are waiting to share their day’s experiences and we are almost a volcano waiting to erupt! Obviously their story is not going to be as interesting as Alexander’s next strategic moves to win a war. We are more comfortable to stare at the stupid programme in the TV rather than play with our two year old child or grandchild. It ends up in poor quality and quantity of time spent with the family and waiting to start yet another day.

In this episode I wish to share few perspectives that will enable you to manage better work-life balance and be effective in both the departments.

Civilization – A Problem or an Opportunity?

This planet was an un-adulterated place till human race came into existence! If you visit Himalayas or Alaska you will appreciate how this planet will look like if human beings are not present here. Civilization distinguished human beings from rest of the species in this planet. Probably the creator had an agenda in putting this gadget called “Human being” in order to differentiate with His earlier versions. The Vedic hymns say that God created all species out of Him and gave higher intelligence to human beings to help them to figure out the source of their being which is God himself! That is why the other name for Nirvana is “self-realization” – realizing oneself of the Godhood; the ultimate purpose of human existence. But the so called civilization created an ever ending pursuit for material acquisition and the resulting misery. Today the modern man believes that material acquisition will make him happy and endlessly chases them!

The transition from Stone Age, agricultural age, metal age, industrial age to internet age has dramatically changed the lifestyle of human beings posing different challenges. One of those challenges is work-life balance. In the Stone Age the only issue haunting human beings were food as hunting for survival kept them busy. There were hardly any difference in life style between animals and human beings. Probably this must have been the happiest part of human evolution as they were living closest to the Mother Nature and had no great ambition for material prosperity! There were no religions, language, cast and creed which have divided people later into groups and created animosity. There is no “Russian dog and American dog”! Dog is a dog is dog even today!

Why we chase Wealth? - Research Findings!

Reference: From the book “CEO DAD” by Tom Stern - Davies-Black Publishing page 25-30

One of the startling conclusions of a scientific Swedish study carried out was the discovery that human beings devote main thinking to achievement and material gains. The anatomy of the human brain studied by this team of scientist reveals that the brain is divided into two major segments; one chasing power, status & success and other wishes to focus on the basic human instinct for seeking companionship and nurturing loved ones. The study shows that over the civilization, the tiny area of the brain reserved for home and family has been squeezed out of the skull completely, now resting in nasal passages. The study also shows that those people who are too ambitious often suffer a bout of colds and flu due to high level of stress. Stern jokingly says that “the area of the brain in charge of love and nurturing would be sneezed out of our evolution in less than quarter of a century”

Another groundbreaking study by the National society in the US reinforced the Swedish research. Its finding was the human brain is divided into 4 lobes of equal size having different paradigms. Bottom one fourth of the lobe called “Truth Lobe” which constantly murmurs that “we are nothing compared to the wonders of nature and can never equal its miracles” and drives the feeling of perennial inadequacy.

The upper half of this lobe is called “Denial Lobe” which challenges the truth lobe saying “what do you mean that we are nothing? What about Shakespeare, Helen of Troy etc? I will try to get there by striving for status!

The third quarter of the lobe is called “Deepest need lobe” which raises the alarm saying “Why am I wasting my life time with so called achievement? It does not get any better than experiencing the simple beautiful pleasures of human warmth and affection – A HAAPY HOME!”

While the third lobe was diverting you from the madness of status & power through material acquisition, the fourth lobe rightly called “Stupid Lobe” takes you back where you started the mad game by saying “Hang on a minute. We need more stuff!” It is hard to believe this fourth section can be so stupid yet so powerful.

The author Stern asks the question “If your brain insists on repeating such behaviour, how will you ever know what your real needs are? The thing you really don’t need always seem so important.

Try this simple morning affirmation as you awaken:

 “Getting by with less will bring me more”.

You may find the meaning of what Stern says very hard at this stage. Hang on few minutes and read further and it will dawn on you before you finish this article. If the bell rings, it will transform your life; if not it does not matter as you will carry on missing the beauty of Life!

Before I share few tips for improving work-life balance, we need to get the perspective of what is “Work” and “Life”; if not we may be shooting at dark on this topic.

What is Work? - A new Insight

Let us examine the difference between “Work” and “Play”. In essence both are activities with one difference between them. Play is wilfully chosen and work is imposed as inevitable! On a week end when you play tennis in the hot sun for hours and feel refreshed. On the other hand when you reach office even before starting your work you are tired! This leads to the premise that, work per say does not make us tired! The mind set with which work is undertaken makes us tired.

Swami Chimayananda in one of his books sights the life style of an innocent farmer in a village who goes to his paddy field at 5 am and starts ploughing the land in the hot sun till late evening. After coming back home he takes a nice bath in the cold water, sits in the cot and starts singing a folk song! He has no concept of tiredness and if at all anyone is justified to be tired, it must be this poor farmer has the rights to say that he is tired! In the urban scenario, an employee reaches office with all comforts and even before he starts his work he is tired. Chimayananda raises the question “Is the activity makes us tired or the attitude with which we do makes us tired?”

An anecdote from my own experience:

I pursued my education while employed till I finished my MS (Research) at IIT when I was 38 years old! I never complained that I could not have family life as this pursuit was chosen by me (and my wife) and not imposed by anyone! The adult education which was playful for me although it is very stressful to ride three horses viz Job, family and education. I finished with “S” grade (Supreme) in Finite Element Analysis. The same education imposed for a youngster is a pain for him.

From the above two anecdotes you may appreciate it is not the activity makes you tired; but the mentality with which you undertake makes you tired. These days an employee has no emotional bondage with his/her work and constantly in a search of a better package. When the work is done without a passion it becomes merely a motion without life in it.  

What is Life for a modern man?

This is an ocean of a question. For someone Life means “Indulgence” – eating, drinking and making love. For someone else it includes all that happiness comes out of spending with their loved ones. For spiritual aspirants it may be progressing in his/her spiritual journey to reach Nirvana some day. We see a strange difference in goal setting between men and women. Let us examine through the great thinker Rajneesh:

Men in general are focused on lofty goals – Alexander wanted to win over all kingdoms across the World and prove as a great warrior. Women are down to earth – baring few exceptions they are satisfied with small achievements. When you find men meet together their topics are generally capturing a great kingdom; while women meet they discuss what they cooked the previous day and the like! Men are very time conscious where as women wear wrist watches more as an ornament. If you have accompanied with your wife to a sari shop you will appreciate what I am taking about!  

 All of us got married without asking a question “why do we need to get married?” as we have done many other things in life like going to a university. We did it as everyone else has done it. As Swami Parthasarathy says we never used our intellect in many such decisions in life and marriage is one among them! We produced children as a natural follow on after marriage as everyone else has done it! We ended up in a unit called family and we don’t know what to do with it in the middle of our lofty pursuit to gain power and money through our career!

All these paraphernalia are created by our forefathers to create a sense of bondage to fulfil the deep human need of being together without which we will become insane within 6 weeks. Psychology says that we can remain sane only for 8 weeks without the presence of any human beings around us! If you have seen the movie “Cast Away” you will appreciate what I am talking about.

In essence life is not only achievement, it is also seemingly meaningless activities of playing with your children, gossiping with your wife while assisting her in the kitchen by cutting vegetables for her or occasionally cooking food for everyone and so on! For goal oriented men of modern days, it will look like Greek and Latin for him and may also seem it is waste of time. For those to whom it appears spending time with family is waste of time, please examine why you got married and do the needful!!

We will explore work-life balancing tips in Part-2

God bless you.

Love

NC

Kindle Life – Food Management – Episode:5

Why Food Management?

Ever since we have born, the body is with us and hence we find extremely difficult to identify this entity, taking it for granted and often neglect it. There is a famous saying “The Fish finds the water the last”. The fish is born in water, lives in water and dies in water. This means that only when the fish is out of water, it realizes how important water for its existence. Extending this wisdom, I wish to quote “Human beings find health last when it is Lost!”

We are healthy by default which means that in a life span of 70 years, we are healthy almost 99.99% of the time leaving certain exceptions. The data shows that the nature’s plan is to keep us healthy unless we chose to be un-healthy. My presumption is reinforced by looking at all the species except human being who are healthy all the time. If that is the nature’s plan then why we see so many diseases in the modern world? All those killer diseases like stroke, heart attack, diabetics etc not seen a century ago. As the so called civilization progresses, we see more and more health issues while the animal kingdom is free from all those we experience as they are not yet “Civilized”.

Once Rajneesh said “We recognize our head only when we get headache” and all other circumstances we don’t even recognize that we have something called “Head”. Similarly we recognize our body only when it starts giving trouble. It is not prudent to recognize something when it is lost! There is a proverb in Tamil which says “You need the wall to draw a picture” which is said in the context of the human body which is needed to achieve anything in life, whether material or spiritual.

I wish to refer an incidence reported in the life of Lord Buddha:

“Lord Buddha left his princely abode at the age of twenty nine in search of an answer for his quest; why human beings suffer? He went in search of several masters one after the other hoping someone will show him the way. At last someone suggested to him to go without food for several days as the body denied of food will transcend the mind and hence he can get enlightened. After staying away from food for nearly 80 days Lord Buddha became nearly a skeleton and could not even walk across a shallow river. The thought came to his mind that when he cannot even cross this shallow river, how he is going to cross the Samsara Samudra (Ocean of life). That is the moment Lord recognized that this body is needed to support a healthy mind to attain spiritual abode.

There is a famous saying that “We destroy our health to amaze wealth and spend them all over again to recover the health”; whether material or spiritual pursuit we need the temple-the body where the divine soul resides.

     

The Body – the miracle!

The nature created this whole universe as a “spontaneous organization” which means that it is a self-sustaining mechanism like a rain forest. No one manages a rain forest since it manages itself; the food chain ensures that all animals are under control including the Lion which is the highest rung of the food chain. The unbounded universe with millions of galaxies, creation and destruction of stars are all happening without anyone orchestrating it. In this self-sustaining wonderful universe, human body is also a wonder with millions of sub-systems working in a complex manner without we are not even knowing about it.

For example, are we breathing? No – It is happening! Are we digesting? No – It is happening! Are we beating our heart? No- It is happening! If you go deep into all functions of the body, all are “happening” and none is “doing”. If you see deep into all “happenings”, it is all miracles as we don’t know how? It appears that if these systems are left to the nature they will function in harmony as per the creator’s plan. If that is true why do we see so many diseases in the mankind these days?

What is Disease? – A new Insight:

If you examine the word “disease”, it has two parts “Dis & ease”; which means not in ease with something - It means “non-alignment” with the nature. Disease is the outcome of non-alignment with the nature. The non-alignment could be in the basic instinct of the species – hunger, procreation, relaxation and self-preservation. I wish to cover few tips about this precious gadget called body under this topic of “Food management?”

TIPS:

Tips-1: Food for survival & not indulgence:  

In the ancient days people ate food for survival only but in the modern world, food is in the top of the list of indulgence. In the early Roman Empire, the aristocratic people used to eat full stomach and stimulate vomiting using peacock feather in their throat and get back once again to fill their stomach! This is the pinnacle of human greed for indulgence and food is used to abuse human body. Let us examine how this “dis - ease” leads to disease. In the modern world we don’t eat for survival, but for fulfilling our mind and not body. Obesity is one of the modern killers, the result of over eating. Often, we overeat due to stress and there is no dearth of stress in life and most of them are created by ourselves. It is important to recognize that abusing our body in the name of over eating is foolishness. Let not food become the means for filling our empty feeling of the mind.

Tips-2: Eat only conducive Foods:  

The ancient Pathanchali sastra says that the food we eat either enhances or suppresses our pranik energy – the life energy in our constitution. If you develop an ability to listen to your stomach, it will tell you the moment you eat a samosa or potato wada which are killers of our pranik energy. The stomach will tell you “Oh Gosh why have you sent this down?” On the other hand, if you eat a fruit or salad and listen to your stomach, it will tell you its pleasant experience! The simple measure – what is tasty to your tongue is bad for your pranik energy and vice versa.  

Tips-3: Vegetarian vs non-vegetarian Food:

I am not covering this topic on religious angle but only on scientific angle. The nature created food for different species which are generally not interchangeable; tiger cannot eat grass and what a crow can eat will be poison for other species. In essence, the nature had created conducive food for all living species in a very well balanced way. One simple fact is all creations except human beings eat the food assigned for them irrespective of taste; the snake eats the rodents, the cow eats the grass and so on. The famous adage “One’s food is another’s poison”  fits well with the plan of the nature.

The creations are classified as carnivores and herbivores based on their food either meat or vegetables and very few are Omnivores which eat both. The carnivores which eat meat are found to have canine teeth, intestine less than 16 feet and stomach acids which are capable of melting raw meat. The herbivores which are grass eaters found to have long intestines more than 40 feet and stomach acids which are not capable of melting meat. Human beings belong to herbivores by design and we have found many ways to make the tasteless meat as palatable. When we eat meat it rots in the longer intestine causing health issues.

“I was eating non-vegetarian food for many years from childhood till late thirties and switched over to vegetarian food. I am able to see the difference in my texture of thoughts and actions with both types of food habits. In addition to quality of thoughts, I am able to see a vast difference in my health while I switched over to vegetarian food. Few years back I suddenly started eating non-vegetarian food to quench my professional stress. My whole constitution started rebelling, forcing me back to vegetarian food once again. I recognized the fact that food cannot quench my stress – only the mind can!”

Tips-4: Right quantity at right time:

The corporate lifestyle has totally screwed up our healthy eating habits namely to ignore the breakfast & lunch and “eat like a pig at night”. How petrol for a motor car, food is for our body. I like the suggestions by Rijuta Diwekar in her popular book “Don’t lose the mind – lose your weight”. I have been following her tips since last 2 years; here are her tips for healthy eating:

·         Meal-1: Immediately after brushing teeth – one plantain fruit and a cup of milk.

·         Meal-2: simple breakfast – no tea or coffee

·         Meal-3: 11.30 – a fruit or dry fruits or chenna

·         Meal-4: 1.00pm – simple vegetarian lunch

·         Meal-5: 4.00pm – same as 11.30 snacks

·         Meal-6: 8.00pm (2 hours before sleep) – simple vegetarian meal

The underlying principle in the above formula, never make your body to feel deep hunger which is one of the causes of over eating.

Tips-5: Learn to listen to your Hunger:

My pet Maximus (we affectionately call him Max) refuses to eat a gram more than what his constitution needs. Animals have the ability to sense when their hunger ends and stop eating immediately. This faculty of sensing our hunger is lost by human beings and many time our mind eats and not stomach. When Max has stomach trouble it refuses to eat till it is back to normal and feels the hunger. In Sanskrit there is a famous saying “Langanam Parama Oushadam”. This means “fasting is the best medicine for stomach upset”. There is a merit in observing the animals in eating habits as they have no “Dis – Ease” with the nature and hence have least disease.

Tips-6: Follow Pathanchali Sastra:

Benjamin Franklin followed eleven principles in his life and tallied a checklist everyday to remind him to follow them till it becomes his second nature. One of them is “Eat not to fullness and drink not to elevation”. This was told by Pathanchali Muni (Muni is the name given to seers) 5000 years ago. He said that you must half fill your stomach with food, quarter with water leaving the balance with air. This space is needed for when the stomach squeezes the food for digestion so that it does not hit your throat!

In summary,

1.    Food is the fuel for our survival only and not a means to indulge and alleviate our stress – It is not a stress buster.

2.    Figure out the food which enhances your pranik energy – rest of them are junk food.

3.    You are designed as a herbivore – Vegetarian food is your nature’s plan

4.    Eat small meals more frequently and keep your stomach empty while you sleep

5.    Learn to listen to your hunger and don’t eat a gram more than fulfilling your hunger.

6.    Eat not to fullness and drink not to elevation. 

        

            God Bless you with a long healthy life

            NC