Arth of 'wholistic' living

March 1, 2006

Dear Jagat ji, and my other friends

In all our problem, the biggest problem is about loss of meanings of certain words. If we cannot meditate on the 'arth' or meanings of words in its true form, our knowledge shall be full of defects. Only after realizing the 'arth' (or meaning of words), we gather the logical strength and meaningful physical environment for the energy and peace, to fight out the rest of the ignorance. An action of fighting or waging a war of self correction is called 'dharma'. 'Arth' and 'Dharma' are one after another.

Because if we cannot understand 'arth', 'dharma' cannot begin, and we end up fighting for issues that are 'objective' (or 'physical' applications) recognized by pleasures and pain of senses i.e., 'kam'. Kam or physical / sensory recognition is starting point, 'arth' or meanings of words and feelings, and communication is next; and to act upon and correct it by self restraint or wars is called 'dharma'.

At this e-group, I will try to serve the community for sharing fruits of meditation to persons who deserve. My current topic is to make my friends aware of the meaning of 'wholistic' living. In English, the holistic is lost the 'w' and the correct word is 'whole' ;and wholistic and holistic is same thing.

On the philosophy, Indians believed in wholistic existence of the nature and every one becoming a part of it. Whole means, united or indivisible. Earth, sun, air, water, life forms etc... are 'united', and cannot be divided. Conflicts arise because of it, private ownership or 'you and me' approach. Because a division is unnatural, people cannot get satisfied without the whole, and they get into competition. Competition puts them into an endless loop of the 'cause and effect'. None realize that if everybody wanted only the whole, why it was then divided.

Indian civilization was aware of the ill effects of the division and therefore created a fool proof system called 'dharma'. It is not very surprising to find Indians worshipping mountains (govardhan/ mount kailash), rivers (Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada, Godavari), animals (cows, snakes) and trees (peepal, amla) and plants (herbs), and sun and moon. These represent family. Indians call Ganga river as Ganga maiya (mother). Similarly, cow is revered as mother. Many idiots cannot understand all this, and think it superstitious. But for intellectually advanced humans, these unusual acts are important social responsibility. This commitment is so high that a dying person is given a drop of Ganga water in his/her mouth at the time of death.

Ask yourself why is only river waters are used for worshiping of Shiva? Why only leaves of a specific tree used for medicinal uses are, is offered to Shiva for the worship? These practices ensure high importance for protection of purity of rivers and plantation and mountains. Rivers or ponds are a symbol of wholeness of a community and it is responsibility of all persons by 'dharma' to keep it clean and pure. When people collectively depend on river or ponds for water, the responsibility of cleaning and preservation belongs to everyone. India thus, preserved its huge population by 'dharma' and drinking water was never short. Because there were no divisions, there were no shortages and markets did not grow here.

For example, a pond in village is wholistic symbol of community. When people begin to have separate wash rooms in their houses, the pond dies. Pond was a symbol of wholistic existence or community life but wash rooms are divisive ideas that fulfill objectives of self interest.There is a saying that 'a whole is greater than sum of the parts'. It means a pond is greater than sum of the wash rooms. A whole is a living entity but a division of it makes it dead. When people have built their separate wash rooms, the community is thus dead and none needs to have respect for others. This new structure of civilization based on ideas of division is called market. A market is different paradigm than communities because, every thing here can be brought and sold without a place for respect for one another or wholistic thinking, and are logically governed.

Markets are symbol of 'ego' of division and the system that was used for division was economics. This is physical science because it does not regnizes the 'whole' and deals with dead parts of a once living whole. Those dealing with physical sciences are thus not 'wholistic' and knowledge will be far away from them.

I this article can help you realize the cancer of society, you can also go further inside the mind to learn what is wholism in true sense of Indian life style.

regards

K G Misra

..

On Behalf Of Jane MacRossWednesday, March 01, 2006 2:49 AMayurveda ; ; Ravi Kant Pathak; Rakhi & Subhasish; verma.meenakshi; karmayog; Dr. Leo Rebello; Shirish Bhate; cybervaidya; connect_ticket ; dr_rnduttaSubject: Re: <ayurveda> Return to Health ; Return to Nature.

A mammoth task, I agree. Start by eliminating the word "trying".

Put a space between each point so it looks less amateurish. (I can't do it now I've used numbering formatting)

Find a Politician to adopt & present it for you

I've rehashed what you wrote - tell me what you think. If you are going to present it properly then you need to divided eventually into the separate sections that you represent and present each section for serious consideration to the appropriate Minister or political group pr groups who are already in place who deal with this type of reform. Or you need to get someone to do this for you.

You need to offer incentives to the politicians too, i.e. reduction of health costs if you educate the public (they may not want to - they may have been encouraged to eliminate the population - this is something you have to consider)

If necessary take Ghandi's principles and fit yours here below around them - that is if Ghandi is still revered in your country. Give yourself some backing in this way..

Increase the holistic health budget. Reorganisation of the education system to ensure that students have better facilities. Ensure that students have experienced teachers who can teach them the importance of a healthy lifestyle to include holistic healing. Have incentives to encourage students to study holistic medicine. Spread awareness of the healing principles. Have infants treated holistically, to develop a better immunity base, to reduce the ernormous cost of infant welfare Introduce holistic principles as a compulsory subject into the school and college curicullum. The teaching of yoga and meditation also a compulsory portion of the curriculum. Introduction of a value based education. (Teaching of the Samkhya philosophy, and the Vedic world view, the concept of One World - One Family.) Strengthen the family structure. Teaching the benefits of a moral life and the need for respect between children and parents and between partners in marriage. Health and education to be free for the poor and needy. The general population to be taught the basics of naturopathy and reflexology. (This has already been started by the International Institute of Naturopathy which has its HQ at Pune) Spread awareness of peaceful and democrat objection against harmful chemicals in our food and environment. Encourage the organic farming movement. Reduction of pollution, from the householder to the industrial giant. Encourage vegetarianism. Offer better workplace and educational conditions, thereby reducing stress and friction in student and workers. Offer optimum work time, lessen study loads. Students to be taught to live judiciously and given sufficient time for appropriate recreation. Care of our environment. Appropriate treatment of other species.

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Jagannath Chatterjee

; Ravi Kant Pathak ; Rakhi & Subhasish ; verma.meenakshi ; karmayog ; Dr. Leo Rebello ; Shirish Bhate ; cybervaidya ; ayurveda ; connect_ticket ; dr_rndutta

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:29 PM

<ayurveda> Return to Health ; Return to Nature.

Dear Family, The only way to return to health is to completely return to natural methods and stop tinkering with nature. All the thinkers in issues as diverse as health, to education, climate, farming, industry, are talking of this urgent need to change our priorities. Health does not mean wealth alone but also personal happiness and the inward urge to increase the happiness quotient of the world. We can be happy and healthy only if the entire world is happy and healthy. While trying to draft the health policy that I would like, I am literally stumped. I realise that the entire society, science, and our way of looking at the world should change if we can even dream of returning to health. After writing more than thirty pages I simply erased the whole thing as nobody would read it in the present caucophony of this materialistic and oppurtunistic world. If they do ever read it, nobody will agree to it. It is thus better to start at the fundamentals like; 1. Trying to increase the holistic health budget.2. Reorganisation of the educational setup so that students get better facilities and also experienced teachers who can teach them the subtle nuances of holistic healing.3. Trying to get the cream of the students interested in medicine, to study holism.4. Spreading awareness about the healing principles.5. Trying to get the babies to be treated holistically as far as possible so that they develop better immunity base.6. Getting the holistic principles introduced into the school/college curicullums as compulsory subjects unlike environmental studies which is optional and out of purview of the examination scope. The teaching of yoga and meditation should be compulsory also.7. Introduction of value based education; teaching of the Samkhya philosophy, and the Vedic world view, the concept of One World - One Family.8. Strengthening of the family structure. Teaching the benefits of a restrained, moral life and also the need for respect between partners in marriage.9. Making health and education totally free for the poor and needy.10.Teaching the general population the basics of naturopathy and reflexology. This has already been started by the International Institute of Naturopathy which has its HQ at Pune perhaps. 11. Spreading awareness about and fighting peacefully and democratically against harmful chemicals in our environment and food. Similiarly encouraging the organic farming movement. Reducing pollution. Encouraging vegetarianism. 12. Reducing tensions both at the work place as well as educational institutions by ensuring better working conditions, optimum working time, less study load etc. 13. Students should be taught how to live judiciously and given sufficient time to play and they should not just be crammed with information. In the present setup we have totally done away with the innocent pleasures of childhood and youth. 14. Caring about our environment and having fellow feeling towards other species. I would request you all to kindly add to and supplement/criticise these rough suggestions of mine. Please remember, we can do it. Love & Regards, Jagannath.