AUM

HEALTH IS MORE THAN WEALTH

By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant, VSM

Maharshi Swami Dayanand Saraswati was a preacher par excellence. While bringing the Vedas within the reach of commoners he did a yeoman’s service in making one and all health conscious. Indeed, to him and to his disciples health – physical, mental, spiritual and social stood many notches above wealth of the mundane world. Indeed, the great Swami practised what he preached. An early riser, he would go out on a long brisk walk and return to his shivir or camp just about the time dawn broke. It was in Bareilley that young Munshi Ram, who later in life became the famous Swami Shraddhand Saraswati chose to follow Swami Dayanand Saraswati on his morning constitutional but could not keep pace with him. Munshi Ram stood inspired both physically and spiritually. When the baton was passed on to him and he opened the portal to the Vedic knowledge, Gurukul Kangri, he insured that the entrant brahmcharis devoted as much time to physical well being as to mental and social ones.

One might notice that the moment a new settlement or a colony comes into existence, there is a mushrooming growth of clinics, dispensaries and hospitals. Obviously all is not well with the health of our society. Leaders, religious preachers, teachers and above all heads of families have to pay more attention to the health of boys and girls they lead. The health of school going children is indeed the responsibility of the parents and school heads alike. Unfortunately, schools are more concerned with the academic excellence that the students should achieve rather than with the all round development of personality of which health is an important factor. No wonder, health conscious boys and girls go to private gymnasiums which are more often than not located in basements and remain starved of oxygen. Don’t we all say time and again that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playgrounds of Eton. Obviously, the saying highlights the physical fitness and comradeship that the games provide on the school campus. Unfortunately the mushrooming growth of schools in lanes and bye lanes cannot cater to team games and field games because such teaching shops have no play fields.

SHARIRAMADYAM KHALU DHARM SADHANAM:- Indeed the human body is the first means of practicing, preaching and promoting Dharm. This encompasses the entire human conduct from A to Z including personal and social conduct. One has to pay a lot of attention to the upkeep of ones human body lest the soul chooses to leave the present body and nest in a new one. The transmigration of soul should take place at the right age and not prematurely because of lack of physical and mental fitness. One needs no convincing that enjoying good health is indeed bliss. How do we go about it to be in a blessed state?

Early to bed and early to rise continues to be the best way to be healthy, wealthy and wise. Here health is more than wealth because good health generates healthy activity in the mind which in turn generates wealth of sorts. A healthy man is a wise man. A wise man is a knowledgeable man. One who has knowledge is bound to generate wealth in one form or the other. A note of caution here. We should not mix up the worldly riches acquired through dubious means with the real wealth acquired through ones efforts by the sweat of the brow. There is a misconception among the minds of men and women who have not been initiated into the Vedic Way of Life. Labouring under this misconception some people feel that poverty opens the door to heaven whereas riches block it. Indeed, one cannot be further from truth if one propagates this concept of poverty and forces fellow human beings to live in abject poverty. Let us go back to the Vedas and draw inspiration on the question of wealth generated through healthy means. The sixteenth mantra of the fortieth chapter of the Yajurved is:

AGNE NAYA SUPATHA RAYE ASMANVISHVANI DEV VAYUNANI VIDWAN. YUYODHYASM JJUHURANMENO BHUYISHTHAN TE NAMUKTIM VIDHEMA.

May God inspire us to achieve excellence and acquire wealth through righteous means so that we banish ignorance and distance ourselves from evil, sin and all that takes us away from Dharm. Thus, may we continue to remain in a blessed state under divine inspiration forever. Vedas, the divine knowledge given to the rishis inspire human beings to acquire wealth through healthy means. A man or a woman thinks positive only when he or she enjoys good physical health. A healthy mind in a healthy body – the saying is as true today as it was in the past.

Depending on ones age one should get out of the house and go for a jog or a run or a brisk walk in the parks or playgrounds and imbibe good fresh oxygen. An open space full of trees, shrubs and flowers is any day better than an air conditioned underground gymnasium. Indeed, a good park is hard to come by these days when there is a race on to encroach on public land for private purposes. Where the common man is wide awake and conscious of his rights such encroachments are few and far between. A balanced exercise of body and mind may be achieved through Yogasan and Pranayam. It has been the experience of most of us that Pranayam is a great morale booster if it is practiced correctly.

A balanced diet for good health is highly recommended. A vegetarian meal is preferable for sound mental and physical health. However, if one is prone to eating non-vegetarian food one should ensure that fresh green vegetables definitely form a part of the menu. A lot of fluid should be taken right from the time one leaves the bed to the time ones retires for the day. Drinking water up to five litres a day in summer will be health promoting. Don’t physicians always tell us that a human body is 70 per cent fluid and, therefore, intake of fluid is always helpful. Drinking half a litre to a litre of water right in the morning works as a laxative too and helps one in moving bowels effortlessly. Believe it or not, a good movement of bowels generates both internal and external happiness.

Of late complaints of muscle pain and other forms of aches bordering arthritis are on the increase. An eminent rheumatologist opined that arthritis is likely to assume the form of an epidemic. It is our duty not to let it happen. A balanced exercise and a balanced diet are bound to prevent it. Let blood circulation be ideal in a body and let all parts of the body receive a good supply of oxygenated blood throughout. To cite just an example, even excessive pain in the hips and buttocks can be effectively tackled by a simple asana called butterfly. One flaps ones knees and thighs and the hip muscles receive an adequate supply of blood and become destressed. Similarly there are other asanas that take care of other pains and aches. Indeed, pranayam is the master stroke with which one destresses one’s self and achieves proper circulation of oxygenated blood in the body. Let one and all practice it and achieve a state of perfect health.

Social health is bound to improve when individuals of a society are healthy both physically and mentally. Individuals will go to the rescue of neighbours and even strangers in times of need even without expecting a similar gesture in return. The infamous disease called AIDS, which indeed is assuming epidemic proportions, is to be tackled socially. If the entire society makes its youth educated in the method of prevention, the need for cure may not arise. Unfortunately, the senior citizens and others fail in their parental duty in not educating their adolescent children about the gravity of the situation. Let us start the education on AIDS programme in a serious and objective manner without fighting shy of talking to own children on a subject like sex or a sexual ailment.

With a view to improving social health, teachers and leaders should encourage the youth to go in for social service. There are many old men and women who become emotionally imbalanced due to lack of human company. Young boys and girls from schools and colleges may be encouraged to go to such lonely senior citizens talk to them and just cheer them up. This simple act will bring in social cohesion and also cement the bond besides bridging the gap between the older and the younger generations. Besides the Yogasan and Pranayam discussed earlier, Meditation may be encouraged among all sections of the society to bring in peace of mind and sublimate the animal passions. It may also help in reducing, if not totally eliminating, incidents of road rage. Putting all these factors together into practice will help us achieve the seemingly unachievable El Dorado where health will indeed be more than wealth.

Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant, VSM
609, Sector-29
NOIDA-201303
INDIA.

Mobile number: +91 9811173590

Phone : 0091-120-2454622

e-mail: upvanom@yahoo.com