DIVINE REMADIES

BODY THE TEMPLE

Importance of body

In the whole exercise of  uplifting and evolution of the mind we cannot and should not undermine the importance of the  body and its good health. Because ultimately that is the temple where the spirit stays.

The views advocated by certain sects that the world is a maya or the body is illusory are all completely wrong. As Poet Bharathi says if someone says that whatever seen is illusory then the sayings of those are equally illusory.

As has been the case always with the Sanskrit  words , they have several meanings as we have seen before. The word ‘maya’ has many meanings which includes illusion, non eternal, manifesting power of the omnipotence, non existent etc. Some philosophers have taken wrongly the meaning non existent. How any one on earth can deny the reality of this world, ourselves, the indwelling god, his grand creations,the magnificent nature,the ever resonating variety of species. If they are denied and stated as non existent then we are worse than nihilists and ethists.

Body is not maya

Actually Maya is the power of god to manifest. That sakthi is called Mayasakthi-Vishnu maya as explained in Devi Mahatmyam. All this beings are created by the grace of the goddess and every being is endowed with body consciousness and basic intelligence as it may require to happily live,enjoy,procreate etc.,

But all these bodies are perishable and not eternal while the spirit is. Therefore if we believe this body as eternal we are under illusion. Just to hit hard the message that the indwelling spirit is eternal while the body is not- they mentioned that it will be illusory if we mistakenly believe body is also eternel.

Therefore let us be clear that for human race  to become a super human a fit and healthy body is required. We will be ignoring this fact at our own peril.

The fantastic creation of God-The Human Body

Let us first understand the marvel of our body so that even in dreams we won't abuse it. When the evolution was at four legs stage-animals-there were several physical and psychic issues for mind evolution.First fighting the gravitational force was a major issue. Many of us don't understand how much it is a miracle for us to wake up every morning from our bed overpowering the gravitational force. It is actually a miracle happening every day. Since it is happening just like that, every day we don't realise it-as they say lightly got has little value.But for the fact that the god was able to make the front two legs of the animals in to two hands for humans, rest of the evolution would not have been possible.

There is a cosmic design behind it. When the limited intelligence of the animals evolves as intellect God knows that there will be constant questioning and he had to provide answers and for that he has to make the human body capable.He knows very well that he has to conceptually make him understand,actually make him to realise and practically make him to enjoy. Without this the further evolution towards what we call as 'super human being' may not be possible. For this to happen the animal body is just not sufficient.God has to build in lot of flexibilities, fitness manouverabilities and many similar things.

So the evolution of animals proceeded towards what we have as our human body taking millions of years.The aerodynamically designed body,the gravitationally balanced structure,the flexibility in the bones,muscles, hands, legs,fingers,each one is critical for this marvel.The structure of organs,ability to regenerate,the capacity to reproduce,the capacity to observe,to remember, recall,discriminate,etc., etc., are unbelievable engineering wonders.

It is an engineering and architectural marvel that the four fundamental forces of nature viz., gravitational force,electro magnetic force,strong force of atoms and the weak force of sub atoms were so finely balanced and this human body came into existence. Even if one of the forces could not be reconciled it would have been a disaster.In fact this was possible for nature because all these four forces were the coralories of a basic force called vibration which is nothing but god's own breath.

The metaphysical revelations and the physical discoveries - imagine would anything have been possible if the human body was like the biggest animal like an elephant or the strongest animal like a  lion,or a fast animal like a horse, or like any other being we may think of.Can we realise that nothing of what has happened on the earth to understand the magnificence of nature would have happened. And if the species would have stopped without this evolution of understanding the God's marvel and enjoying it , stagnant at animal stage then where is the question of possibility of the achievement of the God's objective of Super Human.

Can any of the animals enjoy the various cosmic pleasures we are able to.Many of the wonders of the universe is beyond even the wildest dreams of the animals. 

In fact there are wonders in the cosmos which is beyond human comprehension and as we evolve further they will be coming within the reach of knowledge and understanding. That is what is process of further evolution we are talking about.It may not happen in one jump. It will happen organically and if any specie can achieve that feat it is only we - the human beings. 

That is why we have been vested with an unbelievabale wonder of this body, with such a powerful mind and intellect. That is why Vedas proclaim that it is a great fortune to be born as a human being and it should be wasted in wandering after menial things . 

Proper upkeep a must

Like we are expected to keep the temple clean, spic and span we should also maintain our body. As Aurobindo says it is the invaluable casing of the Life Divine.

Hence utmost care must be taken to maintain really good health. Vedas have discussed these subjects enough and have given as much importance to the body as has been given to the spirit.

Under the heading Vedas we discussed the two different of meanings for the verse of Vedas.and we explained how the inner meaning was missed out.Similarly the verses stressing on health care is also ignored with ritualistic meanings. In fact vedas have a seperate anga called Ayur veda to deal on this subject.

Vedas on Body upkeep

All the verses on the four varnas and four ashramas describe several do’s and don’t’s (which we ridicule) which are meant only for good health. whether it was the daily oblations, prayanama, sadnhyavandana, aghihotra, tharpanas, all of them had equal good impact on the body.

For example the paranayama,suryanamaskar,bathing twice,to use only washed and dry clothes ,not to eat outside,not to eat certain things,not to eat on certain days all of them was for purification body and its good upkeep.

As has been the case with the seers they have given the operation manual but have not felt it necessary to lay bare  the logics. Therefore these are considered as superstitions.

But interestingly the modern science accepts that all of them have an impact on good health and in fact admits that  these practices prevent the human beings from getting the deadly diseases like cancer,heart attack,organ failures etc.

Therefore in our system of approach equal attention must be given to the body as well.

As vedas say the gravitation pulls the body down and the consciousness tries to pull it up.If we adhere to the cosmic laws conscience will win and if not gravity will win.

It has to be a wholesome approach to an integrated body,mind ,soul complex for the overall evolution, good health, bliss and success.