Wat is it about the time we take out to remember god that makes us feel fresh, relaxed and contended afterwards.
not many would agree with me but you will if you observe it yourself. i see it myself every morning when my father comes downstairs to start the day after completing his prayers. no matter at what time he has gone to sleep, no matter how tired he is after getting up after his morning "sandhya" he is full of energy.
my mother and chachi and dadi perform "havan" daily. i used to perceive it as tiresome activity. getting up, taking path and going to the place built for the "havan" and speaking sanskrit hymns, a language they can read but don't understand. i saw it as completely pointless. but they too spend the day with great energy and positivity after the "havan".
i guess there were many reasons why i decided to join them for the "havan" a few days ago. Firstly, it guaranteed that i got up early, took bath and was ready. therefore, if some plans to go for a movie or lunch were made, i wasn't left behind. (it used to happen a lot of times, i was left behind coz i wasn't ready)
Secondly, it would make my mom, dad and everybody else in the family happy
Thirdly, i hav a lot of time to kill, spending it in the name of god seemed good.
and lastly, i wanted to experience the relaxation, the burst of energy, the positive vibes, the freshness the rest of my family seemed to experience after saying their prayers, or after performing "havan".
so on the first day i came all ready, showered and combed downstairs and announced my intentions. i was laughed at, more so as the "havan" was already over. i shrugged it off and made it clear that i really was going to come on time frm the next day. i have attended aily since that day and i too began feeling energetic the whole day, was it possible that sitting in front of the fire for half an hour, speaking a great language one couldn't understand and adding ghee and many other things into the fire reinvigorate you and energize you for the whole day, wasn't sitting in front of the fire in summers a self inflicted pain, doesn't sweating lead to discomfort and loss of energy, then how is it that i was feeling relaxed and comforted after performing the yajya.
i decided to observe the chain of thoughts that went through my mind while performing the "havan" to understand better how the ritual was affecting my thinking and thus me. the first day the only thought that ran through my mind was the thought that i had to observe my line of thoughts. observing my thoughts was making me think about observing my thoughts, it was as if the free thoughts were getting concious about the fact that they were being watched. i had to observe subconciously so that i knew yet i didi not know that my thoughts were under observation. this was surprisingly quite easy. my mind was doing three thing at a time, it was speaking the mantras from the book in front of me, it was allowing the thoughts to flow and it was observing these thoughts as well.
then i suddenly found the answer to all my dilemmas. i found myself thinking about all the things that i wished i paid more attention to, that were important to me, my life. i was thinking about all the important things i did not have time for, despite all the free time i am having nowadays. during the "havan" i lost myself, as if going into a trance moments where i stopped speaking the mantras, just a blank expression on my face, till awakened by my mom complaining that i wasn't speaking the mantras. i realized the source of my comfort in the fire's discomfort, the coolness despite the heat, the burst of energy depite the pool of sweat. the "havan" gave me moments to think about all the things i always wanted to think about but somehow never di. in that way the ritual was freeing me from the belief that i did not have time for myself. the havan thus left me feeling positive, relaxed and energetic even if the body had gone numb and drained of some energy. it was something similar to what we feel after exercising, physically drained yet that feeling of contentment and relaxation.
of course the reason why my mom or dad felt relaxed, after the time they devoted to god, can be very different from mine. in fact i think the reasons can not be te same. for mom, it is the feeling of contentment that the prayers she is saying will bring luck, happiness and love into the family, and its members. for dad it is the hapiness of carrying on the tradition his father had given him. Maybe later on, the reason why i enjoy that half an hour in the morning devoted god could develop into more selfless reasons like my mom or dad have. or are their reasons more selfish??
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Dilemma of Indian Vegetarians
Indians comprise of a fifth of the vegetarians in the world. Indian vegetarians are proud of being vegetarian and let's agree we even scorn at the ppl who are not vegetarians. but why exactly are such a large % of our population vegetarian.
Part of the reason is our history. lets go back a few 1000 years. The original inhabitants of India were the Dravidians, short black skinned people who were all vegetarian not due to any religious beliefs (although I am a firm believer that beliefs develop out of circumstances) but because they lived on land that hd the most fertile soil that can be found on the planet. The rivers of Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Ghaghara, Kosi, Gomti, Mahanadi, Krishna , kaveri, Godavari, narmada as well as the five Punjab rivers: Beas, Satluj, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and of course Indus irrigated the whole country. Interesting thing is no other country has three different river systems in the same country, we hav the indus system, Ganga - Brahmaputra and the southern rivers. so never did the need arise to kill an animal for food. Eating vegetarian food was not a compulsion but a natural choice.
{I did not talk about the harappan civilization bcoz no one knows about wat the ppl of that civilization ate}
Then the Aryans, invaders from Central Asia, invaded the country. The Dravidians were pushed down to Southern States and even though some took to eating fish from the oceans which were readily available, Vegetarianism had entered their blood. Even today wen we think of eating at a vegetarian restaurant, a south indian restaurant pops into the mind.
Now, one may argue that why the Aryans who were naturally from meat eating lands of Central Asia developed the Hindu faith and its resolve against non vegetarian food. They probably gave up non veg after discovering the alluvial rich plains of northern india. Moreover, the meat source became the source of another resource. yes, i am talking about cows and buffalos and they became the source of milk, cheese and saturated oil or ghee. one can reflect upon the importance of these products in the aryan society from the Vedic texts. i myself have read numerous vedic mantras and have come across many which depict the importance of a certain "soma rasa" a favorite drink of the aryans ade fro milk, ghee and an unknown now extinct plant. i feel importance of anything in a society can be seen from what they offer to god. The Christians offer bread and wine which is of importance to them, we hindus in yajyas offer dhrit (ghee) and milk. the yajyas were first performed by the aryans so naturally it was very important to them. Moreover, indian cows have and probably had in those times also, the least production of milk per annum. i still remember the class 8 biology chapter, Swiss Cow: 16000 L/anum, Indian Cow: 1500L/anum. so when i think of it if i like milk and the cow produce very low amount i would want it to live longer and not kill her for meat (Indian cows have a very low meat content also). So that is how cows became holy in fact meat eating became impure or unholy. Only the lower castes and the poor who could not afford breeding cattle or farming ate meat, that is how the divide untouchables got created, meat eaters were considered unclean, and untouchable. As i said earlier, beliefs develop from the society's choices and circumstances, meat eating was unclean therefore being a vegetarian started being considered pure, holy, divine, the vedas advocated vegetarian way of life.
if today you come across a vegetarian in say USA, there is a higher chance that he will say i am a vegetarian because i am an animal lover or that i am vegetarian on ethical grounds. it is the best argument for vegetarianism. when the US constitution was created, it stated that all men were born equal, good statement right, NO it actually meant only men. Women were not included and nor were the blacks, slaves and native american Indians. But then, they did not consider women, blacks and natives equal to men. Civil wars followed, organisations like Ku Klux Klan were set up. but 150 years later women and blacks etc were considered equal and got equal rights. What i am saying is that our society now grants (not fully implements but grants) equal rights to all everyone irrespective of gender, caste, religion, IQ, leadership skills everything then why not irrespective of species, why not extend the same rights to the animals. You will say that animals and human beings are different:
Part of the reason is our history. lets go back a few 1000 years. The original inhabitants of India were the Dravidians, short black skinned people who were all vegetarian not due to any religious beliefs (although I am a firm believer that beliefs develop out of circumstances) but because they lived on land that hd the most fertile soil that can be found on the planet. The rivers of Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Ghaghara, Kosi, Gomti, Mahanadi, Krishna , kaveri, Godavari, narmada as well as the five Punjab rivers: Beas, Satluj, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and of course Indus irrigated the whole country. Interesting thing is no other country has three different river systems in the same country, we hav the indus system, Ganga - Brahmaputra and the southern rivers. so never did the need arise to kill an animal for food. Eating vegetarian food was not a compulsion but a natural choice.
{I did not talk about the harappan civilization bcoz no one knows about wat the ppl of that civilization ate}
Then the Aryans, invaders from Central Asia, invaded the country. The Dravidians were pushed down to Southern States and even though some took to eating fish from the oceans which were readily available, Vegetarianism had entered their blood. Even today wen we think of eating at a vegetarian restaurant, a south indian restaurant pops into the mind.
Now, one may argue that why the Aryans who were naturally from meat eating lands of Central Asia developed the Hindu faith and its resolve against non vegetarian food. They probably gave up non veg after discovering the alluvial rich plains of northern india. Moreover, the meat source became the source of another resource. yes, i am talking about cows and buffalos and they became the source of milk, cheese and saturated oil or ghee. one can reflect upon the importance of these products in the aryan society from the Vedic texts. i myself have read numerous vedic mantras and have come across many which depict the importance of a certain "soma rasa" a favorite drink of the aryans ade fro milk, ghee and an unknown now extinct plant. i feel importance of anything in a society can be seen from what they offer to god. The Christians offer bread and wine which is of importance to them, we hindus in yajyas offer dhrit (ghee) and milk. the yajyas were first performed by the aryans so naturally it was very important to them. Moreover, indian cows have and probably had in those times also, the least production of milk per annum. i still remember the class 8 biology chapter, Swiss Cow: 16000 L/anum, Indian Cow: 1500L/anum. so when i think of it if i like milk and the cow produce very low amount i would want it to live longer and not kill her for meat (Indian cows have a very low meat content also). So that is how cows became holy in fact meat eating became impure or unholy. Only the lower castes and the poor who could not afford breeding cattle or farming ate meat, that is how the divide untouchables got created, meat eaters were considered unclean, and untouchable. As i said earlier, beliefs develop from the society's choices and circumstances, meat eating was unclean therefore being a vegetarian started being considered pure, holy, divine, the vedas advocated vegetarian way of life.
if today you come across a vegetarian in say USA, there is a higher chance that he will say i am a vegetarian because i am an animal lover or that i am vegetarian on ethical grounds. it is the best argument for vegetarianism. when the US constitution was created, it stated that all men were born equal, good statement right, NO it actually meant only men. Women were not included and nor were the blacks, slaves and native american Indians. But then, they did not consider women, blacks and natives equal to men. Civil wars followed, organisations like Ku Klux Klan were set up. but 150 years later women and blacks etc were considered equal and got equal rights. What i am saying is that our society now grants (not fully implements but grants) equal rights to all everyone irrespective of gender, caste, religion, IQ, leadership skills everything then why not irrespective of species, why not extend the same rights to the animals. You will say that animals and human beings are different:
- Humans are more intelligent beings: Rubbish, we just stated that the society now grants equal rights to everyone irrespective of intelligence, then how can one say that an intelligent being is worthy of life and an unintelligent one is not. Moreover, without uninitelligent people in this world what a boring world this will be.
- Animals are incapable of reason: okay, but so is an infant. is it justified to kill an infant
- Animals kill each other all the time: so now we r gonna compare ourselves to the animal kingdom, yeah right. But then that makes murder, assault, rape, incest, polygamy etc all legal all correct.
Moreover, Human Beings can survive on vegetarian food. A vegetarian Tiger becomes a dead body but a vegetarian human being becomes an Albert Einstein, Anil Ambani, Prophet Muhammad. And how is it justified to kill an animal because it is less capable than us in certain areas. Then how are handicapped, mentally challenged, blind, deaf, dumb worthy of living. They too are less capable or incapable than us in certain areas. It is not justified to be a non vegetarian just because you like the taste of butter chicken. What i am trying to say is, if we talk of equality how are animals any different. It is about our moral and ethical thinking. And Ethical reasons is the only justified argument against non vegetarianism.
But that is where the dilemma lies. If ethical reasons is the basis for being a vegetarian, the belief that killing of animals is wrong even vegetarians are in trouble. !!We eat Wheat!! (Rhyme not intended) and you know what increases the crop efficiency from as low as 45% to 90%, PESTICIDES. the meaning of the word Pest (insects, rodents) Cidal (to KILL) . So even vegetarians cannot say that i am a vegetarian due to ethical reasons. Unless you become an extremist, a VEgan who grows his own food and tries at every level not to kill or harm any animal intentionally.
The problems indian vegetarians face when asked the "Why Veggie??" question is that they themselves are confused why they are vegetarians. if they give the religious reason, it is valid. But, it is not very appreciated by others especially if you want someone to give up non veg. Also, i have explained that the Vegetarian concept in the Hindu faith was included because they found eating vegetarian more logical and considered non veg food impure and unclean. It was just a stupid belief that manifested itself over the years. Vedas also suggest that Veg food is healthier, it indeed is, and it is a better argument than the "religious belief" one. But, there are many non veg options like fish and eggs which too are very nutrtious and high in protiens, so a person looking for health needs to give up unhealthy food!! and not non vegetarian food!!
the ethical reason argument is the best but it leads to extremism which indian vegetarians are certainly not. 20% indians are vegetarians but if asked why? they are confused
The DILEMMA of indian VEGETARIANS
As for why i am vegetarian?,
Healthier fooD: naa, i do eat unhealthy veg food
Relgious Reasons: not really
but Religion is definitely the reason for my elders. So i grew up regarding non veg as bad and veg as good. children blindly believe wat the elders tell them, ELDERS BRAINWASH US but i'll leave that topic for another blog. yeah, so I have always eaten vegetarian food. if smeone brings nonveg in front of me i scorn at him, feel nauseatic. i strongly advocate every 1 to eat only veg food and am a strict vegetarian, i think the following qoute works for me,
"MY STOMACH IS NOT A GRAVEYARD OF A DEAD ANIMAL"
sections of post taken from Vir Sanghvi's article in BRUNCH
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
THE GREATEST INVENTION OF THE PAST 2000 YEARS
THE GREATEST INVENTION OF THE PAST 2000 YEARS:
LENSES
It does seem an odd answer but i'll soon justify it....
Firstly, without lenses many people could not read this and i couldn't write this... and, even worse, you might never have been able to read or write, had your eyes needed correction. i remember wearing my first pair of glasses and suddenly having the whole world come into focus. while seeing properly is important, it seems limited to p0ick spectacles as the greatest invention. my vote is for all lenses big or small, convex or concave, alone or combined; the lenses we use to read the universe and the intricacies of life are variations of those we use to read a written word........ just come to think of it, lenses hv prevented the world from being ruled by people under the age of 40
so, let's start with plain ol' spectacles. we dont really know when they first came into use. they started appearing in Italy in 1300's and by 1600 there were specialized artisans who ground lenses and kept their tricks secret.
one of them, a Dutch spectacle maker, Lippershey, saw that a combination of two lenses made an object look bigger. he made the first telescopes hoping to become rich. he didn't succeed but several telescopes were made. one of them reached Galileo Galilei. he pointed his device towards the night sky and looked out. he destroyed it, reconstructed it and improved it. what he saw changed our view of the world. the sun rotated around its axis, Venus revolved around the sun, the moon had mountains and valleys, Jupiter had 4 moons, the Milky Way was made up of large no. of stars. Copernicus and Kepler were right and Ptolemy was wrong............ earth was not the center of the universe.....and there was no going back, there started the space exploration.........
from telescope to microscope. they were discovered at about the same time.....not surprising..as they both involved just the simple piecing together of the right two lenses in correct positions. Galileo used the microscope to see flies the size of sheep, spots of dirt the size of rocks but ignored its significance.... in 1665, Robert Hooke published MICROGRAPHIA. The book contained pictures ............a fly's eye, picture of a louse etc..... then Anton van Leeuwenhoek made a lens of magnifying power -- 500. at that point, a drop of water turned out to be filled with little animals swimming in it. it was the discovery of bacteria..............................
but still the greatest lens of all time was not invented in tha lst 2000 years but much before that, the eye. it was invented by a great inventor......... evolution.
we all know how light rays enter our eye, are immediately bent towards the retina by the cornea. the rays then meet the second focusser, the eye lens -- structured like an onion --- with transparent layers, designed for optimum focusing. the image focussed on retina which has visual cortex and voila.... we see the image
the greatest invention f the last 2000 years, for me is the lens..... but if we talk about all time, its the brain which figured it out how to use the lens..........
please write wat u feel is the greatest invention of the past 2000 years and also giv ur comments
best of luck
Prateek
LENSES
It does seem an odd answer but i'll soon justify it....
Firstly, without lenses many people could not read this and i couldn't write this... and, even worse, you might never have been able to read or write, had your eyes needed correction. i remember wearing my first pair of glasses and suddenly having the whole world come into focus. while seeing properly is important, it seems limited to p0ick spectacles as the greatest invention. my vote is for all lenses big or small, convex or concave, alone or combined; the lenses we use to read the universe and the intricacies of life are variations of those we use to read a written word........ just come to think of it, lenses hv prevented the world from being ruled by people under the age of 40
so, let's start with plain ol' spectacles. we dont really know when they first came into use. they started appearing in Italy in 1300's and by 1600 there were specialized artisans who ground lenses and kept their tricks secret.
one of them, a Dutch spectacle maker, Lippershey, saw that a combination of two lenses made an object look bigger. he made the first telescopes hoping to become rich. he didn't succeed but several telescopes were made. one of them reached Galileo Galilei. he pointed his device towards the night sky and looked out. he destroyed it, reconstructed it and improved it. what he saw changed our view of the world. the sun rotated around its axis, Venus revolved around the sun, the moon had mountains and valleys, Jupiter had 4 moons, the Milky Way was made up of large no. of stars. Copernicus and Kepler were right and Ptolemy was wrong............ earth was not the center of the universe.....and there was no going back, there started the space exploration.........
from telescope to microscope. they were discovered at about the same time.....not surprising..as they both involved just the simple piecing together of the right two lenses in correct positions. Galileo used the microscope to see flies the size of sheep, spots of dirt the size of rocks but ignored its significance.... in 1665, Robert Hooke published MICROGRAPHIA. The book contained pictures ............a fly's eye, picture of a louse etc..... then Anton van Leeuwenhoek made a lens of magnifying power -- 500. at that point, a drop of water turned out to be filled with little animals swimming in it. it was the discovery of bacteria..............................
but still the greatest lens of all time was not invented in tha lst 2000 years but much before that, the eye. it was invented by a great inventor......... evolution.
we all know how light rays enter our eye, are immediately bent towards the retina by the cornea. the rays then meet the second focusser, the eye lens -- structured like an onion --- with transparent layers, designed for optimum focusing. the image focussed on retina which has visual cortex and voila.... we see the image
the greatest invention f the last 2000 years, for me is the lens..... but if we talk about all time, its the brain which figured it out how to use the lens..........
please write wat u feel is the greatest invention of the past 2000 years and also giv ur comments
best of luck
Prateek
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