According to ancient scriptures, human beings have five sheaths: the environment, the physical body, the mind or the mental sheath, the intuitive sheath and purushartha, or the blissful state. Thus, environment is our first body.

Environment consciousness is inbuilt in the human system. Historically, nature (or prakriti) has always been adored in India; mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon, the trees have always been honoured. It’s only when we start moving away from nature that we start polluting nature. We need to revive the ancient practice of honouring and conserving nature. The popular belief is that damage to ecology is an inevitable byproduct of technological progress. But it is not necessarily so; in fact, a sustainable growth is assured only if the ecology is protected. Science and technology should not be regarded as anti-environment; rather, we need to find ways of maintaining harmony in environment while progressing in science and technology. This is the biggest challenge of this century.

Just observe nature; the five elements of nature are opposed to each other. Water destroys fire, fire destroys air… Then there are so many species in nature—the birds, reptiles, mammals; all these different species are hostile towards each other and yet nature balances them out. Never in a forest does one species of birds get wiped out. Neither will you find pollution in any forest despite so many animals living there together. We need to learn from nature; how nature digests waste material and produces something more beautiful. Similarly, it is not technology and science that pose a hazard, but the waste material generated by technological and scientific processes. We need to find methods to consume the waste.

Separately, we also need to develop non-polluting processes, such as harnessing solar energy. There are several other fields where there are no holes, it is the greed of some companies that don’t share the environment friendly methods with everybody.

In reality, man’s greed is the greatest pollutant. Greed stops man from sharing with others. Greed also obstructs preservation of ecology; man is so greedy, he wants to make quick profits and achieve quick results. Whilst being aware of methods to prevent pollution, he may not act upon them because they cost in some manner. This greed not only pollutes the gross, physical environment but also contaminates the subtle atmosphere; it stimulates negative emotions in the subtle mind. These negative emotions impact the minds of all the people around; if one person is angry and agitated, the anger and agitation does not stay limited to that one person but rubs off onto all those who he comes in contact with.  These negative vibrations, once compounded, give rise to unrest in society. Negative feelings of hatred, anger, jealousy are the root cause of all disasters and misery in the world, whether they are economical, political or social in nature.  Most of the wars are triggered off by such feelings; and war is always accompanied by waste and natural disasters which take ages to balance out.

We need to attend to the human psyche which causes pollution, whether physical or emotional. If compassion and care are kindled within the self, they reflect in the environment; a sense of sacredness follows. People should be encouraged to treat the planet as sacred, to treat trees and rivers as sacred, to treat people as sacred, and to see God in nature and in people. This will foster sensitivity; and a sensitive person can’t but care for nature. It is basically insensitivity that makes a person act callously towards environment. If a person is sensitive, he will nurture environment, thereby eradicating pollution.

Spirituality elevates ones consciousness and checks that greed which leads to environmental degradation. It promotes a sense of caring and commitment for the whole planet. Spirituality is what cleanses greed, feverishness and small-mindedness in a person; it leads him to honour nature.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means “union” or “coming together”. Dating back more than 5,000 years, it is a powerful practice that can create synergy in the mind-body complex. This synergy is important to maintain a healthy, happy life. Yoga postures or asanas are the most well known aspect of yoga, but it also consists of breathing exercises, meditation and knowledge of ethical living practices. Together, all these can help with mental and physical well-being.

In today’s world, if there is an omnipresent phenomenon that affects people from all nationalities, ages, gender and races, it is stress. Stress has slowly become a part of the current human experience. Stress can be triggered by an unpleasant conversation with a co-worker, an impending deadline, traffic, family pressures, worries about the future or just by listening to the news. Chronic low level stress is a way of life for most adults. Chronic stress keeps the sympathetic nervous system active and depresses the parasympathetic nervous system. This imbalance creates a multitude of health problems like insomnia, high blood pressure, cardiovascular issues, obesity, mood disorders, digestive disorders and even cancer. According to a WHO report, these non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for 41 million deaths, which is 71% of all deaths globally. The NCDs are difficult to manage or cure with just Western medicine. More people are now turning towards holistic techniques for well-being, and yoga is amongst the most popular. In 2015, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) found that 21 million or 9.5% of all adults in the US used yoga as a complementary health approach. This number has grown since then as thousands of people are discovering the benefits of yoga each day.

Here are six ways in which yoga can change your life:

YOGA REDUCES STRESS

Yoga has been shown to increase heart rate variability (HRV). Increased HRV is a sign of increased relaxation and reduced stress. Yoga has also been shown to reduce cortisol, the hormone indicator for stress. The components of stretching, deep breathing and meditation relax the body and calm the mind. They bring one to the present moment and moderate the incessant flow of the thoughts which creates stress. Pranayama and breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya have also been shown to reduce stress significantly.

YOGA HELPS YOU SLEEP

With the constant pressure to manage responsibilities and be “on” at all times, most of us have trouble sleeping. Many illnesses and health problems are associated with insomnia, including cancer, chronic pain conditions such as arthritis and fibromyalgia, and depression. Several studies have been conducted on the impact of yoga on sleep, including one by Harvard Medical School. Yoga has been shown to improve sleep, impacting its onset, duration and quality. Simple techniques like savasana and yoga nidra can be highly beneficial for sleep.

YOGA MAKES YOU YOUNGER

A recent study published in JAMA Dermatology showed that practising face yoga postures for 20 weeks made women look three years younger. The good news is that yoga also makes you younger at a deeper level. Yoga has been known to reduce inflammation and improve circulation in the body which slows the aging process.

YOGA MAKES YOU HAPPY

Yoga can boost feelings of happiness not only by making you feel like you did something good for yourself, but by also impacting the neurochemical pathways of happiness. Researchers at the Boston University Medical School found higher levels of the amino acid GABA in people after practising yoga for just one hour. People who suffer from depression and anxiety have very low levels of these amino acids in their bodies. Yoga is also shown to release oxytocin, which is an essential hormone for social bonding and happiness. When oxytocin levels are high, one feels a greater sense of connection with others and themselves. A study in India showed that yoga also increases levels of serotonin, the hormone responsible for making one feel happy and regulating mood. Thus, yoga impacts the brain in wonderful, positive ways and makes us healthy and happy!

YOGA KEEPS YOU HEALTHY MENTALLY & PHYSICALLY

An amazing thing about yoga is that it is highly customisable. There are postures and breathing techniques specifically for conditions like diseases and pregnancy and for purposes like increasing creativity and focus. A good yoga teacher can help you tailor your practice to focus on areas that are important to you. Current research has also found yoga to be an effective tool to reduce depression and anxiety. Yoga can also increase endurance for pain. Numerous studies have shown its benefit in managing NCDs like diabetes and obesity. In an increasingly stressful world, yoga is an easy, effective and economical way to keep oneself healthy.

YOGA MAKES YOU SMART AND CREATIVE

Yoga has been shown to activate the vagus nerve, which is the longest cranial nerve in our body and the command central for the parasympathetic nervous system. Stress and anxiety suppresses vagus nerve activity, which makes us react rather than respond, in a state of fear, fight or flight, and make more mistakes and rash decisions. Yoga activates the vagus nerve, allowing us to access parts of the brain responsible for creativity, higher cognition and logical thinking. Yoga relaxes the body and the brain, allowing us to take actions from a calm space and bringing forth hidden talents.

 A beautiful and effective combination of yoga postures, breathing exercises and meditation can be found in the Art of Living Happiness Program. Taking a few minutes to practise these effective yet easy techniques can truly transform your life!

 The author is a senior meditation teacher and the Executive Director, Sri Sri Institute for Advanced Research.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

—US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his inaugural address in 1933.

We live in an age d o m i n a t e d b y fear. Whether now because of coronavirus or earlier because of the threats of nuclear war, terrorism, environmental destruction or economic depression; there is always something to be afraid of.

Whether it is on the global scale like the things mentioned above or it is at a more personal, family or local stage – fear is a constant in our lives. There is no point denying it but instead to overcome it by pulling the bull by its horns.

Courage is not the absence of fear but it is the management of fear by facing it head on and changing the mental conditions within us that have contributed to us feeling afraid. Everybody in this world has some fear or the other, but through a conscious effort we can overcome our fears in order to live better, peaceful and more productive lives.

Many times, the things that we are afraid of are just in our minds and the likelihood of these things happening is very rare. Let us look at some examples through a little mental exercise. Think of the worst fear you have. It could be anything. You could fear losing a loved one, or falling very ill, facing financial crisis or any other such fear you may have. Think about it in a calm and rational way. How often has it actually happened? Probably never or at the most rarely.

Let us take the coronavirus situation that we are all currently facing. Let us look at some numbers. According to JHU CSSE Data—the total number of cases of coronavirus in India since the start of the pandemic is 14.3 million out of which 12.5 million have recovered. The total number of deaths is approximately 174,000 since the beginning of the pandemic. That means of the people who have got it only 1.2 per cent have died. 98.8 percent of people have survived. The current population of India is about 1.36 billion, which means that 1 percent of the Indian population has gotten Covid-19 since last year. 99 percent of the population have not got it. About 174,000 deaths out of 1.36 billion people means that only 0.01 percent of our population died of coronavirus. 

Now let’s look at normal non-Covid deaths in India. According to Medindia data, 26,789 deaths occur daily in India, this means 9,778,073 deaths annually. So, in a span of more than a year 174,000 deaths happened because of Covid—this is only 1.7 % of the total annual deaths in India. This means that 98.3 percent of people who died in India in the last year, did not die of Covid-19. 

Having said this, we should take all proper precautions to save ourselves and others from getting Covid but we should not unnecessarily panic. Heart disease, cancer, road accidents, TB, suicide kill more people annually in India than Covid-19. 

What is it that we are afraid of? How likely is it to happen? What will happen if it happens? Most of the time we never get to see the things we are afraid of—either they never happen or even if they do they weren’t as bad as we thought it would be. But in either case, it is important to face the fear head on. There are many situations in life that we are afraid of. Most of these situations do not involve any kind of physical harm. There is a fear of failure or rejection.

Have you ever had a lingering anxiety or worry about having a particular conversation with someone about a ‘difficult’ topic? Have you wondered how someone would react if you said or did something in particular? There are many situations in life that we dread. We constantly keep imagining the worst possible outcome. The fear, anxiety, worry and dread keep increasing with each moment that the fear is not faced. But when you take a bold and courageous step and face your fears—stand up to that bully, have the difficult conversation, get that medical checkup done, take that plunge and start a new business and so on – when you actually do the thing you feared you will immediately feel a huge burden lifting off your shoulders. 

Some other ways to ease your fears are:

Deep and slow breathing whenever you are afraid. This will instantly make you feel better.

Ask yourself ‘What is the worst that can happen?’ Many times we are afraid of irrational situations that never happen.

Don’t be afraid of rejection. Sometimes we put off having a conversation or asking for something we want because of fear of rejection. Most of the time this is irrational and unwarranted because many times the rejection does not happen. But even if it does, ask yourself “So what?”. Pull up your socks and try again later

In relationships as well, we are afraid that we will lose our loved ones in some way either through death or an end of a relationship. In the former case, there is really nothing that we can do about it. People die when and how they are destined to die. You can only try your best to help them. In the case of an end of a relationship on the other hand, people are often afraid of losing their significant other through a variety of ways. The most common fear is that the other person will stop loving them. If this happens, it is not the end of the world. Life and love go on and you never know who you might meet in the future.

Keep yourself calm by having faith in a higher power that you invite into your life to give you what is best for you, irrespective of if it is the outcome you want. Have faith that a higher power resides within you and that it will always do what is best for you.

So yes, we are living in strange times. But it is not the end. This is only one more chapter in our human story. Do not take the pandemic lightly but also do not overly panic. Numbers are rising but they will subside when people start to take more precautions. Live your life with caution but not worry or panic. Remember you are not alone. We are all in this together and as FDR said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Prashant Solomon is a Delhi based author and businessman.

The world is full of paradoxes. To understand them we have to learn the art of understanding life. Man wants to understand everything through logic, but logic is not understanding; it is the deception that something can be understood. 

Man has created a world around him and attached himself to it. He is like a spider which has spun a web and gotten caught in it. In fact, spiders are not so naïve, but man is. Man has spun this world around him over a thousand years of progress and become enamoured with it. It is like a cage he has created for safety and doesn’t have the courage to step out of it. It is like man digging his own grave.

A few have gotten out of the cage.  Like Buddha when he looked at the futility of a caged life. Man always wants to anchor his boat at the harbour to keep it safe, but boats aren’t made to be tied to the harbour.

Why is man incarnated? What does this entire existence want him to be? Man has to understand. Man is full of existence. He lives in it. No matter how he is embodied, he continues to be pure existence. He continues to live, which is what the Hindus call ‘sashvat jeevan’ (eternal life). But his mind thinks otherwise and that is when the world is created. There are as many worlds created as many men there are on earth.

The mind has created a very complex world around man. For thousands of years man has created such complexities which seem to have lent joy and colour to life but they have also brought him sorrow, misery and suffering. The body wants food, water, and shelter. Man is able to fulfil them easily. But in a complex world, needs become more complex – societal, psychological, emotional, and spiritual. Man seems to be running to fulfil his needs all his life but they are never fulfilled.

Man wants to fill himself up with money, buy things to prove himself. But he remains unfulfilled always. The actual need of man is his existential need. Man comes filled with it. But when he lives in his mind, he finds himself emptied and tries to fill himself with worldly things.

Things are utilitarian and it is useless to possess them beyond a point. Living a life full of madness to earn money so that others might call you a rich man is a life lived in vain. Deep down you will always know your poverty for money led you to be rich. You wish to live in the fullness of the things that you have filled your house with. But in fact one lives in the emptiness of the house. Young people these days are embracing minimalism as the art of life and that is a good way for being in existence, away from the madness.

Whatever is needed by existence is the real need. Whatever that man has invented is merely for purposes of utility. Thanks to science, we have invented electricity, fast travel, light at night, and more information in megabytes. Suppose there is a calamity now and this fast travel, electricity and information and your condominiums and banks are lost. Will you live? Yes. Your body lives on food and water; they are priceless. Every person can find shelter; earth is a huge space. What else will you need then? Money and things have values ascribed to them by man but in a difficult situation, will such value remain?

The mind and the body are one. You exist in this body-mind as one. When you fear, you run, which is in fact your mind fears and your body runs. But both activities become one activity for the body-mind. Psychologists say that most diseases are psychological. When your mind begins thinking your body begins acquiring it. 

Both physics and religion agree that this world is made of time and space and the world is expanding, and that is how this world has come into being. We as the body-mind exist in space and time is the comprehension of the human mind. One type of time is that which is experienced psychologically, and the second type is calendar time, which humans use to calculate days, nights, months and years.

You exist and there is nothing to be done. When you become one with your existence and are fully conscious, your psychological and bodily needs become less prominent. Your whole body-mind and consciousness become a part of existence.

Buddha became one with existence for six years. Silently. His needs died out. Human needs are relative. Life is relative. You are neither body nor mind. But man is living under the false ‘ego’ created by his mind, which has created needs which will continue to make him miserable.

Sitting silently in existence, being one with it, that is the art of life. It happens when you understand the futility of your needs. But all your life you keep on trying to fulfil the hopes that have created this world. The wish that you want to acquire this world. But in the end, nothing comes into your hands. So, sit silently, beyond body, beyond mind, beyond breath, beyond everything around you. Sit silently to know that you are not only part of existence but you are the existence itself.

The author is a spiritual teacher and advisor on policy, governance and leadership. He can be contacted at arunavlokitta@gmail.com

There are a lot of misconceptions about these two words—dharma and religion. They are used very carelessly and therefore can, and do, invoke wrong meanings and even dangerous ideas. A misinterpretation of these words can completely change perceptions. On deep thinking one realises very clearly that any religion is not about God really, it is an institutionalised set of beliefs only meant for human beings to practice. For what? Exactly, this is the question. If these beliefs are meant for the betterment of all human beings, then they should necessarily be the same universally! But we sadly notice that there is something in the very nature of man-made religion that is divisive. A religion excludes all that it is not, while dharma includes every form of life. Noted scholar Badrinath Chaturvedi in his book Dharma, India and the World Order, writes, “All social disorders originate primarily in the minds of men… The real problem is that of conveying a fundamental concept of one culture to another.” And in doing that some loss of meaning always occurs due to differences in languages and cultural beliefs.

The range of ideas that this word dharma represents is not conveyed accurately by any word in English. There is an absence of any intelligible term in English that could in essence cover the entire range of ideas in all the subtle nuances in the gambit of this word Dharma.   Any Sanskrit dictionary gives meanings running into pages. Marco Pallis, a scholar on Buddhism, states in his essay on ‘A Buddhist Spectrum’, “The word ‘dharma’ which the Indian traditions have rendered familiar has no really adequate counterpart in the terminologies of the European languages.” This is a huge drawback we face in trying to convey to the Western world the range of nuances this word evokes in the Hindu mind. There is stree dharma, pati dharma, Rajya dharma, putra dharma, Sachiv dharma, Purohit dharma, and oh, the list seems endless. Roughly translated as whatever is the best possible noble duty for the benefit of all that one should indulge in, open to interpretations and modifications according to time, place, person and situations. Notice the pliability and the freedom of choice given to man, the openness of mind and the magnanimity of acceptance. This is dharma. It is not a set of unchangeable, hard and fast set of rules. One can’t paint all with the same brush.

The religions of the world stick to their self-created ideologies, condemning those held by any other belief systems, and try deception, seduction, allurements and even violence to impose their beliefs on others. Some even profess to have a religious sanction for doing so. The concept of dharma is universal and never mandated. It is not given out by somebody as compulsory dictates or prohibitory orders. There is no programming. You live according to your own understood set of values, without imposing the same on anyone. In dharma a high value is placed on respecting the dignity and free will of the human intellect.

Yes, dharmic actions and adharmic actions are based on disciplines and values imposed on oneself. There are boundaries to keep unruly acts in check. Of course, these follow a universal matrix of values where the cardinal rule is: ‘I do not want to get hurt, nor do I want to hurt others.’ There is no indoctrination in dharma, it follows the simple logic of whatever is beneficial to mankind universally. It is open to independent interpretation according to the needs of the hour and the given situation. Unless there is a universal ease of application how can it be open to interpretation? Dharma doesn’t come loaded with software. It doesn’t have any Windows. Almost all religions rest on non-confirmed, non-verifiable beliefs. So, what is the ongoing shooting match about? A fight for that which may or may not be true!

Dharma gives freedom to all, to believe in or discard with impunity what his or her intellect judges as wrong or right, without imposing it on others. It is not a preset glove of values, one size fits all. Whether it is one God or twenty, whether it is a form or formless, man, woman, child, animal, half-man and half-animal, river, hill, plant or tree, stone or wood, dharma should encompass and embrace all ideas of divinity universally. Prayer in any language, by anyone, done in any place, to any form one considers as holy, is acceptable to the universal idea of dharma.

Dharma of anything is its essence or its essential quality without which that thing loses all meaning, in fact ceases to exist as itself. For example, any white translucent cubical crystals could be anything else but not sugar if they do not taste sweet. So, sweetness is the dharma of sugar. Similarly, the essential life force that pervades the entire world of cognitive life in the whole universe is the dharma of all existence, and it is to that divine factor that makes life possible, that we owe obeisance. It may take any form of our man-made fancy, but is in effect that sacred power, that supreme intelligence because of which existence exists, call him Ishwar or Allah, Buddha or Mahaveer, it is the true dharma of all beings.

Prarthna Saran is president, Chinmaya Mission, Delhi.

What is truth and what is victory?

There are two criteria against which one can discern truth. Truth must be eternal, and truth must be imperishable. If either of these two criteria are missing, then it is not truth. There are three eternal and imperishable truths: The identity of the self, the existence and identity of God, and the philosophy of Karma.

The identity of the self is consciousness, or spirit or soul. The soul is an indestructible, infinitesimal point of light energy, composed of thought. God is also an almighty point of immense energy, light and power. The philosophy of karma is based on the return of actions. However, what many fail to recognise is that karma is based on thought, and that is why our thoughts matter immensely.

We are living in a world of matter, of atoms in constant motion. A world of physical forms, all of which are perishable. A world of relationships and roles, all of which are transient. If I fail to hold the awareness of the three eternal truths in my consciousness, I am carried away into this world of impermanence and at the mercy of my own weaknesses, the opinions and directions of others, the expectations of my particular culture, and my own desires.

To reach a stage of being able to have constant awareness of these truths, I need silence. I need the silence that is only possible in deep meditation. With the power of concentration and the experience of deep silence and peace in meditation, these truths become crystal clear. With this clarity I can return to my responsibilities and roles in the physical world with the realisation of exactly what I need to do to live a life in freedom, no longer a slave to temporary desires and worries.

Meditation is the key to this kind of victory and happiness. It is worth devoting time each day to experience the truth of being a soul, and to connect to the Supreme Soul in the experience of meditation. In this experience I become aware of the quality of my thoughts, the seeds of all action. Truth, experienced in this way, brings victory over the senses, and therefore, happiness.

B.K. Rajni is the National Coordinator for the Brahma Kumaris in the Philippines and Japan.