Stay cool, don’t just say ‘cool’
By
ShreeguruBalajiTambe
shreeguru@- balajitambe.com
It is high time that we understand how, in so many different ways, we have been contributing to the heat in the atmosphere of our loving Mother Earth. When we get angry and hot headed and violent towards someone, it is abusive to the other and adds to the heat of the environment. There is a similar negative environmental impact when we are stressed, scared or tense because the mad rat race that we have been living. When our bodies heat up we feel that it is because of the heat outside. However, we often feel hot because of the inner heat that we are radiating out to the environment.
Since the 20th century, global temperatures have been rising steadily. But in 2016, it is expected that global temperatures may rise by 1.2 degree Celsius more than expected annual rise. Over the last century, significant global temperature rises have been recorded seventeen times and this year’s rise has been the highest annual rise ever. If mankind does not act to act against this excess heat or increase in temperature, it will become disastrous for all living beings and life in general.
We are already witnessing the beginnings of this destruction: In the Arctic region the rise was 6 to 7 degrees Celsius, Alaska and North West Canada saw an increase of 3 degree Celsius, and in Siberia, a sudden fall of 4 degree Celsius. There has been a destructive storm in Haiti, a massive flood in China, serious heat waves in Canada and droughts in many places. These catastrophes are highly related to the rise in global temperature.
Most such events that are threatening human life closely echo the predictions made by the ancient Ayurvedic text ‘Charak Samhita’, in chapter 3 called ‘Janapadodhwans’. This chapter speaks about epidemics, natural disasters and environmental degradation. It opens with the lines:
“Athatojanapadodhwansn- iyamvimanamvyakhyasayamahai
Iti- ha smahaBhagavanAtreyaha” ii
This translates as - We shall now explain the chapter on the ‘determination of the specific characteristics of epidemics and natural disasters in habitations’. There are five major components that make up life and we will try to understand the deterioration of these components as mentioned by Bhagavan Atreya.
AIR
- Absence of characteristic features (observed) in alignment with the seasons
- Excess dryness, cold, heat, roughness, and humidity
- Excessively cyclonic
Water
- Excessive abnormality in smell and taste
- Absence of sea life or reduction in marine flora and fauna
Land or area of inhabitance
- Abnormality of color and smell
- Abundance of animals dangerous to human life, serpents, mosquitoes, flies, and rodents E.g. increase in varieties of disease carrying mosquitoes.
- Withered, dried, or destroyed crops.
- Abundance of smoke in the wind.
- Absence of religiousness, truth, modesty, manners, code of conduct and other qualities in the inhabitants of the land
- Agitation and overflow of water
- Frequent occurrence of meteoroids, earth quakes, etc.
- Increase in nature’s wrath.
- Rise in diseases and stress of the people or inhabitants of the land.
Space and Time
- Change in seasons and untimely incidents .
Energy and Consciousness (as implicit in space and time)
- Hormonal imbalances.
- Disorders due to lack of ‘Ojas’-- the vital force.
There is an undeniable similarity between what the ancient Ayurvedic texts mention and modern problems that have seen because of the imbalances in nature. Since the Ayurvedic predictions from thousands of years ago are proving to be true, one can deduce that the solutions or remedies mentioned in these texts will be helpful today as well.
The Individual’s responsibility:
The most important point or question that we wanted to look at is,
‘What changes an can an individual make to help in the reparation of the imbalance in nature?’
We have seen above that the negative changes occur in all five components of life - air, water, land, space and time, energy and consciousness. If there is any change in human behavior it effects the environment deeply and vice versa, beyond merely industrial and consumption related waste. It is our attitude for which we must take responsibility. The behavioral change in human beings and the deteriorating environment are classified as different periods of the quality of time. They have been called: Satyug, Tretayug, Dwaparyug, and Kaliyug. In Kaliyug, the current period, we can see that the disturbances span all five components of nature.
Let us look at what is happening today from an individual perspective. People have many possessions, and are rich, but don’t have the possibility to enjoy these possessions ‘awarefully’. There has been a tremendous development of the outside or material world and this gives an impression that this is the development of humankind. It is actually development of the external world and is only useful for human possessions.
A subtle point to think about is that the origin of disturbances in nature and human life lies in excess consumption of food. Inception of all greed began with food. In earlier times, when society achieved prosperity, some people began the misuse of abundance through excessive consumption. While abundance of the external was not much of a problem, consumption of excess food, opposed to an individual’s constitution, mainly for enjoyment, was the beginning of our all around deterioration- human and environmental. This is a very important point to remember because this is the most dangerous turn in human life.
Food, which is a basic necessity for human life, slowly turned more into a possession and a material thing to satisfy sensory needs. Most people today eat heavy food that is not necessarily suitable for their constitution i.e. food that may not give them energy but only provides entertainment for the mind and to elevate the status of the person. The food consumed has become symbol of vanity and ego and showcases a sense of possession by the simple act of paying increasingly more and more for the same kind of food.
This begins a chain of events. Naturally, because of these over- indulgent habits, people have become more obese and experience heaviness in the body. They then suffer from fatigue, which in turn gives rise to laziness. Laziness encourages people to possess things, which further leads to the attachment with these material things. Ultimately, the attachment results in greed, followed by malice and falsehood. Life then becomes a journey full of passion, aggression, anger, vanity, dislikes, fears, grief, worry, anxiety and so on. This in turn gives rise to more demand for food, as a quick fix against psychological disturbances due to failures, frustrations and unsatisfied desires and unending possession. In all this, while we may have satisfied illusory desires, we have lost out on our real aim from food i.e. building health.
This entire process leads to breaking established social and traditional disciplines and disruption of rules i.e. it leads to corruption. This disruptive behavior brings further destruction and there is no surprise that distrust, corruption, immorality, aggression, and violence in life will increase, continuous wars and endless consumerism are telling symptoms. Thus, such a change in human behavior and attitude also adversely impacts the environment.
Even in the current situation that seems hopeless, it is always possible to bring back the natural way of life. There are several simple things with far reaching positive consequences. We can start with focus on food suitable for the individual’s constitution, protection of gardens, farming and cultivation of natural crops, love for the people around us, an attitude of service towards society, practice of yoga, fire worship, meditation and an approach to a peaceful life seeking joy rather than possessions.
Further, since sunlight plays a very important role in developing human energy, it is important that instead of living in closed rooms with artificial lighting, we come out, share with nature and breathe in fresh air.
An attitude of cultivating satisfaction will go a long way in reducing heat in and around human beings. Human life is a significantly large part of the planet. Thus, only when we change, will it become possible to hold back the deterioration of time and the consequent negative impact on all the other components of life.
For more details on ancient predictions about present times, refer to Charak Samhita chapter 3 ‘Janapadodhwans’.
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