Sub Logo

Dr K K Aggarwal

Jan 12

26

Why do We Close Our Eyes during Pooja?

By Dr KK
Filed Under Spirituality - Science Behind Rituals | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | | Comments Off

Whenever we pray, think of God, undertake an internal healing procedure, make love, kiss someone, or meditate, we automatically close our eyes. It is a common Vedic saying that the soul resides in the heart and all the feelings are felt at the level of heart.

Most learning procedures in meditation involves sitting in an erect, straight posture,  closing the eyes, withdrawing from the world and concentrating on the object of concentration. Yoga Sutra of Patanjali describes pratihara (withdrawal of senses) as one of the seven limbs of yoga: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratihara, Dharma, Dhyana and Samadhi.

After pranayama, one needs to withdraw from the world and the senses and then begin dhyana on the object of concentration. The process of pratihara becomes easy and is initiated with the closing of the eyes. The inward journey starts with the detachment of the body from the external world and in yogic language, it is called Kayotsarga, the first step of meditation..

Even when the process of hypnosis is begun, a person is made to lie down, look at the roof and withdraw from the world. The procedure involves asking the person to gently roll the eyeball up until he goes into a trance. Rolling of the eyeballs upward has the same physiological significance as that of closing the eyes.

When we close our eyes, there is a suppression of sympathetic nervous system and activation of parasympathetic nervous system. The blood pressure and pulse reduce and skin resistance goes up. A person goes into a progressive phase of internal and muscular relaxation. The inward journey is a journey towards restful alertness where the body is restful yet the consciousness is alert. The intention is to relax the body and than the attention is focused on the object of concentration. Most visualization and meditation techniques involve closing of the eyes.

By detaching from the external stimuli, the activities of the five senses are suppressed and ones awareness shifts from a disturbed to an undisturbed state of consciousness. This inner journey helps in producing a state of ritam bhara pragya where the inner vibrations of the body are in symphony with the vibrations of the nature.

People who visit Vaishno Devi by traveling long distances on foot enter the cave and as soon as they have the darshan of Maa Vaishno Devi, they close their eyes. This is natural and instant. Even though Maa Vaishno Devi cannot be felt in the murti, her presence is felt in the heart and that presence can only be felt by closing the eyes.

Most yogic techniques like shavasana, yoga nidra, body-mind relaxation, progressive muscular relaxation, hypnosis involves closing the eyes in the very first step. Daytime nap is also incomplete without closing the eyes. Shok Sabha and two minutes silence are also practiced with the eyes closed. When we think of someone or try to remember something, the body automatically closes the eyes and one starts exploring the hidden memories. To recall something, one has to withdraw from the external world through its five senses.

Only advanced yogis or rishis acquire the power where with eyes opened they are in a state of Ritam, Bhara, Pragya. These yogic powers are acquired by practicing advanced sutra meditation for hours, days and years.  Lord Shiva is often portrayed in a meditative pose sitting on Kailash Parvat with his eyes semi opened. But for ordinary persons like us where the aim is to be in that phase only for 20 minutes twice in a day, the best is to close our eyes as the first step towards the process of meditation.

Blogger PostEmailFacebookGoogle GmailShare

Nov 11

16

Only a doctor can be a Jain and a Christian at the same time

By Dr KK
Filed Under Spirituality - Science Behind Rituals | Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , | | 3 Comments»

I recently participated in a seminar on Christian-Jain collaboration organized by World Fellowships of Religions, The pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, the Catholic Bishop’s conference of India and Delhi Catholic Archdiocese.  I was asked to speak on common codes of conduct between two dharma.

It was not an easy subject being I said that two dharma can be united and only a doctor can do that as he is the only one who can be a Christiana and a Jain at the same time.

First let us look at the Jainism. The five Great Vows (Mahavratas) of Jainism talks about right knowledge, right faith, and right conduct as the main three essentials for attaining liberation. In order to acquire these, one must observe the five great vows namely Nonviolence (Ahimsa); Truth (Satya); Non Stealing (Achaurya or Asteya); Self Control (Bramhacharya) and Non Attachment/Non Possession (Aparigraha).

A doctor has to be a Jaini in his conduct. While treating and handling patients he has to follow the path of non violence and truthfulness in his actions, speech and thoughts. He has to be a person with extreme self control else he will lose control in emergent conditions. He has to observe Asteya though transparency in his charges. Finally the doctor must believe in aparigraha which means he must learn to practice detached attachment. It also means not keeping things more than required and it applies to both drugs and devises as keeping drugs and devises after expiry date may be harmful to the patients. Another principle of Jainism is ‘Anekant‘ which means multi-sided views.  A doctor cannot be a good doctor unless he believes in this philosophy and respect the views of other colleagues.

When it comes to Christianity the religion gives emphasis on love, service, compassion and confession etc. All are part of medical ethics and characteristics of a good doctor.

If we look at some of the Ten Commandments, they are equally applicable to medical profession under their code or ethics. They are Thou shall not kill (one should not harm the patients); Thou shall not commit adultery ( having sexual relations with patients is ethical); Thou shall not steal (a doctor should not over bill any patient); Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour or Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house or Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s (here neighbour can be equated to patient and also to your professional colleague).

Blogger PostEmailFacebookGoogle GmailShare

Nov 11

11

What is the Purpose of Life?

By Dr KK
Filed Under Spirituality - Science Behind Rituals | Tagged With: , , , , , , | | 2 Comments»

The Four Purusharthas: Dharma, Artha, Karma and Moksha

Purusha means human being and artha means object or objective. Thus Purusharthas means objectives of a man.

Here, ‘Purusha’ does not mean a male in its physical sense of the word. It means any soul in its differentiated form. The Purusharthas are applicable to both men and women.

According to Vedanta, a person should strive to achieve four main objectives (Purusharthas) in his life. They are:

  • Dharma (righteousness)
  • Artha (material wealth)
  • Kama (desire)
  • Moksha (salvation)

Every person is expected to achieve these four objectives and seek fulfillment in life before death. The four principles can be summarized as “acquiring material wealth through righteousness to fulfill the desires of acquiring inner happiness”

The word dharma means, “To hold together”. It represents “any act” of omission or commission, which holds people together in the society. The purpose of earning money should be to hold one’s dharma and the money should be earned using the principles of dharma.

Moksha is the very purpose of life and in broader sense denotes acquiring inner happiness. The same can only be acquired using the principles of duty, discipline and devotion. Only if the desire or intention to acquire one’s happiness is focused on it one can get it. Intention and attention are thus the main two tools of acquiring any thing in life. With right intention and focused attention, one can overcome all adversities in life.

These main principles also enlighten us about the message of the Trimurti: Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva), the three Gods of our existence. Brahma teaches us about Dharma, Vishnu about righteous earning and Mahesha about fulfilling the desires.

All the four Purusharthas are also related to the Ashrams of life; Bramhacharya Ashram with dharma, Grasthya Ashram with Artha, Vanprastha Ashram with Kama and Sanyasa Ashram with the Moksha.

Vedic texts are available on each of the objective: Dharmashastra, Arthashastra, Kamashastra and the Upanishads.

Summary
“Using dharma to earn money which in turn can be spent on fulfilling the desire to get inner happiness” or “Fulfilling one’s desire of inner happiness using the means earned through righteous earning.”

Blogger PostEmailFacebookGoogle GmailShare

Oct 11

11

Am I healthy?

By Dr KK
Filed Under Spirituality - Science Behind Rituals | Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | | 3 Comments»

Health is not mere absence of disease; it is a state of physical, mental, social, spiritual, environmental and financial well being. All aspects of health are not defined in allopathy. During MBBS, medical students are taught more about the physical health. Social and mental health is covered only in few lectures. Community health is a separate subject but never given its due importance. Spiritual health is not defined at all and financial health is hardly covered.

Yet, in day today practice it is the social, financial, spiritual and community health which is the most important during patient-doctor communication. It is incorporated in the four basic purposes: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Dharma and Artha together forms the basis of karma which righteous earning.

You are what your deep rooted desires are. Most of the diseases today can be traced to a particular emotion, positive or negative. Anger and jealously are related with heart attack, fear with blood pressure, greed & possessiveness with heart failure. Unless the mind is healthy, one cannot be free of diseases.

The best description of health comes from Ayurveda. In Sanskrit health means Swasthya, which means establishment in the self. One is established in the self when there is a union of mind, body and soul. Most symbols of health are established around a shaft with two snakes and two wings. The shaft represents the body, two snakes represent the duality of mind and the two wings represent the freedom of soul.

Sushrut Samhita in Chapter 15 Shloka 10 defines health as under:

Samadosha, samagnischa,
Samadhatumalkriyah,
Prasannatmendriyamanah,
Swastha iti abhidhiyate.

From Ayurveda point of view for a person to be healthy must have balanced doshas, balanced Agni, balanced dhatus, normal functioning of malkriyas and mind, body, spirit and indriyas full of bliss and happiness.

Human body is made up of structures (Kapha) which have two basic functions to perform; firstly, metabolism (pitta) and movement (vata). Vata, Pitta and Kapha are called doshas in Ayurveda. Samana dosha means balance of structures, metabolism and movement functions in the body. Agni in Ayurveda is said to be in balance when a person has normal Tejas and a good appetite.

Ayurveda describes seven dhatus: rasa, rakta, mamsa, medha, majja, asthi, shukra and they are required to be in balance. They are equivalent to various tissues in the human body.

Ayurveda necessitates proper functioning of natural urges like urination, stool, sweating and breathing and that is what balances in malakriya means.

Ayurveda says for a person to be healthy he has to be mentally and spiritually healthy which will only happen when his or her indriyas are cheerful, full of bliss and devoid of any negativities. For indriyas to be in balance one has to learn to control over the lust cum desires, greed and ego. This can be done by learning regular pranayama, learning the do’s and don’ts in life, living in a disciplined atmosphere and learn to live in the present.

Regular pranayama shifts one from sympathetic to para sympathetic mode, balances the mind and thoughts and helps in removing negative thoughts from the mind. For living a disabled life one can follow the yama and niyama of yoga sutras of patanjali or do’s and don’ts taught by various religious gurus, leaders and principles of naturopathy. Living in the present means conscious or meditative living. This involves either learning meditation 20 minutes twice a day or learning subtle mental exercises like mind-body relaxation, yogic shavasana, self-hypnotic exercises, etc.

According to Yoga Sutras of Patanjali a person who eats thrice a day is a rogi, twice a day is a bhogi and once a day is yogi. The take home message is: to live more one has to eat less.

Swar yoga defines the importance of respiration and longevity. According to this yoga shastra, everybody has a fixed number of breaths to be taken during the life span. Lesser the number a person takes in a minute more is the life. It also forms the basis of pranayama which is nothing but longer and deeper breathing with reduced respiratory rate. To be healthy one can remember to follow the principle of moderation and variety in diet & exercise, regular pranayama & meditation and positive thinking.

Blogger PostEmailFacebookGoogle GmailShare