The Spirit of Cleanliness...V. Balakrishnan

BRUSHING OUR teeth is something we do every morning without sparing a second thought.  But like each and every act of daily life, this too had come under the keen observation of the sages of the past.  And like many other daily acts, they prescribed a routine for cleaning our teeth too.

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Accordingly, before cleaning the teeth, one has to hold water in mouth, gargle well and spit it out.  While doing this, bow your head Dto the left side, for there are rishis in front of us and devas on our right side.  As per old beliefs, the left side alone is vacant.

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Now start brushing.  Take a small, green twig of neem, red mandaram, fig or mango tree, beat its head with a stone and brush with this softened end.  this prescription appears in Devi Bhagavatham also.

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However, on certain days like Vavu, Prathama, Shashti, Navami, Ekadasi etc, this sort of brushing is not permitted.  On these days, gargling 12 times with fresh water will do.

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While brushing, mentally chant the prayer:

"Annadyaya vyoohadhwamse somorajayamagamatu

Samemukham prakshalyate yasasa cha bhagena cha

Ayurbalam yasorvarcha: pasuvasooni chabrahma

Prajnjancha medhancha twannodehi vanaspathe"

In Kerala, Sankarasmriti does not encourage people to brush using these twigs.  According to the text, burnt chaff or leaves of the mango tree are preferable to twigs.

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Householders should not brush their teeth on Sundays and Tuesdays.  There is also a taboo on brushing one's teeth on birthdays, Prathipadam.  Chaturdasi etc as well.  However, no such restrictions are binding on Mondays.  It is a must-day for brushing!

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Like wise, the texts warn us not to brush our teeth facing southwards.  You can face east or northeast while brushing your teeth.

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ONE MAY wonder why there are specific instructions with regard to trifles like brushing one's teeth.

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Traditional beliefs and observances have something remarkable in them and that is why they persisted so long.  For one, these prescriptions urge us to do justice to great beings.  And, more importantly, they indicate that no task is mundane.

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In Yajanavalkya Smriti, for instance, bathing is mainly classified into Mukhyam and Gaunam, and these have six and seven sub-divisions respectively.  All auspicious acts are supposed to bath.  Otherwise they don't incur any results.  Hence, one has tobegin the day with bathing.

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However, there is restriction on bathing on certain days like Ahashti, Ashtami, and newmoon.  Likewise, one should not take bath immediately after food, while suffering from diseases and at mid-night.  Dip-bath in water bodies or bathing in medicinal water is recommended.

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While bathing in a lake or river one has to imagine the presence of holy river Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati and worship them uttering the shloka:

"Gangae cha Yamunae chaiva Godavari Saraswathi Narmada Sindhu Kaveri Theertho asmin samindin kuru"

After taking bath, one should stand in water and undertake certain observances to please the deities.  Then drying your hair and body, again as per specific prescriptions, you can return home.

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These restrictions and prescriptions succeeded in ensuring personal and social wellness apart from imposing habits of hygiene on our ancestors......

.................DR VENGANOOR BALAKRISHNANAN... is the author of Thaliyola, a book on Hindu beliefs and rituals.  He has also written books on the Vedas and Upanishads.  The author can be reached at ...DRVENGANOOR@YAHOO.CO.IN.

Cyber Relationships Ruin Real Ones....

With more and more people turning to the online world for comfort, real relationships are being sidelined...........

Chatting, Pinging, Emailing, Twittering and texting - the cyber world is throwing newer forms of connecting with people, every other month.  Innovation, something that usually took years to develop, is now literally taking place with a snap of a finger.  While it is great for technological progress, is it really that great for relationships?

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Many being online interactions with no serious intent except to connect, have fun, network and 'be around" as they put it.  "If you aren't on Facebook you're pretty much an old hat and better relegate yourself to a tomb," say the with-it, who are always connected and available.  "What! You've got to be kidding, you don't know how to twitter?  Get a life babe/dude.  You'd rather have been born in the 16th century," is yet another common perception.  With comments like these, youngsters, who may not be web-savvy, are literally arm-twisted into being "connected'.  They fear that if they don't, they'd be looked upon as 'un-cool" and be the odd ones out.

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What starts off as a way to get familiar with people eventually turns into a dependence of sorts, with people freaking out if their Internet connections are down for even a few hours.  It slowly veers into personal space where couples who usually "communicated" inter-personally, now prefer to sit silently next to each other, busy with his/her laptop "communicating" with an unknown stranger.

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Often, the ramifications on relationships aren't too evident.  Over time however, it eats into special time and before one knows it, one has transgressed into an emotional connect with an online person who "listens", makes no judgments, completely accepts you for what you are and allows you to vent.  Since virtual buddies don't live with each other, it makes it easier for them, to be more accepting, accommodating, tolerant and less complaining about peculiarities.  In this safe haven of anonymity and total approval, people don't even realise how and when they slip into an emotional attachment with a stranger.

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This new age phenomenon of emotional connections in the virtual world is here to stay.  But we have to safeguard ourselves from falling into trap, that to an undiscerning eye, shows no evident threat.  It is a hazard so severe that, if not taken care of, could spiral into something that you can't control.

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As simple as it may sound, developing a solid relationship with your significant other decreases the probability of "online infidelity".  A unifying bond between you two, and putting your faith in similar ideas of loyalty may help you draw boundaries and around what is acceptable and what is not - in both the virtual world or in reality.

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Keeping each other in the loop about to who you connect with and who you interact with on various sites, could be another method to keep a check on yourself.

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Those who swear by the concept of "individuality" would exclaim, "Are we supposed to share everything about our lives with our partners..."  But isn't it a healthier method to share everything with each other, so that you don't fall prey to temptation?  If your intentions are clear, what's there to hide, right?...............

      ..........THE WRITER IS A PSYCHOLOGIST WITH LILAVATI HOSPITAL, MUMBAI..............

FINDING GOD .. the Gandhian Way

A part from being the father of the nation and the driving force behind our freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi was also a man whose faith instilled a moral compass of the highest order in not just his followers but anyone who performed public service.  If one observes the Mahatma's life, he or she would understand that spirituality was at the centre of every action undertaken by him.  Liberating the country with his concept of ashima (non-violence) and tolerance, the Mahatma had imbibed the highest ideals of faith in his followers, urging them to renounce the use of force to prove a point and treat each faith with the same respect that they would afford their own.  And it is a well known fact that Gandhi's commitment to religion did not mean commitment to a single religion.  
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Every faith had full freedom and complete equality, and in his prayer meetings his Gita has the same space as the Holy Quran, the Bible and the Guru Granth Saheb.  He spoke of a Ram Rajya because Lord Rama was an ideal, an image that most Indians could identify with, but there was no propaganda in his concept of divinity, and there was always equal space for all faiths.  When Gandhiji was asked about his opinion on God and spirituality he said, "The Truth is my God."
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And it's that universal truth which has inspired the likes of everyone from Martin Luther King Jr to Nelson Mandela.  That truth laid the foundation for the way in which Bapuji conducted his life.  He never really considered himself a religiously or communally inclined person.  Nevertheless in his morning prayers and even in his last breath - his belief in the truth being a manifestation of God was unwavering.

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Once he was asked about the relevance of the phrase Hey Ram in his life.  And he replied that he felt the same degree of peace and contentment when he uttered the phrase that another individual would feel uttering the name of Mohammed.  If both names were capable of invoking a similar effect - that of utmost calmness and fulfilment - weren't they one and the same thing?  It was just one of the pointers to how secular Gandhi was in his outlook.

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On the eve of India's independence, when Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru unfurled and tricolour at the Red Fort,  Gandhiji was nowhere in sight.  When Bapuji was questioned about the same, he said India would not have achieved true independence until the day the Hindus and the Muslims learned to co-exist in harmony.  He literally lived by the mantra of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which means the whole world is one family....

................THE WRITER IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE GANDHIAN STUDIES CENTRE AT BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY.....................
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MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER MAHATMA GANDHI, THE FATHER OF THE NATION USHERED IN THE ERA OF A SPIRITUAL AND HOLISTIC APPROACH TO POLITICS AND SOCIETY, HIS PHILOSOPHY FINDS A MODERN DAY RESONANCE IN ALMOST EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE............

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.............'''''''''If one observes the Mahatma's life, he or she would understand that spirituality was at the centre of every action undertaken by him'''''''''''''''........................

Only a few people in the world are capable of being silent, meditative..Osho International Foundation

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE says:  All that is needed is to know the art of listening.  Listening to the winds and listening to the clouds and listening to the dancing trees, the falling leaves - utterly in silence, you mind weaving no thoughts, no thinking - is the very foundation of listening.

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It does not mean you have to agree.  There is no question of agreement, because a man like Nietzsche is not so mean that he wants you to agree with him.

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He simply wants you to understand him, and then it is up to you what you do with it.  Agree or don't agree - but at least listen!  There are only very few people in the world who are capable of being silent, meditative, capable of listening.  It is a strange phenomenon: if you can learn the art, it is not a question of listening to my words.  It is a question of the art of listening.  It is within you.

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BEST SILENT IS MEDITATION

Said differently, I call it meditation - just being silent.  Even listening does not give you the accurate description of the state that is needed for you to find the truth of your own self.  But listening is certainly one of the easiest processes of meditation.  And as you become able to listen, you listen to the winds and the rain and the clouds and the whole heartbeat of the universe.  In that listening, you will open up; your bud will become an open rose.

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"I KNOW AND YOU DON'T KNOW" IS INHUMAN

The very idea that "I know and you don't know" is inhuman.  It is uncultured, it is uncivilised.  It may be that I have experienced something that I can share with you, but I cannot denounce you as ignorant.  I can only say, "Perhaps you have missed it, perhaps you have bypassed it.  Perhaps you are innocent and you have not looked at it."  I cannot call you ignorant and propose that I am the knower and you are ignorant and take your dignity, your freedom, your inquiry, and ask you just to believe.

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TRUST IS ANOTHER NAME OF LOVE

Love yourself and love all that is all around you.  there is no need to create chains, there is no need to create prisons.  Love is enough.  But love is not a belief, love is a reality.  It is in your very Heartbeat, it is your experience.  It is not in the scriptures; it is not Christian and it is not Hindu, it is not Mohammedan.  Love is the blossoming of your inner being just like a rose....

                                                                                 Courtesy Osho International Foundation.......