Homily

A time comes in the life of a person when he/she feels like sharing his experiences with the world. It may be a totally self-grandstanding approach and most of it may be called ‘Lecturing some worn-out ideas’. Many memoirs have been written making no difference to the life and times of the reader. Still if I am venturing in it should not be taken as foolhardy an approach because this is essentially directed towards the younger generation( GenNext is the commonly used acronym) and to keep it more interesting and readable, I have made them one-liners.

Many of our young brothers and sisters have to live alone while taking education or doing jobs. Many a problem regarding health, career, job, life and attitude come before them and there is no next to hand Ready Reckoner or an experienced person available to consult and get guidance. Hence from the mundane to temporal, from daily to ecclesial, I have tried to cover many areas for the benefit of young reader. So here goes the Homily.

Health

· Moderation is key to life and health. Excesses are harmful to health.

· Eating habits are key to good health. Constipation is the mother of all problems.

· The chemical composition of Chlorophyll and Blood is quite similar. Hence Greens suit us naturally. Keep greens part of your diet plan.

· In case of constipation, do ‘Apaan Mudra

Apaan Mudra

Method

Helps in clearing the body by elimination of waste matter from the mouth, eyes, ears, nose etc. Helps when urine is obstructed, reduces constipation.

Join the tip of the thumb with the tip of middle and ring finger, keeping other two fingers straight.

· In case of sleeplessness, increased blood pressure or imminent cardiac problem, Apaan Vayu Mudra is very effective. It is like an injection in case of heart attack.

Method:
The tips of the middle finger and ring finger touch the tip of thumb, while the index finger touches the base of thumb and little finger stretched out.

· Water and Air are the most essential part of our health. Drink a lot of water to keep system clean and flushed out of toxic materials.

· In the morning, take a glass of water in sips and circulating it in the mouth. Do not gulp. This and Apaan Mudra will make morning visit to toilet, a welcome experience.

· Water is not to be taken only on one occasion- immediately after food. Half an hour to forty minutes after the food, a glass of water is highly recommended.

· Our body’s ‘ph’ level is slightly alkaline (7.34). However all things tasty and delicious and therefore eaten to fill the tummy lead to acidity. Only greens bring the alkalinity back to system.

· Find time to take some deep breaths every day to calm you down and refresh you. It is a kind of refresh button of your PC.

· If Pranayam has been practiced in some Yoga classes, do it in the morning every day. It will charge the battery for the whole day.

· For bad throat, sucking the medicine brings relief. Use Mulethi or Jyesthh Mad. Also in winters keep few black pepper seeds and pop 2 of them with Misri (Crystal Sugar) and break the pepper under your teeth once. Then suck away with sugar crystal on your way to relief.

· In common cold and with first system of influenza, increase the vitality of your body by increasing the intake of Vitamin C. The best resource of Vitamin C available easily is Aanwala (vkaoyk). Eat it raw, if you can.

· In case of dry cough, first get your Eosinophilia count measured. Low count can lead to dry cough. Consult your physician.

· Coming back to raw and green vegetables and ‘ph’ level, if your digestive system is good and you practice some breathing exercises your skin will glow and you will not require any cosmetics. Do not waste your money (hard earned) on strong chemicals.

· Instead of your face do take care of your extremities i.e. hands, feet and hair.

· Cut your fingernail and toenails regularly.

· Way to cut nail is by making a cut on the side of the nail and then cut straight through. Use a nail cutter with straighter edges instead of curved edges. You will have workman or workingwoman like hands.

· Do take care of your feet because they only make you stand tall and decide your posturing. Occasionally put some cream in winters and some oil massaging in summers.

· Your legs are like your faithful horse or dog. And every horse or dog requires exercise. Walking, jogging or running, the choice is yours.

· Remember that in doing exercise, what is important is the duration for which you do it. Naturally, 45 minutes walk is preferable than 15 minutes jog or run. Or you can have 15 minutes apiece of Walk, Jog and Run.

· Eight hours sleep is the maximum you require to stay healthy. Use hardboard bed, thin cotton mattress and thin pillow. Sleep on the left of your side. 15 minutes nap after the lunch in your chair only is called power nap and is popular these days.

· Put two drops of oil immediately after bath and massage hair vigorously. This will stop dandruff and graying hair early.

· In Hindu way of life, and that was the most scientific way of life, Early Rise is the key. This time, around 4.30 in the morning the Ozone layer breaks and you get the best oxygen. I agree that in our daily life this may not be possible. However, if by chance you get-up about at this time, do go out of your room and do breathing exercises.

· It is said , ‘Omit 100 works to take food, but omit 1000 works to take bath.’ Bathe regularly. While bathing, rub yourself vigorously. Similarly rub yourself dry vigorously with the towel.

· Dry yourself completely before putting on the under garments and the clothes.

· Bring a beautiful smile and put your best foot forward and Go, Conquer the world. It’s all Yours.

Life, Success, Future and Attitude

· Life is a roller Coaster ride. Enjoy it by adopting a detached attitude.

· Success is not your hand maiden available at your beck and call.

· Success is the result of hard work done sincerely. It detests short-cuts.

· Have positive attitude in life. A healthy body has a healthy mind. Try to train yourself in looking at the positive side of things.

· Your future is written by yourself. Destiny is fixed but no one knows what it actually is and in what shape and form it will unfold. It is beyond humanity and don’t waste time with fortune teller.

· Action is in your hand and action and action alone will lead you to success. Action alone will save you in emergencies.

· All future telling, be it astrology based on Zodiac, or palmistry or figure study or shadow study or Tarot Cards or Red Book etc. etc. are predicting general trend of events likely to happen in One’s life. If what comes in daily or weekly horoscope is true for any particular sign, the same incidents should take place with all under the same sign. Does it happen? At best all the future telling has success/failure rate of 50–50. It can be true or it may be false. To say in short, fortune teller has no bizarre idea as to what is going to happen next.

· Do not learn to have lame excuses. Someone succeeded because he is lucky, had stars in his favor or he is favorite of the boss or he is a great sycophant are all excuses not to be resorted because they are negative. A person can be once lucky or twice lucky but if he is not worthy, he will crash out not before long.

· Do not justify your mistakes or faults by saying that, after all I am a human being. Is being human means doing wrong things and justify them by saying that you were watching your self-interest.

· Have immense confidence in yourself and about your goal. This comes when you inculcate your basics, study well and then be like a shot arrow towards your target. That young lad from Macedonia did not consult his father or a fortune teller or read signs of good augury when he started to conquer the world. The good auguries started to happen when he embarked on that Journey. It is no coincidence that each great leader has the name of Alexander in his name, be it Caesar or Salazar or Czar or Kaiser.

· God was created by human being to stop it from doing excesses. Otherwise there is considerable line of thought that human being has God within himself (vga c`EgkLeh%). In the whole of universe, only human being has the capacity to become God-like or be a Devil. It is their action only that defines their character.

· In this multi-polar world working together is part of life. However this brings, in the competitive world we are living. the peer groups and its attendant pressures. To be in a herd requires conduct of the herd by each member. A sort of mob mentality comes-up and discretion is lost. As you mature, try to keep it to the minimum is all can be said.

· If peer group pressure is a no-no, team work is a big Yes. Encourage making a team, work towards the goal jointly and compete fiercely. The difference between peer group and the Team work is that former is without a desired goal while the latter has a well defined objective.

· Learn the art of speaking softly and endearingly in day to day dealings and according to occasion. Your bearing will reflect from your words. Develop good vocabulary of the language you are speaking to express yourself unambiguously. However a little too plain speaking shows lack of finesse and sophistication. Remember, one sentence out of place led to Mahabharta.

· Learn when to be formal and when to be informal. In a gathering, functions etc. be formal but amongst friends informal. However in friendship also, do not cross the limits of decency. Do not be cheap or vulgar. In formal meetings your addressing others should be prim and proper. Amongst friends also, when someone crosses the limits, become very formal to show your annoyance or go silent.

· During any stage of your life, do not forsake reading books. The combined experience of the humanity is packed in books. The experience and the knowledge you gain by reading books is invaluable. It is a pleasant teacher who improves your abilities and skills without you knowing about it. Escalate your engagement with books slowly-from light reading to essays, Poetry and Philosophy.

· Do not fall for back-biting as far as possible. Remember the Golden Rule- do not discuss a person adversely when he is not present. If you have to, dwell upon the positive side and your appreciation of his qualities. The friend circle indulging in back-biting will go deathly silent. Do not feed a lion which will eat you also one fine day is the principle behind it.

· Insecurity, jealousy and expectation are the scourge of relationship and your growth as a human being. Avoid them as far as possible.

· Ego and self obsession are the disaster of humanity. There may be a very rare variety-a Positive Ego, one of Roark in Atlas Shrugged (by Ayn Rand), where the urge to excel and belief in his immense abilities was way beyond normal but as I said, it is rare. The problem with Ego is that you feel yourself so important and great that you are unable to see around you or learn something new. Identify your ego and curb it.

Trust, Sacrifice and Geeta

· This is the triumvirate which is sublime, way beyond words and quintessentially crystallization of noble human thought. The problem is that we think that these are qualities of, or are to be practiced by a saint or a mahatma. Poor Mahtama Gandhi for having practiced these principles was put on pedestal and forgotten by the very people for whom he worked the whole life, though ultimately humanity now recognizes him to be ‘The Greatest of Greats’.

· Trust is one of the noblest sentiment and action of human being. Trust reposed and trust betrayed is the biggest sin in all cultures and religion. Unfortunately, it is so badly misused that when someone says, ‘Trust me….’ you know that he is lying

· Trust in God, Trust the poor, Trust in fellow human being are all used in common parlance but not practiced actually. Why? Because you have to suffer if trust is betrayed. But this betrayal only that gives you experience and exposes the betrayer. It is not the blind trust that I am talking but a common healthy trust required for running the humanity. It is only an investigating officer in Police who has to see all with suspicious eye.

· If normal and healthy trust is taken away, the world will come to a grinding halt. A public official holds the trust of people whom he is serving. Parliament holds the trust of the whole country which they are representing. Learn to earn trust and never betray it. There is no explanation to betrayal of trust and take it that you have sinned. The absolution is only by regaining the trust of that person. If you succeed somewhere or are honored, remember that it is the trust of the end user that is being reposed in you.

· Sacrifice is otherworldly and indescribable for its effects. It is all about giving. The mantra is that you sacrifice and you succeed. However sacrifice should not be a part of stratagem as we see in Chess (though even there it brings success most of the time). It has to be based on ethical and moral grounds.

· All great people achieved their greatness by walking on this lonely path. Abu bin Adam (May his Tribe increase) dedicated himself to the service of humanity and forsake all to find himself at the top of the list of those people who are loved by the God (Ref.- Abou Bin Adhem by Leigh Hunt).

· In every family, as a rule, one person is always revered (exception proves the rule) and that is The Mother. Why we Indians worship and bow before the only woman form of Mother? It is simply the numerous and untold sacrifices that mother makes from childbirth to raising us that we stand where we are today.

· Sacrifice of your interest when you are morally and ethically correct and it is a considered decision will get you what you aspire. If you even sacrifice what you aspire, you will achieve greatness. Sacrifice moves and inspires even the stoutest of adversary, friends and the society. How would one not acknowledge someone who has sacrificed everything for a cause? For doing this you must be totally captivated and enamored to that cause.

· Geeta (Shrimadbhagvad Geeta) the celestial song of Bhagwan Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra is the virtual touchstone of how to live life, what should be your conduct and what your duty is. It is a kind of discourse which is succinct, all encompassing and a complete manual of how to conduct your life.

· Geeta is pure logic and a complete logic, such as God only could have created. It is superb in its context and theatre, easy to comprehend expression and a simplicity that suits the society, whether ancient or modern. Hence its relevance till now.

· Geeta simply says that you should have right over your action, not over what you get out of it. Let this not confuse you that it is very hard to do something and not expect any result in return. With some practice you can, perhaps train your mind in this way when you do not overtly expect results of your action. But the hardest part is that at the moment or at present what should be the correct action for you. The more you mull over it, more you will realize that you have control over your action only and correct action is your duty. This will give you the detachment that results in action without expecting results.

· This tells us the eternal dilemma of humanity- expectation of result from certain action. If it comes we are elated and repeat the action and if it does not result positively, we get frustrated. In the process we lose the balance and equanimity.

· Take physics where it is told that every action has equal and opposite reaction. This is set in our mind from childhood. But our wise sages saw this great disconnect between action and reaction in human affairs which is not guided by law of physics. Ved Vyasa, who wrote Mahabharata perhaps foresaw the disconnect, 3000 years before Newton propounded this law of physics. That is why Geeta propounds Equanimous Being, one who remains unmoved in happiness and sorrow.

This, my dear young reader is the end of a long lecture of an ageing brothers who with Blessing of God dedicates this piece to the success of our young generation.

So Be It

As Bhagwan Krishna,

The Evergreen and Young God Wills

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