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 Suppose
you like cakes and owing to your obesity disorder doctors have advised you
against eating anything that adds extra calories. Your husband buys a few cakes
for some guests coming the next day. Imagine that you suddenly discover the cake
kept inside the refrigerator and gobble it even after a tight dinner. In this
case, two of your Gyanendriyas (eyes and tongue willing to eat) were not
acting in harmony with the organ in your body (stomach not ready to accept any
more food). While your stomach was full and content and did not want any more
food, your eyes saw the cake and the tongue yearned for it. As a result the mind
ordered the hands to hold the cake and put it into the mouth.
This instance of utter disharmony among the various constituents of your body
will overburden the stomach in the digestion process, producing Ama (toxins)
instead of the healthy Ojas (vital fluid). A body with toxins inside is bound to
beget all sorts of Dosha imbalance. Dosha refers to the three biological
energies of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. An imbalance of these elemental combinations
is the direct cause of physical diseases and disorders.
Another illustration can be when we are engrossed in watching our favourite TV
show and keep on suppressing the urge to urinate in spite of the fact that our
bladder is full. It demonstrates the imbalance between a Gyanendriya (eyes
wanting to watch TV) and our Sharira (body wanting to ease itself off). By
containing natural urges, according to Ayurveda, we are actually inviting the
accumulation of toxins inside the body that gives rise to Dosha imbalance and,
eventually, ailments.
The same principle can be easily extended to a family. The members of the family
can be analogised to the different elements of human being. If there is a
communication gap or an imbalance between any two members of the family, it is
bound to create problems in the long run, resulting in an unhealthy or broken
family.
The Making of a Happy Family
Going by the above discussions we need small fine tuning in our relationship for
a better family life. Since none of the family members are physically or
otherwise equal, the division of labour has to be decided keeping in mind the
uniqueness, situations, strengths and weaknesses of each member. The decision
should be made after due consultation with every member.
Ushering happiness into your family is simple. Bring in some changes into your
life at the five levels mentioned elesewhere in the article and you have a happy
family! These changes include following a balanced, natural diet; incorporating
a clean-the-senses morning ritual that involves cleaning the eyes, nose, tongue,
ears and the skin; choosing a lifestyle that is as close as possible to and in
harmony with nature; spending some time alone and introspecting about the pros
and cones of one’s actions and feeding the soul by involving ourselves in some
charity work.
Spreading the message of unstinted love alone increases the cohesive forces that
tie a family together. Love your family members as they are and do not expect
anything in return. For, when we expect something in return of our love we
actually attach a value to our love and this denies the very purpose of love.
Just because we are growing increasingly hateful and malicious, we have started
alienating ourselves from human beings and finding solace in the friendship with
pets such as dogs, cats, parrots and even snakes! Although keeping pets is
highly appreciable, it is pitiable to befriend with pets just because no humans
are friendly enough!
Then comes sharing—it teaches different members of the family to stay together
and enjoy each other’s company. For example, all the members can have a common
television to watch an interesting programme together. All members can share
their meal times together. It is always good to at least dine together as this
gives a lot of time to exchange pleasantries.
There is an even simpler way of doing this. And that is by following an
easy-to-practice Ayurvedic lifestyle regimen that can be followed by one and
all, without having to take a chunk of time out of their busy life schedule.
This is Jivananda for you! You can get more detail about the Jivananda Lifestyle
Regimen here.
By adopting Ayurvedic principles in one’s life if each member of the family
attains happiness from within the whole family is bound to radiate with eternal
bliss. Let our future human-factories called families be soberer, more
self-restraining, considerate and disciplined, making the world a still better
place to live in by nurturing better human beings!
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