Key to success in life
Bhagwan Shri Krishna said in Bhagavad Geetha in the context of achieving success in yoga –
युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्त चेष्टस्य कर्मसु |
युक्तस्वप्नावबोधस्य योगों भवती दुःखहा ||
We must follow the rules mentioned in Bhagavad Geetha in order to lead an ideal and healthy life and also to give your life a philosophical inclination. It enables our life to reach such heights which is not possible through normal life.
Among these rules, three rules are of utmost importance. They are food, physical activity and sleep. Once you establish control or balance over these factors, your life shall become stable and will be relieved of all miseries. Consequently the seeker gets absorbed into profound meditational state and will succeed in achieving his goals.
A person deprived of proper physical activity, food and sleep can never lead a significant life. Today’s lifestyle deprives all these features for everyone’s life. If we try to solve this problem with a little more sensible and logical approach, balancing food, sleep and physical activity will become a very easy task in one’s life. Our yoga teacher training in Goa provides a through training in organising your lifestyle.
Food
Our food habits are certainly not good. These days, doctors are repeatedly found emphasising on the vital role played by the vitamins in maintaining our health. Thus people started to choose foods which score high in vitamins. One such dish is chicken. So people started living on chicken. Chicken is generally known for its weak heart. People with weak heart are generally termed as chicken hearted. So how can anyone expect to become a wrestler by eating a weak heart? People eat chicken and egg and expect a healthy life, but in contrast it has led to complications in heart.
Similarly a parable is available related to goat meat. It is the most helpless and timid animal. Thus it is called bakari in Hindi. Thus it is not a wonder if you exhibit the same qualities of helplessness as you are eating it. Thus one should think and decide what he should be eating. In order to eat a balance diet one must decide what to be eaten and what not. Any kind of food which is provocative by nature can only cause harm to our health in short or long term. Your diet should be very light and meagre so that it does not turn out to be a burden on your body. The prime requisite for a diet to be balanced is that it should not be provocative by nature. It should not be narcotic or cumbersome. You should not feel heavy or cumbersome immediately after eating. But if you feel so, it is the indication that the food you taken is not right for you. Doctor Kenneth Walker, one of most the most reputed doctors of the world mentioned in his autobiography that he has learnt through his life that in general, half the quantity of the food that people normally eat is sufficient to fill their stomach in reality and the remaining half fills the stomachs of doctors. If people eat only half the quantity, neither would they fall ill nor would they see a doctor. Few people fall ill due to lack of sufficient food while few others fall ill due to excess intake of food. Few die due to lack of food while few others die to over eating. And the number of people who die due to over eating is far more than that of the people who die due to lack of food. Very few people die due to lack of food. A person can stay alive for atleast three months even if he stops eating completely. The chances of his death are very low in this case within three months. But if the same person continues to over eat for three months, he is sure to die. In the viewpoint of all the doctors on the earth man is prone to diseases most often due to his odd food habits. Next important aspect of diet is the mood of your mind when you eat. Do you eat when you are happy or when you are unhappy, sad and depressed? Diet taken in good moods proves to be healthier. It is a well-known fact that one tends to eat more than normal or less than normal if he is in depression. This may result in either excess weight or underweight of the body. Our yoga teacher training in Dhramasala provides proper instructions to maintain balanced diet.
Physical Activity
The second factor is minimum physical activity. One should have minimum physical exercise for the body which can be either in the form of workouts or any house hold work or any other kind work which involves physical activity. But today’s lifestyle has separated physical work away from our life. Most often people are either involved works that are based on their mental abilities or most of the physical work is automated through machines. Also physical labour is considered a low level job in recent times. Thus people most often feel shameful or disrespect in doing such jobs. Hence most of such jobs are accomplished by employing servants. Eventually we are not even aware of what we are losing without doing any physical work. We lose most of our physical stamina by ignoring physical labour. Because the human body is designed to promote its stamina when it energy is properly channelized on to physical works. When it is deprived of this chance to use its energy, it is automatically deprived of its progress in this arena. Gradually man loses many of his talents and abilities through course of time just due to lack of practice. Average physical activity also forms an essential part of human life to awaken its energy and consciousness. The quality of our life is directly proportional to our diligence. Excess of work tends to kill man. On other hand too less physical burden also may kill him. Thus average standard of physical activity is must in every one’s life. This physical activity need not be productive. It can be non-profitable also. You will benefit physically through such work. Physical workouts for instance may not be productive in terms of money but you can benefit a lot physically. Physical exercise is essential to impart elation, consciousness and awareness to mind. However this factor is also prone to misuse similar to food. Likewise few people might over eat while few might eat less. Similar mistake might happen in this case too. Few people might subject their body to excess physical workouts while others might just laze around. Wrestlers for instance subject their body to very high levels of physical stress. They might succeed in building handsome bodies but their longevity is at risk. Statistical data taken worldwide proved that the life span of such people is less than that of normal people. On the other hand people who ignore to involve themselves physical work will have face many physical complications. Obesity is the most common complaint that falls under this category. Thus lack of physical activity is even more dangerous. The muscles and bones tend to lose their stamina and strength when not used properly. Eventually our body tends to become weak and lethargic which forms the basic reason for our body to become vulnerable to all kinds of diseases. Thus physical activity in one’s life should neither be excess nor less. It should be customized and standardized based on one’s lifestyle and ability. Our yoga training program in Rishikesh is famous for the guidance it provides in this context.
Sleep
Third factor is the proper sleep. The first factor namely food has become unorganised. The second factor physical activity is messed up. And the third factor sleep is completely ignored. Sleep is given the least importance in today’s life style. It is considered as an unnecessary and time waste act. But insufficient sleep in fact is the main reason for the disorganized life of anyone. Therefore one who cannot sleep properly cannot live properly. Sleep is neither an unnecessary act nor a time waste process. It plays the most vital role affecting both physical and mental health of an individual. Hence it eventually affects everyone’s personal and professional lives. The eight hours spent on sleep does not go waste in fact. This eight hours of sleep relaxes, rejuvenates and prepares you for the next sixteen hours of life. The condition of your body dictates the number of hours of sleep you need. For that matter age plays an important role in this. A baby in its mother’s womb continues to sleep throughout the day i.e., for all 24 hours because it needs to build and develop its body. After birth, the number of hours spent on sleep gradually reduces to 22, 18, and 16 hours as the baby grows. As the body matures the need for sleep reduces. And as you grow older you will be able to sleep for just 3 to 4 hours. Also every person cannot wake at the same time. Most of the people believe that waking up at 5 o’clock in the morning is good for everyone. But this is entirely a myth. It is might not have good effects for everyone. Moreover it might cause ill effects on few people. Because out of the 24 hours our body’s temperature drops down for 3 hours. This is the time actually when we are in deep sleep. If you are disturbed during this period your complete day will be deranged. His energy will be scattered. In general this phenomenon takes place during 2am to 5am for most of the people. But it doesnot happen afor all the people. For few people this may happen till 6am or 7am. Therefore if this 3 hours of sleep is disturbed, his life for the next 24 hours would be totally disorganized. We tend to wake up from sleep when this dropped temperature picks up and starts to rise. It is a good practice to wake up with sun because our body temperature would rise along with sun. But this might not be applicable for few people. For them, it may happen after few hours after sun rises. This temperature would not rise in the same levels for every person. It changes from person to person. So there is no stringent rule applicable universally for everyone for wake up time. It needs to be customized based on the body needs of each person. You absolutely need not care for others opinion in this matter. You must wake up at the time that makes your feel good and relaxed. In order to have proper rest, one should sleep deeply and for long enough time. It does mean that you can just laze on the bed. You need to sleep and just lying on the bed is not sleeping. Therefore you must wake when feel your energy is rejuvenated irrespective of time or sunrise. These two factors have nothing to do with your wake up time. Thus you need not be worried, scared or blame yourself. You need not mark yourself as sinner and worry that you may end up in hell for this misdeed. Because many people who wake up early in the morning end up in hell while most of the people who wake up late in the morning end up in heaven. This absolutely has no relation to the philosophical approach of your life. But proper sleep is definitely related. So every individual should identify his own discipline. Every individual should invest at least 3 months to research on his food, physical activity and sleep requirements for his body. He should be able to analyses these factors and come up with a plan suitable to him. His schedule should make him the most peaceful, healthiest and happiest creature. And each person should identify his own schedule because same solution would not work for two individuals. Each person is unique and dynamic in his own sense. And each person has different requirements of his body. So rules applicable for one person may cause complications for another person. Thus unless a person identifies the best fit rule for him no other rule can be imposed on him. Thus books, theories and stories prove to be hazardous as they are based on ready made formula. They would suggest when to wake up, what to eat and what not to eat. But these ready made formula are very much dangerous. So each individual should design his own system. He has to choose his path and should walk ahead on his own. He will have to build his own path in order to progress. There is no highway readily available to take up. The spiritual path is filled with trial and error methodology. You can only get to know it only through continuous being into it.
Thus these three formula of proper food, proper physical activity and proper sleep proposed by Bhagwan Shri Krishna should be applied in every individual’s life to improve it. It’s practice would improve the development energy centers of an individual. This would lead the person to the peaks of spiritualism and enabled him to experience the bliss of highest state which is not possible in normal life.
