Besides the devotional practices at dedicated places like temples, home or public shrines, a striking and environmental sensitive and gratifying feature of Hindu worshipping practices and reverence is the deification of natural landmarks like rivers, lakes, and mountains. There is divinity in all elements of nature as well as in plants and animals. The belief is that gods and goddesses manifest in them. And their adoration is part of Hindu ritualistic practices.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Friday, August 23, 2019
STAIRS EXCERCISE CONTROLS BLOOD SUGAR AND FOR HEALTHY HEART
By Promod Puri
The fun in life includes some simple recreational activities in our daily life. And the one I like the most is just a few steps away as part of my every day up-and-down commute.
These are the stairs leading up to our apartment. Over the years I have done this personal “Grouse Grind” hundreds of time. Although my experience with stairs is quite extensive, still I would not call myself a stair-master.
But as a veteran of the stairs, I have learned some techniques and some dos and don’ts of going up and down. These know-hows are not meant for practicing to hike Mt. Everest, but simply to enjoy the staircase walk as physical activity. Stairs make an excellent place to get a daily dose of cardio and some belly alignment. A simple stroll up and down the stairs gives a good aerobic workout.
According to a Mayo Clinic newsletter, stair climbing helps strengthen and tone our leg muscles. It keeps our leg arteries flexible, allowing blood to move more easily. “Better blood flow in your legs equals a healthier heart and body.” Moreover, a three-minute up and down the stairs after a meal helps control blood sugar.
They say keep a balance in life. That is true for stairs too.
In this upscale workout keeping the body in balance is essential. Tripping and slipping often happen when the body wobbles due to imbalance. Balancing exercises are quite common in the gym. A popular one is trying to balance the body on a hemisphere shaped ball. At home, one can practice balance by standing on one foot or keeping one foot in front of the other for as long as possible. Balance requires concentration. Or to be more precise it is meditation in action to coordinate mind and body.
Now on to the stairs. A brief stretching of legs, keeping a uniform pace and raising each leg almost parallel to the upper body for each step, are some basics of the stair exercise. At a little advance stage, one can climb two steps at a time. Or do a little bit of descending acrobat of lifting the entire body by firmly holding railings on either side and then dropping both the feet on just one step down, definitely not two.
Another tip: While going up or down, heels or toes should not be hanging down rather whole foot be placed on each step. This gives full footing with more safety as well. A trivial act of misplacing a foot can be the cause of a serious fall. Looking down is not only a humble posture but a better choice to avoid stair accident.
If safety is the main concern, and it should be, then the cardinal principle is the use of hand-railings all along the stairs. Railings are primarily meant to be a support system for fall-free stair walk. Curves or bends, and sleekness of a staircase are the aesthetic elements which don’t promise safety.
It is often said when going up or down the stairs do nothing, no phone, no buttoning of the shirt, etc.
Keeping these safeguards in mind while stairs offer a simple, easy and free recreational activity.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
PASSION FOR BUYING NEW CLOTHING, BUT HOW MUCH WE NEED
By Promod Puri
I confess a feeling of guilt erupted within me after buying a pair of pant the other day. This despite the fact, in my otherwise sparse closet, there are enough pants to last till next five to six years or more. But I purchased it anyway with disregard to my needs.
Adding to our collection of clothing is an obsession which most of us have. And the fashion industry exploits this urge by offering the latest in designs. Moreover, we have an inborn appetite for newness in our passion for clothing.
How much wardrobe is essential to meet our body covering compliance as well as a social necessity to express and exhibit ourselves for all occasions? We have daywear, nightwear, workwear, gym wear, party wear, casual wear, etc. But that is the norm. And to meet this norm, clothing is one of our big expense items.
In the proverbial saying “food, shelter and clothing” as our basic needs, clothing has jumped beyond these fundamentals to compulsive buying temperament.
No wonder, when we go to a shopping mall or a factory outlet, most of the retail shops are wear-related. There are clothing wears, shoe wears, jewelry wear, and even the perfume industry also advertise its products as wearable odors.
Coming back to the clothing, my observation is that we keep buying more of the stuff without discarding the old ones. A friend boasted that he has over 50 pairs of pants and an equal number of shirts, plus 20 suites, along with almost two dozen ties to complete his formal wears. Another friend said she has over 200 Punjabi suits with an addition of about five-plus every year. She does not wear these suits every day as she is working. And for that, there is another big pile of workwear.
To me and I’m sure many among us, the apparel equity to accumulate the stock approaching afterlife is a wastage cluster, a chunk of that hangs like deceased bodies in the closets.
However, that scenario is reportedly changing fast. The apparel possessors are an abating people, while the trend developing swiftly is to dispose of the no-more-likable, non-fit, non-fashion garments in the second-hand buying-selling market.
The second-hand clothing business catering to customers of all age groups is booming. In fact, the name-brand clothing in the reuse market carry attention and value, and customers love to grab the bargains.
The second-time-around online and in-store buying and selling garment enterprises are popping up, which are easing on our packed closet warehouse. And then there are peer-to-peer services available where sellers send photographs of their clothing items to the handling company and eventually ship the items to buyers.
The second-hand clothing market is reportedly a multi-billion-dollar industry now with a projection of moving skyward. In this trend known retailors and clothing manufacturers are jumping on board. H & M, Macy’s and JC Penny will soon be selling good and look-like-new clothing to their customers.
This is a circular economy in the clothing industry. The use-and-reuse is the very mantra for safeguarding our environment. Otherwise, the fashion industry produces a colossal amount of waste, which is close to 100 million tons a year.
Since I believe in the circular economy, my guilt in buying the new pair of pant gets some relief that down the road it will end up for re-wear on somebody’s petite physique like mine.
At the same time over the years I’ve developed a policy of buy one and discard one the next day. However, the regret is that some time for some reason, I return the new one but can’t recover the discarded one.
(Promod Puri is a writer and author of Hinduism, beyond rituals, customs, and traditions. Websites: promodpuri.com, progressivehindudialogue.com, and promodpuri.blogspot.com)
Friday, August 16, 2019
CONCEPT OF RITA IN HINDUISM
The word Rita is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘rta.’ In contemporary Hindi, the vocalic ‘r’ of Sanskrit is changed into ‘ri.’ Hence the word Rita, which has been a popular female name in India.
Rita is a concept according to the Vedas, the ancient sacred scriptures of Hinduism. It is a physical order of the universe which governs, for example, the sun and moon making their journeys across the sky. Or the regulation of seasons in their rotating order. Logistics of the universal phenomena are under this conception.
Rita is an eternal and cosmic order. At the same time, it is a divine order of moral living in harmony with the systems of the universe.
Rita is the disciplinary principle for everything which exists or contained in this universe. From atoms to humans, animals and plants, rivers, oceans to mountains, stars, sun and moon, and everything else observable or non-observable must function per Rita’s guidelines. If not, then it is ‘anrita,’ which represents complete disorder or disaster. The law of karma joins here as for as human behavior is concerned. “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
By Promod Puri
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Article 370 and Kashmir
ARTICLE 370: ITS FUTURE IN J & K, AND FOR REST OF INDIA
by Promod Puri
The revocation of Article 370, which covered the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir by giving it significant autonomy, has been received with protests from the Kashmir region while both Jammu and Ladakh are quieter over the issue.
Did not Jammu and Ladakh savor the special status too? Of course, they did. But the tranquil scene in these two regions has a message in it. However, that message is insignificant. What is significant and newsworthy is the hostile and volatile atmosphere in the Kashmir region.
The international media and political pundits in both the academic and journalistic circles have focussed on the technicalities involved in removing Article 370 as well as warning of some catastrophe in this already unstable region by disturbing the status quo.
Moreover, in their explanation and subsequent analysis, only the psyche of the Kashmiri mind reflects on representing the entire state. What Jammu and Ladakh people think is being ignored. But that is not new. The mindset bias is always inspired by what happens in the Valley.
In a fair and objective study, the Jammu and Ladakh perspective over Article 370 removal deserves as much attention as that portrayed for Kashmir.
The article 370 ever since it became part of the unique feature of the state granting more powers to it than to any other state in the Union of India, has not united the three regions, namely Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh. They were different from each other for centuries, and they remain different up to now.
Bridges to connect the medley were seldom attempted. For example, nobody in Jammu can speak or understand Kashmiri language or for that matter Ladakh’s Bodhi language. No inter-racial marriages among the three regions of the state either.
Article 370 gave enough powers to the state without interference from the Delhi regime. The same powers could be used to establish an independent political and bureaucratic mechanism geared towards the diverse nature of its three regions.
The J and K regimes over the years did not give regional autonomies to its three regions. Whereas, it attained significant autonomy from the Centre. The intactness of the state was comprehended to create a composite personality out of its social, religious, and linguistic diversities.
It was a post-independence experiment in creating a workable political homogeneity out of its multi-facet heterogeneity. But this exercise has failed.
Article 370 became irrelevant as for as regional autonomies were concerned. It has not worked because of the distinct linguistic and cultural multiplicities within the state. Moreover, Article 370, despite its autonomous values, is pointless in front of the human psychological fact where the dominance of one group always prevails, even though the constitutional guaranties ensure equality.
But Article 370 cannot be rejected.
Basically, there is nothing wrong with Article 370, rather I support it. Even to the extent that this kind of provision should be granted to every state in India. Autonomy is the key which can guarantee the unity of India by respecting its linguistic and cultural diversities.
Keeping the Kashmir experience aside, it is more viable in those states of India where commonality of language and culture exists. The merits of Article 370 lie in its granting more freedoms to individual states in the monolithic situation.
India is a nation of nations. And each of these nations or the states has its own uniformity in terms of language and culture. In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the demographics are distinctly different in its vast geographical and diverse landscape.
Article 370 can be and should be reintroduced in Jammu and Kashmir when eventually, these two regions become separate states based on their individual identities.
(Promod Puri hails from Jammu, now living in Vancouver, Canada. He is a journalist, writer, and author of Hinduism Beyond Rituals, Customs, And Traditions.)
Websites: promodpuri.com, progressivehindudialogue.com, Promodpuri.blogspot.com
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Kashmir
J & K NEEDS SPLITS AT PRE-DOGRA RULE STATUS
Historically the present geopolitical formation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir happened in the middle of the 19th century. Sikh ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh annexed the territories of Jammu region in 1819, and then sold it to his Dogra commander Gulab Singh in 1820, and crowned him the King. In 1834 Gulab Singh annexed the kingdom of Ladakh, and in 1846 the Kashmir region was ceded to the Dogra king under a treaty with the British government, who then was ruling most of the sub continent.
Dogra dynasty ruled the state for almost a hundred years.
Under the Dogra rule, the state comprised a huge territory of over two million sq. km., touching boundaries of Afghanistan in the north, China in the north and east, present-day Pakistan in the west and India in the South.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir is extensively diverse: linguistically, culturally, religiously and geographically.
From these historical and basic facts, it is obvious that the state of Jammu and Kashmir, including the regions controlled by Pakistan, was never ever a single entity, linguistically and culturally.
It is from this perspective that the entire region should be divided politically on the basis of its separate identities to restore their pre-Dogra rule status. Keeping them together is political experimentation to seek a lasting alliance has so far failed.
The separation of the Ladakh region from the state as a union territory by the government of India is the right move for its independence from the rest of the state.
Same can be applied to the Jammu region. But that is a bit complicated because Jammu’s identity lies with Pakistan-controlled Azad Kashmir area rather than Kashmir. If that merger ever happens then Jammu can be a separate state as well. And Kashmir will be separated altogether to have its “Azadi” finally.
by Promod Puri
SEPARATION OF JAMMU FROM KASHMIR WILL PRUNE KASHMIR PROBLEM
Apple and oranges don’t mix. They grow in separate regions and in separate climates. They have separate shapes and separate tastes.
Jammu grows oranges, sweet and juicy. Kashmir grows apples, luscious and crispy. Put them together in a box. And market it as a product of Kashmir. That is simply deceptive labeling. It should be marked as a product of Jammu And Kashmir.
That is the same subtle difference when Kashmir and Jammu are packaged together linguistically, socially, and politically. And the entity is stamped as Kashmir. For example, Jammu does not speak Kashmiri, and Kashmir does not speak Dogri.
But this has been a political packaging done by Kashmiri leaders while ignoring the different reality existing in the Jammu region. The rest of the world, including people in India, believe that Kashmir carries one identity of the same language, same culture, and the same religion.
The simple but mostly ignored reason is that the colloquial Kashmir Problem is not representative of all the diverse regions of the state, as well as those held by Pakistan. The occasional violence erupts only in the valley, not in other parts of the state. We seldom hear about political protests and fury in Jammu or Ladakh regions, or even for that matter in Pakistan-controlled “Azad Kashmir.”
With the recent reorganization of the state where Ladakh is detached and becomes an independent entity, separation of Jammu from Kashmir based on the distinct realities is due as well.
Jammu will love it, and perhaps Kashmir too.
And in the process, the perennial Kashmir Problem can be pruned. After all, timely pruning is important, besides oranges and apples, for the healthy growth of the beautiful regions of both Kashmir and Jammu
By Promod Puri
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
