Mickey Mehta
Choking on air, breathing in pollutants, developing allergic reactions to known and unknown pathogens and sitting on a volcano of infectious and emerging diseases that can explode and devastate entire cities, is India’s current claim to fame. Read any international advisory and be warned of entering metros which are termed as ‘Gas Chambers’ and zones to be raversed only at one’s own risk. How and when did this land of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, yoga, ayurveda and meditation become so corrupted and polluted? Was it man’s greed or an overall apathy to his environment that led to the degeneration and corroding of the earth’s surface and nature’s life creating elements, such as earth,water, air, fire and ether? Surely, man must have done something terribly wrong for the entire cycle of life to get so disrupted. If ancient wisdom is to be believed, right from the time organisms have existed on the rim of the volcano and oceans, there has been life on earth.
Incredibly so, but life in all its myriad forms has known what to do, how to survive and where to protest in the event of threats or onslaughts.
Scientists have called this phenomena ‘intelligent life’. However, modern man and the millennial generation have chosen to move in another direction, creating a complete polarity, an opposite. From evolving they have devolved and from creating they are destructing. And herein lies the pollution conundrum. The only hope now comes, once again from ancient wisdom and modern science which prove that life exists even in the deepest depths of the ocean, where there are harmful substances like sulphur. So life can and does thrive on poison too. Depending on how we utilise and leverage it,we can move from extracting nectar to creating poison and yet continue to exist and survive. But we will most certainly fail to thrive and flourish if we do not culture the mind to end this erosion. Some things come to us naturally, spontaneously and with serious intent. Without blaming extraneous factors like government,industry, social ills like population explosion,lack of civic sense and the rest, let us do our bit to make our surroundings less polluted. Make a conscious effort to adopt yoga and the four pillars of ayurveda, namely ahara which promotes wholesome and natural eating, vihara which epitomises productive physical activity, vishrama which relates to meaningful rest and aushadha which is not an over-thecounter prescriptive formula,but which comes from regulated breath, exercise with impulse, and stimuli out of lifealtering aspects of full moon meditation and electrifying sun absorption.
Once oriented to the fact that you are going to play a role in reducing pollution in your life, you will see that pollution is not the biggest challenge but that the seven sins of modern life are. These include pride, anger, lust, ego, gluttony, avarice and sloth. Derived from the original Sanskrit shlokas that refer to kaam, krodh, maya, matsana, these sins cause pollution of the mind.This state is the opposite of evolving, namely devolving of mankind and it causes decomposition and pollution of the earth. Work with the mind, which can be tamed and domesticated anywhere and in any circumstances. It is never late to begin this process, however intimidating and formidable the odds appear.Start with simple steps that are within your control.Partake of vegetarian food by eating slowly, sitting in a crosslegged position. Challenge the body for metamorphosis and see the body regenerate. Build in moderate exercise and transform the physical form to be fit in every way.This does not mean that you must hit the gym or hop on to fancy weight training machines. By just tilting gently towards yoga,dhyana, bhojana and sattva, and light exercise, you will minimise the impact of bingeing, ego, irritability and aggression on your mind. While these may still manifest, rearing their ugly head occasionally, they will not cause damaging devastation, or upset and distort your thinking, actions and life situations.
Absorb The Positives
Pollution will always be there and you cannot do anything to combat or fight it. In fact, there is no need to fight anything.What you can do is befriend it and work with it empathetically to transform it and its effect on your mind and life.This change and self-belief has to begin first at the subconscious level where these thoughts are seeded before they can be your guardian angels protecting you from the ill-effects of every kind of pollution that man can conjure, create and flood the earth with.Indeed, mankind today is delicately poised at the cusp,where it is either a golden era with sunshine that awaits you or a period of black entropy where negativism reigns supreme. Be open like the lotus and absorb from all the positive and enlightened influences that enter the universe. Maximise your insights and minimise the negative influence of toxins. Just remember that while nature is timeless, our own clocks are ticking and the more we reduce the convolutions of the mind, the more we will move towards creative solutions.
(The writer is a Mumbai-based holistic health guru & corporate life coach)
Source: The Sangai Express
