The Cowherd

The acharas prescribed by our ancient acharyas are not simply spiritual deeds. They are highly scientific and were incorporated into the lifestyle of people for leading a healthy life. Today, scientists from India as well as abroad are coming forward to reveal the scientific basis of many an achara. As this 21st century demands proof for anything and everything, I thought of sharing with you the ultra modern scientific proofs of various acharas and rituals one by one.

Let me begin with a small example. Have you ever thought why we’re not supposed to sleep keeping our head northward? Forget about the mythical tales that you would have heard. Well, here is a feast to your quest for the reason. Our body contains 9 – 14g of iron as haemoglobin. When we lay parallel to the magnetic meridian of earth, the iron gets trapped in the blood vessels in the brain. As a consequence, there arise problems including memory loss, frustration, 50% loss of will power and headache. See how fantastic the achara is! Leave the philosophical side, the scientific explanation mentioned above is enough to prove that it is highly useful to practise. Then why not try it?

While waking up from slumber early in the morning, one is advised to rub his palms together and chant the following sloka:

कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मी करमध्ये सरस्वती
करमूले स्थिता गौरी प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ll

He is supposed to open the eyes while chanting the fourth line. The sloka says that Goddess Lakshmy resides in the tip of our palm, Goddess Saraswathy in the middle and Goddess Gouri in the portion near the wrist. Leave the meaning! What should surprise you is the beautiful purpose that it serves excellently. I shall demonstrate it in the coming paragraphs.

Just think for a while how you wake up. After two three snoozes of the alarm, you’d finally knock on its head. Then, without even opening your eyes, you’d start scrounging under the pillow for your mobile to check the inbox and the call register which would sometimes show a missed call from the Customer Care!! Then you jump out of the bed and hurry to brush your teeth.

Suddenly standing up after a peaceful sleep of 6-7 hours causes the blood pressure in the brain to drop, which is dangerous. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that 23% of heart based deaths occur due to sudden getting up from bed! In order to prevent such fatalities, the WHO prescribes a method : just sit on your bed for 30 seconds, before getting up. This would stabilise the blood pressure.

It is nothing but this stabilisation of blood pressure that we achieved through a simple achara prescribed to us thousands of years ago. We spend this span of 30 seconds by praying for a good day, thereby making ourselves feel good.

I have explained just to acharas now. Well, there are lot more in store for you. Come on my dear friends, let’s understand how scientific our acharas are, practise them and propagate them. May peace be to all.