Work and Rest - Balance

 
         

                   Rediscovering Ancient Wisdom

                                   Work and Rest - Balance

             Folk tales and legends mirror the earliest images, intuitions, experiences and thoughts of man.

Many folk tales narrate an interesting fact that in the beginning, there was day only. It was bright all the time. There was no night or darkness at all. According to one African tale, when the world was new, it never really got dark.when the Sun set, the Moon cast enough light on the world to make everything clearly visible. All was fine and good until the Supreme Being asked Bat to carry a baskeet to the Moon. The basket had darkness inside. Bat did not know what the Moon was supposed to do with darkness, but nevertheless he flew off on his mission. On his way to the Moon, however, Bat became tired and hungry. He set the basket down and went in search of food. While he was away, some other hungry animals came on the basket and began pawing into it, looking for something to eat. Just as Bat returned,the animals pushed the cover off the basket and released darkness into the night. Ever since, Bat has slept during the day and spent the night flying  about, trying to catch the darkness and return it to the basket, so that he an take it to the Moon, as promised.

According to a Vedic legend, in the beginning there was only day. Yama and Yami were brother and sister. First Yama died and reached a region where he became the king. It is known as Yamaloka. His sister Yami could not control her grief from the separation from her brother, so she was crying all the time. The Creator thought upon a plan and created night so that she , being too tired could go to sleep

Automatically because of the darkness of the night. Slowly she overcame the grief and became normal again.

These stories emphasize the significance of night and darkness and their healing power giving a period of rest to the body and mind. So Nature celebrates the day from Sunrise to Sunset allotting that time for all men to work and night after Sunset to next morning Sunrise to a period of rest so that after a hard day 's work, people can enjoy and end time with their family and rest on time to get up early morning the next day with new vigor and energy. After all man toils and earns not for himself but for the family. Accomplishment and fulfillment of this goal is facilitated by the Nature ' s  convenient division of day and night.

Human being is a perfect unit of physical body, mind and intellect. The mysterious human body, the temple of  God, or the Supreme Consciousness is the most marvellous and delicate machine in the world. The mechanism is also highly complex. The body with its various organs and flexibility of limbs and being endowed with mind and powerful brain is designed in such a manner that it cannot remain idle without doing any work. It's remarkable potential is , when properly directed, it can realize its immotal nature putting an end to the cycle of birth and death. At the same time, it has the inbuilt mechanism to take rest on its own to refresh itself and regain fresh energy to work further and for next day.


The body is the vehicle of the soul. So it should be cared for beauty and vitality. By eating pure and natiral foods and using natural products, one can maintain good health and thinking higher thoughts and doing good works, one can elevate one's positive vibrational level and quality of life. Adequate sleep is also necessary. For sleep, darkness is a must. The rules that governed our cave man ancestors still apply. That means diminishing lights on the night, clearing out the TV, Computer, phone and other electronic gadgets from the bed room and making it as dark as possible. Our body requires darkness to stimulate production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Artificial light used for a long time brings bad effect on muscles. Sleeping well makes waking up a pleasure. In Ayurvedic hours, the rising and setting of the Sun have more to do with man's waking and sleeping patterns than the electric bulb. Ayurveda teaches that the day is coosed of cycles with different energies. The hours from morning six to night ten are characterised by work energy and heaviness. This heavy energy after day's hard work helps you fall asleep at 9.30 P.M or 10 PM at night. 6 AM in the morning and according to Vedic scriptures 4.30 or 5 A .M in the morning is the best waking time. This the time when the energy that supports alertness and activity is at peak.

A proper balance of work and rest leads to a happy , peaceful life. In fact, Nature is the best teacher.
Sleeping too much or too little is related to less resposiveness of the cells in the body in insulin, reducing glucose uptake and thus increase the risk of developing diabetes in the future. Sleeplessness also causes health problems.
Overworking without adequate rest does not bring productivity and satisfaction.
It is the quality of sleep that counts. Deep sleep has admiring healing powers.  In deep sleep, man is not aware of anything. It is said to be a state of bliss.Advaitic Philosophy, sleep is known as ' Nitya pralaya ', because in deep sleep, The individual merges( temporarily ) into Supreme Consciousness. That is why sleep is endowed with great healing powers. Good sleep is Nature's tonic for healthy living.

While ambitious techies flock to big cities for money and glitter, now there is a parallel trend-search for the right work-life balance leading to quieter places to reduce the hours in the office and on the road and for lower cost of living. The glamour of a big city may not be there. But this is nothing when compared to the advantage of quality of life leading a happy and peaceful one with ample time to spend and enjoy with family and taking rest on time.

Now a days , a lot of companies are also introducing lower hours to 30 hours instead of40, 70, 80 hours.
Evidence suggests that we can only concentrate on a given task for several hours at a time before we start feel fatigued and our minds wander. After we have hit our peak, our performance will begin to touch the flatline or even suffer.
Today leadership philosophy believes that forcing people to work for even 40 hours a week is inhumane.
Four-day weekends with 32 hours a week will help people live more in the present, instead of waiting until the old age to enjoy time off.
Such a policy will reduce the living hours in the office only. When some more time time is available for personal interest, the employee can devote himself to his creative hobbies also.
Such a move will cotribute to productivity, employee's morale, loyalty and stability to the company.

On the other hand, when there is contentment and fulfillment in man's life, many family problems and social evils can be averted. Over all, there will be prosperity.
To put it in the words of R L Stevenson:-
                                        That's Life
Any one can carry his burden, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the Sun goes down. And this is all life really means.

        

Tending a tender plant

                                          Tending a Tender plant


             Everyone possesses a kind of inner force that guides him to his life ' path and goal for which he is born. Each one is born with some talent. Some develop slowly. Some when given proper environment, bloom. Some manifest the talent suddenly. Talent may be inborn in some cases where even without proper surroundings, blooming is seen . Precociousness in a child is due to his storage of talent in memory carried from his previous births . Indian philosophy advocates karma ( deeds ) and rebirth  . According to it, man reaps good and bad fruits in this life ( pleasure and pain ) what he has sowed in his previous births ( in accordance with his good and bad actions done by him in his previous births). But human intelligence and reasoning, his unique possession endows him with free-will and limited freedom which gives him mental strength to overcome the bad situations with his personal efforts.So talent can be cultivated. With learning and effort, talent can be developed. Learning can do wonders for people's self-confidence .

As a seed needs rich soil, water and sunshine to grow into a healthy plant giving flowers and fruits.Taking out weeds around is also equally important to accelerate its healthy growth. So does a child needs care and protection from bad company . The capacity to learn is essential in any field. The home is the real school and the parents are the real teachers. In addition to learning in school, parents should provide children with opportunities to learn, explore and identify things in a wider perspective. The child's mind is very pure and unsullied. So it has the capacity to retain the impact of good and bad things that lasts for ever. Visiting museums and sacred places like temple, church and others helps the child to develop a broader outlook towards life in this impressionable age. They create an atmosphere where learning and higher pursuits of life are seen and valuable. Exposure to stimulating surroundings like science exhibition, zoo, flower-show, games, music concerts, trekking, nature-walk, trips to historical places, library especially book-stores will fill his or her memory with useful facts, ideas and interest. Sometimes dormant interest in the child gets awakened . When a child is exposed to a variety of books on different subjects and topics, some may attract the child's interests.instances are not rare. In many cases , children develop interest in geography, history and languages. Sometimes these impressions embedded pave way for choosing a fitting career by the person on his own. Many became famous players in the field of Tennis, Chess, Football etc were inspired by watching their fathers practising and playing in the field in their childhood. Those days and even now apprentices would learn the trade by watching their masters and imitating them as closelyas possible. When Marie curie was four years old she wandered into her father's study and was inspired by all kinds of laboratory instruments for chemistry and physics experiments. She dreamt imagining all sorts of experiments she could conduct with those instruments. This childhood obsession paved way for her career as a researcher on the discovery of radium which won her nobel prize. Thus it seen that the environment sparks a curiosity that is deep. This inward learning connects one to the innate for force and provide clarity and the person will find his way to his career path. In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field itself. Then the creativity and innovations will become a natural product on its own. Every moment of life will be new and thrilling.


Infact, learning starts when a child is in the womb of his mother. In Indian society, when the child is in the womb itself, pregnant women are exposed to classical music especially stringed instruments, Veena in particular



Scientific researches prove that as a baby develops in the womb , the rudimentary ears appear within a few weeks of conception. By four and a half months, the ears are complete and functional.. Thus for half of its time in the mother's womb, the baby can hear well and respond to sounds, especiall music. Relaxation sessions to melodious music for mother and unborn baby are encouraged. Hearing forms the fundamental basis for learning. The entire ancient scriptures like the vedas were learnt, developed and preserved through listening only.

Hearing in the early months of life is vitally important. In the weeks after birth also, as the young baby detects each sound especially for the first time, it moves its eyes rapidly ( REM, rapid eye movements ) and turns its head, attempting to locate the source of the sound. Even at this early stage, evidence shows that sounds are stored in the brain's auditory memory bank, providing resources for physical and mental co-ordination and intellectual development in later life.

According to Padma purana, Prahlada, the son of Hiranyakashipu , the demon was a learned brahmin and a devotee of Lord Vishnu in his previous birth, and when he was born as the son of Hiranyakashipu, he ( Prahlada ) still retained his ardent devotion to Vishnu.

According to the epic Mahabharata, when Abhimanyu was in the womb of his mother Subhadra, he happened to hear his father Arjuna explaining the art of entering and breaking through Padmavyuha( a peculiar battle array in the form of a lotus ) to Subhadra. Among the Pandavas  Arjuna only knew the art of breaking into that vyuha, killing the enemies and coming put of it unhurt. During the Mahabharata war , when the Kauravas at the advice of Drona formed this difficult vyuha, hoping that Arjuna was away at that time, none of the Pandavas would be able to break through it. Abhimanyu, the brave young boy assured his uncles that he was ready to try, if they only assisted him.He reconnected immediately with his knowledge received when he was in the womb and accordingly entered the vyuha, killed many warriors on the Kaurava side , but could not hold out long against fearful odds, and was atlast overpowered and slain as he learnt only one part of Knowledge namely breaking into the array and not the other part of coming out unhurt from that from his father.

In short, a child is a precious gift from God . An opportunity to tend a child, nourish him with proper surroundings, watch him grow into a healthy, responsible citizen of the world is a blessing and a unique joy in itself. So a child a rare treasure to be cherished.