AGING: AND TOTAL STRESS MANAGEMENT: DR. SHRINIWAS
KASHALIKAR

Aging begins right from conception; but usually refers to the changes; after the age of forty to fifty years. Thus; aging means variable but distinct reduction in physical capacity and performance; and the insecurity, anxiety, worry, tension and depression resulting from the relative handicap.

What Total Stress Management?

Total Stress Management or Holistic health is an ongoing progress in perceptions, feelings and actions; with increasing accuracy, appropriateness, precision; and pleasure, power, prosperity and profundity. Perception, feelings and actions are also expressed by terms Cognition, Affect and Conation (Productivity and Creativity); respectively.
A] Cognition:
In short, cognition means processing [appraisal] of a huge variety of sensations impinging on us. We can appreciate the importance of this faculty if we consider the two important facts viz. 24 hours of the day and twelve months of the year, every one of us gets sensory inputs in the form of physical, instinctual, emotional and intellectual stimuli, which may be painful or pleasurable in the form of a variety of personal, familial, social, national and international events. Cognition involves sensing, interpreting, memorizing, questioning, pattern finding, analyzing, correlating, synthesizing, contemplating, understanding, appreciating and hypothesizing on the basis of this information input.
2] Affect:
Affect means the effect of the variety of stimuli which, may impinge on us. The affect is in a way, �sandwiched� between; cognition or perception of stimuli and the conation or response.

In general it involves the activity of various parts of nervous, endocrine and metabolic changes. The affect is usually experienced as a] confidence, enthusiasm, excitement, pleasure, happiness, love, attraction, patience, comfort etc. or b] sadness, jealousy, hatred, depression, inhibition, diffidence, loneliness, listlessness, impatience, discomfort etc.
3] Conation or action i.e. response (Productivity and creativity):
Conation is the response of an individual. This can be in the form of speaking, writing, singing, painting, dancing, fighting, and other interactions usually referred to as behavior.

In Hindu tradition this response was aimed at fulfillment of life and the precept for the life time activity was called PURUSHARTHA. There were four sequential components; of PURUSHARTHA viz.; DHARMA, ARTHA, KAAMA and MOKSHA.

DHARMA refers to accuracy in perception, affect and conation. This leads to ARTHA i.e. acquisition of material gains, followed by KAAMA i.e. satisfaction of the mundane desires, which are not against the principles of individual and universal blossoming) and MOKASHA i.e. liberation from all sorts of bondages.

In short; Total Stress Management or holistic health; refers to appropriate provision for the physical, instinctual, emotional, intellectual needs; and fulfillment and happiness arising from it.

We can read several books on Total Stress Management available on internet for free download and also read the articles on aging.
But in this article let us know about NAMASMARAN, which the core of Total Stress Management.

Namasmaran means; remembering the name of God, Guru, great souls; such as prophets and holy objects such as planets and stars. It may be remembered silently, loudly, along with music, dance, along with breathing, in group or alone, either with counting by rosary (called SMARANI or JAPAMALA) or without counting. The traditions vary from region to region and from religion to religion.

However the universal principle underlying NAMASMARAN is to reorient your physiological being with your true self. In fact while reorienting with true self you aim to establish and strengthen the bond or connection; between; your physiological being; with your true self. You aim at reunification with yourself!

Since remembering your true self is the pinnacle of or culmination of individual consciousness, and individual consciousness is the culmination of every activity in life, remembering any name of God or Guru (any symbol of your true self) is equivalent to opening the final common pathway for the individual consciousness associated with every possible activity to get funneled into or unified with objective or cosmic consciousness.

Thus NAMASMARAN is in fact the YOGA of YOGA in the sense that it is the culmination of consciousness associated with every possible procedure and technique in the yoga that you are familiar with. It is the YOGA of YOGA because it is the culmination of consciousness associated with all the activities in the universe, which it encompasses as well! It is YOGA of YOGA because everybody in the world irrespective of his/her tradition and the beliefs; would eventually, ultimately and naturally reach it it in the process of liberation. Even so called non believers also would not �miss� the �benefit of remembering the true self through one symbol or another�!

Just as NAMASMARAN is YOGA of YOGA it is meditation of meditation also! It is the natural and ultimate climax of every form of meditation.

These facts however have to be realized with persistent practice of NAMASMARAN and not blindly believed or blindly disbelieved with casual approach!

In short NAMASMARAN is super-bounty of cosmic consciousness for every individual to realize it (cosmic consciousness)! This is truly a super-bounty because a person, who experiences it, rises above mercenary, commercial, professional and charity planes; and manifests super-transactions in his or her life!

These are just few observations to give rough idea about what is NAMASMARAN; it is an ocean of bliss and its true meaning is beyond description!