STRESS AND TRUE SELF: DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR

The study of stress leads to many questions.

One of them is; “What is ‘self’; and what is ‘true self’?”

The physical pain and pleasure, the instinctual deprivation and fulfillment, the emotional sadness and happiness, the intellectual confusion and clarity; and the subsequent behavior; constitute individual life and we identify our ‘self’ as one who experiences all these and/or one who is responsible for all these.

This ‘self’ is wrapped in; all the physiological limitations mentioned above. It is restricted in the subjective capacity to work, know and experience; by virtue of language and digits and hence space and time.

The objective reality is beyond mathematical and linguistic comprehension. It is beyond space and time. Actually it ‘is’ beyond the concepts expressed in; ‘is’, ‘being’, ‘was’, ‘is not’, ‘not being’ and ‘was not’. Those who have realized this; basically admit that it is indescribable! But still it is described as beyond the space, time and relative reality of life and death. Hence; it is described as eternal and true bliss! This is ‘true self’.

As and when; one begins the practice of NAMASMARAN; the veils of ‘self’ or ‘subjectivity’; get rarefied and the ‘true self’ or ‘objectivity’ (which “is” already there); gets unraveled. As a byproduct; the cognition, affect and conation; rise above the subjective limitations. They become universal. An individual no more remains an individual! He or she experiences the core aspirations of the entire universe and is inevitably associated with rectification of cosmic homeostasis.

The tangible aspects of such rectification embody; the universal (holistic) perspective, policies, plans, programs and implementation; i.e. Total Stress Management. This is the relationship between ‘stress’ and ‘true self’!

ORAL HEALTH AND HYGIENE: DR SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR

Oral health and hygiene are well known. But following points (some hypothetical and some experienced) may be useful.

• Oral hygiene is not merely meant for dental health. If practiced in a way given below it can improve health of brain, salivary glands, sinuses, taste buds, gums and teeth.

• After getting up in morning gargle mouth with plain water or slightly salted water. Salt makes it antimicrobial. Rub the palate with thumb. This may appear clumsy. But rubbing of the whole palate stimulates the under-surface and floors of the sinuses and presumably helps improve the circulation in the sinuses and prevent congestion and stagnation of blood; and infection. It can aid in cure of infection; because antibiotics may not penetrate in (even if they are powerful); the sites of infection.

• Rub your upper gums from inside and outside with either your thumb or fingers. This would be useful to improve the blood supply to your upper gums and upper teeth. Rub the inner and outer aspects of your lower gums also. This would improve the circulation of lower gums and lower teeth.

• Rubbing of inner and outer aspects of upper and lower gums can improve the health of salivary ducts and their openings from parotid and sub-mandibular and sub-lingual glands.

• Rub the under-surface of your tongue. This will improve the health of sub-lingual salivary ducts and their openings.

• Rub the upper surface of your tongue. This would improve the health of taste buds and taste receptors.

• Oral cavity, oral structures and tongue have large representation in sensory homunculus (Representation of the body in the brain) and hence rubbing of oral cavity would stimulate these parts of brain. This is a unique and desirable stimulation not possible by any other means!

• Using tooth powders containing ayurvedic herbs have added advantages. Hence you can use Kaat (catechu), Tirfal (tomar seeds), Halad (turmeric), Amala (emblica officinalis), Harada (terminalia chebulia), Neem (azadiracta indica) etc. You may use tooth brush and tooth paste of your choice in addition to the steps described above.

• In view of psychosomatic influences the Hindu culture has evolved prayers for different physical activities; such as bath, eating, and even maintenance of oral hygiene. Following is a Sanskrit prayer offered to the herbs used in the tooth powder.

AYURBALAM YASHO VARCHAS PRAJA PASHUNWASU NI CHA BRAHMA PRAJNAN CHA MEDHA CHA TVAN NO DEHI VANASPATE

• This prayer is a request for long life, physical strength, success, potency, sharp intelligence, good progeny and above all creativity and universal perspective. Prayerful attitude makes every activity sublime and oriented towards one's own and global welfare.

• One should be careful if there are ulcers, lesions etc. But; by using fingers; you are safer than while using brush; as you can feel and judge small boils, abscesses etc with fingers, but NOT by any brush! Hence, in such cases; brushing in fact; can be far more damaging than using fingers.

• There are no clinical trials known to the author, regarding the authenticity of these steps. Hence these steps have to be if at all, followed by one's own choice, and at one's own risk. The steps described are totally harmless.

STRESS AND POLITICS: DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR

The news on TV showing; significant increase in mental illness (STRESS) due to poverty, unemployment and cut throat competition; confirms that; we can never succeed in Total Stress Management; without addressing the socioeconomic, political and other issues influencing our lives.

We may or may not join a particular political party, an organization, or a movement; but we have to firmly assert our conscience. If we don’t, then we will suffer from guilt conscience; in passing on this legacy to the posterity!

For Total Stress Management; the world politics ought to express the cosmic consciousness (converging into global consensus) in the form of the perspective, policy making, plans and programs for individual and global blossoming.

People with such perception, conviction and motivation ought to come together and evolve the pragmatic aspects of actual means and modalities; of policies, plans and programs.

At present also this is happening, but in a rather imperfect, immature, inaccurate, insufficient, inadequate, feeble and slow and ineffective manner.

We can verify; if this can be expedited by empowering common the deep seated urge for self realization and motivation for individual and global blossoming; in billions of living beings; through NAMASMARAN.