Human body: A temple

When I was in school, my Alma Mater celebrated various occasions like Independence Day, Diwali, Christmas etc. Every occasion that we celebrated had a specific theme on which the entire programme used to revolve around. On one of these occasions, the theme was ‘Our body: a temple’. It emphasized as to how each one of us should treat and worship our body like a temple. The only way of respecting our body is by maintaining good health.

Do we really respect our bodies and treat them like places of worship? Are we maintaining good health? When I see people smoking or hear cases of drug addiction, I believe that such people torment and put their precious health in danger. The reasons cited for such addictions are commonly believed to be as ‘stress busters’ and way of ‘enjoying life’. I wonder how nicotine and alcohol, which are slow killers, enemies in disguise can be a way to enjoy life! Though we watch a number of advertisements (with shivery visuals) appealing people to give up smoking, it is still uncertain as to how many people have really given up this harmful habit. One of the meaningful advertisements requesting smokers to quit smoking was by Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA). As an innovative move, this Association fitted ‘chanting’ lighters at every shop which played the death chant ‘'Raam Naam Satya Hai', every time someone tried to light a cigarette. As a result, most smokers were totally shocked by the bluntness of the message that they decided not to light their cigarettes there. Some of them, out of a sense of realization and horror, even threw the cigarettes away. In India, one has to go any extent to inculcate sense among the masses. Indeed it is a sad sight to see when educated working classes and youth too are ‘victims’ of these sinister addictions.

When I visit villages, I am amazed to see the people there with such fit physical health, inspite of meager income that they earn. It’s quite ironical that the ‘urban folks’ spend so much on gyms and fitness centres and despite that still do not enjoy good health! The only difference is the lifestyles led by urban and rural people. Rural masses put physical efforts to work in fields or small scale industries contradictory to the sedentary lifestyle of the urban people. Hence the life span of rural people is found to be better than their urban counterparts. Not just the lifestyle, but also the environmental conditions and food habits of the people also differ which makes a huge difference in the longevity of people’s lives.

It is not only essential to ensure that we are fit physically, but also mentally. We hear students and working class suffering from stress and in extreme incidents, we read cases of suicides by troubled students and working people unable to cope with burgeoning stress. Or we hear about people in their 30s suffering from heart ailments and blood pressure due to the challenging jobs that they handle. It differs from person to person how one deals with stressful conditions at work. We hear cases of a number of ‘frustrated’ people who bemoan the work environment and about the people that they work with. What one should bear in mind is that, though we cannot choose the people we want to work with nor the environment, it is a test as to how we handle such ‘stressful’ situations and keep our mind healthy. It is need of the hour to maintain mental health to ensure that stay we stay fit physically too, for the state of mind and body are complementary to each other. Nowadays we read about a number of organizations who strive to ensure that their employees are fit physically and mentally so as to improve the productivity of their employees. The secret to remain fit physically is by eating healthy, sleeping well and exercising daily. If one maintains this balance, no one will ever suffer from any ailments. Unfortunately most of us do not follow this ideal life as most of us eat untimely, ‘fast’ and unhealthy meals. Due to stressful and demanding schedules, there’s always lack of sleep and exercise in our lives. Is that why we Indians are called most flexible and ‘quick on their feet’ people because we sacrifice these vital things and still strive to give our best?

On 21^st June we celebrated International Yoga Day as a tribute to the ancient Indian wisdom emphasizing the well being of body and mind. Yoga has gone international today and people all over the world and pay obeisance to it as an effective means to remain healthy. Yoga is a way of life, a confluence which connects body and mind. As descendants of this revered invention by our forefathers, if each one of us practices the yogic way of life, it will act as a panacea to all the physical and mental disorders we suffer from. It will truly be a way to remain happy, peaceful and satisfied in all stages and all situations, rather it will help us to tackle the testing moments in our lives. Good health is possible only if we have are optimistic, honest, confident, hard working and intrepid attitude towards life. All of us should consider good health as our utmost important religion, our body as a temple to worship and should always take efforts to maintain the sanctity of this temple.