நம் வாழ்வில் மாற்றமொன்றே மாறாதது.
உடலளவில், உணர்ச்சிப் பெருக்கத்தில், மன ரீதியில், பிறரோடு உறவைப் பேணுவதில், சமூக அந்தஸ்தில் – இன்னும் வாழ்வின் பற்பல நிலைகளிலும் நமது நிலைபாடு வாழ்வின் ஒவ்வொரு கட்டத்திலும் மாறிக்கொண்டே வருகிறது.
"It's better to wear out than to rust out", Swami Vivekananda used to often say. True to these words, having worked tirelessly for over a decade, his body began to wear out by his late thirties. Diabetes, obesity and related complications made his health most precarious. There was a condition of general dropsy with his feet especially swollen, making it difficult for him to walk. His body became so sensitive that the slightest touch would cause him acute pain. Sleep was hard to come.
The daily worship of the sun is called Sandhyā.[1] The word ‘sandhyā’ literally means ‘twilight’ but also indicates the prayer performed during the morning and evening twilight.[2] This act of adoration to the sun is generally styled ‘sandhyopāsana’ or ‘sandhyāvandana’ or simply ‘sandhyā.’[3] The word ‘sandhyā’ can also mean ‘the junction between night and day
The ācārya gave a daṇḍa (staff, stick) to the student, who accepted it by reciting the verse: “My daṇḍa fell down to the ground and I pick it up, for the sake of long life, to adhere to the path of brahman, and to begin student-hood.”[2] The daṇḍa represented control over the mind, speech, and body.
After tying the mekhalā, the boy was invested with the yajñopavīta (sacred thread).[1] While the yajñopavīta as a ‘sacred thread’ was largely unknown in ancient times[2], it became the focus of the upanayana saṃskāra in later years.[3] In later times, the young vaṭu was given the yajñopavīta and made to recite the well-known mantra, “The yajñopavīt
There are several varying rules and prescriptions about the age of the boy who is to undergo the upanayana (the boy is referred to as the ‘vaṭu’). What is interesting to note is that the age was counted from conception.[2] From the earliest times we see in ancient India the notion that the age of a child must be counted.
Ayurveda, being a medical science, does not consider cosmology as one of its central preoccupations. Vagbhata’s Ashtanga-Hrdayam, which contains the definitive summary of classical Ayurveda, makes not even a passing reference to cosmological theories.
Elaborate references to these theories, based mostly upon the Sankhya system, may however be found in the texts of Charaka and Sushruta. These theories owe their presence in these texts to two major reasons: