A few centuries ago in India (bharath), people were much more evolved than they are today across the world. They lived a simple life, amidst nature, using natural resources to lead a healthy life.
Everything ranging from personal hygiene to spirituality came to them naturally, uncontaminated by other influences.
Today, with the growth of technology and science, it makes me wonder if we have progressed or digressed from evolution. While I don’t dispute that there seems to be a lot of progress that we have made in many fields, I also think somewhere we have lost all the progress that was actually made centuries ago and its all lost in translation.
The Bhagawad Gita, the Upanishads, the Vedas, the Yoga Sutras (I am referring to some of the names I know of and have touched upon) and many such scriptures spoke about the universe and its constituents as well as prescribed a code of conduct for happy life!
But we seem to have forgotten it in lieu of ‘modern education’.
Why were we exposed to marketing advertisements that told us to buy toothpaste with a lot of chemicals in lieu of just chewing a naturally and freely available stick of Neem or the mango tree leaf for oral hygiene?
Why did we get carried away to use shampoos with chemicals that also promise to have the goodness of Amla and Tulsi and other herbs?
Where in this transition did we choose to let go of a Namaste and instead shake hands, to then start using a hand sanitizer just in case the other person wasn’t as hygienic as we expected.
Are we yet in transition…where we have given up on the cotton cloth/or darbha grass for a synthetic rubber mat to practice yoga asanas.
Are we in transition…where we have chosen to practice Hatha Yoga as merely an exercise, acrobatics, without any bhaava?
It’s for me to ponder; it’s for us to ponder. How do we realign ourselves to the ancient practices, so that we can confidently say We Live Yoga.
