Arogya means health, Raksha means providing, and Panchatantra refers to principles. So, Arogya Rakshak Panchatantra translates to the principle of providing health,
as explained by Dr. Venkat Rao.
Here are the criteria for good health:
- Get enough sleep
- Have regular bowel movements
- Feel hungry, happy, and enthusiastic during the day
- Maintain a flat stomach, and
- Communicate well with everyone
The five principles for good health are:
- Eat two meals a day
- Drink 2-3 liters or 8-10 glasses of water each day
- Exercise moderately for an hour regularly
- Fast once a week, and
- Pray twice daily
EAT TWO MEALS A DAY :
Food is basically anything you eat that helps your body grow, repair itself, or gives you energy. What you should eat and how often depends on your age and what kind of work you do.
When should you eat?
1. When you feel hungry.
2. Based on your job or activities.
3. Eating too much can actually harm your body.
What should you eat?
1. Raw foods like salads and fruits.
2. Cooked foods.
- Satvic: simple, unspiced meals.
- Rajasic: spicy and non-vegetarian foods.
- Tamasic: preserved foods.
SATVIC FOOD:
These are easy-to-digest meals that are simple and don’t have a lot of spices, salt, or oil. For example, porridge.
RAJASIC FOOD:
This kind of food makes you feel restless and active. It includes both vegetarian and some non-vegetarian options like coffee, tea, alcohol, spicy dishes, and processed foods.
TAMASIC FOOD:
This type of food makes you feel lazy and sluggish. Tamasic foods can dull your mind and lead to confusion and lack of interest. Examples include stale food, sugary snacks, pickles, and undercooked meals. How often should you eat? According to the Vedas, it's recommended to eat twice a day, as also suggested by Arya Samaj. How much should you eat? You should only eat what you can easily digest.
The amount of food you need depends on your age, activity level, and health condition. For instance, sedentary people need less food, children need smaller portions, and older adults may require different amounts. If you do not eat the right amount, whether too little or too much, it can be harmful, so it's important to fill your stomach according to its capacity.
AYURVEDA:
One meal a day - Great Yogi, Two meals a day - Great Enjoyer, Three meals a day - Great Sick Person, Four meals a day - Great Traitor.
ALLOPATHY:
It's important to wait three hours before having your next meal. A lot of people deal with indigestion because they don't give their bodies enough time.
Aim to drink 2 to 3 liters or 8 to 10 glasses of water every day. Water makes up about 60 to 70% of our body weight and is crucial for staying healthy. It has many benefits and is essential for all living things.
IMPORTANCE OF WATER:
i. It acts like an internal bath for all our organs.
ii. Water is necessary for all metabolic processes and helps transport nutrients.
Keep the cells stable by preserving their shape and structure. It's important for getting rid of waste and controlling body temperature. It also works as a lubricant in different parts of the body, like synovial fluid, which helps reduce friction and allows for smooth movement. Plus, it enhances overall quality of life.
Sources of water include drinking water, milk, drinks, and moisture from fruits and veggies.
Good habits for drinking water are to sip every hour, have some half an hour before and after meals, aim for two to three liters a day (unless you have kidney issues), and drink more on an empty stomach.
Bad habits include not drinking enough water, choosing coffee, tea, soda, or soft drinks over water, drinking too much during meals, and opting for cold water when thirsty or hot water when feeling unwell.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WATER TO DRINK:
- Hot water
- Cold water
- Warm water
COLD WATER BENEFITS:
Cold water acts as a tonic, helps reduce fever, and promotes urination. It helps flush out toxins from the body by enhancing kidney and intestinal function.
WHEN TO DRINK COLD WATER:
- If you're constipated
- When you have indigestion
- If you're feeling acidic
- During diarrhea
- If you have a burning sensation while urinating
- When you have a fever
CONTRAINDICATIONS:
Kidney and heart issues are a no-go.
WARM WATER BENEFITS:
It can help you relax, relieve pain, and clear your airways. USES: It's good for constipation, asthma, stomach problems, colds, and coughs.
HOT WATER BENEFITS:
It also helps you relax and relieve pain.
USES:
It's helpful for asthma, constipation, gas, stomach aches, sore throats, and rheumatism.
AVOID IF:
You have ulcers or esophagitis.
REGULAR EXERCISE:
Working out for an hour is super important for both your body and mind. It helps keep you fit and healthy. Exercise helps you recover and uses energy from food. To be at your best, you need to exercise both physically and mentally.
TYPES OF EXERCISE:
are aerobic and anaerobic exercises.
Aerobic exercise comes from two Greek words: 'Aeros' meaning air and 'bios' meaning life. It's a type of exercise that gets your heart pumping and makes you breathe harder because your body needs more oxygen. You should do it for about 20 to 45 minutes.
Examples include swimming, brisk walking, cycling, and jogging. On the other hand, anaerobic exercise means without air or oxygen. This kind of exercise is super intense and can leave you gasping for breath. It usually lasts only a minute since it relies on the limited glycogen stored in your muscles, which gets used up quickly.
Examples are weight lifting and sprinting. Regular physical activity is essential for a healthy life as it helps improve blood flow and nutrient delivery throughout the body. The World Health Organization identifies two types of exercise: heavy/fast and light exercise. Light exercise doesn't require a special diet or rest, just a balanced diet, and it's okay to skip it sometimes.
It's suitable for everyone, from kids to older adults, and it strengthens both the mind and body. Heavy exercise, however, requires a high-calorie diet, and if you stop exercising but keep eating the same way, you might gain weight and face health issues like obesity, heart problems, and arthritis. Examples include wrestling, weight lifting, and bodybuilding.
The benefits of heavy exercise include maintaining a healthy weight, improving bone density, building muscle strength, enhancing joint mobility, boosting physical fitness, and strengthening the immune system. It also helps lower cortisol levels, which can cause various health issues, and increases blood and oxygen flow to the brain, promoting the growth of new nerve cells and boosting brain chemicals like dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.
MENTAL WORKOUT: Mental workout involves engaging in activities that challenge your brain and are thought to be helpful. When you do mental workouts, it boosts your brain's activity, leading to the activation of various brain functions.
This mainly triggers neurons and nerve cells, as well as neuromuscular functions. Examples include puzzles, chess, breathing exercises, and meditation.
BENEFITS:
i. Enhances brain function.
ii. Supports both physical and mental well-being.
iii. Increases intellectual capacity. iv. Helps the body relax.
4) WEEKLY FASTING:
According to HERBERT M. SHELTON, fasting means completely avoiding food for a set time to give your digestive system a break.
HENRY LINDLAHR describes fasting as a safe and natural method to improve health by eliminating toxins from the body.
PURPOSES OF FASTING:
1. To allow the digestive system to rest.
2. To remove waste from the body.
3. To help the body heal.
BENEFITS OF FASTING:
1. The digestive system gets a break.
2. Toxins are removed more quickly.
3. Liver function improves.
4. Increases the body's resistance.
5. Boosts mental clarity.
6. Enhances the body's ability to heal.
PHILOSOPHY OF FASTING:
Fasting is a great way to prevent and treat illnesses while promoting overall health. The term UPAVASAM comes from Sanskrit and means 'to get closer to God.
PRINCIPLES OF FASTING:
The key idea behind fasting is to give complete rest to all body organs. Usually, a lot of energy goes into digestion, but during fasting, that energy is redirected to help eliminate waste.
TYPES OF FASTING:
This varies based on the intention, including religious fasting, political fasting, and therapeutic fasting.
Fasting can be categorized based on how long it lasts:
short fasting (3 to 5 days), intermediate fasting, and long fasting (10 to 15 days). It can also be classified by the method used, such as dry fasting, water fasting, and juice fasting.
Juice fasting can include alkaline juices like tender coconut, vegetable juice, and ash gourd juice, or acidic juices like tomato, orange, pineapple, and lemon juice. There are also options like fruit fasting for weaker individuals, saline practices with salt and lemon for dehydration and severe vomiting, and mono diet fasting, which includes things like milk, grape, mango, or buttermilk fasting.
Fasting can serve different purposes:
politically, it can be a form of protest or awareness, like hunger strikes; religiously, it can be part of traditions, such as Hindus fasting on amavasa, Christians on Good Friday, and Muslims during Ramadan; and therapeutically, it can help treat diseases by speeding up healing, depending on the condition like obesity or arthritis.
During fasting, it's important to follow some physical rules: drink enough water for elimination, take daily warm water enemas, maintain body temperature with adequate hydration, take sponge baths if feeling weak, get sun exposure to help eliminate waste through sweating, exercise to promote health and burn fat, and enjoy fresh air.
When fasting, it's important to keep your mind busy to help reduce cravings for food.
Here's how fasting works:
At first, you might feel uncomfortable, but this feeling of hunger usually goes away after a day or two. During this time, your body might show signs of detoxification, like headaches, diarrhea, excessive saliva, skin rashes, vomiting, and trouble sleeping. These symptoms are normal as your body gets rid of toxins, but they should be managed properly. The signs of a detox crisis include headaches, mouth sores, bad breath, dizziness, a white coating on your tongue, body aches, and diarrhea.
To safely break your fast, make sure your tongue is clean, get some fresh air, feel genuine hunger, enjoy a pleasant taste in your mouth, have normal-smelling urine, and notice that your skin looks healthy and glowing. You should feel refreshed, have clear vision, a light feeling in your body, a steady pulse, and a normal body temperature.
Start breaking your fast with thick juices like apple juice or tender coconut water (avoid citrus juices), then move on to soft fruits, sprouts, and finally boiled foods with little spice and salt before returning to your regular diet.
Fasting has many benefits, such as giving your digestive system a break, boosting metabolism, enhancing the function of vital organs, rejuvenating cells and tissues, strengthening your immune system, and improving your willpower, memory, and focus. However, there can be side effects like gas, increased body temperature, vomiting, and regurgitation.
It's also crucial to rest while fasting: take physical breaks by avoiding heavy work and getting enough sleep, and give your mind a break too, as fasting can help heal mental issues like stress and depression. Reading spiritual texts can help relax your mind.
4. Physiological Rest
➢ When fasting, all body activities and functions slow down.
5. Ideal Place for Fasting Therapy
➢ A naturopathy center
➢ A calm, quiet, and peaceful environment
➢ Access to clean air and water
➢ Always conducted under expert supervision.
5) PRAYER TWICE A DAY:
"THE CONNECTION BETWEEN PRAYER AND HEALTH"
Just like our body feels restless without food, our mind becomes stressed without prayer. Our body needs a nutritious diet, and similarly, our mind requires nourishment through prayer. This way, both our mind and body can be healthy, leading to a blissful state (external happiness).
Why is prayer important twice a day?
Morning Prayer
➢ We believe in a divine power (supernatural force) that helps us move forward.
➢ God protects us during the night while we sleep.
➢ Upon waking, we express our gratitude to God.
➢ He shields us from danger.
➢ He grants us restful sleep.
➢ He awakens us in the morning.
Therefore, as we receive life from God, we should thank Him and ask for continued blessings throughout the day. Expressing gratitude to God shows that we recognize we are nothing without Him. Asking for His blessings reflects our humility and lack of ego.
EVENING PRAYER
At the end of the day, we should reflect on our experiences to encourage positive actions and avoid repeating mistakes. We should thank God for everything. One of the qualities that set us apart from animals is our ability to be grateful, so the evening should be a time for thanksgiving prayer. Prayer to God represents the relationship between God and humans, asking for His protection at night helps us avoid dangers we may not be aware of during the day. Even at night, when we are unaware, God watches over us.
Advantages of Prayer
➢ Prayer benefits both the mind and the spirit.
➢ It helps to enhance mental clarity.
➢ It contributes to achieving success in various aspects of life.
Why is prayer important?
Just like our bodies need food to function properly, our minds also need prayer to stay calm and focused. When both our mind and body are in good shape, we experience true happiness.
Choosing a place to pray:
You can pray anytime and anywhere, but it might be more effective in a peaceful setting like a church, temple, or mosque, where you can really connect with your spiritual side. Some people prefer to pray with their eyes open, while others close them. Many also choose to face a specific direction while praying.
Prayer Positions:
There are different ways to position yourself while praying:
➢ Sitting down
➢ Kneeling
➢ Lying flat on the ground
➢ Hands clasped together
➢ Head lowered
➢ Holding hands with others.
