Brainwashing The Basics of Human Wisdom
Source: Connor Edward Opalisky 2016 PSU
Today, a significant number of English-educated Indians and Indians in the diaspora, as well as others around the world never learned nor examined Bharatiya values; they were taught instead to taunt Indian rituals and Hindu wisdom. Every ritual, custom, and practice was explained not with logic but as superstition and fear-based religion. The good fortune of enlightened parents who treasured the rich wealth of nature science-based traditions was traded in for material wealth and western values of consumption, hedonism, technology, money, and industrial development.
Even if children grew up in such traditional enlightened families, if they were not properly nurtured during their youth by elder members and extended family -- usually because parents moved away from the large family home or because someone married into the family who was not educated -- their childhood traditional Bharatiya values would dissipate. Success was redefined by jobs, admissions to prestigious english schools, and social status, so members left home to bring status and money to their families.
Rituals became detached from their purpose, using empty actions and abbreviations, such as waving light at a deity without understanding arati. The rituals of wellness taught in close-knit families such as the proper use of turmeric were abandoned for modern societal values and “english medicine,” especially when pressures from the local environment forced socialization. Triple ointment replaced lepas. Pills replaced homemade herbal teas. In attempts to fit in, children would rebel from their childhood heritage to conform to their western environment. Hair oil was replaced by hair mousse, and altaa was replaced with nail polish. The bindi was embarrassing, and sitting on the floor was primitive. House slippers in cold weather were replaced with wearing outdoor shoes indoors.
Whether in large cities of India, or in western countries, people who wanted to be successful would try to mimic the West, bewitched by material wealth, glamour and promise of freedoms begging for exploration like the apple in the Garden of Eden. Tempted by status, prestige, and a nefarious promise of living in privilege like the monarchies of the west, Indians flocked to dress, eat, and live as Europeans do.
For most of the past century, the world has labeled Indian values as stupid, primitive and inferior, highlighting abject poverty and violent attitudes toward women, dirty cities, and corrupt politicians. Modern Indians especially continue to taunt the traditions of Bharata, though ignorant of details of the actual wisdom. Those who speak of the wisdom of Bharat’s science are called bhakt and dismissed.
As they move forward in modern lives, they continue to produce descendants who are lost, never schooled in the basics of being human, and without the tools to know how to learn. They are thereby distanced from deep wisdom of good living that would have ultimately furthered their dharma and successful work in the world. With the wisdom of good living, they would have achieved true wealth and freedom by their adult years.
Some who were trained in childhood in enlightened families rebelled during college to conform to their new environment. Only when they have their own children do they realize those values they learned in childhood. Some wait until their own bodies begin to manifest unpredicted disease. Suddenly, they begin noticing large gaps from their childhood routine and wondering if adherence to good daily practices would have prevented their disease states. They desperately seek to reconnect with those lifestyles that avert such shocking diseases. Only then they scramble for rediscovery of the depth and wisdom of their ancestral traditions. In addition, when they see their western-raised friends, especially those with fair skin, attracted toward Indian wisdom, wearing bindis or carrying Hanuman in their pocket (as US President Obama does), or chanting So-Hum, then they claim the regal wisdom in their bloodline and feel some curiosity toward the ancient culture's wisdom. The return to the basics of human wisdom begins.
This is the second of a five-part series on the ancient wisdom tradition and logic of the ayurvedic approach to being human.
week 86. TheSouthAsianTimes
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The South Asia Times columnist Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya is a Fulbright Specialist 2018‐2023 in Public Health and Clinical Asst Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York. Her bestselling book Everyday Ayurveda is published by Penguin Random House.