“O conquerer of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.7)

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मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्
किञ्चिद् अस्ति धनञ्जय
मयि सर्वम् इदं प्रोतं
सूत्रे मणि-गणा इव

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
kiñcid asti dhanañjaya
mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ
sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva

1. The benefits of intermittent fasting

“Would I like to go to breakfast? Actually, I will skip it for today. No, it is not because of a rough night. I slept well, in fact. It is just that I am trying this new thing called ‘intermittent fasting.’ Not sure if you have heard of it, but the general idea is to give your digestive system a rest. Periodically, take a break from eating. Sometimes it might be for a full day. Some people follow the routine of consuming all of their calories within a certain window of time. You could call it an all-or-nothing type approach.

“Before you think I have lost my mind, there is recent scientific evidence to show the benefits. A person from a foreign country recently won the highest award in science for showing how the body starts eating its own damaged cells during fasting. You should try it. You don’t need to go crazy. Perhaps a day or two in the month, without any food. Perhaps only consume fruits on those days. You might consider aligning the days with the phases of the moon, in case you want to maintain a routine. Maybe the eleventh day. Yeah, that sounds like a good number.”

2. The benefits of yoga

“All those years I spent on the track. Running in the bitter cold. I would feel great during the exercise, but afterwards I was dead tired. My whole body would become sore. It is like I became more vulnerable to catching seasonal viruses. My face began to age considerably. Anyway, I bring this up because I have stumbled upon something better. At least for me, it is better. It is called yoga. You know, where you sit on a mat and stretch your body in different ways.

“I know, I know, it sounds like some new age thing, but you don’t have to necessarily follow one of the fads. It is not like you require a steaming hot room or super cold, either. Just try it. The simplest poses. They are not so easy. But as you progress, if you are able to maintain the position, the benefits are incredible. It is like all of the diseases escape from your body. It is like the body becomes separate from your identity. The body is finally free to manage itself, while you enter a higher realm. I can’t believe we are only discovering the benefits of this in recent times.”

3. The benefits of compatibility assessments for matchmaking

“Listen, I have to be honest with you. Men and women are different. I know, that sounds controversial. It might get you cancelled, in this day and age, but hear me out. I also think that you cannot expect to have a lasting relationship based on attraction alone. There has to be something at the foundation. Think of it like compatibility tied to the nature of the individual. One person is a talker. Another person is quiet. One person likes to get stuff done. Another person is more chill.

“Well, they are starting to use science to figure these things out. There are compatibility tests that professional matchmakers use. They say that this is a superior way of finding a husband or wife. The odds are better of staying in the relationship, of being happy, of being satisfied. You could call it an arranged relationship, if you want, and I think this might be the way of the future. Buckle up.”

4. The benefits of raw milk

“Are you alone? No one is listening, right? Well, let me tell you what I have stumbled upon. Raw milk. Yes, the kind straight from the cow. No pasteurization. No treatment with machines required by law for sale on the open market. Straight from farm to table. It is incredible, if you think about it. If you want to pump poisonous substances into a perfectly healthy child, no problem. The so-called doctor administering the injection won’t even tell you the ingredients. They will threaten to fire you from the practice if you so dare to ask a question or two. Dissent is not tolerated.

“Meanwhile, raw milk is essentially banned. You are not allowed to buy it in the supermarket, though you know exactly what is in it. I have noticed benefits from it. I have had to go the circuitous route to find it. I think people are on to something. This latest discovery threatens to take down commercial dairy farming, as we know it. That is probably why there is so much pushback.”

5. The pervasiveness of a singular energy

“Have you read up on what some scientists are saying? They have discovered that there is a singular energy going through everything. Sort of like unity within the division. Many people waking up from an extended coma say the same thing. They describe entering another realm. They realized that there is nothing to fear about life and death. Everything will continue on, since there is this energy. Isn’t that cool? If only more people would know about this, it might change the way we behave. It might change our outlook on the life experience and our purpose on this planet.”

…

सर्व-भूतेषु येनैकं
भावम् अव्ययम् ईक्षते
अविभक्तं विभक्तेषु
तज् ज्ञानं विद्धि सात्त्विकम्

sarva-bhūteṣu yenaikaṁ
bhāvam avyayam īkṣate
avibhaktaṁ vibhakteṣu
taj jñānaṁ viddhi sāttvikam

“That knowledge by which one undivided spiritual nature is seen in all existences, undivided in the divided, is knowledge in the mode of goodness.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.20)

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada refers to the knowledge from the Vedic tradition as descending. This is to both identify an origin to that knowledge and to contrast with the acquisition attempts of the modern day. That is to say, the general tendency from recent times, in the last thousand years and more, is to stack individual bits of knowledge on top of one another. Through discovery, through observation and experiment, through gathering empirical data, there is an ever-increasing base of knowledge. This is the ascending process.

The descending process is superior because the knowledge is already there. It does not require further experimentation. The knowledge can be trusted based on the authority. The authority is established based on the character of the individuals within the chain. The gatekeepers, so to speak, have no material desires. They are completely renounced from the world, although living within it. In the early stages of the creation, it was the saintly kings, rajarshi, who passed along the original, flawless knowledge. Since then, special individuals, empowered in their own right, carry the torch forward. This succession is known as parampara.

एवं परम्परा-प्राप्तम्
इमं राजर्षयो विदुः
स कालेनेह महता
योगो नष्टः परन्तप

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
sa kāleneha mahatā
yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa

“This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.2)

To highlight the superiority of parampara, understand that the supposed discoveries reviewed above were already known. Thousands of years ago, in fact. The knowledge had to be known because the person responsible for the configuration of the different conditions, situations, and specifications was involved in the creation. It is not like He was experimenting in a laboratory and something went awry. It is not like His creations became superior, acting independent of the laws of nature. Rather, He is the creator of nature. He is the truth that pervades everything. Every truth rests in Him, in fact. There is nothing that could ever be superior to Him. The knowledge passed along is but a glimpse into the mysteries of His understanding.

More important than the particulars of the knowledge, in traversing branch to branch from the original tree, is understanding the purpose to the conditions themselves. Just what are we doing here? We might be a man. We might be a woman. We might be in poor health. We might be in top shape, adept at adapting to the changing conditions, which are like passing seasons. We might be young. We might be old. Whatever the case may be, what is our goal? What should we prioritize?

The teachers who pass along the descending knowledge target the goal of escape. Find a state of being that is free from duality. Live in such a way that you will never have to return to the land of birth and death. Act in a manner that you will no longer require adapting to changing conditions. That state of liberation has a corresponding location, which is known as Vaikuntha. That place is free of anxieties. That place is the home of the one who pervades the entire space in His impersonal form, which is known as the avyakta-murti.

मया ततम् इदं सर्वं
जगद् अव्यक्त-मूर्तिना
मत्-स्थानि सर्व-भूतानि
न चाहं तेष्व् अवस्थितः

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.4)

In Closing:

Rather than experiment make,
Knowledge from parampara take.

Which kindly to descend,
Not required to ascend.

Where bits of information to stack,
And complete picture to lack.

More important the purpose to fulfill,
To climb over rebirth’s hill.

Categories: the five

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, science, wellness, yoga