Sunday, August 23, 2009
Lord Ganesha and the Super Brain Yoga
Today is Ganesh Chaturthi - the birthday of 'elephant-God' Ganesha, worshipped by followers of the Hindu religion (myself being one of them). Hindu religious festivals are mostly based on the lunar calendar. This one is no different in that the festival is celebrated on the 4th day - (sukla) chaturthi in Sanskrit is 4th day of the (waxing) moon - of the Bhadrapada masa (which is the 6th month in the lunar calendar), which roughly comes mid-August - mid-September in the Julian calendar.
While I tend to be religiously neutral, I cannot but help appreciate and admire the various intricacies and profundity embedded in various religions. Hinduism, probably due to its age, contains numerous nuggets that, when looked with a skeptical (but not cynical) eye, holds a lot of treasures that are relevant even today. It is sad that such important lessons are lost today because most of these symbolisms are taken literally.
Ganesh Chaturthi is one such festival in the Hindu religion that holds a number of interesting symbolisms that are relevant today. Here are a few to my knowledge:
Eco-worshipping
Ancient Indian practices have been amazingly eco-friendly (possibly because plastic hadn't been invented yet!) In temples, food used to be served in containers made of leaf and other plant products, which are biodegradable. In Ganesh Chaturthi, eco-friendliness is taken to another level, where Ganesha being worshiped is made of clay and then dissolved in water once the festival is over, leaving no harmful residue.
The other beauty of this is that anyone with a little bit of clay can create the image quickly and worship Ganesha (Ganesha, by the way, is one of the easiest Gods to draw or sculpt!). This notion brings a level of equality that is seldom seen in other festivals or practices.
Unfortunately, over the years, both these symbolisms seem to have been lost or at least diluted. Nowadays, the size of Ganesha idol constructed and worshiped during the festival has become a status symbol, especially with political parties vying to have a big statue to show their party's affinity to the God. The eco-friendliness has also lost its meaning over the years, with Ganesha being painted in potentially harmful paints that may be water soluble, but not necessarily bio-degradable.
Super brain yoga
Recently, one of my friends forwarded a video in YouTube called Super Brain Yoga. Supposedly based on the works of Chinese accupuncturist Choa Kok Sui, the video shows how a certain action can potentially increase memory and brain power.
What is interesting is that this pose (or exercise), has been associated with Ganesha for hundreds of years. We have been taught as children to perform this 'exercise' a minimum of 9 times whenever we pray to Ganesha. Alternately, this has also been associated with Indian schools as a form of punishment!
While it is sad that neither the video nor Sui's website mentions Ganesha, there are some stronger symbolisms that I could not help but notice.
Ganesha has been associated with education in Hinduism. Moreover, Ganesha has an elephant form. Elephants, as we know, have an extremely strong memory. While I am not jumping to conclusions here, it is interesting that an exercise form supposedly proven to increase brain/memory power is associated with a God who is associated with education/learning and is symbolized as an animal that has strong memory!
I wonder how many other such interesting aspects are there embedded in every religion that has since been diluted or outright dismissed as superstition or blind-faith.
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11 comments:
Hi
is this true? It will increase the brain power?
Please tell me how to do this properly?
Well, that is what the video claims (link in the blog itself), based on some brain mapping they did. The procedure is also visually explained in the video.
Assuming you are from India (based on name), the procedure is fairly similar to what is known as "thoppukaranam" in Tamilnadu (not sure how it is done elsewhere) - cross your arms and hold the ends of the opposite ear lobes pinching them slightly, and do sit-ups, preferably facing the sun in the morning.
While I cannot attest to the scientific evidence cited in the video, it does seem logical to me, as I have indicated in the blog, based on the symbolisms around this practice - at least my mom asked me to do this 9 times (or more) before a Math test, when I sorely needed my memory power to remember all the formulae :)
Hmm...Interesting!
The earliest known public display of affection for this festival goes back to Bal Gangadhar Tilak's times, where he used the mass fervor against the British Colonial rule. This was a huge public festival in North/ West India, esp Maharashtra...( Remember Nayagan? There is this scene where Kamal uses Ganesh Chaturthi to showcase his magnanimity/leverage his popularity with the poor Dharavai folks on this day!)
And in our younger days ( circa late 80's and 90's)it was still very much a private affair in the southern part of India.
Over the last couple of years, I am seeing this change even in Bangalore. I read an article, where someone had created a "Swine Flu" Ganesha and had him parade thru the streets in Bangalore... some awareness, i guess!
Hello
Mr. Choa Kok Sui is aware of everything you said, he just didn't mention it, so that skeptic people don't get repelled by it. It is, indeed, profoundly related to Ganesh; both arms hanging when doing the pose also resemble the ears of the elephant; and, before the "superbrain yoga" technique became a book, it was called the "elephant exercise". One other thing: Mr. Choa Kok Sui was not an accupunturist, rather, the Grand Master of the tecnique called "Pranic Healing".
Namaste from Brasil!
Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for the clarification. Just to be clear, my intention was not to belittle the work of Dr. Kok Sui or others, but to merely indicate that it has a longer history. Also, I took the 'acupuncture' reference from the main page of the website - my apologies for not reading more into it.
While I understand why you may not want to mention the background for marketing reasons, I still wonder if it is appropriate to not give proper reference to the source, at least as a footnote.
Many a times, I have seen people claim something as theirs without acknowledging the source - the latest craze of Yoga in USA being one prime example.
I understand, and sorry if my comment seemed rude, I didn't think u were belittleing master Choa.
Indeed, that does happen, but he never did say any of the techniques he teaches are "his"; he always says that everything is ancient. He even has books discussing teachings of ancient religions such as hinduism.
Once again, i'm sorry if my comment was in any way rude. I actually stumbled upon your blog by accident, and thought it was pretty cool to know that this exercise is even used as punishment, and everything else.
Best of all, blessings and Namaste!
Leandro - Brasil
@Leandro: Your comment was not very rude at all. In fact, I am glad that you took some time out to write a comment to clarify my statements. Much obliged.
Peace,
Sathya.
As a quick note, I have removed a couple of posts by "Anonymous" in this thread.
While I appreciate humor, I am not in favor of doing so at the cost of others. I would like to keep things civil. While I cannot control someone's feelings everywhere in the Internet, I can definitely do so at my blog.
I do appreciate constructive criticism, as long as it is civil.
I found your article interesting and strongly promote the work of Master Choa Kok Sui and SuperBrain Yoga with public audiences. As said in earlier comment, anyone closely associated Master Choa's work knows through His teachings the origins of this pose. He is a Master in sharing and teaching others the beauty, intelligence, systems etc. of not only each others religions but cultures. He believes, and so do many of his followers, it is the key to world peace.
Namaste and thank you for sharing what you know and have experienced with this pose.
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