Food (Ahar), Sleep (nidra) and Brahmacharya
(controlled sex) are regarded as the three pillars or tripods of healthy
living. It is important that our body should be adjusted to timely
intake of good quality and proper food, regular sleeping habits and
controlled indulgence in sex because that ensures long and healthy life.
It is to help you to achieve this that the concepts of daily routine and
seasonal routine have been explained. It is important to maintain a
daily systematic food and sleeping habit. Brahmacharya (celibacy) means
a balanced sex and worldly life. It essentially negates over-indulgence
in sex and similar worldly acts. The practice of celibacy promotes life
and preserves health and as such is an important practice. Diet, sleep
and celibacy are considered to be three pillars of healthy living.
Diet - We are what we eat. So it is essential to know what to
eat, when to eat, how much to eat and how to eat. Though there are
concepts of generalized diets, which are applicable to one and all,
Ayurveda says that it is the individual who knows best what suits his
body and mind and he should act accordingly. The popping of all the
vitamin pills in the world is not going to make you healthy - for all
you know your body might just reject them. One important principle in
Ayurveda is that "there is nothing in the world that is not a
medicine or food". It is only a combination of several factors that
renders a substance unfit for consumption for a particular individual -
the same substance might be absolutely palatable and digestible and in
fact good for the health of another individual. Hence please become
aware of your body and try to understand what it needs - you will be
doing it a great service. The second important point to be noted here is
that any substance, however good it may be, if taken in excess, is
harmful to the body. Timely and moderate eating habits will serve you
well.
Sleep - Give your body sufficient rest and find out what a
different person you are. In pursuit of all the material benefits and
comforts, you treat your body like a donkey; abuse it to the extent you
can; and finally are an exhausted person when you have the comforts.
When you give your overheated car time to cool off, can't you give your
over abused body time to recover from the stress and strain? Happiness
and sorrow, growth and wasting, strength and weakness, virility and
impotence, knowledge and ignorance, life and its cessation - all are
dependent on sleep.
Celibacy - Total abstinence from sexual activity may not be
possible for ordinary mortals - but a restrained sexual life, keeping in
mind the higher goal of eternal happiness, is certainly possible. Sexual
promiscuity leads to various diseases as is so well known today and
hence there is no need for any elaboration here. Thus the factors of
diet, sleep and celibacy play an important role in determining the
health of the individual. .
