The Journey of Ramadhan|It is a spiritual undertaking, cleansing body and mind

There is an art of polishing copper utensils in Kashmirknown as ‘kalai’ wherein the old utensils which have lost lustre and colour dueto wear and tear are polished to bring back the shine.

Ramadan is exactly this!

   

I never believed that Ramadan was a mere calendar month ofthe year, with a new moon, full moon and the cycle of lunar stages. It is aspiritual journey along with cleansing of the body and mind. The journeywithout travelling any linear distance takes the self to a higher elevatedlevel. It depends upon the individual as to what he or she derives from thismonth. As in Indian philosophy we have the body(shareer), mind(Mann) andintellect (shukshma shareer) always in disturbance due to or with each other.The de cluttering of mind, body and soul is essential for the continuity oflife. Every faith has a built in mechanism to control these three entities. TheBuddhists emphasise on silent meditation. The Christians, the Jews and theMuslims have their own month of fasting. And Hinduism has every form ofworship. Yoga is their way of reforming the overall self. The Divine for themis formless, or in multiple forms or in self. Every idea of Divine has beenaccepted in the Asian religions. Therefore, the path that leads to thisdivinity is varied and diverse in form.

Islam brought in more discipline and regularity in revivingthe self periodically.

The practice of reviving, re-energising and re-orienting theself is the essence of the month. Each one of us has been bestowed with anenergy field or an aura. The three parts of our personality define this aura.The spiritual personality entails the self-purification, devotion or worshipone does. The physical personality requires nutrition, diet and healthy organs.And the mind requires power to control itself, to weed out the negativethoughts and focus on the life goals.

People all over the world spend dollars on reforming selfand they call it ‘personality development’ crash course. In the corporateworld, we have personality development coaches, human resource developmentprograms, modules, training and development sections that fall under the ambitof Human resource management.

The big jargons and modern concepts one learns in theseprograms is rooted in the basic virtues of character. And strength of characterdoes not come from short bridge courses but from the experiences and practicesin everyday life. Teamwork, Integrity, efficiency, cooperation, and name anyorganisational principle, all are hidden features of the human character. Monthof Ramadan is the best personal coach one can ever have in life and that toofree of cost. We as a community are bestowed traditionally with a therapy or ayearly program to deal with the modern world of any century. Ramadan is themost advanced scientific way of treating the human psyche along with thephysical self. The Japanese scientists have recently been awarded Nobel prizefor disclosing the fact that fasting for around 25 days in a year can possiblyprevent growth of cancerous cells in the body. The Muslim community silentlypractised and treated themselves since centuries without the wisdom of physicalbenefit. The belief that goodness encompassed this month was far important forthe medieval world than the factual proof of the modern world. We need logicalanalysis, reasoning and scientific proof to accept any concept. Our convictionis wired around scientific explanations.

Nevertheless, the foremost principle of Ramadan isself-control. The pangs of hunger bring in empathy towards those struck withpoverty by destiny. In a grossly homogeneous society like Kashmir where almosteveryone is fasting, we realise we have limited physical and mental energy forthe day. Hence cooperate, have patience, forgo irritations and save ourselvesfor the most important tasks of the day. 

Eventually by the end of the month, we inculcate the habitto ignore the unnecessary trivial matters and conserve the mind energy for theimportant aspects of life. Rich, poor, old, young, men, women, all are testedby the same mechanism but it is upon the individual to reach the Pinnacle ofpiety, to learn the art of control and management, to de clutter the impuritiesof mind and transform into better versions of self. The month that starts withthe new moon ends with the new moon. What one does to self between this cyclebecomes his story.

The author is of Karnataka origin settled in Kashmir.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

nineteen − seventeen =