I stopped by Spinney's yesterday, as part of my weekly ritual to replenish the chiller with the usual supplies for the week, including fresh vegetables, soy hotdogs and real orange juice. It set me back by, let's say, well over AED 100.00.
At the check-out stand, it somehow struck me (and so late, sadly) that I have actually spent 1/4th of a Bengali construction worker's salary on a single supplies-session, if only a part session. More specifically, I was just buying essential healthy provisions. It somehow seems very much possible that, in today's world, healthy food is for the rich. I am not saying that I am a rich person, only that I have been blessed to live a healthy life, should I wish to.
My dry and sad point is that, people less privileged cannot lead healthy lives, even if they want to. What kind of a world do we really live in? Rich get richer, healthier, smarter... poor get poorer, sicker, dumber. Not only is this an inequitable world, the inequitableness seems to be self-perpetuating.
How does one help the greater, if not grander cause here? I can't abjure healthy food options, because I will fall ill. How does recycling every bit of paper, or tipping where unnecessary help in the overall tragic order of things? I am really not sure of the connection, but am sure of the connectivity: where the physical is precluded, the metaphysical is active. We may not be able to produce for everyone, but we can pray for everyone.
Like a student in Kulwant Hall told me during Mahashivarathri that prayer is God's weakness. Seems very un-intellectual, albeit. But then, metaphysics is above physics.
For a moment, the caption of this article made me wonder if Praveen is one of those Nouveau riche archetypal Indians. A google search had once lead me to this bizarre but believable headline-"Indians tend to place health ahead of wealth" which made wonder again if praveen is justfiying the omnipotence of wealth.
ReplyDeleteMoney can buy anything that you can measure in this world. And the great masters tell you- " Anything you can measure in this world is 'Maya'!!!"
Can you buy 2 kilos of love, 3 tonnes of dharma, 4 hrs of peace?Can you measure sathya, dharma, shanti, prema or a stress free mind, a quiver free breath and a disease free health and body.....? The irony is that for most of us money seems very real and "stress free mind...etc" appears like Maya!
I was just being my usual self,- ironical!
ReplyDeleteBut your point is poignant, and also brilliant: Anything measurable is miserable (Maya).
I made a typo with the headline in the earlier comment-"Indians tend to place wealth ahead of health"...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the comments beg another question? When does health become worth spending your wealth on?
I remember oprah winfrey spending an obscene figure (perhaps>15 mln dollars), to change from an obscene figure to what she has been looking now.
Is it when you have enough wealth which cannot be enjoyed without enough of health. Or is it when you seek enough wealth which cannot be had without enough of health? Or when health is the real wealth and is sought for health's own sake? Or when you cannot bear the pain of excruiting trauma of bad health?
In general and myself not excluded, I wonder why in the SAI family we do not give too much importance to our health. I guess it a mind over matter stuff perhaps we are extremely detatched, disppasionate, selfless non body conscious evolved souls!!!
Well, the Avatar speaketh (I think in one of the Vahinis) with finality:
ReplyDeleteMan loses his health to amass wealth, and then loses his wealth to regain his health.
Only Swami could come up with that one!
Regarding Oprah, as far as I see it, it has been USD 15M from obscene to obscene. And we are not even talking health here, we are talking about fitness.
About our fraternity, the less written, the better. Someone once said: When they discover the centre of the universe, many people will be disappointed to note that it's not them!