QUARANTINE IN THE VEDAS

Body is the Best Temple

A shloka in Charaka Samhita scripted around 5000 years back squarely matches with the four corners of the Lockdown and physical distancing.

पश्यसीति गंदार्थस्य किम औषधे निषे वमे,
पश्य अस्ति गंदार्थस्य किम औषधे निषे वमे।

“Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy wealthy and wise”.

It means that if a person follows some restrictions like waking up early, doing yoga, eating herbal nutritious food and fruits, taking bath maintaining personal hygiene etc. going early to bed, then there is no need of any medicine.The other part is the shloka very interesting which says that if person is not taking any precautions then again, the medicine is not going to play any role.

The essence of this Shloka is that in Ayurveda the hygiene, waking up early in the morning, doing yoga and pranayama, taking purely vegetarian food, fresh nutritious fruits, maintaining personal hygiene by taking bath daily for the inner cleanliness and performing havan for outer atmosphere, is the better way to keep healthy, rather than waiting for the virus to infect us.

our ancient seers has always emphasised that how to clean and take care of our body. Veda Says:

येहा आत्मानी तिष्ठति, यस्य कश्याराम शरिरम, यस्य आत्मा शरिरम।

A clean and hygienic body contains a pious Atma inside.

Sri Shankracharya says:  

देहो देवालय प्रोक्तो दही देवों निरंज्जन:।
अर्चित: सर्वभावेन स्वानुभूत्या विराजते।।
(Ref सदाचरहा 13)

A body is said to be the best temple in this universe, the owner of the body is the Lord, so if lord resides inside the body then the cleanliness, purity and hygiene of the body is to ne maintained at the highest level.

Whereas Ayurveda or Knowledge of life has two main goals, one is examination of health with hygiene and second the eradication of any Vikara(Disorder) of the body. Even statutory body of health WHO (World Health Organisation) states that health is a state of complete Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Social wellbeing and not merely absence of disease or infirmity. In the present scenario when social distancing, cleanliness, fitness and enhancing one’s immunity is the need of the hour then Indian mythology and scriptures provide a path to get rid of this Virus.

The very idea of Vedic texts is “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. The vedic text believes in Tri(three) Shuddhi(Cleanliness): 
One is कायिका or Physical
Second is वाचिका or Verbal and
Thirdly मानसिका or Cleanliness of the mental level for all round growth and development where the body is without any disease. 

By remaining confined to one’s home, spending valuable time with family, maintaining social distancing, inculcating your passion, doing lot of yoga, pranayama and having kadha (Ayurvedic drink including herbs and spices) etc. one can enhance his immunity. This is the key to success in this Lockdown period. This shloka of Mahabharta again justifies that there is no iota of doubt that everything shall be normal in the course of time.

हते द्रोणा हते भिष्मे कर्णे च विनिपातिते ।
आशा बलवती राजञ्शल्यो जेष्यति पाण्डवान्।।

Drona, Bhishma, Karna have been killed, but still there is a ray of hope in Shalya, perhaps he conquers upon pandavas.

Quarantine and self-isolation became the gateway to work in Science, Arts and Literature as history depicts that Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, John Milton and Lord Byron accomplished by editing than formidable work while they were in Isolation.Even the Marxist Milovan Djilas translated The Paradise Lost,while in Yugoslavia jail. Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote “Geeta Rahasya” while he had been in Burma Jail and Poet Makhan Lal Chaturvedi also wrote his best Poems while he was in Jail.

Prison literature is a fully formed genre. While locked up many people find the reflexive outlet of writing a way to pass the monotony. Others find that they feel they must write to express some wrong, either against themselves or others. While imprisonment has been the cause of great works, such as The Gulag Archipelago of Solzhenitsyn, there are works actually composed within prisons or jails .Ii is a different story.