Purpose, Perception, Perfection: Shiva’s role in nature’s fury and Chaturmas Sadhana

Monsoons seem very intense this year. All around in the news, we are hearing about the wide-scale destruction it is causing. Suddenly for most people, the perception of the monsoon has changed, it has become something worrisome, anti-life, to be cursed and to be fearful about. But this was not the case a few decades ago. As children, we used to really enjoy monsoons, play in the rain, look forward to some additional holidays in school etc., but we were never against, anti or negative about rains. Yes, with the changing climate situation, monsoons are becoming more intense and they now bring a lot of civic challenges and widespread destruction, but is that monsoon’s fault or is it our (human’s) bad planning and over-indulgence? I often see people complaining and cursing the monsoon. Which is strange. Because, without rain, we just cannot survive, our agriculture, snow on the mountains and water in the rivers everything depends on rains and without monsoon, the earth will go dry. The real truth is, we humans have encroached too much on nature’s space. Like all of us, rains, rivers and water channels et al, too need their own space to grow, expand and express themselves. In fact, without floods, a large part of land will not get its due share of minerals and nourishment. But we have intruded into the river’s personal space to the extent that she just cannot expand a bit, not even during monsoon, we are trying to restrict her movement in every possible way. If we do that, which is an extremely unintelligent and  inharmonious way to deal with nature, then we have to pay a heavy price for that.   If we look deeply, monsoons are like Shiva showering his blessings on Earth. And sometimes because of our greed, Shiva becomes a little agitated but even then, he doesn’t punish us. Eventually, we get punished because of our own greed and disrespect towards Prakriti (nature). The monsoon which we also call Savan is the beginning of a sacred period called Chatrumas – the four sacred months. In our Sanatan tradition, this time is very sacred. Rains do not allow us to venture out, it is indicative of nature telling us to ‘go inward’. This is not the time to go out on vacations, rather it is time to be with one’s own self. Traditionally, this is when many wandering monks and sadhus would stop at one place, pause their wandering, take refuge and intensify their sadhana (spiritual practices). So, monsoons are actually nature’s way of indicating to limit unnecessary outer movement and be more inward, reflect on our essential purpose, and contemplate on life’s existential questions which we have been ignoring, brushing aside or worse, suppressing. Actually, this ‘pause mode’ can work wonders for our self-growth and spiritual evolution. During the monsoon, this indicative pause is now just about our external physical movement, but this pause is also needed in the way we eat food. Yes, during the rainy season, our digestive fire which in Ayurveda we call ‘Jatharagni’ becomes weaker, as we know, water and fire do not go well together. So, our digestive fire slows down in monsoon, it means our food intake has to be altered accordingly. This is the time when we should reduce our food intake. If we are taking three meals a day, we should come to two meals a day and also reduce the overall quantity of food intake. During this period, we should eat those foods which are easily digestible. This actually allows more energy in the body for one’s spiritual practice or even daily work routine. Otherwise, most of our stored energy will get utilised in trying to digest the food and also because of low digestive fire, our body will not be able to take out the full nourishment from the same food. So, this Chaturmas, let us re-tune ourselves with the rhythm of nature, let us prayerfully welcome the rains with deep reverence and gratitude. When nature signals us to go inward, let us hear the clues and try to be more inward and utilise this sacred period for our self-growth. This I feel is the true essence of these monsoon months, if we do this, then once monsoons are over, we will be able to look at our ‘Karma Shetra’ with a renewed sense of higher Purpose, clear Perception & devoted Perfection. As per Bhartiya culture, this is the deeper understanding of the monsoon season. Let us re-establish these wonderful traditions and walk the journey towards our highest self-evolution. The author is an ex-corporate CEO and a successful entrepreneur. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.