Reverence to God

During the past week ending on Friday, I underwent for 7 days a very special treatment practised by Ayurvedic specialists from Onkola, which is a village in the far north of Karnataka state near Goa, on persons in my condition. I am back to a normal diet today having only lost 1.5 kilos, after being fed only on rice and mung Dhal water and no solid.

I really enjoyed this morning the papaya, doss (Indian salty crispy wafers) and stir fried broken wheat with vegetables. A very festive meal for me.

A particular aspect which impressed me most was the constant prayer to God by the therapists before every treatment. During their prayer, looking at them, and hearing them sing the prayer, I could sense their deep reverence to God as God-fearing people.

Is it particular to these people of the centre, is it because they have been trained this way, is it part of ayurveda treatment which combines body, mind and soul?

I had a similar experience way back in 1996, when I visited the Madras, now Chennai, airport set up of the budding of Jet Airways, the most prestigious Indian airline for the present. Already in those days, each shift of staff taking up their duty, would get together as a team and hold hands to pray God to help them in their tour of duty. Thereafter, they would religiously recite the company’s mission statement as a mantra. The supervising manager would then ask each one what is the particular point he would watch out for the day. In turn, each individual will come up with his main objective for the day. Though I did not see first hand the break up of the shift, I was told similar ritual took place, where they all got together again to thank God for their work and would in turn, tell the assembly whether they succeeded in attaining the objective which they l have set out to accomplish.

I am in awe with such reverence to God and to the living up to their mission. This might be a lesson to learn from.