Not sipping the Glass

Hi there,

I've opened another blog to voice my views on current affairs and other stuff. Have a look:

http://www.nikhilloids.blogspot.com/

In most cases of throat infections, your tonsils get swollen up. At this point, most doctors suggest that you get them removed as they cause unnecessary pain and discomfort. They consider it another "useless" organ like the Appendix, and thus want to get it out of the way.

Rather than being a cause for concern, the tonsils actually act as a barrier. They prevent whatever infection you have incurred from entering your digestive system, thus keeping any serious problems at bay. But they get swollen up in return.

Now, you must have noticed that in India, it is considered bad manners to sip the glass/tumbler. Such a glass would be called "Jhutha", and become invalid for further use unless it is properly washed. The basic reason that will come to your mind is that why should someone drink from a used glass? But there is a deeper significance...

Though, the primary reason is to avoid any infections to be communicated from one person to the other, another factor that must be considered is the regular cleansing of your tonsils. When you drink water bending your neck and let it flow from top, it obviously flows over your tonsils and cleans them. Thus, it will wash away unneccasary food particles and maintain your throat in order.

- Nikhil Mundra

http://www.gandhistamps.com/

http://www.nikhilloids.blogspot.com/

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Immortal Serpant/Snake Skin

Hello Everyone,

Just came across a nice short story that shows how ancient Vedic Indians have described the periodical shedding and recurrence of a snake's skin.


Maharishi Kashyap had 2 wives - Kadru and Vinita. Vinita was the mother of the great eagle Garuda (Lord Vishnu's Vahana or vehicle), while Kadru was the mother of Serpants/Snakes. There was always a great rivalry between the two of them.

One day, Kadru won a wager, and seizing the oppurtunity, asked Vinita to work as her slave. Kadru wanted the nectar, or Amrit, in return for Vinita's freedom so that all her children, the serpants, could become immortal. Garuda, unable to bear his mother's plight, went to procure the Amrit for Kadru.

While bringing back the pot full of Amrit, Lord Indra, the King of the Devas, stole it back from him. In the struggle that ensued, a few drops of the divine potion fell on the grass on which the serpants were slithering...

Thus, the serpants/snakes are endowed with the capacity to cast off their old skin and grow a new one in place of it !

- Nikhil Mundra
www.gandhistamps.com
www.nikhilloids.blogspot.com


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Why no Janehu/Upanayanam for women?

Hi,

Something or the other has kept me delayed from posting for a long time. Just when I though exams were over and I could relax, college reopened after a blink-and-you'll-miss-it vacations ! So it took some time for me to settle in. Hopefully won't keep you waiting from now on...

Getting back to business, this post has been pending for a long time. As promised, I wanted to tell you why the Janehu/Upanayanam ceremony for the Sacred thread/Yagnopavitam is performed only for male children, and not for females...

One thing that every woman loves is jewellery. You can see it all over them, from head to toe. Women love to wear ornate pieces of jewellery, and this is especially true in the Indian subcontinent.


Now, if you observe keenly, the traditional jewellery that adorn a woman's ear consist not only the basic earrings, but also other pieces that are worn on different parts of the ear. This can be noticed during any important family function/festival/occasion, where it seems as if every lady tries to outdo the other by being elaborately dressed :-)

Jokes apart, as you will understand from the 2 previous posts on the same subject, applying pressure on our ears has an effect on the pituitary gland, which in turn facilitates the functioning of the urinary system.

So, even with the basic earrings, there is a certain effect on the urinary system, and it is more dominant when we take into account all the other jewellery on the other parts of the ear.

This is why there is no need of having the sacred thread/Yagnopavitam, as earrings and other pieces of jewellery on the ear carry out the same function...

- Nikhil Mundra

http://www.gandhistamps.com/

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