Monday, December 24, 2012

Phantom Ketchup Syndrome, Sharath on food, a mini-treatise on cell phones

I've never been much of a holidays celebrator; I've always seen holidays as just a time to do pretty much what I always do, except at a much slower pace. I know, boring right? But this holiday season so far has been quite interesting; so far, it has been a season of indulgence, not necessarily in good ways. But it's too early to tell, one way or the other. But rather than pass any value judgment on what has happened, I'll just try to tell it like it is, and you can decide whether it's a positive or a negative development.

Food

The holidays are traditionally a season of (over)eating a lot, and the same thing seems to be happening to me. Last night, we went to this really nice bar downtown, where I had a wild rice burger (wild rice seems to be indigenuous to Minnesota, as I understand it), some mushrooms, lots of fries with lots of ketchup, and two large glasses of beer.

Maybe I didn't drink enough water before I went to bed last night, but when I woke up this morning, I could actually vaguely feel the after-taste of ketchup lingering in the back of my throat; or maybe the whole thing is just a psychological after-effect (Phantom Ketchup Syndrome?). Very weird feeling. In any case, I decided that over-ruminating over over-eating wasn't going to do anything for me. So I promptly put Sharath's led primary CD into my computer, and started doing led primary to his count. Lately, it seems that doing led primary to his count has become the fall-back of choice for days when I am either physically or emotionally not in the best practice state of mind/body. It went surprisingly well this morning. Didn't feel the sluggishness from the fries or ketchup or beer that I was expecting to feel. The thing is, after you have been doing primary to Sharath's count for a while, you don't even think it's really that fast-paced, even though he really does get you through primary in 65 minutes. It's kind of like you just jump on the speeding train, and let the train kind of pull you along to your destination. Probably not a very good analogy here, because unlike being on a speeding train, you actually have to do some work here. Oh well.

But speaking of Sharath and food, here's what he said about food in a recent conference. According to Catherine Haylock's notes from the conference, Sharath says:

“You eat once a day you are a yogi, twice a day a bogi, three times a day a rogi and four times a day you go to the graveyard :)”


Catherine then goes on to report Sharath as saying:

"Too much food is not good, the body needs to work more and if we keep doing this, over the time our body wears out because of the extra work and will get sick.
Food is very important and we should always be conscious about what we eat and how much we eat. If we eat too much dinner, the practice in the morning will be difficult. If we consume too much food our mind isn’t sharp, you are getting dull and you can’t progress. A yogi eats only once a day."


Damn! I'm definitely a rogi! Btw, does anybody know what a rogi is?

Technology

The other area in which there has been indulgence is in the area of technology; specifically, cell-phone technology. I've always been very conservative when it comes to cell-phones. I don't have an I-phone, or whatever the most fancy cell-phone out there right now is. I don't even have internet on my phone. For the past couple of years, all I've had is one of those Samsung slide-phones that are only good for making/receiving calls and taking pictures. Just the basics, in other words. I've never seen the need to squeeze more features into a little piece of metal. Others may differ, I understand...

Yesterday, I had to go to the AT&T store to get a new cell-phone charger, because I had misplaced mine. That was when I found out that my phone is so ancient that they don't even make or sell the chargers for it anymore! Damn... So I was "forced" to upgrade to a newer phone, just so I can have a chargeable phone! I managed to get the least fancy upgrade; some kind of phone which slides sideways, which makes it ideal for texting. Well, I don't have much use for anything like this, since I don't text much. But I got it anyway, because I needed a chargeable phone. (Oh, and it's purple, which happens to be my favorite color...) And I still decided not to have a data plan (i.e. internet) on my phone. I know, I'm really old-fashioned this way; I really believe in keeping a phone a phone, if this makes any sense.

I just realized that you probably aren't very interested in my views on what a cell-phone should or should not be. I also realize that Sharath probably has nothing to say about cell-phones (although I have heard from various sources that he is a lover of gadgets and technology). In any case, I suppose I should sign off now, to prevent myself from slipping into more unnecessary rambling.

Happy Holidays.  

2 comments:

  1. Thats a common adage one gets to hear from saints here in India. Its an insightful one. I only wish I could find a recipe that would wipe my hunger especially after the asana practice.

    Just to clarify "Rogi" is a person who is prone to diseases. Happy Holidays. :)

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    1. Interesting, I didn't know that's a common adage in India. Thanks for the clarification about what "Rogi" means too. Now I know... ;-)

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