Transfix Hindu Tradition

Are you Hindu tradition Rejecters or Hindu tradition Glorifiers? I am neither a rejecter nor glorifier. With due respect to everyone, did we question about these myths to anyone that have been following through generations? I do agree some of the myths are because people want you to avoid doing things for some scientific reasons or some of these myths were actually applicable during ancient time or there must be some logical reason; but people has twisted it to suit their own greed power / personal needs. Undoubtedly, Hindu tradition is so called male-dominating society.

Is science above GOD? Definitely not! And no one needs to prove that; when science don’t have answer only faith people have is GOD. But my purpose for this blog is only to find answers about those myths which do not have any existence in today’s life or do not have logical reason behind it. I’m not disrespecting my ancestors or anybody’s beliefs here.  But I can’t follow these beliefs blindly; also I will not let my upcoming generation to follow those traditions which are unanswered. Because after few years, when my kids will question me that Why are we doing this or why are we not doing this? I can’t say just coz these are being flowed from our ancestors.  Why I’m deliberately talking about Hindu myths only?? Because I don’t have information about Muslim, Christian and Sikh religion as I’m born in Hindu Brahmin family. Actually religion is the most misunderstood word today. All through history, the Bible, the Gita, the Quran has taught to love your fellow beings!

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I believe God is not interested in all these things related to days and rituals? He is above all these, a supreme power who commands us and every other living and non-living being in this universe. We should educate people in a way, as long as they don’t get fooled by frauds, superstitions, they can do or believe whatever. In old days, people were not so aware of science. Due to decline of science in India, several customs have become blind beliefs. If they would keep appealing common people to follow some rules, no one would have followed (like we don’t follow the traffic rules today) so, they connected it to the religious traditions. People started following with the fear of breaking a religious ritual. Do you follow or believe in such myths??

We have numerous illusions surrounded… few superstitions advice us these-

• Should not ask the question “where are you going?” while someone is leaving house, their purpose will not be accomplished…Cawing of crow indicates arrival of guests…..Should not go out of house while applying Mehnadi……Do not drink milk while going out; something might happen during your travel.
• Lizard myths: – If Lizard fall down on you and travel towards down is good while, travel towards up is bad.
• Dreams are believed to be one major indicator of the future happenings in our lives…..Hanging Lemon and chillies and changing every Friday/Saturday…..Eye twitching signifies that somebody is about to arrive. Right eye twitching is good for men and left for women…..Widows are unlucky……Tail of cows considered as most sacred part as fortune Lakshmi lives there…..Never do cleaning of front courtyard immediately after someone leaves the house….Itching on men’s right palm indicates someone get some money or favours; left palm for ladies…..Having a teaspoon of curd & sugar before any event, will bring good luck……Placing neem (Margosa) leaves around people suffering from chicken-pox……Calling chicken-pox and small-pox by name Maata.
• Ritual bath after solar eclipse……Extra one rupee is supposed to bring good luck (101, 51, 11…), Not using needle after dusk
• Not entering kitchen or cooking before taking a bath……..Shouldn’t go to bed wearing new clothes because dead people are buried/ cremated in new clothes…..Should put right leg always while entering anywhere……New born baby shouldn’t wear new clothes….It is believed good to have dog pet but to have cat pet is bad.

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There are many traditions differ from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. I can’t list all here, but definitely I will continue my research and keep everyone updated by this blog. We should stop glorifying irrational and stupid reasons to justify these myths. Also stop rejecting any ancient Indian practices/ ideas/ technology with close-mindedness. Let’s explore more about some of the myths and try to find the reasons behind them why all these things started and when? It’s high time to take a call – should we keep continue doing this or we need to go back and revise our history. Please do that.

   1. Throwing Coins into a River.

People gives reason for this act is that it brings Good Luck. Perhaps, scientifically speaking, in the old times, most of the currency used was made of copper, which is a vital metal very useful to the human body. Copper has this unique property of attracting dirt. Throwing coins in the river was one way our fore-fathers ensured we intake sufficient copper as part of the water as rivers were the only source of drinking/bathing water. Making it a custom ensured that all of us follow the practice. Whereas today’s coins are made of stainless steel so, this tradition was definitely having great logic behind it but it doesn’t suit in today’s lifestyle. So, Guys please without knowing this reason stop throwing stainless steel coins into water (river, lake…) or you can continue doing this if you have copper coins and still drinking river water.

  2.   Saturday – most fearful day.

Being in software industry, every week I wait for Saturday and I just love Saturdays. But due to some superstitions, poor Saturday seems to be a day that brunt of all things inauspicious. Many people even avoid day to day activities like cutting their nails and buying certain items on this day. . Saturday is not a good day for buying iron, leather, shopping or starting anything new. But, frankly we always do shopping on Saturday as we’re working on week days so don’t have much time from Monday to Friday. In today’s busy life, when there is so much to learn, see and visit; do we really have to remember such things? If Saturday is so damn unlucky, hopeless or a bad day why God created this day? Let’s spare this Saturday and see everything from different side.

  3. Never sweep the house during night time.

Never sweep the house during night time otherwise Lakshmi (fortune) will not enter your house. The simple reason behind this is that earlier there was no electricity in old time, people were using lanterns; while sweeping the floor after sunset there were chances that one might sweep out something important in poor visibility. At night due to the insufficient lighting, since scorpions or other pests might be disturbed by the activity at a time when it will be difficult to see them. Therefore, people might have seen it as a simple matter of good sense to do their cleaning and sweeping in the light of day. And again this tradition is not valid for our today’s daily routine. Look at below picture and tell was this possible for women to sweep at night in ancient times? Exactly! people you got your answer. Please stop following such things in name of tradition/ religion and also judging people based on that.  4. Washing/Cutting Hair on specific days is prohibited.

There are many stories about hair wash which is why, washing hair is prohibited on Tuesday and Thursday. Hair salons and beauty parlors are closed on Tuesday/Thursday in different states in India. As it is believed that washing/cutting/shaving hair on these days will bring bad luck. Washing hair is prohibited on Tuesday. It is more applicable on those who are affected by Mars. But for knowing that I’m affected by which planet, I need to concern some genius people who know all this; rarely you will find such people as right now the whole world is full of frauds and superstitions. Also asking people for not to do something implies at least they will do such not on same day but on some other day. As it is human nature when someone restricts you for something you’d like to do same; genius people knew that no one will follow these hygiene so lets do it on name of tradition. Only two words work here Shubh-Ashubh(goodLuck -BadLuck). 5.  Going Vegetarian for a day or two per week.

Eating non-veg on Tuesdays and Thursdays is prohibited. Again, people have linked it to God and religion. I am pure- vegetarian eater. But don’t think it is something to do with religion. The reason is as simple as going vegetarian for a day in a week keeps your digestive system and metabolism healthy. Even In my family, we prepare non-garlic onion food. Due to such side-effects, I also become specific about food. (Don’t like foods much which have garlic or onion in high amount) Belief says Garlic/Onions are prohibited for BHOG (God’s food) whereas; there are numerous benefits of garlic and onions. I am not in favor of veg non-veg eaters, point is simple stop forcing people to do and don’t on food habits. (It’s not smoking/drinking which is injurious to health) Don’t get so close-minded.

     

 

 

 

6. Never Cut Nails after Sunset.

Tradition belief says “don’t cut your nails on Tuesday, Thursday or after sunset or on the weekday you were born.”  Cutting nails after sunset bring bad-luck, everyone says so. Can all these beliefs bring you good luck??? I believe we should just trust God. In olden days, there was no electricity and cutting nails would result in cuts after sunset because of darkness. Hence the elders would advise against it, now times have changed. Also there were no nail-cutters/sharpeners during ancient time. This was not groundless, but it is not applicable now. Think!

   7. Person who comes from a funeral should take bath before entering house.

A person who comes from a funeral was not allowed to enter the house. Before entering he should take a bath, leave dirty clothes outside the house, wear new clean clothes and then enter and there is a good reason behind this to justify. You have to realize that this custom originated many centuries ago. At that time the sanitation and cleanliness practices were different; now different sanitized technologies are available. What we forget while following such rituals is that they might make sense in that era and may or may not make sense now. Once a person is dead, the body looses its ability to fight against bacteria and starts to decompose. The people who attend the funeral are exposed to the dead body and hence the bacteria that participate in the decomposition of a dead body. That is the reason why they are asked to bath immediately after the funeral, before touching anything or anyone. If they would kept appealing common people to follow this rule, no one would have followed  😛 So, they connected it to the religious ritual. People started following with the fear of breaking a religious ritual. This tradition is good to follow and suits today as well.

   8. Touching Feet (Pranam/Charan-Sparsh)

Touching feet of Elders is a unification of point of SHRADDHA & KARUNA. “SHRADDHA ” reduces “ego” & lower emotions along with Solar plexus chakra. “KARUNA ” activates HEART- CHAKRA of the saints or elders. “SHRADDHA” increases receptivity of the person, while “KARUNA ” start to discharge energy from HEART CHAKRA towards the person who is respective with “SHRADDHA”.  THIS TECHNIQUE IS ALSO APPLICABLE IN DIVINE PUJA. IF THER IS NO FAITH TOWARD GOD, DEVOTEE CAN’T GET BLESSINGS FROM GOD.To an extent, the same is achieved through handshakes and hugs. Is there any scientific reason behind this? Of course there is, the person of whose feet you are touching is old while other one will be younger. The nerves that start from our brain spread across all your body; these nerves or wires end in the fingertips of your hand and feet. When you join the fingertips of your hand to those of their opposite feet, a circuit is immediately formed and the energies of two bodies are connected. Your fingers and palms become the ‘receptor’ of energy and the feet of other person become the ‘giver’ of energy. Consider wisdom or virtue or spiritual power as a kind of energy in our body while we are alive. Naturally people who are older are expected to have more of this energy than younger people because of the inculcation of the lessons they have learned through their experiences. The circuit formed by above interaction causes the flow of this energy from old people to young people. The longer the interaction is maintained, the more the flow of energy. To understand this, we must first know the right way of touching one’s feet. Bend the upper half of your body, ideally without bending your knees, and stretch both your arms – with your head between them – to touch the feet of the elder. Obvious that it is, the fingertips of your left hand should touch the right foot of the elder and your right hand should be on their left foot. The elder person should now touch the top of your head with their right hand. If you actually touch the feet of someone and not merely in the modern way of half way through the act, you tend to bent forward is a sort of a yogic posture which helps you healthy and stretches your spine and acts as a sort of exercise in disguise. But here also there are some modifications and twists.  You can’t touch feet of mother’s brother (Mamaji), daughters can’t touch feet of  their own family but they can do same for in-laws family.and so on… Mother’s Brother should touch your feet as though he did some sin. Why? It is same illogical reason. (Few people believe one reason is relation between “Mama – Bhanja” (Krishna-Kans) The Bhanja is considered like Krishna,who was an Avatar of God, some believe “The Bhanja is equivalent to 100 Brahmins”. Ridiculous that was Krishna; I don’t believe anyone is near to Lord Krishna in today’s time.) Now come to daughters not touching feet point -When today girls and boys are equal why are we biased towards girl for this reason? I like to touch my parent’s feet (who gave me birth, my existence is because of them); but they don’t let me to do this as I am their daughter (Daughters are goddess Lakshmi) I believe touching feet of elders is good posture in all way but it should be applicable for both girls and boys; also there should not be any modifications in between like Mamaji can touch your feet and so on. I bet you a pure soul saint (a person who does meditation/Dhyan-Sadhna or Yog) will never ever allow you to touch his/her feet, as they need lot of energy for their meditation. They will give you blessings from a distance itself.

9. Temples

Why we need temples? Why do we visit temple? Why they are always follow some Vastu/direction? Are we still following or satisfying the actual motive of temples? May be you have these questions in your mind or may not be or maybe you know the answers already. Still let’s give clear picture on that. Does God need temple? No he doesn’t but we need temple. Scientifically, Temples are located strategically at a place where the positive energy is abundantly available from the magnetic and electric wave distributions of north/south pole thrust. The main idol is placed in the core center of the temple. Just as food, clothing, and shelter are the basic needs of the body, peace is a basic need of the mind. Today, there is practically no system to provide for this basic mental need. The temple is one of the few places where you can immediately experience a deep peace just by going into the premises. Peace of mind is not a luxury, but is a necessity that enables us to perform our duties sustainable. In old days, people wanted to meditate for peace of mind which they can’t do at home, so they invented or build temple;. but are we keeping that motive of temples? Temple is not just for putting diyas, agarbatti, flowers, milk, do two-three rounds to worship God and come back home. It is a place where you can connect to yourself directly to God with piece of mind. These days people are standing in big queues in temples for God’s darshan (view), they’re fighting to go in front of queue as everyone is in hurry. In big temples, you can’t see God even for 10 seconds as The Pujaris and police people will keep you throwing like a bunch of clothes. Will this give you peace of mind? when you’re cribbing about people, fighting inside temple. So, you won’t be able to concentrate and connect to God. It just needs 2 minutes of deep concentration and self-realization of your doings. We need orphanage for poor kids, employment for poor people. Crores of people don’t have shelter, food and income and we are spending money on temples or superstitions. Whenever you visit temple, get some food for poor/needy people and distribute as Prasad instead of putting diyas, flowers, milk on God’s Idol. Politicians/Frauds are already making temples only to collect funds. Please continue to visit temples but sit there for some time, meditate, do self-realization, help needy people. I’m sure you will feel better, peaceful than your past temple-visits. Everything is based on our faith or beliefs but please don’t get fooled. 10. Joining Both palms to greet (Namashkar)

In Yogic Science, the five fingers represent the five elements – this is best expressed in Mudras. Namaste or Vanakkam or Namaskar is known as Anjali Mudra. Anjali Mudra increases the peace and poise of the person practicing it. Keeping palms together signals welcome and union in a symbolic way. In Hindu culture, people greet each other by joining their palms – termed “Namaskar/Namaste.” Scientifically speaking, joining both hands ensures joining the tips of all the fingers together; which are denoted to the pressure points of eyes, ears, and mind. Pressing them together is said to activate the pressure points which helps us remember that person/moment for a long time. The sanitary aspects in a tropical, agrarian society where contagious diseases are always around and, no germs since we don’t make any physical contact! So, keep doing Namashkara 🙂 11. Wear toe-rings, bangles mandatory for married ladies.

Bichiya or Toe ring is the traditional Indian ornament which worn by only married woman in India, in the second toe of either foot.  As a new life of a woman begins after marriage, she faces different mental and physical changes in her upcoming life so this ornament makes her menstrual cycle regular and helps in conceiving process. Also it is said just because that particular nerve in the second finger from toe also connects the uterus and passes through heart, so constant friction caused while walking and doing all sorts of chores during a day, it revitalizes the productivity organs. Silver being a good conductor; it also absorbs the energy from the polar energies from the earth and passes it to the body, thus refreshing whole body system.

Bangle is circular shaped ornament which is worn in hands by woman. As there is a nerve in our wrist which tell us pulse rate these Bangle increases the blood circulation in our body and it doesn’t let the charges of our body go out. Due to the sound generated by the glass bangles, the negative energies back off, while the plastic bangles motion attracts negative energies. There are no hard-core rules for Suhagan (married women) to wear such things. But, again this is individual’s choice if she wants to wear or not; we shouldn’t force or judge anyone based on that. So, Ladies if you want, you can wear as these won’t harm you but if you don’t want it won’t do anything bad to your husband. In today’s life, most of women are working and especially bangles noise can disturb other people during working hours. So, Ladies are avoiding such things to wear in daily routine.

 

 

 

 

 

12. Applying Tilak on forehead

On the forehead, between the two eyebrows, is a spot that is considered as a major nerve point in human body. The Tilak is believed to prevent the loss of “energy”, the red ‘kumkum’ between the eyebrows is said to retain human body calm and control the various levels of concentration. While applying kumkum the points on the mid-brow region or Adnya-chakra are automatically pressed. This also facilitates the blood supply to the face muscles. But, if you are applying today’s Sticker Bindi, then it won’t help you same way. By applying sticker bindis, we are just following tradition again for name-sake or for fashion So, Ladies better you decide, there is no harm in applying sticker bindi but don’t do it on name of tradition of married lady.. can do it as fashion. 😉 13. Never cross the road if a cat has crossed your path.

When a cat crosses the path, it means that the particular task at hand would not be fruitful or would get delayed. It is believed crossing your way by a cat is inauspicious. If this happened to you then you must wait for a few minutes. There is a great amount of fear in people even today when they see a cat crossing the path they’re travelling upon. Poor cat herself doesn’t know what she has done. 😛 I think this is one bottomless belief we are still carrying on, without thinking that a healthy animal is bound to move around whether we think it’s a good omen or bad. Cat is also crossing road, she is also in hurry.  I guess because of this myth one good thing is that cat–accidents are rare while you can see dog/rat accidents on every other highway or roads. Hope people are scared of dogs or other animals crossings also. Let’s drive safe and slowly and let animals also live their life until they really hurt you. 14. Never cross over or jump over the legs of a person who is sitting or lying down.

While a person is walking and crossing over the legs of another person, there are chances of his losing balance and falling over the person who is sitting and can cause medium to severe injury to both the people, especially the one who is sitting. So, even today we should tell children to follow it but have clarified why we want them to follow this age old practice. Apart from this no other reason which I can find behind this practice.

15. Switching on the lights in the evening.

Switching on lights in the evening on God’s name is baseless. There was different reason behind it, in ancient time there was no electricity so it was difficult to do work in evening. Even now in villages people are living in mud houses, finish their daily work before sunset (till daylight) and put lanterns on till sunrise. But now, when I can switch on lights by just one button press, do we need to switch on unnecessary house-lights in evening. In this topic I think otherwise, by following this superstition, we came on a page where we do not have much energy sources to generate electricity. So, guys please start saving electricity. (Switch on only required lights.)Go Green!

 

 

 

 

16. Temples Must Have Bells.

According to Agama Shastra, the bell is used to give sound for keeping evil forces away and the ring of the bell is pleasant to God. However, the scientific reason behind bells is that their ring clears our mind and helps us stay sharp and keep our full concentration on devotional purpose. These bells are made in such a way that when they produce a sound it creates a unity in the Left and Right parts of our brains. The moment we ring the bell, it produces a sharp and enduring sound which lasts for minimum of 7 seconds in echo mode. The duration of echo is good enough to activate all the seven healing centres in our body. This results in emptying our brain from all negative thoughts. Even while performing the arati we ring the bell. Sometimes other instruments like the conch, cymbals etc are also played along with it. The sounds of the bell, conch and other instruments help to reduce any other sounds which might disturb the worship and make the minds of worshippers attuned to worship and God. But again it is also not mandatory, but a good practice to do worship. 🙂 17. Applying Mehnadi/Henna during wedding.

Ladies consider wedding/festive ceremonies incomplete without mehndi! Besides lending color to the hands, mehndi is a very powerful medicinal herb. Weddings are stressful, and often, the stress causes headaches and fevers. As the wedding day approaches, the excitement mixed with nervous anticipation can take its toll on the bride and groom. Mehndi can prevent too much stress because it cools the body and keeps the nerves from becoming tense. Mehndi designs make ladies more gorgeous :-* Henna is also said to have healing characteristics, and would be able to provide the remedy for health issues such as dry skin and cut or bruises. Since natural color of mehndi is green and it leaves orange or red color onto skin, but some suppliers offer mehndi in many other colors, which are not good. Pure form of mehndi cause no allergic reaction, however, addition of artificial colors and chemicals to natural mehndi can cause reactions. So, be careful while purchasing Mehnadi.

18. Should Not Sleep With Your Head Towards North.

Illusion is that it invites ghost or death but science says that when the body is positioned horizontally, you can immediately make out that your pulse rate drops. The body makes this adjustment because if blood is pumped at the same level, too much will go into your head, causing damage. Now, if you place your head to the north and stay that way for 5 to 6 hours, the magnetic pull will cause pressure on your brain. If you are beyond a certain age and your blood vessels are weak, you could have hemorrhage and paralytic strokes.it is because human body has its own magnetic field (Also known as hearts magnetic field, because the flow of blood) and Earth is a giant magnet; when we sleep with head towards north, our body’s magnetic field become completely asymmetrical to the Earth’s Magnetic field. That cause problems related to blood pressure and our heart needs to work harder in order to overcome this asymmetry of Magnetic fields. Apart from this another reason is that our body have significant amount of iron in our blood. When we sleep in this position, iron from the whole body starts to congregate in brain. This can cause headache, Alzheimer’s disease, Cognitive Decline, Parkinson disease and brain degeneration. This does not incapacitate you in any major way, but small damages happen. You may become duller, which people are becoming. Your level of intelligence after the age of 35 drops in many ways unless you take enormous care to keep it up. You are managing because of your memory, not because of your intelligence.  So, which is the best direction to sleep with your head pointing towards? East is the best direction. This is true as long as you are in the northern hemisphere – sleeping with your head towards any side except north is okay. In the southern hemisphere, don’t put your head to the south.

19. Fasting.

Fasting is an age-old practice, often done for religious rituals, but fasting for weight loss is still capturing the public imagination. This ancient Indian medical system sees the basic cause of many diseases as the accumulation of toxic materials in the digestive system. Regular cleansing of toxic materials keeps one healthy. By fasting, the digestive organs get rest and all body mechanisms are cleansed and corrected. A complete fast is good for heath, and the occasional intake of warm lemon juice during the period of fasting prevents the flatulence. Since the human body, as explained by Ayurveda, is composed of 80% liquid and 20% solid, like the earth, the gravitational force of the moon affects the fluid contents of the body. It causes emotional imbalances in the body, making some people tense, irritable and violent. Fasting acts as antidote, for it lowers the acid content in the body which helps people to retain their sanity. Fasting is definitely good for health, but again human twisted it also accordingly. Why people put this fasting on God’s name or  husband’s long life? In ancient time, people wanted to do fasting for their good health but no one strictly follows it until unless you have some belief or fear of something. To make strong will power to control on food habits, they connected it to hope, faith or belief on God. Nothing is wrong in that, but again do not force anyone to do fasting on certain days.  In old days, ladies stay at home and do household work, while man goes out and do hard-physical work like battle fights. So, wives do fasting for husband’s (both king and their male- peasants) long-life as battles run for months/years and wives don’t know if their husband will come back after battle or not? So, they do it with faith of their life. But today except army/navy/air force/ please tell me about single man who go for battle in their life. 21^st is the century when man and woman both are working and financial-supporter hand-in hand. So, both wives and their husbands should do fasting with full belief/faith for each other’s long life.

   

 

 

 

We all are GOD’s child. I will not like if my child will be hungry for the day, then how come GOD will be? Think! GOD will never ask you to do such things but if we want to do, we can. So, you do whatever you want to do without hurting any living being including plants.

20. Must prepare curry prior Chapattis.

Old People say scheduled casts prepare “chapattis first then curry” not the higher cast people. Really?? Who made this casteism? We human made. General reason to prepare curries before chapatis is “warm-chapattis are fresh, healthy and tasty compare to old ones.” In old times, when men comes back to home after hectic schedule (physically challenged task) , they want freshly prepared chapattis not the old ones and even ladies were not so busy to prepare for whole family. But, now maid/servant/wives (working-wives) are preparing food and they do not follow this due to many reasons : working-wife might be working in other shifts than husband or maid/servant will prepare food in hurry as they have to go to other houses as well. Preparing chapattis at last is good but don not connect it to caste.

 

 

 

 

21. Married women must apply Sindoor.

Modern fancy Sindoor is prepared by powdered form of cinnabar, which is chief form in which mercury sulfide naturally occurs. Traditional Sindoor was made with turmeric and alumor lime, or from other herbal ingredients unlike vermilion. Due to its intrinsic properties, Sindoor controlling blood pressure also activates sexual drive. This also explains why Sindoor is prohibited for the widows. For best results, Sindoor must be applied right up to the pituitary gland (in hair parting) where all our feelings are centered. Sindoor acts a medicine for removing stress and strain and keeps brain alert and active also. I believe that Sindoor is definitely good to remove stress or strain but today we use branded liquid sindoor, as rarely you will find pure sindoor; I don’t know if this liquid fancy sindoor can actually reduce stress? Why only women need to reduce stress by applying Sindoor why not man? So, let me tell you the reason why? Pituitary gland produces many hormones that travel throughout the body every month in women’s body to make menstrual periods cycle regular. This is why stress can heavily affect women periods cycle.  I guess now you got the reason. But, it’s completely individual’s choice to decide if they want to apply or not. Ladies, now you know sindoor is also having its significance in women’s life so why to reject it? Go for it if you love it and find pure sindoor(non-fancy liquid sindoor).

22. Worship Tulsi Plant and call as Tulsi Maata.

Tulsi plant possesses curative properties and is said to be an antidote to snake-venom. It destroys mosquitoes and other pests and purifies the air. Hindu religion has bestowed ‘Tulsi’, with the status of mother. Tulsi, has been recognized as a religious and spiritual devout in many parts of the world. The vedic sages knew the benefits of Tulsi and that is why they personified it as a Goddess and gave a clear message to the entire community that it needs to be taken care of by the people, literate or illiterate. We try to protect it because it is like Sanjeevani for the mankind. Tulsi has great medicinal properties. It is a remarkable antibiotic. Taking Tulsi everyday in tea or otherwise increases immunity and help the drinker prevent diseases, stabilize health condition, balance body system and most important of all, prolong life.   23. Worship Peepal Tree

‘Peepal’ (Sacred Fig) tree is almost useless for an ordinary person, except for its shadow. ‘Peepal’ does not a have a delicious fruit, its wood is not strong enough for any purpose then why should a common villager or person worship it or even care for it? Our ancestors knew that ‘Peepal’ is one of the very few trees which produce oxygen even at night. So in order to save this tree because of its unique property they related it to God/religion. One such superstition is that peepal trees are the abode of ghosts and spirits. As ghosts or spirits leaves at peepal tree, one must avoid cutting such trees due to fear.    24.  Worship Idol

Worship of idols in the Hindu way of life, and explains that they are not merely depiction of gods, but are scientifically created as powerful energy centers. Hinduism propagates idol worship more than any other religion. Researchers say that this was initiated for the purpose of increasing concentration during prayers. According to psychiatrists, a man will shape his thoughts as per what he sees. If you have 3 different objects in front of you, your thinking will change according to the object you are viewing. Similarly, in ancient India, idol worship was established so that when people view idols it is easy for them to concentrate to gain spiritual energy and meditate without mental diversion. 25.  Use right hand for ritual work

This custom is also due to hygiene concern. As everyone have one dominating hand and other supporting-hand. In old days, people have distinguished tasks to be done by hands based on hygiene. All work to be done by right-hand except toilet work. Earlier not much sanitized techniques were there, but now we do have. So, individual person can go for their choice 🙂 Fortunately, even when left-handers visit temples, their natural tendency to extend their left-hand for prasadam earns their only scorn, “hmmn.., show your right hand.” These are priests’s words, not God’s. Even the left-handers are GOD’s creations.   26.  Eye Twitching

Eye twitching or a temporary spasm in one or both eyes is something that almost all of us have experienced at one point or the other.  There are so many superstitions behind eye twitching. Few of them are – right eye twitching is good for men and left for women, it even signifies that somebody is about to arrive. Eye twitching, eyelid ticks and spasms are pretty common. Usually only the bottom lid of one eye is involved, but the top eyelid also can twitch. What causes eye- twitching? Stress, Tiredness, Eye strain, Caffeine, Alcohol, Dry eyes, Nutritional imbalances or Allergies are the reasons of eye-twitching. Eye twitching occurs when there are involuntary muscle contractions happening around the eye area. What can be the treatment for this? Get more sleep, Drink less caffeine or lubricate your eyes with eye drops are three common solutions for this. There are many drops available in market which can quickly stop eye twitching. But there are no reasons which justify these superstitions behind eye twitching.   27.  Nazar utarna

Nazar utarna means “warding off evil eyes” or “getting rid of the effects of evil eye.” It is believed that evil eye (buri nazar) may cause any harm (illness, misfortune or other problems) to the person whom it turns.  Even there are couple of methods for getting rid from effect of the evil eye. Most common methods are either Rock salt or Red chillies or oiled cloth. Psychological Science explains that the eyes were the chief, if not sole, source of the deadly rays that were supposed to spring up like poisoned darts from the inner recesses of a person possessing the evil eye. So, evil eye can affect people but at what extend, it is still not clear. These may be coincidences when people connect bad incidents to other person’s evil intention or evil eye. So, still we do not have clear picture on this research.

  28.  Women menstruation myths

This is such a big topic and most of us ignores about discussing this in public forum. Menstruation is not an easy thing in a woman’s life. Biologically, menstruating is a very good sign indicating the fact that a woman has a healthy reproductive cycle. As per Hindu myth, women during their menstruation are considered ‘impure’ and hence are not allowed to enter the kitchen, temples or to do any household stuff or to touch any trees, holy or ritual books or pickle so on. But this unwritten rule of Hinduism is good in some ways. At least during these days a woman can take a leave from her daily chores and relax. According to this superstition, the food cooked by women during such time would be unhygienic and unclean. As per some Hindu myths, girls during their menstruation should wash all their clothes and bed sheets on the third day. They must also shampoo their hair on the same day. Well the scientific explanation behind this is that as the flow of blood is too high during the first three days it’s better to get everything cleaned. As the hygiene conditions in olden days weren’t good enough, this rule was made. But now sanitary pads or many techniques are available. According to Hindu illusion, few things are non-affected by menstruation like resham chadar (Silky/synthetic bed sheets), Ghee, Milk, etc. God knows why? In my family my GrandMa and Mom are still following this strictly. Women are not allowed to touch anything during such days in my house. I still remember my GrandMa not giving glass of water directly to my hand instead she put it on the floor and then asks to take the glass. As though menstruation has some gravity effect and will flow from my body to her by touching same glass. :O hahaha… Well, I do agree on some points like ladies are really weak, feel discomfort during menstruation so they must take rest. Even few of doctors/researchers suggested to give one day extra leave every month to working women/students during their periods. But still few superstitions like do not touch pickle, papad (chips) or trees during periods are useless ones and without understanding the logic behind it people still follow it blindly. Some Hindu menstruation myths have a logical explanation behind them and some don’t. So judge what is right and act accordingly.  

29.  Women should have food only after their family.

A woman’s life in Hindu society was very different from that of a man. In rural areas of India you will find that most women are in poor health, this is from malnutrition. It is the custom for women to eat last at any meal; once the male members of the family have had their fill, than the wife and other females of the household get whatever scraps are leftover. Wives will save the best parts of a meal (meat or choice vegetables), for their husbands and sons, taking what little rice or pieces of bread remain (sukhi roti-achaar). Malnutrition can go so far as causing stunted growth and deficiencies throughout a woman’s body; in many cases women in this condition may not be able to have children or if they do give birth, the baby could have extensive health problems that the family cannot afford. Think of it other way, an under-nourished young girl is married off to an older man, who wants not just an heir, but enough sons to help him work his farm. The girl, his new bride, barely out of childhood, is expected to give birth to these children when her body is not developed enough to do so. In old days, men were involved in outside physical tasks so they mentioned they need more food, to an extent understandable. But it doesn’t suit today. Still people are following same thing in villages today as well. Why to talk about village even in city our grannies, Mom, aunts are having meals after their husband. Ladies please don’t got for this custom, there is nothing good in that; first you only need to take care of yourself. Guys please don’t appreciate such things on name of culture; it is not for someone else but for your own aunts, Mom, sisters or daughters.   30.  Repeatedly Hiccups indications I

In India, it is believed that hiccups will arise when somebody remembers them. So when an individual experiences a bout of hiccups, they think that a friend or family member is thinking about them and they start taking names of all closed-ones; as one more saga says if you take the correct person’s name, hiccups will stop. But in reality Hiccups are sudden, involuntary contractions of the diaphragm muscle. As the muscle contracts repeatedly, the opening between the vocal cords snaps shut to check the inflow of air and makes the hiccup sound. Irritation of the nerves that extend from the neck to the chest can cause hiccups. Home remedies for hiccups include: holding your breath, drinking a glass of water quickly, pulling hard on your tongue, biting on a lemon, gargling with water, and using smelling salts. If hiccups last for more than 3 hours, person should visit doctor.   32.  Sneezing myths

If someone sneezes while anybody going out of house, is indication of something bad can happen. As per this imagination, person should sit, wait for some time and drink water after that. It is a sign of evil to sneeze just once and then stop. Nothing is going to happen if you sneeze so, don’t be fearful. But, yes to maintain hygiene please sure you do not sneeze in public or without covering your face. Though a sneeze protects the sneezer, it can make other people sick. When you sneeze, you blast all those bacterial droplets into the air. Generally people say “God bless you” because your breathe came out for that moment when you sneezed so your next intake breathe is new life.   33.  Milk boiling over stove

Milk boiling over stove is bad omen. This delusion is good in a way as we should not do food-wasting in a country where many people (lakhs in number) are dying every day due to hunger. Except this, there is no logical reason behind this superstition.

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to be continued…..