Harmony With Body-Swanyama and Swasthya

Harmony With Body – Understanding Sanyama And
Svasthya
Our Body – A Self-Organized Unit:
The human body is a self-organized unit with a highly sophisticated

mechanism. It is made up of several organs such as the heart, lungs etc. and
various glands, all of which work in a close co-ordination.
The body is made up of cells and each cell of the body has a role to
play in the overall working of the body. Each cell is Self-organized and
participates in the Self- organization of the body as a whole.
All the activities in the body keep the body fit for
the use of “I”.
Harmony of the “I” with the Body:
The harmony of “I” with the body is:
i. In the form of Sanyama (Self-Regulation) on part of “I

ii. In the form of Svasthya (Health) on part of the Body
Sanyama (Self-Regulation):
It is the feeling of responsibility in the Self (“I”) for nurturing, protection

and right utilization of the Body.
Once I realize that the Body is my instrument and that the body needs
nutrition, protection from the environment and proper utilization to work as
an efficient tool for the right purpose, I naturally develop a feeling of
responsibility towards my Body. This feeling of responsibility developed in
“I” is Sanyama.
When I live with Sanyama, there is harmony among the different parts of the
Body and the Body becomes my useful instrument.
Svasthya (Health):
It is the condition of the body where every part of the body is properly
performing its expected function. This leads to harmony within the
body, and the body become perfectly fit for use by the “I”.
There is a strong coupling between “I” and the “Body”. Disharmony in

any one of them adversely affects the other.
For example:
i). If I am in disharmony (anger/stress/despair etc.), it starts affecting the

“Body” adversely leading to psychosomatic diseases like allergies, diabetes,
hypertension etc.
ii). Similarly, if there is any strong disturbance in the Body in the form of
severe pain, illness etc., it distracts “I” from its normal functions.
Hence Sanyama is vital for Svasthya. If there is Sanyama, a good health can
be ensured. If there is no Sanyama, a good health can be lost.
Our state today (due to lack of Sanyama):
Lack of responsibility towards body
• Reasons: busy life styles, eating at odd hours, eating junk food,
reduced physical work or labour, craving for pleasant body sensations
like tasty food, drinks etc.
• Result: falling sick repeatedly
Tendency for medication to suppress ailment
• Reasons: Our sickness is a signal of some disorder in our body. But
instead of attending to it, we try to suppress it through medication
and then forget about it.
Hospitals and sophisticated equipments are providing diagnosis and cure and are
not concentrating on prevention of diseases. Instead of using simple, common
medication, we are ending up consuming a lot of harmful substances in the name
of medicines which are intoxicating our body.
Polluted air, water, food ….
Reasons: Air pollution is being caused by industries, vehicles etc. Water is being
polluted by industrial effluents, sewage etc. Various industrial effluents, chemical
fertilizers, pesticides etc. are polluting the soil and by consuming the yield of crops
grown in such soil, all kinds of toxic contents are entering our body through our
food.
The way out / Solution to our present state
Our present life style and our conditionings are not very conducive to keep our
body fit and therefore it is important to understand Sanyama and Swasthya
correctly.
Program to take care of the body
1. To understand and live with Sanyama:

• It implies that the “Self” takes the responsibility for proper nurturing,
protection and right utilization of the body.
• It also implies that the “Self” should understand that the body is an
instrument and has a limited life span and undergoes a pattern of
growth and decay.
• The “Self” should also understand the right purpose for which this
instrument has to be used.
2. To understand the self-organization of the body and ensure overall
health of the body in the following ways:
• Nurturing of the Body (Posana / Poshan):
Posana / Poshan involves providing proper food (Ahar), air, water etc.
to the body.The selection of food (Ahar) should be such that it gives
required nutrients and energy to the body following the program
below:
• Ingestion: This involves taking the food into the mouth and chewing
it well for easy digestion.
• Digestion: Digestion starts after swallowing the food. Digestion also
depends on proper rest and exercise of the body. Food consumed
should be at proper intervals and with proper posture and right
quantity.
• Excretion: After digestion, the necessary nutrients are absorbed by
the body and the unnecessary or undigested part needs to be thrown
out or excreted.
• If any of the above three activities are not performed properly, it
affects the body adversely and causes several health problems.
• Protection of the Body (Sanrakshana):
This involves the selection of proper clothes and shelter for protecting
the body from extreme climatic conditions and to provide the right
amount of exposure of the body to air, water, sunlight etc. to ensure
proper functioning of the body.
To ensure the health of the Body, we need to take
care of the following:
i. Ahara – Vihara (Food – Upkeep)-The selection of food (Ahar) should be
such that it gives required nutrients and energy to the body. For proper
upkeep of the body, the body should be given rest from time to time. We
must ensure proper time, posture and ways to work and to rest. And provide
hygienic working conditions to upkeep our body.
ii. Shrama – Vyayama (Physical labour – Exercise)-Requisite amounts of
physical labour and exercise are essential to keep the body fit and healthy.
iii. Asana – Pranayama ( Yogasana – Pranayam)- Yogasanas are well
designed exercises involving specific postures to keep the body healthy and
Pranayama involves exercises involving regulation of breathing. Together
they ensure the synergy between the Self and the Body.
iv. Ausadhi – Chikitsa (Medicine – Treatment)-Whenever the body gets
hurt or experiences any kind of disorder, we should remember that the body
has a tendency heal itself and come back to normal state. We can attend to
such problems by simple ways like going without food for some time or
having a restricted diet etc. if the body needs further treatment, then the
ailment should be properly interpreted and attended to. The medicines used
for treatment should not give rise to other complications in future.
• Right Utilization of the Body (Sadupayoga)- It is normally believed that our
body is an instrument for sensory enjoyment. This is a wrong notion. We
also use our body to exploit others and to exploit Nature as well.
For e.g.: fighting, sealing, quarrelling etc.
• Human Body should be used only for the right behaviour and right work.
Otherwise it leads to disharmony in the Self which has adverse affects on
the Body.
• We should arrange for appropriate equipments/ physical facilities which
help the right utilization of the body and avoid excess physical labour.
Correct Appraisal of our Physical Needs-

• The correct appraisal of needs constitute the first step towards ensuring
prosperity.
• The following diagram shows that the Physical Facilities required for
nurturing, protection and right utilization of the body are limited.
• By understanding the need for Physical Facilities under the above
three heads namely food, clothing, shelter and instruments, we can
evaluate whether we have more than required. We have a common
misconception today that “Our needs are unlimited”. We are getting
confused between the needs of the Self and the needs of the Body
and are assuming that the needs of the body are unlimited.
• In Nature, the availability of facilities like water, oxygen etc. is more
than our needs. Once we realize that the needs of our Body are
limited and can be easily fulfilled, there emerges a possibility of
prosperity in our minds.

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Harmony With Body – Understanding Sanyama And

Our Body – A Self-Organized Unit:

The human body is a self-organized unit with a highly sophisticated

Harmony of the “I” with the Body:

The harmony of “I” with the body is:

i. In the form of Sanyama (Self-Regulation) on part of “I

It is the feeling of responsibility in the Self (“I”) for nurturing, protection

There is a strong coupling between “I” and the “Body”. Disharmony in

i). If I am in disharmony (anger/stress/despair etc.), it starts affecting the

1. To understand and live with Sanyama:

Correct Appraisal of our Physical Needs-

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