This is the discussion thread to invite suggestions, opinions, criticisms and support for a request of "No Alcohol" servings in any of the parties in general, and in particular the one's where people at large participate. I understand that many people will be of opinion that we go to parties to enjoy only; and drinking alcohol adds to that enjoyment and help us have a nice time. Although, I have a different opinion about this and really wonder why a human mind cannot enjoy a get-together without alcohol, still to respect everyone's point of view, let’s have a healthy discussion on the same so that the consensus can be built for the next party onwards and no-one feel lost out in the functions, including the ones who drink and the ones who don't drink. Everyone speak of truth from his/her point of view and generally the intent behind any opinion is not bad. So, let’s begin this healthy discussion, with the intent to identify a win-win formula, so that India's reputation of being the spiritual capital of the world doesn't assume a different meaning. So, let me spearhead this movement, with my rationale behind this thought process.
Please contribute with your Body-Mind-Heart-Soul into this thought so as to bring the best idea to the top.
No 1. First of all, let me invoke the conscience of everyone to think in the direction, that why can't we have parties without alcohol.
No 2. Myth: Alcohol de-stresses people
Please be cognizant of the fact that the medical fraternity is also not of the same opinion about the impact of alcohol on a person's mind. There are schools of thought both in favour and against the impact of alcohol on human mind and body, and we cannot give the benefit of doubt in favour of alcohol due to various reasons. It is a myth that alcohol de-stresses human mind, otherwise the mind de-stressing packages would have included the alcohol in their de-stressing courses in the same bucket with Yoga, Meditation, Shirodhara, Yogic Massages, etc, which is not the case.
No 3. Many people do Yoga, Meditation and Art of Living courses. However "Art of Living" and "Art of Chilling" cannot go hand in hand.
We cannot go in both the direction at the same time. The Yoga, Pranayam and Meditation courses open up those neural connections of our brain, which otherwise remain in dark throughout the life, where the knowledge about the healthy living and the soul consciousness and the highest level of wisdom is stored. However, the alcohol works in a completely opposite way. It eats up those neural connections which were earlier activated by the Education, Environment and Experience; resulting into memory loss, wisdom loss, temper loss and disintegrates the Body, Mind, Heart and Soul connection. I am not sure but can we integrate and disintegrate the same thing at the same time. This way we waste our money in both the things. Please again take deep breath and meditate on this thought and come up with your thought process.
Being a drinker is definitely not a guarantee to be morally low and not drinking is again not a guarantee to be morally high. I accept this completely.
However, here are the additional information, which at least points to some of the other risks associated with drinking; no government in the world allows drink and drive, age of drinking is fixed by the laws which in our case is 25 years and hence some of the folks who attends the parties and had their share of sip may be unknowingly doing a crime under the law and the party host unknowingly becomes part of breaking that law.
Excerpts from the wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurgaon
Restaurants and pubs
The legal age for alcohol consumption in Gurgaon is 25 years, which has also resulted in the sprouting up of several nightclubs and wine bars in the city.[93] The Haryana Government permits running of no-frills drinking places locally referred to as "ahata", usually located besides liquor retail outlet. These drinking places are cheaper and stripped down version of swanky bars & restaurants thereby enabling poorer sections of the society to enjoy their drink for a relatively very lower spending. Few Popular Restaurants in Gurgaon are...."
In my opinion, disregard to a law of land comes under "declining morality standards". I don't know if other explanations exist for the same or not. All of you please contribute, so that I would also make informed statements. Again, this is to allow the thought process continue flowing and is not meant to force my stand, but I felt it to be my responsibility of bringing the facts to the forefront.
Some people may be on opinion that Yoga and drinking has no relation and both can go hand in hand. But, please note that as a principle, "Yoga" doesn't allow the alcohol consumption, however, people are free to make a choice and there is no stopping doing Yoga and consuming alcohol by the same person. But, if you understand the principle of Yoga, which is not only to keep oneself healthy, but also a technique to open up doors towards higher levels of consciousness and morality principles, this would become very clear. I know there is a "morality crisis" these days with no common ground accepted for humanity and is open for interpretation by an individual.
Moreover, I know some of the Yoga gurus being morally wrong may be true, due to their failure of not keeping up well with the principles of Yoga and can be clearly termed as "Yogbhrashth" (the one who gets misdirected) people. A principle is something which should not be broken under any circumstances.
If you have not come across any text of Yoga earlier which points towards morality principles and why alcohol and yoga cannot go hand in hand, please visit the following blog postings. I know I am too small to write anything and claim it to be authentic; however, again, this is a brainstorming session and hence let the thought flow continue.
http://hiteshchandel.blogspot.com/2011/08/introduction-to-ashtang-yoga.html
I know this is such a topic that people may get divided on the relation of morality with drinking and this is not a surprise. Let me try to do Swadhyay (introspection) and evaluate if drinking is immoral or not. In order to do that let me try to produce some evidences
In the absence of any benchmark or final word of God on this, which is recognized by all, and also the absence of Universally Accepted Defined Values, let me introduce some of the high consciousness people from the rich history of this wonderful country Bharat (India); whom I consider at least more intelligent and moral than me and who have influenced my life through their words of wisdom,
1. Acharya Chanakya: He was the person who is known for his value based political decision making and people management and leadership skills even under very difficult situations.
2. Mahatma Vidur: He was the Prime Minister of Kaurav dynasty during the times of Mahabharat (5500 years ago) and was known for speaking bitter truths for the goodwill of the people.
3. Bheeshm Pitamah: Again a person from Mahabharat, who is known for following commitment even under most difficult of the situations. Following a commitment is a great human value, which is even important in today's professional and personal world. And a person, who can keep his words is considered a person to be trusted, believed and can be relied upon even in a professional setup.
4. Vedas: Considered as the oldest undated documentation of human value system even by western philosophers and scholars and are a research subject for students around the world.
5. Mahatma Gandhi: He was selected "man of the century" for last century passed-by, even by the people outside Bharat.
6. There are many other evidences which I know and there would definitely be many other people of higher human values that even we all may not know. Anyone who is considered to be high in human value system never suggested drinking alcohol as good for people, in fact most of the times they were found speaking against the alcoholism (regardless of the quantity) consumed. And if any of the person known of high human values (and not just a famous personality in a field) was found to be drinking alcohol himself, was not considered as good person any more after that.
Now, with this list, let me tell you that it is documented in Vidur Neeti, Chanakya Neeti, Mahabharat, Vedas, other vedic literature; and literature of all religions that drinking alcohol and other intoxicating drinks is immoral.
Well, even with so many evidences let me consider myself as "modern" and think in a different direction as the only constant thing in the universe is "Change". Many of my friends consider me as a fickle minded person, so in order to honor their thought process; I am changing my stand for sometime in the favour of those people who think "drinking is not immoral". So, to strengthen their stand and giving priority to the living people over the people who are dead or not my acquaintance, I must say that we should protest with the concerned departments of Government on the following points so that morality associated with alcohol consumption can be established and all those people and literature that I have listed above can be overridden because they are old and orthodox and lost their value in the current times of progress, openness and modernity.
So, here we go:
1. The Times of India has started a campaign that why we have minimum 25 years as legal age of drinking in India and this should be reduced to say 18 years. I think we should strengthen their stand by joining hands with them. This way, we will be saved from doing illegal act by serving our younger generation something openly in parties which is against the law of land.
2. Every bottle of alcohol has a warning printed on it "Alcohol consumption is injurious to health" or more liberal ones "Excessive consumption of alcohol is injurious to health". The government, which has asked the manufacturers to print this warning, should be made aware that they should not act as spoilsport and remove this warning at the earliest. I do not see any edible product where the manufacture himself is saying, that something they are selling as a human consumable product is injurious to health. So why alcohol and cigarettes? We shouldn't bear this partiality with people enjoying "Somras" (alcohol).
(Please note that alcohol is grossly misinterpreted as "Somras" by people who have tried to malign the Vedas. The real synonym for alcohol is "Sura" and not "Som")
3. Let us start a campaign that driving after drinking should not be banned: After all, it is the government who is allowing this liquid to sell, then who are they to say we should not drive after drinking. They never say "Driving after drinking milk" is illegal, then why this with Alcohol. We will not accept this "racial discrimination" against this mostly "dark- complexioned" drink over the "white" milk. See, they are making our life difficult again by making it a difficult task to control that none of our guests would do an illegal act of "drunken driving" after a party, no matter how much we control it.
4. The life insurance and medical insurance companies have a checklist of various parameters on the basis of which they calculate the expected life expectancy of a person. They have sections related to Alcoholism and Smoking as well. They consider it to be negative and recommend extra medical tests or increase premium if the person is a smoker or alcoholic. We must start a campaign to remove this discrimination to the people who want to enjoy this precious human life with a glass of vodka or wine.
To summarize, in my understanding, something which is against the law, is immoral and if we think that a particular law has outlived its utility then it must be changed. As a responsible and "moral" citizen of this wonderful country Bharat, we must start a third Satyagrah (a peaceful protest for truth) in Ramlila ground, Delhi, in the similar lines of Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazaare, to remove the useless laws. This will give us some inspiration of being a good Bhartiya (Indian) citizen as well, by fighting for the cause of people who think drinking is not immoral, which somehow have assumed majority or will assume more majority in times to come, going by the spread of Ahatas (open drinking place), on the very land of Guru Dronacharya (Gurgaon).
I was there with Baba Ramdev on 4th June in Ramlila grounds, then again during August for Anna Hazaare, again in Ramlila grounds. I promise my countrymen, of my full support if a Satyagrah to remove the old aged laws is started by them in Ramlila Ground, to remove the "immorality" due to illegality associated with the alcoholic products. This will also boost the revenue of the people who had to use innovation off-late for improving the "Look and Feel" of liquor shops for reducing the stigma attached with the alcohol, by giving them a "Showroom" type of user interface.
Let us continue a healthy "Shashtrarth" (healthy debate to understand truth) which leads us to clarification on right human values on morality associated with Alcoholism.
You can send your comments/suggestions/criticisms at definedvalues@yahoo.com
Please contribute with your Body-Mind-Heart-Soul into this thought so as to bring the best idea to the top.
No 1. First of all, let me invoke the conscience of everyone to think in the direction, that why can't we have parties without alcohol.
No 2. Myth: Alcohol de-stresses people
Please be cognizant of the fact that the medical fraternity is also not of the same opinion about the impact of alcohol on a person's mind. There are schools of thought both in favour and against the impact of alcohol on human mind and body, and we cannot give the benefit of doubt in favour of alcohol due to various reasons. It is a myth that alcohol de-stresses human mind, otherwise the mind de-stressing packages would have included the alcohol in their de-stressing courses in the same bucket with Yoga, Meditation, Shirodhara, Yogic Massages, etc, which is not the case.
No 3. Many people do Yoga, Meditation and Art of Living courses. However "Art of Living" and "Art of Chilling" cannot go hand in hand.
We cannot go in both the direction at the same time. The Yoga, Pranayam and Meditation courses open up those neural connections of our brain, which otherwise remain in dark throughout the life, where the knowledge about the healthy living and the soul consciousness and the highest level of wisdom is stored. However, the alcohol works in a completely opposite way. It eats up those neural connections which were earlier activated by the Education, Environment and Experience; resulting into memory loss, wisdom loss, temper loss and disintegrates the Body, Mind, Heart and Soul connection. I am not sure but can we integrate and disintegrate the same thing at the same time. This way we waste our money in both the things. Please again take deep breath and meditate on this thought and come up with your thought process.
Being a drinker is definitely not a guarantee to be morally low and not drinking is again not a guarantee to be morally high. I accept this completely.
However, here are the additional information, which at least points to some of the other risks associated with drinking; no government in the world allows drink and drive, age of drinking is fixed by the laws which in our case is 25 years and hence some of the folks who attends the parties and had their share of sip may be unknowingly doing a crime under the law and the party host unknowingly becomes part of breaking that law.
Excerpts from the wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurgaon
Restaurants and pubs
The legal age for alcohol consumption in Gurgaon is 25 years, which has also resulted in the sprouting up of several nightclubs and wine bars in the city.[93] The Haryana Government permits running of no-frills drinking places locally referred to as "ahata", usually located besides liquor retail outlet. These drinking places are cheaper and stripped down version of swanky bars & restaurants thereby enabling poorer sections of the society to enjoy their drink for a relatively very lower spending. Few Popular Restaurants in Gurgaon are...."
In my opinion, disregard to a law of land comes under "declining morality standards". I don't know if other explanations exist for the same or not. All of you please contribute, so that I would also make informed statements. Again, this is to allow the thought process continue flowing and is not meant to force my stand, but I felt it to be my responsibility of bringing the facts to the forefront.
Some people may be on opinion that Yoga and drinking has no relation and both can go hand in hand. But, please note that as a principle, "Yoga" doesn't allow the alcohol consumption, however, people are free to make a choice and there is no stopping doing Yoga and consuming alcohol by the same person. But, if you understand the principle of Yoga, which is not only to keep oneself healthy, but also a technique to open up doors towards higher levels of consciousness and morality principles, this would become very clear. I know there is a "morality crisis" these days with no common ground accepted for humanity and is open for interpretation by an individual.
Moreover, I know some of the Yoga gurus being morally wrong may be true, due to their failure of not keeping up well with the principles of Yoga and can be clearly termed as "Yogbhrashth" (the one who gets misdirected) people. A principle is something which should not be broken under any circumstances.
If you have not come across any text of Yoga earlier which points towards morality principles and why alcohol and yoga cannot go hand in hand, please visit the following blog postings. I know I am too small to write anything and claim it to be authentic; however, again, this is a brainstorming session and hence let the thought flow continue.
http://hiteshchandel.blogspot.com/2011/08/introduction-to-ashtang-yoga.html
I know this is such a topic that people may get divided on the relation of morality with drinking and this is not a surprise. Let me try to do Swadhyay (introspection) and evaluate if drinking is immoral or not. In order to do that let me try to produce some evidences
In the absence of any benchmark or final word of God on this, which is recognized by all, and also the absence of Universally Accepted Defined Values, let me introduce some of the high consciousness people from the rich history of this wonderful country Bharat (India); whom I consider at least more intelligent and moral than me and who have influenced my life through their words of wisdom,
1. Acharya Chanakya: He was the person who is known for his value based political decision making and people management and leadership skills even under very difficult situations.
2. Mahatma Vidur: He was the Prime Minister of Kaurav dynasty during the times of Mahabharat (5500 years ago) and was known for speaking bitter truths for the goodwill of the people.
3. Bheeshm Pitamah: Again a person from Mahabharat, who is known for following commitment even under most difficult of the situations. Following a commitment is a great human value, which is even important in today's professional and personal world. And a person, who can keep his words is considered a person to be trusted, believed and can be relied upon even in a professional setup.
4. Vedas: Considered as the oldest undated documentation of human value system even by western philosophers and scholars and are a research subject for students around the world.
5. Mahatma Gandhi: He was selected "man of the century" for last century passed-by, even by the people outside Bharat.
6. There are many other evidences which I know and there would definitely be many other people of higher human values that even we all may not know. Anyone who is considered to be high in human value system never suggested drinking alcohol as good for people, in fact most of the times they were found speaking against the alcoholism (regardless of the quantity) consumed. And if any of the person known of high human values (and not just a famous personality in a field) was found to be drinking alcohol himself, was not considered as good person any more after that.
Now, with this list, let me tell you that it is documented in Vidur Neeti, Chanakya Neeti, Mahabharat, Vedas, other vedic literature; and literature of all religions that drinking alcohol and other intoxicating drinks is immoral.
Well, even with so many evidences let me consider myself as "modern" and think in a different direction as the only constant thing in the universe is "Change". Many of my friends consider me as a fickle minded person, so in order to honor their thought process; I am changing my stand for sometime in the favour of those people who think "drinking is not immoral". So, to strengthen their stand and giving priority to the living people over the people who are dead or not my acquaintance, I must say that we should protest with the concerned departments of Government on the following points so that morality associated with alcohol consumption can be established and all those people and literature that I have listed above can be overridden because they are old and orthodox and lost their value in the current times of progress, openness and modernity.
So, here we go:
1. The Times of India has started a campaign that why we have minimum 25 years as legal age of drinking in India and this should be reduced to say 18 years. I think we should strengthen their stand by joining hands with them. This way, we will be saved from doing illegal act by serving our younger generation something openly in parties which is against the law of land.
2. Every bottle of alcohol has a warning printed on it "Alcohol consumption is injurious to health" or more liberal ones "Excessive consumption of alcohol is injurious to health". The government, which has asked the manufacturers to print this warning, should be made aware that they should not act as spoilsport and remove this warning at the earliest. I do not see any edible product where the manufacture himself is saying, that something they are selling as a human consumable product is injurious to health. So why alcohol and cigarettes? We shouldn't bear this partiality with people enjoying "Somras" (alcohol).
(Please note that alcohol is grossly misinterpreted as "Somras" by people who have tried to malign the Vedas. The real synonym for alcohol is "Sura" and not "Som")
3. Let us start a campaign that driving after drinking should not be banned: After all, it is the government who is allowing this liquid to sell, then who are they to say we should not drive after drinking. They never say "Driving after drinking milk" is illegal, then why this with Alcohol. We will not accept this "racial discrimination" against this mostly "dark- complexioned" drink over the "white" milk. See, they are making our life difficult again by making it a difficult task to control that none of our guests would do an illegal act of "drunken driving" after a party, no matter how much we control it.
4. The life insurance and medical insurance companies have a checklist of various parameters on the basis of which they calculate the expected life expectancy of a person. They have sections related to Alcoholism and Smoking as well. They consider it to be negative and recommend extra medical tests or increase premium if the person is a smoker or alcoholic. We must start a campaign to remove this discrimination to the people who want to enjoy this precious human life with a glass of vodka or wine.
To summarize, in my understanding, something which is against the law, is immoral and if we think that a particular law has outlived its utility then it must be changed. As a responsible and "moral" citizen of this wonderful country Bharat, we must start a third Satyagrah (a peaceful protest for truth) in Ramlila ground, Delhi, in the similar lines of Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazaare, to remove the useless laws. This will give us some inspiration of being a good Bhartiya (Indian) citizen as well, by fighting for the cause of people who think drinking is not immoral, which somehow have assumed majority or will assume more majority in times to come, going by the spread of Ahatas (open drinking place), on the very land of Guru Dronacharya (Gurgaon).
I was there with Baba Ramdev on 4th June in Ramlila grounds, then again during August for Anna Hazaare, again in Ramlila grounds. I promise my countrymen, of my full support if a Satyagrah to remove the old aged laws is started by them in Ramlila Ground, to remove the "immorality" due to illegality associated with the alcoholic products. This will also boost the revenue of the people who had to use innovation off-late for improving the "Look and Feel" of liquor shops for reducing the stigma attached with the alcohol, by giving them a "Showroom" type of user interface.
Let us continue a healthy "Shashtrarth" (healthy debate to understand truth) which leads us to clarification on right human values on morality associated with Alcoholism.
You can send your comments/suggestions/criticisms at definedvalues@yahoo.com
