I am a huge lover of nature naturally!
I started this blog in December 2021. And I am restless to tell you all what I mean by this. First things first. I am a huge lover of nature and its various constituents – plants, trees, animals, birds, insects, reptiles (honestly, some of them give me the creeps but I still love them too!), etc. Now, the word ‘naturally’ has a small connection with nature, the point here is to live life naturally with as few chemical, synthetic, and artificial items as possible.
I am saying this because these items have seeped into every walk and facet of our lives. And it is virtually impossible to avoid them. Just consider plastic. I have lost count of the number of times plastic has been banned in India. It is banned and this brings cheer to so many people. But then once again, it rears its ugly head again when shopkeepers slowly start using plastic bags to sell their items. Why? Because they are yet to find a suitable replacement for plastic. That is as affordable, cheap, ubiquitous, durable, and whatnot!
Let us eliminate artificiality
So, I hope you got my point. We can at least make a beginning. Starting from the food items we eat. The trend today is to go ‘organic’. However, organic foods despite being very healthy are costlier than non-organic ones. So, the first thing that should be done is to bring down the cost of organic foods. Next on my mind is healthcare. I am not saying this because I am a Homeopathic Physician. Although worldwide, the general trend is to move towards Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) of which Homeopathy is a part. Along with AYUS, Homeopathy constitutes AYUSH in India.
Now Homeopathy, of which I am a huge proponent (thanks to my late Dad and my mom who were ardent consumers of this system) has been diluted a lot. In that, it is aping the dominant system of medicine, Allopathy. Now, let me reiterate this. I respect all systems of medicine including Allopathy. But with the huge number of synthetic, chemical-based drugs in Allopathy that are loaded with side effects and the associated anti-microbial resistance, iatrogenesis, etc., one needs to be very careful about using this. Of course, there is nothing like Allopathy in emergencies although CAM too has many tools for them.
Homeopathy – The safest bet
When you look at all these factors, Homeopathy appears to be the safest bet. This, if practiced correctly, especially the classical version has no side effects at all. However, there are several schools of thought even in Homeopathy. So, the patients are helpless in deciding the correct school of treatment to be adopted. But Homeopathy since the time it was discovered by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in 1790 has stressed the ‘totality of symptoms’ of the patient and finding a similimum (exact match) to the symptom-totality of the patient.
A single Homeopathic drug is prescribed after a detailed case-taking (of course, it is limited in case of acute cases) and something called repertorization. Even in this Homeopathic prescription, there are sometimes differences of opinion. What I am saying is that there is no guarantee that all Homeopathic physicians might arrive at a single drug for a particular case. But one thing is sure – there is only ONE similimum, i.e., only one drug that can act correctly and aid in the treatment and cure of the patient.
Living truly naturally
Now about other things in life. What I mean by living naturally is trying to follow it in letter and spirit (I know I am sounding cliched here but it is essential)! Take, for example, our hair color. It is normal and physiological for hair to grow grey as we get older. Did you know that the grey color is considered a sign of wisdom? Now, Islam goes a step further and points out several benefits of grey hair.
So, what should be done with this grey hair (annoying for most of us)? Once again, Islam comes to the rescue. Applying henna (mehendi) is the best solution for this. Why am I talking about all of this? One should never cheat or mislead people. And this is exactly what happens when one dyes his/her hair black. You are hiding your real age. Not that it is exactly unnoticeable. It looks pretty odd that even though the hair has been dyed black in individuals with grey hair, the state of their skin cannot hide the fact. And this is despite the costliest botulin/collagen injections and whatnot! Hope you got my point.
Let’s clean our hearts and keep them pure
Ditto for your hearts. Hypocrites have something in their hearts and something else on their tongues. They are like double-headed hydra monsters! Of course, we cannot do much about this. But the crux of the problems of today’s world has everything to do with our hearts. Our hearts are diseased [ironically both literally (due to our sedentary lifestyles) and also metaphorically] and it is high time we do something about it.
According to Islam, every time we sin, a black mote gets deposited on our hearts and it becomes rusted. And the best way to remove the rust on our hearts is dhikr or the remembrance of ALLAH, the ALMIGHTY. The ALMIGHTY has the most beautiful names – You call HIM by any name, it does not matter at all. But there is ONE SUPREME power ruling over all of us and this entire universe. This universe is too orderly to not acknowledge the presence of HIM!