Implement these actions immediately which will be useful during wartimes!

The Russia-Ukraine war is on. We have been reading in the news about the hardships faced by the citizens of Ukraine due to the war. In future, if other countries also join this war, it will not take long for the third world war to start. The Russia-Ukraine war might have prepared the people of Ukraine to face World War III to some extent. Their army is training them to use weapons. Hence, the confidence of the people of Ukraine has increased and they are now able to resist the Russian army with lot of might. It has therefore become difficult for Russia to capture Ukraine. While this determination of the people of Ukraine is admirable, it is only at physical and mental level. The most important preparedness required is at the spiritual level !

Indians must learn ‘How to face war in real life?’ from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine strife. If the third world war happens, it will last for many months. Therefore, the important aspects to keep in mind to ensure our preparedness at the physical, psychological and spiritual level are given below. Initiate this preparedness with seriousness from today itself.

1. Preparedness at physical level

a. Our body must be fit to face difficult situations. To achieve physical fitness, we must exercise for at least 30 minutes daily. Surya Namaskar is an apt exercise that strengthens the entire body. One should perform at least 12 Surya Namaskars every day. Do a little running every day. One should be able to run for at least 5-10 minutes at a stretch. One should exercise regularly as per one’s capacity and keep increasing it gradually every month.

b. Pranayam (Breathing exercise) should be performed daily. If you don’t know how to do Pranayam, then learn it. By doing Pranayam one develops capability of performing Kumbhak (Holding the breath for some time). This ability will come in handy if you need to rescue someone from water, smoke, or a gas leak.

c. Knowing how to swim is essential. This will be useful for saving oneself or someone drowning in water.

d. Availability of food will be sparse in the times of war. We may have to live without any food for 1-2 days. To habituate to such condition, one must practice fasting for at least once in a day, without eating or drinking anything. One can practice this for any one day in a week by skipping one meal to start with. Further one can check if one can manage staying without food throughout the day and by just drinking water.

e. If you have any physical ailments, then get yourself examined by a doctor on time and get them cured. Even a minor pain should not be ignored. Individuals aged 40 years and above should get their routine medical, eye and dental checkup done. In the wartime, medical assistance will not be available easily.

f. For the disorders detected in above tests, if necessary, further advance tests and treatments should be carried out to normalize one’s medical condition as much as possible. For example, if deficiency in vitamin levels in the blood is detected, taking the necessary vitamin supplements, adequate nutrition and tablets etc. to restore it.

g. One should keep a record of one’s ailments, when were they detected, their probable causes, the medical treatment, supplements, diet, etc. in a notebook. Schedule of when the re-test is due must also be noted. In the notebook, also one should keep a record of the substances to which one is allergic, such as medicine, food, dust etc.

h. One should maintain a ‘Health’ file containing all the medical records, doctor’s prescriptions and reports related to the ailments. Group all records and file them as per the ailment, and date wise. Keep the most recent document on top. One may keep records for past 3 years in one file and all the older records can be archived into a separate file. If possible, photographs of important documents and reports should be taken and stored in mobile phone, pen-drive, etc.

i. In case diseases such as blood pressure, diabetes which may require long term medication (perhaps for the lifetime), required medicines for these diseases should be procured and stored as per the advice of a doctor. Always keep an extra pair of devices that are essential for your daily use, such as spectacles, hearing aid etc. Also keep sufficient stock of batteries required to power such devices. Create an ‘Emergency Kit’ of medicines necessary for one’s treatment and devices needed. It should contain adequate quantity of medicines that will last for at least 15 days. In case of emergency, we can carry this ‘kit’ wherever we go.

2. Preparedness at the Psychological level

a. Introspect on the question ‘Can I face a difficult situation?’. If a difficult situation is imposed on someone else, you should practice that situation by asking yourself the question, ‘What would I have done at that time?’. This will prepare you mentally and if it does happen to you too, you will be prepared with the thought process and necessary actions to be taken swiftly.

b. If we cut or burn ourselves badly or see someone in that situation, can we bear it? In such case, do we just panic, fear, or take some action as a remedy? We should introspect on ‘If we see someone in an accident, do we run to help him?’ In a real situation we should act taking responsibility deliberately.

c. If a small fire breaks out in the house or anywhere else, do we run away in fear or take any action to extinguish the fire? If we get baffled in such situation, even if we have the theoretical knowledge of how to deal with fire, it will not strike to us immediately on what actions are needed to be taken. Therefore, it is important to be strong minded in such situations.

d. Ask yourself, ‘If someone bullies me, can I deal with it intelligently?’ You may need to come to fists against a gangster on some occasion. If someone known to you is in a quarrel with someone, try to resolve it.

e. We need to inculcate the attitude of helping others and if we don’t have it, we should make efforts to develop it. Only if we possess such attitude, God will send others to help us in our times of trouble.

f. Don’t remain secluded by nature. A secluded person finds it difficult to obtain help in an emergency, because no one is known to him. Therefore, you should develop the habit of mixing with everyone, talking to everyone and remain united. A loner thinks only of himself. On the contrary, one should make a habit of thinking of others.

g. Cultivate immense love for the motherland in your heart. As our mother raises us, our motherland too nurtures us. Therefore, we should always be grateful to her. Only if we have such a feeling towards our motherland, we will not hesitate to sacrifice our life for her. This is what freedom fighters did; because of which we attained freedom. Feeling love for our motherland in turn means feeling love for our country. Only when we feel strong love towards our country, we would be able to fight for the country against the enemy. This is what the people of Ukraine are doing in the Russia-Ukraine war. If we love our motherland, we will not be enticed to deceive our fellow beings for selfish reasons, nor will we be inclined to get into corrupt activities or take enemy’s side. We will feel love for everyone in our motherland. We will stand for our duties towards our country.

3. Preparedness at the Intellectual level

a. Being able to administer first-aid is essential for helping others at the time of war. One should learn how to tie a bandage in case of body injury, how to assist in case of a fracture to an individual, how to carry an injured individual to another place with the help of a cloth if no stretcher is available, etc. We would be required to render help others in this way during the war. One can gain knowledge about these aspects from the following 3 books published by Sanatan Sanstha https://sanatanshop.com/shop/english-books/ayurveda-and-others/survival-techniques-for-adverse-times/

1. First-aid to save a victim’s life and on conditions such as shock.

2. First-aid on bleeding, injury, fracture, etc.

3. First-aid on suffocation, burns, animal, and insect bites, poisoning etc.

b. One can learn to test blood sugar level, measure blood pressure and use a ‘pulse oximeter’.

c. One should have basic knowledge of how to extinguish a fire if it breaks out during the war. One may need to deal with various types of fires (caused by oil, electrical equipment, etc.) which would require adopting different methods of extinguishing and this requires adequate knowledge. To acquire this knowledge, Sanatan Sanstha’s book ‘Training on firefighting’ is available.

d. At time of war, it is difficult to get medical help quickly. In such situation, we can completely overcome some ailments or relieve the pain of the patients by giving them the Acupressure therapy, chanting for them, or giving them spiritual remedies on ailments caused by obstructions in Pranashakti flow system. To know in detail about these remedies, study the following books published by Sanatan Sanstha now and keep these books handy.

1.  Acupressure therapy for overcoming physical, psychological and spiritual distress

2. Acupressure therapy for common ailments (useful for more than 80 disorders like fever, constipation etc.)

3. Chants for curing ailments

4. Chants that can cure ailments (includes mudra and nyas, besides guidance on chanting along with)

5. Chant remedies as per the ailments (includes chants of Deities, Bijamantra, Ankajapa etc.)
How to identify obstructions in the Pranashakti (Chetana) flow system for curing ailments?
Spiritual remedies on ailments caused by obstructions in the Pranashakti flow system

e. At the time of war, it is safest to hide in the underground basements. One should find out where such basements are in one’s locality. Metro trains in the city are mostly underground. We can also hide for some time in such underground ‘metro’ stations. Sometimes there is a underground passage to cross major four-lane roads. We can hide in such place too. These underground places can protect us from the harmful radiations from the bomb blasts or explosion of atomic bombs.

f. Obtain the list of various social service organizations that are active in your town or city and establish a connect with them. In case of any emergency or calamity affecting you or the area surrounding you, their help can be sought immediately. Store their contact numbers. Also give them your contact number so that you can reach out to them in case of need.

4. Preparedness at the Spiritual level

a. Follow the Achardharma (Code of righteous conduct) as per Hindu Dharma. By following Achardharma, apart from each action becoming sattvik and obtaining divine consciousness through it we also get close to God. By following Achardharma, i.e., abiding by Dharma in daily life, our attitude becomes sattvik and we swiftly progress towards God. Adherence to Achardharma also helps to improve one’s worldly life, e.g., by following the principle of ‘truthfulness’, a person does not commit the sin of lying, and develops the virtues of morality and civility. God only protects such sattvik people in difficult times. To understand ‘How to follow Achardharma in daily life?’, one should read the following introductory books of Sanatan Sanstha.

1. Introduction to Achardharma.

2. Science underlying conducts before bathing.

3. Science underlying conducts from bathing till sunset.

Visit following link to buy these books : Spiritual Living (Achardharma) – Sanatan Shop

b. Agnihotra should be performed daily at sunrise and sunset. If it is not possible to perform at both times in the day, then at least perform once. By performing Agnihotra, the environment around us becomes germ-free, pure, filled with vital energy and sacred. If Agnihotra is performed daily at our home, all family members will remain in a good health, no one will get diseases, and due to the emitted divine consciousness, everyone will benefit spiritually. During the Corona epidemic, it has been observed that the people doing Agnihotra regularly did not get infected with the Corona virus. Many nations today possess biological weapons that can spread infectious diseases. If these weapons are used in a war, by performing Agnihotra one will get protection against the diseases spread by these weapons, as well as from the harmful radiation from the explosion of atomic bombs. For more information on this, read Sanatan Sanstha’s book ‘Agnihotra’.

c. To receive the grace of God, chant the name of your Deity of worship for at least 2 hours in a day. In the absence of a particular Deity of worship, chant the Name of Shrikrushna, “Om Namo Bhagwate Vasudevaya”. One should remember God at time of distress as well as in happiness and keep in mind that He is the only One who can save us in difficult times. If we do not chant His Name or do not remember Him, then how will He too come to rescue us when we need? When we become a devotee of God, a strong faith that He will save us when we are in distress, gets created in us. We can thus remain calm even in difficult situations. It is His promise that ‘My devotee shall not perish.’

d. One should protect the Dharma. There is a saying in the scripture that, ‘He who sees the destruction of Dharma with open eyes becomes a great sinner, but he who strives for the protection of Dharma becomes eligible for liberation’. The scriptures also say, ‘He who protects Dharma, is protected by Dharma (God) Himself’. As per present times, protecting Dharma is the most important aspect of abiding by Dharma. Disciple Arjun was dear to Guru Shrikrushna as he fought the Kauravas for the sake of Dharma. In short, if you strive for the protection of Dharma, you will be bestowed upon God’s grace. At present, heretics and anti-Hindu groups are attacking the Sanatan Hindu Dharma. Enlighten them first within the framework of the law (in a legal way) and if they still do not listen, oppose them legitimately by condemning them.’

(Sadguru) Dr. Mukul Gadgil, Ph.D., Goa