Learn to say a firm ‘No’ to alcohol. It’s never been known to do anyone any good
It seems we people don’t need a compelling reason to drink. We treat alcohol like water and grab a drink at the slightest pretext. We drink it when someone’s coming over, when we are feeling lonely, happy or sad, are worried or want to celebrate. It seems we need no reason to drink and neither are we scared to hide our love for it. In fact, we think it is something to be proud of and in most homes, bottles of alcohol find pride of place in a corner specially dedicated to it.
This prompts me to ask: In which direction are we headed? The craving for alcohol always begins with an urge for a casual glass or two, but soon takes over your entire life. Let me enumerate its benefits and its disadvantages and then outline a plan for you to get out of this addiction, in case you are trapped in its dark and murky world. Or perhaps you know someone who has succumbed to it.
I can only think of one advantage ― when a doctor prescribes it in miniscule quantities for a short duration for a special purpose. Otherwise, take it from me, once you begin drinking, you are walking down a thorny pathway and you are likely to get hurt. Only the few lucky ones can escape its clutches. Those others who succumb to its temptations, are likely to be hurt by its thorns.
People who insist that a peg or two every evening is good to elevate the mood, are thinking wrong. Let me outline the five major parameters when even a little regular drink can cause you harm in the long run:
1. It’s bad for your liver, kidneys, heart, and muscles
2. It lessens your will power, over a period of time
3. It makes you isolated from the larger social group of women, elders, families and children as only about 10 per cent of the people are going to seek out your company. The rest 90 per cent are going to hate you and avoid you like the plague
4. It increases the tamas quotient in your body, taking you away from all that is sattvic
5. It steadily depletes your wealth; in some cases, men can even sell their wife’s jewellery to fund their drinking habit
If you take to drinking regularly, you are going down a lonely, dark pathway. So, make a pledge to get out of it. Here’s how Ayurveda can help you. Almost every alcoholic pledges to give up drinks in the morning, but his resolve is weakened by the evening itself.
Perhaps, you often take it upon yourself to help someone, and warn them of its detrimental effects. But you find that your words of wisdom can bounce off a tamasic mind like a ball bounces off a concrete floor.
For your wise words to penetrate the tamasic mind, you have to first attempt to make the alcoholic’s mind sattvic. Ayurveda herbs can help. Give the alcoholic herbs like ashwagandha, brahmi, shankhpushpi and Jatamansi with or without his knowledge. You can also safely give him a brain tonic, Medhya Rasayana, which gives the brain the power to give up this toxic substance.
It is something I can personally vouch for. I assure you that through Medhya Rasayana, I have pulled out thousands of people engulfed in the dark world of alcoholism.
Dr Parmeshwar Arora is a renowned ayurvedic doctor and a lifestyle coach for more than 20 years. Presently he is Senior Consultant at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and heads Ath Ayurdhamah in Gurgaon.
An excellent article. Thanks for sharing it. It will be useful for all those families which are being destroyed because of alcoholism. Living with an alcoholic is like moving in a ship with a hole in its bottom.