https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-japan-trains
Reading the above interesting article and watching the two short video/clips in it, reminds me so much of our own traditional Vedic ritual cultural practices which unfortunately are fast vanishing today in our families and ordinary daily ways of living.
While the Japanese Railways devised shisha kanko ritual to regulate their trains in an orderly and safe manner , similarly too our Vedic way of life ages ago devised “aachaara” and “anushtana” rituals to regulate and keep safe something in our life that is even far more important than railway locomotive and train stations — it’s in fact the other locomotive called our body, mind and intellect , the vehicle in which we all journey through life.
Ritual gestures and what in Japan is today called and marvelled at as shisa kanko used to infect play such an important role in Vedic way of life we were supposed to inherit and embrace . Such ritual movements and gesturing were associated with appropriate “mudra”…. Such as “anjali mudra”, “Abhaya mudra”, “anugraha mudra” , “updesa mudra” and many more …
The traditional Vedic way of greeting someone with clasping of the palms is anjali mudra … for example … and it is a ritual movement in the manner of shisha kanko. It signifies inner intentions which otherwise are not so easily expressible. It can at once denote either all or one or more of mental dispositions — well-wishing, reverence, humility or “daasatvam”. At a psychological level it also signifies expression of soulful fraternal feeling .
Upadesa mudra is ritual movement wherein the thumb and index fingers are brought together … it signifies guru-sishya bonding — which if one thinks about it deeply, is the fount of all human knowledge and wisdom.
While performing the daily ritual of Gayatri sandhyopasana , we are taught to do many little hand movements and gestures in concert with chanting of appropriate mantras … there is the movement of “aachamanam”, praaNaayaamam, arghyam, japam, rishi-chandas-devata smaranam, abhivandanam… all these ritual movements might to an outsider look as ridiculous or odd as shisha kanko looks in the video-clips, but then in the Vedic belief-system they are all invested with tremendous Yogic significance and potency .
The Yogic significance of prescribed ritual gesticulations can be understood if the underlying principle of Yoga is appreciated. The simultaneous “pointing and calling” that is part of the Japanese “shisha kanko” is not dissimilar to the spiritual “saadhana” of Vedic practices such as arghyam samarpayami etc. It is like the process of “Jaagruthi” [raising or expanding consciousness], by bringing together body, mind and intellect i.e. manasa, vaacha, karmana and striving to achieve the state of consciousness where one’s thoughts, speech, and actions get integrated holistically or into one organic spiritual whole.
The goal of all Vedic ritual is such Yogic integration and it is expressed beautifully in one famous Shloka, oft invoked by a “saadhaka” at the completion of any rite like sandhyopaasana or vaideeka karma performed by him:
From Mukundamala (Vande Mukundam Aravinda-dala Aayata Aksham – verse 38):
कायेन वाचा मनसेन्द्रियैर्वा ।
बुद्ध्यात्मना वा प्रकृतेः स्वभावात् ।
करोमि यद्यत्सकलं परस्मै ।
नारायणयेति समर्पयामि ॥
Kaayena Vaacaa Manase[a-I]ndriyair-Vaa
Buddhy[i]-Aatmanaa Vaa Prakrteh Svabhaavaat |
Karomi Yad-Yat-Sakalam Parasmai
Naaraayannayeti Samarpayaami ||
Meaning:
1: (Whatever I do) with my Body, Speech, Mind or Sense Organs,
2: … or using my Intellect, Feelings of Heart or (unconsciously) through the natural tendencies of my Mind,
3: All those, I do for the Supreme Being (without sense of attachment to the results),
4: (And) I Surrender them to the Lotus Feet of Sri Narayana.
The practice of “pointing and calling” as in the Japanese Shisha kanko is also remarkably similar to modern surgical practice amongst top surgeons of the world . Their mode of “pointing and calling” inside the Operation Theatre is modelled upon what the renowned surgeon and writer Dr. Atul Gawande wrote about in his best-selling book “Checklist Manifesto”. Dr. Gawande’s Checklist for surgeons is essentially a shisha kanko practice of meticulously and ritualistically repeating over and over again the smallest of steps that surgeons must take before, during and after a surgical procedure. The book drew praise from the other world famous author Malcolm Gladwell who in his book-review wrote:
QUOTE : “(Dr.Atul Gawande’s) latest book, The Checklist Manifesto, begins on familiar ground, with his experiences as a surgeon. But before long it becomes clear that he is really interested in a problem that afflicts virtually every aspect of the modern world–and that is how professionals deal with the increasing complexity of their responsibilities. It has been years since I read a book so powerful and so thought-provoking.
Gawande begins by making a distinction between errors of ignorance (mistakes we make because we don’t know enough), and errors of ineptitude (mistakes we made because we don’t make proper use of what we know). Failure in the modern world, he writes, is really about the second of these errors, and he walks us through a series of examples from medicine showing how the routine tasks of surgeons have now become so incredibly complicated that mistakes of one kind or another are virtually inevitable: it’s just too easy for an otherwise competent doctor to miss a step, or forget to ask a key question or, in the stress and pressure of the moment, to fail to plan properly for every eventuality. ….. Experts need checklists–literally–written guides that walk them through the key steps in any complex procedure. In the last section of the book, Gawande shows how his research team has taken this idea, developed a safe surgery checklist, and applied it around the world, with staggering success”.” UNQUOTE
In the ancient Vedic way of life, when family households sat down on the floor to eat in the traditional way , they were taught to do the ritual of “pariseshanam” … which involved chanting a brief or terse mantra and sprinkling droplets of water around and on the “annam” served … It is again a ritual movement performed to signify many expressions of inner mental attitude : purification, reverence for the sustaining power of Food, showing gratitude, fellowship with others seated at the same meal …
Youngsters today within our own families even often pooh-pooh the ritual devised by our Vedic ancestors as mumbo-jumbo … They’ve not been taught properly to fully appreciate and understand the non-tangible, ethereal purpose it serves. They, in fact, must take a good look at the video-clips and article above — and perhaps take the trouble to read Dr.Atul Gawande’s book too — to get some idea of how ritual shisha kanko actually in invisible but very real and undeniable ways has been proven to promote rail safety in Japan or how it makes modern surgery safer. How and why it does so is hard to explain … in any rational or scientific way … But then as the poet says , “more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of ..” and you could say the same thing about ancient Vedic ritual movements too.
Sudarshan Madabushi