/namastE Shri Mukund. I think we can get a better understanding of /acAram and /maTi if we try to capture the basic ideas behind it. One way to do this is to look at the meaning of these words. What do these words mean? Are there English equivalents or are these ideas unique to us? Let me attempt by beginning with the word /maTi. A relevant meaning for /maTi is "retreat" or "withdrawal". The word comes from /maTittal --- to fold. We fold a paper; that is /maTittal. What happens? The full-size has become half-size. The paper has been withdrawn from its full use. Retreat is a religious idea seeking withdrawal from the world to be in unuion with God for a few minutes or a few days. Catholics practice /maTi, when they enter into retreat every year --- even children. No talk for most of the day. Only reading. The word /maTi has negative use too! You must withdraw of course routinely, not for ever! When you do that you are a /maTayan, one who has separated himself or hesrelf from reality of the world. He or she has built an isoalted world good only for hin or her. That is /maTayan. A very god example is given by /maHA/kavi subramanya bhAratiyAr. /mAtar tammai iZivu ceyyun maTamaiyaik koZuttuvOm. That is a stupid isolation of women from public life until Gandhiji came. There is a pleasnat use of the word /maTi. Women are iften bashful. Let a boy of 16 0r 16 tell a little girl of 14 how pretty she is. She is going to fold. She is a /maTantai. A /maTantai is a woman slim enough to be able to fold! (Sorry, not putting down others; I cannot change the meaning of words!). I hope it is clear to you that /maTi in the sense of "retreat" is good for all of us. What we need to do is to get expand the current concept of /maTi to one where people reamin in "retreat camps" For example, /gItai maTi will be an occasion for people to fold into the /gItA. /vantanam. Visu
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