II. WHY DO WE FALL ILL
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The root causes of disease
Seeker: I beg the compassion of Your Reverence. Please teach me the way of emancipation.
Seng-ts'an*: Why, who is binding you?
Seeker: No one is binding me!
Seng-ts'an: Then why do you search for emancipation?
* Zen master
The roots of disease, both physical and mental, go far deeper than we can imagine, into the very depths of our psyche.
What causes it?
Strange as ii may sound, every single one of us is leading a dual life two lives at the same time.
The first is what Swamiji calls our 'Imaginary Life' or 'Dream Life', which is the kind of life we would ideally want to lead — our ideas of what to do in our lives, what sorts of relationships, we would want to cultivate, what things we would want to possess and so on. In conflict with this Imaginary Life is our 'Practical Life' or 'Real Life', which is, the kind of life we are actually leading — where we have to earn to live, bring up our children, meet and get along with unpleasant people, endure disharmonious relationships and do all kinds of things we don't want to, all in the name of practicality.
For most of us, there is unfortunately a huge gap between our dream life and our real life. This constant conflict between the two naturally leads to a lot of mental stress, partly because we are unable to deal with issues intelligently.
With the passage of time, issues evolve into problems and are internalized to become worries, finally manifesting themselves as physical & mental disease.
So disease is nothing but ‘A state of being ill at ease with oneself, with one’s dreams and with reality.’
How do we bridge this gap?
The traditional (and easier) way of solving this problem is just to stop dreaming. In fact, that’s what we’ve been doing in India for the past 2000 years. For ages we have condemned Desire as the cause of all misery, and warned people to stay away from it.
But does this work?
NO.
Living without desires can lead to a terrible apathy in our minds – the dull state of Tamas. If we are taught to want nothing, need nothing and seek nothing, what meaning is left in life?
Instead, says Swamiji’s, the best way to merge our imaginary and real lives would be simply to create sufficient energy to make your dreams true!
Dreams are our life energy. Dreams are our source of life.
So don’t stop dreaming, even if the dream seems impossible or the path is fraught with challenges.
That energy, which helps us dream, also gives us the potential to fulfill them.
Awaken this tremendous potential that hides within you, within your dreams. And you will have a life that’s even, richer and more beautiful than you dream of.
Does this mean that all diseases really originate in our minds?
Yes.
Today it is well known that 85% of the diseases we suffer from are psychosomatic, i.e. born of our own minds, of our own volition. In other words, we create our own diseases.
In Swamiji’s words,
“Many come to me and complain that they have such-and-such disease.
But I-say, all your diseases are your guests! Does that sound strange?
It is true, nevertheless.
By following a wrong lifestyle, you unconsciously invite diseases upon yourself. You create your own diseases out of your mind, your thoughts and your behavior.
Your unnatural food habits, your negative, thoughts, wrong sentiments, false ideas about life, all serve as invitations to a host of diseases.”
How do we make the transition from disease to health, and unleash tins energy hidden within us?
There are two ways:
Meditation: Meditation is nothing hut the process of getting in touch with our inner divine selves. In the blaze of awareness that results, physical & mental disease
simply dissolves away. The methods and techniques offered by different schools may differ, but the philosophy remains the same. Ultimately, meditation is the best means we have to heal ourselves. But,
For those of us already burdened by disease, and who are mentally or spiritually unprepared to venture into meditation as the sole source of healing, the first step to take would be
Healing: Here, Swamiji and his initiates undertake to cure a whole range of diseases through a process known as Divine Healing. This is simply the harnessing and infusion of Divine. Energy into the body of the diseased person. In Swamiji’s divine presence, even the most severe diseases melt away and, health, vitality and mental well-being are quickly regained.