The Body :
Every man desires a happy and long life in which to enjoy this beautiful world. Few are concerned with pleasures that will come after death. Some men get pleasure in this life, however, sacrificing for others pleasure. These are first- rate people and do immense good to the society. We mention some such men of Bengal with the number of years they lived. It will be seen from the list how short their lives were.
Name Age At Death
Raja Ram Mohan Roy 59
Iswar Chandra Gupta 47
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee 56
Harish Chandra Mukherjee 38
Kali Prasanna Singha 30
Raj Krishna Mukherjee 40
Dwarkanath Mitra 41
Krishnadas Paul 45
Umesh Chandra Banerjee 62
Ashutosh Mukherjee 59
Ramesh Chandra Mitra 59
Sree Ramkrishna 51
Bijoy Krishna Goswami 58
Keshab Chandra Sen 45
Madhusudan Dutta 49
Nabin Chandra Sen 63
Ananda Mohan Bose 59
Dwijendra Lal Roy 49
Swami Vivekananda 39
Chittaranjan Das 55
Only Umesh Chandra Banerjee and Nabin Chandra Sen lived over 60 years. Unless the untimely death of our great men is checked, we will lose the benefit of their great touch prematurely.
Generally men’s diseases start in their stomachs. More attention should be paid to the stomach. To keep it well we must be particular about diet. The first thing to remember in this connection is that God has made us not for eating, but for growing and enjoying the world. We should therefore follow not simply our appetites but the lead and advice of our spiritual greats. Both mental and physical well-being should be followed.
For another thing we may be mistaken if we think to dine together irrespective of caste and creed. We do not achieve a greater unity by this. Westerners have the custom, and we have allowed ourselves to be influenced by them, but examination will disclose that the custom has defects and that they should change it. Seers and Saints in our country have laid down some rules and not to have restrictions about eating. They ask us not to have cooked food from everyone, not to accept invitations and offerings of foods from every door, and not to have food in front of unwanted persons. These are good rules for us to observe.
We need control over our senses if we want to preserve health. Control does not mean suppression. In our country we have often followed the restrictions of brahmacharjya, mitachar, and sanjam, but we have nonetheless failed to keep our health. We need not judge just now whether our social system is superior or inferior to the west’s, but we can say that though westerners are less strict regarding sexual expression, their health is better than ours. Some people like to break the social bars and experiment with their lives to find out what is good and bad. This is a sort of inquisitiveness on their part, and we do not want to pass judgment on it. But we maintain that we can have a pure and decent life with freeness in every activity and that is better than suppression or indulgence. This is our faith. Western people have generally happy lives, but we are not to conclude from this that all their social customs are ideal. There are various rules for the guidance of married persons in every country, by which they can keep healthy and have healthy children.
We need good environment. Our neighbors are prolific sources of diseases. Furthermore, on a global scale, many diseases have been both exported from, and imported into this country. We cannot deny the influence of the environment. When our neighbors are leading clean and wholesome lives, our own chances of health and happiness become good.
We spoke of the early deaths of some of our great men. These early deaths may very well have been due to the effect of poverty-stricken, half-fed, ill-nourished, ailing, uneducated environment. Where in a home men breathe sighs of want and distress, good health cannot be expected. We must maintain a triumphant exuberant atmosphere in the home and social life.
The Mind:
Now we shall deal with what is higher than the physical. Mind is the guiding factor in all we do and of our health as well. When our mind is all right, practically no disease can trouble us. If we can think of man as absolute, it is because we can think of the mind as absolute. Whatever we see or conceive is limited, but he who has a concentrated and unbounded mind can see beyond the limitations. We can easily perceive the mental differences between the learned and the un- learned, even between two persons of the same standard of education. The concentrated mind is advanced, the unconcentrated one is dull. Differences in mental power are due to differences in conception. One man has a better basic conception than another. If we can properly concentrate our minds, we shall have better ideas than the ordinary people around us.
The uncolored mind is the factory of pure things, but the mind is generally colored by one or more of the complexes: sex, anger, ego, greed, illusion, envy. Its energy is endless and lightning quick. Formerly men used few methods to satisfy their desires, but now they employ plenty. They have found many avenues to display their complexes. We can say that the mind of man of today has been rotting day by day.
The State rules over the people of a country, and the few selected individuals who represent the state may be called the government. They govern according to the needs and opinions of the people they rule and they are partially responsible for the health of the people. When we observe that the health of people is going to rack and ruin, can we not conclude that the minds of our governors have become rotten? The mental health of the nation and its governors is not to be reckoned as good simply by looking at regulations concerning criminals and observing that their number is declining or by finding that adultery has been prohibited by the lawmakers. Complexes are guiding almost everyone. The minds of men may be termed good where they are being adjusted methodically. We cannot deny of course, that great men have tried to lift the minds of others individually and collectively but they have failed.
Modern psychology has had a big development. Freud and others have become famous. Their studies have influenced the intellectuals. But our opinion is that the human mind will not be much improved by psychological studies. For this improvement it is necessary to touch the inner man. When war breaks out, there is generally mental and moral deterioration. What can be done to check it? How can the world be turned to good? Shall we feel consoled when our complexes will be oppressed, like serpents struck to death, and a new rising emerges from that oppression? The poison inside the serpent’s mouth can kill a man any time.
We get brain impressions of what we see in this world. One American scientist invented a machine that proves it. Our thoughts are part of the world we see. They also, from birth onward, give their impressions on our brain. Impressions both gross and fine from the environment goad our lives. Such impressions fill the mind. Mind of itself is pure and uncolored, but impressions on the brain create in her a color of their kind. Many books have been written in our country on the progressive mind. Modern Psychologists also have put out books on the subject. In the Gita, Arjuna says to Lord Krishna on the subject:
“So turbulent and restless is the mind.
Just like a thing possessed,
Its scoots about in gusts of lusty want.
To hold it back is hard,
Like holding back the wind.” (VI, 34)
From this we might conclude that mind has some basis of its own though modern Psychologists usually accept its manifestations as itself. To the quoted words of Arjuna above, Lord Krishna replies:
“No doubt the mind is restless,
And hard to get a hold of,
And yet with perseverance
The thing can still be done.” (VI, 35)
And adds:
“By constant practice
One trains the mind to anything one likes.
Think God all day,
And thus attain to Him.”
With these words Lord Krishna is really describing an above-normal condition of the mind.
We have spoken of the existence of the mind and of its absoluteness. We shall not deal with the subject as the scientists and story-tellers have done. We shall only touch on what the great seers have said; for there is nothing like their saying.
Many great men have been born in the past. They attempted to elevate the minds of their fellow human beings. We call men brahmins when they give their lives in service to others and we offer them our homage. We also offer our homage to men of this kind living in the west. It is shameful on our part to have to admit it, but we have not followed those who would have liked to lead us upward.
Now to creation. The seers have explained that creation occurred in three stages: 1) Pinda-Sthula (material- spiritual region or stage),2) Brahmanda or Suksma (spiritual-material region), and 3) Dayal-Karan (spiritual region).
Scientists try to discern the finer units and truths in gross matter. But the seers tried to go from the fine to the finer. By ‘fine’ is meant the spirit-current or sound at the root of creation. Scientists are less sensitive than the saints and seers. These latter operate on purely spiritual level.
Seers are usually detached from the world. But we on our part should not exclude them from the society. We may not be able to understand them because of their higher level. They try to conceive things by inner realization. This is not easy for us to accept. We generally keep aloof from such men or put them in such high and reverenced positions that there is no normal communication between them and us. We and they seem poles apart. They have realized some spiritual stage to which they are confined. Unless they get higher spiritual guidance, they cannot proceed on to the next stage. Here is a chart of the main stages:
Dayal Desh-Pure Consciousness
Brahmanda Desh-Light Ego
Pinda Desh-Gross Ego
Electrons and protons are the finer units of the atom. So these stages are the finer units of the mind. Seers have spoken of a Trikuti plane in the Brahmandadesh which is the normal home of the mind. The mind can travel to Dayaldesh. In the centre of Trikuti mind goes on receiving the impressions of the world. This is what our seers say. And they say it is absolutely essential for us to reach Dayaldesh if we are to have control over our minds.
Mental manifestations are ever changing. Even in the Brahmananda stage the mind can fluctuate. The mind has innumerable impressions and expressions, but until these are brought under complete control, it cannot be termed healthy mentally.
The Spirit :
The spirit has come from Supreme Soul or Sat. Sat is eternal existence and becoming. The spirit also has existence and becoming. The body is formed from a consolidation of spirit. An analogy may be drawn with the formation of ice. Ice is a condensed form of water. So our body, consisting of blood, flesh, fat, skin, bone, marrow, nerves, etc., is a consolidation of the spirit. The spirit is, in our body, mingled with our mind and senses. The body and organic functions are also sources of the spirit. There is an inter-relationship. The spirit is immeasurably powerful than the physical organs, but its expositions depend on the functioning of those organs. The spirit is sometimes checked in its expansion by the organs to which it is connected. An expansive and expanding spirit is a sign of good health.
We have said the mind has existence and is absolute. The mind moves inward by the impulse of consciousness. The soul on the other hand emerges when the pride of sense and action is dormant. The Setaswatar Upanishad says:
“The soul is subtle and supreme;
It dwells in the core of creatures.” (111,20)
And again:
“It has no hands, but takes;
No feet, but moves;
No eyes, but sees;
No ears, but hears.” (111,19)
The Rigved says:
“Two beautiful birds are on the tree;
They are friends and stay together.
One eats fruits and other things,
But the other remains unfed
and only looks at the first.”
This means the Supreme Soul and the spirit live together. The spirit, beautiful and indeed existing because of its on-looking partner Soul, feeds on the body while the Soul, supreme and bearing all, does not. This realization and attainment of good health are one thing.
One Upanishad says,
“Turn me from evil to good,
from darkness to light,
And deliver me from death unto life.”
And Again :
“Awake! Arise!
Rent in two thy ignorance
And cleave unto the greater man !”
These two inspiring quotations are enough to lead us to good.
Let all men enjoy good health since that is their common craving. Good health involves good living. Men have descended from the Supreme Soul; from it their health, their all, begins. Surface health is not good health. The spirit must be elevated for real health to materialize. The elevated spirit is the spirit linked to Soul or God. The simultaneous growth of body, mind and spirit is the best proof that we are healthy.
Generally men don’t like to deal with unknowns. There is a spiritual life for those who are interested, but it is useless to those who are not. We sometimes want to satisfy our desires; sometimes want to suppress them. But a man, to be good, shall have to sublimate them with an elevated spirit.
Conclusion :
We have discussed the spiritual side of health. Now we want to say a few more words on this subject and close. We have said that in every walk of our life we require concentration. There are many good men in this country who want to elevate their spirits and do good to men of all kinds. Lord Krishna said to Arjuna :
“The senses are above the flesh they serve,
And over them is mind,
And over mind is the directing will.” (III, 42)
Here we put a diagram :
Supreme Soul
Dayal Desh-Home of Soul or Pure Spirit
Ego and Will
Mind
Senses
Body
There are three divisions in creation and three divisions in our brains : cerebrum (white matter), cerebellum (gray matter), medulla oblongata. Our seers say that cerebrum is related to Dayaldesh, cerebellum, to Brahmandadesh, and medulla oblongata to Pindadesh. The mind can travel to Dayaldesh, men can be elevated and can dedicate themselves to the good of all; but the cerebrum has to be activated for this.
The question naturally arises: how can the cerebrum be activated, and how can it be activated without the other two sections of the brain being also activated? Seers say it is possible by attachment and the chanting of a name. Freud calls the attaching urge ‘libido’. There are sounds in the Dayaldesh region. If we chant name of a similar vibration, we can in-tune ourselves with that region. This is the only way, say the seers, to unfold the cerebrum and achieve health in body, mind and spirit.