By Matsyavatara dasa
Without healing oneās psyche, self-knowledge and spiritual realization remain only a mirage. Distorted mental representations, not only generate heavy unbalances and serious pathologies on the psycho-physical level, but also impair our access to Reality. For this reason taking care of oneās mind must be an integral and indispensable part of a global project of re-education, with spiritual realization as the ultimate goal .
To modify our mental automatisms, we must intervene on psychic contents. To modify the psychic contents, it is indispensable to modify our habits, to begin with the food we feed our mind with. Our mind, just like our body, must be nourished. There is therefore food for the body and food for the mind, with an easy or not so easy digestive process. There are in fact indigestible foods that produce toxins and originate diseases and healthy and nutritious foods that give vigor and clearness to oneās physic and mental complex. As long as we donāt change the food we feed our mind with, our mind cannot change its behavioral models. The conditioned conscience is like a field, the mental field (citta). What we sow in this field is bound to grow and inevitably give its fruits, good or bad.
The mind feeds on three types of food. The first one is the one that nourishes also the physical body. The second one is made of impressions, emotions, and thoughts, a very important and delicate nourishment, on which psychic health depends. The third, and most important one, is constituted by the gunas , the structural elements of the universe and the subtle fundamentals of matter. Even though gunas are indestructible and non eliminable, they can be transformed in their reciprocal relationships of strength. The mind, in fact, through physical food, impressions and progressive transformation of gunas, can gradually improve its predominant characteristics by moving from tamas, to rajas and from rajas to sattva. In accordance with Vedic tradition, the safest and most efficient way for the improvement of oneās character is constituted by the company of saint people who, through their personal example, inspire purely sattvic models of life.
Up to recently, experts of neurosciences affirmed that every day in the human body about one hundred million neurons die and will never regenerate. Today, this statement is in doubt. There is something certain, however, this process is hastened by incorrect habits, unfortunately very common, for example the use of intoxicants.
In Italy there are eighty thousand deaths per year due to smoke and forty thousands due to alcohol. Even without considering extreme examples, the consumption of stimulants of all kinds, from those apparently harmless, such as caffeine, to the more harmful ones, such as opiates, can certainly disturb the psychophysical equilibrium of a person. This individual, after and initial excitement, falls in a deep depression state, which is a disease not casually very common today (the diagnosed cases in the world are four hundred million). This will result, as a consequence, in the arising of serious ailments of the body and of the personality such as neurosis, psychosis and senile dementia, which are all continuously growing today.
Ayurveda explains in an accurate and scientific fashion how any incorrect life habit compromises the health of mind and body. Overeating, for example, is one of the main causes of precocious aging and of many other diseases. All that we eat in excess of our necessities becomes poison. The opposite tendency, causing one to eat less food than necessary, is just as harmful.
A superficial observer will not notice the consequences of this and other numerous behaviors, however, these actions, in time, will become habits and will determine the individual psychophysical structure, his character and in the end the quality of his present and future life.
Dissatisfaction, greed, envy, rage, fear and other negative feelings are all produced by the ego, the ahamkaraās reflections and the distorted perception of oneself. When an individualās conscience is totally projected outward, perceptions and emotions continuously modify themselves, in accordance with events and circumstances. This causes an extenuating and pitiful alternating of excitement and depression, which are diseases themselves and causes of other illness. Instead, when the conscience is aimed inward and the fulcrum is the spiritual self, anything that happens on the exterior doesnāt cause trouble anymore. The concentration the immutable and transcendent reality allows one to experiment a deep feeling of well-being and beatitude which comes from the full consciousness of oneās deep nature and of the nature of phenomenal reality .
The Vedas explain that there are three levels of mind. Manas, the exterior mind, is the instrument of superficial thought and its function is totally to the exterior. Buddhi is the intermediate mind, or intelligence. Cittah is the deep and unconscious mind, which is sometimes defined as conditioning conscience.
_________________
This last one is certainly much closer to the spiritual self than the other ones, however it doesnāt represent the highest level of consciousness. When we address the deep mind, we are still in the ahamkara area, which is reflected or conditioned conscience. Pure conscience is placed beyond space and time and beyond even the smallest identification with phenomenal reality.
The sensorial mind is extremely mutant and fallible because it is constantly subject to the interaction between the senses and their objects. The senses pour inside the superficial mind rivers of information and feelings, thus generating a continuous flow of impressions and desires connected to the world of the senses and therefore out of the real nature and happiness of the self.
The individual who doesnāt perceive the reality beyond manas, is netted and overcome by this flux of impressions (vritti) and desires and tries to satisfy them by undergoing troubles, deprivations and sufferings. His desperate search for happiness, however, is bound to remain frustrated.
When the individual regains conscience of his deep identity, the spiritual one, he becomes able to discriminate between sat and asat , reality and illusion (tattva-viveka). His intelligence (buddhi) is enlightened and it doesnāt let into oneās deep conscience whatever the exterior mind continually proposes, which is cause of pollution and suffering.
As already stated, there is food for the body and food for the mind and both need to be accurately chosen. For the body, we must avoid preserved foods because their content healing and vital properties is exhausted. Most of all, we must avoid foods coming from violent actions. We should also avoid eating with greed, in excess, or during unsuitable times because the effects of food on oneās body and mind mostly depend on the fashion and mental state at the moment of consumption.
It is equally important to nourish the mind and thoughts, desires and emotions, in harmony with the cosmic and divine order (ritam, dharma) by accurately keeping away those psychic contents that pollute the superficial and deep mind. These psychic contaminated and contaminating objects leave traces in the subconscious, which are deep impressions, furrows (samskara) and tendencies (vasana) that will later determine the so call mental automatisms. Though a constant research for purity of situations, company, visions and sattvic sounds, the individual gradually frees himself of the heaviest karmic burdens , by reacquiring the spiritual vision and the faith in a Superior reality, thus favoring his own and othersā well-being and growth. We must underline in fact that every psychic imbalance, such as depression and other mental diseases, from the lightest neurosis to the most serious psychosis, finds its deep roots in the incorrect utilization of oneās intelligence through a voluntary or involuntary infraction to dharma. Dharma is the cosmic order that sustains everything and constitutes the fundamental of all equilibriums.
In accordance to the Veda and to my personal experience, this is true even when apparently it looks as if this imbalance was due to external situations unrelated to the suffering individual. When the person, instead of acting in harmony with dharma, violates it, his physical apparatus is the first one to get hurt, more or less severely, in accordance with the seriousness of the error committed.
As the last analysis, therefore, diseases are caused by a distorted perception of the self, which compels body and mind to behave dangerously and artificially. When we regain consciousness of our spiritual nature, we no longer identify with our body and mind. When the subject regains his precious instruments, but he is neither conditioned nor dominated by them, he learns how to use them in the appropriate way and will gain his psychophysical health back.
The guide of an enlightened person, who educates with discrimination (viveka) between whatās real and whatās not, by helping the individual in situating himself in the deep mind and in accessing spiritual life and consciousness of his real nature, is indispensable to allow one to look into oneself. This will enable consciousness of oneās behaviors and their consequences and exit from oneās mental conditioners. In Vedic tradition this person is the Guru, the Spiritual Master. Thanks to him, it is possible to change oneās habits and invert our existential route. The Guru is therefore to His disciple, much more than a psychologist because He doesnāt only show how to heal the imbalances of the mind, leading him back to a so-called level of ānormalityā. He furthermore teaches how to transcend the psyche, by going beyond this instrument constituted of prakriti that, no matter how correctly functional, remains limited and incapable of capturing whatās beyond matter, the Spiritual World. Fortunately, there are in fact also behaviors that exercise a very benefic influence on our psychophysical complex. The Guru enforces these behaviors with His teachings and mainly with His example. The development of self-consciousness through devotion to God and to the Spiritual Master, by following certain rules, such as compassion, non-violence and sexual continence are a very efficient remedy against a series of psychophysical ailments. In general, by structuring oneās life in accordance to healthy and regulated habits, such as going to sleep early, raising early in the morning and meditating on the Holy Names , eating fresh food, doing the right things at regular times and taking care of the body and mindās hygiene helps to prevent and cure numerous diseases.
The benefit from the development of devotion to God is enormous. It induces one to think in a positive fashion, by entertaining empathy, friendship, and solidarity feelings toward all creatures, not only humans. It would also help one to avoid destructive instincts such as rage, lust, greed, envy and rancor.
Positive thinking must not be confused with fatalistic sentimentalism. We must not be abstractly positive, but we must commit ourselves and act concretely in accordance to a well structured project, in view of a spiritual project, otherwise, it will only result in a short lasting farce. Thinking positively means seeing problems and quickly elaborating solutions in accordance to dharmya rules .
Complaints are a symptom of little intelligence and little vision. They deprive one of energy, they are exhausting, cause depression and prevent ability to analyze the problem in all of its components and adequate response. They keep one from analyzing it from the viewpoint of reasoning (vitarka) and knowledge (jnana) to be able to face it and solve it . In case of necessity, after having tried by ourselves without results to face and solve our crucial problems, the Vedas suggest we turn to the Guru or to other wise people, for suggestions. The responsibility for our final decisions is not in any way to be delegated.
Developing a positive mentality is not expected, nor free. We must predispose ourselves to the best and cultivate those habits that favor our perfect self-control and the correct management of our psychophysical complex. We must adjust our tastes at all levels. It is indispensable, for example, to nourish ourselves with sattvic foods. These are vegetarian foods that cause the minor possible suffering to other living beings, with simple, fresh, clean ingredients, offered to God with gratefulness and love. Sattvic food influences the body and the mind in a sattvic manner. Tamasic or rajasic food release instead in the psychophysical structure a whole series of vrittis , all the same tamasic or rajasic, which represent an obstacle to the development of a positive mentality.
The quality of our thoughts is therefore the consequence of our behavior. Food, company, social environment and actions determine our mental contents, which determine our actions by highly influencing oneās psychophysical health, character and destiny. Through the nervous system, emotional and psychic states are transmitted to the cells in the organism. Health, therefore, cannot be re-established only through chemical-pharmaceutical expedients. Tiredness, lack of memory and impotence, for example are often not caused by organic disorders, but by powerful mental automatisms. Of course, even through chemicals itās possible to transform the psychophysical states, whether positively or negatively. For example certain medicines reduce the rajasic action by sedating those hyper-excitements that could damage the subject or others. Other examples include the tremors and loss of memory provoked by the consumption of alcohol or the devastating effects of the lysergic acid (LSD). Such drugs make the magmatic river of the subconscious overflow into the conscious level in a moment when the subject is not able to handle it by using the discriminating light of intelligence and a sufficiently bright conscience. It is easy to image the extent of the damage.
Psychic influence covers a decisive role in the managing of the entire physical body. The nervous system works as the command panel of all the functions of the psychophysical complex. The over fifty trillion cells of our body are informed or regulated by the nervous system every moment. The nervous system determines, directly and indirectly, all functions, from the electrochemical exchanges of the synapsis between neurons, to the important and crucial decisions in life. If an individual begins to entertain positive and elevate thoughts, the neuronal cells receive these positive stimuli and send āmessenger cellsā throughout the body. This will increase the number and quality of their performance and also groups of cells previously inactive can perfectly regain their function. āSoldier cellsā, which identify harmful elements in the body and intervene to fight them, get stronger if sustained by a positive mentality generated by deep consciousness. The psyche, in fact is not located in one point only (the brain). Every cell and organ has its own intelligence that it uses to accomplish its functions in the ācity of nine doorsā , as it was defined by the ancient Vedic texts, i.e. the body. It is an animated universe, perfectly regulated by tiny equilibriums, all similar to the great cosmic universe. According to the Vedas, as the microcosm of the human body has its counterpart in the universe macrocosm, so the human psyche has its counterpart in the cosmic psyche and the human soul has its counterpart in the cosmic soul. The Vedas and particularly the Upanishads continually refer to the relationship between micro and macrocosm for an easier comprehension of the unity that connects all the beings among each other, with the creation and the Creator, God.
When instead, psychic contents are negative, they turn into rage, concupiscence, hatred, resentment, envy, delusion and depression and āsoldier cellsā receive discouraging news from these bad messengers. This causes these cells to become confused and weak and to be easily defeated by external pathogenic agents or āinvadersā thus giving free course to disease.
All of this happens through channels exterior to the conscious self. Even if we think that certain impressions, emotions and thoughts are directed to others, maybe to those whom we consider our rivals, in reality they are mainly directed toward ourselves, thus seriously compromising our psychophysical functions.
If an individual is under the effect of tamoguna, which corresponds to psychic indolence, fainting of conscience , or if he is overcome by excitement provoked by rajasic feelings, (such as desire or rancor), his cells and his organs will be affected, sometimes in a devastating manner.
As the body produces various waste substances, so the physiological refuse of the psyche is constituted by negative and darkened thoughts which, in an healthy body must be expelled. Differently from organic waste, mental toxins can be neutralized, not by removing them, but by reorganizing the environment and first of all by selecting the impressions, the company, the food and the behavior. In other words, by curing, healing and subliming the individual on all anthropological levels.
In order to do it, one must deeply identify the causes that have produced those thoughts and the work to be done reminds in some way the one of the archeologist engaged in taking to the surface objects that lay on the bottom. In this case we speak of objects of psychic nature that stagnate in the deep dark meanders of the unconscious where, for the above causes, a series of complexes and personality disturbances originate.
The spiritual researcher working through bhakti lives an anthropological transformation that strengthens all of his qualities and individual characteristics by weakening his egoistical-worldly interests and the subconscious destructive instincts at the same time. Bhakti heals the turbulent mentality turned to the exterior. It allows to disconnect the mind from the dictatorship of the senses and the senses from the attachments toward their objects (vishaya) in the external world, thus enabling the journey to interiority and to the discovery that beatitude and immortality are not outside ourselves but inside, where the self consciousness is. They are in that spiritual dimension described in Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishads and other Vedic texts.
Bhakti is the conclusive teaching of Vedic-Vaishnava Holy Scriptures. As the religion of love, it oversees the titanic conflicting strengths of nature and harmonizes them by achieving with prodigious truthfulness the coniunctio oppositorum, in the West was sought-after even by alchemists. Thatās why it is considered the main way to reach the nirvana state or freedom from the conditioners of the opposites.
He who is always inclined toward negative thoughts and cannot see the solutions of his problems, must be considered definitely sick, just as he who is affected by ailments to the liver or the heart, therefore he must be treated with compassion. The biggest problems are constituted by blocks in affection and by the incapability to express oneās emotions. Between those that cannot openly speak of their difficulties, the most seriously ill, we have the autistics. Even the opposite attitude: logorrhea and self-exaltation is a symptom of serious psychic illness. Neurotics and psychotics are definitely energy consumers. They consume theirs and othersā energy and, even if they have a social role, they often end up being avoided by everyone on the human level and live in an affective desert. The company of simple, mature and spiritual people, able to give affection and knowledge, is the best cure for them and in general for anyone who suffers from personality illnesses.
To re-harmonize various levels of personality, ancient Vedic texts suggest some particular therapies. Theyāre not expensive, theyāre ecologic and, mainly, very effective. First of all they underline the importance of an honest life (arjavam), in its entire meaning, by respecting God and human beings. It is also fundamental that everyone should create in his own house a space dedicated to the sacred, a room with Deities images and images of the Guru, where one can perform practices that help him regenerate, recharge with positive energies and continuously re-harmonize with the order that sustains the universe. These immensely beneficial practices, successfully experimented for millenniums, can be grouped in four main categories: arcanam, or the worshiping of the Divine in a particular form called Murti; japa or samkirtana, the invocation and individual or collective meditation on the Divine Names; svadhyaya, the study of the sacred texts through which one deepens his introspection; satsanga, the company of profoundly religious people.
Gradually, together with a right behavior , practices free the physical field from negative infiltrations, by allowing for a complete restoration of mental and intellectual faculties and, in general, of the individualās health on all levels.
The wise man doesnāt get involved with negative thoughts, not even in situations commonly considered dramatic, because of his uninterrupted devotion that firmly connects him to the Supreme. To obtain emotional control of events, it is necessary to develop two fundamental qualities. These are abhyasa, constant spiritual practice, and vairagya, emotional detachment from phenomena . This obviously doesnāt mean the we must become insensitive like stones, but that we must not let the external phenomena influence us, by remaining continuously connected to Reality. It means passing from sentimentalism to real sentiment. This level of conscience is not easy to reach, it is however reachable through devotion to God. Honesty, time and effort are indispensable.
Just as a scientist, the sadhaka can experiment on himself, in the daily life lab, the difference between the influence of one mental state from the other. According to the Vedas, it is necessary, however, that a Guru, realized in the science of the self, should guide him through his āexperimentsā by showing the proper instruments to use and the methodologies to apply. Otherwise, the results will be inconclusive, painful and sometimes filled with sour surprises. A Guru that is available with His example and His teachings is necessary. He must orient His disciple toward devotion to God, thought of light and the most elevated comprehension (spiritual nature).
The student applies to his own life the spiritual knowledge received by the Guru and he turns to Him every time he finds serious difficulties, so he can understand where he is making mistakes and can correct himself. To make this possible, Guru and disciple must know each other deeply. They must have developed a profound and authentic personal relationship based on reciprocal esteem, affection and loyalty. This usually cannot happen without an initial assiduous frequentation, in fact, in Vedic society, the disciple used to live for a consistent period of his life in the house-school of the Guru (Gurukula). As it would be difficult for a doctor to cure a patient that lives thousands of kilometers away, the Guru, at least in a preliminary phase, must stay in contact with His disciple. He must stimulate him to apply the cure and from time to time administer to him the āmedicineā he needs the most. Later, when the spiritual relationship solidifies and a strong empathy is established, physical distance no longer represents an obstacle. The disciple then remembers and acts in accordance to the Guruās teachings. At that level, the messages even arrive telepathically.
The Guru-disciple relationship must not be virtual, nor strictly telepathic. The Guru corrects the student for his own good and out of authentic affection for him. He doesnāt work to obtain any reward. His cure is completely free, ecological and holistic, geared to the development of the personality of the disciple in accordance to his natural tendencies. Spiritual health, or the consciousness of our relationship with God, generates all other types of health: intellectual, mental, physical, social and economical by enlightening every dark corner of our mind and developing our entire personality.
In the Vedas, light is always a synonym of inner enlightenment, intuition, knowledge and the supreme source of light is God. The torch of faith and of high thoughts, founded on sat, should be daily protected and nourished. For this to be possible we must adhere to the principle of dharma, which are essential for the prevention and the cure of many mental illnesses caused by avidya or lack of spiritual consciousness.
Health in the mind-body complex can only come from the patient gaining his conscience of his own spiritual nature. This consciousness takes the individual to a quick restoration of harmony within himself and with the universe in which he is integrated.
In accordance with modern medicine, it is extremely hard to recover from serious physical and mental diseases. Unfortunately, the dominating bio-medical model takes under little consideration the dynamic body-mind interactions, therefore it has the tendency to minimize them. Sometimes the importance of spiritual consciousness in the healing process is denied. According to Ayurveda one can be healed from many diseases, sometime even serious ones, but the patient must work honestly, constantly and with profound commitment. This must be accomplished under the guide of an expert therapist by undertaking with trust a rigorous sadhana and by always looking for Krishna prasadam .
______________
So, as it is necessary to work to obtain money, in the same manner, to obtain a healthy mind that produces positive and beneficial thoughts it is necessary to cultivate purity of thought, speech and action. This will result in the establishment of a harmonic relationship with the Cosmos and in respect for divine laws. An āelevated thoughtā canāt be produced artificially. Psychic contents are authentically elevated when a person lives with coherence the principles that govern the universe, by harmonizing with them. This harmony, like a spring continuously flowing, is capable of continuously regenerating thoughts, impressions and emotions by removing that illusionary powder (maya) which tends to cover everything in the phenomenal universe.
The oriental wisdom asks what is the advantage of looking for the moon rays into a well instead of admiring its splendor directly in the sky. Similarly, what is the advantage of looking for charm and joy in this world if we donāt even know ourselves and we are not connected to God, the Source of this charm? To firmly enjoy good health, none of our activities must leave out of consideration the well-being of others, the harmony with the universe and the contact with the Origin of everything. Authentic God consciousness, conscience of the Supreme Creator and Ruler of the worlds, the infinitely Fascinating , is the warranty for a global wellbeing. At this level of consciousness, all the body cells are nourished not only physically but also on the psychic and spiritual level with noble, pure and elevated thoughts.
The Vedas explain that it is possible to manage oneās body, economy, job, family and religious life without developing neurosis and becoming depressed or excited, irresponsible or worse. The requests of the psychophysical complex must not be negated or removed, but satisfied by sublimating them. They then will not become an obstacle to spiritual realization. In this way, body and mind become extremely precious instruments that will be functional for our global growth.
We should live in the consciousness that the condition of our future existence depends on our current level of conscience .
The purpose of our existence is spiritual realization, by putting ourselves in contact (yoga) with Reality, with the origin, and with the Supreme Maintainer of the entire existence: God. Realizing God means rediscovering ourselves and our ontological nature of immortality, knowledge and beatitude (sat, cit, ananda). This means transcending the illusionary ego and regaining harmony with ourselves, God, the creation and all creatures.
For More information:
Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta
Via Gramsci 64 –
56038āØ Ponsacco, PISA, Italy
tel: +390587733730
Mobile. +393203264838
fax: +390587739898
www.c-s-b.org/en
csbinternational@c-s-b.org