Understanding
the disease beyond pathological analysis
Dr. Y. V. Chawla
When I completed my diplomas in Siddha Medicine and Thanuology (Impact
ailments), I thought that simply administering medicines could ensure
recovery and in many cases it did. When a number of difficult and
chronic cases got cured, I was jubilant over my success. But as time
elapsed, I noticed that certain patients even with simple ailments did
not recover despite my giving medicines after thoroughly consulting
the relevant literature.
Slowly it dawned on me that simply prescribing medicines was not
enough, there were other factors which were responsible for cure apart
from the patient’s eating habits, viz.
(a) Patient’s faith in the medicines,
(b) His inner conflicts,
(c) His adjustment to his environment,
(d) His attitude to his daily job,
(e) Any recent critical incident and so on...
In short, the patient’s view of his disease would affect his recovery.
If he worried as to how to get rid of the affliction too much, he
would be likely to get enmeshed in it. If he saw the disease as an
affliction to his body which would pass away in due course of time, he
would understand the significance of the disease and would find a way
out of it.
Thus arose an approach where I understood that one’s mental make-up
affects the functions of the body and its immune system. This was
confirmed in a recently published work by David Simon who has shown
how the body-mind approach can be related to the clinical expression
of a disease.
“Our mind body dialogue may sound like this;
MIND: Boy, am I tired. My boss is a real pain, my car needs a new
muffler, and I think my girl friend is interested in her fitness
trainer.
BRAIN: I am reducing my production of pleasure chemicals and
increasing my production and release of anxiety molecules.
IMMUNE CELL: Uh, oh. I am feeling somewhat anxious today. What is that
protein particle doing here? I am going to sound an alarm and mobilize
all my buddies to react to this invasion.
CLINICAL RESULT: Allergic reaction to pollen.
MIND: Not only are my job and relationships a mess, but now my
allergies are acting up.
Under different circumstances the internal conversation may go like
this:
MIND: My life is really great these days. I love my job, my family
life is fulfilling, and I feel that I am really in a creative phase.
BRAIN: All physiological systems are working perfectly. The endorphin
factory and immune-enhancing manufacturer’s are at 80 percent capacity
and producing life-supporting chemicals very efficiently.
IMMUNE CELL: I feel invincible today. I’m going to escort this poor
little virus who has apparently lost its way and ended up in my
bloodstream out of the body, pronto.
CLINICAL RESULT: No symptoms despite exposure to a cold virus.
MIND: I feel so vital. I wonder what opportunities for success and
enjoyment will present themselves today.”(1)
However, it does not mean that medicines have no value, these can
accelerate the pace of recovery when one understands the mind-body
relationship.
The above is an explanation of health and disease. But there is no
certainty against disease which can express itself in the body despite
all our efforts to ward it off. The agitated mind tethered to the
cause and effect chain has to be given a respite to understand the
mysteries of life.
Three great personalities of our time, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa,
Ramana Maharshi and J. Krishnamurti had to bear the pain of the
dreaded disease, cancer. How could one explain this phenomenon with
mind-body approach? As these personalities healed many, how could it
be that they themselves were a victim of the dreaded disease. Let us
remember that they never felt vulnerable, their bodies did not show
signs of decay even in disease. It was our view, it was our analysis,
that this was a dreaded disease, they never considered themselves a
slave to the body.
When it was declared that Ramana Maharshi was having a tumour on the
arm, diagnosed as sarcoma, he told the devotees,
“I am only ill if you think I am; if you think I am well I shall be
well.”(2)
— and yet
“even as he weakened his face grew gentler, more gracious, more
radiantly beautiful.”(3)
When doctors pronounced failure of the treatment, Sri Bhagwan was
asked to say himself what treatment should be tried. He said, “Have I
ever asked for any treatment? It is you who want this and that for me,
so it is for you to agree about it among yourselves. If I were asked I
should always say, as I have said from the beginning, that no
treatment is necessary. Let things take their course.”(4)
When Sri Ramakrishna was suffering from throat cancer, one of his
disciples asked, “Why do you not pray to the Divine Mother for the
cure of your illness?”
The Master: “When I think of my Mother, the physical body vanishes,
and I am entirely out of it. So it is impossible for me to pray for
anything concerning the body....
The Mother has brought this illness on me in order to teach man how to
think of the Spirit and how to live in God-consciousness, even when
there is extreme pain in the body. When he body is suffering from
excruciating pain and starvation, and when it is beyond all human
power to give any relief, even then the Mother shows me that Spirit is
the Master of the body.”(5)
J. Krishnamurti wrote,
“Why do all human beings die so miserably, so unhappily, with a
disease, old age, senility, the body shrunk, ugly? Why can’t they die
naturally and as beautifully as this leaf? What is wrong with us? In
spite of all the doctors, medicines and hospitals, operations and all
the agony of life, and the pleasures too, we don’t seem to be able to
die with dignity, simplicity and with a smile...
We spend our days in such varieties of conflict and unhappiness, with
some joy and pleasure, drinking, smoking, late nights and work, work,
work. And at the end of one’s life one faces that thing called death
and is frightened of it....death is not merely the wasting of the body
through disease, old age and some unexpected accident, but that the
ending of every day is also the ending of oneself everyday.”(6)
We are so much enamoured by the details of the disease that we take
all the steps to alleviate it — to get rid of it — going from doctor
to doctor and finally we put up with it when it cannot be cured, using
palliatives etc. Persons who are suffering from chronic diseases spend
much of their time in watching the symptoms of their disease (pain
etc.), the alleviation of which becomes their daily source of
happiness and it goes on. We are carried away by the disease and its
description, may be the fear of death stalks us.
Modern commercial propaganda about the diseases leaves no stone
unturned in putting fear into the minds of public — beware of so and
so diseases, let us fight, let us have detailed check-ups — a cycle of
fear starts in the mind of the common man.
But then what is to be done when one is under the attack of a disease?
First, let us not have any fear. Take some simple natural medicines,
correct or reduce your diet. If necessary, consult the doctor, but not
with the thought that somebody else will save you. It is only your
perception of the disease that can help. But then such a perception is
difficult during the attack of the disease. It is during the normal
period when a clear perception of life (and death) emerges that you
can deal with the disease — otherwise you will be waylaid by the
common precepts about the disease.
Thus disease is not an isolated phenomenon which can be studied apart
from normal day to day life. Our approach to life will determine our
approach to disease. One must see the significance of the disease and
have an inner certitude that can deal with it without any fear (of
death).
Overindulgence in the affairs of the body will also be detrimental to
the idea of true health. “This detachment of the mind must be
strengthened by a certain attitude of indifference to the things of
the body; we must not care essentially about its sleep or its waking,
its movement or its rest, its pain or its pleasure its health or
ill-health, its vigour or its fatigue, its comfort or its discomfort,
or what it eats or drinks. This does not mean that we shall not keep
the body in right order so far as we can; we have not to fall into
violent ascetisims or a positive neglect of the physical frame....
This detachment can be made so normal and carried so far that there
will be a kind of division between the mind and the body and the
former will observe and experience the hunger, thirst, pain, fatigue,
depression etc. of the physical being as if they were experiences of
some other person with whom it has so close a rapport as to be aware
of all that is going on within him. This division is a great means, a
great step towards mastery; for the mind comes to observe these things
first without being overpowered and finally without being at all
affected by them, dispassionately, with clear understanding but with
perfect detachment.”(7)
Such an understanding of life will show the way to medical treatment
also, if necessary. But in any case disease will not be a cause of
distress for human beings.
References
1. Simon David. The
Wisdom of Healing. London; Rider, 1997, p. 192.
2. Osborne Arthur. Ramana Maharshi. Bombay; Jaico Publishing House,
1988, p. 187.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., pp. 188-89.
5. Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna. Madras; Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1991, pp.
280-1.
6. Krishnamurti, J. Krishnamurti to himself. Madras; Krishnamurti
Foundation, 1991, pp.
132-33.
7. Sri Aurobindo. The Synthesis of Yoga. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo
Ashram, 1972, pp.
329-30.
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Beauty of a woman
What is the ideal of physical beauty for a woman?
Perfect harmony of proportions, suppleness and strength, grace
and force, plasticity, endurance and, above all, an excellent
health, unvarying, unchanging, the result of a pure soul, of a
joyful trust in life and an unshakable faith in the divine
Grace.
-
The Mother
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Editorial
A unified system
Dr. D. B. Bisht
Like all parents who think their child is imbued with extraordinary
intelligence until it becomes adult (when the real worth becomes
apparent!), the practitioners of a system of medicine hold their own
in a high esteem and are not prepared to accept its limitations. They
regard their system sacrosanct, nothing less than God’s dictate. And
yet there has been talk of integration and the necessity of including
the best of the different strands into medical practice. So much has
been written about this for so long; but like the tide, its waters
merge into a vast ocean of ignorance. Humans cannot conquer their
egos, and whenever there is discussion about integration, the
underlying inferiority complex of someone shoots the idea down.
There are mainly twenty or so different systems of medicine practiced
in the world. Certain countries have produced legislation to bar the
practice of many so called alternative systems of medicine unless they
conform to scientific standards. But every patient wants to be cured
of illness and is hardly bothered about how it is achieved. So what
needs to be done?
A simple answer would be a unified system. How can this be achieved is
the million dollar question. Attempts were made in India by the
Director General of Health Services, to bring top practitioners of
different systems under one roof so that they could consider ways and
means of achieving something which might be called a ‘national
system’.
But what was the result? Chaos. The so-called system practitioners
started highlighting the pitfalls of all the others and the meetings
could achieve nothing.
It resembled a heated dispute between two ‘lovers’ of Shakespeare who
were quarrelling about whether Macbeth or Hamlet was superior. However
each when asked if he had read the other play had to say no, since
none had read both.
For the patient or family, it is often a dilemma who should be
consulted if the usual medical expert who has been looking after them
fails to give relief. There are no guidelines since the type of system
best suited for a particular
patient is not available. In America, there is a vast array of doctors
and medical personnel specialising in a particular set of symptoms or
illness. But it is an ocean and it is often impossible to choose from
the list.
Many talk about holistic medicine, a holistic approach etc. but
neither is it taught in the medical schools nor is it practiced. Only
lip
service is given. It is doubtful if there is a single textbook on
holistic medicine for medical students.
We don’t have even have an integrated body in India to look after
medical teaching. No doubt, there are more than 200 medical colleges
for the ‘modern system’ and about 150 for homoeopathy. There are more
than 100 colleges of Ayurveda. We produce about 50,000 so called
registered doctors in India and if you add to it all unregistered
practioners we have a mass of medical personnel at our disposal.
One can ask why is it that, with so many experts available in the
country, health for all has not been achieved?
The answer lies in an over production of Human Man Power (HMP) on one
side and mal-distribution on the other. Besides, the tools of health
care are simply not available for one reason or the other.
What are the basic requirements for good health? Everyone knows it:
food, water, air, clothing and shelter. And none of these are in the
hands of doctors or medical people. They deal only with illness and
the housing for illnesses i.e. dispensaries, clinics, nursing homes
and hospitals.
Therefore the first thing that we must clearly define is: ‘What is
health’ ‘What is medical care’ and assign responsibility to people
with authority to look after the parameters of health and others to
look at the parameters of illness on all levels.
Only then we can identify and create correct objectives of medical
institutions and assign specific responsibility to the different
cate-gories of health power.
The ultimate question remains — which alternative system will survive?
Only time will tell, but meanwhile we should continue to study in an
unbiased manner the outcome of various therapies. Truth cures and
truth survives.
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