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DOCTORS AND MEDICINES
Illnesses
Truth is supreme harmony and supreme delight. All disorder, all suffering is falsehood. Thus it can be said that illnesses are falsehoods of the body and, consequently, doctors are soldiers of the great and noble army fighting in the world for the conquest of Truth.
If we take the human body as a tabernacle of the Lord, then medical science becomes the ritual of worship and doctors the priests who officiate in the temple. Thus considered, the medical career is priesthood and should be treated as such.
A broad mind, a generous heart, an unflinching will, a quiet steady determination, an inexhaustible energy and a total trust in one’s mission − this makes a perfect doctor.
After all, an illness is only a wrong attitude taken by some part of the body. The chief role of the doctor is, by various means, to induce the body to recover its trust in the Supreme Grace.
To medical knowledge and experience, add full faith in the Divine’s Grace and your healing capacity will have no limits. Page – 167 Spiritual power of healing: opening and receptivity to the divine influence.
The material power to heal demands a great sincerity in one’s goodwill.
I am still not through with this second spell of heart trouble. The first was in June 1938, owing to a gigantic overdose of a stimulant tonic powder. This time it is strain of the heart-muscle. The doctors have advised complete rest in a supine position. Not even the head is to be lifted. They also warn me that if I don’t take extreme care I may develop more serious trouble. But I feel full of your presence and do what my suddenly and abundantly released poetic inspiration leads me to do. I sit up frequently, get excited with the passage of the poems through me− especially when the lines seem to come from wide, far-off spaces − and my heart starts beating fast at that time and if the doctors could then put their stethoscopes to my chest they would begin to shake their heads at the prospect of a quick cure. But I am unconcerned. I trust implicitly in your power and feel like laughing away the black future with which they − of course, with the best intentions and for my own good − threaten me in case of carelessness about my heart. I feel certain, Mother dearest, the Divine Power can help − can’t it? Page – 168 My dear child, I quite agree with you that there is a power other and much more powerful than that of the doctors and the medicines and I am glad to see that you put your trust in it. Surely it will lead you throughout all difficulties and in spite of all catastrophic warnings. Keep your faith intact and all will be all right. 28 May 1948 (About medicines)
I am not specially interested in these things which are only exterior help for the exterior consciousness and not essential for the yoga.
The whole value of a medicine is in the Spirit it contains. 22 February 1961 To go from one doctor to another is the same mistake as to go from one Guru to another. One is on the material plane what the other is on the spiritual. You must choose your doctor and stick to him if you do not want to enter into physical confusion. It is only if the doctor himself decides to consult another or others that the thing can be done safely. 14 March 1961 I sent you to the doctor and expect you to do what he asks you to do. 1 April 1961 Page – 169 Do you think that I could take treatment from Dr. X − after all, it is not any system of medicine but your Grace that cures.
It is true that the faith cures more than the treatment. You might take Dr. X’s treatment and call for the Divine’s help. 5 August 1962 Will you ask Kali to burn me with a fire of fever? I have become rather desperate. Shall I take simple ayurvedic medicines?
Before being so desperate, try ayurvedic treatment and take it with a concentration on Kali’s Force. Blessings. 6 May 1965 In every case, it is the Force that cures. Medicines have little effect; it is the faith in medicines that cures. Get treated by the doctor whom you trust and take only the medicines that inspire trust in you. The body only has trust in material methods and that is why you have to give it medicines − but medicines have an effect only if the Force acts through them. Allopaths ordinarily cure one thing, only to the detriment of another. Ayurvedic doctors do not usually have this drawback. That is why I recommend them. 20 December 1965 Page – 170 Whatever the ordeal for the purification of my nature, I must pass through it with or without medical help.
You are quite right. Stick to your faith and you will get cured. With blessings. 5 July 1967 MESSAGES FOR ASHRAM MEDICAL SERVICES
(Message for the inauguration of the Ayurvedic Section)
In this new activity the knowledge of the past must be illumined by the revelation of today. With my blessings. 22 February 1957 (Message for the inauguration of the Children’s Dispensary)
Children’s Dispensary As many cases so many cures. The most important thing in therapeutics is to teach the body to react properly and reject the illness. Blessings. 2 July 1963 Page – 171 (Message for the inauguration of the School for Perfect Eyesight)
The more the mind is quiet, the more the sight is good. 5 May 1968 (Message for the Nature Cure Section)
Nature is the all-round Healer. 2 July 1968 (Message for the Main Dispensary)
Finally it is Faith that cures. Blessings. 9 August 1969 (Message for the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), near Pondicherry)
Veritas curat.¹ 1957
Mother, for several days I have been sun-bathing regularly. The cough is slowly going away. Now there
¹ Truth cures. Page – 172 is a little coughing but it does not bother me any more. Would it be good to continue the sun-bathing?
Yes, you should do it every day; it gives strength and maintains one’s energy.
You must avoid coughing as much as you can. Coughing can be controlled by the will, and you should always try to achieve this control, because coughing is unnecessarily tiring.
Mother, this cough is making me suffer a lot. It is becoming difficult to control it. It gets less when I write to You, but it comes back again after a few days. Mother, what is the cause of it?
Probably some bad suggestions which you must learn to drive away.
(After a slight bout of fever:) Mother, I feel as if the heat in my body comes from the fire of purification. Is this true?
The fire of purification ought to purify without causing fever, and it is quite possible to be purified without falling ill. 28 March 1935 An old and very weak man has an enlarged prostate. The doctors advise operation. He wants your guidance. Page – 173 Most probably the end is approaching. All depends on his nature and will. If he prefers to go away quietly without struggle, let him be quiet and pull on as long as he can. If he likes to fight let him be operated upon and see what happens. My blessings in any case are with him.
was rather depressed on hearing of X’s death after an operation. He was one of your workers with an exceptional ability. How is it that he passed away although under your influence and guidance?
The operation was quite successful, done by a very skilful surgeon, but X’s heart was weak beyond expectation and he died of heart failure five days after the operation. It has been a sad event and a big loss for the work. But for some time he suffered much and felt tired of it. He had several times expressed the wish to change his body for a better one. It is surely this wish that is responsible for what happened. 22 November 1945 It is difficult to say exactly which of the two possibilities would be more helpful to recover your health. But in a general way a change is more helpful for the body at the beginning than in the long run, as the thing most detrimental to the body’s welfare is the lack of interest in life and surroundings. Anything new can wake up this interest for the time being − but the effect is never very lasting. 21 February 1946 These contradictory impressions are quite natural. The material consciousness naturally rejoices when circumstances Page – 174 combine to satisfy what it considers to be its need; in any case, they will help it to recover its balance and confidence in life. The soul witnesses yet another victory of Matter over spirit (for every illness that resists the inner cure is for the spirit a defeat, which may only be short-lived but which is nonetheless a defeat). The soul can neither be troubled nor unhappy, for it has faith in its own eternity and is aware of it; but it may sometimes feel a certain melancholy. 19 June 1960 Please tell Mother that I feel all the time as if life and energy were flowing away from me out of my hands and feet and I cannot stop it.
Why does he complain? The energy must be spent to be renewed. The human body is not a closed jar that gets emptied by spending. The human body is a channel that receives only when it spends. Let him eat well, sleep well, avoid wrong thinking and spend normally. He will soon be all right. 20 April 1968 It is only by correcting your way of living that you can hope to secure good health.
It is because of all your quarrels, shouting, restlessness, nervousness, agitation, discords and disputes, that X is unwell. I said from the beginning that she needed rest and quietness. It Page – 175 was especially indispensable, but she has been surrounded by the opposite atmosphere no wonder if she is ill. She weeps and trembles because her nerves are overtaxed and they are overtaxed because all of you have no mastery over yourselves and no control over your speech. Cooking for her is quite nice, but it is not sufficient; you must let her have enough peace and quietness to be able to eat.
When I am sympathetic with a sick person my body begins to feel the symptoms of his disease.
The best way is to call for the Divine Presence of Truth and Harmony, to replace the vibrations of disorder and confusion.
It is not very difficult to get rid of headache and giddiness. However bad your condition may be, call the light from above. Try to feel that the light is entering into you from the crown of your head bringing with it calm and peace. If you do it seriously, your headache and giddiness will disappear in no time.
Tumours always indicate some difficulty in the nature; certain cells decide to be independent of the discipline of the body. They do not remain in harmony with the other parts and begin to grow out of all proportion. Generally this is the result of a very strong greed in the nature. It may be greed for material things or for power or any other subtle object. By performing an operation you may remove the tumour, but if the inner nature remains unchanged, it will come up in some other part and all the trouble that the patient has to undergo for the operation and its after-effects will be in vain. Page – 176 The cells of the body get the habit of increasing without cause. This is cancer. If you change the consciousness in the cells and get rid of their habit, cancer can be cured. Page – 177 |