THE WORKINGS OF THE BRAIN
Doctors say that eighty per cent of all illnesses are of psychosomatic origin. This means that our thought processes cause illnesses. There are specific organic illnesses, but our thought processes cause most diseases.
I have quoted this before where Émile Coué, a French psychologist, pharmacist, and hypnotist who introduced a popular method of psychotherapy and self-improvement based on optimistic autosuggestion, experimented with this and started clinics in many places. He worked on one formula: on waking up and before going to bed, you repeat to yourself repeatedly that day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better. “I am getting better and better.” When this thought, because of repetition, because of adding emotion to this thought, by adding power to it so that it is deeply felt, that thought will be believed by the mind. When the mind or the brain mechanism believes something or is convinced of something, it acts upon it.
For example, if a person wants to go on a diet to lose some weight, they are usually told to eat slowly and chew thoroughly. The psychological reason for this is in the fact that we have been used to eating in a certain way: that a morsel of food we chew for, say, thirty times, and it sends a signal to the brain that after eating twenty morsels and multiplying those thirty times twenty, six hundred, the brain registers that you have chewed six hundred times. Then, the brain, in turn, sends a signal to tell you that your stomach is full.
When you eat fast and chew less, you consume more food because the brain has not yet received the signal of the number six hundred. When you eat slowly and chew more of the same morsel of food, you have been chewing it thirty times before swallowing it; now, you chew that same morsel sixty times and swallow. The brain, the calculator there, calculates how many times you chew. So, when it reaches six hundred, it sends off the signal to say you are full, yet you have only consumed half the amount of food. That is how the brain works in every way.
THE MEDICATION IS ONLY HALF THE CURE; THE BODY IS EQUIPPED TO CURE ITSELF
In the thought process of good health or ill health, man can control illnesses and alleviate a lot of the suffering that he suffers. By thinking negatively, having the mind feel that the body is sick, and repeating that thought, “Oh, I am sick, I am sick, I am sick, I am sick, I am sick,” you will become sicker. That is true. If a person comes to me and says, “Oh, you do not look too well today; you have exhausted yourself,” I sometimes feel like slapping him, although I will not do it. If I see a person not looking too well, there will always be something in that person that I will talk about that will be well and set his mind off. Any nurse or doctor here in the audience will bear me out. Ask a nurse. She will tell you that when you visit the patient in the morning, you put on a lovely big smile, a sincere one, of course, and you say to the patient, “Ah, you are looking fine today.” And you smile, and the patient smiles. That is half the cure. Not only the medication.
When a person is ill, we go to a doctor. The medicines a doctor gives only help in the curing process. No doctor can cure you with the chemicals he gives you. The body is equipped to heal itself. The body is equipped with the mechanism that rights the imbalance within it if given a chance by a positive thought.
ON THE SPIRITUAL PATH, ALWAYS SEEK GOOD AND HOLY COMPANY
The same thing applies to religion, and the same thing applies to a person on the spiritual path. Ancient sages have said that a person on the spiritual path must always try to keep holy company, where things of a higher nature are discussed. Have friends. Have a friendly circle where things of a spiritual nature are discussed. Therefore, I encourage the groups to meet every week. We have this in South Africa, Rhodesia, Spain, and England, where they chant and meditate and listen to a tape.
I have made over one hundred twenty tapes, and I was very surprised to hear that very few of them, just the earlier ones, were released here. Of course, those were just very elementary because I had to start people off at a certain level and progressively go deeper and deeper into various subjects. All the tapes should be distributed so that you can have the theoretical background of our teachings.
When these groups gather in England and other places, they chant and meditate together. Group meditation is always beneficial and good because many minds are tuned to the same purpose here. A togetherness, a family feeling develops. So, you can call it a beautiful social evening if you want to. Then they listen to a tape, they could listen to a long one or a short one, whichever they like. After that, there is always coffee, biscuits, and refreshments; it is a well-spent evening. That, too, can be regarded to be holy company. Did Christ not say, “When two people are gathered in my name, I am there”? This is what is meant. So, on the spiritual path, too, let us always be in such company where things of a higher level are discussed and thought about. But if we drive every night down the wharf area in San Francisco and places like that, the mind could never be tuned to higher things.
A PERSONAL ANGLE ON HEALTH
Likewise, the principle is the same, not only on the spiritual path but also as far as health goes: if we train our minds to health, we can achieve a greater measure of health.
Sometimes, a personal angle becomes interesting, so let me tell you about myself. I was a businessman who ran a vast business and worked 20 hours daily. I was in the film business, movies as you call it here, and one of the main things I would never give an employee to do was re-edit a film. I used to import films from around the world and distribute them throughout South Africa, Rhodesia, Southwest Africa and others. Everyone has to be watered down and re-edited. So, I used to spend hours and hours and hours every day looking at a film editing machine. It is a tiny machine not so far away from you, constantly flickering. You are staring into it for hours and hours and editing it.
By that, the eyes suffered a great strain. But that was my work. Despite the meditations, one goes through such terrific strain when operating one of the largest cinema circuits in the country. And being the head of it, you would realise what strain there is, which causes a lot of strain in the heart, and therefore, specific blockages take place in the arteries because the body, too, is subject to certain limitations. The only reason I worked so hard was to achieve something in that sphere. After that, the family was taken care of to a certain extent, and I could devote myself to my life’s ambition of being a spiritual teacher, which started when I was about four years old. That was always there in the background of the mind.
So, this caused this heart problem. The blockages could be cleared away through various yogic techniques. But that would mean anything from six months to a year, going away to the Himalayas and going through specific practices that could clear those blockages through the power of the mind. But then I worked out a balance. With intuition and inner perception, I knew that nothing would go wrong if I did get operated upon. I could have a bypass done, and having the bypass, I could function normally again. This would take three days, while the other process would take nearly a year. Where is the time to waste a year when life is so short? Where is the time when life is so short and there is so much, so much, to do? So much to do. So, I had a conference with the various surgeons. And in South Africa, we have some of the world’s best heart surgeons. Chris Barnard and those guys are excellent friends of mine, and many of the heart surgeons there and patients they get in are meditators today.
So, after doing the open-heart surgery and transplanting veins in there, they removed one from the leg and transplanted it into the heart. It is called a bypass. In other words, if the artery’s running this way and there is a blockage, they stitch on another artery over and down here. So, instead of the blood running this way, it runs that way. You get the idea. After what they call a significant surgery in three days, I was walking around in the hospital and cheering up the other patients there, and when these surgeons used to meet me in the corridors of the hospital, they were very, very surprised to see me walking around within three days after such an operation. So, I told them, “Your medical science can be combined with spiritual science.”
WE HAVE TO BE PRACTICAL, COMBINE MEDICAL HELP WITH YOUR MEDITATION
Therefore, when it comes to illnesses, if you can get modern medical help, by all means combine it with your thinking power, positive thinking, and meditations that will help you achieve this positive thinking.
I had somebody visiting me this week who had a cyst on one of her ovaries. So, she asked me if I could get rid of this through meditation. I said, “Yes, but is your mind strong enough, and can you spare a few years going through various severe ascetic practices to gain this strength to get rid of this cyst?” So, I advised her that this is a minor thing and might not even require surgery. It might require cauterisation, and you will be fine within a day or two. So, I explained to this lady that you should not fear having this very minor cauterisation done. So do not suffer; have that done, and continue your meditation. It will give you greater strength; during the day, think how minor it is. That will take your fear away. Think how quickly it can heal. That will make it heal quicker.
Wherever things are needed, use them. All these things, all this knowledge in the world, are made for use. If your kitchen tap is leaking, do not sit down to meditate to stop the leak. Phone the plumber. If there is something wrong with the lights, do not say, “Ah, Guruji’s meditation. I must sit down now, and there will be light.” Call the electrician.
Meditation has its value, but we also have to be practical. The mind has a lot to do with one’s physical health, but if something is needed where a doctor can be of assistance, by all means, take the doctor as well, and do your practices also, which can enhance the power of the mind.
IF YOU CAN CONQUER YOUR HEART, YOU HAVE ACHIEVED SOMETHING
We know one thing, which is a ubiquitous expression, “mind over matter.” But how many people today have that mind that could conquer grosser matter? Even if we have those powers, it is not necessary to exercise psychic powers to quickly achieve things that can be achieved here and now. Like calling the plumber to fix the tap. Why exercise psychic powers and use great vital energy fixing up the tap when a plumber is so easy to get? In one of his Persian poems, the great Sufi poet Abdullah Ansari said that if you can float on water, you are nothing better than a piece of straw. If you fly, you are nothing better than an ordinary housefly. But if you can conquer your heart, then you have achieved something.
So, we should look at things other than the psychic realms to understand the various things required in life. There are multiple things provided through the mind, for example. We can create psychic powers and exercise those powers so that we will not feel hungry or thirsty when we do not need to breathe. You have heard of yogis being buried deep underground for thirty days at a time, and they do not require breathing. All these things can be done if the mind is capable enough. It has the power to do all these things. But are they necessary?
The one necessary thing is conquering the heart. Conquering the heart means unfolding the latent love within us and pouring it out so that the cup runs over. That is what we want. That is living. That is life. That is the way. That is the truth.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1977 – 23
