A good 95% of the people, can make do with change of mode of living, tranquillity of mind and some holistic healing techniques
Man has a radically different physiology compared to a machine. Nature is the healer for the human machine, which is built from a single cell, the zygote, the union of mother’s ovum and father’s sperm, into a 120-trillion-cell organism. This organism, additionally has 10 times more germ cells inside. It runs on sun’s energy, food and oxygen. It is dynamic and, like everything else in the animate world, it has a built-in healer called the immune system. Outside intervention for minor illness syndromes seems not only unscientific but also dangerous.
That said, I must hasten to add that, in the unlikely event of the immune system failing, the person develops symptoms asking for some assistance from outside. Only then must outside help be used to relieve distress. It will again be foolish to claim that outside intervention will keep humans alive on this planet for a long time. The truth is that outside interventions by the medical fraternity can only “cure rarely, comfort mostly, but console always.” Nothing more and nothing less.
Today’s hi-tech medical world would want us to believe that they are here to prevent diseases in the ‘early’ stages, to save us from danger and premature death. This is a false claim and the sensible thing to do would be to see doctors only when one has some symptoms. Nature’s mechanisms are more than adept at dealing with most illnesses.
If you have ever observed animals like cats or dogs, you will notice that when a dog has a stomach-ache it knows precisely where the remedy is in nature and looks for grass or leaves to eat. It is you and I who go to a hospital or a doctor when we have minor problems. In return, we get a drug (proven to be alien to the human system by sophisticated studies) or an exploratory laparotomy. There is no end to the cycle of drugs and testing as there is an ill following every pill. We get caught in this vicious cycle. I am reminded of what late Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari wrote to his friend Jawaharlal Nehru, the then PM who was the last Englishman to rule India. Nehru wanted to be one up on Nasser who built the huge Aswan Dam on the Nile, and so was planning the Bakra Nangal dam. “Dear Jawahar, Please respect and treat Nature as your mother, she will then feed you for all time to come, but if you mistreat her as your mistress she will kick you in the teeth!”
If we keep to a healthy lifestyle, with respect to food, work, sleep, thought and action, we would remain healthy till we die. However, the food we eat, the water we drink and even the air we breathe are all severely polluted and our immune system has every cause to be overwhelmed by the stresses imposed on it. To live a long and healthy life, one must follow a rigorous way of life with pranayama and yoga to assist the immune system. This addition will help reduce our distress, to a great extent.
In the first Western textbook of medicine, published in 1773 in Vienna, the Mecca of medicine, the author, Charles Scharschmidst wrote about the present-day killer diseases like heart attacks, hypertension and diabetes. He said that these were, “Diseases with intense agitation of the mind and spastic constriction of the vascular bed.”
The best treatment plan he wrote was: “Change of mode of living, tranquillity of mind, and intervention rarely ever, if ever.” I fully endorse that even today, with factual and scientific backing.
Accidents are the only exception where Western hi-tech medical and surgical help for quick fix relief could be lifesaving. Most of the other times, a good 95% of the ill segment of society, can make do with change of mode of living, tranquillity of mind and some holistic healing techniques. God save mankind in the New Year 2015.
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvellous.” — Aristotle
(Professor Dr BM Hegde, a Padma Bhushan awardee in 2010, is an MD, PhD, FRCP (London, Edinburgh, Glasgow & Dublin), FACC and FAMS.)
It is fact of life that change of life style/ food habits and regular expertise like Yoga ill be more beneficial than any other method.