Mental, Physical & Spiritual Health

No Pains ! No Gains !!

So often we hear these words, from the instructors at gym or from our teachers at school or college. Very simple words with even a simpler meaning. No gain without any pain means that no achievement or goal can be accomplished & achieved in life without the help of a real concentrated a fully dedicated or meditative effort.

The aim could be anything, better grades at school, promotion at work, an Olympic gold medal, a beautifully sculptured physique, or even winning the USA presidential election. Every single goal in life is surrounded by magnetic fields of dedication & concentration. No mountain is high enough, no river so deep, no goal is beyond our limits, once we set our mind, body and spirit behind it.

Our life on earth is a journey of the soul. The mind happens to be the driver, body is the vehicle, and the soul or spirit is the passenger inside. All three are very intimately connected, and one cannot do without the other.

What is our purpose on earth? A very philosophical, spiritual & thought provoking question, and it may take an entire lifetime or more, to find the answer. But it is very much worthwhile to move forward and discover our possibilities, which as a matter of fact are unlimited. Yes, unlimited, all other forms of creation have limitations, except the human form. A plant will stay as a plant, flowers will blossom, die out, and new flowers will blossom again. A dog stays as a dog, is born as a dog, dies as a dog, between birth and death his possibilities are limited to barking & being faithful to his master. The spider has been making the same kind of web his predecessors made, the birds make the same nests since millions of years. Whereas, we the human beings, have progressed from those primitive days of living as a savage, from the days of hunting with a club, eating raw meat, to these modern civilized days of airplanes, computers, McDonalds, Burger King & Pizza Hut, etc. It is no mean achievement of setting foot on the moon, and we continue daily making more & more advances into the unknown, primarily due to our non-limited nature.

Now coming back to the question, all these advances, discoveries & creations are the materialistic part of our purpose, and we have done very well. In fact more than well, our success in this field is simply mind-blowing. But, this is only one part of our purpose, one side of the coin, and we have devoted more time and energy than was required. The entire nature moves according to the law of opposites, day after night, heat after cold, death after birth, or we can turn it the other way around, night after day, cold after heat, birth after death.

Imagine what would happen if this law of opposites began to malfunction. No night after day, no heat after cold, or even no death after birth. Do you think we could survive in such a scenario. You bet, we won't. Then how do you think we can survive without the opposite part of our materialistic purpose, which happens to be the spiritualistic aspect of the two-fold purpose of our life on planet earth.

While we are moving at full speed towards materialism, we grossly neglected spiritualism, the opposite aspect of our nature. We have been moving in darkness since ages, neglecting the light, indulging in physical pleasures of body & mind, but forfeiting the spiritual sensations of our real nature. There is a gross imbalance which exists, and the result in playing with this law of nature is clearly evident in the world we live today. No doubt we have more comforts for the human body, more gadgets to please the mind, but sorrow, pain & sickness is on the rise. More and more people are falling sick, hospitals across the globe are getting over-crowded, doctors working round the clock in many third world countries. The gap between rich & poor, war & peace, health & sickness is on a constant rise.

Jesus said, "Love your neighbor, as you would love yourself". This is not happening, because to love someone, you have to love yourself before, love has to exist within you, only then can it move out. For instance, can you feed a beggar if you have no food? When you love a person, you really take care of them, you go out of your way to make them comfortable and happy. So when you love yourself, wouldn't you take care of yourself? Beginning with your health, wouldn't you go out of your way to be healthy, comfortable and happy? But are we doing that? Lets look at ourselves & around us, 90 percent of the people we meet are unhealthy & out of shape. It is a rare sight these days to see a healthy, well shaped man or woman during the course of the day.

Jesus further said, "Ignorance is the biggest sin, and only truth will set you free". When we are ignorant how our body functions, we become sinners. Many religious books point out that sinner will rot in the fires of hell. When you are sick & suffering, is that not hell? Your body is on fire when you have high fever or pain in the abdomen, heart or head. There is no hell in some far-off distant place, it is right here within us, in the form of sickness, pain and suffering. Only the truth will set you free, the truth about your body and mind, how they function, why do you get sick in the very first place.

The truth, although considered bitter, is nothing but the truth, very simple & easy to understand. All spiritual books point towards one simple truth, “Everything is within”. Every little thing is from God, and is within you, including He himself. This human body is the most amazing creation in the universe. In fact, it is the biggest wonder on earth, as it contains every possible thing one can imagine. If anything goes wrong, the body fixes it from within, it has been made to last & work for a good hundred years without any problem. The sickness, pain and suffering we go through is due to lack of unity & understanding between mind, body & soul. These three partners are responsible for our progress & well-being, to ensure that our two-fold purpose on earth is completed without any problem.

Who does not want to be healthy, and who does not wish to be free from sickness, pain and misery? The power to be, lies within us. We have been provided all the resources & tools to achieve the impossible, and stay healthy is the easiest thing to do. It’s like child's play. As the mind is the driver responsible to take care of the vehicle and drive us through our journey of life, in a peaceful, comfortable and happy manner, we shall begin our discovery into Mental, Physical & Spiritual Health, from the mind itself.