By Kulwant Singh
The prime cause of sickness is rooted in the mind. No disease can exist in the body and
mind of a person unless there is some susceptibility in the consciousness. Mind by nature
is a non - stop thinker and generates a continuous stream of thought patterns. Some are
evil and some are pious and pure. According to the characteristic of every thought pattern
it influences the functioning of various organs in the body and thus responsible for
the cause of any disease. The great physician, Charak had said, 'Pradnyapradhanam hi
moolam rognum', i.e. 'all diseases originate from foibles of human thinking'.
Diseases which are the product of continued emotional stressed and termed 'Psychosomatic
diseases (psycho meaning mind and soma meaning body). For example excessive
anger have been found to increase the acid secretion in the stomach when a person is
constantly in an irritated state of mind. The excessive acid secretion slowly eats into
the protective mucous lining of the stomach and an ulcer is formed. It has been rightly
said that an ulcer is not caused by what we eat, but what is eating us. (It means 'Anger'
is eating us). Further, a study in the characteristic nature of 'anger' reveals that it is
aggressive, it burns and boils, it accelerates and goes on pushing forward blindly. These
mental vibration generated by 'Anger' affects the functioning of "liver and gall
bladder" which can cause jaundice.
Louise L. Hay in her book "Heal your Body", gives a long list of physical
diseases with their mental causes, and suggests how to overcome them by "Metaphysical
Ways": The mental thought patterns that cause the most diseases in the body are
Criticism, Anger, Resentment and Guilt. For instance, Criticism indulged in long enough
will often cause disease such as arthritis. Anger turns into things that boil and burn and
infect the body. Resentment long held festers and eats away at the self and ultimately can
lead to tumors and cancer. Guilt always seeks punishment and leads to pain. "It is so
much easier to release these negative thinking patterns from our minds when we are healthy
than to try to dig them out when we are in a state of panic and under the threat of the
surgeon's knife".
Let us, for a moment, take a pause here and theorize what is mind? What its is relation
with the consciousness and the physical body?
Mind of a person depending on his past Samskaras, is born out of five elements
(Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space)
"Ehu Mann Karma, ehu mann dharma,
Ehu Mann panch tatt te janma."
"This mind doeth deeds, this mind practiceth righteousness,
And this mind is born of five elements". (SGGS: 415)
Consciousness is a vital factor in building the body and mind. In pursuit of its self -
expression, the consciousness groaps around the surrounding matter and appropriates it to
shape a physical body suitable for its dwelling, Consciousness constantly receives the
impacts from the external worlds and goes on materializing its physical body as per the
plan or self of the 'Mind'. Since the matter it has appropriated had three qualities of
vibration (Sattva, Raja and Tama), the mind will respond according to these three
qualities. Therefore, a person will develop his temperament either Sattvic, or Rajasic,
or Tamasic. His emotions, his feelings, are the natural outcome from his mind by
further interacting into his environment.
Mind is thus bound by its material body on one side and supported by life from the side of
consciousness. Mind, in its grosser form of elements can be termed as energy (a crude
analogy of matter) and, in its most finer aspect can be termed as pure consciousness:
"Ehu mann shakti, ehu mann si(v)o,
Ehu mann panch tatt ka jeeo,
Ehu mann le jo unn mann rahe,
Tau teen lok ki baten kahe" (SGGS: 342)
"This mind is shakti, this mind is shiva,
This mind is originated from five elements,
One who transcends into Higher consciousness,
To him is revealed the mystery of Three Words".
Shakti resides in the lower region of the physical body and shi(v)o resides in the
head region of the body. But the mind, which is a product of five basic elements, ranges
its vibration from the shakti to shi(v)o, i.e. from the grosser matter of the lower
nature of mind to energy of the higher nature of mind, also called the transcendental
region. By ascending to these heights, one becomes conscious to the "Three
worlds". One can scan the mental world, the astral world, and the physical world at
'will'. Thoughts in mind keep on stimulating the body organs. Evil thoughts which
originates from the lower mind are prone to generate diseases. The pure thoughts which
originate from the higher mind can cure them all. The factor of purity is in direct
proportion to the development of consciousness in the mind if a person.
According to Hath Yogic practices, Shakti which resides in the Mooladhara
Chakra of the physical body called 'Kundalini', a serpent force, normally
sleeping, is deliberately aroused, so that it can pass through the spine (Nadis - the
energy channels) and get communion with pure conscousness residing in the crown chakra.
Whatever be the ill effects of this type of practise, it aims at getting rid of the evil
through patterns, like kama, karodh, which are dominantly responsible for creating
innumerable diseases in the body. The experience of many people who practise Naam Simran
and sing God's name for long periods of time, feel that kundalini automatically
rises higher up unconsciously and communes with the crown chakra from where one can
drink the nectar of bliss.
Naam Simran: is simply a way of spiritual practise as compared to the complicated methods
of Yogic practies. It is a process of constantly remembering mentally and uttering by
tongue, in low tune, the name of God, which sanctifies the atmosphere around the body and
soul of a person. By its practise our individual consciousness gets aligned with the
Universal Consciousness without much effort, provided one has developed the faith and
purity. As a consequence the practitioner gets Divine protection from all evils:
"Taati vau na lagai parbraham sharnai,
Chaugird hamare Ramkar, dukh lagai na bhai" (SGGS: 819)
In the supreme Lords protection suffering shall not touch me; All around me is drawn the
lords mystic circle, keeping away suffering.
In the practise of Naam Simran, the mind initially is made to turn inwards with a
decisive 'will' to eradicate the five evils from within the body and mind (Kama, Krodh,
Lobh Moha and Ahankar): "Antargat teerath mal nao". By nature these evils
dominate in their respective regions of the body. Starting with Kama which
dominates the lower bottom region, then the Krodh dominates the naval regions of
fire, Lobh, and Moha dominates the heart region of the body. And lastly, Ahankar
like a king in the head region from where it rules and encompasses all other evils in
order to dictate terms to them.
By deploying the mind into these regions with self - introspection, and by intensifying
the recitation of God's Name, during Naam Simran, these evils slowly and steadily
are uprooted from their locations and are replaced by the vibrations from the higher
regions of consciousness: Mind thus loses the hold on the grosser elements of the body and
lofts the consciousness towards the higher realms, where the individual consciousness gets
ecstatic experiences and the devotee intensify reciting the name of God by every part of
his body. "Gurmukh rom rom har dhiave". One becomes God - conscous. Then,
transcending further with the devotional vigour, the individual consciousness submerges
into the universal consciousness, where he does not see any thigh other than God.
"Kabir tu tu Karta tu hua, mujh me raha na hun,
Jab aapa parka mit gia, jat dekhan tat tun. (SGGS: 1375)
God takes care of everything and redeems his devotee from the entire range of maladies.
"All diseases yield to the divine energy, when it starts flowing through the mind of
a person".
Sukhmani Sahib - a scripture of eternal peace, being recited in almost all the Sikh
homes every day is a great boon to mankind. It is said that by its recitation all pains
and maladies go. During its recitation, a single line of five words sums up the whole
essence of our subject into a short sentence:
"Sarab rog kau aukhad Naam"!