Ayurme pāhi prānaṁ me pāhyapānaṁ me pāhi
vyanaṁ me pāhi cakśurme pāhi śrotram me pāhi
vacаm те pinva mano me jinvatmanam me pӑhi jyotirme yacса
Yajurveda 14/17
O God! May you protect my life-span. May you protect my prāņa, apāna and vyāna life currents. May you protect my eyes and ears. May you Enrich My voice and make my mind contented. May you protect my soul and bestow light оп mе.
Good health is the pivot of jivana sadhana. Any kind of progress – temporal or spiritual is conditional on vibrant health. Money, fame, power, knowledge and even tapa all depend on it. But inspite of this being a common knowledge, most of the people are casual about it, albeit with varying excuses and justifications. Some are too busy to care for health, while some lay the blame on circumstances. What is surprising is that even the spiritual seekers are often found negligent about their health in the name of tapa.
In reality, the root cause of neglecting health is the lack of a holistic vision of life. Most of the people are in such a tearing hurry to ‘arrive’ or get more and more that they do not have time to pause and think about their bodily well-being. By the time they come to their senses, it is too late and they are trapped in the vicious cycle of diseases. Their vitality has ebbed and they are reduced to the pitiable plight of the lamp which is on the verge of extinction for want of oil. Now nothing helps, not even the things which they had been acquiring so far at the cost of health. The very continuance of life becomes a pain.
The modern age is witnessing an increasing lack of self-control. People’s craving for sense-indulgence, their madness for pleasures of all sorts is increasing by the day and this, in turn, is devastating their health. The wise are aware of the truth that lack of self-control is akin to playing holi with one’s own blood. At first, the sport appears enticing, the bright red spurs one on and on to ever more rounds of carnal pleasures until soon the situation becomes grave and vicious. Incontinence of different kinds gives birth to diseases of all sorts. These diseases impose many restrictions and prohibitions on the future life-pattern; but to the habits long formed, no restriction is either palatable or implementable. As a result, life becomes a nightmare, being slowly ground between the two wheels of mental agony and physical pain.
Sometimes, in the name of tapa and sadhana, the body and health are subjected to such severities that the very edifice begins to crumble. The irony is that even the spiritual powers which had been sought prove a chimera. The only gain is a show of pretense where the practitioner gets slowly ruined and the audience, bored. Castigating these cruelties to the body in the name of tapa Yogeshwar Krishna says in the Bhagvadgita
Karśayantah śarīrasthām bhutagrāmamchetasaḥ
Mā chaivāntaḥ śarīrasthaṁ tānviddhyāsuraniśchayān.
– 17/6 –
Meaning: The ignoramuses who enfeeble both, the elements existing in the corporeal form and also Me, the cosmic spirit indwelling the inner-self, consider them as of demonic disposition, O Arjuna! The true spiritual life is a sātwika (simple and pious) life-style. It is the confluence of sanyam, sadhana and sewa (self-control, self-awakening and service), a grand experiment in purification of thoughts and emotions. Irregular eating and random fasting can not be called tapa.
There is an instructive story in this connection in Buddhist Jataka tales. Once prince Prashravana came to Bhagwan Tathagat to learn jivana sadhana. Bhagwan preached to the visiting sadhakas at specific times only. This time varied for each sadhaka, depending on his inner state. Prince Prashravana had to wait for some time. Meanwhile, he began fasting of his own accord. Starvation, combined with haphazard daily routine, took a heavy toll on his health. He fell victim to many ailments, too.
Now Tathagat called him and taught him the precept of middle path: “Son Prashravana, you are an accomplished veena player. Tell me, when does the right music come out of veena”? Prashravana replied: “Bhagwan! When the strings of veena are in perfect tension. If the strings are loose, or taut even slightly more than required, the right note can not be produced by the veena” Buddha smiled at this reply and said affectionately: “Son! This is true of jivana sadhana too. The sweet melody of life resonates neither in excessive indulgences nor in extreme rigors. Both these conditions can generate inharmony and disorder only. The music of life is produced on the instrument of sanyama or self-control which consists in avoiding the extremes and adopting moderation”
These words of the Buddha enlightened Prashravana and he realized that neglect of health is no recipe for jivana sadhana, it does not produce melodious music in jivan-veena. For sound health, one has to bring about harmony between the body, mind and soul, and use judgement and discrimination to make life holistic and balanced. Regulating and refining the daily routine is the first step in this direction.
Book : Jeevan Sadhana ( A Noble Art of Living)
