fr. _Prakriti_ by Robert Svoboda. For review purposes only. As with any
review, if you life the book, buy it and tell your friends.
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A Yogi named Chaitanyananda lived about 200 miles from Bombay until
his death not long ago. His cures of serious diseases, extending even
to the first stages of cancer, were well documented, and people flocked
from all over India to receive treatment at his hands.
He would welcome with profuse greetings anyone who came to him, to
create in them a false sense of security. While they rested he would go
into the jungle to collect a certain herb whose juice was then
administered to the unsuspecting patient. About fifteen minutes later
the poor sufferer would begin to vomit and purge. This vigorous
purification lasted for up to three hours. After the nausea and
diarrhea died down, the patient would be served split mung beans and
rice cooked together into the preparation known as khichadi. Into this
porridge Chaitanyananda would add a mixture of mineral and metallic
oxides in a specific proportion according to the nature of the disease.
After repeating this process for thirty days, the patient was clean
from top to bottom, and the disease had disappeared.
Chaitanyananda never studied classical Ayurveda in a college, but his
treatment followed Ayurvedic lines:
Removal of the cause.
Purification to eliminate excess Doshas.
Balancing the Doshas and rekindling the digestive fire.
Rejuvenation to rebuild the organism.
Any therapy which does not follow these steps is not Ayurvedic, nor is
it likely to be permanently effective, because it fails to balance the
Doshas. Even when your mind is unbalanced, that imbalance is either due
to Dosha imbalance or is being made worse by it.
Faith was also an important ingredient in Chaitanyananda's cures.
People came to him expecting relief because they had heard tales of all
those whom he had helped, and this faith helped cure them. Remember
that one symptom of diseased Rasa Dhatu is "lack of faith." Faith is
the single most important aspect of cure because it enhances Ahamkara's
ability to self-identify with the body, and actively works to
strengthen Risa Dhatu, which then nourishes the other Dhatus and Ojas
too. Vimalananda always said that there are only two ways to cure a
disease. You can have faith in another being-a physician, a deity, your
grandmother, or anyone else-and putting yourself entirely in his or her
hands allow that person to direct the force of your faith. Otherwise
you must have faith in yourself, in your own powers of self-healing,
and heal yourself directly.
If you have no Chaitanyananda to force you to become healthy, you are
responsible for curing yourself. You must decide with all parts of your
being that you are tired of being imbalanced and that you are prepared
to undergo whatever discipline may be necessary to heal yourself. Until
you can say to yourself sincerely that you are ready to change your
ways healing cannot occur. A firm decision to heal yourself only
happens when your mind is ready to admit to willfulness and "crimes
against wisdom," when it is willing to admit to its deviousness in
blaming the body for its own excesses. When your mind is truly
contrite, and willing to forgive itself for falling ill, it is sure to
cooperate with your body to do the job right.
Hopelessness or helplessness is dangerous because it deprives your
immune system of support from Ahamkara. If your mind decides that it is
fed up with any body part, that body part is likely to lose its
immunity and become quickly devitalized. Be angry, be hostile,
experience any emotion which wants to come out, but never fall prey to
hopeless ness if you want to be cured.
Moreover, you have to want everyone to be healthy if you want to become
healthy. Nature's Law is that you get back whatever you put out, so you
will get health only if your activities and attitudes promote, or at
least do not interfere with, the health of those around you. Health is
a lot like disease: it is contagious, and can be passed from one person
to another over and over again.
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