Yoga for mental illness

The mental illness is becoming a serious health issue that is getting more and more public attention around the world. Yet the word mental illness is only generic and not specific. In reality it can manifest into hundreds if not thousands of categories. Let us examine here about the mental illness and the possible cure using Yoga an eastern technique discovered and practised for thousands of years in India; even though mental illness is more predominant or reported widely in the western world where people have their basic necessities of life such as food, water, shelter and cloth etc.; They also have access to things like basic medicines, sports, entertainments, democratic freedom, social justice and the rule of law etc. which are considered a luxury in certain developing countries. Mental illness is also prevalent in developing countries but it is not taken seriously. In fact, it is a taboo for someone to say that he or she has a mental illness because life is too demanding and fast and Government do not pay much attention. People with mental illness are locked up in mental clinics and asylums with little care or attention. Some people are even chained for the rest of their lives depriving of any hope of a cure. It is immaterial whether you live in a developed country or developing country the mental illness is a worldwide phenomenon and it is getting worse as the world progresses into modernity. The western world treats mental illness purely as a psychic issue and prescribe drugs targeting specific parts of a brain. It is typically a western approach to treat a specific organ for an illness by dissecting it or targeting it with a specific drug. But the eastern medicines have a different approach. It may sound more like an eastern philosophy than an eastern medicine because eastern approach such as Yoga is always about the mind which is intricately linked with body. Yoga offers a very clear solution to mental illness. It not only cures the illness but also transforms one’s personality into a very intelligent and productive human being without taking any medications at all! Yoga is more of a doctrine than a mere physical posture or exercise as it is currently projected. Yoga is about mind and therefore indirectly linked with human body. Mind and body are two inseparable unit acting as one. That is why a mental illness can also physically alter one’s personality or individual organ. Yoga traces the root causes of such illness using our ‘intellect’ or “discriminative knowledge” a gift from God and the only available tool for human beings to get out of the cycle of birth, life, sufferings and death. We are aware that ‘mental illness’ is something to do with our ‘mind’. But what is ‘mind’. Mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts. Thought is nothing but a memory. Without a memory there is no thought and without a thought there is no mind. In fact, without a mind there is no separate entity called ‘the world”. According to Yoga the world is just a phenomenon and this phenomenal world is the creation of one’s mind. Take for example a man is in coma for 25 years and one day he suddenly wakes up from his deep coma. For him there was no world for the past 25 years and suddenly the world comes into being because his conscience comes into being. Therefore, his mind has created a world which was not there for him for 25 years. People may talk about the past 25 years but he has no proof of a world for the past 25 years on his own but only a testimony from others when he wakes up. The same truth applies to every human being and the very purpose of human life on earth is only to reveal the truth that there exists only God in eternity and the so called ‘mind’ is only an illusion that creates this illusive world which disappears in our deep, dreamless sleep. When you wake from a deep sleep the world appears because the mind projects it and withdraws it again in sleep. The mind creates not only a phenomenal world outside us but drives us to take an active role in such an elusive world and suffer in many ways. In truth there is no “Reality” in the phenomenal world but it is full of “duality” such as pleasure and pain, happiness and suffering, good and evil etc. In fact, a “mental illness “is nothing but a grand illusion created by mind to take an active role in an illusory world. Once you analyse this truth using your only gift from God known as “intellect” then you will stop constructing this illusory world and seek the truth known as God, who is within you. The very purpose of mind is to discriminate the TRUTH from FALSE or LIGHT from DARNESS and discard mind at all times but stick to only the eternal truth we call GOD. There is no medication or exercise but use a discriminative analysis to seek the truth. The TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. It is only freedom that you are seeking without knowing where to seek or how to seek. Maharishi Patanjali describes about freedom we all seek in his last and final chapter of Yoga sutra known as “Kaivalya” as follows. Freedom is at hand when the fundamental qualities of nature, each of their transformations witnessed at the moment of its inception, are recognized as irrelevant to pure awareness; it stands alone, grounded in its very nature, the power of pure seeing. That is all. The human mind always seeks freedom from the illusory world that it is caught up. It seeks such freedom from external world such as alcohol, drug, women, wealth and other form of pleasure which are not truly pleasures but pain. Thus the suffering of human beings continues indefinitely until one is able to discriminate the truth between the “Reality” and “Illusion” and seek freedom by killing the mind by practising a deep meditation technique known as “Raja Yoga”. Once this truth is known then the mind and its illness will disappear without a trace and you become a new human being full of enlightenment, intelligence, grace and beauty reflecting the Light OF God which is your true Nature and WHO always abides within you.

Man is an organic computer

Human being is the most intelligent species on planet earth; that is because he has a special relationship with the creator. Human being is nothing but an organic species with a consciousness and intelligence. We can assume it is a sort of organic computer (frame with hardware), intelligence (software) and a consciousness (awareness of being alive, an intangible quality). When this computer is switched on (given life) it becomes alive (operational). The hardware and software are unique and have extraordinary operational capabilities and memory power. Though the software is pre-wired it can upgrade itself as and when required. Unlike normal computers, their memory is dissolved in Nature at the time of expiry and is likely to be fitted into another computer with new name, shape and features depending upon the residual memory. Being organic, it is easily disposable at the time of expiry and it is environmentally friendly. The problem with this computer is, it believes it is doing everything on its own because it is interactive with surroundings in real time with an awareness of its extraordinary memory power and capabilities. The truth is: its capabilities are the direct indication of the capability of its creator and programmer. But every time this computer says “I did it”. When asked the computer: “Who is that I?” There is no answer and it becomes silent. The powerful computer has no answer. Since the computer has a unique capability of interacting with the surroundings in real time it assumes that it is doing everything on its own. In virtual reality programe, even the surroundings (sights (cameras) and sounds (noises) are programmed to give a “Reality” feeling. Human beings (the organic computer) do not realize there is nothing called “I”. Everything is done by the creator and the programmer including surroundings (world of sights and sounds).The feeling of ‘I” is an illusion and also the surroundings are “illusions”. When everything is an illusion we never grasp the “Reality”. Once human being realizes this truth then he will understand that the programmer of the software or the central processor (CPU/(God) is within the organic computer called “Human being”. Till then, he lives in a dark world of Ignorance, which is the root cause of all the problems in the world. WHO AM I? Man mistook his own shadow for another man until he realized the sun caused his own shadow. When there is no sun, there is no shadow. When man aligns himself completely with the sun, there is no shadow. Shadow is an illusion (not tangible) caused by the sun. Similarly, man mistakes his “SELF or Atma (intangible)” for him because “SELF” is within his body, creating an illusion of “I”, a separateness. Like the shadow that disappears when the sun sets, the “SELF” disappears when the body is dead. When his conscious mind aligns with the “SELF/GOD” then there is no illusion or projection called “I”. The illusion of “I” is caused by the conscious mind due to AVIDYA (a Sanskrit word for ignorance /mistaken identity). Like sun causes the shadow, GOD creates an illusion in man. It is up to the man to realize (find) the SELF (GOD) using his intellect. It is only “Self” creating “Self”. In the final analysis, everything is GOD only because even the intellect is given to man only by the grace of God. When mind aligns itself with SELF, then it rests at its source which is known as “Swarupa” (Sanskrit word for the reality). Aligning one’s conscious mind with God is called meditation (Samadhi) and such a meditation will lead to the final release from the bondage of the world and sets him free. “Be still and know that I am God”.

Man and God particle

There was an air of euphoria among scientists around the world when the news of discovery of ‘God particles known as Higg’s Boson’ was announced. I remembered my grandpa’s words, who was a very successful business man in those days, telling his sons,” Can’t you see the gold lying there in front of you? I can see them but you can’t see them?” What he meant was, there were many opportunities in the world and only few people could identify them. People can see things which are visible to eyes but there are things which are invisible for naked eyes. That is why we need a third eye called ‘Gnana’, the wisdom that can cut across the barriers of human visibility. I described my ‘mirror experience’ earlier in an article that caused a great transformation in my life. I often think about it and try to comprehend the significance of this experience. The more I think about it the more I realize that it is part of my ascent in the ladder of human evolution. We have evolved from primitive beasts to human beings and we are on our way to further evolution to reach our final destination called Divinity. I learnt there were primitive lives that lived millions of years ago and some of them were so primitive that they did not even have a head but they can reproduce and multiply. Nature has provided necessary mechanism for their growth without providing them a brain and intellect. We human beings have not fully evolved into higher intellectual species though we have made progress in science and technology. But human evolution is all inclusive in which science and technology plays a role. The human evolution is more about ethics and moral values that forms the basics core of our evolution. We still have ‘beast’ in us and this beastly quality is an obstacle in our spiritual evolution. This is because we have sidelined the core moral and ethical values with our constant pursuit of wealth and materials though science and technology. We have failed to grow as a society where human beings genuinely love each other without any expectations. There is a fundamental flaw in our path to evolution. The anomalous part is we all have ‘divinity’ in each one of us and we hardly remember them though it can reveal itself sometimes in our everyday lives. Most often we fail to recognize it even it reveals itself. My mirror experience is one such event in my life. It revealed my divine side of my personality. There is a beast and there is a divine nature in each one of us, super-imposed on each other. It is up to individuals to realize this and identify themselves with divinity. This can be done only by ‘discriminative knowledge’. It requires razor like sharpness of ‘pure intellect’ that can identify the beast from divinity every moment of the day and every day of our lives. Only by cultivating ‘Vairagya’ (dispassion) and ‘abyassa’ (practice) one can achieve this ‘discriminative knowledge’. There are many ways to identify the beast and eliminate them and the best tool available to us is ‘our intellect’. One form of yoga ‘called Gnana Yoga’ teaches us exactly how to use our intellect by way of ‘discriminative awareness’ to identify this beast. When you get a ‘new thought’ we have to probe deep into us and question this ‘thought’ its origin and its purpose. Sometimes such thoughts are overwhelming, forcing us to act instantaneously. We need to understand that it is the physical manifestation of a thought that causes physical and mental changes within us those forcing us to act. Every action has a reaction and consequences, whether good or bad depending upon whether the thought is good or bad. This thought and action is called ‘karma’ which creates actions and consequences. Past karma is our vast store house where our past thought and actions manifested with their consequences leaving an imprint in our sub-conscience mind. One can successfully practice ‘gnana yoga’ in everyday life and you will find yourself at the top of the ladder of human evolution. At this evolved stage, you will not be perusing what everybody is persuing, called material wealth. By a discriminative analysis you will come to the conclusion that ‘material pursuit’ will not give you happiness. Even if it gives happiness temporarily, your mind will still for search for something else. Many of us in our society do not really understand what exactly we want and what will make us happy. We seek answers for our questions by trying various things without any discriminative analysis of the beast within us.

Silence and Solitude

I have always enjoyed solitude and silence right from my childhood and this trait has been a part of my personality. But many people mistook me for ‘the proudest’ and some of my friends used to call me ‘a solo man’ during my collage days. I have no specific reason for this trait except that I was born with it. I do not regret it but I understand the negative side of this personality, especially when you have to freely move in a society and make new contacts and friendship to expand your circle for better prospects and future. This is especially true when it comes to business, trade and networking. The positive side of it is, I was able to focus my mind on research and development, innovation and it opened a whole range of new possibilities. When you are silent, your mind works fast and your imagination soars to new heights. Albert Einstein who I always admired as a scientist, once quoted, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. I can certainly understand why he was walking in a pouring rain in the streets of Berlin, oblivious of his surroundings, while his mind was deeply contemplating about the theory of relativity. He was completely drenched and he did not realize that he was drenched in a pouring rain until his friends remarked about it. In a way he was a ‘karma yogi’ who dedicated his whole life in pursuit of scientific knowledge and unraveling the mysteries of the universe. Silence and solitude was certainly part of his personality. In fact, his parents thought he was dumb child because he hardly spoke to others during his early stages, but sat quietly in his backyard gazing at the sky and stars. Silence is something I always seek, because it helps me in my inward journey of contemplation and meditation. When you withdraw your mind from the external world of sights and sounds, there is so much to discover. It is like diving into a sea where you can witness amazing lives of plants, corals and colorful fishes. It is entirely a new world where one can search and discover pearls. But will the silence and solitude help you progress in your career and profession and achieve your goals of success? It is a question somebody asked Jesus Christ two thousand years before. He said,”You cannot serve two masters”.Obvisouly one has to choose either a prospective carrier and material wealth or choose a secluded life of silence and solitude and pursue your spiritual goals. I have always thought about these two conflicting alternatives and the path forward. I can now say in unequivocal terms that perusing spirituality is the right choice than perusing a success in this materialistic world. One has to only look at the history of so-called successful people who lived and died. Albert Einstein named as the man of the millennium, died as a lonely man, as a recluse, in spite of the pinnacle of success he achieved in science. Look at the kings, queens, presidents, business tycoons, scientists and Philosophers and the list is endless. What happened to their glorious past and memories? People do not remember even their legacies. Everything vanishes into a thin air. As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said,”Look, teacher! What wonderful stones and buildings!”Jesus answered, “You see these great buildings? Not a single stone here will be left in its place: every one of them will be thrown down.” Every beginning has an end, and every end has a new beginning. This is the law of nature. One can choose a path only by an discriminative knowledge and Jesus encouraged people “to seek to find”. After all, one can seek only in solitude and in silence. I do not regret my trait because it is my destiny that shows me a path for an eternal freedom called ‘salvation’.

Yoga and myths of modern world

Ancient Indian scriptures stipulated certain conditions for any new aspirants to practice Yoga. They described the type of country one should live, the food, the climate, the rule of law etc.They suggested that if these conditions were not met then, ‘practicing yoga’ was a futile exercise. The purpose of these conditions were based on the fact that yoga involves four stages of developments namely, moral, physical, mental and spiritual and the environment should be conducive to achieve these changes.Moeover, the yoga practice was an integral part of Hindu religion and it was based on the fact that human beings can achieve a spiritual integration with the universal creative divine force in a practical way. These may be viewed as ‘Metaphysical concepts’ by Western countries but those few yogis were able to transcend the physical body and achieve such integration. They were able to survive in ‘suspended animation’ for days together, which today medical world may not accept as a ‘possibility’. But these incidents have been observed by scientists and recorded. In ‘astanga yoga’ (eight stage yoga) the first two stages are moral, namely Yama and Niyma.This is the fundamental requirement for any aspirant to start the practice of yoga. The second stage is physical, Pranayama and Asana. The third is mental Pratihara, Dharna, and Dyana and the final stage is spiritual, Samadhi. Unfortunately, yoga has been interpreted in our modern world as a kind of physical exercise’ and ‘yoga institutes’ commercialized such concepts. In reality, it is only about ‘yoga asana’, the physical postures. Of course each and every asana posture offers certain health benefits to various organs in human body and longevity. But this is only small portion of the big story called ‘Raja yoga’. One has to go back thousands of years in history of ancient India to visualize the environment in which Yoga was practiced. Kings were ruling smaller area of lands (hundreds of kingdoms in ancient India), morals, ethics, rule of law, justice were matters of critical importance for kings and citizens. The population was very thin and the king had a direct access his citizens. They had small army; religious rituals and temple worships were practiced daily. Gods and Goddesses were the main focus of attention for all. The priests were treated with great respect and reverence. Mysticism was accepted as a part of yoga and revered. India was one of the richest and civilized societies in the ancient world. Indus valley civilization was known as the ‘cradle of civilization’ and Sanskrit scriptures opened ways for rise of religions like Buddhism and Jainism. In our modern scientific world, the concept of yoga has been completely misunderstood. For example, yoga stipulates strict vegetarian diet. I can hardly image how many people can practice Vegetarian in our modern life. But one can understand the value of vegetarian diet only by practicing it. My own experience shows that such a diet can completely change one’s personality over the years. It subdues ones emotions and instincts drastically and such as change will reflect in one’s personality. I always wonder how people are struggling with their weights, anger managements and behaviors in their everyday life. Diet, personality and behavior are closely inter-connected. A simple vegetarian food can solve the problems of obesity and anger management. This is precisely why Yoga stipulates certain conditions, because, one’s body, mind and spirit are inseperable.Only with a focused mind and dedication, an aspirant of yoga can achieve integration with divinity in real life. Questioning such integration with a rational mind is a futile exercise. To achieve integration, one should have faith and such faith can come only by practice and realizing its value. Once you realize the value then you have realized the truth of yoga and nothing will change you after. I practice science as well as spirituality, and I fully understand the clear demarcation between these two. Rational mind has its limitations and it cannot go beyond a point. But spiritual practice can take you where science fails to take. This is my personal experience. The reason why people are unable to achieve such divine integration in our modern world is because the first two aspects of yoga (Yama and Nyama) morals and ethics are not practiced. True yogis are ‘extinct species ‘in our modern world.

The observer and the observed

Buddha encouraged people not to accept any doctrine or dogma blindly, including his own teachings, but find out by themselves with their own knowledge and worldly experiences. His suggestion is based on two factors. Once you are born into this physical world with a physical body, then there is a purpose (past karma). This purpose has a past and your present is a continuum of such a past (reincarnation). Only you can find out this purpose by your own intellect and experience. Your knowledge of the past remains elusive, as long as the veil of Maya (ignorance) covers your intellect. Secondly, each individual is unique and they have to find ways and means for their salvation by their own ways, because, they are conditioned by circumstances of their birth, language, culture, relationships and beliefs. It is extremely difficult for an individual to break this mould of ‘conditioned world’ and think ‘outside the box’. Both Hinduism and Buddhism emphasize that ‘discriminative knowledge’ alone, is the key for such wisdom. Human brain is a very powerful tool by which we come to know everything in the world.Togather with knowledge and imagination; human beings have achieved miraculous things. We are able to probe deep into the past several millions years with Carbon dating techniques, and explain how the past existed. We are able to use our imagination and able to project the future, how human beings can achieve things merely by using their ‘thought processes’ using computers. We are reaching the pinnacle of science and technology. In spite of all these advancements, there are sufferings and pain everywhere in our everyday lives. Why this anomaly? The material comforts and scientific knowledge are not sufficient to alleviate our pain and suffering in our day today lives. They are not sufficient to bring our loved ones from their past death. They are not sufficient to mend our ‘broken relationships’. They are grossly inadequate because, we have mistaken material wealth for happiness; we have mistaken this temporary life for permenance.We has mistaken a temporary relationship for permanent. We have mistaken pain for pleasure. These sufferings are our own making by our mistaken identity. In an interactive world, we need two things. One is an observer and another is observed. When there is no observer there is nothing observed. When you witness a person suffering, who feels this pain? It is your body that feels the pain and not you. When you mistake your body for you, then there is a pain and there is a suffering. The purpose of ‘Yoga’ is to teach and train you, to distinguish between your body and you. In deep meditation of Yoga, your body disappears along with pain. Then you can see clearly who you are. You stand alone. Hinduism describes you as a soul; ‘it cannot be burnt with fire, moistened with water or dried by air’. When you identify yourself with body, then there is a pain. When you identify yourself with the soul, there is no pain. During Samadhi the individual ‘I or ego’ identity is simply dissolved into a vast ocean of universal force called Iswara (the creative force).

Contained body in a conditioned world

The wise of the East saw suffering in everything in a worldly life and dreaded the cycle of birth, life and death. Imagine a baby who is just born from the womb of a mother. Suddenly the baby is delivered into this world from the safe and secure shelter of a womb, accompanied by shrilling cry and shivering body with mucous covered with blood and water. The baby enters the world environment which is contaminated with germs, viruses and diseases. The baby is hungry, cold and insecure. The first expression of a baby is a loud and clear cry. A cry for food, shelter and warmth. The life begins with great vulnerability and insecurity. It may be a joyous occasion for the parents but certainly not for the baby because parents have been living in this ‘conditioned world’ for so many years. But the environment is certainly alien to the baby. The baby is entering a ‘conditioned world’ where everything is already set by human beings; the environment, food, climate, language, culture, tradition and beliefs. The infant has no choice but follow the conditioned world. Survival to live is the top priority. The baby needs food, shelter and cloth in order to survive. Once the basic needs are met, then there are emotions. These emotions vary from happiness, anger, jealous, attachment, aversion and disappointment at various hours of a day, sometmes with reason and sometimes without any reasons. These emotions are the result of human interaction with environment and fellow human beings and sometimes in the absence of both. The life becomes complex as the baby grows and survives. The necessity of life grows as the baby grows into childhood and adulthood and so on. It is not just the food ,shelter and cloth but emotions multiply into manifolds in various stages of life and along with these emotions there are suffereings. Nothing lasts forever and we ponder why this impermanence? Why we are brought into this world of sufferings and impermenance? Many of us take miseries of life for granted and conclude that life is full of sufferings and we accept them as a natural process. Only few people in this vast humanity don’t accept ‘suffering’ as a natural process and start questioning them. Why? Prince Siddhartha could not accept suffering as a ‘natural process’ and he wanted to know why this suffering, and what is the purpose of this life on earth? He has to leave his luxurious life in a palace and wander the world as a monk to seek the truth. Why should we live this ‘conditioned life’ where aging, suffering, disease and death become a natural process? Does it make any sense that a human beings are born into this world only to suffer? What is the purpose of this suffering? In this scientific world of men searching for a ‘God particle’, why men don’t look reasons for human suffering? Why we take suffering and misery for granted and waste our time and energy on issues that only compound our problems? Human spirit is free and joyful and it is only our ‘thoughts and actions’ that contain our spirit in a ‘physical body ‘ (like air is trapped in a jar) and bring into this ‘conditioned world’ of sufferings and struggle. Realization of this truth will set the man free. Only our ‘thoughts and actions’ called “past karma” bring us into this constant cycle of birth, life of misery and death. Prince Siddhartha became ‘Buddha’ after this realization. Yet, we continue our path of ‘karma’ and enslave ourselves to this world of ‘Maya’.