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Swami Suddhananda |
Body – the microcosmos
The body is a beautiful land. Just any body - be
it of birds, animals or human or even tree - it’s a miniature world,
universe or cosmos.
Here we shall deal with the human body to
understand human problems, complications that ultimately surface as
depressions, dejections, disappointments, complexes, etc. These
complications almost make a living man dead. He has no interest
whatsoever in living but he is surprisingly living through the body.
He cannot even drop the body, as he even cannot grasp that he is
living. A sleepwalker in the path of life!
Even though all the emotions described above are
mental or psychological, they originate in the body to a great
extent. And that shall be the point of discussion here, and from
that stand-point of individual, we can further leap into a greater
dimension – call it communal, regional, national, international or
cosmic.
Let us start with a man, ‘a’ man. Best it is
ourselves. Not somebody else. The difficulty in analysing somebody
else is that it begins with an idea of learning from the others’
experiences, but ends up with a personality who is not affected in
the process and remains unchanged. But at times, the individuality
of the analyser colours or affects the subject of analysis or the
subject (which is really the object) of analysis affects the analyst
also. Theoretically, if the analyst has no individuality whatsoever,
the subject can pour himself out and thus be a person with no
definite identity, yet at the same time playing with varied roles –
physical and its extensions, mental and its extensions.
The point remains that: to be unaffected or to
live and enjoy the living, the individual must be at once involved,
yet remain uninvolved, discovering a glorious point of dissociation
in himself which happens to be all over.
The last statement may look obscurantist or
incomprehensible but we shall discuss it in detail in the following
pages.
We have to learn to be active in life, in which
there is no choice, at the same time remaining unaffected in and
through our actions. As long as the individuality is there owning up
the action as, ‘I do’, one can never escape the consequences also,
whether it’s a success or failure, both in turn triggering various
emotions. Therefore, indeed, the problems do not lie either in the
action, or in the results, but lie with the individuality – the
mind. Sick actions are the effect of a sick mind – and the mind to
start with, was innocent and beautiful.
Here there is no attempt to justify all actions,
but before condemning a man for his actions it is but essential that
we look at the man and think – how did he manage to get such a sick
mind in the first place? There is no criminal by birth. Mentally
retarded, yes. But certain physical factors like lack of oxygen
during birth or during the last moments in the womb can cause the
harm to the mind.
Thus we can, broadly divide the human problems
into two realms:
1.Gross or physical
2.Subtle or mental
Let us begin with the gross, the body or the
physical aspects. Each one of us must look at our own body. Now this
is meant only for those of us, who have escaped the millions of
chances of being mentally retarded during our birth. Physical
handicap is no problem, as long as mentally we have a healthy
functioning mind.
Taking for granted that we have a healthy body,
now let us look at our own body all over. From top to toe look at
them all. Feel them all. And let us find out for ourselves which
part of the body is a problem.
When we are doing this we must be very, very
aware of our mental process, knowing fully well or being conscious
of the fact that the body cannot report its own pains and pleasures
without the mind.
Now, let us see mentally each part of our body
and physically feel each part of the body including feeling the
hands, which are feeling all the parts. Usually, we will come to
know, that to begin with, a healthy young body has not much to
complain about. We can think of ourselves or look back at our youth
if anybody is old now.
Now, let us suppose that we are physically
healthy and we are just 10 years old. When we are 10 years old, we
cannot do what we are doing now – thinking in these terms, but
certainly in our thoughts we can go back to the 10th year.
Now I am a 10-year-old and lying down for
sometime. Everything is quiet around. The physical surrounding is
beautiful. I am closing my eyes and just relaxed. Not many thoughts
are there. Negligible, innocent thoughts are criss-crossing and I
have not started to bother for those. Let us imagine we are in that
state for an hour.
Now, the next step. Slowly, there shall be the
reports of hunger. The stomach starts pulling, first slowly and
later on, left unattended for a longer period, there shall be pain.
This is certainly happening and happening in our body – the stomach.
A sheer physical demand.
We must fulfil it to keep the body going, to keep
the different parts of the body functioning smoothly. It is like a
furnace of an engine, must be fed in time, should not be left empty
or unattended for a long period of time. That is the first physical
need or demand for a living person.
Thus we can now see in this land mass called body
there is a place called ‘stomach’ which has routine needs or
demands, the centre of the body which provides energy for every part
including the brain to record the hunger also.
Now let us be a little attentive and follow. When
the stomach needs the food stuff to keep the body going, certainly
it does not name the food stuff. The stomach machinery needs
proteins, carbohydrates, fats and other chemicals to supply to
different parts of the body. Simple roots, fruits, vegetables,
leaves, etc., shall be enough to satisfy the hunger and keep the
body going, but this ‘physical’ thing has become a great ‘mental
burden’.
As even the body has grown up, physically, the
sense organs too have experienced enough to have a thinking mind. In
childhood there is no ownership whatsoever, that ‘I am a child’, or
‘I am growing’, ‘I am ugly’ ‘I am handicapped’ or ‘handsome’ – none
of this individualistic thoughts are there.
Experiences are taking place. Objects – too big a
world full of it – are there. Physical body is there. Sense organs
are there. But then the child is not conscious that he is conscious.
He is experiencing like any other animal. No choice. We are thrown
into the pools of experiences with the objects all around. The means
of experiences are our sense organs called ears, skin, eyes, tongue
and nose – the skin being present all over the body. The gross
organs by themselves are not responsive. The brain must be in tact.
The moment the instrument is thus ready in the
presence of the ‘Consciousness’ or atman, all the experiences are
gathered in the brain. We can see that principle working in any
machinery in the world. For example, look at a fan – the blades are
the hands, the motor is the brain. The electricity flows in and the
fan starts moving. The fan or the motor by itself cannot move. In
the presence of both, the fan is moving. But, if we extend this
example, then we also can see that even the blades and the motor,
called matter, can be converted into energy. Thus, the electricity,
the motor, the fan are of the same origin – the same one at rest –
the same one on the move – but appearing in beautiful and more
beautiful, vicious and more vicious patterns. Just like water. Water
at rest is ice and the ice on the move is water – both are one and
the same.
The arrangements, the perceptible material
permutations and combinations, like TV roulets, the toys or the
sophisticated machinery, brought about by the scientists are
certainly the glorious duplication of the original principle where
the scientist himself is a toy with a body and the mind and the
consciousness-energy activating all as long as the machines are in
good condition. Yet the consciousness, the mind and the body are one
and the same as even the energy is.
(To be continued)
Swami Suddhananda
Samvit Sagar Trust
Tiruvannamalai
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