Prof. B. M. Hegde,
Culture is “to know the best that
has been said and thought in the world.”
Mathew Arnold.
Increase
in body weight disproportionate to the height, with excess fatty deposits under
the skin, known to the lay man as obesity, has become a menace to society these
days especially in the affluent west. It is difficult to see a really obese
poor person in our villages. It is also rare in certain societies like the
Japanese. Obesity has reached its zenith in the US where almost every other
person seems to be obese. It has become
a good money spinner for the pharmaceutical, technology and the food industry.
Almost every day you get to see the advertisement of a new gadget, a new drug,
or a new crash diet claiming to get rid of your extra flab without any effort
in a very short time! Most, if not all of them, are only tall claims. In
reality none of them would succeed on a permanent basis. Some of them are down
right risky and could even kill. The fear of obesity and the mad rush to look
thin, has resulted in many western girls developing a new disease where they
hate food and vomit at the very thought of food, eventually getting depressed.
Bulimia, as it is labeled by doctors, is a new disease of the present century.
Every
health related magazine and even news papers seem to be full of stories about
the dangers of over eating and obesity and there are wonder cures for the
condition galore. The latest fad seems to be low carbohydrate, otherwise called
the low-carb. mania. It is estimated by The
Times Magazine that nearly 1558 low-carb. products have been introduced in
the US alone in the last two years, with an estimated sale of more than $30
billion a year. To give the reader a different perspective, this is about five
times the gross domestic product of many smaller countries. Then there are
hundreds of other low fat, high protein diets that ruin the health of the
literate public and increase their anxiety levels. It is not what one eats that
kills one, but it is what eats one, one’s negative thoughts, the very heavy
mental flab, that kills in the end. Overwhelming evidence today points to the
primacy of the mind in the causation of all the killer diseases, starting from
heart attack, cancer, stroke and what have you. Obesity is no exception to this
rule.
Many
of us overeat when we are not happy and/or are depressed. Similarly many people
lose weight and do find it difficult to eat when they are being troubled by
extreme anxiety and guilt. Even when one is very, very happy appetite could get
depressed. There are a few who depend on food to satisfy their psychological
cravings and get obese consequently. While these are novel medical wisdoms, our
ancestors in all societies and in all the major religions have been proclaiming
to the world the real cause of man’s misery due to illnesses. Whereas modern
medical science says: “you are what you eat,” the science of spirituality goes
to say that: “you are what you think.” In short, it is the content of the human
mind that weighs heavier than the content of food fat etcetera in the final
outcome of obesity and other diseases. This wisdom was the essence of the
science of Ayurveda that has existed for “time out of mind” in this holy land,
India. The bija mantra, the
foundation, of Ayurveda is: “prasanna aathma indriya manaha, swastha
ithyabhideeyathe.” As long as the mind is free from all the dangerous negative
thoughts and is filled with universal love, good health will be guaranteed.
Patanjali’s Yoga Shastra with its advocacy of the sattvic diet and chitta vritti nirodhah (control over
ones greedy desires) would, of course, be the ideal recipe for ideal body
weight and good health.
Mary Baker Eddy
wrote a treatise Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures wherein she quotes extensively from the Bible. Jesus
Christ taught, rightly so, that it is not what goes into one’s mouth that
creates problems but, it is what comes out of it that is dangerous to human
health. And in Luke's Gospel he says,
"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what
you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes"
This counsel about food anxiety by Jesus sounds extraordinarily contemporary.
The Bible talks about the inner hunger for spiritual satisfaction that might be
at the root of either overeating or self-starvation. The biology of the physics
of obesity might have to do with eating but the meta-physics of obesity might
depend on the inner discontent with a heavy mind full of the massive load of
the negative feelings like hatred, jealousy, ego, pride and anger. Universal
compassion might be the best and inexpensive antidote to today’s epidemic of
obesity. Rather, it is the mental obesity that manifests as physical obesity in
reality. The holistic approach to obesity starts with spiritual management by a
thinking doctor. That, when coupled with a sensible simple diet, would cure
obesity permanently. All other quick-fix methods like the crash diets would
necessarily come to grief in this background.
“Feast on giving.
Happiness consists in being and in doing good," Mary Baker Eddy observed,
"only what God gives, and what we give ourselves and others through His
tenure, confers happiness: conscious worth satisfies the hungry heart, and
nothing else can." “Find
contentment in who you are and what you already have. The most vital truth
about each of us is that we are God's own daughters and sons. The most filling
thing we all have is God's constant love. To understand ourselves as loved
children of God is profoundly satisfying. Each of us mirrors our Maker in
wonderfully individual ways. We can dine on that reality. Snack on it in
needful or reflective moments.” wrote the Christian Science Monitor some time
ago. How true? My good friend Major Solanki, through his Inquest Foundation, Bangalore, is doing God’s work in spreading the
message of obesity management through spiritual means-sans crazy diets and
weight reducing gadgets. May his tribe
increase for the good of humankind.
In the Sura
V of the Holy Quran, the verse 96 is very explicit in this
direction.
“On those who believe
And do deeds of
righteousness
There is no blame
For what they ate
(in the past)
When they guard
themselves
From evil and
believe,-
And do deeds of
righteousness,----“
English Translation by Abdullah
Yusuf Ali.
There is a subtle
symphony in what appears to be repetition. In fact, relationship of such simple
regulations like food etc has to be explained vis-à-vis man’s duties to his
fellowmen. The essential message of this verse in the Holy Qumran is that food
is less important for human health than righteousness. In short, all the
scriptures in every religion proclaimed to the world that it is the man’s mind
with his awareness of his higher duties to God’s creations (other fellow human
beings) that determines one’s happiness or ill health on this planet.
If one unloads the
mind of all these destructive heavy negative thoughts, one quickly realizes
that not only truncal obesity but all other physical illnesses will get
corrected with additional sensible changes in life style. This will take away
the risk of having to take potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals for every
minor or major deviations from normal health.
While there is no pill for every ill, every pill has an ill following
its prolonged use under all circumstances. Our modern medical quick fixes are
all fine in an emergency. Barring that one of the major causes of
hospitalization in the US is adverse drug reactions (ADR). Just as a bath is a
necessity to keep the body clean, a cleansing bath for the mind by washing away
negative thoughts would be good for the mind and good health in turn. Physical
overweight (obesity) is not as serious a disease as mental overweight
(obesity), where the mind is bogged down by the heavy destructive emotions.
“The best of man is he from whom
good accrues to humanity.” Prophet Mohammed.
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