PAIN, PSYCHOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY:

In today’s modern, technologically advanced world, many of us suffer from chronic pain, anxiety, diabetes, hypertension, obesity…etc. Many of these diseases are related to our upbringing, lifestyle, and the environment we live in. Can some of these diseases be prevented or cured through philosophical wisdom?

If we understand our body & mind, by default they are designed for instance sensual pleasure to enjoy everything available in this world. Like animals or other living beings, basis of our enjoyment are mostly in eating, sleeping, mating, and other recreational activities. However, the quality and quantity of our enjoyment are determined by our overall personality or consciousness—whether it operates in the mode of goodness, passion, or ignorance.

Mode of Goodness Personality: A person who is self-contained, self-controlled, and self-satisfied tends to have fewer desires for instant sensual pleasures.

Mode of Ignorance Personality: A person who has unlimited desires and constantly craving for sensual pleasures. Instant sensual pleasure may taste like nectar in the beginning but often ends in poison—though, for some, it may always taste like nectar… 😂 

With common sense, personal experience, and by observing those around us, we know that anything in excess—whether food, sleep, recreation, or even work—can harm our mental and physical health. As a human we can understand all these, have capabilities to change our lifestyle and thus prevent & cure many above mentioned chronic diseases.

Prevention is better than cure. Evolution is better than revolution. Of course, despite our best efforts to live a healthy life, there are times, especially during medical emergencies, we need the guidance and intervention of physicians to manage or cure diseases.

As a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) physician, I like to redefine PM&R as follows:

   •  P: Purifying our body and mind

   •  M: Minimizing bad habits and maximizing good ones

   •  R: Re-creating life—adding years to life and life to years

AND let’s remember this slogan to remain young, vibrant & healthy: Health is Wealth, Motion is Lotion, Rest is Rust and Laughter 😂 is Must.

Four relevant slokas (verses) from the Srimad Bhagavad Gita express this wisdom beautifully. 

TEXT 6: Bg 6.6: For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.

Bg 6.17 — He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system. 

TEXT 8: Bg 17.8: Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome, and pleasing to the heart.

Bg 18.39 — And that happiness which is blind to self-realization, which is delusion from beginning to end and which arises from sleep, laziness and illusion is said to be of the nature of ignorance.

Website: https://vedabase.io 

Jay Shree Krishna 🙏 

Thank You 🙏 

GITA: A BOOK OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINE

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita is a book of lifestyle medicine. It is a therapeutic and universal text that can benefit anyone in the world, regardless of their background.

The Gita is not about God, religion, or war — it is about Me..😂..My life. The Gita is your biography too…(whoever is reading this blog… 😂)…😂 

Most of the verses (slokas) in the Gita are about introspection, the nature of consciousness, lifestyle modifications and strengthening the minds. 

No one is perfect in this world; everyone is fallible…no one is immune. By understanding our own personalities & defects, other people’s mindsets, we can improve our communication, relationships, and overall quality of life. It is easy to say, but difficult to follow….. 😃 

The Gita tells us things as they are — where we stand at this moment in our lives and the direction in which we are headed… 😃😂

The Bhagavad Gita is a philosophical masterpiece and a timeless source of wisdom. Its teachings can bring long-lasting positive change & peace to my life & the world.

Repetitively reading the Gita is meditative & helps you to make better decisions in life.Through the Gita’s knowledge, one can reach eternal happiness.

Srila Prabhupada’s sharp wit and deep conviction: When a reporter in the USA sarcastically asked, “Who is going to read your Gita?” he replied, “A person who is the most intelligent.”…..😂 

The 17 out of 700 ślokas shared below are enough to understand life; it’s rare to find such deeply meaningful verses in any other book.

Free website  https://vedabase.io 

Lord Krishna’s counseling in Gita starts with the introduction of Distress & Death (Twenty slokas chapter two 2.11 to 2.30). He is preparing us by giving the worst news 1st, so that we can tolerate the any other situation that comes in our life. 

Wisdom & Tolerance:

TEXT 11:  Bg 2.11: 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.

TEXT 14:  Bg 2.14:

O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

My Duty:

TEXT 47:  Bg 2.47: 

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.

Who is a Mystic?

TEXT 24: Bg 5.24: 

One whose happiness is within, who is active and rejoices within, and whose aim is inward is actually the perfect mystic.

Mind Game:

TEXT 5:  Bg 6.5:

One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

TEXT 6:  Bg 6.6:

For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.

Balance Life:

TEXT 17:  Bg 6.17:

He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.

My Body Design:

TEXT 8: Bg 15.8: 

The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another, as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another.

TEXT 9: Bg 15.9: 

The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.

Poor Vision:

TEXT 10: Bg 15.10:

The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what sort of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this.

My Defects….. 😂 

TEXT 4:  Bg 16.4: 

Pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness and ignorance – these qualities belong to those of demoniac nature, O son of Pṛthā. 

TEXTS 13-15:  Bg 16.13-15:

The demoniac person thinks: “So much wealth do I have today, and I will gain more according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase in the future, more and more. He is my enemy, and I have killed him, and my other enemies will also be killed. I am the lord of everything. I am the enjoyer. I am perfect, powerful and happy. I am the richest man, surrounded by aristocratic relatives. There is none so powerful and happy as I am. I shall perform sacrifices, I shall give some charity, and thus I shall rejoice.” In this way, such persons are deluded by ignorance.

My Food:

TEXT 8: Bg 17.8: 

Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome, and pleasing to the heart.

Sweet Speech:

TEXT 15:  Bg 17.15:

Austerity of speech consists in speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic literature.

Sane Personality:

TEXT 42:  Bg 18.42:

Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom and religiousness – these are the natural qualities by which the brāhmaṇas (sane person) work.

Jay Shree Krishna 🙏 

Hare Krishna 🙏 

Thank You 🙏 

LIFE COMES FROM LIFE:

LIFE:

We are thinking, expressing, talking, singing, laughing, crying, joking….just because we have chemicals in our bodies? The body is made up of chemicals but where is the origin of feelings, emotions, consciousness and spark 🔥 which keeps us alive & lively? 

1. Consciousness comes from other consciousness. Consciousness can’t be manufactured in the factory... LOL 😂.

2. Consciousness & energy combined can’t exist without the living form AND living form comes from other living form.

3. Very precise & intricate designed like an Universe & Living entity can’t be originated by chance, yes anything & everything can be destroyed by chance....😂 

4. Invisibility is not a proof of nonexistent. Like Mr. Frog in the well with very limited vision can’t understand the ocean Similarly we can’t understand the God & universe beyond this world by Mental Speculation….. 🙏 

Our Forefathers were not Monkeys 🐒:

Living form can’t be produced from the matters. Life can not take birth from chemicals. Life comes from other life. Anything, form or formless has to have an origin from a Form. Heat and sun rays are formless but can not exist without the Sun form. Every living entity has a form & came from another form (cow born from cow, lion born from lion, have you ever heard or seen that lion born from cow? 😂 similarly human born from another human. We human didn’t evolve from monkeys).

Most of us have seen our grandparents…. maybe great grandparents but we haven’t seen our forefathers….. it doesn’t mean they did not exist. Invisibility is not proof of nonexistence. Our forefathers were intellectual & compassionate personalities like Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma, Lord Rishabhdev, Lord Hanuman, Lord Ganesha, Lord Buddha, Rishi Atri, Bhrigu, Marichi…….you can name them as per your belief……but you can’t deny their existence. We should be proud of them. 

Our Designs:

Why we all have a different mindsets & body shapes? 

There are approximately 8.4 million varieties of species or designs are available to accommodate different levels of consciousness. The living entity simply transfers himself from one womb to the next, just as a man transfers himself from one house to another depends on his affordability...😂.  In other words, the species are created to accommodate individuals desires & needs.

We are here and born in this world due to our desires. We have Free will to live our lives and we are responsible for our desires, actions, outcomes, happiness, birth & death cycle. 

Here is the few slokas from the Srimad Bhagavad Gita explaining the different body designs we acquire in repeated birth-death cycle.

TEXT 8: The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another, as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another.

TEXT 9: The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.

TEXT 10: The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what sort of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this. Vedabase.io 

This divine scripture was spoken/written very intelligently with lots of compassion to help us to understand this world and our personalities (and our defects too…😂).

Jay Shree Krishna 🙏 

Thank You  🙏