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Illness, Faith, Yoga-Power and Medicines · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  If we examine how illness comes upon us and what effects it has,
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  we can identify multiple different contributing factors
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  that can lead to the physical imbalances that we call illness.
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  Many of the symptoms of illness are the result of the physical
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  body actually resisting the effect of the illness.
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  Is it possible to do away with illness?
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  Is it possible to prevent illness?
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  Is it possible to heal illness? We live in a world that is
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  enamoured of the idea that illness is caused by germs, that
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  is, bacteria or viruses. These germs proliferate and
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  enter our body and start to cause the illness, and we then
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  become sick. But the cause of illness is not
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  so simple as to blame some external factor and avoid the
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  deeper insights that are part of the complex.
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  Some people rarely have ever get sick.
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  They are said to have a strong immunity.
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  Generally, these people have a vibrant and strong vital sheath,
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  which radiates an energy that repels contrary forces.
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  Germs, after all, are simply physical carriers that create a
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  vibratory pattern when they find a receptive host.
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  If the vital sheath is able to prevent or neutralize the
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  action, then the individual does not become I'll.
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  In many cases, the mind actually weakens the vital protective
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  sheath through the operation of fear.
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  We see this in the case of epidemics or pandemics.
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  People become infected with fear and this creates gaps in the
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  armor of the vital sheath that allows the feared illness to
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  enter and embed itself in the physical frame.
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  The physical body is habituated to the idea that certain
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  vibratory patterns will take over and create the imbalances
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  we recognize as illness. It is possible for individuals
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  to build up the strength of their vital sheath to such a
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  degree that illness has little chance of passing through and
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  creating the physical vibrational pattern.
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  Certain individuals, such as dedicated practitioners of yoga
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  for many years, use mantras, pranayam, or other mechanisms to
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  enhance the sheath and thereby find that they do not become
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  I'll. Just as the mind can help create
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  the environment for illness through acceptance of fear,
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  modern science shows that the mind can also be a powerful tool
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  in healing the body. What is known as the placebo
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  effect is worth examination. An individual sick with an
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  illness participates in a study. Certain people are given
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  medicines that have an active property to tamp down the
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  activity of the germs in the creation of their vibratory
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  patterns. Other individuals are given a
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  remedy that in fact has no active force associated with it.
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  Their belief in the remedy, regardless of its actual ability
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  to attack the invading germs, has been found to cure
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  individuals some 25% of the time or more.
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  If there is no active medicine, then we have to attribute the
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  healing power to the mind and the body itself.
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  Some people are able to experience a feeling of pressure
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  on their vital sheath, which they associate with a potential
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  attack of illness. In some cases they succumb to
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  the feeling and then they become I'll.
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  In other cases, however, they resist the feeling, strengthen
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  their resolve and their vital sheath, and throw off the
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  feeling before it becomes a full blown illness.
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  For some people, adding a physical medium such as an herb
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  or a tea of some sort adds to the mental and vital resolve to
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  strengthen the immune response by convincing the body that it
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  is being helped. Many people report the
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  significant benefit they receive from the use of homeopathic
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  medicines, which have no identifiable active ingredient
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  but are supposed to work solely on the subtle vibrational level.
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  1 case in particular that has been brought to our attention
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  involved an individual who was suffering from a severe case of
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  amoebic bleeding dysentery while he was visiting India.
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  He asked about a doctor and was told the best person to see was
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  the local homeopath. He immediately visited this
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  Doctor Who asked a series of seemingly random questions, then
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  prescribed a little sugar pellet of a particular homeopathic
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  remedy and advised that with 15 to 20 minutes the severe
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  abdominal motions and pain would be stopped and the body could
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  then heal from the damage that had been done in the meantime.
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  In fact, the result was exactly that strong Western medicines
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  could not have done better, and in fact were discounted as
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  solutions by those in the know. In that place Srioro Bindu
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  observes quote. Illness marks some imperfection
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  or weakness or else opening to adverse touches in the physical
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  nature, and is often connected also with some obscurity or
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  disharmony in the lower vital or the physical mind or elsewhere.
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  It is very good if one can get rid of illness entirely by faith
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  and yoga power or the influx of the Divine Force.
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  But very often this is not altogether possible because the
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  whole nature is not open or able to respond to the force.
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  The mind may have faith and respond, but the lower vital in
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  the body may not follow. Or if the mind and vital are
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  ready, the body may not respond, or may respond only partially,
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  because it has the habit of replying to the forces which
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  produce a particular illness and habit is a very obstinate force
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  in the material part of the nature.
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  In such cases the use of the physical means can be resorted
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  to, not as the main means, but as a help or material support to
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  the action of the force, not strong and violent remedies, but
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  those that are beneficial without disturbing the body.
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  End Quote reference Sri Aurobindo Basis of Yoga, Chapter
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  5 Physical Consciousness, Subconscious Sleep and Dream
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  illness page 104.