In the previous episode, we had witnessed an important accord from Sage Shaunaka, who is quoting some important excerpts from King Janaka’s life to explain certain aspects of “Dharma” to Yudishtra. In this way, Sage Shaunaka explains four important factors that lead to mental unrest. Firstly, if a person gets affected by a disease harming the physical body, he / she gets mentally affected. Secondly, if a person gets something that he / she doesn’t like or wants, he / she gets mentally affected. Thirdly, if a person gets tired of too much work, he / she gets mentally affected. Fourthly, if a person doesn’t get what he / she likes the most, obviously this person gets mentally affected! We witnessed a detailed discussion on all the four points in yesterday’s episode.
Moving on further, Sage Shaunaka explains more about the significance of mental health. He says thus:
“Mathi mantohyato daivyaaha shamam praagyeva kurvate!”
Here Sage Shaunaka explains the next important point – He says that doctors, when they perform treatments on people, they would first motivate the patients in such a way that they are mentally strong. If we’re gaining that confidence that we would get cured of the disease, automatically the disease that affects the physical body would start getting cured fast. We would have witnessed this phenomenon in our everyday life as well. Whenever we go to a doctor for a treatment of a “Deha-Vyaadhi” (Disease that affects our physical body) such as fever, malaria, dengue, or some fractures in our hands or legs, the doctor would not directly start the treatment for our physical body. He / she would first try and motivate us by saying that this disease can be easily cured and there’s no need to worry about anything. Only after the dose of motivation, would the actual treatment start. Thus, we can witness how significant our mental health is. If our mental health is perfect, we would be able to overcome any “Deha-Vyaadhi” with ease. This is why we always say that if our mind is stable and with a positive outlook, any problem in life can be handled with ease, including the “Deha-Vyaadhi”.
“Maansasenahi dukhena shareeram upatapyate!”
Moving on to the next point thus, Sage Shaunaka explains that the physical body gets tired and agitated only because of the “Mano-Vyaadhi” (Mental disease / unrest). If our mind is not clear, we wouldn’t know what we’re doing and the entire body would become restless. Here, Sage Shaunaka gives a beautiful example to drive this point home – Imagine there is a huge tree trunk. In the middle of the tree trunk, there is a small hole. What if we light a fire with some inflammable material and put it into the hole? It would slowly start burning the interior parts of the tree’s trunk, even without the external part burning, isn’t it? Outwardly we might think that the tree trunk is fine, but internally the trunk would be burning and slowly would get destroyed isn’t it? The inflammable material under fire in this example should be equated to our mind. If our mind is affected with some disturbance, it would slowly start burning our physical body (tree trunk) internally. Externally if we see someone affected by mental disease, we might not be able to identify anything. But internally, this person would be crying and brooding all the time. He wouldn’t be able to consume proper food at the proper time, etc. He would constantly be lost in thoughts and he would not be able to understand what is happening right in front of him! His peace of mind is gone for a toss! Eventually, because of all these symptoms, the physical body would also slowly start facing destruction.
Thus, the point here is that, “Mano-Vyaadhi” is extremely powerful and poisonous in such a way that it would kill a healthy physical body slowly and steadily. Just like how smoking cigarettes leads to slow destruction of our lungs and wind-pipe, “Mano-Vyaadhi” would slowly destroy our physical health and well-being. This is what we’ve to understand here, and this is exactly what Yudishtra is facing right now – He’s in a situation wherein all the factors around him are trying to push him into the “Mano-Vyaadhi” and mental depression. However, Sage Shaunaka’s words are acting as a soothing medicine for Yudishtra to not get trapped into all these factors. Thus, for today, let us understand the devastating effects of the “Mano-Vyaadhi” and let us strive to maintain ourselves in a positive frame of mind at all times. We shall witness the continuation of this important discussion in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 