We are in the midst of an important accord of Sage Shaunaka wherein he talks in detail about the disastrous consequences of “Mano-Vyaadhi” or “Mental depression”. If a person enters into this state, he / she would have all possible complications in the physical body slowly and steadily. The point here is that, even if our physical body might be externally healthy, the “Mano Vyaadhi” would ensure that our physical body develops all sorts of diseases slowly. We might also be seeing this in our daily lives – If we’re accumulating too much of mental stress, slowly we would start having blood pressure, diabetes, etc. which would in turn start killing our physical body slowly and steadily. This is why we always keep saying that stress is a very dangerous thing to have, and we should relieve our mind from it by performing meditation, spiritual practices, etc. Once our mind becomes calm and positive, our physical body also remains healthy. If the mind is fully occupied with a lot of problems and confusions, we might not even be able to get a sound sleep. This also leads to several complications to our physical body. Thus, the overall point here is that, “Mano Vyaadhi” is extremely dangerous and we should learn from Sage Shaunaka’s accord to keep our mind in the positive zone always.
Moving on thus, Sage Shaunaka now explains how to come out of the “Mano-Vyaadhi”. He says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! Rather than the “Mano-Vyaadhi” setting fire to your physical body, you set fire to the “Mano-Vyaadhi” and destroy it! Now how do you do that? The best way is to get rid of your “Ahankaara” and “Mamakaara” completely!” This is one aspect. Moreover, Sage Shaunaka also says something very important and is very pertinent to all of us as well:
“Manaso dukhamoolandhu sneha ithyupalabhyate!
Snehaathu sajjathe jantuhu dukhayogam upaithicha!!”
Here, Sage Shaunaka explains how all of us go and fall into the trap of “Adharma” and how we get carried away. He explains thus, “Oh Yudishtra! It all starts with our mind getting frustrated. Our mind would feel upset and eventually we would start feeling worried, scared, etc. At this point in time, somebody would come near us, sit nearby, put a hand around our shoulders and pacify us. That somebody would assure that he / she would always be there by our side and help us out of this problem. At this point, since we’re getting some soothing words of assurance and affection, we would immediately tend to believe this person. Now, our mind loses the “Viveka-Gnyaana” (The sense of discrimination) to analyze and understand whether this person is genuinely good or opportunistic. Many times, people would be opportunistic and would try to use our problem to make merry. Thus, since our mind is at a confused state now, we would lose this sense of discrimination and would believe this person blindly. At a point, even if this person harms us in some ways, we would tend to discard all of them and go behind him / her. At the end of the day, we would end up facing the same disaster which we would have been dreading all these days!”
Thus, Sage Shaunaka is very clear in his advice here. He explains how dangerous a friendship can be during the time when our mind is confused! When we are frustrated and sad and if someone comes to us with soothing words, we should be extremely careful. This is where our “Viveka-Gnyaana” is very important. We should discriminate, analyze and check who this person is, before entering into friendship or relationship with him / her. In today’s scenario too, we see several cases of people being taken for a ride because of this. At a point of financial difficulty, we would be brooding over it, and someone would promise a lump sum amount of money if we do a “small help” to him. That “small help” would turn into a huge disaster and we might even end up behind bars! Thus, whatever should not happen to us, would happen if we enter into a wrong companionship!
This is exactly the point that Sage Shaunaka is trying to tell Yudishtra. Now that Yudishtra is seemingly sad that he has lost his kingdom and wealth, there are chances that some outsiders would try and mingle with him in an opportunistic way and would use his problem to make merry. Through this point, Sage Shaunaka cautions Yudishtra to be careful with his friendships that he makes. This is not just a caution for Yudishtra, but for all of us as well! So for today, let us understand this point very clearly and we shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 