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.