DISEASE IS AN ACCIDENT.
Posted by bmhegde on 1
Accident is an unexpected, undesirable event, especially one that results in injury, damage, or death. Diseases are also unexpected and undesirable events in one’s life. Even if one follows all the health rules that one has read in this book, one could still fall ill! Does that mean that one could live anyway one liked, since diseases are accidents? This is not true, though. Here I would like to give the analogy of a traffic accident. Even the best driver, driving the best new model of a vehicle on a motorway, could still meet with an accident due to variety of reasons. The weather, the mistakes of other road users, mechanical failures, burst tires, and many other imponderables could cause an accident on the road. The same applies to air accidents. Interestingly, air accidents are relatively very rare, statistically, compared to road accidents.
Air accidents are less common for the simple reason that there are many checks and balances to see that accidents are avoided as far as possible. This applies to the human system very much. If one follows all that is enumerated in this book faithfully he/she could be compared to an aircraft vis-à-vis a motor car as far as accidental diseases are concerned. In the human existence on this planet there are many more imponderables compared to flying an aircraft. However, one who follows the rules of the game sincerely has a much less chance of falling ill. Ultimately, it is CHANCE that determines our future on this planet. No science, even the king of sciences, physics, could predict the future. No power on earth, least of all the power of the medical establishment, could guarantee our health for all times to come. If the pilot of the plane is drunk or is intoxicated with tobacco, he has a higher chance of accidents. This is true in the case of humans. Alcohol and tobacco, in any form, are the two deadly enemies of human health.
The alcohol lobby has been able to brainwash most of us to believe that a small amount of alcohol is good for health. Nothing could be farther from the truth. You have all the evidences in favour of the above statement in the earlier chapter on alcohol and tobacco. Ayurveda, the mother of all medical wisdoms, has a very telling advice. “Although people enjoy variety of alcohol and wines with their food and feel good about it in different seasons of the year, those who do not want to suffer from any diseases would do well to keep away from any type of alcohol in any amount.” If one indulges in these habits he/she should be getting regularly checked up to see if things are going well or not. Alcohol and/or tobacco could mask the message from the body to the brain, of the early symptoms of disease. In those who do not indulge in these habits, even minor symptoms send signals to the brain. Any unusual symptom needs the attention of one’s family doctor that has the good of his patient at heart.
In the absence of those habits routine check up, as long as one feels energetic, enthusiastic, has good appetite, is regular in his/her excretory functions and gets good sleep, is not only not necessary, but could, at times, be dangerous. In short, one who follows the rules of the game has very little chance of falling ill. Even if the unexpected happens the body’s defense mechanisms try to set things right to the extent possible. Only when the body’s efforts fail symptoms come on. Doctors and medicines could help only at that stage. Studies have now revealed that taking medicines or having surgical operations to prevent future diseases or problems have, by and large, failed to deliver the goods. As long as one feels well there is now overwhelming evidence to show that some chemical abnormalities, which are detected by routine check up, could well be corrected, for the future benefit, by changing one’s life style, diet and exercise habits, rather than taking recourse to drugs and surgical corrections. The last two have been shown in poor light in an otherwise healthy individual.
The above description does not apply to contagious diseases. When there is an epidemic of any deadly disease in the community it is better to take all the precautions, including preventive inoculations, even though one is perfectly fit. It is good to remember that mankind has been able to overcome one of the deadliest diseases, small pox, not by any innovative drug therapy but, by the time-honoured vaccination. Small pox vaccination was prevalent in India from “time out of mind” in many of the University cities like Bananas. It is the prospective observation of success of these methods, over a period of twenty years in the eighteenth century, by a British physician, T. Z. Holwell FRCP, that gave authenticity to the anecdotal finding of the success of cow pox vaccination by Edward Jenner in Britain.
In the unlikely event of any disease, an otherwise healthy individual has a better chance of survival compared to the one that does not follow the healthy life style. This is because of the better immune system that these people possess. The immune system could be nourished with good food, clean surroundings, regular exercise in moderation, and, above them all, by trying to avoid negative destructive thoughts like hatred, jealousy and anger. Here the role of yoga and praanaayaama come into play in a big way. Death and disease have very little in common. Death comes when it has to: no matter what. No one would have an advance notice of death. Many a time even those that are written off would miraculously escape death and live on for a long time thereafter! Death can not be postponed either. Healthy life style would ensure active life until death but, certainly, would not confer immortality.
* Healthy life style reduces the chance (risk) of any disease to the extent possible.
* Healthy life style does not prevent death but might postpone premature death.
* Disease is only an accident.
* Accidents are statistically less when road rules are followed, compared to those that do not follow the rules.
* Similarly diseases are statistically less common in those that follow the healthy life style pattern.
* In the unlikely event a disease, recovery is faster and complete in those that follow a healthy life style.
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