mental and physical ailments need not be dealt
accept that almost all illnesses are a result of
some kind of mental disturbance. We merely
want to emphasize this point.
The mind, on a personal level, is in a
continual state of activity at all stratas. Ideally
these processes should occur spontaneously
and naturally, without the slightest hindrance.
In the mind of most people, however, there is
psychological constipation and indigestion,
caused by mental frustrations. This results in
the growth of psychological tumours in the
mind. If these tumours, blocks, frustrations
and mental problems are sufficiently intense
they can result in psychosomatic illnesses and/
or mental illnesses or breakdowns. If the
mental problems are milder, but nevertheless
present, they will manifest in the form of
unhappiness and depression; in fact general
discontent with one's relationship with life and
other people.
It is widely accepted that there are many
illnesses which manifest physically, but which
have psychological causes. In modern language
these are called psychosomatic diseases.
Under this heading are included more obvious
related diseases such as neuritis, but actually
yoga believes that almost all diseases are
caused by mental disturbances. Modern science
is slowly coming around to the same conclusion
by experiment. For example, the general
treatment for cancer in recent times has been
radioactive bombardment of the cancerous
area. Yet at a symposium held at Stanford
University in U.S.A. in 1972, a radiologist had
a far reaching conclusion to convey to medical
science. His revelation caused a stir at the
meeting. He said that he had been using
radiology for many years in the treatment of
cancer patients. Because of the widespread
occurrence of cancer, thousands of patients
besieged him seeking a cure. He of course
could not treat them all at the same time and
so he was forced to make many of them wait
for treatment, often for several weeks. Some
of the people were suffering great pain. The
usual method of combating this pain is
administration of drugs. To reduce this
dependence on drugs, the radiologist recommended
that the patients relieve their pain by
practising relaxation and meditational techniques.
To his great surprise many of these
people showed marked improvement in their
state of health. His conclusion, which he
presented to the members of the symposium,
was obvious: the cause of cancer lies in the
mind, nowhere else. We would also like to add
one point: many people claim that the cause of
cancer, the only cause, is cigarette smoking.
Figures and statistics are presented which
clearly show and prove that the incidence of
cancer is greater with smokers than with nonsmokers.
This may be true, but they miss one
important factor; namely, that people who
smoke are generally those who are very tense.
We are not saying that this is the reason why
they smoke, but that those who smoke have a
tendency to be more tension-ridden. Therefore,
we feel that the cause of cancer is not the
smoking, but mental tension. Smoking may
have some bearing no doubt, but it is a side
issue.
It is a similar case with diabetes. Many people
attribute its cause to the malfunctioning of the
pancreas and perhaps the pituitary gland. No
doubt this is the obvious cause of the lack of
insulin. But what is the reason for the
malfunction in the first place? From contact
with large numbers of diabetics in the ashram,
we feel that the original cause definitely lies in
the mind. Mental disturbance and continual
stress interfere with the harmonious working
of the physical organs causing them to break
down. We know many cases of diabetics who
have learned to relax more in life, through
yoga practices, and their diabetes has
completely disappeared or at least been
reduced.
We could talk about numerous other
illnesses, epilepsy, heart problems and ulcers,
in the same way, but this is not the purpose of
this discussion. We merely want to draw your
attention to the importance that the mind has
on health and lack of health. With removal of
mental problems, incredible changes take place
in the body and state of health. Many miraculous
cures of all types of so-called incurable
diseases can be obtained by relaxing the
deeper realms of the subconscious mind, by
throwing out or coming to terms with one's
inner problems
