An interesting incident is narrated by Gordon Rattray Taylor, the famous Chief Science Advisor, BBC Television in his book The Natural History of Mind. The Mind Body connection is a baffling subject even to the scientists. And hence it is worth reading the incident to understand the mind- body connection. Taylor narrates: During the war I was so fortunate as to form a friendship with a man named Clifford Troke. He had been an air-raid warden in London for four years, repeatedly at risk and short of sleep. Among his more stressful experiences were the following. After a heavy air-raid in which more people were killed than the burial arrangements could cope with, an empty school in Trokes district was taken over and the unburied bodies placed in it. The following night a time-bomb fell near the school but did not explode. The health authorities decided that it was an unacceptable health risk to leave the bodies in situ. Volunteers were called for to enter the school and rescue not the living but the dead from the expected explosion. One night, after various such adventures and during a raid, Troke was assailed with the feeling that all Hitlers bombs were directed at him personally, and that the German air force would continue to drop bombs in his vicinity until they got him. He sat down on the edge of the pavement and began to weep. In hospital next day, the doctor took his blood pressure and whistled. He told him that if he did not take things very easily from then on he would probably explode himself. In point of fact, he survived a few years after the war, but succumbed, while still relatively young, to a heart attack. I recall this story to emphasize the point that mental stress can produce physical disease. Stating this incident Mr Taylor points out that the connection between mind and body is subtler and more intimate than most people realize or are ready to admit. The Upanishads declare: Mana Eva Manushyaanaam Karanam Banda Mokshayo: in Sanskrit means the mind is the reason for the human beings to bind or release themselves. Amrutha Bindu Upanishad, one of the 108 important Upanishads teaches this. The Mother of Aurobindo Ashram emphasizes this point: There are people as soon as the least thing happens to their body, their mind is completely upset. There are others still who may be very ill and yet keep their mind clear. It is rarer and more difficult to see a mind that is upset and the body remaining healthy. It is not impossible, but it is much rarer; for the body depends a great deal on the state of the mind. The mind is the master of the physical being. And I have said the latter was a very docile and obedient servant. She further points out that, Normally one uses the mind ill as badly as possible. But instead of letting the mind do the disastrous work; one can use the same capacity to make favorable formations. If one knows how to do that, one gets wonderful results in a few seconds. Mother advises us: Organize the Mind. Purify the Mind. Quiet the mind. The great secrets of the Upanishads are to be learnt to achieve the above. |
