Your health, your duty

An initiate asked Lao Tzu the secret of his healthy, peaceful and vibrant life despite age. Quick came the reply, ‘I eat when I feel hungry, and sleep when I so feel.’ The initiate was confused, ‘What is unique about it, everybody does that.’It is said the great philosopher retorted not in words but with an elongated, thunderous guffaw connoting that people rather lead a constricted, inhibited life and, thus, render themselves vulnerable to numerous diseases and sufferings.

Mind is the seat of all we think, perceive, feel, imagine and believe. Hence, it must be trained befittingly so that our behaviour and actions lead to best outcomes.

Emphasising the key role of health in overall well-being, Hindu scriptures correlated it with religious task, ‘Sharir madhyam dharm khalu sadhnam’ – The body is just a modality in achieving the religious objectives. The Buddha also said, ‘To keep the body in good health is a duty; else, we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.’

In the mind-body matrix, body is an adjunct to the mind. It does what the mind really wants. So, health is primarily an issue of mind rather than body or any of its organ. ‘And your body hears everything your mind says,’ said Naomi Judd.