In the holy Gita Lord Krishna describes the human body as analogous to a chariot having the sense organs as the horses, mind as the groom and the soul as the master. The relationship of body and mind is similar to that of a governed and a ruler – the activities of the body run as per the instructions of the mind. The human mind, like a groom, accelerates and controls the movements of the ‘horses’ of sense organs – the desires of mind are manifested in those of the senses....
No external or internal activity of the body can be directed against the will of the mind. The auto-regulated functions such as, blood circulation, respiration, muscular movements, perspiration, excretion, sleeping, dreaming, etc are governed by the unconscious mind through appropriate processing in the brain. The conscious mind shapes the behavioral and perceptive transactions of the senses and associated activities of the body.... Thus, mind appears to be the sole ruler of the ‘estate’ of the body.
Disorders and deficiencies in the normal activities of the body most likely have their roots in the perturbed state of malfunctioning of the mind. In a democratic state, the subversion of social harmony, decline of economic system or hardships of public life may not be blamed over to the discrepancies in the government machinery and policies alone because several other factors –– such as, anti-social elements, public indiscipline, etc also play significant role there. However, that is not the case with the living system of the body.
Mind happens to be the predominant controller and chief manager of the vast estate of the body. No component or processing inside the body could disobey its will and instructions. Thus, it sounds reasonable to seek the root of psychosomatic disorders and diseases in the patient’s psychology. Trends in modern medical sciences seem to have concordance with these conclusions of the ancient sciences....
Dr. Robert D. Roy, reputed psychologist and psychiatrist of America has surveyed large number of cases of incurable diseases. His analysis has revealed that majority of these diseases were results of the complications, complexities, excessive worries or malice prevailing in the patient’s mind. He considers that intricate diseases are manifestations of instability and deformation on the psychological front.
Dr. Daniel Kapok of Canada is also an expert in Human Psychology and Psychiatry. He opines that even simple diseases like common cold sometimes continue to persist in spite of best medical treatments. The reason for such occurrences is straight - some disturbances in the harmonious functioning of the mind. The germs or viruses of common cold are quite different from those of other infectious diseases. The immune system naturally develops sufficient antibody repertoire to fight against the antigenic effects of Polio, Smallpox etc. This is how the likelihood of recurrence is annulled in these cases and remedies of vaccination are also effective in prevention of such diseases.
However, immunity does not work on common cold. Sometimes it recurs frequently and becomes chronic. People often develop resistance against the medicines for common cold. They might suffer from it for long time due to lack of effective treatment. Many experts of medicine too accept it that basically there is not direct cure for common cold. It is also defined as some kind of allergic reaction or manifestation of disorder in the state of mind.
Realization of the crucial impact of mental functions on health, and examination and treatment of patient’s psychological features is given due importance along with medical, pathological and other investigations in good hospitals now a days. Medical practices of psychiatric physicians are gaining increasing support in the developed countries and big cities where people are more health-conscious.
The psycho-physiological methods offer comprehensive treatment and are therefore found more successful in treatment of otherwise incurable diseases too. Looking at the current population growth, it appears that these modes of integrated approach might replace some of the established systems of therapies in future. Another stream of therapies working directly on the vital power of mind is Spiritual Healing, which has promising role to play in noninvasive treatment without the help of medicines or external devices.
Dr. Harry Edwards has presented several methods and principles of spiritual healing in his book entitled “Truth about Spiritual Healing”. He has also discussed quite a few cases that were declared ‘incurable’ by the medical specialists but were successfully treated by spiritual healing. Mr. Manoharlal Kudalkar of Bombay was suffering from severe sutran roga. In spite of trying out varieties of systematic treatments for long time, his problem advanced rather than showing any signs of improvement. The spiritual healing provided by Dr. Edwards offered him total relief from this disease in about 3 to 4 months.
More remarkable was the case of Elizabeth Wilson of London. Some time in 1909 when she was only three years old, Elizabeth suffered pain in the spinal cord. It was so severe that she was kept bed ridden straight on the back for the whole year and treated with heavy doses of medicines. Unfortunately the trouble, instead of subsiding, continued to grow more severe. By the age of fourteen years, she was unable to bear the pain and could not even walk... This lady remained practically handicapped till the age of thirty. She had tried varieties of therapies popular at that time, but all her doctors finally gave up and declared her disease as incurable. Around 1940 her parents heard about Dr. Harry Edwards. Like a miracle, she became all right after undergoing the latter’s spiritual healing cure only for few weeks!
William Olson, also of London, was suffering from prolapsed disk. X-rays showed it as a serious problem. No surgery was feasible. He tried out many medicines and remedial techniques but in the vain. Within few days of spiritual healing in Dr. Edward’s Hospital, Olson bean walking without the plaster jacket on his waist. Few weeks later, he was relieved of the problem completely. In the later years of life, he also traveled over 16000 kilometers in a single without any pain or difficulty.
In the above cited book, Dr. Edwards has elucidated spiritual healing as a perfect method which works on eternal principles whose outcome can be scientifically verified. He argues – “Orange, like any other fruit is good; that is why it grows and blossoms in nature. If a piece of orange is found in bad condition and taste, that does not mean that the purpose of its origin has gone ill or the process of its growth itself has gone wrong.... The bad piece is a diseased or damaged fruit, which is not its original form. Any kind of deficiency or disorder in any product of nature occurs, either due to abnormality inherent since the time of its birth or caused by external effects during further development. In other words, nature by itself does not commit any mistake – no system, object or living being could be naturally diseased or bad. There is always a cause other than the natural tendency of an entity which disrupts its original properties; and if the cause is not natural, it should always be possible to remove it and bring the system back the natural form and condition during the latter’s life time....”
Dr. Edwards also cites the example of the human system to illustrate its conditioning: “Human body and mind, like the fruit of orange could also be subjected to internal weaknesses or external influences. For proper nourishment and prevention of the possibility of downfall and damage, the connection between the fruit and the branch on which it grows should be strong. The linkage, which connects a human being with its eternal origin also needs to be kept alive and continuously strengthened for healthy survival of the former. Ideal maintenance of this linkage is the key to the sustenance of healthy functioning of the body and mind. Health means natural or normal state of existence. Disease, by definition, reflects a deviation from the naturally normal conditions. Cure of a disease means bringing the original natural system back in its normal state. This can be and should be achieved by appropriate remedies to eliminate the causes of disturbance and counter the unnatural transformations elicited by them.”
According to Dr. Edwards, the fundamental objective of any attempt on revival and maintenance of health should be focused at connecting the individual being with its origin – the perennial universal source of vital power. What is the use of a radio set without electrical power supply? Human body and mind too cannot function without continuous supply of vital energy and spiritual force. The methods of Spiritual Healing indeed aim at harmonizing this supply by re-linking the patient’s consciousness with its eternal origin....
Modern methods of treatment – especially allopathy is based on considering human entity as specific ensemble of biochemical and physiological combinations and processing in a physical system. Here, the cause of any disease is searched in possible variations or transformations in the associated elements or reactions at the organ, cellular or molecular levels. Drug therapies, non-invasive techniques, surgical operations etc are aimed at controlling the identified (if any) disturbances of these sorts in the functioning of the body - including the brain as an organ in it. The effects of such treatments do balance proper reactions and set the biochemical, bio-electrical and physiological functioning of the interconnected sub-systems in the body well in order in many cases but do not annul the possibilities of recurrence or adverse side effects..... Such approaches and therapies, as described by Dr. Edwards, do not achieve the fundamental principle of health.
As discussed by erudite experts and successful doctors like Harry Edwards, total and viable health can be attained naturally by having proper linkage of a living being with its source of life... The origin of life resides in the Eternal Cosmic Spiritual Force.... The processes of spiritual healing establish and strengthen the patient’s linkage with this Supreme source of life and therefore easily treat complex diseases permanently. Apart form diminishing the declared ‘incurable’ disorders and diseases, the instances of offering eyesight to the blinds, voice to the mutes (including born blind and dumb).... etc are also achieved by this therapy.
The effects of spiritual healing appear miraculous. Howbeit, Dr. Edwards sees no surprise in such treatments. He argues that - something is astonishing if it occurs in a supernatural manner or appears to have taken place due to some esoteric reasons. But, spiritual healing works on well-explained and logical principles. In his words, “every phenomena has a reason of occurrence and every process, every kind of transformation in the natural state of system requires some power.... Spiritual Healing makes use of the vital energy, which cannot be measured by physical instruments nor can it be described in the terminology of matter based sciences. Its effects and mode of functioning appear to be mysterious or astonishing to most people mainly because of their inability to sense the subtle world beyond the three dimensional expansion perceived by their sense organs.”
As the description of color has no meaning for a born blind, understanding the mode of spiritual healing is not possible for people unless they have experienced the existence of vital force in themselves or realized the spiritual domains of life in the inner self.... Special kinds of knowledge, training, acumen and experiences are required for mastering any branch of science or practicing any mode of therapies. The same is true in case of spiritual sciences too.
With the dedicated efforts and inspirations of experts like Dr. Harry Edwards, several therapeutic centers for Natural and Spiritual Healing have been established around the world. This therapy has now received recognition and favorable response everywhere because of the successful treatment of thousands of complicated and otherwise incurable disease in the past three to four decades.
As mentioned earlier, mind is the principal regulator and conductor of the brain and body functions. Psychologists consider it as the omnipotent ruler of the body. The Indian Philosophy however, regards mind as an envoy of the soul, which has been appointed by the latter to govern the functions of life. Thus, it is the lack or abundance of spiritual power that is the basic cause respectively of deficient or perfect maintenance of healthy activity, harmony and strength of the mind and the body as a whole.
That Supreme Power of the eternal consciousness (of Brahma) can create the cosmos by a single solemn; it can create, transform and destroy Nature.... It is impossible that linkage with this Omnipotent eternal source of life would not result in ideal maintenance of health at physical, mental and spiritual levels. Unlimited boons of systematic use of the spiritual power and vital energy bestowed by this infinite source are results of a subtle process, which is as scientific as the bio-electrical reactions. Though belated, the truth behind these principles of ancient sciences has been realized in the modern age and hence, spiritual healing - under different names, such as Reiki, Pranika etc., is gradually becoming an effective mode of alternate and preventive medicine.
