Divine Address to General Hospital Staff

8 October 1983, Prasanthi Nilayam

Published English.

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Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. As also the tendency to listen to all that is good and desirable. Also to have it in one to take in only good and wholesome sights, and good traits, and good behavior. These alone confer good health and a good way of living and life. This word of is verily the path of truth.

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In this world of ours, man is given to enjoy and experience wealth beyond description. But, out of all the types of wealth that one can possibly come across, it is one's health which you find is the wealthiest possession. In fact, it's said health is wealth. One who's not given to having a good health cannot possibly succeed even in the smallest of ventures. It is one's health again which is of paramount importance and necessity either in this world or the world beyond. One could have wealth and money beyond description or wealth. Or could be having positions of authority in officialdom. But without his health, the person concerned would look upon these - the positions, official authority, and wealth - as of no consequence. He might be a , a master of . Only when he has health in the first place, would he be in a position to use this wealth of his for some good purpose.

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("Health is the excellent root of , , and ").

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In order that one might discharge one's responsibilities in terms of , , and , the four , one's health is again the most important necessity. The first three of these, , , and , belong to this world as such. But the fourth one, the fourth possession, or liberation, comes to you in the world beyond.

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What is the primary aim and goal of one's life in the three goals (this-worldly), (pertaining to the other world) and (state of ultimate spiritual liberation or enlightenment)? It is this or liberation which is man's goal, destiny, and the very secret of his existence. You might have positions, you might have wealth beyond your dreams, and you might occupy positions of authority. But unless you are able to reach your destination, all of these are futile. In your household, you might have dishes and food of varied descriptions and tastes. But unless you are able to relish, eat, and partake of them, what's the use of having these in your household? The food stuff, any number of them. If you're not able to eat, what's the use of having them at all?

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These three , , , and , are like the different types of food that you could have. The fourth one, , is the primary goal or aim. But it is given to man, and it's very much in his nature, that by way of discharging his responsibilities in this worldly life, he might adopt different methods, different techniques. Man is born with five sheaths or : - the body, - the sheath of life force, - the mental sheath, - intellect sheath, and - sheath of "bliss". Out of these five, three belong to your physical existence and two to the world beyond. It's not possible to differentiate between these two. What you're trying to seek in this world and the world beyond are interlinked closely, inseparable, they are a perfect admixture, you cannot possibly differentiate.

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We look upon God as the very embodiment; we, in fact, refer to Him as (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss). This is part of one's experience. But what you really behold and have to experience are name and form. Without, first of all, coming into realizing the Name and Form, you cannot experience in their totality the aspects. This Name and Form are those that belong to this part of it, this world. These are temporary, ephemeral. Through this medium of Name and Form, which are temporary and transient, you are able to experience , which are lasting and permanent. So, without this Name and Form in the first place, you cannot experience that pure, the un-sullied purity which is .

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Here we come to the first of these sheaths, . In this , the body, the primary entity is the . This in turn is linked with this Kosha. This totality of one's existence on this earth consists of the coming together of the three sheaths: , , and . From this human plane of existence, you transcend and rise above to become one with the divine. For that, you need the assistance of the and the . So, here you have the two paths being shown to you: - one pertaining to this worldly existence and - one that you have to reach that lies beyond.

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It's a mistaken notion on our part to feel that one's health in a way confers lasting happiness as regards this worldly existence. We also tend to believe that in our worldly transactions health is of primary importance. But then the question, what for this worldly existence? So that you might reach to something which is beyond. Unless you have that distant goal set before you, this worldly existence is meaningless. So, what for do you have to protect and safeguard your health? Not for your worldly existence, but for the sake of experiencing the - the Bliss of the Self.

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In order to protect one's health, one has to follow a certain set of rules, a code of conduct and habits. Now, in this creation again, you have any number of life forms, of species. In fact, the different types of life forms have been classified into eighty-four lakh species. They do not give you the total number of lives, but life forms, species. Out of these eighty-four lakh species of life forms that you have, eighty-three lakh, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine types tend to eat food which is not cooked. They eat, instead, food which is natural and available in the world. This food that is available in nature is taken by them. They do not seek to change them. So, you find that these eighty-three , nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine species of life forms enjoying peak health. But of course, it does happen that because of climatic variations and factors which are beyond one's control, some of these life forms also do come to grief.

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("I, becoming the digestive fire...").

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What do you really mean by this or food? We look upon things like rice, fruits, vegetables as food. But this is not the case as such. Whatever you can possibly see in this world is food. And that food stuff which experiences and partakes of the food is also a type of food. So, here what follows is that food experiences food. The body, for instance, is food. And this which is food is partaking of something which is food. An animal or a beast is also a type of food. This beast partakes of some other animal as its food. So, here it is, food eating food. What you must keep in mind is what should be given to a particular system. Man, he feels, "I am a human being and I am eating this." This is ignorance on his part. Your body serves as food to some other entity. And that entity, in turn, is food for a third quantity. If you start looking at things, everything around you is food. But in this food, which is present all over, the Sattvic variety is to be looked at. The hallmark or the quality of this Sattvic food is that it is full of the Sattvic attribute. It puts you on the path of .

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When you bring together these three seemingly different entities, , , and , you can secure the fourth, . You find that the priests who preside over ceremonies like weddings and marriages, when they keep chanting these , they make a reference to , , and . They don't utter the word . The reason is, if you can really experience and fulfill what is to be done with regard to , , and in the proper way, would come to you on its own. But, possibly because of the influence of this (the time of ), we keep in sight , forget all about , , and . So much so that we really do not do what we should with regard to this , , and . When you really fulfill what is to be done with regard to , , and in the proper way, would be your own. Now, we do not discharge our obligations or responsibilities in the proper way with regard to the first three.

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We ask for . How can it be yours? What is required here is, following the path of , seek or wealth. Treading this path of and securing or wealth in the proper way, you come to the third step, your desire or your aspirations. They also should be saturated with this element of . How do you go about acquiring wealth? Through the medium of . Wealth without , desires without , cannot make you deserving of, securing or wanting to secure .

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You have plenty of wealth, prosperity, all your material possessions, and you also have this in you. Then why wail aloud that you cannot really have anything more? Without again, you possibly say that you are an educated one. You are a man of authority. What's the use of this arrogance? In the same manner, one who wails aloud, poverty-stricken, and burdened with many children to bear. He keeps asking for people to come to his support. What is the result? What is the cause for some of these situations to arise? Because you do not do a thing the way it should be done.

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If these (, , and ) had been discharged the way they ought to have been, man would not have been subjected to such increasing orders of stress and disorder. The main thing which governs these three is food. What we tend to take is food in excess, and food which leads us to mental derangement. There should be a limit that has to be placed on the food that one takes. You exceed this, you're bound to suffer in the process. To protect and safeguard the body, food is necessary. But even this food should be taken in tune with the quantity required for the sustenance of the body. You exceed that limit, and disorders gallop, come your way with regard to the body. Take for instance, the heart. This heart has a capacity wherein it pumps the blood to the rest of the body. It cannot exceed this limit, this optimum point. You probably are aware of this. Rather, you are aware of this.

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Even amongst the educated people, this disease is creeping in. Not merely the educated one, even those doctors who specialize in the field of the heart become victims to this. The doctors who are all-knowing with respect to this, they are also falling a prey to this. They exhort to each and everyone, "Health is wealth," but when it comes to them, they don't bother. So, you have fallen a victim to disorder and disease, you can certainly curb and alleviate yourself of this by placing a curb on food. For instance, a person has got this problem of blood pressure. In the wake of this blood pressure, he becomes a victim to diabetes. One can, in fact, equate the two as being twins, blood pressure and diabetes. One follows in the footsteps of the other. And here is a peculiar thing. If you take a medicine for diabetes, the BP, the blood pressure, goes up. If you take a medicine for blood pressure, diabetes goes up. Because these two are a pair of opposites. And these cannot be brought down under control through medicines. Through the medicine that you take, you may temporarily get some relief all right. These diseases are such that once they creep in, it is very difficult to put them out. These, possibly like the , remain contained for a while. But then, how does one rid oneself totally of these? What do we do? The golden principle or formula is diet control. Keep a curb on the food intake, everything will be okay. You must reduce your weight. The reason is, we are eating this food.

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This body is like a mound, a heap. And it has no power of activizing itself. It is purely inert, inanimate. You might ask, if the body is inert and inanimate, it's growing allright. What do you say? Certainly, even that which is inert, inanimate, grows. For instance, you sweep your house continuously for a month, collect all the dust, then it becomes a heap. You can't question that. So, all that you have dumped into a pit has now risen up and become a heap. How is it possible, you might ask. Every day you are putting a little into this, and that's going up into a heap. In the same manner, this body also, which is inanimate and inert, in this you are putting this dust of , , , , and stuff like that. This body also is growing in proportion. Don't put any of these for a week. Even this would show a reduction in size, the body. This body is like a tire. You pump the tire, it becomes inflated. You remove it, it becomes deflated. But here, if you see, if you deflate a tire, there is no danger inherent. But, if you go on pumping and the inflating part or inflation keeps going on the increase, there is always a danger that the tire might burst. So, it's rather, it's better in a way to be playing safe. Be erring on this side, than on the other side. Here is a small illustration.

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Since this is Hospital Day, it is necessary that we speak about matters pertaining to health. Now, just a while ago, I mentioned these two to you, blood pressure and diabetes. Now, these two diseases, according to us, are commonplace ones. This is a highly mistaken notion. These two could be very dangerous. Both these diseases affect and act on the heart. One of these tends to enlarge the heart, the other tends to enlarge the surroundings of the heart. Both these together, it follows, would tend to enlarge the heart. And both these have something to do with blood. For instance, if the blood sugar also were to be increasing, the circulation also would not be proper. If there is no proper circulation of the blood, the heart also tends to solidify a bit, harden. What's the cause for the increase of the sugar content in the blood? There is something like insulin which acts as an antidote to this blood sugar. If this insulin is on the decrease, the blood sugar is on the increase. That's why for a diabetic patient he is injected with this insulin. Because the body also can contain only a little sugar, nothing more, nothing less. Dangerous either way. If the sugar comes down or goes up, the person falls unconscious. In order that one keeps a check on the sugar content in the blood, doctors generally advise the patients to eat food stuffs like wheat, , and things like that.

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Merely by eating wheat, the blood sugar is not coming down. Now, they are given to eating dozens of , wheat. if wheat can bring down this sugar content, diabetes, how come these people are eating and still free from this diabetes? They are used to eating wheat, so they eat more of it. So, what's the type of diet control that you would prescribe to a northerner? Ask him to eat rice. Because he can't stomach much of rice, he eats less of food now. So, in this way, the sugar content comes down. When you look closely at either of these, rice or wheat, the starch content is more or less the same. If one has got eighty-five percent, the other may be seventy-eight.

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When you look at the protein content in the food stuff available, that which is not cooked as such contains a large amount of protein. Take for example, the pulses, the different types of pulses that you can think of, like , . Even the foreigners tend to use them, for instance, soybeans. And the Indians proudly call the ground bean India soybeans. Here the protein content is quite a bit. Now, what do we really do to these pulses available like this? What we do to these pulses by way of cooking or is boil them and deprive them of the basic nutritious content that they have. Take for example, the green gram - the as we put it, The Black-Eyed Peas. The way of eating them is, soak them in water, and then after they become palatable, eat them. They come to you in their richness. Because we are victims to this palate or tongue of ours, and taste and our whims and fancies, what do we do? Get hold of all these, boil them, subject them to various types of transformations in the form of adding oil and various other ingredients. In the process, deprive them of the basic contents, deprive ourselves of what they can give us. Take for example the fruit then. In the fruits also, what you have is nothing but vitamins. In vegetables, they can give you any amount of strength. Or, take, for example, a chili plant. The chili could be just this small, a small one like this, that would be enough to give you taste for the . But today, you find the same chili bloated up out of all proportions and a huge big one. You get a large number of these chilis, put them in the a small tumbler full, until you don’t get the taste. What's the reason? You are now feeding these plants with artificial manure. As a result, they really do not have the innate strength which ought to have been there.

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To this day, to this moment, there has been no doctor who has come out with a solution for this cancer. But then, if you ask this question, what's the cause for this cancer? Then it is something worth knowing. Somebody might say, "Because you eat betel leaf, you are getting cancer." A few others say, "Cancer is a direct result of smoking and cigarettes." And some might say that the air around you is polluted, so you're getting cancer. To a limited extent, these factors might be contributing in a small way, but they are not the primary cause for cancer. You go deeper into this issue, and then you'll come to this realization that the main cause for cancer is sugar. The reason is, in order to give it this commercial sugar, a lot of chemicals are added up in the process. And in these chemicals, part of the chemicals added are the powder of the bones. And this content, as you take in sugar, might get lodged in any part of the body and create a problem. And then, you have got these two types of corpuscles, the white and the red blood corpuscles. Now, the white one gets clogged up, blocked at a certain point, and that's the spot for cancer.

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In the good old time, sugar in what form was it being eaten or partaken of? Not this artificial synthesized one. , powdered, wholesome one. That used to be taken to add sweetness to the dish that you wanted to eat. But today, you find that this superficial means being adopted, artificial things coming in to everything that you eat or is given to you. All merely for the sake of minting money, people take to any number of such dubious ways. And the result is, diseases gallop. The question is, if man himself were not to be existent, for whose sake is this money? It is an individual or man who's important. Is it wealth or money? You might be living long, you might have any amount of money. Who's going to foster? Who's going to experience, enjoy? If your lifespan were to be limited and short, who's going to finally enjoy all this money? So, try to adopt that means and that path wherein you really realize yourself. Emperors, mighty ones, valorous ones, they have all gone, leaving behind their wealth. So, don't forget that goal. Don't forget that your identity lies with the divine being and thereby protect and safeguard your body.

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There was this Greek emperor called Alexander. He was one who also made a conquest of this country on more than one occasion. He was a man who was extremely wealthy. But he was not satisfied with what he had. He wanted to add more and more kingdoms to his own. Even this aspiration on his part, ambition, exceeded the limits. On one such occasion, he made a trip to India, , conquered, collected a lot of wealth. And with all that he could collect, he was on his way back, and he was being faced by the local people. And on his way back, he suffered a great disorder. He was an emperor. There are any number of doctors in his entourage who could come to his assistance. All of them came and examined him. This emperor had at his bidding any number of doctors, any number of , orderlies, who would only run if they were to get a command from him. The doctors all came, one by one and all together, examined him, and then they started shedding tears, saying, "There's nothing that can be done," and "Nobody can possibly do anything for him." At that end point of his life, a great realization dawned on Alexander. This realization, what was it? He said, "During my lifetime, I did not realize it, but after my death, this realization of mine should be proclaimed with all publicity to all people all around." So, he summoned all his ministers. "Oh, look here, ministers, in a few seconds from now, I'm going to leave this body. But, as per my wishes, you must perform the funeral rites," he said. "We'll certainly do your bidding, O Lord," they said. Then Alexander told them, "After I die, you must transport my corpse, my body, the dead body, to Greece. And there, you must wrap the body in a cloth of white all around, except two parts. What are the two parts? The two hands of mine. And let those two hands of mine be raised up so that everybody can see." But the minister said, "But, sir, this is against our custom and tradition. What are we going to answer the people if they were to ask us a question, 'Why are you doing thus, putting the hands of the king up like this?'" And then Alexander uttered these last words of his before he breathed his last.

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What are these words? He said, "Here is the emperor of Greece, a mighty one, and without a parallel. A mighty, wealthy one, and one who could ask for everything that he had. But, what did he take at the end of his life? Nothing. He could not possibly take anything, and he is going away bare-handed thus. This is the message you must tell my countrymen." So, what do we do now against this? What is it that we find? For the sake of this wealth, we are literally wasting and frittering away our time and energies. It is not this material wealth which is important. It is one's own good qualities, the , which are real wealth. Without these attributes, the good qualities, wealth by itself cannot give you anything. It could only turn you bad. So, here again, rather than wealth, take care of your health, it is being said. And what for this health? So that you can fulfill what has been asked. What is this fulfillment that you must seek? You get back to the destination from where you have come. What is our destination? is the destination for us. Until such time as you reach this destination, spend your time, spend your body, spend all that you have in good deeds and doing good to others.

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In order to protect and safeguard this aspect of health, we have established hospitals here and there. But some may be assailed by this doubt. "But, here is , who can cure all people of their diseases through His own power, through His own miracles. Why then establish these hospitals?" What you feel is normally reflected externally. There may be some who would have implicit, total faith in the of , partake of it, and be cured. But there may be some who would have intense faith in the form of this medicine which is available only in a hospital. Not only that, there are people who might be afflicted with minor ailments and diseases. So, they could go seek the help of doctors and relieve themselves. Say, for instance, you have a cold, you have a cough, so you put your hands up in prayer, “, cure me of this cold, cure me of this cough”. So for these insignificant and totally irrelevant things you keep asking to be cured. You could get yourself relief by going to a doctor. You go to a specific tree, ask the tree for its specific fruit. That tree can give you fruit, you ask of it what it can give you. Like, you look to God for things He would give you, you should ask Him for. The wish-fulfilling tree, for instance, go to it and you are asking for coffee, So, for this small and trivial things, so that you really don't have to go and trouble God, you could as well go and see somebody who can come to your assistance.

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Also, through this medium, through this medium of hospitals, one should get to know this spirituality aspect. And there is certainly a close relevance between these two. There are many innocent village folk. They do not even know that they are up against a disease until these people come to grief. For the sake of such people, we have established hospitals, not in towns and cities, but on the outskirts or in villages and such other places. These village folk who are innocent to the extreme have to be given this service. There are many amongst these village folk who do not know the cause of the disease they are suffering from. And in their ignorance, they only go on increasing this disorder in them. And there are not many, and it's a pity, there are not many who would tell them that this is wrong with them. Nobody to examine them and tell them they have this disease, like they may have diabetes, and they go on drinking - a sweet dish, increasing this disorder in them. For instance, the hospital which has been established at , those people in the nearby villages are really experiencing a great relief. All our medicines are free. And whatever they want, they need not really expend any money. It is theirs for the asking. Certainly it has to be said and mentioned that the doctors who are working in these hospitals are extremely fortunate. And in this hospital at , , Dr. spends a lot of time and spares no effort whatsoever. And there are those others, her colleagues, nurses, and other doctors who also give her a helping hand, and with love and affection, they are rendering this service. Because these people are devout devotees, they don't charge, they don't take even a single . There are no doctors who are being paid by us, either here or there. Because they feel this is the service they can do to , and they are doing it purely. There are those like Dr. and the other doctors who have come from Sri Lanka and and various other places who have come out of their own love and regard for the place and for , and doing everything motivated by the spirit of service and sacrifice. Because in the place where people from far and near come to this place to seek relief, we are establishing a new hospital here with more than one hundred beds before November. They are also going in for a sophisticated set of equipment and instruments to carry out tests by way of detecting diseases like cancer, heart disorders, for brain and x-ray machines and various other super-specializations. These facilities which are not normally available around, all this is being done before November. This is a medium wherein it is serving not only humanity at large, it is a medium where the doctors can realize themselves. These doctors are no ordinary beings. It could be said they are very much like Himself, because they have in their hands the strength and capacity to cure and sustain a body. But Dr. said, we are mere instruments in ’s hands, and is the Divine Doctor. But, as it has been said, you have the thoughts of the Lord in you, and let your hands do the rest for you. Because you have the medium of the hand, is also giving you the strength and the capacity. If you did not have the hand, how would God do that? So here is the case of the negative and positive coming together.

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And the second thing, for what sake, or whose sake? So that you might experience of the .

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You might have health, all right, but you can't experience this . What's use having that health? Such people who cannot experience this , nevertheless they have a good health. What type of people are they? It has been very well said that these people are those who tend to reduce the food content of the world, and they are merely a burden to the earth. So, try to understand who you are, your own reality. If you can't understand who you are, what's use of your staying, living in this world? Don't make a distinction now between that which is this world and that which is beyond this world. Instead, bring the two together, and realize that you have to realize your own true nature and experience the divine . And what is given to man? Try to further it, love. Don't give any room for this petty-mindedness, narrow outlook. And try to conduct yourself in a way not to injure or harm others. Only then you will be sanctifying yourself, your existence.

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concluded the Divine Discourse with the .