Science and Spirituality-1; Pujya Gurudev

Pujya Gurudev Pt.ShriRam Sharma Acharya’s Kripa

Healthcare and Spirituality

(Akhand Jyoti,Nov.-Dec.2008)

Health has become most sought after and precious asset these days. Even if one does not have any ailment or health problem today, he/she is not sure of remaining fit in the near future too. The fear and risk of physical and psychological diseases and disorders in the present times are unprecedented. The causes are numerous: air-water pollution, varieties of viruses, food adulteration, use of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals in day-to-day life in several forms, stresses of traffic, workload competition, financial insecurity, terror-attack, etc. What to control? What to change and how? Every one who thinks is confronted with these concerns in one way or the other. The rising cost of medication, hospitalization and health insurances adds to these concerns. Everyone who is health-conscious is in search of some guidance to minimize the risk to his/her health. Many doctors and medical scientists too have geared up with new interest in finding risk-free viable solutions.

The upcoming trends of healthcare underline the need for holistic or multidimensional approach. The World Health Organization ( WHO ) defines health as “a state of physical, mental and social well-being and not necessarily the absence of disease and infirmity”. In a popular article^[1] Dr. HS Wasir, Head of Cardiology Department of All India Institute of Medical Sciences has pointed out the need of a fourth dimension: spiritual well-being. He asserts that spirituality energizes the other components of health, namely, physical, mental and social. Similar views are also expressed by several other doctors of international repute. For example, in one of his review articles on research in spirituality and health, Dr. Joel Tsevat, Director of Outcomes Research in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, USA has said — “We tend to focus just on what medical professional can address – physical functioning and mental health. In the scheme of things, I think, spiritual well-being is also an important component of someone’s quality of life”.

Without spirituality no resource or support – be that physical vigor, mental sharpness or prosperous social status – can ensure positivity and righteousness in one’s inter-personal dealings and responses to life’s many pressures and challenges and consequent stresses. The conventional approach of ‘clinical health’ cannot take care of tensions and stresses.

“Tension” and “stress” are two universally recognized causes of a wide range of diseases gripping larger and larger section of the developed, urban and upper middle class of the world. The other sections of the human society too are not free from their clutches. Stress is no longer regarded as only a psychological problem. It has been affirmed as a principal cause of psychosomatic disorders such as heart attacks, angina, arrhythmias, hypertension, peptic ulcers, ulcerative colitis, some forms of cancers and certain skin diseases. The modern world has noticed it and efforts are also on to find feasible and effective modes of “stress management” via several kinds of seductive medicines, nerve-relaxing games, exercises, amusement tools and activities for mental diversion and rejuvenation. More and more people are also tending towardsyoga - ³sana practices ^[2] . But “stress” is too complex and deep-rooted to tackle and cannot be removed by external means alone.

The term stress is defined precisely in Physics (Mechanics) as force divided by area of impact. But there is no such pinpointed definition at physiological, neurological or psychological levels. For practical purposes, physicians and psychologists broadly describe ^[1] it as — “a disturbed state of mind resulting from the imbalance between the demands of a person’s environment and that person’s capability to meet this demand”. A close cousin of “stress” is “depression” which also causes or aggravates a wide spectrum of psychosomatic disorders, including low blood pressure, anxiety, suicidal tendency, insomnia, some kinds of cancers, amentia, epilepsy, sciatica etc. It mainly arises due to one’s inability to get what one expects and aspires from the world and from one’s own self.

Neither modern medical science nor any alternative medication mode has been able to ‘cure’ stress and depression without incorporating some sort of psycho-spiritual healing. But then a natural question arises — how spirituality could help combating these problems? In what respect would it be different from and would complement use of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology? Still broader question is what should be the mode of incorporating this new dimension into health care modules? Can health care system ensure health for all by focusing on this component?

Thanks GOD, Thanks Sadguru,

Shiv Sharma