Homoeopathy and Vipassana

(Published in National Journal of Homoeopathy, August 2012)

We all know that Homoeopathy is a holistic science based on Nature’s laws of cure. It’s very nearer to nature and harmony. When I went to attend Vipassana Shibir last month, I was continuously feeling so much similarity between Homoeopathy and Vipassana that I decided to share it with my Homoeopathic friends…

Vipassana is basically a technique of meditation which helps us to reach a state of “Nirvikaar”, i.e. a state of perfect equanimity (Samta bhaav), overcoming cravings(Raag) and aversions(Dwesh)…!

Vipassana is an experiential learning…! Learn through what you yourself experience firsthand… Not through lectures, not through intellectual exercises… but learning through what one experiences by himself or herself… Experiencing the bodily sensations… One is told to concentrate and pass mind through each and every part of the body with closed eyes and steady posture and experience the sensations. When one actually experiences, he/she sees that NO TWO sensations are same and no sensations remain permanently. The sensations different people experience are different and sensations in different parts of the body of a same person are also different and unique. Eg. People may experience heat, cold, perspiration, tingling, pain, itching, irritation etc many more different types of sensations during meditation. One just needs to concentrate on these sensations. It’s not at all an issue that one sensation is good and the other sensation is bad… It’s just that one needs to be aware that they are different and whatever they are just accept them as they are…

And this is exactly “The Law of Individualization” in Homoeopathy. No two individuals are same. Each and every individual is unique in their own way, in their thinking and feelings, in their likes and dislikes, in their actions and reactions etc. and thus also in their complaints and affinity for tissues being affected, whether it’s during health or during disease state… Thus, two individuals suffering from same disease present with different sensations, modalities and different concomitants… And that is what is the uniqueness of Homoeopathy, if we understand and apply it properly, it helps us reaching simillimum.

During Vipassana, while observing these sensations, one needs to be just aware about these sensations, whatever it is… and just see them like an observer, with Drashta bhav(know thyself)… without naming them whether its good or bad(Just Observe without Prejudice)… without desiring good and rejecting bad sensations… Just be aware and be equanimous to it…

And that is exactly being “Unprejudiced Observer”(Drashta bhav)in Homoeopathy. A Homoeopath also needs to observe and understand patient with unprejudiced mind… Thus, Homoeopaths needs to be aware about his/her own concepts and values(know thyself)… to understand concepts and values of patient better… Then only a homoeopath will be able to reach simillimum in best possible way…

Vipassana is a technique of reaching a state of Nirvikaar, i.e. overcoming vikaars, negative emotions…

And that’s exactly Homoeopathic simillimum does – bringing the deviated vital force to its original state, from disease to health…

While practicing Vipassana technique, it happens that old suppressions do come on the surface in the form of pains and discomfort... but gets rid slowly and steadily from deep within to bring peace and harmony…

And that’s exactly Homoeopathic medicines do... it also brings out the past suppressions on the surface to eliminate it completely and reach the state of health…

Thus, for the followers of Homoeopathy, Vipassana is very easily palatable… and similarly for the follower of Vipassana, Homoeopathy should be the choice of system of medicine if they are aware about the similarity between the two.

Lessons learnt from "Vipassana"

Finally a long awaited thing happened... I got chance to attend Vipassana shibir last month at Global Pagoda, something I was eagerly waiting for since last few years... "To be in silence for 10 days with my own self..." Just this thought always excited me and always wanted to experience it... And let me say, it was an excellent experience... I personally recommend it to everybody earliest they get an opportunity....

The journey of 10 days was very enlightening... It was also comparatively easy for me because of few factors like - my birth in a religious jain family, a follower of and practising holistic science, Homoeopahty, deep interest in the subject of Psychology, listening to Osho and Brahmakumari discourses regularly... Thus, understanding was very easily palatable... Also could apply it in day to day life, could understand its similarity with Homoeopathy(Which I would express in another blog)...

Vipassana has many valuable lessons of life to teach... But today, i would focus on 2 most important lessons... When 10 days of Vipassana shibir was getting over... I tried to conclude what I had learnt? What was most important message from this shibir? And 2 lessons came very striking to my mind....

1) "VIKAAR" = Sorrow and pain. Wherever there is "VIKAAR", there is sorrow and pain... What is Vikaar? Any negative emotions, say anger, irritability, jealousy, hatred, ego, suspiciousness, fear, anxiety, tension, worry etc... The outcome has to be pain and sorrow...None of these negative emotions are going to let you rest in peace and thus, it will end in sorrow, pain, sadness and unhappiness... Whenever we pass through any emotions, positive or negative... we spread it to our surrounding..... We are continuously linked with people in family, work and society... We can spread only that thing which we have in our reserve... If whenever we pass through negative emotions, whether we want or not, we do spread same negative emotion to our near and dear ones, to the people we work with, to our friends and relatives whom we meet....And more than all these, and before we spread it to others, we spread it deep within our own selves...... And let me tell you that this is the negative energy, which depletes our positive energy at both mental and physical level, our immunity power, our creativity, our happiness and peace of mind ... And this is the same negative energy which is a disease producing energy. Most of the times, we don't realize this truth untill we ourselves become victim of any major illness...Wiseness comes after we have paid high cost at our health level.

So, we should not be in an illusion that we have to control our negative emotions for others.... No... If we succeed in handling our negative emotions, we ourselves are the first ones to be benefited from it.... By this, we are not obliging anybody, we are obliging our own self... whatever we are doing is just and just for the benefit of our own self...

So, if we want to be happy, we have to continuously keep check over our thoughts and emotions and not let any Vikaar, i.e. negative emotion creep in.

2) To develop an EQUANIMITY(Samta Bhav) to cravings and aversions... At each and every moment, we keep on making judgements of acceptance and non-acceptance... we accept what we like and reject what we dislike... Our mind plays this game of acceptance and rejection about individuals.... our family members, colleagues, friends and relatives......, about the life situations we come across and circumstances we are put in.... we either accept or reject as per our own concepts and value systems... We are victim of our mind.... Since childhood we have trained our mind to pass judgements on people and circumstances... We try to look at others with our glasses... We are so much possessed with our concepts and values that we hardly keep any space for other's concepts and values. We become the judge and declare right and wrong about what other's are doing ... We always have lot of justifications to give for our actions.... Here, we accept when they are matching with ours and reject if they are not matching... We are comfortable when things happen as per our wish(Man-kahi) and we become uncomfortable when things do not happen as per our wish(An-kahi)... Our mind is the victim of this Man-kahi and An-kahi....

Here, Vipassana Guruji Goenkaji explains that religion tells one to develop perfect equanimity to our cravings and aversions... Accept things as they are, as an observer(with Drashta bhav)... and just stop there... Don't put a step forward in the direction of acceptance and rejection, true and false... Don't add or subtract anything in it.... Just see what it is... and accept it completely, with equanimity what it is....As our engaging into true and false, acceptance and rejection will lead us only to misery and pain... Its only equanimity which will give us mental stability and peace. 

Lot of people share with me that its extremely difficult not to pass judgement and not to reject those whose ideas, behaviour, concepts, thoughts and feelings don't match with ours.. Here, I would say, yes, its difficult but not impossible... I would show an easy way, which my lot of patients have taught me... I would recommend you to become mother(parent) of a small child in your mind... Whenever mother or father describe their small children to anyone, they would clearly tell their qualities... both good and bad qualities, their positives and negatives. Parent would also tell differences amongst two kids very clearly(even though they are twins).... And here, I would say, they practice perfect equanimity.... I have hardly seen any parent who would be judgemental to their small kids, their nature and habit .. and say whether their qualities are right or wrong...  Parent would just say my son is aggressive and daughter is fearful... or daughter is shy and son is mischevious , son likes spicy food and daughter likes sweets, daughter likes to be in company where as son prefers to be aloof and many more such examples..... Parent might feel pain for the negative quality of their child and might have desire to help them... that's totally different... but otherwise they are just trying to say this is what he/she is... That's all.... Stopping just there... There is no underlying anger...

We need to get conscious and aware in our mind that whenever we go in the cycle of dislikes/anger for people and situations, we should become mother or father in our mind and view the person and it will be very easy to see him/her with Drashta bhav, a perfect equanimity, without trying to add or subtract anything from our side.

Spirituality in Medicine

(This is published in National Journal of Homoeopathy December 2010 issue)

Recently I attended two lectures by Brahma kumari Sr Shivaniben, one at annual scientific conference of Malad Medical Association and other at BK Centre, Borivali. I frequently watch many of her shows on Astha and Sanskar TV channels. She has inspired me a lot and has helped me come out of my emotional difficulties. Here, I would like to share one of my understandings and experiences with our NJH readers.

            What is spirituality? Spirituality means “To know thyself”, “Taking care of one’s own self”, “Achieving stability”.  And stability can be achieved by taking care of our thoughts. The day one learns to observe his own thought processes and controls his thoughts, he will have better control over his emotions, which automatically gives him stability.

           

            A quote of Sr Shivani which touched many doctors’ hearts and made them think :  Doctors usually say: “I heal the patients and I feel very happy. What if the doctor is happy and then he heals? That is spirituality.” In first situation, in the process of healing patients and achieving happiness, we may pass through lot many stresses. But if our heart is filled with happiness and we are doing our job, not only the process will be stress free but also the quality of work will be much better.

When we interact with people, there is an exchange of energy. We usually give whatever we have. If we are happy, we spread happiness. If I am under tension what I spread to the opposite person is tension. Thus, we in the role of physicians if spread positive energy to patients, we will be able to give them better healing, because we know patient needs both physical and emotional healing. If we receive our patients with a smiling face, they tell us, half of our pain is better just by seeing you. This is just because energy travels even without words.

We need to receive number of patients’ emotional pains, many a times we experience heaviness at the end of the day. So, we need to make our emotional immunity system very strong, which in turn we can transfer back to patients while healing them. How do we make our emotional immunity system strong? Man is continuously interacting with the environment. We do not have control over external environment. But we can have control over our own self, our own thought processes.

           

            Yes, everyone of us has right to choose our thoughts, right to choose the option of being happy or unhappy. We consciously or unconsciously choose this option. We repeatedly respond/react to situations in some way and when this reaction gives us pain and stress we start blaming situations and people associated with it. Here, if we choose not to get unhappy, not to come under stress, is it possible? How? In every situation, there are two ways to react either positively or negatively, either with stress or with stability, either with happiness or with sorrow.

            Yes, it is I, one’s self who has to decide what I want. I can get whatever I choose to. I can get whatever I desire. I have to first decide what I want. If I want happiness, I can’t allow those thoughts which will bring me sorrow to enter my mind. I need to block them. Is it possible? Is it so simple to practice? No, it is not so simple but it is not difficult also and yes it is definitely possible. I have to make efforts in that direction. I have to take charge of my own self. I have to have mercy on my own self. I have to love myself. I have to decide I am not a garbage bin that I allow anybody to put any garbage(of bad words/sorrow/pain) in me. I need to protect myself through my thoughts. How? Whenever I get disturbing reaction from circumstance, I need to stop for a while, hold on my thoughts and give positive command to myself, give positive thoughts to myself. This will come through practice. Practicing it over and over by getting conscious over our thoughts will make happiness occur to us.

Let us see this through few examples :

Eg 1) When we know we have a busy hectic day ahead and somebody from our support system say our compounder or maid or driver or office boy declares he/she cannot come or will be late, our stress level goes up. If we react to our stress, we might get angry on some other people like our family members, other people who work for us etc. and many a times we experience that lot of things get into difficulty and many other people will become victim of our anger. Thus, lot of things we had thought of going smooth, goes into avoidable mess.

How can we protect ourselves from this stress and disturbance? Is it possible? Yes, if we stop for a while and think in our mind, whatever situation has come, was not our desire but it was not even in our control. So, just accept it and now what can be done? Try to do best possible by taking someone else’s help or any other alternative or by your own self but with a relaxed mind, then we will save mess. If I am relaxed, naturally my anger/ reaction on others will be prevented and my mess at that end is also prevented.

Eg. 2) Someone gets angry at me due to some misunderstanding or because he is under some stress, I feel hurt. I either react in anger to that person or suppress that anger and brood over it again and again. Why did he do that? What was my fault? Why only to me? What had I done? etc. What happens? The person who got angry gave me pain once. But when I react in anger, I send negative energy to him again. This energy will get double and it will come back to me. What happens when I brood over it with negative sad feelings? The number of times I ask that question or remember that event, I pass through pain. The person who hurt me once but I hurt myself again and again, multiple times with those questions and feelings. Who gives more pain to me? The person who hurt me or I myself?

Do I have control over the person who hurt me? No. But don’t I have control over myself? Yes, I do have. It’s time to exercise that control with awareness and control over our thoughts.

Eg.3) A lady aged 60yrs came with the difficulty of insomnia with lot of anxious thoughts. When asked in detail, information is – she has two sons both married but not getting along well with each other, both sons’ wives are also not getting along well with each other. Thus, elder son had separated in a house on rental basis for few years. Now family has decided to go for complete separation of property for both the sons. Parents owned a four-room block, which they decided to divide into two separate units. Both sons are ok with it, but the patient feels hurt seeing this divided home. Thoughts which take away her sleep are earlier we were staying in a big house, now my sons have to stay in small houses. She says she tries to remove these thoughts from her mind and starts chanting God’s name etc. but again and again same thoughts come in mind and it can’t be prevented.

Now till she changes the thoughts, feelings associated with thoughts won’t change. She was shown to view same situation from a different angle. What was there with her and her husband when her kids were small? She said their condition was worse than what is their sons’. Husband also earned good over a period of time. She has to change her thoughts in a positive manner that they as a parent have done and given their best possible. She should keep faith and trust on sons’ abilities. They will also prosper in the years to come and will buy bigger houses for themselves. Patient found sense in this. She was convinced and changing direction of thoughts relieved her anxiety and gave her peaceful sleep.

So, let’s decide today to take charge of our own self. Take charge of our thoughts. Let us decide what we want to feel and let us direct our thoughts in the direction of what is our goal. Not to pain our own self. Not to pain others. Spread positive energy to others and heal others with love.

Individualization to Happiness

National Journal of Homoeopathy (NJH) had published my article “Individualization to Happiness” in their July 2010 issue. And I had received lots of words of appreciation from lots of Doctors and my teachers.

Dr Vishpala Parthsarathy, the editor of NJH loved the thoughts and said “If we can imbibe these thoughts, which we most likely have never thought about, then it can save many marriages and many conflicts.”

Individualization is a very important law of Homoeopathy. NJH had announced an issue to be published on Individualization. And I decided to write something for the issue. I did not want to share cases from my practice this time but, instead wanted to write something different. That was the time I was listening to some of spiritual lectures by Osho. When I was repeating this word again and again in my mind, I found its very deep meaning rooted in our Way of living and in the Inter-personal relationships.

I presented my understanding in the article for Homoeopaths. But, here I would like to present my understanding and share it with each one of you.

There is no individual who has not experienced this law of individualization in his life. Dictionary meaning of ‘Individualization’ is discrimination or perception of the individual within a group or species. Let us understand it in a little detail. We all know that no two individuals are alike. Even two identical twins have their individualistic features.

The way no two individuals share same finger prints, we all have our own unique appearances, skin colour, features, tastes, likes and dislikes, interests, our unique understanding, temperament, intellectual power, our unique thoughts and emotions. Similarly our responses to different stimuli, are also different, whether they are physical, intellectual or emotional.

Say for example, even though a group of people are exposed to same situation, their reactions will be different as per their natures. Say when a family goes to attend a wedding. They all eat ice-cream there. It may happen that next day one person of the family may get fever, other may get tonsillitis and third person may be perfectly fine.

Similarly, also at the level of mind, we find individualizing, unique experiences of every human being to different situations. One person feels anxious and other frightful, one gets angry and other can handle same situation with better mental composure, one will get confused and other will have clarity, one will suppress anger and other will express it.

We come across individualizing responses to different emotions, one will throw objects and other will be snappish in response to anger. One will get increased heart beats and the other butterfly in stomach in response to anxiety. One will get uncontrollable weeping and other will not be able to cry in response to grief...

What does all this tell us? It just tells us that all human beings are different and unique in their physical appearance, likes, dislikes, cravings, aversions, mental and physical states, temperaments, emotions, intellect and also their sufferings. And this uniqueness of the individuals is called Individualization.

Individualization does not apply only to human beings but it also applies to each and every living being... Just like no two humans are alike, no two animals and no two plants are also alike... Many of us have found this experience with their pet animals.

These individualizing unique characteristics at both mental and physical levels are so easy to understand and talk about. But a question that comes to my mind is – “Is it so easy to accept this individualization (uniqueness) in each and every aspect, in our family members, friends and fellow human beings?”

We believe in uniqueness but when our thoughts, ideas, concepts, beliefs as a child, as a parent, as a family member, as a friend do not match with other person, do we grant that individualization to the other person? Do we accept their reactions and responses so easily?

Examples:

1) If my friend likes a movie and if I do not like it, will I accept it easily? I would say what is there to like in it? I would try to highlight all those things which are bad about it, while having a conversation about it.

2) When we go to a restaurant and order Chinese food, and when you notice that somebody on the next table has ordered Continental food, how many times do we make faces and show our dislike towards others? How does it matter to me what the other person has ordered? He has ordered what he likes and I have ordered what I like. But we have the tendency to say ‘How can he like that?'

3) A couple has to go to a wedding reception and wife wants the husband to wear suit but if husband wants to wear traditional dress, how many would accept it easily? Or will question his dressing sense?

4) My son wants to become musician and I want him to become doctor. How easily will I gulp his idea of becoming musician?

5) Wife has a concept that once we wake up in the morning, everyone should finish their routines and get ready fast then do other things, even on Sundays... And if husband wants to do everything in a relaxing manner, spending more time with newspaper, does not want to shave, etc., will wife be comfortable? Accept easily or there will be disturbances on these issues?

6) When husband comes home at night and wants to watch news and his wife is watching some Hindi TV serial which he just doesn't understand what is there to like about in it... How many times will he remind wife of her sub-standard choice in TV serials?

7) Every mother feels her child should eat healthy food and study whole day. He/she should live a very disciplined life. Agreed, but how many of us will comfortably agree to their eating junk foods even at times and doing time pass in other activities other than studies? Don’t we give our judgment that the way they are spending time is not right?

How easily we accept those qualities of our spouse, parents, friends, in-laws or relatives which are different from ours? Which are different from the thoughts, concepts and value systems that we possess?

Who are we to question anyone’s likes and dislikes? Still we question their thoughts and their feelings. We opine on their reactions. We become judgemental and we give our judgment. We accept what matches our temperament and we reject what is different from our tastes and temperaments. We start proving them right or wrong on the basis of the concepts we hold, and the experiences we pass through.

If we accept that individualization (uniqueness) exists, and exists only in living beings, if we know how important it is to understand this uniqueness, it is even more important to accept this individualization, in the fellow living beings, to LIVE life happily and let others live happily. Only then we will start giving freedom and space to other persons. Freedom and space to think and to feel. We will not impose our thoughts and feelings on the other person. If we respect individualization, we will not compare one living being with another and humiliate them. We will let them BE whatever they are. We will not make efforts to change them. We will let them learn from their mistakes. We will let them learn their own lessons. We will accept them, the way they are very happily. We will not reject them if they think, feel and behave differently.

Knowingly and unknowingly, we create a lot of problems in inter-person-relationships because of our non-acceptance of the other fellow human being, whether that person is our spouse, parent, children, sibling, relative, friend, neighbour, partner, colleague, boss, or employee.

If we understand this unique law of nature, accept this uniqueness in our fellow beings, most of our problems of relationships in life will be solved. Unconditional acceptance of individualization will make our life blissful... and... We will live life happily.