Health, Mind and Universe. These three are very different areas but has a very strong connection. How is it possible? Let’s find out.
The most treasured thing that you can experience in life is health. No science or doctrines are needed to prove this factor. Without a good health of body and mind, you will always suffer in pain. Recall the worse disease you have ever encountered. Would you like to revert back and prevent yourself from getting sick? It’s too late for that. Time moves forward. Past is past. There’s no changing that. Then what can we do to prevent from sickness and have an enjoyable life? It’s simple. Be healthy. We already know that! But how can we be healthy? This is the question you really need an answer nowadays.
First of all you need to be healthy in terms of physical body. How do we do it? Simple. You start off with your mouth. When I say mouth, I mean the intake of the food you consume. People have different life styles. And their meal plans varies from one individual to another. Just because someone is eating like a pig doesn't mean that you have to. Eat the amount you need to run your body machine for a day. With the ascendancy of science and technology such as genetics, people tend to create different kinds of foods that leads us to unknown diseases. This a big problem. More and more diseases? What’s wrong with these people? I don’t think that it’s easy for everyone to get rid of this social code. We are stuck. Even though the science is enough to cure these diseases its better we stay healthy. Diabetes, Cholesterol, Heart attack are some of the most common of these diseases. How can we prevent them? What does science has to say?
First of all you need to be healthy in terms of physical body. How do we do it? Simple. You start off with your mouth. When I say mouth, I mean the intake of the food you consume. People have different life styles. And their meal plans varies from one individual to another. Just because someone is eating like a pig doesn't mean that you have to. Eat the amount you need to run your body machine for a day. With the ascendancy of science and technology such as genetics, people tend to create different kinds of foods that leads us to unknown diseases. This a big problem. More and more diseases? What’s wrong with these people? I don’t think that it’s easy for everyone to get rid of this social code. We are stuck. Even though the science is enough to cure these diseases its better we stay healthy. Diabetes, Cholesterol, Heart attack are some of the most common of these diseases. How can we prevent them? What does science has to say?
It’s easy. Lose your goddamn FAT. What am I talking about? Fat? Yes. Having excess fat leads you to the most dangerous and the most common diseases on earth. Having excess fat doesn’t instantaneously make you ill. It takes time. Like karma. That is why most adults suffer from these syndromes. When you consume a lot of carbohydrates and fats that crosses your adequate needs, your body stores it as fat for later use. Especially in your belly and hips. The More you consume, the more fat gets stored. And overtime when the fat storage runs out of space, it tends to sneak through every space in your body. Eventually the veins. When storing fat in your veins, the diameter of the vein reduces leading your blood circulation in a catastrophic situation. Your heart will have to put more and more pressure to ensure the circulation stabilizes. This leads you to having cholesterol and high blood pressure. When the fat reaches your veins that supplies blood to your heart, the heart itself becomes inactive. This condition is called Heart attack. Now diabetes? It’s the same thing. Sugar has glucose and sucrose. Theses substances are needed for your energy. The more you consume, the more the body will store and will increase the amount of sugar levels leaving you with deadly diabetes.
I think I made my point here. Your consumption of food is the most effective way of getting sick. How to lose fat? Exercise daily or if you already have a routine keep it up. The more you workout the more energy the body needs and which the body tends to burn more fat. Sleep well and have plenty of rest while you can. Consuming protein helps develop your muscles. Having muscles burns more fat. This is one of the reasons why old people get sick. By age humans muscles grow strong and eventually gets weak. Since old people don’t have sufficient muscle mass, the less fat gets burned. So, have your adequate proteins. Eat clean. Don’t let the bacteria ruin everything.
100's of decades ago, Siddhartha Gautama said,”To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. ” When you have a healthy physique, your mind automatically gets strong. Having a strong mind is it. I mean that’s what everyone wants, eventually. Hours of working and restless nights, having a healthy mind is what everyone wants. Stress-free, relaxed and activeness are the consequences of having a healthy mind. At Lord Siddhartha's time, he would use his psychic power and would check the peoples medical conditions before preaching dharma. If someone is suffering from hunger he would first serve the individual with food. After when he is in good state only he starts to preach. There was also another monk who was suffering from a rare form of blisters. It grew so rapidly that it spread throughout his body. The blisters festered causing a severe smell. Eventually Buddha intervened and helped him to uprise from his illness. Then would only he preach dharma. What we can see here is that even to be enlightened, you must be healthy.
Now let’s clarify Universe. It’s not only about the black sky I’m talking about. I repeat. It’s not only about the outer space. Universe is about knowledge. And by knowledge I’m not talking about degrees, exams or books. No way. It’s about achieving your goal. It’s about the knowledge that you need to live in this world. The basics of life. Like survival and discipline. It’s about life. It’s about being more human. Being more universal so that you can understand nature. How come? When you are sick try to think something deep. Like how did the universe began? Is this a dream? Try doing that. You may end up getting a headache. Now you can understand why it is important to be healthy both body and mind. If you are a parent what if you end up lying on the bed for months? Not only you, but your family will have to suffer the consequences of your mindless actions. If you are engaged in any important activity, what if you are not able of doing it just because you are suffering from some kind of an illness? Can others afford the activity to be stopped? Think! Think! Think! For the sake of human beings survival, think about it. Say you have diabetes. It goes from generations to generations and why is that? Because you couldn’t afford to be healthy. You didn’t have time to ensure that you are in a healthy condition. You would blame yourself with these lame excuses. For the people who use the brain a lot (ex-Monks, Scientists, Engineers, Entrepreneurs, Philosophers, lawyers and etc.), he or she surely needs to be healthy. Just to be clear that I'm clarifying about the diseases that we create. Not about the Karmic diseases which most are inevitable.
Even Lord Siddhartha thought about it and had his own way of healthy routines. His own meal plans. According to the Tripitaka, the Buddha had only one meal. He would have the meal before 12 noon. He woke up at 4 am. Thereafter he would walk around, in and out of the temple for an hour. But this clearly doesn’t mean that we should do this same routine. You must make your own depending on your daily activities. Lord Siddhartha didn’t engage in any high intensity activities and therefore he only needed limited amount of energy to keep his body on the run. By walking for an hour, undoubtedly burns his excess fat in the body and wakens the internal organs. Bottom-line Buddha was living a very healthy life. Although some diseases were inevitable, which he suffered a severe one at the end of his lifetime (because of Karma), he managed to keep his body in a good condition by controlling the food intake and exercises. If this great philosopher or may I say scientist, thought about a healthy life style just so he could help people, then why are we standing back?
Have a healthy body. Be mindful. Enjoy the universe.
Akila Hettiarachchi
Have a healthy body. Be mindful. Enjoy the universe.
Akila Hettiarachchi