What is Health?
WHAT IS HEALTH?
“When health is absent Wisdom
cannot reveal itself, Art cannot become manifest, Strength cannot be exerted,
Wealth is useless and Reason is powerless."
Herophilies, 300 B.C
While
modern science defines health in relation to the body, alternative therapies
see health as the natural outcome of a harmonious correlation between body,
mind, spirit and its connection with the supreme intelligence.
Word
Health is translated from Sanskrit
word “SWASTHYA”, But there is a
mistake which generally happens during translation, that meaning is translated
but essence of the word is left behind.
Word health does not contain the essence of”
swasthya”, health means freedom from disease, or we can say HEALTH IS PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND SOCIAL WELL
BEING, but “swasthya” is far more deeper, it means “to establish in oneself”, “Swam main isthith ho jana”.
So health can be understood at
different levels: that is one can only be healthy at physical level, one can be
at emotional level and one can seek health on mental/spritual level.
When all the three levels are
healthy one is said to be “SWASTHYA”.
To be healthy means to get in touch with
oneself, know our very being, so that there are no conflicts and complete awareness.
When
one is in present moment, not thinking about past and not anxious about future,
but just experience the now.
Buddha says The secret of health for both mind and body is
not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but
to LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT WISELY AND
EARNESTLY.
That
is he or she reacts not according to situation but from self or according to
the moment.
So
heath is to be in moment, which is according to reality of moment.
In
health person don’t fix with past or concern about future but be in present
moment that is he is not fixed at a particular level of experience. He reacts differently according to and with
reality of moment.
A
healthy person is therefore going to be in the FACT level when he is auditing his books of accounts.
He
is going to be in the EMOTIONAL level when
showing affection to his children.
He
is going to in DELUSION level while
watching a movie or writing a verse.
He
will experience the SENSATION level
when he is near a mountain or in nature.
He
will experience the ENERGY level
when he sings or dance.
He
will experience the SEVENTH level in
meditation.
He
will thus live in the MOMENT and experience the level
appropriate to that moment.
Health is FREEDOM to be in moment.
So,
what is it to be healthy? Louis Prato, in Self Healing, describes it thus:
"When we are experiencing well-being, our bodies feel alive and full of
energy, our state of mind is positive, problems don't oppress or depress us.
We're able to enjoy our work, to concentrate and be effective, and switch off,
relax and play when the work routine is over. A positive self-image and love
for yourself are the essence of well-being..."
Hari Sharma, in Awakening Nature's Healing Intelligence on the
Vedic approach to health says, "Health
is much more than the absence of disease. It is a state of complete balance on
the level of body, mind, and consciousness; a state of optimum happiness, an
integrated state of emotional balance and well-being, psychological flexibility
and energy. It is an active state of self-realization, where individuals live
and breathe their full potential."
So
in short “HEALTH IS FREEDOM TO BE IN
MOMENT”, one said to be healthy when
he doesn’t react according to the past experience, when he is totally free to
experience the present and react accordingly to the present situation.
"Man
is ill because he is never still.
-Paracelsus