INTERESTING ARTICLE BY JAYADAYAL GOYANDKA. APART FROM USING UPAYAS AGAINST DEATH (SUCH AS "SHREE NARAYANA-KAVACHA", FOR EXAMPLE) THE ARTICLE OFFERS JNANA-MARG, PATIENCE, THE CHANGE OF MENTAL ATTITUDE AND SIDDHANTA BASED ON "SHREE BRIHAD-ARANYAKA-UPANISHAD".
"How to conquer Disease and Death?" By Jayadayal Goyandka.
The entire universe is but a manifestation of God and there is nothing good or bad in it. It is one’s attitude towards it that determines how it will affect him.
When a person falls ill, he feels
uneasy mainly because he identifies himself with the body and thinks of the disease in terms of pain. To feel the pain is one thing; to be overcome by it is another.
If one looks upon a disease as a penance, he can easily escape the affliction caused by it. Not only that. The disease itself, when viewed as a penance, will yield the fruit of a penance.
A man who has understood this secret will not give way to grief when he finds himself in the grip of an ailment like fever and so on.
An ascetic who is practising penance has to undergo great hardships and physical tortures; but this self-mortification, instead of afflicting him, allays his grief and brings him mental peace.
Similarly, an ailing person who views his ailment as a penance and strongly feels so will find that, thanks to his vivid conception, his disease, instead of causing him grief, brings him joy and peace.
It is our mental attitude which determines what results we are going to achieve.
One who is suffering from a disease, therefore, would do well to view his malady not only as a penance but as a divine blessing, a boon from the All-merciful Lord and as such a supreme Tapas.
If one firmly begins to view his ailment as a supreme penance the ailment will surely bring about the reward of such a penance, which can not only allay one’s sufferings in this world but can also enable him to attain the higher regions from Indra‘s heaven to the Abode of Brahma.
And, if such a penance is practised as a sacred duty and without attachment to its fruit, it can bestow supreme and lasting peace in the shape of final beatitude here as well as here-after.
Just as past sins are consumed by the fire of Tapas, even so, by firmly believing that the disease from which we are suffering is a Tapas, we can be purged of all our sins and attain the Supreme status.
Man shuns and abhors disease only so long as he looks upon it as a source of pain; but the moment it is turned into a penance,—a means of worshipping God, he will no longer hate it nor feel afliicted by it nor condemn it.
He will, on the contrary, acclaim and greet it, and, indifferent to all suffering, will always remain cheerful like a true ascetic.
It is such a condition of one's mind that will justify his ailment being regarded as a supreme penance.
Even death, when viewed as a supreme penance, at a time when one finds himself in the throes of it, will prove a source of liberation, although the very name of death inspires terror into the minds of even learned men, not to speak of worldly-minded people who are in the grip of dying agony.
Nevertheless, he whose hour of death is near and who is afflicted by some terrible disease should at least try his level best, with a view to attaining liberation, to rejoice in the thought that his dear and near ones will transfer him after his death to the woods, just as the friends and relatives of an ascetic who is retiring into the forest for practising austerities bid adieu to him; nay, he should also picture to his mind that just as an ascetic who has retired into the forest surrounds himself with five fires and bakes his body in the heat thereof, even so will his body he consigned to the funeral pyre by his kinsmen and thus undergo the highest penance.
One who thus looks upon even dying agony, which is so very painful, as a supreme penance will no longer be overcome by grief nor will he fear death.
He will remain cheerful even while expiring.
Just as an ascetic who is retiring into the forest for practising austerities does not feel nervous while doing so nor does he experience any pain in parting from his kith and kin, but feels a sort of joy in leaving them, and just as the fiery ordeal which he undergoes in the forest for expiating his sins and purifying his soul does not afflict his mind but gives him peace, vigour and joy, even so, one who converts death into a supreme penance is no longer afraid of it nor does the thought of impending death afflict him.
It is only then that one should be regarded as having rightly recognized death as a supreme penance.
Says the Shruti:
"Let a man who is suffering from some disease and is afflicted by it look upon the trouble as a supreme penance. Let him not murmur and grumble against it, nor feel oppressed by it. Such a penance on the part of the wise man who thus regards his malady as a supreme penance reduces all his actions to ashes; nay, such a recognition on his part destroys all his sins and enables him to conquer the Supreme regions, i.e. to attain liberation.
Thus, one who is on the verge of death should, while dying, persuade himself to think that the removal of his body to the woods after death for funeral purposes will constitute a penance for him (for leaving one’s home and retiring into the forest is proverbially regarded as a form of penance).
An aspirant who believes like that is able to conquer the Supreme regions. Let him also further believe that the cremation of his body will constitute another austere penance (for, scorching one's body with fire is also proverbially recognized as a penance).
An aspirant who believes like that is also able to conquer the Supreme regions or attain liberation.”
In the light of the exhortation conveyed in the Shruti quoted above everyone should view disease and death as a supreme penance and thus try his level best to attain the highest status.
Cited from "Kalyana-Kalpataru", 1935 issue
OCR by Vishnudut1926, May 2017
