Presentation for evaluation at Samskriti Peetham for the course on Samkhya Karika and Yoga Sutras
Venue: Somaiya, Vidhyavihar
Presented by: Ramesh Lakshman
Date: July 2, 2019
Chapter I: Overview of Samkhhya Karika and Yoga Sutras
A novice with little exposure to the multitudinous depth of Sanskrit literature and the philosophy expounded in them, gets initiated into Samkhya Karika with great hopes. The opening statement of the karika alludes to dukha hammering one from all sides and therefore arises a need to explore possibilities of overcoming them. One therefore feels that one has come to the right place and presto once the course is absorbed one will get the key to ride rough shod over all dukha, once and for all. As one dabbles into the labyrinth of the unfolding philosophy, that hope slowly disappears only to be rekindled with the commencement of lectures on yoga sutras. For one is informed that yoga sutras are the key to practical implementation of the philosophy of samkhya karika. One looks forward eagerly to the key to those yoga asanas or pranayama practices which can unfold the magic of deflecting dukha and thereby living in eternal peace and joy. That hope is also shattered once you delve deeper into the mysteries of the sutras.
Both the Karika and the Suthras are written in a succinct style with brevity of words and one is forced to rely on various commentaries (often in conflict with each other) to price open the meaning embedded in them. I am extremely grateful to my teacher Dr. Rudraksh Sakrikar for taking me through the depth of both the karika and yoga sutras, explaining every student’s query in detail, never mulling over any question, often drawing reference from other philosophy to establish and clarify a concept. One is certainly richer in knowledge from having attended the course. If nothing else, at least, it triggers an awareness the moment any negative thought surfaces realizing that the negative thought will also create a negative karma and its ashraya has to be experienced in this or next and subsequent births.
On a deeper reflection on the karika and sutras one does realize that one can draw considerable sustenance and support from them for the practices of holistic healing based on the precepts of cosmic energy. In this chapter I will delve upon the concepts relevant for the purpose of this presentation. In the next chapter I will introduce the various thoughts and practices currently prevalent and used in alternate therapy all of which in one way or the other deals with mind, body and spirit. In the last chapter I will connect them and explain the practices that are possible and the ones currently under experimentation and those that are likely to be tried out in the coming days. In particular this presentation will argue that some of the practices if suitably modified on the basis of meaning derived from the Karika and Sutras might open up potentialities towards better or faster results.
Concepts from Samkhya which are relevant for this paper
The process of creation as advocated by Samkhya is well known to all including the famous Samkhya chart. What constitutes the I is bifurcated into three -namely Purusha + Sukshma Sharira + Stula Sharira. Purusha, the ability to know, plus the subtle body and gross body constitutes the individual personality. It clearly lays down the existence of the subtle body. The concept that the subtle body is permanent, while the physical body is perishable needs to be emphasized. The ailment originates in the subtle body but is not detected except in exceptional cases, and manifests much later in the physical body when traditional medical cure is attempted. The subtle body carries with it the impressions, vasanas and experience from each past life and with appropriate development of inner capability it is possible for a yogi to know about all these past births. Modern science has not only accepted this, but has developed tools to try and understand them using hypnosis to gain the knowledge. This practice goes by the name past life regression. However, science is yet to determine the other observation that the subtle body is permanent and is the same from birth to birth.
It is explained that indriyas are energy or shakti and are part of the subtle body and not that of the physical body. Whatever ability we have is same across all individuals but we use only a small portion of it. Akin to potential energy. It is there. How much you will draw from there is upto you. This has an important bearing in holistic healing approaches as well. Efforts are always to kick start the healing abilities and potentialities of the person.
The Pancha Mahboothas constitute the body. The bones and muscles are the earth element, the blood the water element, the digestion the fire element and breathing the air element and akasha embeds all of them. This is again an important concept from a holistic health perspective since the pancha mahaboothas must be active, energetic and free from negative energy or energy blockages. The practice of Tattwa Shduhi is designed to provide the same. In ailments therefore one should be able use the process of tattwa shudhi to remove the imbalance or negative effect on the mahaboothas in an attempt to restore health. We further learn from the Karikas that Tanmatras are the prior form of mahabootha and are part of the subtle body. The nature of the physical form is decided by the tanmatra based on the purpose of birth, dictated or formed by the intention or purpose of the birth.
If there is a manifested effect then there must be a cause leading to them. Without a cause effect cannot be observed. Further the Karika establishes that elements cannot be completely destroyed. It can change forms as per requirements. The importance of Anuman praman was established clearly in the Samkhya Karikas. That is the object beyond the reach of the indriyas can still be inferred or known by shabda praman or Agaman. This aspect has crucial relevance in the field of cosmic energy and its connectivity or inferring the energies which cause something like demyelinating disease. We can infer the cause as an imbalance in the energy but we cannot perceive them. Medical science has no cure for this and often leaves the patient to fend for themselves. Yet efforts are often made to cure the same using energy, sound, visualization or light therapies.
Complete destruction of the elements is not possible. It can only change form. Modification is possible only if proper enabling environment exits. This is further classified into upadhan karan the material cause and nimitta karan, the efficient cause. Efficient cause is one that facilitates the modification but does not get modified in the process. Parinamavad further includes appropriate time. What is manifested currently is व्यकत् and what is not manifested currently but does exist inherently is called अव्यकत्.. If we want a certain effect then we need to go for the appropriate cause. For instance, if you want a stone table, you need a stone and cannot be created with wood. The cause which has the energy can only create the effect. This again will have relevance in the context of energy healing since only that form of cure that will have the potential for the result will prove fruitful. Two important arguments of satkaryavad are also important in this context – (a)The cause which has the energy to create can only cause the effect. (b) The effect is existing in the cause itself. Only then it can be created. Further everything cannot be created from everything is also important. We need to adopt appropriate cause to get a required effect.
The importance of guna which cannot be seen but observed or inferred is another attribute. By way of commentary and explanation attention is drawn to a case where three patients with identical symptoms walk into an Ayurvedic physician but are prescribed different medicines based on their guna. The physician cannot see their guna but by questioning and examination he can infer and accordingly decide which oushadha will be most appropriate for each of them. The three gunas-Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas are explained in detail. Tamas is inertia. Rajas is activity and generally works with both Satwa and Tamas. Satwa is the higher level or spiritual context. The three gunas always exist together but at any given point in tine only one of them is mainly active. Others stay suppressed.
Samkhya avers the possibilities of Aishwarya which we understand from commentaries as Anima, Mahima, etc the 8 possible siddhis. This can be viewed as the immense potentiality and possibilities that this body can achieve and that also means that energy channelized in specific intensity like in a laser beam can be very powerful and can achieve results which could even be beyond the realm of present understanding.
The subtle body is imperishable and is the same from birth to birth irrespective of the nature of that birth and is aligned with the particular Purusha of that individual soul. It carries with it the impression called vasanas of each birth. Many an ailment remains uncured because their root cause embedded in the subtle body and medical science cannot deal with it and consequently cannot cure it. Advanced Yogis will tell you that all diseases manifest in the subtle body before they manifest in the physical body. One may draw sustenance from yoga sutras to conclude that attempt can be made to deal with a cure in the subtle body through the process of meditation and sanyam.
Yoga Sutras begin by advocating that unless the oscillating mind is harnessed and brought to one pointedness there is no scope for progress to avoid dukha that hammers from all sides. The vritties are to be blocked to be able to achieve the end result. Multiple routes are suggested including a route that suites one -yatabhimathadhynatadva. While the standard process of trying to harness the mind to a single point is often treacherous there is considerable merit in the attempt to have multiple observations within one vritti. For instance if one were to use a candle as an external aid for meditation one can start from the bottom of the candle, move the awareness up to reach the wick, observe the bottom of the flame with the wick move a little up to focus on the center of the flame and then the top of the flame and then reverse the process. If this cycle is repeated constantly there is a chance of holding the mind on this for a longer period of time. While one can and need to start with the aid of an external object to meditate, the sutras say that then one has to progress beyond the aid of an external object in what is called Nirbija Samadhi.
For the purpose of this paper, the focus is the third chapter of yoga sutras and in particular the concept of Samyam and its benefits. Later we will draw out the connection between Samyam and its benefits to the possibility of aligning with the cosmic energy for the purpose of achieving intended healing. In yoga sutras Samyam is defined as Trayam Ekatra samyam. That is to say when dharana, Dyana and samadhi are present then it is samyam. Dharana flows into Dhyana which must flow into samadhi. Dharana is holding on a single object which may be through direct perception or mental recall. It could be one vritti and one object or one vritti with multiple aspects as described above.
Chapter II: Concepts relevant from Holistic Healing systems and practices
Holistic Healing is a broad field comprising of multiple approaches. Among the many methods are a) Pranic Healing, b) Reiki c) Magnetic Healing d) Herbal Therapy e) Crystal Therapy f) Light Therapy g) Sound Therapy or Healing h) Quantum Touch g) Acupuncture and Acupressure h) Chigong healing i) Radionics k) Kinesiology l) Pulsed Electro Magnetic Resonance m) Bio Photon Light therapy n) Color Therapy o)Healing using energy wand p) Energy Medicine q) Polarity Therapy r) Tuning Fork s) and many more. I consider Ayurveda and Homeopathy are systems on their own and hence not mentioning them but some people consider them to be also alternate therapy.
As it is not possible for most medical practitioners to deal with multiple complexities in healing a person and therefore tend to specialize, so also does alternate therapy practitioners tend to focus on certain key areas. This presentation therefore veers around my area of interest which include Light, Color, Crystal, Herbal, and Sound therapy. Ideas for this presentation stems from multiple books many of them written by doctors or reputed practitioners in their areas of practice. I have included in the Appendix I to this paper a list of resources from which I have drawn references and these form a useful resource guide to those keen to pursue the subject further.
As can be expected there is growing interest the world over led by Europe and America in alternate healing systems. Factors that seem to be driving this:
a) the, ever increasing, cost of medical treatment which in the developed world is almost impossible unless paid for by insurance
b) the inability of the so called developed medicinal practices which often expresses inability to cure ailments
c) multiple cases of success where the patient has reversed a disease after the medical science has given up on the patient, by resorting to alternative healing therapies.
d) Quantum physics developing newer theories that seem to vouch what many ancient civilizations believed in but without any scientific basis to prove them
e) the development of equipment that seem to be capable of measuring many energy channels which are invisible to the naked eye.
f) the ability to harness technology and electronics to devise healing delivery equipment or systems that seem to provide results.
A review of these different seemingly divergent approaches would tend to indicate a common thread connecting them all. The most common ideas connecting them together can be captured and summarized as under:
i) All matter is originating from energy and if you were to disintegrate matter into its core minute segment at one stage there will be only energy left. This applies to both animate and inanimate objects.
ii) Sound and Light are energies at different frequencies and sound vibrating at a higher frequency becomes light.
iii) All beings are connected to the ultimate universal intelligence. Call it cosmic energy, God or by any other name. As such each is also connected to the other at the subtle level.
iv) All beings when aligned are connected even if they are separated by vast distances. The energy transmitted from one to the other does reach the other since the transmission is even faster than the speed of light and hardly takes time to reach.
v) Ailments manifest first in the subtle body and then is transferred to the physical body. Hence cure is possible if the ailment can be detected at the subtle level before it is manifested in the physical body, if the same can be cleared and cured. This is an advanced approach of curing even before one experiences the ailment.
vi) Every system attempts to increase positive energy through energy transmission and pull out negative energy by some means or the other.
vii) Energy flow is always from a higher energy source to a lower powered recipient. Reverse does not happen and is not required.
viii) The body has its own inherent healing capabilities to cure itself of any ailment and effort is always to activate, energize and strengthen this capacity. Ailment is a result of this capacity being weakened or the body having forgotten its ability to cure itself.
ix) The cells in the body are all vibrating at their individual frequencies resulting in a frequency for each tissue and each are in harmony with the other. If there is disturbance in their natural frequency there is ailment. Restoring it to its natural frequency should result in wellbeing.
x) The subconscious is both very powerful and effective and it can be so in a negative way or a positive way. Hence it is important to deal with the subconscious. So long as we harbor negative thoughts, feelings or emotions they will surface in the physical body in the form of ailments and cure is not possible unless and until the originating cause is dealt with and eliminated or one comes to terms with it and accept it with no further negative feelings.
xi) The older civilization, often referred to as primitive, seemed to have better understanding of the cosmic power and nature and developed many practices in tune with it. Many sources are revisiting the same today and adopting them. In some cases, reinforced by modern methods of scientific evaluation.
xii) The human voice is best suited for sound healing and mothers voice can work wonders in healing.
Some of the important concepts extracted from the various books listed in Appendix I are adverted to for the purpose of illustrating the underlying ethos before drawing inference in improving the processes in the light of Samkhya and Yoga Sutras.
1. Extracted from Stalking the Wild Pendulum by Itzhak Bentov
1.1. “By coherency we mean order of a certain kind. In this case, we shall talk about coherent light, without which a good hologram cannot be made. The most popular source of coherent light is a laser. The first important aspect of laser light is that it produces light of a single frequency. [Page 19]”. It is for this reason that laser therapy seems to have significant results and is often used in conjunction with infrared light. The success of bio photon light treatment perfected by Meditech Technologies of Toronto is a case substantiating this. More than 2 million patients have been treated by them so far for various ailments. This treatment is not available in India as on date neither is their equipment imported into the country so far.
1.2. “Note that the difference between the two fast frequencies produces a third frequency that is much slower than the first two. This, then, is a beautiful device for converting high frequencies to low ones. [Page 17]”. This concept is used effectively in tuning fork therapies where two tuning forks of different frequencies are used simultaneously to create a frequency modulation which effectively is the difference between them. The same principle re-appears in binaural beats as well.
1.3. “Well it seems that the real reality-the micro reality that which underlies all our solid good, common-sense reality -made up, as we have just witnessed of a vast empty space filled with oscillating fields! Many different kinds of fields, all interacting with each other. The tiniest disturbance in one field carries over into the others. It an interlocked web of fields each pulsating at their own rate, but in harmony with the others, their pulsations spreading out farther and farther throughout the cosmos.
Whenever a focus of disturbance tends to drive these fields out of their harmonious rhythm, the irregularity will spread and disturb the neighboring fields. As soon as the source of disturbance is removed orderly rhythm will return to the system. Conversely when a strong harmonizing rhythm is applied to this matrix of interlocking fields its harmonic influence may entrain part of the system that may have been vibrating off key. It will put more orderliness into the system. We may look at disease as such out of tune behavior of one another of our organs of the body. When a strong harmonizing rhythm is applied to it, the interference pattern of wavs which is the organ may start beating in tune again. This may be the principle of psychic healing. [Page36 and 37]]”. This principle perhaps is a singular important concept that sweeps across all holistic healing concepts and solutions. It enables us to understand that all fields are in harmony with each other till there is disturbance in one of them and that disturbance impacts all others in the chain. Order returns automatically once the cause of disturbance is removed. Holistic healing attempts to find out the cause or trigger for the disturbance and then tries to remove that disturbance to create harmonious whole once again.
2. Extracted From The Brain’s Way of Healing by Norman Doidge M.D
2.1. “Neuro simulation: In almost all the interventions in this book, some kind of, energy based, neuro stimulation of the brain cells is required. Light, sound, electricity, vibration, movement and thought (which turns on certain networks) all provide neuro stimulation. Neuro stimulation helps to revive dormant circuits in the hurt brain and leads to a second phase in the healing process, an improved ability of the noisy brain to regulate and modulate itself once again and achieve homeostasis. Some forms of neuro stimulation begin from an external source, but other forms are internal. Everyday thought, specially when used systematically is a potent way to stimulate neurons. [Page 109]“. Apart from the fact that this book is a must read for anyone involved in holistic healing, this concept brings out the essence of what is important in any form of alternate healing. As can be seen, there is stimulation of the neuro network. The stimulation can be from light, sound etc. Each of the elements listed is an approach in therapy. It in turn also helps us connect to Yoga and Samkhya. We will revert to that in the next chapter.
2.2. “Human beings tend to think that light sensitive molecules exist only in the eyes but they come in four major types rhodopsin (in the retina which absorbs light for vision) hemoglobin (in a red blood cells), myoglobin (in muscle) and most important of all, cytochrome (in all the cells). Cytochrome is the marvel that explains how lasers can heal so many different conditions, because it coverts light energy from the sun into energy for the cells. Most of the photons are absorbed by the energy powerhouses within the cells, the mitochondria. [Page 140]”. This is an interesting concept which many students of science and biology may be familiar with. It was extremely revealing for me and it also enabled me to understand why light as therapy should work if at all. Also, why light might work to heal multiple ailments in areas seemingly impossible to achieve them.
2.3. “According to Yuri, if some harm comes to one part of a functional system required for a movement-say a person has a stroke in the motor cortex- the effects will not be confined to the motor cortex. Because the motor cortex is connected or networked with many other brain areas, the whole functional network that underlies the movement will be affected, and signals throughout will be weakened to some degree. In other words, the dead tissue in the motor cortex will have an impact on the living tissue it is connected to and all the components of the system will become weaker. This point has not been sufficiently emphasized in our current non holistic, localizationist approach to brain problems, which focusses only on the dead tissue but leaves out the effect on connected living tissue, a point emphasized in the theory of brain arrhythmias. [Page 270-271]” One can easily appreciate this concept having already covered this in a larger context in 1.3 above as explained by Itzhak Bentov. He adverted to the entire cosmic field while Doidge is culling out a micro structure out of that. Both effectively say the same thing only in different contextual background.
2.4. “Entrainment is so graphic that when people are hooked up to EEGs and asked to listen to a waltz rhythm of 2.4 beats a second, their brain waves dominant frequency spike at 2.4 beat per second. No wonder people move to the beat of a song-much of the brain, including the motor cortex, is entrained to that beat. But the entrainment also happens between people. When musicians jam, their dominant brain waves begin to entrain with one another. In 2009 the psychologist Ulman Lindenberger and his colleagues hooked nine parts of guitarists to a EEGs while they played jazz together. The brain waves of each pair began to entrain together, to synchronize their dominant neuronal firing rates. No doubt this is part of what musicians “getting into a groove” is all about. But the study also showed that entrainment didn’t occur only between the musicians. Different regions of individual musicians brains synchronized as well so that overall, many more areas of the brain showed the dominant frequency. Not only were the musicians playing together in an ensemble; the coordinated ensembles of the neurons with each player’s brain were playing together, with the ensembles of neurons in their fellow musicians’ brain. [Page 346]” This is an important experiment meeting the exacting rigor of modern science and explains why music therapy should work and how it can help in the process of healing. So also, the concept of sound therapy, particularly the Tibetan singing bowls or crystal bowl induced sound vibrations. He further goes on to add “Because so many brain disorders are caused when the brain loses its rhythm and fires in an offbeat or “dysrhythmic” way, music therapy is equally promising for these conditions. The rhythms of music medicine can provide a noninvasive way to get the brain back “on beat”. [Page 347]”. This is self-explanatory. Only further experimentation will establish the efficacy of using music in healing and the extent of recovery possible. More appropriately it is important to determine instances or ailments where it may not provide the required results.
2.5. “The brain has its own internal clock or time keeper that is offbeat in some children. Some children’s clock runs too fast and they become “early responders’ to sensory stimuli. They interrupt other people, and seem impulsive. Other children may seem unmotivated and “slow” socially and intellectually, but, again, their problem is timing-an internal clock that is too slow. Training that clock by learning to listen to and react to sounds so that one is “on beat” can be transformative for these children. Suddenly, they seem more alert and present. [Page 347]”. This concept is very appealing and can be used effectively in tandem with mantra chanting. If the intonation of the mantra can be tweaked appropriately to whether the clock is fast or slow, the benefits and results may be immense. How much will it benefit can be gauged only if there is concerted research to ascertain the same and there must be adequate participating children who in turn must be systematic in their practice or must visit a center on a daily basis for a extended period of time. Only then the results can be gauged from a scientific perspective.
2.6. “Another reason music can lift the spirits as Daniel Levitin and Vinod Menon have demonstrated, is that it turns on the reward centers of the brain, which increases the production of dopamine, which in turn increases feelings of pleasure and motivation. As Levitin writes “The rewarding and reinforcing aspects of listening to music seem to be mediated by increasing dopamine levels ..Current neuro psychological theories associate positive mood and affect with increased dopamine levels one of the reasons that many of the newer antidepressants act on the dopaminergic system. Music is clearly a means for improving people’s moods [Page 348]”. Herein lies an important clue as to how depression can be treated through appropriate music rather that resort high cost drugs that ultimately end up generating dopamine in the brain. Would it not be better to heal depression in a non-invasive way and that too without the resultant side effect that any chemical drug brings with it. I also advert to another conjecture that is the body or more appropriately the brain will never become resistant to the music while it certainly possible with drugs.
3. Extracted from Vibrational Healing Through the Chakras by Joy Gardner
3.1. “Sound healing is he therapeutic application of sound frequencies to the body/mind of a person with the intention of creating a state of harmony and health. Toning is the use of sustained vocal tones on the out breath, without the use of melody, rhythm, or words (toning OM, for example)). Sounding is making improvised sounds without specific melody, rhythm or words (though melody, rhythm, and words may emerge spontaneously) [Page 119 and 120]” Mantra chanting is one of important ways of toning that I can think of. In particular Bija Mantras or single syllable mantras. I also use other longer mantras but one can restrict one to the Bija Mantras if so desired.
3.2. “Researchers found that lullaby rapidly cause an increase in oxygen saturation levels as well as heart and respiration rates. [Page 135]”. Following from this explanation I have been trying playing lullabies during shavasan. I am still collecting response to see how participants feel about it as compared to other music we have been playing so far.
3.3. “How does sound affect the emotions? One explanation is that when it passes through the ear, it activates the vagus nerve that extends from the ear down into the larynx and through the entire intestinal tract, where its fibers control gastric and pancreatic secretions. This is the area of the third chakra, which is an emotional center. The vagus nerve also has inhibitory fibers that pass through the heart which is in the area of the fourth chakra another emotional center.”
3.4. “In fact, sound is a kind of food for the brain and the body (to say nothing of the soul). Dr. Tomatis a French Physician, psychologist, and auditory neurophysiologist, found that the brain requires three billion stimuli per second for at least four and half hours per day just to stay awake. He claims that the ear produces over 90% the body’s total charge. [Page 139 and 140]” Another point of benefit from mantra chanting which is fast disappearing from our cultural practices. More youngster must be exposed to these concepts to encourage them to try toning to keep them in good health.
As one can see Joy has laid down the foundation on why sound therapy, chanting of mantras, toning as she calls it, all should have an impact in healing. These are practiced by her and she has some credible success in healing and some not so as well.
3.5. “In 1942 Russian scientist S.V.Krakov wrote about “Colour Vision and Autonomic Nervous system” in the Journal of the Optical Society of America. By 1958 he was able to demonstrate that the color red stimulates the sympathetic portion of the autonomic nervous system and that the color blue stimulates the parasympathetic portion
Robert Gerard confirmed these findings in 1951, demonstrating that when 24 normal adult males sat in front of a screen with red light for ten minutes, their blood pressure, arousal via palmar conductance, respiratory movement, and eye-bling frequency increased. When the participants sat in front of a screen with blue or white light, these same factors diminished. Blue increased their sense of relaxation and lessened their anxiety and hostility, while red increased their tension and excitement, as well as their levels of anxiety. [Page 87 and 88]”
This is an important piece of research reinforcing the reasons why color induction might really work. I do combine the effect of color with sound in the form of mantras to try and get better results. As it happens, I don’t have many instances of repeated success to put forth the same with credibility.
3.6. “Dr. Tomatis claims that the ear is the conductor of the entire nervous system. Through the medulla (the brain stem), the auditory nerve connects with all the muscles of the body. Thus, muscle tone, equilibrium, flexibility, and vision are all influenced by sound. This helps explain why, when yoga is accompanied by toning, it becomes possible to stretch longer and deeper. It also explains why most people like to hear music while they exercise.
According to Tomatis, high frequency sounds (3,000 Hz and above) increase the electrical potential of the brain. The music of Mozart has also been credited with increasing mental powers, as made popular by Don Campbell in his book, The Mozart Effect. He cites a study by Frances H. Raushcher, PhD, and her colleagues in which thirty-six undergraduates from the psychology department scored eight to nine points higher on a spatial IQ test after listening to ten minutes of Mozart’s sonata for Two Pianos in D major. The effect only lasted for ten to fifteen minutes but the team concluded that there was a strong relationship between listening to the music and spatial reasoning. [Page 140]” Further research has now endorsed that apart from these recorded benefits the ability to memorize and chant mantras aids in the development of the brain.
3.7. “Don Campbell points out that the right ear relays auditory impulses more quickly to the speech centers in the brain than does the left ear. Nerve impulses from the right ear go directly to the left (rational) brain., where the speech centers are located. However, nerve impulses from the left ear have to make a circuitous journey through the right brain, which is devoid of speech centers, before they end up at the left brain. This results in a subtle loss of attentiveness and ability to respond verbally. [Page 141]”
This may be a good pointer for the healer. If one is using intonations or using recorded music or chanting it is better to play them to the right ear rather than the left ear. It may also be a good idea to consider this aspect while designing any healing room.
3.8. “Every organ, bone, and cell has its own healthy resonant frequency. Sound healer Shari Edwards has the remarkable ability to hear these frequencies, and she has assigned a hertz frequency to each of the muscles, organs, and tissues of the body. Shari can also produce these sounds with her voice and has devised a machine that reproduce these sounds. [Page 143]” I have not been able to lay my hands on these established frequencies. I have written to her to find out how I can get them and I am awaiting her response. Once I receive it the next challenge, in my view, will be to ascertain whether the frequencies will remain the same despite genetic, climatic, food and other aspects which are different here in India as compared to the west. For that matter differences between any two countries.
3.9. “Dr. Peter Guy Manners works with sound in his medical practice in Worcester, England. He writes, “Experimentation indicates that human beings, as all objects, are radiating sound waves; therefore, their fields are sonic fields.
He defines harmony within the body and describes how to use sound to detect the source of bodily disharmony. He explains that just as each of us has our own unique shape and size, we each have our own distinct pattern or collection of tones. “Within the human body any deviation from this harmony would result in ill health. ….We can easily see that each organ will have its own sonic (or sound) field. If properly detected this should provide information on processes going on in a particular organ.
Discoveries by Dr. Raymond Royal Rife in the 1930’s show how potent the right tones can be for eliminating disease. He found that every cell has its own vibratory frequency and every cell within a specific organ system has a common vibratory resonance. Rife is best known for his amazing microscope that magnified livings cells at hundred thousand magnifications. While observing the internal working of a living human cell, he took a Ray O Vac tube and a frequency generator and charged the cells with different frequencies. Eventually he found a resonance that exploded the cells.
Armed with this knowledge he started curing cancer. For cancer of the breast, for example, he could take a biopsy of cancerous tissue and put it under the microscope and then observe the cells while he adjusted his frequency generator until the cells exploded. Once he knew the frequency that would obliterate malignant cells, he put his patient next to the tube and directed it to her breast, and when the treatment was complete the cancer cells would be gone without affecting the rest of the breast or body. [Page 145]” I am surprised that such a simplistic solution has not found its way into India and none in the Medical fraternity or healing profession have considered it necessary to introduce the same. I would certainly like to team up with a doctor keen to explore these areas and try and see if we can accelerate the cure for cancer. I would have thought that an apex institution like Tata Memorial Hospital would have experimented with this by now. If an oncologist like Michelle Gaynor can supplement his practice with singing bowls and meditation why not doctors in India?
4. Extracted from Imagery in Healing -Shamanism and Modern Medicine by Jeanne Achterberg.
4.1. “It is there, in the body, in its state of relative health or sickness, that the harmony of the person with the cosmos is portrayed. The body has no secrets; it never lies. Neither the sins of omission and commission in the environment, nor past and present thoughts, can pass without leaving their corporeal mark. The treatment of this complex landscape of thinking, feeling and being has been the province of medicine for better or for worse. And so, it is in the field of medicine that the new developments, the new understandings of the powers of imagination, will have their most directed force. [Page 5]”
This sounds very familiar to any student of yoga with concepts of karma and karma ashraya. The emphatic statement that every thought leaves it corporeal mark can be noted. This was discussed in the context of yoga sutras where the aspect of every negative or positive thought also leaving its karma was discussed.
4.2. “Images communicate with tissues and organs, even cells, to effect a change. The communication can be deliberate or not. It is preverbal in the sense that it probably evolved much earlier than language. The second type of healing imagery is transpersonal, embodying the assumption that information can be transmitted from the consciousness of one person to the physical substrate of others. [Page 5]
For us the use of yantras, conceptualized and perfected way back in the vedic times and the concepts of Mandalas in the Buddhist traditions form parallels. This also explains why if we put children to color various yantras and they focus on the exercise and the choice of colors is appropriate, it has immense benefit on the development of the brain of the child. We don’t seem to use it in any way in the educational institutions.
4.3. “Now practices that bear vestiges of the shamans’ knowledge can be observed in modern medical settings. These techniques, which rely upon the power of imagination, are rarely credited as being essential to the practice of technological medicine, but they are at least considered useful to the patient’s psychological well-being. [Page 75]”. The use of imagery is relatively less explored in our country. I am presently experimenting with it with some positive results. Further research is planned to expand the scope and monitor results.
4.4. “In the case of pain, at least, the findings have been clear: It has been determined that when placebos are administered, the pain relief is a function of the ability of the placebo to increase the production of the body’s own pain relief chemicals-the endorphins or enkephalins. The active mechanism, of course, is the imagination of the recipient. The magic is clearly not in the sugar pill or in the water injection, but rather in the belief attached to them. [Page 85]
An extensive literature supportring the use of imagery in medicine has been compiled by J.H.Schultz and reported in a seven volume series edited by Wolfgang Luthe. The techniques reported by Schultz and Luther are collectively known as “autogenic therapy” and are the immediate forerunners of the current application of visualization or guided imagery to health. [Page 88]” Again autogenic therapy is an area I have not had any exposure to so far. Did not pay attention to this when I read this book for the first time. While reading it again for this paper it appears to be a useful area to explore. Will see how to do it but as on today I don’t have much to comment on this.
4.5. “The initial proposition here is that images affect physical reactions directly and indirectly, and in turn are affected by those reactions. The images may involve any sensory system, but can just as well occur in the absence of the appropriate external stimulation (i.e light waves, sound waves, molecules of color). The images are believed to generate similar, but not necessarily identical, internal response states as the actual stimuli themselves. [Page 114]” This is more a reinforcing concept. Similar concept was extracted earlier in this chapter.
4.6. “Imaging oneself in a pleasant, nonthreatening scene is a commonly used method for slowing down a pounding heart, lowering blood pressure, and generally achieving a homeostatic balance. Desensitization, a popular method of dealing with significant and maladaptive fears and anxieties, relies on the use of imagery in this regard.
The effect of the image has been noted not only on the musculoskeletal system, but on the autonomic or involuntary nervous system as well. Certain of the changes evoked by the image (heart rate, muscle changes) might be attributable to either respiratory or skeletal maneuvers normally amenable to conscious control [Page 115]” While we get multiple forwards in our watsapp group or facebook etc of how to deal with heart attacks etc, this simple technique which every person carrying an heart ailment must be trained on is not talked about. Every time the heart starts pounding fast just visualize being in pleasant environment like a colorful garden, on the beach watching the rising or setting sun, up the mountain in the midst of snow etc. The heart will immediately start slowing down.
5. Extracted from: The Healing Power of Sound -Recovery from Life Threatening illness using sound, voice and music by Mitchell L. Gaynor M.D
5.1. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the synergistic effect of the singing bowls and voice tones when used in combination with meditation and guided imagery has revolutionized my practice. Indeed, I believe that sound, the most underutilized and least appreciated mind-body tool, should become part of every healer’s medical bag, whether conventional allopathic physician or a traditional healer from far flung culture. We are so oriented to visual stimuli in our culture that we often neglect to credit the impact of auditory stimuli. That may be one reason sound has been the most neglected of all the various healing tools. But I am convinced that the use of healing with sound will soon become standard practice. I am far from the first to suggest the healing potential of sound, this is an ancient concept that has recently been rediscovered. Indeed, the sacred and medicinal uses of sound can be traced back at least to the third millennium B.C.E [Page 27]
That to me was the most promising statement coming as it does from an oncologist that sound is a useful way of adding to the healing practice. Mantras are the simplest and easiest way to try them out.
5.2. Phytagoras also spoke of how sound functions in relationship to the universe. “Each celestial body” he said, “in fact each and every atom, produces a particular sound on account of its movement, its rhythm or vibration. All these sounds and vibrations from a universal harmony which each element, while having its own function and character, contributes to the whole.” [Page 28]” The Sanskrit alphabets are assigned to different parts of the body and they all have different vibrations. It could be an indication of how advanced was the Indian thinking way back in the vedic days. Unfortunately, the younger generation now thinks chanting of mantras is old fashioned and this ritual almost mandatory in most homes even as late as the fifties is now disappearing.
5.3. “The Ancient Indian holy men understood what modern science has since proven: that the entire cosmos is “an ocean of vibration” the source of all manifestation. [Page 32]” Sound or toning is always an effort to try and align to this ocean of vibration.
5.4. “As I have noted, researchers have since developed a growing body of scientific data to support the theory that all of our various biological systems are connected in a complex interlocking network that health writer Henry Dreher describes as “continuous exchanges [between the nervous, endocrine and immune system] that enable our system to act in concert to maintain the integrity of the body” [page 54]” Hence the argument that when you use sound or light or other methods to induce a change in one of the systems they will align with the connected systems and bring them to tune appropriately resorting health.
5.5. “Candace Pert, PH.D, in the early 1980s discovered that specific brain chemicals-usually called neuropeptides-acted as couriers between the mind and the immune system. Her new understanding of the relationship between the brain and the body showed us that no barriers exist between our thoughts and feelings on the one hand, and our biological healing system on the other. How specifically do these interactions take place? Pert showed that the neuropeptides which she calls “chemicals of emotion” are like keys that lock into molecular keyholes on the surface of cells known as receptors. Thus, brain chemical can circulate throughout the body delivering messages to immune cells to perform particular functions, and ultimately determining how well our systems operate to keep us healthy and to heal injuries or disease. But the interactions that reveal just how interwind mind and body are Pert says, occur between the neuropeptides and the cell surface receptors. [Page 54 and 55]” Dr. Geynor maintains that sound helps induce the generation of these chemicals with resultant beneficial impact on the body.
5.6. “Sound is a manifestation of breath, and breath is the most fundamental aspect of life. Breathing is much more than a mechanical reflex for oxygen exchange; it is the basis for all our cellular functions, our energetic well -being, even our emotional health. Yet most medical students learn little or nothing about the complexities and subtleties of breathing. They are rarely taught to evaluate breathing as an index of health and healing. In their basic anatomy classes, first-year medical students certainly learn nothing about the dynamics of breath by working on corpses; their first exposure to the human body. If I were organizing a medical curriculum, I would start by teaching future doctors to learn how to breathe. As a clinician, I often learn as much about my patients by watching their breath patterns as I do by talking to them. Recently, I’ve come to realize that sound is both a manifestation of breath and a means to revitalize it, with far reaching positive consequences for people’s wellbeing and recovery. [Page 57]”
To me that is a wonderful medically determined endorsement of breathing and its importance we see in yoga. In this context one must learn to pay greater attention to the definition of pranayama in the yoga sutras. It is discussed elsewhere in this paper.
5.7. “We, too, can open up our respiratory capacities through obstacle breathing, although I have found that toning and chanting are among the most emotionally and physically effective ways to transform our breathing patterns. [Page 63]”
5.8. “Think back to the last time you sang one of your favorite songs at the top of your lungs, whether in the shower, at a concert, or standing alone at the top of a mountain. You probably sensed, perhaps without realizing it, that oxygen and energy surged throughout your entire body with far greater force and volume than usual. Isn’t the experience tied ineffably to joy and exhilaration? Such memories and experiences are strong hints about the direct links among sound vibration, breath and emotional and spiritual wellbeing. These are the interconnections that music therapists and sound healers use to the advantage of their patients, prompting them to transform their breathing and their emotional states through the vehicles of voice and musical instruments. [Page 64]” I guess all bathroom singers must pat themselves on their back and continue to do so more often and may for longer to keep them in good health.
5.9. “In terms of sound and healing, sound waves may entrain the human organism-causing us to vibrate in resonance with those waves-in a variety of interconnected ways. On one level, so called sonic entrainment may alter our energetic states, leading to physiologic transformations, often very subtle. On another level, sonic entrainments can affect us emotionally, which can thus influence us on a cellular level. Numerous studies have shown the degree to which stress, pessimism, and feelings of hopelessness depress every aspect of our immune system. Through the process of entrainment sound can transform negative, repressed emotions into a state of psychological equanimity that has direct and immediate effects on our physiology. Sonic entrainment can also restore harmony between our innermost selves-our essence-and the universe, thus reawakening spiritual consciousness. [ Page 64 and 65]”. This enables one to understand why the attempt through sound should fetch results, in many cases, if not in all cases. If more doctors can experiment with it, a larger body of results will be available, getting better credibility for the process.
5.10. “All the systems of our body -muscular nervous, respiratory, and circulatory-are meant to operate according to a set rhythm. Our hearts and pulses beat a constant tattoo that constitutes a measurement of health and vitality. Our breathing is meant to be slow and rhythmic; our blood flows in rhythmic pulses based on our heartbeat. Rudolf Haase, a German musicologist who has written about how music affects the spirit and the body, describes this same phenomenon from a musician’s point of view: ”If has been found that the rhythmics of human organism function utterly harmonically-that is, the frequencies of pulse, breathing, blood circulation etc as well as their combined activities.” [Page 68 and 69]” This is more a reinforcement of the same concept discussed earlier.
The extracts provided above are a sample from a very limited number of books that I have laid my hands on, and read. There are multiple other books but it is not possible to provide extracts from all of them. The number of publications and discussion are far greater than what I could accumulate in my library. In the world, considerable work is being carried out in terms of scientific research to try and establish why certain things much actually work. Work they do in the form of healing is evidenced by the multiple case studies provided by all authors of books of alternate therapies. Each book and author delve into the specific of a particular approach or at best a select combination of approaches. It is my belief that the practices and the results can be further enhanced by drawing from certain principles of Samkhya and Yoga Sutras. How this can be achieved and how the lessons from Samhya and Yoga sutras can be used to improve the healing practices for better results is covered in Chapter III.
Chapter III: Improving healing practices drawing from Samkhya and Yoga Sutras.
1. At the core of all elements is energy. If you break any object including a human cell into its minutest part further and further down you will reach a stage when you will only see it as energy. This is now an accepted view across the world both in the traditional literature and in the scientific literature. This concept no doubt was propelled by the work Albert Einstein and those who followed him. While he reached celebrity status Neils Bohr is also another scientist who has done pioneering work in the field of quantum physics and related subjects, but relatively a less popular name among the lay public. Everything, whether animate or inanimate therefore is nothing but energy vibrating at a certain frequency. Change the frequency and you will end up with something else. When two elements vibrating at two different frequencies interfere with each other, they tend to be in sync with each other in a short period. They will entrain to oscillate at the frequency of the higher one. We are not talking about static vibration but actual vibration. Light is intricately connected to sound for it is nothing but sound at higher frequency.
2. I would strongly urge that alternate medical practitioners should gainfully use the technique of pendulum dowsing to try and determine the area in the body where the ailment is manifesting. This should be done even before the patient declares his or her ailment or the discomfort they experience. This can then be corroborated with the patient and if required by reference to a medical doctor to suggest appropriate tests to confirm the same. I do use it in the limited cases for which I had an opportunity to intervene. We can connect two important concepts from the literature on alternate medicine and yoga sutras to ascertain how this can be done more effectively. Remember using a pendulum is essentially reaching out to the cosmos or cosmic knowledge and seek answers to your questions. Hence if you are more tuned in to connect and your body becomes a better antenna to receive the transmission of answers, it is bound to be more effective. This can be used for those who appear to be healthy to ascertain whether there is any blockage in their pranic or subtle body. The presence of subtle body has been adverted to in Samkhya and if you accept the karikas as laying down established truth then accepting this follows naturally. This is best done with breath held inside or outside, for reasons explained in the next para. One must also understand a dissipated mind can interfere with the answers and lead to wrong conclusions. Hence it is always a good practice to seek external corroborating evidence. Hence chitta vritti nirodha must be practiced by a good healer and better his or her ability to do it better the results as a healer.
3. Itzhak Bentov adverts in his book stalking the wild pendulum “We have said previously that when we stop breathing, the amplitude of the micromotion increases by about a factor of three because the body goes into resonance and its movement becomes very regular. Can this resonant state be extended in some way? Techniques for extending this harmonious resonant state have been known for thousands of years. These are the different meditative techniques. They slow down the metabolic rate of the body so that much less oxygen is required to keep the body going. Moreover, as one becomes proficient in meditation the breathing becomes so gentle as not to disturb the resonant state of the aorta. It seems that an automatic process develops in which the lungs and the diaphragm regulate the heart-aorta system so as to keep them well tuned and thus extend the resonant behavior in spite of some shallow breathing. [emphasis is mine] The resonant state will naturally apply to the whole body. The skeleton and all the inner organs will move coherently at about 7 cycles per second. It so happens that the natural frequency of the normal body seems to lie in this range. It therefore takes very little effort on behalf of the heart-aorta system to drive the body at this rate. It is similar to pushing a swing in correct timing. The normally occurring destructive interference ceases, and the body starts acting in an increasingly coherent fashion.”. Hence it may be a good idea to spend a few minutes in meditation, stabilize the breathing and slow it down make the body more resonant then take a breath in, and ask the question while holding the breath. You may wonder why ask the question while holding the breath. Patanji Maharshi lays down that pranayama is the cessation of the movement of inhalation and exhalation. [Sutra 49 in Chapter 2] Commenting on this sutra Paramhamsa Swami Satyanda Saraswati in his book Four Chapters on Freedom says “Retention of breath brings about certain condition in the brain, a certain change in the spinal cord, as well as in the physical body. Pranayama influences the nervous system and thereby the brain.” You can see that your connection with the cosmos can be at much higher dimension when you access it in pranayama. Bentov also brings out another fact that when you begin your pranayama is when the consciousness can travel long distances in a split second and revert. Hence asking the question at the time of starting kumbhak might produce the best answers in a pendulum dowsing.
4. A combination of the dowsing result and the patient’s own explanations and summaries should help close in on the problem or the ailment which must be cured. If not, the person may be directed to a medical doctor to run appropriate test to ascertain the ailment in those areas identified as problem areas of the body. The cause could be cancer – malignant or otherwise, hypertension, diabetes, hyper or hypo thyroid, arthritis, paralysis, stroke and so on. The clearer the diagnosis, better the possibility of success in healing. It is important that the healer understand the consequence of the ailment on the anatomy and physiology of the person. How does the ailment impact the part or cells in the body in the area that is affected and what exactly must a cure or homeostasis achieve? Any cure using visualization or imagery will require appropriate imagery for reversing the process and hence the knowledge is key to achieving good success in healing.
5. In my view the best approach to any healing is to adopt a combination of sound, light, visualization, imagery and yoga. It is good to develop one’s own approach to visualization. Some examples are provided by authors in their respective books. However, experimenting with alternatives to try and find a good fit for each individual would be the best approach. The repertoire of experience so gained will help develop a body of visualization practices that can be used gainfully. One can take some cue from this quote from the book Imagery in Healing-Shamanism and Modern Medicine by Jeanne Achterberg “Samuels makes an important distinction between what he calls receptive and programmed visualization, and provides exercises for training in both forms. This is essentially the same distinction that I have made regarding diagnostic versus therapeutic imagery, and describes the two ways that imagery has been used in health for thousands of years. Receptive imagery involves relaxing, tuning in, allowing the spontaneous images to serve diagnostically; while programmed imagery represents the healing component. He states that the latter can be formulated through reading medical, biology, or science textbooks, or even from x-ray or lab tests. [Page 96]”
Specific programmed images include the following: For a virus infection, Samuels suggests imagining the viruses as tiny dots on a blackboard, and then erasing the dots. A broken bone or a cut can be imaged as a gap with stones being laid in it by a mason. For a headache, he suggests imagining a hole in your head near the headache and then exhaling the murky, muddy pain through the hole. For an infection of the Fallopian tubes, he advises relaxing the area around the tubes, sensing it as warm and pulsing with energy and then picturing the tubes themselves as open and draining and lined with pink, healthy mucosa. [Page 96]:”
I suggest that one can take sustenance from yoga sutras and in particular the concept of samyam. Patanjali Maharshi defines samyam as “Trayamekatra Samyamah that is dharana,dhyana and samadhi together is samyam” [Chapter III Sutra 4]. He defines dharana is “desabandhaschittasya dharanan”.[Chapter III Sutra 1] When the chitta is focused on something it is dharana. The focus could be a minute segment or more than one segment of the vritti. For instance, in the lectures on yoga sutras it was explained that when a sentence is written on the board, the focus could be on one letter, one word or more than one or the whole sentence. With a dissipating mind wanting to run hither thither it is better to focus on different aspects of one vritti. That way some leeway is provided to the mind to rotate within the vritti but still remain focused on that vritti. He further says “Tatra pratyayaikatanata dhyanam.”[Chapter III Sutra 2] If the focus stays on one object for a longer period of time dharana flows into Dhyana. Samadhi according to him “Tadevarthamatranirbhasam svarupasunyamiva samadhih”.[Chapter III Sutra 3] Dharana progresses into samadhi when the focus on the object continue but the without the consciousness of one’s own self and the process. In the class these were referred to as Nyatha and Dhyan the Purusha and the process.
If the imagery can then be adopted to fit into samyam or as close to it as possible I venture to suggest that the impact can be far superior. For instance the case of virus imagery referred to above can be altered to suit Samyam as under assuming that the virus is in the intestines “Take a deep breath, visualize drawing in pranic energy from the core of mother earth and cosmic energy through the sahasrara chakra, allow them to meet inside and transform into a powerful divine energy. Holding the breath direct this energy to your intestines, locate the virus, see it exploding to pieces and the dissipating pieces flowing out of the intestines.” For better effect mentally chant a loud and powerful om the vibration directed at the virus which explodes and bursts them to pieces. Repeat this a few times encouraging the patient to migrate from dhyana to dharana to samadhi leading to samyam on the dissipation of the virus. For instance, after the first five rounds, reduce the awareness of breath and focus directly on the virus and its explosion. After a couple of rounds of this have awareness of only the virus and its dissipation. We will expand on this very illustration to include color and sound to the imagination to create a curative environment. This can work for a cancer cell, but may not work for a pain. The imagery needs to change to suit the cure for pain where explosion is not the solution but alignment or other imagery may be required. Once again, the concept of Nimitha karan concept of Samkhya is useful. Unless the cause has the effect embedded in it the result cannot be achieved.
The following quote from the same book referred to above may be kept in mind for success “The persons who use the imagination to successfully achieve health put considerable mental energy into this process. They take it seriously, spending at least thirty minutes a day exclusively in mental healing. Always the relaxation must come first., followed by the image work. Most people experience definite sensations in whatever areas they are concentrating upon. They “try on” images until they find ones that fit, and they describe spontaneous changes in images, which often foretell important physical changes. They image while they jog, and while waiting at stop at lights. [Page 107]”
6. Along with imagery, modified into samyam, is the need to introduce sound in the form of external sound stimuli or internal voice of the person. One’s own voice is the best as already discuss in chapter 1 (xii). It is my contention that the combination works much better than either on a stand alone basis. Sound can be just bija Mantras or suitable mantras derived from the Vedas. The bija to be chosen could be derived from the Mantra purusha. That is appropriate bija using the correct alphabet that is connected to the impacted part of the body. If this not possible due to want of knowledge, one could just simply use OM. Some guidance on toning using sound include a) Joy Gardiner in Vibrational healing through the chakras “Most people have heard the toning of the syllable OM, which is believed to create an energy of harmony and unity. Regardless of their religion, people tend to experience a quiet centeredness when OM is toned repeatedly, especially when it is done in a rich and sonorous voice. [Page 149]” b) she further says “One Zen master told his students that if they would say “HO HO” vigorously for five minutes each day, they would never die. According to Laurel Elizabeth Keyes, author of Toning, the creative power of the voice, the H and K sounds as Hi, HAH, HOH, HU Kah and KOO stimulate the glandular system. They are produced by tightening the abdominal muscles and forcing the breath against the roof of the mouth, thereby creating strong vibrations in the adrenal, thymus, pituitary and pineal glands. We conceptualize laughter as a repetition of sounds such as ha-ha-ha or he-he-he. [Page 151]. From our own systems of Tantra one can draw on Bija Mantras like Hrim, Hram, Shrim etc. Each has a certain connotation and significance and hence may be chosen appropriately. More guidance can be drawn from the Book Mantra Yoga by David Frawley. Or else one can consult an expert to assist them
There are specific healing mantras and a rich repertoire is available in the vedic literature. One can draw on these sources and chose what is appropriate. One must again recap the instructions of sage Patanjali for yoga where he advocates multiple approaches [sutras 34 to 39] and finally says yathabhimatadhyanadva. [sutras 39]. What appeals to the person who has to bring about healing is what one must stick to. One may even experiment with alternatives before finalizing on a suitable approach. I use some typical mantras. For instance if I am working on the chakras I use the bija mantra of the chakra in combination like OM Lam Shrim Hamsa soham swaha. Other mantras that I typically work with include a) OM Lam, Vam, Ram, Yam, Ham, Sham, Matangani swaha. b) Mahasudarshana mantra etc. I also try and pick up mantras starting with the appropriate alphabet associated with the part of the body or the chakra that governs that part drawing from mantra purusha and vedic mantras. I use David Frawley’s book extensively for this purpose. I have recently accessed varnamala thanks to Rudraksha sir. He referred to it during the lectures and later shared one book and I managed to get one from Amazon. I am yet to integrate it fully into my experiments but will be doing so in due course.
7. Next is to layer the concept of light therapy. It is a extensive and well researched therapy and it is difficult to detail all concepts in a short paper. One can keep some simple facts in mind like color red, orange and yellow (colors associated with lower chakras) are boosting/heat generating colors. Green in the middle is considered as neutral color. Blue, indigo and violet are all cooling colors. Green can always be used and in particular while dealing with any heart or heart related ailments including blockages, blood pressure, heart attack, or even any lung related problems. Other colors will be chosen based on the nature of the person and the ailment in question and the chakra that is impacted or blocked. For a person who is introverted, dull and lacking in energy the lower three colors would be appropriate. For someone who is hyper active, unable to relax the cooling colors are more appropriate. The ailment’s impact may also be considered in choosing the appropriate color. Other insights on color that one can draw from Joy Gardiner include
“The length of a wave of violet light is about 380 to 440 nm; indigo (a puplish blue) is 440 to 485 nm; blue or cyan is 485 to 500; green is 500 to 565; yellow is 565 to 590; orange is 590 to 625; and red is 625 to 740 nm.
The colors of light can also be measured in Hertz frequencies, using trillions of Hertz (THz). As the wavelength increases the frequency decreases, so moving from violet to red, the numbers grow smaller instead of larger. The frequency for violet light is about 790 to 680 THz; Indigo is 680 to 620; blue is 620 to 600; green is 600 to 530; yellow is 530 to 510; orange is 510 to 480; and red is 480 to 405 THz. This means that you look at the color red your eyes receive more than four hundred trillion waves per second. [Page 59]”. One can then choose a color which has a matching frequency to the sound that is used in the healing. This, in my view, will enhance the application of that frequency to the cells from two sources and hence healing must be more effective and faster as well.
“The vibratory tool of sound, crystals, and essential oils are so powerful and so coherent that they can entrain the vibrations of depressed organs or tissues in the body. When, just the right sound, crystal, or oil is chosen, it can remind the body of its own healthy harmonic resonance. [Page 143]”
From Samkhya the person on whom healing is attempted must be made aware of anuman praman. He must try and infer the cause and effect relationship between the imagery, sound and light and the healing in the context of cosmic energy. The diseased cell being replaced with a rejuvenated cell is the upadhan karan the cause is transformed into effect and the sound, light, imagery are all nimitta karan. They aid the transformation but don’t get transformed themselves. Further every effect has a cause and it is always important that the cause is identified properly so that the appropriate upadan/nimitha karan is deployed in the effort to achieve healing.
In the context of identifying the cause one must remember this poignant advise by Jeanne Acheterberg “Dr. Arthur Samuels, a hematologist and cancer specialist affiliated to ULCA suggests a common group of causes for cancer, heart attack, stroke and related thrombotic diseases. The causes include chronic stress, a predisposed personality type, and a chronic hyperactivation of neural, endocrine, immune, blood clotting (coagulation) and fibrinolytic systems. [emphasis mine] When stress is prolonged, the clotting mechanism becomes hyperactive and the fibrinolytic mechanism which normally inhibits excessive clotting, fails. The resultant blood clots are implicated in both myocardial and cerebral infarctions (heart attack and stroke) as well as other peripheral vascular occlusions. Furthermore, Samuels cites evidence for what he calls “fibrin cocoons” created by blood coagulation, that act as tumor sanctuaries. These cocoons protect the metastasized cancer cells from the T-cells, the body’s natural defense against cancer, as well as from chemotherapy and radiation. Under these circumstances samuels points out it is absolutely untenable to expect chemotherapy or radiation to have any effect on metastasized cancer cell even though these treatments can shrink or debulk the tumor itself. [Page 130]” I would gladly speculate that if we follow the concept of samyam on rupa (Chapter III sutra 21) with the rupa being substituted by the cocoon and its dissipation, may be, it can help bring about the healing in the person on whose cocoon the healer is meditating. One can again use the pendulum to douse for presence of cocoon in cancer patients and if so, its location and with that information proceed to develop sanyam on the same at the identified location.
Even Dr. Mitchell L. Gaynor M.D repeatedly informs us in his book that almost always the patient who came to him had some cause for stress which is either family related or otherwise. More often the patients were able to share the cause after they were put through a sound bath and meditative session. Sound bath is the use of multiple singing bowls to create differential sound. Thus, it may be worthwhile to probe every person to identify such cause and assist the person to overcome the same while going through treatment or healing practices.
One can also draw inspiration from sutra 3.26 and use it with variation by doing samyam on the surya and its energy in place of light along with sound and imaging. One can encourage the person to visualize the sun bright in front of the person with the rays penetrating through each and every pore in the skin and reaching the cells. In my view this samyam will have meritorious effect on the cells since the mitochondria will respond to this imaging and visualization.
From the karikas we also know about the three gunas. If the person to be healed is tamasic or rajasic one can introduce appropriate mantras to elevate the person to satvik level. In appendix 2 I have provided a chart explaining the guna of Sanskrit alphabets, their associated colour etc. This is drawn from Varnamala. Appropriate savik guna alphabets can be used to derive mantras or bijas to elevate the person to sativk level. If the person can maintain savik nature during the healing process the chances of healing accelerating are better.
8. Practical applications.
8.1. At the time of writing this, I must confess that I don’t have an adequately large sample of established evidence. These efforts are in nascent stages and are substantially experimental. The limited success in these cases points to potentialities. As one enhances the knowledge, assimilate what others have achieved and the techniques used by them to achieve them, learn from further experiments, it will be possible to evolve a body of core knowledge that can be handy akin to other systems of codified healing approaches.
8.2. Prostrate Gland and urinary tract ailment. This was the case of senior citizen male in the age group of 62-65. The person experienced a) difficulty in urinating with the flow apparently constricted and b) frequent urination in the night disturbing the sleep. The suggested approaches included the following-a) Imagery in the form of visualizing energy (as explained earlier) is sent to the prostrate gland and it acts to compress the gland to its original size. While breathing imagine that the ailment is flowing out of the body and will not return. Along the same lines the visualization also included relaxing all the muscles along the urinary trac so that there is no pressure on the trac and the flow is smooth. Phase 1 succeeded in improving the urine flow in a big way. Success is yet to be achieved on reducing the frequency of urination in the night. Sound included chanting of mantras Om shrim Rim shrim indarakshaye namah. Colour blue was the chosen colour used since what was required was calming down an enlarged prostrate.
8.3. Hypertension with specific associated ailments. The person was a lady in the age group of 45 to 50. Problems included low energy levels. Weight variations around mensural period. Tendency to be irritated during the mensural cycles. High BP only when visiting the cardiologist but very normal BP alghouth fluctuating while visiting the family physician. High cholesterol. Approaches included pendulum dowsing to identify specific problems. Chakra balancing meditation using pendulum as the balancer with chakra bija mantras with green light, tattwa shudhi to balance the elements in the body, imagery of visualization in the doctors clinic and how one remains calm right through the process of visit and examination. Specific yoga asanas and pranayama. DNA altering meditation. As on date of writing this the person has reported the following-a) stable BP over three repeat examinations with the family physician b) very less irritation during mensural periods c) much better energy levels not achieved earlier despite 3 years of practicing Zoomba d) improved flexibility and finally e) Cholesterol levels back to normal. Visit to the cardiologist is scheduled. We will know further results post meeting the doctor.
8.4. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: A young man in his early twenties was diagnosed with this ailment. It is a case of enlarged valve in the heart which forces the heart to pump harder increasing the blood pressure. A lover of sports he has been debarred from playing. His cardiologist suggested meditation. He was put through pendulum dowsing, chakra balancing with green light for his heart with focus only on the anahata chakra, tattwa shudhi. DNA altering meditation was also practiced. Similar energy meditation with visualization of the energy compressing the value to its normal size and the gap is filled by tissues restoring the heart function to normal. As of the date of reporting no yoga asanas are initiated. He has been requested to consult his cardiologist to find out whether energy boosting pawan muktasan series prescribed by Bihar school of yoga can be introduced. With two months of practice the person feels more peaceful. Improvement in the heart valve cannot be determined unless echo cardiogram is done. This will be done prior to fixing the next meeting with the cardiologist. Post that we will know if there are any changes in the value and whether to continue the practices or it is not possible to make a change.
8.5. Vedic yoga practices – Apart from considerations of healing I have started exploring the possibility of maintaining better health using the same principles. We introduced the concept of vedic yoga. In this practice the participants are to keep breath awareness, co-ordinate the movement with the breath, hold breath in each asan and be aware of the mantra which plays in the back ground. With six month of practice, participants are reporting better health, greater flexibility, ability to move into asanas which they thought was not possible otherwise.
I conclude by saying that there is considerable merit in the approaches of alternate healing systems, but these can be substantially improved by drawing from principles enunciated by karikas and sutras. I have adverted to certain portions. One could expand further, explore deeper and come up with more variations. Due to limitation of size I have curtailed the same. I would leave the reader with this final and wonderful thought:
“We are essentially like stringed instruments. One end of our wires is tuned to the infinite-our essence; the other end is tuned to the finite-the material world, our bodies our egos. It’s not that the infinite is better and the finite is worse. If we are in tune only with the finite, we will be stuck in continual despair, frustration and disease. If we are in tune only with the infinite, we may lose our capability to effectively negotiate our survival in the real world. Our goal should be to bring the infinite into the finite. Doing so enables us to exist in the present without being imprisoned by our own wounds or egos, or the wounds or egos of others. Bringing the infinite into the finite, we will never be undone by those who trigger past hurts with their insensitive words or actions. It’s our birthright to be tuned to the infinite, and being so frees us from our perceptual prisons of victimhood, depression, obsessiveness, and chronic ill health.” -Mitchell Gaynor. I add accelerate our healing and restore us quickly to our homeostatis.
Appendix I
List of Books Relied upon for drawing out various approaches
Appendix II
Sanskrit Alphabets, related gunas etc.
