CONCLUSION
I have now said all that I had intended to say on the subject of health.
And now, before finally taking leave of my readers, I will say a word or
two on my object in writing these pages.
One question which I have asked myself again and again, in the course of
writing this book, is why I of all persons should write it. Is there any
justification at all for one like me, who am no doctor, and whose
knowledge of the matters dealt with in these pages must be necessarily
imperfect, attempting to write a book of this kind?
My defence is this. The "science" of medicine is itself based upon
imperfect knowledge, most of it being mere quackery. But this book, at
any rate, has been prompted by the purest of motives. The attempt is
here made not so much to show how to cure diseases as to point out the
means of preventing them. And a little reflection will show that the
prevention of disease is a comparatively simple matter, not requiring
much specialist knowledge, although it is by no means an easy thing to
put these principles into practice. Our object has been to show the
unity of origin and treatment of all diseases, so that all people may
learn to treat their diseases themselves when they do arise, as they
often do, in spite of great care in the observance of the laws of
health.
But, after all, why is good health so essential, so anxiously to be
sought for? Our ordinary conduct would seem to indicate that we attach
little value to health. If health is to be sought for in order that we
might indulge in luxury and pleasure, or pride ourselves over our body
and regard it as an end in itself, then indeed it would be far better
that we should have bodies tainted with bad blood, by fat, and the like.
All religions agree in regarding the human body as an abode of God. Our
body has been given to us on the understanding that we should render
devoted service to God with its aid. It is our duty to keep it pure and
unstained from within as well as from without, so as to render it back
to the Giver, when the time comes for it, in the state of purity in
which we got it. If we fulfil the terms of the contract to God's
satisfaction, He will surely reward us, and make us heirs to
immortality.
The bodies of all created beings have been gifted with the same senses,
and the same capacity for seeing, hearing, smelling and the like; but
the human body is supreme among them all, and hence we call it a
"_Chintamani_," or a giver of all good. Man alone can worship God with
knowledge and understanding. Where devotion to God is void of
understanding, there can be no true salvation, and without salvation
there can be no true happiness. The body can be of real service only
when we realise it to be a temple of God and make use of it for God's
worship; otherwise it is no better than a filthy vessel of bones, flesh
and blood, and the air and water issuing from it are worse than poison.
The things that come out of the body through the pores and other
passages are so filthy that we cannot touch them or even think of them
without disgust; and it requires very great effort to keep them
tolerably clean. Is it not most disgraceful that, for the sake of this
body, we should stoop to falsehood and deceit, licentious practices and
even worse? Is it not equally shameful that, for the sake of these
vices, we should be so anxious to preserve this fragile frame of ours at
any cost?
This is the truth of the matter in regard to our body; for the very
things which are the best or the most useful have inherent in them
capabilities of a corresponding mischief. Otherwise, we should hardly be
able to appreciate them at their true worth. The light of the sun, which
is the source of our life, and without which we cannot live for an hour,
is also capable of burning all things to ashes. So too, a king may do
infinite good to his subjects, or be the source of untold mischief.
Indeed, the body may be a good servant, but, when it becomes a master,
its powers of evil are unlimited.
There is an incessant struggle going on within us between our Soul and
Satan for the control of our body. If the soul gains the ascendancy, the
body becomes a most potent instrument of good; but, if the devil is
victorious in the struggle, it becomes a hot-bed of vice. Hell itself
would be preferable to the body which is the slave of vice, which is
constantly filled with decaying matter and which emits filthy odours,
whose hands and feet are employed in unworthy deeds, whose tongue is
employed in eating things that ought not to be eaten or in uttering
language that ought not to be uttered, whose eyes are employed in seeing
things that ought not to be seen, whose ears are employed in the hearing
of things that ought not to be heard, and whose nose is employed in the
smelling of things that ought not to be smelt. But, while hell is never
mistaken for heaven by anybody, our body which is rendered worse than
hell by ourselves is, strangely enough, regarded by us as almost
heavenly! So monstrous is our vanity, and so pitiful our pride, in this
matter! Those who make use of a palace as a latrine, or vice versa,
must certainly reap the fruit of their folly. So too, if, while our body
is really in the Devil's hands, we should fancy that we are enjoying
true health, we shall have only ourselves to thank for the terrible
consequences that are sure to follow.
To conclude, then our attempt in these pages has been to teach the great
truth that perfect health can be attained only by living in obedience to
the laws of God, and defying the power of Satan. True happiness is
impossible without true health, and true health is impossible without a
rigid control of the palate. All the other senses will automatically
come under our control when the palate has been brought under control.
And he who has conquered his senses has really conquered the whole
world, and he becomes a part of God. We cannot realise Rama by reading
the Ramayana, or Krishna by reading the Gita, or God by reading the
Koran, or Christ by reading the Bible; the only means of realising them
is by developing a pure and noble character. Character is based on
virtuous action, and virtuous action is grounded on Truth. Truth, then,
is the source and foundation of all things that are good and great.
Hence, a fearless and unflinching pursuit of the ideal of Truth and
Righteousness is the key-note of true health as of all else. And if we
have succeeded (in however feeble a measure) in bringing this grand
fact home to our reader, our object in writing these pages would have
been amply fulfilled.
--FINIS--
_ERRATA_
_Page_ _Line_ _For_ _Read_
2 2 _êvam_ _êva_
11 8 beings being
40 3 _Kapah_ _Kapha_
41 6 had begun begun
51 16 detial detail
66 21 admire pride
67 26 surley surely
87 14 would should
97 4 fus pus
100 2 according according to
102 16 Sriget Siegel
104 11 wick brick
108 15 vaccinations vaccination
110 22 difference deference
111 25 patients patient
120 1 passion passions
128 28 and end
130 22 piece pair
132 4 superstitious superstitions
134 3, 9 god God
137 25 vareity a variety
138 3 Godly godly
144 10 is are
33 18 brid bird
79 3 that omit
88 2 some none
THE HUXLEY PRESS, G. T. MADRAS.
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Transcriber's Notes: Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have
been silently corrected. Similarly errors listed in the Errata at the
end have also been corrected.