I am strong, why meditation and mindfulness?
“I am very adept with dealing with my situations and problems. I am a very emotionally and mentally stable person. I am not weak. Why should I meditate?” I have lost count of how many times I have been told this.
“I am not a religious person. Things like meditation are not for me,” a few others say.
Let us look at this for a little bit, may be with a touch of humor.
An acquaintance of our family had mentioned this story to me as a child. True or false, it does not matter but the story definitely reflects contemporary human response patterns to anything we fail to understand due to current technological limitations.
When the first of the colonists set foot on the soil of Bharatha, they noticed that the Bharathiya people had this disciplined practice that was followed with ritualistic steadfastness. Every morning, the Bharathiya people chewed on a nimbekum (Azadirachta Indica) twig or two until the fibers formed into a brush, dipped the brush in salt or other similar powders deemed healthy for dental hygiene, and brushed their teeth with it. The colonists who had no such practice of brushing their teeth mocked the Bharatiya people as being ignorant superstitious herbivorous animals that chewed on twigs and leaves every morning :) :)
Fast forward a few centuries, and you see that a whole industry and business models exist as far as dental hygiene, dental health, and dental hygiene and health products are concerned. So much so that today the whole world sees those with bad dental hygiene as the ignorant ones. We have electric toothbrushes and companies spend exorbitant amounts on advertising electric toothbrushes and toothpastes. We go to lengths to teach our children to practice good dental hygiene. Today we know that we do not need to have bad breath or cavities or gum disease to brush our teeth regularly. In fact if you have cavities or gum disease, more drastic measures than just brushing your teeth would have to be resorted to. Brushing regularly could help correct a few minor dental issues such as removing minor plaque and tartar build up, but anything beyond that would require a visit to the dentist.
Bottom-line, regular brushing of teeth is a practice that allows those with healthy teeth and gums to maintain dental health. The idea is to floss and brush your teeth and massage your gums regularly so you maintain such good dental health that you never have to do anything more than teeth cleaning two times a year with your dental hygienist. The whole world today acknowledges that dental health influences systemic health of the body. Susceptibility to diabetes and heart disease has been associated with bad dental hygiene.
As regards belief in God, I am positive that a dentist would recommend that you floss and brush your teeth and massage your gums regularly whether you believe in God or not. And I am definitely not sure if brushing your teeth will or will not raise your soul to the kingdom of heaven :) :) :)
Mental and emotional health is similar to dental health. Also, we are all in constant meditation. The question is whether we want to be in control of what we meditate on. When we are in control of our meditations, we can choose overall health repeatedly and reliably. Meditate so you could maintain your mental, psychic, and emotional health as if you never aged. Meditate so you could be in the best physical health of your life. Meditate so that you are always in touch with your happiness. Meditation is all about preventive maintenance. Yes, people say that meditation can heal as well. But my observation is that it is not meditation that heals but a healthy mind and psyche, rich in strength of will and healthy emotions, that does. Meditation maintains a healthy mind and psyche, rich in strength of will and health of emotions. With healthy psyche, and mental faculties and focus, you can choose and realize miracles with every breath, and live your chosen miracles every moment, every step, and every turn. And one day you may even discover God, or Universe Potential in Self.
Be Healthy, Be Victorious.
Vijayi Bhava!
Sheshadharananda
P.S. "every moment, every step, and every turn" Amma (A Iyer in Jose's Well)