“The embodied living entity is diseased by the very construction of his body. The body is the symbol of diseases. The disease may differ from one variety to another, but disease must be there just as there is birth and death for everyone. So, by the grace of the Personality of Godhead, not only are diseases of the body and mind cured, but also the soul is relieved of the constant repetition of birth and death. The name of the Lord is also called bhavaushadhi, or the source of curing the disease of material existence.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 2.7.21 Purport)

Download this episode (right click and save)

Friend1: Do you ever get the feeling that the scientists and doctors just don’t know what they are talking about?

Friend2: Which scientists? The doctors are talking about what?

Friend1: I guess you could say the public health officials.

Friend2: Oh, with their recommendations and the like?

Friend1: Warnings. Guidelines. I feel like they are schoolteachers talking to little children.

“Wash your hands. Don’t sneeze in other people’s faces. Stay home when you are sick. Cover your mouth when you cough.”

I swear, if another person tells me to “stay safe,” I am going to scream.

Friend2: It is interesting how that catches on, no pun intended. As if we ever want someone to not stay safe.

Friend1: Yeah. Please, always be in danger. Remain unhealthy. That is my recommendation, says no person ever!

Friend2: You feel those guidelines aren’t helpful?

Friend1: I bet you the people making them don’t even follow them. Also, they keep changing their recommendations. They say we need more testing to get accurate data on a particular disease. Then they say that only people with symptoms should get tested.

Friend2: Which means they will never have accurate data.

Friend1: Yes, exactly. One day they say wearing masks is useless, and the next day they demand every person wear them, even while walking outside. It seems like a giant scam to me. They are only interested in covering for themselves. If the worst happens then at least they could say that they did something.

Friend2: Their precious guidelines.

Friend1: More importantly, I think they don’t know anything about curing these diseases or preventing the spread. They are more or less guessing.

Friend2: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada describes it as the ascending process of knowledge. Observation and experiment. Record data and then study. Create models to predict the future, but never be completely accurate.

Friend1: Those models are absolutely worthless, and yet we destroy lives using them. The dire prediction of millions of deaths, which never materializes.

Friend2: But the experts will say that it is a good thing. Because people followed their recommendations crisis was averted.

Friend1: The ascending process is flawed, then?

Friend2: It has to be. No one can ever perceive everything. Only God, the Supreme Lord, is antaryami.

Friend1: The all-pervading witness.

Friend2: We wouldn’t know what to make of the data if we had it all available to us, anyway. That is the reason for the constant revision. They have one set of guidelines today and another tomorrow. Never do they even touch on the truth of keeping oneself fit and healthy.

Friend1: I’m assuming because it is past that point for many in the population. Is there any solution from the Vedic point of view? Is there a way to protect against diseases?

Friend2: Any disease in particular?

Friend1: You know, like these really bad ones.

Friend2: Vyadhi is a misery associated with a material existence. It is one of the influences of time, kala. Just as there is guaranteed death after birth, there must be disease.

Friend1: So we should just ride it out? No treatment? No prevention?

Friend2: One of the avataras of the Supreme Lord is Dhanvantari. He is the origin of the medical science. The Vedas give information for happiness in all aspects of life, including both material and spiritual.

Friend1: Ayurveda?

Friend2: Yes, but that doesn’t mean disease will be completely eliminated. The root ailment is the acceptance of the body, i.e. material existence itself. Dhanvantari as Shri Krishna can cure that disease, which is the most important to eradicate.

Friend1: Through consciousness?

Friend2: Which ensures the safe passage to body-less state.

Friend1: Liberation.

Friend2: No more material existence. Time still has an influence, but not with disease. No such thing as birth, old age or death. Liberation, mukti, is the end to the cycle of birth and death, which includes disease in between.

Friend1: How do we get the right consciousness?

Friend2: Hear. Chant. Associate.

Friend1: What if the association puts us at risk of contracting a disease?

Friend2: You are already at risk. You have been subject to so many viruses already. Suddenly, today, out of nowhere you are interested in this particular danger of this world? There is vulnerability at every step. No one is truly safe, at any time. Better to clutch the lotus feet of Shri Krishna and those devoted to Him. Best to board the boat guaranteeing safe passage to the imperishable realm. That boat is guided by the spiritual master, who strongly encourages association with the holy name: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

In Closing:

Safely locked in my room,
Pandemic hopefully over soon.

But disease still there to be,
None truly ever free.

Because part of nature so,
Along with time to go.

Shelter of Divine safest bet,
Boarding boat of liberation set.

Categories: conversations

Tags: articles, god, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, religion