Those who are suffering from some physical trouble feel that the pain will never end, while those who are not ailing think they are fine and never expect to be unwell. If you are in good health, be grateful; and whenever you see someone in trouble, mentally say to yourself, “But for the grace of God, there go I.” The human machine is most imperfect, and therefore unreliable. Yet see how it lasts for so many years. Have you seen any car run as long as the human body does? Nevertheless, this wonderful machine that God has created is anything but perfect.
We must know the characteristics of the human machine. Just as a car needs water, gas, and electricity, do does the body. Your gas and water supply come from the solids, liquids, and oxygen you take into your body. To utilize them, the energy of life- prana- must be present. That is the electricity. Without this life electricity you couldn’t digest your food or assimilate oxygen.
The stomach is the weakest part of the human machine, and often the most abused. When digestion malfunctions, owing to overeating or wrong eating, it causes all kinds of troubles in the body. Ordinarily, when you see yourself in your mirror in the morning, you think you are quite all right. You don’t realise that you are carrying many poisons in your system. The body is full of them. If you don’t know how to get rid of these poisons, and the system can no longer handle them, disease results. In the American diet, protein poisoning, from the toxins in undigested protein, is usually the most at fault. In the East, the diet is often lacking in protein, but in the West it is overstocked with protein, because you eat too much meat. One of the effects of undigested protein- in addition to serious consequences such as disease and cancer- is that the toxins work on your nasal membrane and make you susceptible to catching colds.
Bad colds affect the whole body adversely, and even obstruct the mind so that you cannot think clearly. Colds are extremely disruptive to the yogi’s meditation, preventing correct practice of pranayama techniques. Therefore Satan seems to delight in getting into the nose and throat area. All those who need their voices, such as singers and lecturers, are usually susceptible to throat troubles because they are more or less sensitive about the throat, and his mental fear makes it easy for Satan to establish himself there. So when a cold first starts in the nose, you should arrest it immediately. If you don’t, it gradually settles in the throat and the lungs. Do you know why? The heat of the body becomes unbalanced.
Speaking of colds, let me give you some practic suggestions: Gargling daily with a glass of warm salt water is a very good preventive for colds, as are right diet and exercise, and daily sunbaths for ten to thirty minutes (depending on the intensity of the sun and the sensitivity of the skin). If you do get a cold, it is best to stop it while it is only in the nose, before it goes down into the throat and chest. The best way to quickly bring the cold under control is to fast. It will arrest the condition. There is nothing that kills a cold as quickly as fasting. If you can fast twenty-four hours, the cold usually goes away. But if the condition is chronic, you must eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and also have plenty of fresh air and sunshine, and exercise. Many people believe in drinking lots of water when they have a cold. That is good if they have a fever, or congestion with thick mucus. Otherwise, excess water may make the mucous membrane very active. One of the worst things you can do when you have a cold is to drink hot beverages. Cold contracts, and heat expands. The heat may feel good for a little while, but it expands the cells and disturbs their normal function. And don’t take ice-cold drinks either.
If you get a chest cold, dip a turkish towel in a very hot water, wring it out and rub the chest with it. Then wipe the chest area with a dry towel. Repeat this five times, two or three times a day. Keep the chest well covered after each treatment. These are the physical ways of preventing or getting over a cold.
In spite of precautions and remedies, colds as well as other diseases sometimes linger, and sometimes they go away quickly. The reason for this may be karmic. That is, the state of the body as determined by the law of karma, cause and effect. The cure of a disease depends in great part on one’s karmic condition- the sum total of the effects of his past actions- plus the antidote taken for that illness. Some people think that since our karma predestines us to suffer, we might as well give up and accept the inevitable. But it is not right to be fatalistic. To try to help yourself and then give up when you don’t get immediate results is foolishness, because every effort you make will help to break down that karmic pattern. “God helps him who helps himself.”
Extract from the book “Divine Romance” by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.
