Causes and Prevention or Elimination of Illness

The physical body has an ingrained response, for most people, to vibrations that precipitate illnesses. The vector carrying that vibration (whether one calls it ‘germs’, ‘bacteria’, ‘virus’, or ‘suggestion’) strikes the protective vital envelope, or aura, surrounding the body. If it finds an opening, or if it can create an opening, it enters into the physical body and begins the process of activation of its characteristic vibration, leading to the appearance of symptoms. In some cases these forces utilize suggestions with a strong component of fear so as to try to defeat the mental and vital response before it can act to help protect the body. The physical cells can also experience this fear if it raises a powerful enough vibration to reach through the vital envelope.

As this happens, the body marshals its defense mechanism to try to fight off the illness and in the course of that struggle, by-products of the struggle are produced, leading to what we characterize as inflammation, mucus, fever, and various methods of expulsion of the residues from the body.

If we observe the progression closely, and if one has a subtle enough awareness, one can actually see or feel the impact before it manifests any illness. It may be a sense of pressure on the aura, it may be a feeling of weakness, it may be the rising up of some fear or anxiety about an illness, or even the first sense of whatever the illness is that is trying to manifest. At these early stages, if one counters with a strong will to reject the illness it is possible to prevent it. This is not just a mental formulation; rather, it must be able to influence the physical mind and the physical body.

In order to carry out this influence, if the control by the consciousness is not sufficiently developed, sometimes an external aid is utilized to ‘convince’ the physical mind and the body that it need not get sick. This may be in the form of a call to the Divine with total faith, or it may take the form of a particularly powerful mantra that has the ability to change the vibrational pattern and strengthen the aura, or it may take the form of an external substance, such as an herbal preparation that essentially tells the body that the need is being taken care of and all will be will. In some cases an ‘inert’ substance is used for what is commonly called the ‘placebo effect’. The point here is that it need not be a powerful drug if the body is simply assured that whatever is being done will help it stave off the illness.

Eventually, as the spiritual practice develops, the seeker may find an enhanced capacity for avoiding or throwing off illness vibrations, shortening their intensity or duration, or simply not becoming ill. Some cases show the power of the spiritual influence of the Guru, such as the experience recounted by Paramahamsa Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi. By reliance on the power of the Guru and the power of prayer, a serious illness was overcome. Other instances in the same text provide a similar message — illness can be defeated by directed spiritual force. By whatever method, the body must be convinced at the cellular level not to accept the vibrations that constitute illness, but rather to throw them off and eliminate them from their normal mode of action.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “The feeling of illness is at first only a suggestion; it becomes a reality because your physical consciousness accepts it. It is like a wrong suggestion in the mind, — if the mind accepts it, it becomes clouded and confused and has to struggle back into harmony and clearness. It is so with the body consciousness and illness. You must not accept but reject it with your physical mind and so help the body consciousness to throw off the suggestion. If necessary, make a counter-suggestion ‘No, I shall be well; I am and shall be all right.’ “

“By will to illness I meant this that there is something in the body that accepts the illness and has certain reactions that make this acceptance effective — so there must always be a contrary will in the conscious parts of the being to get rid of this most physical acceptance.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 4, Ordeals and Difficulties, pg..106