All this bring me to an incident related in a book by Deepak Chopra:
It appears an American anthropologist was once visiting some tribe deep in the Amazon Jungles. As he was sitting with the Shaman or the witch doctor of the village, a tribal arrived complaining of a severe tooth and gums pain. On examining the patient it was found that the patient was suffering from a severe tooth abscess. The Shaman thence ventured to tie a thin long thread to the infected tooth and let the other end of the thread on the table. Presently a series of ants came marching out of the tooth down the thread and soon the tribal villager announced that his pain had vanished!
The question I want to raise is why is such a treatment not universal? I'm sure the same method would not be tried in India. The practices that effect a cure in say, Tibet, does not work in say, Sweden. If cures for symptoms are culture specific, then is the cause of the disease too culture specific? Can what cause a diseased condition in India and to an Indian exempt an American? All such aspects have to be considered. Sadly, one section of the society totally ignores the concerns of another section of the society. In my Bhajan group, many of whom are engineers and have been raised on a nutritious diet of science, mouth opinions totally against science without pausing to consider the huge benefits that Science has brought all of us.
At the same time, if I were to draw the attention of a group of scientists to the above incident of an Amazonian Shaman in a book by Deepak Chopra, these individuals would start questioning the credentials of Deepak Chopra who is a qualified doctor in the western system of medicine. Rationalists have profound suspicions of mystics who may be totally sincere about their own experiences, and if everyone were to really approach the other with an open mind, I'm sure humanity would benefit from the total human experience.
I would like to conclude by relating another incident that was mentioned in one of Deepak Chopra's books. It seems again in a South American jungle an explorer from another continent, while attempting to scale a cliff, had a treacherous fall and was very badly wounded. They transported him to a nearby village on a make-shift stretcher as he was in great pain. He was led by a shaman to a hut and laid there. Soon the shaman lit a small fire and put some herbs and the hut was filled with smoke. The villagers rumbled the drums in a sonorous beat, and the smoke caused the injured man to fall into a deep slumber. When he woke up after a long time, he found himself to be alone in the hut and found that he was cured of the wounds. He got up silently and left the place.
Now what do you guys make of all this?
6 comments:
I am just trying to leave a comment, though I am not used to such serious criticism. I just love reading stories and incidentally I loved your story too. Generally speaking, the very act of 'belief' is important here. You start believing, I am sure you will have many stories to support your beliefs. If on the contrary, you don't believe, I am sure, the non-believer too will have enough convincing stories to be happy.
YADBHAVAM-TADBHAVATHI. As you seek, so you see. I have to tell you the truth here. I have developed a sense of curiosity to meet this God woman Sheela Didi.
To tell you honestly - belief didn't come to me easily. But Yes! At one stage I concede I trusted the woman. That was when I saw her facial expressions, style of living, her behaviour and body language and a few other such things. All these generated within me a trust of her. It was only then that I was offered many more opportunities to see things of more and more magnificence.
I tried to evoke the same trust of her in some more of my friends but it didn't work out. They were not impressed.
Regarding your desire to meet her, I feel she prefers to be left alone and cherishes her privacy. As I've already said she doesn't seem to seek glory. So respecting her wishes I'm afraid I cannot lead you to her. Nevertheless, this story was written to impress on people's minds that there are other phenomena worthy of consideration, but you may have to invest some trust or faith in the process.
Deepak,
I am impressed with your mystical experiences. I myself have not had any such experiences; but I do believe anything is possible!
- Kishor Kulkarni
Kishor
As you are a member of the Speaking Tree Blogsite, there is a greater likelihood of you having an open mind about such things. My problem is getting sceptics to consider the possibility that I may be speaking the truth.
Deepak,
I think it is futile trying to get a skeptic to accept the possibility of such experiences. It is only if and when he himself gets the experience , he will believe in it. Until then, he will try and offer some explanations to rule out how it is scientifically not possible.
But then, having said that, I personally believe that such experiences are probably not meant for everyone in the Creator's picture for His own reasons.
So, I would think that you should just cherish your experiences in gratitude to the Almighty because they must have helped you in getting onto the spiritual path.
Kishor
In view of such experiences I had become an ardent devotee. I was enjoying the state of such intense devotion - I tell you it is really a desirable state, but unfortunately my devotion is steadily decaying and weakening. Now despite all my intentions to retain the same fervour, I find that my spiritual pursuits weakening. Perhaps that is also the will of the Creator. So I just accept it!
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