EFFECT OF MEDITATION ON HEALTH

Meditation is progressive discipline. Meditation is the process of getting to know my self completely both who I am ‘inside’ and how I react to what is ‘outside’. Above all meditation is ‘enjoying myself’ in the literal sense of those words. Through Meditation I discover a very different ‘me’ from perhaps the stressed or troubled person who may seem superficially to be ‘me’. Meditation can certainly be looked on as a healing process - emotionally, physically & mentally. The simplest definition of meditation is: the right use of the mind or positive thinking. It is not to deny thoughts, but to use them correctly. Raj yoga meditation does involve concentration, but no physical object is involved. The object of concentration is the ‘inner self’. Instead of repeating one word or phrase, as in a mantra, a flow of thoughts is encouraged, thus using mind in a natural way. This positive flow of thoughts is based an accurate understanding of the self and so acts as a key to unlock the treasure trove of peaceful experience lying within. In raj yoga the prefix raja has its own significance – Denotes that this yoga stands supreme among all kinds of yoga. This yoga does not call for penances, austerities or renunciation of hearth and home so that even Raja- a king, leading a life of comfort coupled with great social responsibility could also practice it. Other reason to call this as Raja yoga is that it enables the mind to rule over the physical organs as a righteous king and to cease to act as a slave to sense-gratification. Yoga leads man to god who stimulate in him creative energy. This energy gives him the strength of will and feeling of confidence in facing the problems. This energy gives him stamina, mental alertness, enthusiasm and efficiency. This is practice where one will consider himself as the metaphysical light, the point of light soul and develops the mental and intellectual connection with the supreme soul. This is called as the meditation. This practice alone is not complete yoga. This should be coupled with divine way of life and implies inculcation of value and attitude. Whole life of the practitioner should be of yogic life. Raj yoga meditation is also referred as karma yoga where one will not abstain from practice of karma. Its told that karma senyas in not the real goal of the man. The raja yoga also advocate for not to renounce our actions i.e. karma. One should do one’s daily karma and continue with profession that one is normally doing. Yoga is not separated form the karma. While doing karma be in yogic stage and have intellectual connection with the supreme soul. It will have very positive effect on our performance of the actions and will be stress free. He will be detached from the result of the karma. Practitioner will have absolute control over his sensual organs. we do our actions or the karma through the organs. We have physical organ of body and subtle organs of the soul(mind, intellect & sanskar) Soul will control our sense organs. We will do what we want to do, we will not do what we do not want to do. There will be absolute control from operation of thoughts & words to the performance of the action. There will be integrity. HEALTH ORGANIZATION WORLD has defined health, as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being of a person and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Yet most people give importance to physical health alone neglecting the significance of mental and social health. The situation is more pitiable because physical health is generally mis-understood as another name for good outward physical appearance. Often, it is not realised that one may have very good muscular system yet he may be suffering from serious physiological diseases like High blood pressure, High level of blood cholesterol. Diabetes and so on. Such a person is not physically healthy. Physical health can be compared with an iceberg. A very small part of an iceberg is seen by an observer. Similarly, a very small part of a disease is seen by a doctor. Hence even when a person is not having headache, fever, vomiting, pain, etc., he can be physically unhealthy. Moreover even if doctor has not diagnosed any physical illness, in a person, the person can be physically unhealthy as the disease at that stage, may be clinically undetectable. This implies that to maintain physical health one should have such a life-style that will prevent the development of the clinically undetectable portion of the disease too. W.H.O. has defined attributes of physically healthy person. It has said that a physically healthy person has normal anatomical and physiological state of various systems such as Cardiovascular System, Digestive System, Endocrine System, Respiratory System, etc. Also, the person has bodily weight, respiration, blood pressure, etc. within the normal limits as per one's age, sex and height. It has also been found that, in order to be physically healthy, one must have: (1) Positive thinking, (2) Sound sleep (3) Balanced diet (4) Physical exercise. From the above discussion, one can judge whether one is physically healthy? MENTAL HEALTH is an important dimension of health, because the state of one's mind affects one's physiological processes also. Mental health is not mere absence of psychological diseases but the balanced development of individual's personality and emotional attitudes which enable him to live harmoniously with his fellow-beings. A mentally healthy person is able to maintain stability of mind in the midst of adverse circumstances. For improving mental health four principles are suggested. One: To realize one's mistakes and to take firm decision to correct them. Second: To understand the fundamental truths of life. On this basis one's belief system also becomes positive. Third: To make sincere and tireless efforts until the objectives of one's life are achieved. Fourth: To fulfill the social and family responsibilities like a trustee and, at the same time, to remain free from unhealthy habits.