Marked by compassion, it is a testament to the transformative power of goodness
Always be associated with people who are good at heart. This is what Swami Vivekananda was to say. Incidentally, my mother shared her birthday with Swami Vivekananda (12th January). Association and satsang were her strong points. She nurtured strong bonds with all religious faiths and spiritually inclined people. She wanted to pursue medicine but life did not take that trajectory. “Faith plus action becomes unstoppable,” writes Jonathan Lockwood Hue. Thus, she upended the pyramid and became a qualified medical social worker.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, “Open your hands and the sky is in your hands.” To combat and challenge the disease of tuberculosis she initiated several rehabilitation projects. She used to tell patients and their children that “Fear is only as deep as the mind allows.” Thus, patients afflicted with TB, but not bedridden participated in the projects. This was what she called “Diversionary Therapy.” The patient’s mind was diverted from the disease and the recovery rate was rapid. In these endeavours, she extended tremendous support from eminent people ranging from politicians, academicians, and religious leaders. The mission was to only serve. Religious barriers did not pose any problems.
Thus, RBTB Hospital became the melting pot of people from various hues to forge hands and assist in the mammoth task of rehabilitation of the afflicted. The hospital became a unique template for the methods adopted by doctors, para-medic staff, social workers, Government bodies and NGOs all to contribute to the rehabilitation of the patients. But she was distraught by jealous people posing roadblocks in her work beside my alcoholism.
It was traumatic for my mother and she became a patient of Paroxysmal Atrial Tachycardia (PAT). This is a type of arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). Paroxysmal means that the episode of arrhythmia originates and terminates abruptly. Atrial implies the arrhythmia starts with atria or in the upper chambers of the heart. The tachycardia results in a significant increase in the heartbeat per minute. It abnormally increases the pace, like an athlete on a treadmill. PAT significantly increases the heartbeat of an adult from the normal 60 to 100 to 130 to 230 and among infants and children, it shoots up from 100 to 130 to 220 beats per minute.
The disease is accompanied by severe sweating, dizziness, palpitations, angina, and acute breathlessness. Normally a patient suffers from such a condition owing to emotional upheavals, physical exhaustion, deep anxiety, and consumption of caffeine or alcohol. I saw my mother suffering from this condition on several occasions and being admitted to the ICU. It was a distressing and disturbing sight. While it is not a life-threatening affliction, it certainly disorients the psychology and attitudes of the patient.
She was administered medication but it worked only to an extent. The real succour came in the form of a pentagon-shaped talisman. That is through Siddha Healing, Pranic Healing, the 10-day Vipassana Course and the Part 1 and Part 2 Art of Living courses. This is the infinitesimal power and scientific power of breath. Breathing techniques, meditation, medication, and proper diet changed the trajectory of the life of the patient and brought back the mojo in her life.
“When you take the breath in, let it become your meditation that all the suffering of all the beings in the world is riding on that incoming breath and reaching your heart. Absorb all that suffering, pain, and misery in your heart, and see a miracle happen,” said Osho.
(The writer is the CEO of Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd.and Chhattisgarh East West Railway Ltd. He is a faculty of the Art of Living)
