To Prevent Physical Disease by Paramhansa Yogananda
Scientific Healing Affirmations, 1924 Edition: To Prevent Physical Disease.
Obedience to God’s material laws.
Do not overeat. Many dig their graves with knife and fork. Few die of starvation; most die of greediness.
Obey God’s hygienic laws. The mental hygiene of keeping the mind pure is superior to physical hygiene, but the latter is very important and must not be neglected. But don’t live by such mathematical laws of hygiene that the least deviation from your wonted habits upsets you.
Prevention of waste in the body by right activity and by knowledge of conservation of physical energy and of supplying the body with an inexhaustible supply of Life Current by Yogoda practices.
Charge the body cells with Life Energy by Yogoda methods.
Prevent hardening of the arteries by proper exercise.
Cut down the heart beat by calmness
Save the heart from overwork, fear, anger, etc., increase the heartbeat. Cut down the heart beat or heart work by calmness. Give rest to the heart by the Yogoda method, and culture peace and relaxation. If we estimate the amount of blood expelled by each contraction of the ventricles of the heart at four ounces, then the weight of the blood moved during one minute will amount to eighteen pounds. In a day it will be about I 2 tons; in a year, four thousand tons. These figures indicate the enormous amount of labor expended by the heart.
All other organs of the body work during the day and receive rest during the night in sleep. But the heart works even in sleep. Medical science claims that rest is received by the heart during its diastole period of expansion, amounting to about nine hours in time of the 24 hours each day. This period, however, is not rest, but is only preparation for the systole movement. The vibrations caused by the contraction of the ventricles, reverberate through the tissues of the heart during its relaxation, hence the heart cannot be said to be resting.
Learn to sleep the big sleep
This effort expended daily and nightly by the heart naturally causes great wear and tear, and decay goes on until the heart is completely worn out and death ensues. Learn to sleep the big sleep (i.e., conscious experience of death), wherein all the organs of involuntary motion are rested, including the heart. Control over death comes when one can consciously control and rest the motion of the heart. The rest and renewed energy given to the body by sleep is only a small indication of the wonderful calm and strength that comes through the conscious sleep, where even the heart rests.
The peace that comes with Christ-consciousness rests the heart
St. Paul says in I Corinthians, 15:31: “I protest by the rejoicing that I have in Christ, I die daily,” — i.e., the peace that comes with Christ-consciousness rests (i.e., stops) the heart. Way back in these Biblical times, this great scientific truth of resting the heart and attaining immortality was known. Some years ago in India, a Yogi by the name of Sadhu Haridas was buried underground for five months under the constant supervision of European doctors, and at the end of that time he resumed breathing and returned to normal life. He had mastered the art of controlling and resting the heart.
