CONQUER STRESS DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR
The news on TV showing; significant increase in mental illness due to poverty, unemployment and cut throat competition should be an eye opener for the medicos all over the world. My books on stress management written about15 to 35 years ago and even my speech during my internship in Miraj had emphasized the socioeconomic causes of illness and mental illness. My views were either ridiculed, humiliated for such “far fetched” thinking or were deliberately and permanently neglected and suppressed. At best; they were appreciated with lip sympathy and otherwise ice-cold response.
The corollary of this news is that you can never do proper stress management without participating in the socioeconomic, political and other issues in the surroundings. You may or may not join a political party or an organization. But you have to assert your opinions firmly and act whenever and however possible and feasible. The spiritual leaders are bound to fail miserably if they do not do this. Conversely, the political leaders who are equally blind to this relationship between the surroundings and an individual; are bound to be miserable in their ad hoc, petty and/or callous politics.
The recent issue is that alcohol production. The Maharashtra government (and probably many governments in the world) is adopting alcohol promotion policies which ensure mass suicide or even worse than suicide! We all; witnessing these steps of government passively; would right from now onwards suffer miserably and exponentially due to being party to the sin of passing on this legacy to the posterity. Generations after generations would continue to suffer worst than mere one time death; due to such policy.
NAMASMARAN i.e. reorientation to one’s link with cosmic consciousness has to be the goal, the purpose, the core and the basis of every policy including the one of firm rejection of any proposal to promote alcohol production. Just as promotion of alcohol is bound to be self destructive, mere opposition to alcohol without channelizing the vitality of individuals to their cosmic self through NAMASMARAN; can lead to severe socio-psychiatric and socio-pathological evils!