International Conference on Science and Jain Philosophy
Dr. Bimal Chhajer, MBBS, MD. is the Founder and Director of SAAOL, and a specialist in Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease. The Former Consultant of AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr. Chhajer has authored five books and is the recipient of many awards like The Bhaskar Award for Bharat Nirman.
Introduction:
As a medical doctor I work on Heart disease prevention and reversal. I worked initially at the All India Institute of medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for about 6 years where we carried out a trial on Reversal of heart disease by Lifestyle change. As for diet we were using very low fat (Zero Oil) for Cooking vegetarian food.
As for Yoga we were using Presksha Meditation (which derives its origin from Jain Scriptures and is popularized by Late Shree Acharya Tulsi ji and Acharya Mahapragya ji). After resigning from AIIMS we started in 1995 - a movement called "Saaol" - Science and Art of Living. In the last 20 years we have spread the concept of Lifestyle change based on non invasive therapy for heart and related diseases all over India and abroad. Many of the advices that I propagate to the patients is actually based on Jain philosophy. Fortunately I am a Jain by birth. But till I passed my MBBS from Kolkata I never planned that I must promote Jainism to people. But afterwards in course of my lifestyle based treatment from medical science I realized that Jainism says all that I tell my patients to follow for better health. I read about the Jain principles and when I found them scientifically valid I introduced them in my therapy. Today tens of thousands of Muslim patients follow my Vegetarian diet and Preksha Meditation as a treatment of Heart disease.
What are the good things for health in Jainism?
For writing this article I tried to collate all that may be good for health and disease prevention in Jainism and these are the major advantages of Jainism in favour of our health.
- Vegetarianism
- Fasting
- Early dinner/dinner before sunset
- Forgiveness
- Ayambil
- Pad Yatra
- Avoiding Five Vigais
- Ahimsa/Non violence
- Meditation
- Aparigrah/Non Possisiveness
- Tyaag/Avoidance of Luxury
- Upasampada
- Pratikraman and Samayik
Let me describe at least few of them which are well accepted by the scientific community.
Vegetarianism:
Heart disease is now the biggest killer in the world and it tops the list of commonest causes of death in the almost all the countries of the world. Everybody knows about Cholesterol being the most important cause of heart disease and heart attack. You must know that the only source of Cholesterol in food is "Animal Food". In other words, no plant based food has Cholesterol. So, all those who want to avoid heart disease have to compulsorily stop taking meats, fishes and eggs. Just shifting to vegetarianism can prevent millions of deaths.
But there are two riders in this. One is that Milk is also an animal food and hence contains Cholesterol. But if fats can be removed from milk to great extent (double toned Milk and Skimmed Milk) milk becomes safer. It is recommended that people should also stop Milk and milk products completely and become VEGAN.
The second fact is all the oils are Triglycerides and should be taken as less as possible to prevent heart disease and heart attack. So, we developed thousands of vegetarian recipes called "Zero oil Cooking".
Otherwise vegetarian diet contains a lot of fiber and antioxidants - so, are very good for our heart and health. These also prevent cancer and keep us in good health.
Fasting and early dinner:
Fasting is another good health aduice from Jain philosophy. Fasting in different ways is good for our health. It gives rest to our intestines, reduces weight and makes us develop good mental control on our life/stress.
Giving up intake of food after sunset is also another good practice and helps to keep the guts healthy. Gas - acidity improves, sleep becomes better, people can go to bed early. The body gets more time to utilize the calories and digest the food. Weight can also come down.
Stress management:
Jain philosophy has unique ways to reduce stress and tension. Preksha meditation, Forgiveness, Non possessiveness (Aparigraha), Nonviolence (Ahimsa) and Tyag (the art of restraining and giving up luxuries), Samayik - are all excellent ways of stress management. Meditation makes people peaceful and relaxed. Preksha meditation has been proven to control high Blood pressure, diabetes and lead to heart disease reversal. By managing stress by the above principles one can get rid of all the psychosomatic diseases. We can now see effects of violence across the world - Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and some part of India also. Non violence is the key to reach the goal of universal peace. The quality of life will improve.
Other health friendly ways in Jainism
Jainism has many other recommendations to its followers which are also very much health friendly. Pad Yatra or trauelling by foot is an excellent way to improve fitness, burn calories, improve joints and make the heart healthy. The process of Ayambil- leads to non intake of any fats during the lunch, the only food time during the day. This is especially good for heart disease prevention. Jainism also recommends avoidance of five Vigais - sugar, milk, ghee, curds, and oil. This will definitely help in preventing high BP and heart disease.
