Acharya Tulsi
Men are restless because he is unhealthy. A healthy man would never be restless. Who is healthy? Is the one who is physically healthy a healthy man? Is the one who is mentally healthy a healthy man? A person who is physically healthy is known as healthy in the superficial sense. But this is an incomplete definition of a healthy condition. Mental health is somewhat of a higher level, but even that is not sufficient in itself. The higher state of health is emotional health. Physical and mental health cannot be ignored, but in the absence of emotional health, even the body and the mind cannot remain healthy.
Man today is not as vigilant about his mind as about his body. He pays sufficient attention to food, dress, bath, excursions etc. But he is not as vigilant about music, literature, poetry, art, science, beauty, etc. He is not as much alert about emotions, about the soul. Raising himself above the worry of earning the livelihood, he does become active in cultural matters, but he is not able to feel the thirst of the Soul. Man goes to a physician when he falls sick. He gets himself physically examined, takes the medicine and wishes to regain health. But neither the physician is healthy nor is the medicine genuine. Expecting health from the unhealthy would only bring disappointment.
In the proper treatment to health, it is first of all essential to pay attention to emotions. Emotional health means the purity of emotions. A person, who keeps his impulses and passions under check and frees himself from negative feelings, can have pure emotions. Disappointment, hatred, acrimony, cruelty deception, ate are negative emotions. So long as a person is under the shadow of these emotions, he would not be able to regain health.
A healthy lifestyle is the main basis of a healthy life. Man does not stick to a definite time to wake up and go to bed. Uncertainty about going to sleep and waking up throws the whole program out of gear. From this point of view, it is absolutely essential to pay attention to the style of living. This is the subject that includes way of living, customs and traditions, festivals, mutual relations, professions, religious faith, etc. Literature is also related to it. While thinking about these points, we should not forget anuvrat, prekshadhyan science of living etc.
What should man be like? The code of conduct based on anuvrat is a beautiful model for it. How can man attune himself to this model? The answer is prekshadhyan. While anuvrat is a philosophy, prekshadhyan is its application. Philosophy by itself is incomplete. Application by itself is also incomplete. It is possible to think of living by regarding both of them as complementary to each other. Linking the preliminary process of a healthy style of living with education is science of living. Only by including spiritualism in science and scientific thinking in spiritualism and increasing awareness about total human health or healthy life-style can we achieve emotional health.
