On the nature of Disease and Cure - Part V

By Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet
Written for the Vishaal Study Group
  28 July 2006

[Link to Part I, Part II, Part III or Part IV]

We left off this discussion by focussing on the role the play of circumstances may exert to bring to the surface the core of an illness or physical disturbance. Certainly the most significant aid in any healing process would have to be the discovery of the central ‘knot’ of a disease. And because the physical is the vessel containing all the less dense layers that constitute our total being, we realise that it is often a complicated task to uncover this nucleus, or the illness’s DNA, as it were. But unless we do, only temporary relief may come about such as medication provides; usually the problem returns, often with renewed vigour.
After a lapse of many years, initially what drew my attention back to the art of healing several months ago was my concern for a person of very high spiritual attainments whom I greatly respect. I felt that his constant physical distress was impeding him from a full dedication to his mission, given the continuous demands his numerous physical problems imposed; the point was reached where surgical intervention had become necessary. But according to the subject’s own conclusion, these interventions did not bear the positive results medical science promised. Having reached a more advanced age, these constant lapses were cause of serious concern.
I was struck by the fact that the diagnoses which had led to a certain medication or surgery did not uncover the nature of the actual disease or malfunction. Finally the point arrived where the subject himself came up with a different version of the location of the problem: he felt the doctors might have missed the point entirely. From my perspective, this was an invitation to an entirely different approach. And so, with the subject’s photograph at my side day and night, I began my usual concentration sessions whenever time permitted, in the manner I used to undertake many years ago.
The real nature of the problem, I felt initially, lay revealed in the diverse manifestations of the physical distress. There was improper functioning centred largely on the lower chakra; but, at least in my view, it was all notoriously imprecise. It was in fact this imprecision, or a sort of ‘floating’ quality, that caused me to reflect that the doctors treating the subject over the years, and he himself, were not fully aware of what the problem was. No one seemed to have located the real cause, and hence treatment seemed as imprecise as the illnesses.
In this light, my concentrations were aimed at organising the total field of the problem so that the play of circumstances might provide the key; and this could then unlock the door to a process of true healing, whatever that would be.
My concentrations quickly brought results, though initially the connection between the play of circumstances and the malaise were not at all evident. In fact, I assumed that there was no such connection at all. It went like this: On a sudden impulse I sent the subject the first part of the series ‘The Day of the White Peacock’, though I was not entirely sure why since he has been involved with my work only from its outer corridors in a sense, while that series covered intimate details meant largely for closer associates of the Mother, and knowledgeable of Sri Aurobindo’s mission as originally played out in the laboratories where their joint work had been established. It would have seemed that my impulse was farfetched and perhaps even inappropriate; whereas it was just the contrary. Sending the subject TDWP triggered his own revelation of the real factors behind his continuous physical disturbances.
Revelation came in the form of his reaction to my text and the problems I exposed in that series. He wrote to me that he had similarly been under attack from the orthodox of his school and line of work, as well as others who felt threatened by his teaching. He had even been targeted by a proficient witch doctor. This situation covered many years, but his attitude all along appears to have been simply to ignore them, as he wrote, ‘they run off’ like water on a duck’s back.
Reading these words I instantly knew what lay behind all his physical problems that were like constant companions throughout his life. I saw that while his mind could easily disengage itself from the intrusions and disturbances, his body had a very different story to tell. In other words, this was a case of a serious, long-standing disconnect.
I conveyed this to the subject, but there was no reply.
This indifference on his part was a sort of protective device. Our subject had been sent by his teacher to bring the message of his particular teaching to the West and to set up centres there. It was a pioneering mission. He was carefully selected for this task - that much was clear - since he seemed to be perfectly fashioned for success. But the mission, it seemed to me, was far more dangerous than perhaps originally imagined. It was complex and would involve hidden forces of a subtle nature, entrenched energies that might not take lightly to this ‘intruder’. Indeed, to carry out such a task without the consequences our subject encountered (though ignored by him), one would have to be an ‘impeccable warrior’ as it is known in traditions dating back to ancient times, which do not shun the world but which demand of practitioners that they carry on with their transformation right in its midst; indeed, often using that very incompatibility as a goading power for the inner work. But to do so successfully there would have to be a certain preparation, a protective mechanism which would allow the ‘warrior’ to remain unscathed through this most difficult engagement. I wondered if this had been the case with our subject. His physical condition seemed to indicate the contrary. I felt that he had been thrust into a big bad hostile world without adequate preparation and therefore left vulnerable.
Thus, he did carry out the sacred mission entrusted to him rather brilliantly; but his physical paid the price for a certain lack of ‘impeccability’, the need for which seemed to be ignored, or at least not adequately dealt with. This left our subject vulnerable in his subtle sheaths to ‘infiltration’ from hostile quarters; hence the ‘floating’ quality of the disturbances - because they were indeed volatile in nature, moving about well hidden in those less dense layers.
Apart from the clues I was receiving from the subject’s location in the Gnostic Circle by his age, one’s natal horoscope is often an aid to discover certain predispositions as described above. In our subject it was largely his Gemini rising which confirmed a mental poise or inclination that could be indicative of his ability to DIVIDE himself into these different parts where his mind could disconnect from his body easily. ‘Up there’ all was under control; but this left his body entirely vulnerable. What complicated matters even more was his highly evolved being, where a duality of any sort could hide itself well by the belief that, in his own words, he was above it all.
This Gemini factor might not have had any effect on his health had he led a ‘normal’ life, which was hardly the case for our subject. The nature of his mission alone placed demands on him of a more stringent order.
To illustrate, the caste system in India is very ancient. The very first indication of its existence comes to us in certain verses of the Rig Veda which connects the arrangement directly to the cosmic harmony. Tradition sustains that unlike what is commonly believed, or what may have been the state of affairs after a degeneration set in, the highest caste, the Brahmin, had certain sacred duties to perform for the community which demanded a life of great austerity. This not only involved prescriptions regarding material possessions and other such mundane matters, but an entire regime or life style, as we could call it today. The Brahmin had to perform certain functions for the civilisation which precluded the experiences an ordinary humanity takes in stride with no deleterious affects.
The same could be said for our subject, whose duties were indeed of a high order. These left him not only the target of constant attacks, often from quarters where the manipulation of subtle forces is a trade well known, but even just plain bad will that one encounters as a constant feature from life in a world governed by the Cosmic Ignorance such as ours. These too do take their toll.
We have the experiences of the Mother to testify to the above. She was indeed the target of such attacks. We have it on record from Sri Aurobindo himself that in 1938 he suffered an accident and broke his thigh bone precisely because he was ‘busy protecting the Mother’ during a period when hundreds of visitors poured into the Ashram for the quarterly-held Darshan; to protect her from the influx he had disregarded his own needs. There are a number references to attacks of this nature, finally requiring the intervention of experienced practitioners of occultism after Sri Aurobindo’s departure. This was the case in 1962 when the Mother almost succumbed to ‘black magic’. An experienced Tantra Yogi came to her aid; in the process he also noted that the attacks originated right in her Ashram from among her own disciples!
We can consider the Mother to have been an accomplished Divine Warrior and a supremely competent occultist; nonetheless, she was vulnerable. How much more would our subject have been considering that, for one, women are far more adept at dealing with matters occult and coping with such attacks than men. But in ignoring these realities he must live with these constant reminders of what he chooses to ignore.
  

[Link to Part VI]