Acharya Mahaprajna
Diseases are of two types: those that can be cured by external measures and those that can be cured by internal measures. Diseases are divided into two categories on the basis of the Jain Agamas spiritual diseases and external diseases. The diseases resulting from the karmas are spiritual diseases. They originate from within. No external cause is discovered. The external diseases result from the external causes. They can he cured by external measures. They can be dealt with by the external treatment. The spiritual diseases cannot be treated by the external measures, because the atoms of those diseases are so powerful that they do not accept the external measures. They reject those measures. The treatment of these diseases is done through the internal measures. Let us understand it by a spiritual example.
Kumar Anathi was the son of a rich businessman. He once developed acute pain in his eyes. The pain was unbearable and unlimited. Innumerable medicines were tried. His father spent lot of money for the treatment. The physicians were called from distant places. Several sorcerer and mastics were also visiting him. All of them treated him in their ways. All of them gave the treatment in their own ways. But there was no relief from pain. It continued to be acute. Kumar Anathi then resorted to the internal treatment. He realised that his illness was the result of the karma. He made a silent resolve. His resolve shattered the effect of the karma and Kumar Anathi was cured of his eye trouble.
Where no other treatment was effective only the treatment through resolve succeeded. This method alone can be successful in the diseases resulting from the karma. The treatment is given on the basis of faith. Such treatment is given on the basis of resolve and purity of the emotions. Purity of the emotions as well as purity of the mind helps in curing the disease. Let us understand the causes of the disease and decide if the disease is the result of the external factors or the internal factors. If it is the result of the internal factors, then the internal treatment would succeed, not the external treatment. All methods of treating the diseases cannot be successful in all cases. People know that the diseases are successful in all cases. People know that the diseases are treated by adopting the methods involving meditation, yogic postures and pranayama. But this statement is relative, not absolute in every sense. The doctrine of karma makes it clear that if the disease is the result of the internal factors, then the spiritual treatment would be very successful. In that case, it would be possible to be cured of the disease by meditation, yogic exercises, pranayama etc. If the disease has resulted from the external factors, then these methods can help to a certain extent to restore one's health; but they cannot be helpful in the absolute sense. The one sided view that all diseases would be cured only by the spiritual method is not consistent with reality. The disease can be cured only when it is treated by the method to be decided after fully understanding the causes of its origin.
