Good health is in your hands, just work at it

You would have walked everywhere and would have done everything with your hands. If you were doing that much activity, I would have told you to take a break and get some rest. But for most people today, the body has not been used enough. In terms of physical activity, many 20-year-olds would not be able to do what a 60-yearold was doing 100 years ago. That means we are just weakening humanity. You can keep this body well only by using it. The more  you use it the better it gets. 

Many years ago, I took a group of people trekking in the Western Ghats. These are areas in the Hassan-Mangaluru segment that I had trekked extensively, so I know the beauty and charm of these places. A few weeks before that, a naval helicopter going to Bengaluru had crashed in the area somewhere in the forest. The search teams undertook aerial survey, but couldn’t find it. A battalion of over 200 army personnel were brought in, and despite combing the forest, they could not locate the helicopter even after a few weeks. That’s how thick the vegetation is! 

There were about 35-40 of us walking through this area. We were having problems cooking and everything because it was raining heavily and we had walked for a whole day. Then we walked into this army camp and made ourselves the uninvited guests. You really know the value of food only when you have used your body like that. We walked in and the commanding officer welcomed us generously. 

One of the sergeants asked us why we were walking, and when we said we were doing it because we wanted to, he couldn’t believe it. “Just like that?” he asked. “We are here for so many weeks. Every day we have to walk 20-30 kilometers searching for the helicopter which we can’t find and you are just walking for fun?!” He just wouldn’t believe us, “Is it possible that somebody could just walk for fun? With all the blisters in your legs and everything?” He didn’t understand that what he  was doing as a forced exercise was keeping him healthy and well. 

One of the simplest things about health is just to use the body. If you use the body sufficiently, it has everything to create health for itself. I would say, if we physically used our bodies as much as we should, 80% of the ailments on this planet would just disappear. Of the remaining 20%, another 10% is because of the type of foods people are eating. If you change that, another 10% would disappear. That means only 10% of the ailments would remain. That has happened because of a variety of reasons. One is karmic, another could be atmospheric and there are other aspects that could have happened in the system, which can be looked at. Out of all the sick people, if 90% of them become healthy just by using the body and eating the right food, 10% could be easily handled. But now, the volume of ailment is so big because we don’t eat properly or we eat very properly and we don’t use the body properly.

Health is not something that you invent. It is not your idea. When the life process is happening well, that’s health. If you allow life to function fully, it is healthy. So you just have to use your body, your head and your energies. If these three things are well-exercised and balanced, you will be healthy. 

A sudden burst of activity may lay you down, but if you build activity – physical, mental and energy – into your life, health will come. Your body is working well, your mind is working well and your energy is supporting the two making sure nothing goes wrong – that’s health.