:: HEALTH ::

RESPECT YOUR BODY

Becoming religious does not mean renouncing the body. On the contrary a truly religious person will love his body because it is the temple where God lives. Sharing His insight Osho says, “You and your body are not really two, but the manifestation of one. Your soul is your invisible body, and your body is your visible soul. I teach this unity, and with this unity, man becomes whole.”

“Respect, don't neglect, your body. If your body is neglected, you will not be able to find the inner harmony -- because if the body is harmonious it helps to attain to inner harmony. Take every care of your health, of your body; love it, respect it, it is a great gift. It is a miracle! a mystery.” Read on……….

“The scientists say the body has millions and millions of living cells; each cell has its own life. You have lost the capacity of wonder; otherwise you would wonder first about your own body, how the body turns the bread into blood. We have not been able to find a factory yet where bread can be turned into blood. And not only that, it sorts out what is needed and what is not needed by your body; that which is not needed is thrown out, and that which is needed is needed for different functions.

The body goes on supplying different places, different parts of your body, whatever their need is. You eat the same food for all your needs; out of the same food your bones are made, your blood is made, your skin is made, your eyes are made, your brain is made, and the body knows perfectly well what is needed and where it is needed. The blood is circulating continuously, supplying particular chemicals to particular parts.

Not only that, the body also knows the priority. The first priority is your brain -- hence, if there is not enough oxygen, first the body will give the oxygen to the brain. The other parts are tougher and they can wait a little, but the brain cells are not so tough. If they don't get oxygen for six minutes they will die, and once they are dead they cannot be revived.

It is a tremendous work of intelligence to be alert about the different functions. When you have a wound, then the body stops supplying certain parts which can survive, but first the wound has to be healed. Immediately the white cells of the body rush towards the wound to cover it so it is not open. And then inside, the work, the very subtle work, continues.

Medical science knows that we are not yet as wise as the body is. The most prominent physicians have said that we cannot cure the body; the body cures itself -- we can only help. At the most our medicines can be of some help, but the basic cure comes from the body itself.

It is a wonder how it is being done. It is such a vast work. I have come to know from one scientist friend, who has been working on the functions of the body, that if we want to do all those functions we will need almost one square mile of factory with many complicated mechanisms, computers. Then, too, we are not certain that we will succeed -- and your religions have been condemning the body and telling you that to take care of the body is irreligious.

The Jaina monks don't take a bath because that is caring for the body, that is materialism. They don't brush their teeth. Guru Grantha Sahib brushes his teeth, but the Jaina monks don't brush their teeth. They used to meet me in the past, and I had to tell them, "Don't feel offended, but sit as far away as you can, because you stink." Moving naked on the dusty roads of India in hot sun, perspiring, gathering the dust, no mouth wash, no bath -- and they are worshiped because of these stupid things! Because they have renounced the body, they don't care about the body. They don't know even what the body is; they have never wondered about its miracles. So don't say, "This is for my soul and this is for my body" -- you are one.

First, inside you become one with your body, then become one with the whole existence. The day your heartbeat has a synchronicity with the universe and its heartbeat you have found religion -- not before it.”

The Messiah, Vol-2
# 16, From dawn to dawn, a wonder and surprise