By Madhava Smullen
A new paperback edition of “Hope This Meets You in Good Health,” a book by ISKCON guru and Prabhupada disciple Prahladananda Swami, is now available on Amazon.com and on Barnes & Noble’s website in English. The book has also been translated into Spanish, Polish and Russian.
The title “Hope This Meets You in Good Health” is derived both from Srila Prabhupada’s famous sign-off on his letters, and from a magazine of the same name which Prahladananda Swami published for two decades as the ISKCON Minister for Health and Welfare.
“Part of the magazine contained instructions Srila Prabhupada gave to devotees about taking care of their health,” says Prahladananda Swami now. “I thought that compiling and systematizing the teachings would give devotees further information about how taking care of one’s body and mind should be done in a movement aimed at spiritual realization.”
The book begins with an introduction by Dr. Vasant Lad, a world-renowned Ayurvedic physician who has been a friend of devotees for many years, and regularly teaches seminars at Bhaktivedanta Manor in England.
The first part features several chapters derived from Srila Prabhupada’s books, lectures and letters – as well as recollections from disciples – about health.
“Srila Prabhupada grew up in a culture where people had information about health handed down to them through generations of ancestors,” Prahladananda Swami says, explaining the ISKCON Founder-Acharya’s qualifications. “He also was a pharmacist and had many years of experience with different kinds of remedies.”
Chapter One, “General Principles for Health,” covers how a devotee in a material body should take care of his body while advancing in spiritual life.
Chapter Two, “Health and Sickness in Spiritual Life,” posits that advancement in spiritual life is the best medicine to cure material and spiritual diseases.
Chapter Three, “Maintaining Health,” talks about maintaing health through proper diet, exercise, sleep, and cleanliness.
And Chapter Four, “Treating Disease,” includes how to deal with disease, as well as recommended remedies for some diseases, such as the following:
“I understand that Hayagriva had some backache,” Srila Prabhupada wrote to Shyama Dasi on February 21st, 1969. “So for him you take one part of a crushed to a powder red pepper and add to it five parts of rubbing alcohol. Keep this for 24 hours, then strain and add one part camphor. When it is mixed, just apply it on the painful part of the back 3 times daily.”
On December 8th, 1971, Prabhupada wrote to Upendra, “For asthma, no food should be taken at night, and in general avoid overloading the stomach. Chanting Hare Krishna and drinking only charanamrita water is the best remedy for any bodily disease. But if something else required, chew a little thyme after meals. Potassium iodine is a temporary medicine for asthma.”
The book also quotes some of Prabhupada disciples, who recall his remedies. “In 1976 in Toronto, Pallika was cooking for Srila Prabhupada, who had a toothache and had lost his appetite,” writes B.B. Govinda Swami. “Srila Prabhupada instructed Pallika one evening to cook kachoris, a fried savory made with urad dal (which is high in protein) in the same way Bali Mardan had made for him one day in the late 1960s. This meant mashed urad dal balls rolled in salt, hing, chili powder, and powdered saunf (anise seed/fennel). This mixture is then fried in ghee. The ghee was to stimulate taste. All the ingredients used were to help his digestion.”
The first part of “Hope This Meets You in Good Health” also includes several inspirational stories from the scriptures about health in ancient times. In one from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Indra, the King of heaven, cures his elephant Airavata’s injuries, sustained in a fight with the demon Vritrasura, with his nectar-producing hand. In another from the Chaitanya Charitamrita, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraces Vasudeva, a devotee suffering from leprosy, and the disease vanishes.
The second part of the book contains collected articles about Ayurveda by Prahladananda Swami himself, who studied the ancient science of health for decades, attending seminars by many prominent Ayurvedic doctors and sitting in with some while they attended to patients.
“The articles especially discuss how following the principles of Ayurveda and spiritual discipline can help assist us in achieving maximum health,” Prahladananda Swami says.
The overall message of the book, he adds, is that “Regulated life and a good sadhana can help us have a peaceful mind which can easily think of Lord Krishna and gradually feel His presence at every step of our lives. Such a disciplined and inspired life will gradually free us from material desires which often lead us into a lifestyle which is not conducive to good health.”
Maharaja hopes the book will give devotees knowledge of both how physical and mental health can assist us in our spiritual journey, and how our spiritual journey can assist us in our physical and mental health.
He gives the last word to Srila Prabhupada, who was always concerned that his disciples take care of their health and not neglect it.
“Be careful about your health first,” Prabhupada wrote in a letter to Rayarama dated December 21st, 1967. “This information is not only for you but for all my noble sons. I am an old man. I may live or die it does not matter. But you must live for a long time to push on this Krishna consciousness movement.”
Purchase “Hope This Meets You in Good Health” online here: https://www.amazon.com/Hope-This-Meets-Good-Health/dp/1723167584/
Or order the book in different languages from the following devotees:
In Europe, Bhakti Devi: bhaktidevi.pas@gmail.com (includes English, Polish, Spanish, Croatian/Serbian etc)
In America, Ananta devi dasi: <angelaroix@hotmail.com>
In South America, Mahamanjari devi dasi: <mahamanjaridd@yahoo.es>
And in Russia/Ukraine, Agnihotra dasa: <avpischita@gmail.com>
Source: https://iskconnews.org/new-book-shares-srila-prabhupadas-instructions-on-health,7184/
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