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THE ART OF POSITIVE THINKING
to its mother, the child is born a patient. Not to speak of confronting the disease, the very mention of it fills a man with fear. To contract a disease is one thing, to be afraid of it quite another. We must be able to distinguish clearly between fear and the situation of fear. They are two different states, though intimately connected. Yet they remain distinct, never merging into one. Like parallel lines, they run together but never meet. We regard them as one because of our own mistaken view point; we are unable to trace the fine line of distinction between them.
Disease, old age and death--are the three sources of suffering. But even so there is no cause for fear.
Every man faces disease at one time or other, but the man who recognizes the reality of disease, knows it to be productive of pain. and yet is not afraid of it, never feels irrecoverable. Only that patient is beyond recovery who fears the disease. Fear of illness only serves to increase it a thousand-fold, and the malady of a man who is not afraid of it, is considerably diminished. In some cases it disappears altogether.
Many systems of medicine have been invented to remove suffering and disease, so that man is freed from pain. There are different kinds of medicine, witchcraft, chemicals and minerals used for the purpose. But it has also come to pass that without any medical trcatment, without any witchcraft or the use of medicines, mere perception of the disease, i.e., to come to know it fully, to bear it without fear, has resulted in an individual keeping perfectly fit, even in the very continuance of the disease. On the other hand, people who are afraid of the disease and have taken different kinds of drugs, resorting to various systems of medicine, have yet remained disease-ridden even though desiring health.
Sanatkumar ruled over the earth. It so chanced that his graceful body was afflicted with 16 diseases all at once, cach more terrible than the other. All his pride in the beauty of his body was destroyed. He relinquished his empire and became a monk. For long was he engaged in spiritual pursuit and led a life of extreme asceticism. In course of time, he came to experience the supraphysical state. His achievements were many and great. His diseases continued but they ceased to torment him. There was absolutely no fear in his heart. The sage Sanatkumar, though afflicted with a great many diseases was totally free from fear. Both health and disease continued in him, without causing any conflict. The monk was invested with a divine indifference-perfect non-attachment. He was absolutely without fear. The absorbability of such a man's body registers a tremendous increase, and his capacity for self-preservation grows to such an extent that the diseases with which he may
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