All bodily manifestations have their roots in the mind

In many ways, man lives essentially through the mind. Even when we perceive something as

a physical occurrence, deep down it turns out to be a psychological phenomenon. All bodily

manifestations have their roots in the mind. Let me explain a few things in this regard, then it

will be easy to follow.

Until fifty years ago, all human illnesses were treated as illnesses of the body. In the last fifty

years, the more we have learned about illnesses, the more the proportion of physical illnesses has decreased while that of the psychological illnesses has increased. Even the greatest of physiologists is ready to admit today that more than fifty percent of all human ailments are psychological.

Sicknesses which are otherwise considered as physical, more than half of them are caused by

the mind. Mind is the very substratum of man’s being, his existence. It is the source of our life, it is the source of our illness, and it is the very source of our death. That’s why so much importance is given to the will.

If you have ever witnessed an experiment in hypnosis, there are a few things about it worth keeping in mind. A hypnotized person is simply one whose conscious mind is asleep and whose unconscious mind is awake. When the conscious mind goes to sleep, the person stops doubting, because all doubts and misgivings are limited to the conscious mind.

If we divide the human mind into ten parts, it will appear that one part of it is conscious while the remaining nine are unconscious. Nine parts are in the dark unconscious; only a small portion – one tenth of the mind – is awake.

 It is this conscious mind that doubts, thinks, ponders. If this conscious mind were to sleep, then the remaining nine parts below would stay totally receptive. There, no questions are asked, no doubts are raised.

In the state of hypnosis, the doubting mind is put to sleep and the undoubting, receptive mind comes into effect. In that state, if you were to place a small piece of rock on the hand of the hypnotized person and tell him it is a hot coal, he will cry out in pain as if his hand had been burned. He will at once throw the rock away – just as he would if a real hot coal had been placed on his hand.

Up to this point one may assume that just an idea in his mind must have caused this to happen. But the astonishing thing is that blisters appear on his hand – the same as it would have if a hot coal had been placed there. So apparently, although you had placed an ordinary piece of rock, the person’s mind totally accepted your word that it was a hot coal. And the body has no means of denying the mind, so it acts accordingly. Remember well, if the mind accepts totally, the body will have to follow it.

There is a reverse of this experiment too, which is even more astonishing. You can place an ember in the hypnotized person’s hand and tell him it is just a cold pebble. The man will keep on holding the ember and yet no blisters will appear on his hand. Without the mind’s permission, the body is helpless to do anything.

That is why fakirs are able to dance barefoot on fire – there is no miracle in it. It’s just a little

experiment in the science of mind. There are ten fakirs dancing on the fire, they openly invite

anyone to join them, so there is no question of any fraud. You are welcome to dance with them.

But that will be possible only when watching those ten people you become fully convinced the fire is not affecting them. Once you are convinced – that if they are not having burns, you won’t either– you reach the same state a hypnotized person does. In that state, the one part of your mind is not doubting, and the nine parts are believing – now you can jump into the fire, your feet won’t burn.

One who has any doubts will not jump, but the one who has none will jump in. What this means is that even fire cannot burn you if the mind is not open to it, and even coldness can cause burns if the mind is ready for it.