Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

This is a topic dear to my heart. Some devotees do need help in that form. Shastra says chanting hare krishna is much more effective for the pious. (Maha prasade govinde, nama brahmani vaishnava, svalpa punya vatam rajan, vishvasya naiva jayate). We have some seriously non-pious backgrounds and some serious suffering we are dealing with.

I think the ideal is to have devotee psychiatrists and hypnotherapists. First of all psychiatry is not perfect but there can be incredible results if a hypnotherapist is skilled. Problem is the mentality and philosophy of the therapist.

*** If you are taking therapy you essentially have to surrender to the therapist. *** Otherwise it is not as effective. You have to take their guidance so they can help you. So if you have to take guidance, why not take it from a devotee? There is nothing wrong with that.

Problem is we are preached to that chanting hare Krishna will solve everything and it may be true, but I think we should take the circumstances into account. and we should take advantage of other forms of help as well.

I heard the video of a hypnotherapist who would hypnotize his children at night (until they figured it out). He hypnotized them that they would be happy at school, not want to take drugs, feel happy, etc. He said it was so effective that when his daughter was offered drugs she punched the guy so hard his teeth got knocked out.

Children means their subconscious minds are COMPLETELY open. Whatever they hear at that time goes directly in and sticks. They do not have the critical factor that adults do. That is fine, but to undo that takes a lot of work if it is screwed up in youth. Chanting Hare Krishna also helps train the mind but I dont see a problem in taking more help doing that. But I think psychiatry is not too effective because it is only talk therapy, difficult to get to the subconscious mind where the problems lie.

There is a hugely popular book called "Many Lives Many Masters" by a practicing psychiatrist, Brain Weiss, who was amazed at the results of past life hypnotic regression. His latest book is called "Same Soul, Many Bodies." (familiar philosophy?). Past life regression is getting more and more popular because even if it is not real, it causes great healing to occur.

but what if the psychiatrist recommends to eat meat? I know of a sad case where the devotee was pressured so much by family members and the psychiatrist that he ended up killing himself.

I would ask, does chanting Hare Krishna fix you car stranded in the middle of the auto-route? You will need to phone a crane.

abhiram: Then they are ignorant. Most doctors have a little idea about nutrition as it is taught in only just a few hours at medical university. Meat causes an immunogenic reaction in humans: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/100/21/12045
High protein is available in vegetable sources.

mishra: If you happen to be stranded in wilderness with a broken cell phone or no signal, Im sure youll remember Krishna hard. ;)

That is why therapy, if needed, should be done by devotees for other devotees. Or at least by an open minded or very qualified non-devotee who may not be a devotee but can encourage the belief system of the devotee.

In other words, if the psychiatrist thinks the devotees Vaishnava belief system has caused this problem, then you are screwed (that is technical psychiatry term)

I should be adding in my previous post... "You will need to phone a crane....all the way chanting Hare Krishna" :)

I guess an indian psychiatrist would be good since they are more pious in general but still I dont see how a devotee could take the pills and reveal his mind to a non devotee who doesnt understand what it means to be a devotee.

I still say pyschiatry will be mostly useless because I dont have faith that taking a bunch of pills and talking about your problems is that effective.

Probably it is a relief for anyone going to a psychiatrist to just talk to someone who can listen to them about their problems.

This is actually a very important discussion because they are saying that the amount of mental illness is going to increase in a huge way. So how to deal with such people in ISKCON? Just have them sit in a Bhagavatam class?

Another point is with other pyscho-somatic illnesses such as migraines or unmanageable pain. Do we just take a pill when it is really not necessary? With hypnosis such issues are easily dealt with by training the mind. One can do anasthesia in a matter of minutes without drugs. Actually there should be many devotees expert in this. Devotees should be the expert healers in society, but we are not. There are too many dysfunctions that we are dealing with and people are looking to other groups for practical answers. Even devotees are not known for past life regression in society. But I heard that Vegavan Prabhu in Sweden did a television show about it and it was very well received.

Some years ago, I participated in a 7 days get together with Rohininandana Prabhu in New Vrajamandala farm in Spain.

We were about 20 people, devotees and a few karmis.

Only have to say that the experience was very enlivening, and yes, if the therapist is a devotee, then, so much the better

I only have to say that he embodied a kind person, an advanced devotee and a very nice therapist, so we learned soooo much from that gathering.

Every day was a lot of crying, moving personal presentations and so much we learned about our own human nature and its faults, misgivings and beauty.

I was going supposedly as an spectator accompanying my wife, (I always thought that this things are for the insane or people with serious problems), but I ended surrendering to the fact that I too needed to get my things out and help and get help.

Can you detail more what was the program like?

Dr. Thomas Szasz Exposes Psychiatry[br]
[youtube]Lk4hWWPv9EY[/youtube]