Questioner: I have a question. If the cause of the physical universe and all its laws are the result of Ishvara what do you do if you are diagnosed with a life threatening illness? Do you accept this, that it is Ishvara’s will/Karma and accept death? For every other species on this planet this would be the case and also Vedanta teaches us we are not the body so there is nothing to worry about or if the illness is potentially treatable do you accept treatment? After all the vast majority of us have families to help look after or are we just delaying the inevitable through ignorance? Obviously this is a bit of a personal question as you mentioned you got diagnosed with cancer, did you ask yourself this question? You don’t have to answer.
Rory: Well, at this level everything is about dharma. Basically, the body wants to live and be well, because life loves life. That’s why we have the miracle of an immune system and why, the body will innately steer us to what’s good for it rather than what’s harmful. We’re gifted with this wonderful apparatus and, as its trustees, part of our dharma is to look after that body–and to look after our mind as well, for that matter. Life always throws challenges our way. That’s simply inevitable given the nature of duality. While Vedanta gives us the Knowledge that, ultimately, we are free of this duality, and that who we are cannot be impacted or damaged in any way, we still must navigate the apparent world as best we can. We do that by living according to dharma. Some things we have to accept, for Isvara’s decisions are often final. But other things we must fight, which is precisely why the Gita is set on a battlefield and Krishna is telling Arjuna to get off his ass and take action 🙂
I’ve seen critics of Vedanta, who know some of the basics but not the nuance of the teaching, make arguments such as “well, if we’re the Eternal Self, then why bother doing anything in maya? Why don’t we all just kill ourselves, because it’s not “real”, after all?” The answer is that, even though we know that we are the Self and not the instruments of body, mind and ego, we should not live with an impassive fatalism. We must take the gift of life, and live it with full appreciation and commitment to dharma. The highest aspect of dharma is non-injury, which is why it would be terribly wrong to throw ourselves in front of a bus for no reason other than we know that, as the Self, we are deathless.
As the saying goes, it’s wise to accept the things we cannot change and have the courage to change the things that we can–if doing so is appropriate and conducive with personal and universal dharma. If you have a treatable illness and you decide not to treat it because, heck, you’ll die some day anyway, then you’re arguably committing a violence against Isvara; Isvara in the form of your body and also your loved ones, who’d presumably rather like you to stick around! Life is a gift and it should be cherished and maintained, and, if necessary fought for–which, again, is the basis of the Gita and Arjuna’s predicament.
For the jnani, the knower of the Self, there’s no longer a personal identification with the body. It’s just a vehicle. But, again, it behooves us to take care of that vehicle. If your car is falling to pieces, you get it repaired, or it becomes useless to you. If it’s beyond repair, then you get a new one. Same with the body! If it’s repairable then it should be repaired, and if not, then that must be accepted with grace.
Questioner: Isn’t it the ignorance of not knowing our true self that is causing all this global panic/anxiety surrounding covid?
Rory: It’s the ignorance of not knowing our true Self that causes all the generalised suffering and stress in our lives full stop. That’s the very root of samsara, and it has its basis in fear; the fear of believing ourselves to be separate from the Whole and totally at the mercy of a cruel and indifferent external world.
