Being mentally ill is not a joke. It is the most painful thing. If you have physical ailments, you will get everyone’s compassion, but when you have a mental ailment, you will get laughter, unfortunately. This is because it is very difficult to make out w

Human Sanity is a very fragile thing. The line between sanity and insanity is so thin. If you push it every day, you will cross it. When you get angry, what is the expression that is used? “I am mad with you,” or, “I am mad right now.” You may enjoy that little bit of madness – you crossed the line, and it felt like some kind of freedom and power. But one day when you cannot cross back, that is when suffering begins. It is not like physical pain – it is immense suffering. I have been around people who have been mentally ill, trying to help them. Nobody should have it. But unfortunately, it is becoming an epidemic in the world. 

Transcending the Safety Net

Mental illnesses are growing like never before because we are pulling out all the supports that people have but we are not replacing those supports with anything. If people become very conscious and capable within themselves, everything would be fine even if you pulled all the support. But without giving that competence, if you just pull the support, people will crack. It is happening on a large scale in Western societies. India is not going to be far behind. Urban societies in India will especially move in this direction because, in many ways, urban India is more West than the West.

For a long time, we have been banking on a few things for our mental and emotional stability. But now, all these things are being taken away. One of these things is family. Family gives us a certain support – no matter what happens, there is always someone there for you. Everyone else is with you when you do the right things. If you do the wrong things, they will distance themselves. The family was one bunch of people who were like a net for the circus that you did. Whichever way you fell, there was someone to hold you for some moments. But that net is gone for many people these days. Now, when you fall, you fall. Because of that, people are cracking up. 

In Indian culture, there was a time in the tradition when thirty percent of the population were monks. Consciously, they chose to live without family, to live without support, to live without a home – homelessness not out of deprivation, but by choice. No one ever had depression because they transcended the need for the net. 

Another aspect is religion. Religion handled human psychological balance effortlessly. “God is with you, don’t worry.” This settled a whole lot of people. Do not underestimate the value of that. Today, people are trying to go to psychiatrists. India does not have enough psychiatrists for one billion people. No country does. And above all, they are very inefficient because they can take only one client at a time, and they need a lot of furniture! With all due respect, we must acknowledge this aspect of religion. It is a very inexpensive mass psychiatry. 

We are taking off the traditional support systems that we had. If you learned your trapeze bar acts well, you can do it without the net. But if you are not good at it, you better have a net, otherwise your head will crack. That is all that is happening.