​Is there any evidence that chanting or bhakti-yoga decreases stress?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you.
So, is there any evidence or explanation about how the practice of Krishna consciousness can decrease stress and increase happiness? Yes, at various levels. I’ll start with first with generic religious spirituality and then I’ll come to specific Krishna consciousness. There is a book called Oxford.
It’s a handbook of religion and health. It’s published by Oxford University Press. And that actually took 2000 studies, which have been published studies done in various parts of the world about the correlation between religious practice on one side and physical health parameters as well as mental health parameters on the other side.
And they found a consistent correlation. On average, religious people, people who go to a religious program at least once a week, they live 7 years longer than those who don’t. So, just by coming once a Sunday, you are increasing your lifespan by 7 years.
That’s what these studies are saying. And it’s not just a matter of longevity being increased, but the quality of life. Found that elderly people who had a personal faith, they had greater life satisfaction and sense of well-being than the non-religious peers.
Younger people had lesser drug addictions or drug abuse or premature sexual involvement or delinquency. They are much, much lesser. And Harold Cunningham was the lead researcher in this compilation.
And his conclusion was that, he said, a high SQ faithfulness to God benefits people of all ages, background and educational levels. SQ refers to spiritual quotient. Just like we have IQ, intellectual quotient, EQ, emotional quotient.
So, SQ is spiritual quotient. So, that’s about broad practice of spirituality, practice of religious activities in general. There is well-documented studies which say that they improve the quality and the longevity of life.
Now, coming specifically to Krishna consciousness, there was a study done about specific chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. It was done by a researcher, Dr. David Brian Wolf for the part of his PhD studies. And it was done at, was it? Does anyone remember which university it was? Florida State University? Yeah.
So, basically, they subjected a number of people, three groups. One group chanted Hare Krishna. Another group chanted any other sound that they like.
And third group did not chant at all. And they found that this group, they were studying for a period of several months. They found that the people who were chanting Hare Krishna, their stress levels, their negativity levels, their depression levels had substantially gone down.
And this is a well-published study. So, this is a, now if you see the Krishna consciousness movement is, it’s just, it’s been 50 years now. So, there are not many devotee scientists or devotee researchers who are specialized enough to do study like this.
So, in future, as more and more devotees become specialized in these fields, or people specialized in these fields become devotees, whichever way, then this research study will be done much more. But in general, in terms of philosophical explanation or analysis, you can say, what causes anxiety? Actually, I just gave a, I just gave a full seminar in Ohio State University on this. Anxiety epidemic.
So, I was explaining that, you know, anxiety, worry or anxiety, worry is the interest we pay on loans we haven’t yet taken. That means most of the things which we worry about, those problems are not yet happening. You know, I get a small ulcer on my body.
I think, oh, this will be cancer. What if it is terminal cancer? What if it is advanced terminal cancer? No, what if I have only one month to live? Just a small swelling on the body. From that, I have only one month to live.
What will happen to me? So, what will happen is, many times, when we worry, we take the situation that is there right now, and the uncontrolled mind shows us a horror movie based on that situation. And in this horror movie, you know, we are not the spectators, we are the victims. So, it has all happened to us.
So, now, if you look at the situation that has caused anxiety, in any situation, there are some things which are in our control, and some things which are not in our control. If I focus on the things that are in my control, that same situation can bring intensity. If I focus on the things that are not in my control, that will cause anxiety.
Say, if I have an interview tomorrow, I start thinking, what kind of questions will come out? What if I don’t mind? What if I forget all that? What if the examiner is in a bad mood? What is this? What is that? All this will cause anxiety. But if I think, okay, tomorrow is the interview, I have 24 hours. Let me plan my time in such a way that I can do the maximum revising, studying, remembering, to that I will be fully precise.
Then that same situation can actually bring intensity. So, now, to shift our focus from what is not in my control to what is in my control. What is required? In one example, it is just my determination to focus on what is in my control.
But another aspect to it is spiritual understanding. Spirituality helps us to understand that that which is not in my control is not out of control. That which is not in my control is not out of control because it is in Krishna’s control.
So, when I think, okay, these things are not in my control, but they are under Krishna’s control. So, Krishna will take care of those things. Let me focus on taking care of the things that are in my control.
So, when fear accelerates our imagination, when fear accelerates our imagination, faith is the brake that stops that imagination from going to work. When fear or anxiety starts accelerating, what if that happens, what if that happens, what if that happens? Okay, those things are in Krishna’s control. What is in my control? Let me know.
So, our faith in Krishna increases. Faith is not just an abstract concept that God is in control. But actually, when you practice bhakti, Krishna becomes an inner reality for us.
We start experiencing Krishna as an inner reality. The more Krishna becomes an inner reality for us, the more faith becomes natural. If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace.
So, that capacity to redirect our thoughts from the things not in our control to the things in our control, that capacity increases by the practice of bhakti. And thus, we can actually experience it. If you practice bhakti, the anxiety levels will substantially go down.
They will. In Hindi it is said, Don’t worry, contemplate. Don’t worry, contemplate.
Actually, if you do chintan, the chintan will go down. The anxiety, the stress will substantially go down if we learn to practice bhakti and focus on Krishna. Another thing that will happen is that when we start practicing spirituality, our inner territory becomes illumined.
That means, say this room is dark completely. And the room is dark, the door opens. Somebody comes in.
I don’t know who is it. Is it a friend? Is it an enemy? Is it a thief? I don’t know. So, I will be worried.
But if the light is on, I can see this person, this person is a friend. This person, suspicious looking character, closes the door. So, we can discern like that.
So, when we are not practicing spirituality, our inner territory is in darkness. This thought comes up, that thought comes up. We are not able to discern which thought is actually good for me, which thought is bad for me.
Whatever thought comes in, we just start acting according to those thoughts. So, quite often, we nourish stress-creating thoughts and stress-creating delusions. Unlimitedly.
But when we start practicing bhakti, then our inner territory becomes illuminated. Start saying, okay, this thing I am doing is causing me too much stress. And the returns I am getting from this thing are not really that much.
It’s really a certain portion of the negative. So, the capacity to discern and to arrive at a more healthy sense of balance, healthy sense of priorities in our life, that capacity also increases by spiritual practice. So, both in terms of things not in our control, we can entrust the faith to Krishna.
And things which are not in our control, within that, what to focus? Do this, do that, do that. What to focus? Because when our inner territory becomes clear, then we can make our priorities in a more healthy and balanced way. That’s how, both from empirical evidence as well as from conceptual analysis, we can see that the practice of bhakti will help us to decrease our anxiety and stress substantially.
Is the answer to your question? Yes.