What the Rishis Knew – Part 1
How Thoughts Shape Our Cells…
First time when I came across this verse from the छान्दोग्य उपनिषद
“यद् भावं तद् भवति”
We become what we believe ourself to be.
it felt like a poetic truth. But years later, now while studying psychosomatic medicine and energy psychology, I realize this is not a poetry, it is biology spoken in संस्कृत .
In neuroscience, neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to rewire itself based on repetitive thoughts.
So, every time I think
“I’m not good enough”
or
“Life is unfair,”
my brain fires the same neural circuits again and again. Slowly, these pathways become stronger until they start dictating how my body will feel, how my hormones will behave and even how my genes will express.
Modern epigenetic research by Dr. Bruce Lipton shows that our beliefs can literally switch genes on or off.
And suddenly, the verse from योग वशिष्ठ sounds like a neuroscience statement
“मनः एव कारणं बन्धमोक्षयोः”
The mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation.
When thoughts become chemistry every thought creates a chemical…Like
Whenever we feel the anger or anxiety, our brain releases cortisol and adrenaline.
When we feel love or gratitude, it releases oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine.
Our body listens…Every… Single… Time.
Neuroscientist Dr. Candace Pert once said
“The body is the subconscious mind.”
Thousands of years ago, our Rishis spoke of संस्कार …the subtle imprints left by experiences, stored deep in the cellular memory. Today, we call it cellular imprinting or molecular memory. So, when we hold resentment, our cells shrink. When we hold compassion, they expand allowing प्राण to flow freely.
This is why emotional wounds often manifest as physical pain because unfelt emotions don’t die, they live quietly inside our tissues…
During meditation, when the breath slows and attention moves inward, the body shifts from fight or flight to rest and repair…
The Upanishads call this प्रत्याहार
…withdrawal from the outer world to the inner Self.
Also research from Harvard and Stanford shows that even 8 weeks of mindfulness can reduce inflammation markers (CRP, IL-6), activate telomerase (which slows aging), strengthen immunity and emotional stability
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika describes this beautifully …
“यदा प्राणः प्रवहति तदा मनः प्रकाशते”
When prana flows freely, the mind becomes luminous.
Science now agrees, EEG studies on monks show heightened gamma waves during meditation linked to insight, bliss, and neuro-regeneration.
I once worked with a woman who opened up saying that she did everything, diets, affirmations, medicines , but her body did not heal…
My ask was, "did you listen to your body or has only tried to fix it??"
She paused. Then cried.
“No one ever taught me to listen.”
That day I realized that healing begins when we stop fighting our body and start befriending it.
As Lord Krishna says in The Bhagavad Gita (6.5)
“उद्धरेदात्मनाऽऽत्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्”
Let a person lift oneself by one’s own Self, never degrade oneself.
Our body is not our enemy. It’s our most faithful messenger whispering,
“I’m carrying your story… are you ready to listen?”
The Rig Ved says —
“सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म”
All that exists is Consciousness.
Quantum physics echoes…that
Matter is energy condensed to a slow vibration.
Different languages, same truth, both revealing that the universe and our body are intelligent energy fields responding to observation, emotion, and intention.
So, when we chant, meditate or even think we are not just being “spiritual.” we are literally reprogramming our molecular symphony.
Our Rishis didn’t need microscopes…they had मानस दृष्टि… the inner vision of consciousness. They saw what science now proves.
Consciousness collapses probability into reality…Mind shapes matter.
So, next time we sit for meditation or simply breathe deeply, remember we are not calming down, we are recalibrating creation inside us.
The Rig Ved also says …
“मनसा भावमुकरु”
“Let your thoughts be pure, for they become your world.”
And genetics agrees that
“Genes load the gun, but environment and consciousness pull the trigger.”
Both whisper the same eternal truth. Healing begins the moment we change our vibration.
Because the universe doesn’t speak English or Sanskrit. It speaks the language of our emotions.
Thousands of years ago, our Rishis declared that
“अयमात्मा ब्रह्म”
This Self is Brahman.
And now, quantum biologists and consciousness researchers echo the same that the universe is not outside us, it’s within…
Our breath, our DNA, our heartbeat all are notes in the same divine symphony.
So perhaps healing was never about “fixing” the body. It was always about remembering that we were divine all along.
