the Suffering Brain (extract from the Wonder of the Brain, G.Krishna. FIND, 1987)
	I hope I shall not be misunderstood if I make bold to say that the guiding lights of the race have lost the way, deceived by the luxuriant bloom of their intellect and the rank profusion of their creations. They fail to see, misled by the exuberance of the summer crop, that the icy chill of winter is ready to descend on the gorgeous scene. Why? Because, as the result of over-confidence in our mental endowment, based on an exaggerated picture of its capability, we are devoting by far more attention to the superfluous than the essential, to the branches than to the root in the false belief that our knowledge is comprehensive and correct. Let me take a single example. No one can deny that nature--blind and unintelligent, as we assume her to be--has taken extraordinary pains in designing and fashioning the head of the human body in order to protect from harm its extremely fragile occupant--the brain--a rare masterpiece of super-human craftsmanship, still a sealed book to the erudite. Layer after layer of protective sheaths, some tough and some of downy softness, interpose between the rough skull and the body of the delicate tenant, as a lining to its hard interior, to serve as a velvety cushion for the extremely tender inmate within. The skull itself is a thick, bony structure, dome-shaped for extra strength, covered with a woolly padding of hair to protect it from blows, knocks, strokes, bumps, heat, cold, radiation and the like. Apart from this triple line of defense, the cerebro-spinal fluid fills every fissure, cavity, nook and corner of the brain to act as a stress, jerk, jolt and shock absorber of incredible potency. The blood supply is so skillfully arranged that the chances of a failure are extremely curtailed. Apart from all this, there are ingenious devices in the sensory organs, directly linked to the brain, to prevent harm or pollution from coming in through them. There is no other organ of the body, including the precious heart and the priceless eyes, so well enclosed and protected against a rough environment and the possibility of injury as in this seat of life. At the time of birth, the head comes out first, protected by a marvelous fluidic cushion to ensure safety for this extremely delicate organ, always to be handled with tender care. But with this example of the extraordinary precautions taken by Nature before our eyes, how do most of us more understanding and far better informed than before, behave with this sovereign part of our mortal frame? Does it command priority in our daily roster of tasks and more attention than to other parts of the body? To be honest it does not. Far from that, it does not even figure in our daily thoughts at all. To enhance our beauty, charm, symmetry or strength do we not pay ten times more attention to the face, body and limbs than to the head? Are not beauty parlors, gymnasiums, massage salons, face-lifting clinics, swimming pools, Turkish and sauna baths, sports fields, golf courses, tennis courts, race tracks and the like, galore everywhere to attest the attention we pay to and the fondness we have for the other parts of our organic frame. Does the care of the head figure anywhere in these numerous departments of body care? How we repay the tender care of nature and treat this holy shrine of the soul is obvious from our complete lack of interest in and lack of regard for this master of our body whom she is so anxious to protect. Do not the pugilists make of it the first target for their smashing fists, the wrestlers for their crushing holds, the enthusiasts of self-defense a battering ram to floor their opponents, sturdy footballers a bat to hit back a streaking ball, the Asans--zealots, a stool to support their inverted trunk and legs in the air, keen swimmers a wedge to cleave the water with when diving from giddy heights, and so on. When closely examined, there surely will be found many other instances of this abuse. Do not even fond parents make this precious part of their child or its component, the face, their first choice for a box or a slap as a corrective for misbehavior, gentle ladies, when violent, their favorite site for scratching with nails or tearing out each other's hair; ardent lovers, when excited, the ideal place to pinch hard and bite the beloved, children, in fun, their butt to squeeze tightly under the elbow, and belabor with shoes, satchels or fists and mature grownups, to vent their rage, their chosen spot to hit with stones, beat with sticks, rain shattering blows on, shake violently by the throat or dash against a nearby wall of solid brick or stone? Has anyone, I ask, raised his voice against this desecration of the shrine of life, the most precious and the most tender organ in our body which nature takes endless pains to guard? Do we not expose this full-blown, exquisite flower of thought, unprotected to blistering heat and biting cold for sheer bravado, to jolts, jerks and knocks for fun and frivolity, to dizzy speed and giddy sport for amusement, to grinding labor and killing work for gain or fame, to sleepless nights and hectic days for nocturnal revel and even-tide sickly pleasure, without ever reminding ourselves that, as in the case of our other organs and limbs--heart, lungs, stomach, arms and legs--the resources of the brain cannot be unlimited and that there must be a border beyond which it is not safe to proceed. Apart from all these excesses, do we not in our self-escalated battle of life and frantic search for a front seat make this invaluable organ a helpless tool for our selfish designs, subjecting it to tension and distraction in pursuit of over-ambitious dreams, to ceaseless worry and anxiety as the fruit of acute rivalry and competition or to fear and fright by fostering hate and enmity? On top of these do we not expose it needlessly to rapid change of emotions--excitement, shock, terror, revulsion, suspense and the rest by senile infatuation with the sensation-loving news media, and immoderate passion for thrilling novels, exciting fiction, horror stories or bizarre narratives perused endlessly at all hours? Lastly, besides all this, do we not repeatedly subject it to angry outbursts and emotional storms, so furious they leave even the tough body sick and exhausted, what to say of the hyper-sensitive cerebral lobes? Above all, do not most of us sell this priceless treasure dirt cheap to its sworn enemies--bemusing drugs, befuddling wine and begriming tobacco--beyond a certain limit, all three sure poisons for the cerebro-spinal Tree of Life? Heaven alone knows to what monstrous degree we are out to undo with our own hands the master-work which it took patient nature millions of years to complete for the simple reason that, even at her present height of culture, mankind is still a stranger to her own brain? The fanatics who believe that human beings can carry on with impunity in any environment or dwell safely on man-built satellites orbiting the earth, or that families can be sent in rockets designed for exploration of distant planets, needing a life-time to reach, and then return to earth in the second or third generation, are living in a paradise of fools. The first internal study of the living brain will make the empiricists involved reel back in awed silence and surprise, for nature has concentrated all her ingenuity in this organic masterpiece. It is well to remember that there exists every device and every artifice in the brain to prevent the human race by her exuberant intellect from swerving even an inch from the path aligned for her. She shall either follow it or extinguish herself. This is the reason why the victorious empires of the past, often at the zenith of their glory, came tumbling down to earth to roll in dust for centuries, in the grip of delusive ideas of greatness, vain-glorious customs, unhealthy habits and unwholesome appetites. Humanity might be able to achieve anything by her matchless wit: flout the physical laws of nature, dry up oceans, inundate deserts, level mountains or make her home in the skies, but she never will be able to by-pass the brain to escape her destiny.